Scribner Seminar Program
Course Decription
Extraordinary Bodies
Instructor(s): Susannah Mintz, English
What makes a body 鈥渆xtraordinary,鈥� and why do bodies that don鈥檛 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 鈥渇reaks鈥� or 鈥渕onsters鈥� tell us about prevalent
social attitudes toward the body and identity, health and mortality, gender and sexuality.
We鈥檒l 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, we鈥檒l
explore the boundaries of the 鈥渘ormal,鈥� and consider the ways in which we are all
only temporarily 鈥渁ble-bodied."
Course Offered: