Banned Books

When are books considered too dangerous to read? This course explores this question by reading across a wide range of banned texts, from George Orwell's 1984 to Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Art Speilgman's Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel Maus. Our aim is to understand the potency attributed to literature as a form of political influence and social instruction. By the end of the term, students will have a broader understanding of the role that literature—and by extension the humanities as a whole—has played in political struggles over cultural representation, historical memory, identity, and democratic debate.