Moby-Dick and CLR James: Class and Democracy [6-weeks, $300 Suggested]

Instructor: Andrews | Tuesdays January 10-February 14 | 5:30-7:30 PM ET | ONLINE

In 1952, while detained on Ellis Island as a “foreign subversive,” the great Marxist historian CLR James–most famous for his analysis of the Haitian Revolution–wrote not a manifesto or political treatise, but instead, a work of literary criticism. Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways: Herman Melville and the World We Live In considers the work of the 19th century author Herman Melville, and especially his classic Moby-Dick, as crucial political texts for understanding the promises, possibilities, and failures of class struggle in and as democracy. And James is far from the only writer to see Melville as a political theorist. Why has Moby-Dick proven to be such a fruitful work–long beyond the 19th century–for thinking about the world we live in? Over the course of six weeks, we will read Melville’s Moby-Dick in its entirety, alongside Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways. We will also engage with ongoing cultural representations and interpretations of Moby-Dick across the last two centuries. We will focus on the experimental capacities of both the novel and its criticism for enabling social experimentation and new social possibilities. Particular attention will be paid to questions of democracy, class, race, gender, and sexuality.
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For each class, four (4) full tuition scholarships and five (5) 80% tuition scholarships are available. Due to limited scholarship funds, we are currently only able to offer one class per term at the full scholarship level to any individual student—if you need a full scholarship, please sign up for the class you most want to take and email us to waitlist for any additional classes. We will add you when funds become available. Direct student donations are a crucial aspect of our funding model, and without them, we are not able to pay instructors a living wage. We encourage you to pick the payment tier that corresponds with your needs, but ask that you please consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.

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