Building on LL104, this course explores the founding myths and governing metaphors of island literature. It examines the special role of islands in various imaginative, philosophical and historical accounts?islands as spaces inspiring narratives of fantastic voyages and encounters with fabulous creatures; islands as locations for projecting idyllic worlds and communities; islands as testing-grounds for utopian and dystopian projects. Students will explore the role of the castaway myth in conceptions of the sovereign European subject, and its complex presence in colonial and postcolonial texts.
- Lecturer: Anurag Subramani