Radical Fictions: Protests, Refuge, Revolution

The key premise of this course is to ask: Why are successful revolutions so difficult to imagine in contemporary literature? Minority authors often depict social movements, which strive to install those who were previously oppressed into positions of power and self-determination, to varying degrees of fulfillment. From historical precedents (the Black Power movement) to speculative societies that exclude men (feminist utopias), we will examine literary representations of political movements, refuges, and revolutions defined by power reversals. What can we learn from their shortcomings as much as their successes? Theoretical works include: Hegel, Marx, Fanon, Hannah Arendt, Valerie Solanas, and the Combahee River Collective. Authors include: Ralph Ellison, Danzy Senna, Paul Beatty, Susan Choi, Don Lee, R. O. Kwon, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 3 hrs. sem.