ENGL3703 · English

Performing Identity on Page and Stage

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Fulfills the pre-1900 requirement.. Who do we think we are? Are we who we're born to be, or who we perform, or some combination of the two? How does literature help us work through these questions by enabling us to think beyond ourselves? In this course, we will situate a range of philosophies about identity and the self into literary and historical contexts. We will consider the intersections among race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and status or class presented in our texts. We will also critically examine modern cultural forms that people use to negotiate and understand their identities, including genealogy websites, ethnicity DNA tests, and personality tests like the Enneagram and the Meyers Briggs scale. The reading list includes work by Aphra Behn, Daniel Defoe, Olaudah Equiano, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, George Bernard Shaw, and Jeanette Winterson.