Reading & Composition

In this course we will ask what are political relations and how are these imagined in both political protocols and fictional texts. Central to our exploration of this topic will be distinctions between economic, private, and political relations and how these are understood in different historical moments. We will look at a diverse array of texts, both ancient and modern from different cultural traditions.

Assignments will include: short analytical responses and other writing assignments; occasional responses to other students’ work; 2 papers engaging texts studied in class. Papers will require a first draft and a revision

Books (required)

Sophocles, Antigone

Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

Tolstoy, Hadji Murat

Joseph Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Course Reader (Aristotle, Nizam al-Mulk, Hegel, Marx)

Film

Tom Tykwer, The International

Television

David Simon, The Wire