COML 3730

Literature of the Outlaw

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2015-2016.

The course draws on the world's storehouse of writing, song, and film about bandits, pirates, malingerers, revolutionary appropriators, and other defectors from the sacral order of property. Loyalty and betrayal will concern us, as will the melancholy relationship of outlawry and the passing of historical eras.  Aesthetics, ethics, and political economy will guide our enquiries. We'll study several tellings of the legend of Robin Hood, as well as Kleist, Michael Kohlhaas; Kemal, Memed, My Hawk; Genet, The Thief's Journal; Akutagawa, "Rashomon" and "In a Grove"; Kurosawa, Seven Samurai;  Americo Paredes, With His Pistol in His Hand ; narcocorridos; the Jamaican film The Harder They Come; and Jim Jarmusch's film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.  Students will have the opportunity to develop one essay around an outlaw figure of their choice.  All readings in English.

When Offered Fall.

Breadth Requirement (GHB)
Distribution Category (LA-AS)

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