ENG 255 L LITERATURE IS DANGEROUS

Einstein wrote, “Our time needs you and your work” to an artist portraying how the joyful parades at the end of World War I led to the death marches of World War II and the Korean War. To understand the urgent necessity of storytelling, we will explore how literature makes us uniquely human, allows us to understand others, allows us to imagine alternatives and—because of its power to inspire—how literature is dangerous. Texts for study include Picasso’s Guernica, Si Lewen’s “The Parade”, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Tommy Orange’s There There, Carolyn Forche’s The Country Between Us, Sonia Manzano’s The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, and many others. We will delve into images and words that push us to explore and challenge our sensibilities and our understanding of art as both liberty and provocateur