Scribner Seminar Program
Course Decription
Extraordinary Bodies
Instructor(s): Susannah Mintz, English
What makes a body âextraordinary,â and why do bodies that donât fit established categories
seem to provoke fear, confusion, pity, or wonder? This course focuses on the literary
representation of bodies in some way disabled, disfigured, ill, or impaired. Our goal
will be to investigate what so-called âfreaksâ or âmonstersâ tell us about prevalent
social attitudes toward the body and identity, health and mortality, gender and sexuality.
Weâll investigate what symbolic meanings get attached to anomalous bodies, and how
these have shifted over time, and consider what happens when disabled authors write
their own stories. Reading drama, poetry, fiction, autobiography, and more, weâll
explore the boundaries of the ânormal,â and consider the ways in which we are all
only temporarily âable-bodied."
Course Offered: