How do loose bits of textual material transform into literary characters of heft and substance? How do we make sense of such characters beyond the most ordinary modes of identifying with or repudiating them? Before reflecting on the "rounded" characters familiar from the Victorian novel and more recent genres of writing, this course surveys ancient and early modern texts (with selections drawn from the Bible, Don Quixote, and the Shakespearean canon) for alternate models of the literary subject. We'll look at texts that deploy characters as embodiments of concepts or ideals before considering historical movements that have formed our taste for literary figures of flesh and blood. A focus on the implied people of texts requires an extended reckoning with social categories and ethical distinctions more generally. This course thus draws from the force of history as well as our day-to-day habits of deciphering the living characters all around us, directing this deep knowledge toward the searching - and, as participants should find, equal parts rigorous and exhilarating -experiments of textual interpretation.
3 units · Letter (ABCD/NP) · GER: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
How do loose bits of textual material transform into literary characters of heft and substance? How do we make sense of such characters beyond the most ordinary modes of identifying with or repudiating them? Before reflecting on the "rounded" characters familiar from the Victorian novel and more recent genres of writing, this course surveys ancient and early modern texts (with selections drawn from the Bible, Don Quixote, and the Shakespearean canon) for alternate models of the literary subject. We'll look at texts that deploy characters as embodiments of concepts or ideals before considering historical movements that have formed our taste for literary figures of flesh and blood. A focus on the implied people of texts requires an extended reckoning with social categories and ethical distinctions more generally. This course thus draws from the force of history as well as our day-to-day habits of deciphering the living characters all around us, directing this deep knowledge toward the searching - and, as participants should find, equal parts rigorous and exhilarating -experiments of textual interpretation.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.