Scribner Seminar Program
Course Decription
Extraordinary Bodies
Instructor(s): Susannah Mintz, English
What makes a body “extraordinary,” and why do bodies that don’t 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 “freaks” or “monsters” tell us about prevalent
social attitudes toward the body and identity, health and mortality, gender and sexuality.
We’ll 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’ll
explore the boundaries of the “normal,” and consider the ways in which we are all
only temporarily “able-bodied."
Course Offered: