A specific form of literary doubling will be addressed in this seminar: that of twinship. Twins – identical and fraternal – have fascinated natural scientists and cultural scholars alike. This is an introductory foray into literary fictions encompassing different cultural contexts, where twins are the main protagonists, who in their doubleness, address abstract concepts like the Self and the Other, the disabled and the able-bodied, good and evil, spirituality and corporeality among other things.
Students are required to have acquired the novels and read them before the class takes place. Do consider getting the text editions provided below to facilitate text references in class. A reader will be made available.
- Helen Oyeyemi. White is for Witching. Picador. 2009.
- Diana Evans. 26a. Vintage. 2006.
- Audrey Niffenegger. Her Fearful Symmetry. Scribner. 2009.
- Zadie Smith. White Teeth. Penguin Open Market Edition. 2000.
