GERST 1115

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GERST 1115
FWS: Sports Fanaticism

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2016-2017.

Sports are never just entertainment. They also create communities of fans – fanatics –with values and rituals that closely resemble religious movements. The guiding principle behind this writing seminar is that there is a relationship between the form of a particular sport – what happens on the field – and the fans it produces. The difference, then, between a Yankees and a Cowboys fan is not just a jersey, but a worldview. Students will practice academic writing skills by analyzing these worldviews as expressed in the books and films surrounding specific sports themselves. These will include Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, Phil Alden Robinson's Field of Dreams, and Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, as well as critical works by Immanuel Kant, Susan Sonntag, and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht.

When Offered Fall, spring.

Satisfies Requirement First-Year Writing Seminar.

Comments No knowledge of German is expected.

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17452 GERST 1115   SEM 101

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  • For more information about First-Year Writing Seminars, see the Knight Institute website at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute.