Narratives of Bondage, Narratives of Freedom
No prerequisites. Taught in English.
An individual was in captivity and is now free. Is this the only way to define freedom? Does being free equate to feeling free? In this course we will be reading various works about imprisonment, enslavement, exile, and constrictive power structures from Russia, Eurasia, and the United States, focusing on how authors including Fyodor Dostoevsky, Frederick Douglass, and Karolina Pavlova reconfigure the idea of freedom as an evolving notion—not merely in terms of the absence of constraint, but also as something that is contiguous with the search for the meaning of life. Revolutionaries in their own right, these writers courageously offered alternative visions for the future and used their words as “licenses” to speak against inhumanity in challenging times. We will read works of autobiography, memoir, and essay in context, navigating their historical “truthfulness,” voluntary or involuntary memory performance, and oratorial style, while studying the ways these genres actively engage the burden of bondage and the responsibility of freedom. All readings and discussions in English.
Required books:
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, Memoirs from the House of the Dead (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008) ISBN: 978-0-19-954051
- Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American
- Karolina Pavlova, A Double Life (New York: Columbia UP, 2019) ISBN: 978-0231190794
Other readings will be available on Canvas.
Readings and discussion in English. Fulfills Core Requirement WCr.
