Aufbauseminar Crossing Lines Narratives of Passing in American Literature and Film Di 14:30-16:00

Narratives of passing raise provocative questions about socially-constructed categories such as race and gender by exposing the arbitrariness, artificiality, and permeability of these categories. In the first half of the semester, we will focus on classic narratives of racial passing, that is, narratives about light-skinned African-American characters who can and do pass for white. In order to explore how the genre has developed and why it continues to hold the interest of today’s audiences, we will compare Nella Larsen’s novella Passing, (1929) to excerpts from both the book and the film version of Philip Roth’s The Human Stain (2000) and to Mat Johnson’s graphic novel Incognegro (2008). In the second half of the semester, we will direct our attention to different oppositional categories, such as male vs. female and human vs. monster, in order to investigate if, how, and to what extent non-racial shifts in identity can profit from being analyzed through the lens of ‘passing.’ This course is open to all students wishing to explore narratives of passing. You are expected to attend regularly, read attentively and participate actively. Most texts and materials will be made available in the Semesterapparat by the beginning of the semester. Please buy the relatively cheap edition of Larsen's novella Passing that will be available at Sternverlag on campus. N.B.: Students of BK AUA H or BK AUA N must have passed the Basismodul III (Literaturwissenschaft) exam in order to attend this course. You will be asked to email me proof of this before our first meeting. Students wishing to writte their Methodenmodul-AP in this course are encouraged to attend, their number will be limited to 8, though (Registration via e-mail: October 1st to October 5th). Students not present on the first day of class will be withdrawn from the list of enrolled students, unless they have made prior arrangements with me. Anglistik II: American Studies Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2015/16 Rond Kathrin