Reading Political Fiction

This course will attempt to confront the question of political fiction in its broadest scope by reading texts at the two ends of the spectrum: the majesty of W.E.B Du Bois's epic style in his final fiction: the Black Flame Trilogy; and the disseminated incoherence reactive to extreme violence in Diamela Eltit's The Fourth World, for which we will have her friend Jean Franco's The Rise and Fall of the Lettered City as critical support.  Together, we will also try to think of our reading practice as required by the texts, rather than a means to control them.  Class presentations will be focused on documentary research.  The final colloquium will be focused on attracting the imaginative attention of classmates as audience.