How is literature related to capitalism? How can one help us to understand the power of the other? This course examines their shared forms and overlapping histories. We will read literary works, accounts of capitalism as a social system and historical epoch, and criticism focused on the material basis of literature. Fiction will range from Balzac to Ling Ma. That trajectory shows the development of capitalism from the period of the industrial revolution in England to the complex supply chains of global capitalism in the present. Theorists will include Marx, Adorno, Brecht, Eric Williams, and Althusser. Issues will include the commodity form, the role of slavery and empire in the development of capitalism, class consciousness, structuralism, and neo-liberalism.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 25

Crosslisted Courses: CPLT 287

Prerequisites: None.

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Spring