What makes some literature so addictive, and what makes addiction literature—fiction and non-fiction works about addiction and recovery from addiction—so compelling as a genre? What makes us want to read about a father who can't practice compassionate detachment from his drug addicted son (such as in Beautiful Boy by David Sheff)? What draws us more to stories of addiction than to recovery (explored in The Recovering by Leslie Jamison)? And, finally, what makes us "hooked" on stories in general? (a focus of Hooked by Rita Felski)?
In this course we will explore these and other questions through careful literary and rhetorical analysis of addiction literature. Course texts will include excerpts from classic and contemporary texts on addiction that come from a diverse set of genres including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and memoir. Supplementary texts will include texts on composition, literary theory, and interpretation.