ENGL 2705

The Idea of Hospitality I: From Ancient Times to the Present

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2019-2020.

Do we have a duty to make strangers feel at home? Should we give others welcome even when they seem alien and threatening? And how does it feel to be homeless, cast out—refused hospitality? These questions have a long history, from ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible to debates about immigration in our own time. The first half of the course, which can be taken as a separate 2-credit course, will track this idea from ancient times to the modern period, bringing together literary and religious texts and visual art; the second half, also offered as a 2-credit unit, will focus on treatments of hospitality in fiction, film, and other media in our own time, including Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Stephen Frear's film, Dirty Pretty Things.

When Offered Spring (weeks 1-7).

Comments This course can be taken on its own or can be joined with ENGL 2706 for an additional 2 credits.

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