RFLA 100H 07 - Gruesome Anatomy (CRN 10759)

The minute focus of a medical examiner during autopsy; the seductive cry of the carnival barker asking you to, “Step right in”; the varied ways in which doctors, both real and fictional, repurpose corpses for new ends; each of these acts associated with bodies is surprisingly similar to the skills of reading and writing well. In this course, we’ll read about bodies at all kinds of extremes: from medical cadavers, to murder victims, to freak show performers. In the process, we will learn to think differently and more critically about reading by analyzing texts that are themselves strange, often both in subject matter and style.