FYS 19 Why This and What Else?: Social Criticism and the Literary Imagination
A foundational principle of the modern world is that, in large part, we make it for ourselves. This happens in a variety of ways that we usually consider within the confines of philosophy, politics, and law. But storytelling appears as an equally powerful force, with its unique ability to give complex insight on a given social moment, along with its persuasive ability to unsettle accepted norms and imagine radical alternatives. In this case, our seminar will look at a variety of ways in which narrative has emerged as a specific vehicle for social criticism, as it develops specialized techniques to challenge social arrangements and effectively imagine alternatives. This seminar will look closely at a variety of such efforts at criticism and reimagining, considering literary approaches to rationality, conflict, empathy, and perspective, and working through such diverse movements as romanticism, realism, modernism, and postmodernism. Open only to first-year frosh.