EN251-4-M1 (W)

LGBTQ+ Literature (Topics in Literature of Race/Gender/Ethnicity)

MWF 1:50 to 2:50 p.m.

Instructor: Bonnie Erwin

This class will study literature by and about people in the LGBTQ+ community – think of it as “Pride literature” or “literature of the rainbow.” We’ll read key novels in the queer canon: Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours. We’ll also read works by emerging authors who are changing the shape of LGBTQ+ literature today—like Daniel M. Lavery’s comic semi-memoir, Something that Will Shock and Discredit You. We’ll read poetry by Audre Lorde, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and others. We’ll investigate questions like: how does LGBTQ+ literature build community? How does it shape the cultural conversation about queer identity? How does writing on gender and sexuality intersect with writing on racial oppression or marginalizaion? How do LGBTQ+ writers over time—including those living in times or places that didn’t offer a category to fit their identity—speak to our culture today?

Everyone is welcome in this class, and the books are cheap! You’ll earn Writing Intensive (W) credit, and the class also counts toward the interdisciplinary Minor in Race, Gender, and Ethnicity studies.

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