Where Does Grief Go?
General
Course Long Title
Where Does Grief Go?
Subject Code
FPFV
Course Number
463
Department(s)
Academic Level
UG - Undergraduate
Description
WHERE DOES GRIEF GO?
A brief glimpse of beauty, / A daydream of wayward
lives and / extraordinary experiments / A taste of
memory in the flesh.
The voice of Andre 3000 will be our guide as he
sings a mournful dirge for his parents and we
consider the following question: What happens at
the intersection between theory, criticism, and
poetry? The melancholic strum of Alice Coltrane's
harp and Magdalene Odundo's sublime ceramic
sculptures will draw us forward and backward. The
tenor of Christina Sharpe's voice will anchor us
as she tactfully considers if a photograph is a
vessel. "What is or should or could a vessel be in
times of refusal and resistance?" As Andre 3000
hums, we'll be swept into what Kamau Brathwaite
calls the "psychic night", an infinite vista where
language and fantasy coalesce into a familiar
memorial expanse. There are multiple ends of the
world depicted here, as well as multiple
beginnings. Where do these moments reside and how
will they transform over time? The class is a
testament to life's banal impressions and
nostalgic echoes, to love's chaotic pendulum, and
death's immersive blueness, to cosmic, lived, and
imaginary experiences; to "all breeds of
knowledge" as Rickey Laurentiss so tenderly put
it. The real phenomena of loss is both the
inventory of what no longer exists and the
impossible measure of what survives.
The course will explore the boundaries of
experimental storytelling and the possibilities of
language by surfing between poetic and theoretical
modalities, articulated by Denise Ferreira Da
Silva as "different yet inseparable fields of
personal expression." Each week we'll study a
different network of ideas by which convention has
been re-ordered through expressive (and often
defiant) approaches to form, style, rhythm, and
delivery. During the semester students will be
encouraged to reflect on their relationship to
these forms of writing, discuss ideas with the
class, and craft their own myths, essays, and
songs. Assignments include regular writing in
response to course materials, a critical review
and/or presentation of a related artwork, proposal
for an experiment/artistic project related to
central course concepts.
A brief glimpse of beauty, / A daydream of wayward
lives and / extraordinary experiments / A taste of
memory in the flesh.
The voice of Andre 3000 will be our guide as he
sings a mournful dirge for his parents and we
consider the following question: What happens at
the intersection between theory, criticism, and
poetry? The melancholic strum of Alice Coltrane's
harp and Magdalene Odundo's sublime ceramic
sculptures will draw us forward and backward. The
tenor of Christina Sharpe's voice will anchor us
as she tactfully considers if a photograph is a
vessel. "What is or should or could a vessel be in
times of refusal and resistance?" As Andre 3000
hums, we'll be swept into what Kamau Brathwaite
calls the "psychic night", an infinite vista where
language and fantasy coalesce into a familiar
memorial expanse. There are multiple ends of the
world depicted here, as well as multiple
beginnings. Where do these moments reside and how
will they transform over time? The class is a
testament to life's banal impressions and
nostalgic echoes, to love's chaotic pendulum, and
death's immersive blueness, to cosmic, lived, and
imaginary experiences; to "all breeds of
knowledge" as Rickey Laurentiss so tenderly put
it. The real phenomena of loss is both the
inventory of what no longer exists and the
impossible measure of what survives.
The course will explore the boundaries of
experimental storytelling and the possibilities of
language by surfing between poetic and theoretical
modalities, articulated by Denise Ferreira Da
Silva as "different yet inseparable fields of
personal expression." Each week we'll study a
different network of ideas by which convention has
been re-ordered through expressive (and often
defiant) approaches to form, style, rhythm, and
delivery. During the semester students will be
encouraged to reflect on their relationship to
these forms of writing, discuss ideas with the
class, and craft their own myths, essays, and
songs. Assignments include regular writing in
response to course materials, a critical review
and/or presentation of a related artwork, proposal
for an experiment/artistic project related to
central course concepts.