Topic: LGBTQ+ Literature in the 20th Century

Catalog description

The Stonewall uprising of 1969 in New York City commonly marks the moment when our dominant modes of recognizing LGBT+ identities emerged. Yet, throughout the 20th century American writers have generated a body of work that expresses our diversity in terms of gender and sexuality.To examine this literature, our course will be organized around several key periods of artistic and cultural production: the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat Generation, as well as before and after the AIDS pandemic. Students will perform close readings of various texts (poetry, novels, short stories, essays) and, through theoretical framing, explore the historical nature of gender and sexuality.