Politics of Writing

Catalog description

The central question animating this course is how writing shapes the world. Throughout history, writing has had an ambiguous status. For instance, in Plato's Republic - an iconic philosophical treatise in western thought - he wishes to banish poets. Plato felt writers were dangerous - that they could misrepresent 'reality' and be politically and socially destabilizing. Writing, therefore, has historically been a site of tension, with those in power fascinated by its potential but also wary of its subversiveness. These tensions that characterize writing - a productive tool but at the same time a potentially destabilizing force - has meant that writers throughout history and from vastly differing contexts have reflected on the act of writing. In this course we will explore how writing is put to different uses and the power of the written word to mold reality. We will ask a series of interrelated questions: Are aesthetic choices also political? Is there a politics to the languages we chose? What can we infer from the context within which writing takes place? Is there a politics to literary-form? Can writing perpetuate existing inequalities, and if so, can it just as well ameliorate them?