Making a List

Catalog description

The list is one of the most ancient and enduring figures of rhetoric and one of the most versatile means of organizing literary works. From the catalogues of Homeric epic to the postmodern fables of Borges to new digital media, from medieval encyclopedism to Renaissance copia, from the descriptive realism of novels to modernist techniques of collage, the simple list has produced an astonishing variety of effects in a wide range of genres and authors. We will read widely in this course, from many periods, literatures, authors, and genres.