LIT 243 On Being Human
This course examines what it means to "be human" and how humanity, or its opposite, has been depicted in literature and film. Through reading a broad selection of texts, from the classics to the present day, students will explore such issues as: the relationship between self and other; madness; the borders between human and monster, human and animal, and human and machine. The course will cover religious, philosophical, scientific, and cultural conceptions of human character and purpose. Students will read a broad variety of works that unsettle the boundaries of the self, that draw attention to those groups that have been excluded from the category of the human, and that ask us to engage with what Aristotle called, "being qua being" or, the study of what it is to be. The course reading list may include such works as: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Janice Galloway's The Trick is to Keep Breathing, Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Andrew Currie's Fido, Richard Wright's The Invisible Man, and Jeanette Winterson's Sexing the Cherry.
Prerequisite
LC 100 or LC 110