THA 755, Death in the Literary Imagination: Love and Loss in Literature and Life, explores human experiences of loss as they are illustrated and treated in short works of American literature. This course will focus on both death losses and non-death losses as well as the ways in which responses to loss are complicated by privilege and inequality, developmental stage, and other losses. Through engagement with literary texts and peer writings, we will strive to attain the tools needed to navigate personal and professional lives in which complex webs of losses occur. Each of the texts we will read, analyze, and interpret is situated within the complexity of loss; responding to these texts will provide us with a greater understanding of loss in literature and in life, the spectrum of responses to loss, and the empathy required to approach the losses of those around us critically and with therapeutic skill. Many of the topics we discuss in class will be challenging, but by talking and writing on these topics in relation to literature, we can become more attuned and emotionally intelligent individuals and practitioners who value an “education for life.”
This is an intensive graduate seminar and is designed to maintain an empathic, student-centered virtual classroom. You will be held to high standards in terms of your commitment to the course and the work you produce; you will also be treated as a member of a learning community that shows respect for all values, beliefs, and experiences of its members.
- Teacher: Sara Murphy