PLEASE NOTE: THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

This course studies contemporary novels and films that engage the question of the ethics of sympathy. More particularly, this course will study whether the empathy stimulated by literary works has beneficial humanitarian consequences. We will study works whose aim is to arouse our sympathy for characters and novels that resist emotional engagement. We will read and discuss novels by such authors as Silko, Butler, Ondaatje, Naylor, Vonnegut, Walker, Kingsolver, Allison. We will also study and analyze films such as Erin Brocovitch, Pan's Labyrinth, Crash, Fight Club, Passionfish, Magnolia, Terms of Endearment, Steel Magnolias.

The course will be conducted entirely on line.