THIS COURSE HAS CURRENTLY FILLED FOR FALL 2025.
This course is a seminar exploration of forbidden texts, defined broadly, through in-depth examination of texts which were banned at some point, somewhere, in some fashion. The class will analyze each text’s social context, authorship, reasons for censorship or scandal, and historical legacy. Concurrently, we will examine how the scholarly literature has evaluated the works in question; fit them into a historical framework; and constructed various theories as to what constitutes a text worth forbidding. Following analysis of such cases, students should be able to construct a typology of factors which might render a work controversial, and test that typology against an outlined creation of their own.
Important Note: Students should be aware that this class will examine texts which may contain varying degrees of troubling and extreme material. Texts may include graphic descriptions of, and advocacy for: sex, violence, extremist politics, drug use, and other sensitive topics. Several of the assigned texts remain highly controversial today, and some are currently at the peak of their sensitivity. Some examples of texts used in the past are: Mein Kampf, 120 Days of Sodom and Satanic Verses. This course is also reading intensive with over 100 pages of reading per week. If you have ANY reservations about taking this course, please select other options.
This FSEM section counts as an Honors-designated class.