1:25P-2:15P  MWF  (30) 3 cr
Topic: Writing Disaster

"When to write, or not to write makes no difference, then writing changes--whether it happens or
not; it is the writing of the disaster": so Maurice Blanchot speculated in his sometimes baffling,
sometimes edifying critical treatise THE WRITING OF THE DISASTER.  In this class we will
study the stresses placed on imaginative writing in relation to the disaster of slavery in
African-American history and the disaster of the Holocaust in Jewish history.  At least one of our
concerns will be the historical evolution of the relationship between Jewish and black
communities in twentieth-century America.

To approach what may often be deeply distressing, emotionally charged material will take
sensitivity, empathy, moral attentiveness to complex ethical issues and so we will read some
theoretical works to help us frame our critical dialogues about the dynamics of Othering: besides
Blanchot, we'll study snippets from Du Bois, Fanon, Levinas, Cornell West, and Elie Wiesel that
will be available in the reserve room or on handouts.  Most of the fiction we read will be
narratives composed by contemporary writers (Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick,
Art Spiegelman among the Jewish-Americans; David Bradley, Charles Johnson, Toni Morrison,
Shirley Anne Williams among the African-Americans). In addition, though, during the last part
of the class, students will be asked to find and focus on a poet, essayist, autobiographer,
musician, or visual artist who addresses issues of racism in a Jewish or black context or who
explores the interaction of African-American and Jewish-American cultural traditions.
Cross-over figures--black-defined Jews and Jewish-identified blacks--might be of special
interest; so might the cross-racial dynamics of influence in various aesthetic arenas.  This
independent project will result not only in a substantial final paper but also in a class
presentation.

Other requirements will include two in-class essays.