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POLI 440

Literature and Politics

3 credits · Undergraduate

Not stated; curriculum sample 2026–2027 (curriculum proposal)

Topics

  • Storytelling and political analysis
  • Justice and government
  • Political culture
  • Literature as political criticism
  • Public-policy consequences

Readings

  • Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal. Houghton Mifflin, 2012, pp. xi–xvii, 1–20, 117–138, 156–176.
    Required
  • Albert Camus, The Plague, translated by S. Gilbert. Vintage reprint, 1991.
    Required
  • Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, translated by M. Heim. Harper Perennial reprint, 2016.
    Required
  • Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. Oxford World’s Classics, 2019.
    Required
  • Required film: Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol (1997).
    Listed reading
  • Required film: Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan (2000); source prints “Momento.”
    Listed reading
Sources