ENGL 316 - Banned Books

A study of books banned in the United States and/or elsewhere in the world. This course will examine the controversies that have surrounded these works and consider why historical and sociopolitical episodes led to acts of censorship. The course will interrogate arguments for and against free speech. What is intellectual freedom? How and why have various pressure groups protested? Should there be limits on a citizen’s freedom to read and/or publish work that does not accord with the religious or political beliefs of another person or interest group? Students will engage complex works of literature that have been called obscene, irreligious, racist, sexually explicit, and/or graphically violent. Writers to be studied may include Richard Wright, Vladimir Nabokov, Toni Morrison, Ken Kesey, Alison Bechdel, and Sherman Alexie.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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