In this seminar, we join in consideration of our consciousness in the act of creation on and off the page, as a means and expression of revolution. We explore what a revolution in reading as writing and writing as reading means, in experience, for each of us; rather than relegating our understanding of consciousness to total mystery, the object of this class is to directly and indiscriminately read, and transcribe, our contents—thoughts, feelings, our experiences of fear, love, and so on—and to learn from what we write. The revolution, the reading of ourselves, or, as Gertrude Stein calls it, listening while talking to one’s self, is about how we relate to our own attention. In turn, we hope to understand how inward, individual revolution communicates with the masses and the struggles of the human being at large. We will start small and build toward reading our every thought and feeling over the course of the semester. Our first weeks focus on basic meditations coupled with foundational readings by Simone Weil, J. Krishnamurti and Corita Kent; then our exercises become more specific to the core texts and literature, which range in an interdisciplinary fashion from poetry to philosophy, religious and political writings, including work by Clarice Lispector, Etty Hillesum, Brandon Shimoda, Gertrude Stein, and Helen Keller, among others. At both middle and end of term, students will turn in written records of their practices along with reflections on the central questions and aims of the course.
Learning Outcomes:
To study the relationship between internal revolution and political revolution.
To understand who we are when we give our full attention to anything.
To look at something (or someone) as though you have never seen it before.
To muster the courage and personal motivations for finding out what we really think and feel about a text, a work of art, any perception or feeling.
To balance our purposive drive as thinkers with an emphasis on receptivity.
To explore contemplative approaches to reading and writing.
To emerge with a record of practice-based insights into the core questions of the course.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites:
Please submit a personal statement of interest and/or 3-4 poems and/or other creative writing via this form, by November 15, 2024. Students will be notified of acceptance into this class by November 19, 2024.
Corequisites: Students are required to attend all Literature Evenings and Poetry at Bennington events this term, commonly held at 7pm on most Wednesday evenings.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
M 1:40PM - 5:20PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 15
Course Frequency: One time only
Categories: 4000 , All courses , Four Credit , Fully In-Person , Literature
Tags: consciousness , creative writing , experimentation , literature , reading , revolution , transformation , writing