GLBT Lit Class, Chicago Area

Know anyone in the Chicago area looking for a lit class at a community college? I found this on the Newpages blog and just had to cross-post. The syllabus makes me want to take the class myself!

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Dear folks–

I want to ask you to let friends know about the Gay & Lesbian Lit class I am teaching at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago. As you know, word of mouth about classes like these tend to fill their seats, so any publicity you can give the class would be really appreciated. You can forward this message to people who would be interested, post it on your MySpace page or blog, etc.

Let me know if there’s anything I can do that will help promote the course.

Cheers,
Dr. Aldo Alvarez
English Department
Wilbur Wright College

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Dear Students:

This is just a short note to let you know that we are offering a new literature course for Spring 2008.

Literature 153: Gay & Lesbian Literature offers a survey of novels, plays and graphic novels by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered authors. This course introduces students to a literature based on LGBT themes, to practical approaches to the determination of literary meaning, and to the concerns of literature in general.

This course will be taught by Dr. Aldo Alvarez, an expert in LGBT literature with a Ph. D. in English from SUNY-Binghamton and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University of the City of New York. Dr. Alvarez is the author of INTERESTING MONSTERS (Graywolf Press), a collection of short stories, and the founder of *Blithe House Quarterly: queer fiction lives here*, which for ten years was the preeminent literary magazine for LGBT-themed short fiction by emerging and established authors.

Lit 153 is *fully transferable* as a humanities elective to any four year college. As you may know, humanities electives make you a more appealing candidate for a four year school so this is a great opportunity for you to diversify your student course portfolio. This course can also be taken by students currently attending other schools who want to take advantage of the reasonable tuition per credit hour available at Wilbur Wright College. The only prerequisite is eligibility or completion of English 101 or consent from the English Department chairperson.

This is the information you need to register for this course online at https://my.ccc.edu/.

56541 – Lit 153 – Section E – M/W 11 AM – 12:20 PM — A210 — Alvarez

If you require help, you may register in person on campus.

These are seven texts we will be reading in Lit 153: Gay & Lesbian Literature on Spring 2008:

— FUN HOME: a family tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (Graphic Novel) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_Home

— A SINGLE MAN by Christopher Isherwood (novel) : http://www.glbtq.com/literature/isherwood_c,3.html

— ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT by Jeanette Winterson (novel) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranges_are_not_the_only_fruit

— ANGELS IN AMERICA: A Gay fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner (two plays) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_america

— CHINA MOUNTAIN ZHANG by Maureen McHugh (novel) : http://my.en.com/~mcq/cmz.html

— KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN by Manuel Puig (novel) : http://www.enotes.com/kiss-spider/

— BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA by Dorothy Allison (novel) : http://www.enotes.com/bastard-out/

Lit 153: Gay and Lesbian Literature course will not be offered again for *another four years*. If this course appeals to you, NOW is the time to register for it.

Please contact me at aalvarez@ccc.edu if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Dr. Aldo Alvarez
English Department
Wilbur Wright College