Professor L. Bolton Spring 2015 In 1949, poet Muriel Rukeyser first published, The Life of Poetry, her treatise on the transformative valueand powerof poetry, as art. It is there that she argues, art is action, that art is intellectual, that art is not a world, but a knowing of the world. Art prepares us. For Rukeyser, Art is practiced by the artist and the audience, and, indeed, the experience of art not only applies to ones life, it is more than likely to lead you to thought or action, that is, you are likely to want to go further into the world, further into yourself, toward further experience. And in the case of Rukeysers art of poetry, it led her to Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, in 1936, where she initiated a literary poetics that documented the odious politics of Southern racism and the blatantly unethical practices of industrial greed. This seminar aspires to examine the path that Rukeysers work envisioned: to explore the efficacy of art in the pursuit of the ethical ideal of justice. We will ground our study in the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, pursuing the paradox that informs Levinasian ethics: how does a philosophy of generosity and hopefulness emerge from the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust? Having established a foundation for understanding what ethics entails, we will explore the efficacy of ethics as it informs the artistic event.
Professor Linda Bolton
Office: 462 EPB
Office Hours: Monday, 1-3 pm, Tuesday, 12:30-1:30 pm. And by appointment. Telephone: 335-041 or 335-0454 (messages) Email: linda-bolton@uiowa.edu English DEO: Jonathan Wilcox Email: jonathan-wilcox@uiowa.edu
Required Texts (available at Prairie Lights Bookstore)
Rukeyser, The Life of Poetry ----.Book of the Dead (scanned copy, please PRINT) Levinas, Totality and Infinity ----. Is It Righteous To Be? Derrida, Adieu To Emmanuel Levinas
Agamben, Remnants of Auschwitz
Levi, The Drowned and the Saved Amery, At The Minds Limits: Contemplation By A Survivor on Auschwitz and Its Realities Butler, Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? Momaday, House Made of Dawn Trethewey, Thrall Rankine, Citizen Smith and Place, Guantanamo Selected Essays provided by the Professor
Course Requirements (Specific Instructions for each component to be
Handed Out): Active and engaged participation in class discussions Preparatory participation in the ICON discussion site prior to each class meeting, which includes leading the discussion and responding to each weeks inquiries Critical response journalsome of which will be assigned as critical essays Annotated Bibliography of sources for your critical essay Proposal/Abstract of the essay Final Seminar Essay Grades: You will earn your best grade in this course by choosing to be a careful and astute listener-reader of the assigned texts and an intellectually engaged and respectful participant in class discussions. Class participation and Response Journal: 50% Annotated Bibliography, Proposal and Abstract: 25% Seminar Essay: 25% This Professor does utilize plus and minus grading, although the A+ grade will only be used to indicate rare and extraordinary academic achievement.
Schedule of Assigned Readings;
Iteration #1 1.22: Introductions; T&I, 33-52. 1.29: Levinas, T&I, 53-101 and 109-142 2/5; Levinas, T&I, 143-183 and 194-219 2.12: Levinas, T&I, 220-255 and Is It Righteous To Be?, 1-19 2.19: Levi, The Drowned and The Saved Amery, At the Minds Limit 2.26: Agamben, Remnants of Auschwitz Reznikoff, Poems (Hand Out) 3.5: Derrida, Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas 3.12: Levinas, Is It Righteous to Be? Spring Break 3.26: Rukeyser, The Life of Poetry ---. Book of the Dead (HO) 4.2: Momaday, House Made of Dawn 4.9: Trethewey, Thrall AND Klepfisz, Poems (HO) Bakhtin, Content, Material and Form in Verbal Art (HO) 4.16: Butler, Frames of War, Introduction and Ch. 1 & 2 AND Vizenor, Fugitive Poses (HO) 4.23: Butler, Frames of War, Ch. 3-5 AND Smith & Place, Guantanamo 4.30: Rankine, Citizen 5.7: TBA