Reading the New Latin American Weird
Your Instructor
PhD in Comparative Literature
Harvard University
I am a reader, writer, and lover of the Weird. I am from Hartford, Connecticut where I earned my bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Language and Culture Studies. I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I hold a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures Department from Harvard University, where I taught in the Spanish and French sections. My scholarship explores how speculative narratives disrupt conventional frameworks of interpersonal relation and invite us to grapple with difference. My passion is to hunt what haunts me, and to share what I find with others.
What you'll learn
Participants will be able to read and interpret English translations of speculative fiction stories by Latin American authors, given online access to all required texts.
Participants will demonstrate interpretive and critical ability through weekly short responses of between 250-300 words. These responses will not be graded but are required for discussion.
Participants will gain or strengthen an appreciation for Weird fiction outside of anglophone canons, as well as develop new interpretative habits in the form of questions to the text.
Course Schedule
Week 1 — Defining the Weird
Framing questions: What is literary genre? What do we mean by defamiliarization?
Focus: Horacio Quiroga, “The Feather Pillow”; Jorge Luis Borge, “Three Stories”; Clarice Lispector, “Monkeys”
Further Reading: Victor Shklovsky, “Art as Technique”
Working definitions
The limits of genre labels
What You Get
Live interactive sessions
Engage in real-time discussions with expert instructors
Small discussion groups
Up to 15 students for personalized attention
Session recordings
Review and revisit class content anytime
Dedicated platform
Track progress and organize your schedule
Frequently asked questions
Your Instructor
PhD in Comparative Literature
Harvard University
I am a reader, writer, and lover of the Weird. I am from Hartford, Connecticut where I earned my bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Language and Culture Studies. I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I hold a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures Department from Harvard University, where I taught in the Spanish and French sections. My scholarship explores how speculative narratives disrupt conventional frameworks of interpersonal relation and invite us to grapple with difference. My passion is to hunt what haunts me, and to share what I find with others.