ENG.2025 Imagining Sports: The Meaning of Play in Literature and Film
What do we imagine we are doing when we play a sport? What drives human beings to design games or undertake structured physical challenges: amusement, competition, self-validation? What do we hope to gain by doing strenuous physical activities within artificially imposed limits? The goal of this course is to help students think about the larger philosophical implications of the human impulse to play games: the cognitive pleasures and psychological challenges derived from trying to flourish within a set of self-imposed rules and constraints. The course will turn to works of literature and film to address classic elements of athletic competition (teamwork, practice, competition, rivalry, following rules) while also touching on broader themes of self-discipline, perseverance, endurance, movement, and human survival. Through selected poems, stories, memoirs, essays, and films, we will seek to better understand the motivational and experiential aspects of sports.