BEWARE! THIS CLASS REQUIRES A LOT OF READING! BEWARE! Susan Sontag called the nuclear family "that claustrophobic unit" (in "In Plato's Cave"). This class will look at changing conceptions or realities of the "family" from the Puritan nuclear family to today's broad definitions of "patchworks." What are the textures of "family" through time and what makes them American? And what is the position or function of "family" in/for (American) society? We will look at sociological and historical research, but also at literary texts ranging from poetry by Anne Bradstreet, via short stories by Edgar Allan Poe and John Cheever to novels such as Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, Gabrielle Zevin's The Hole We're In or Toni Morrison's A Mercy. Please buy: Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, Gabrielle Zevin, The Hole We're In and Toni Morrison, A Mercy. All other texts will be available in a reader which can be purchased from the copy shop at Reckhammerweg 4. |
