Absence and Presence: Meaning and Embodiment in Art and Literature

Catalog description

Oftentimes we hear language that speaks to presence: when you don't feel well, "just show up"; when someone is missing or an issue rankling and on our minds, it is "the elephant in the room"; someone spacey is "not all there"--and our political, social, and emotional contexts often interact with people and things that are absent physically but present psychologically and vice versa. This course examines what it means to be "present" in society and in our own lives. We will look at literary examples of characters and representations which, by negotiating both absence and presence, engage how to navigate personal and social realities.