498. WRITTEN ON THE BODY: THE TATOOED BODY IN PLATH, O'CONNOR, MCCRACKEN

Thomas Fahy

(A Special Session via Zoom)

Tattoos continue to be a controversial artform, raising questions about the body and self-expression. This class explores some provocative examples of tattooing in twentieth-century American fiction. After beginning with a history of tattooing in America and its relationship to religion, patriotism, and eroticism, we will examine the way writers have used tattoos to comment on the art of storytelling itself. How can we better understand the stigma associated with tattooing and its ambivalent place in contemporary life? How do these works help us think about the body and sexuality? How do they use tattoos to comment on American culture and what it means to be American?

10:00 – 12 noon                                                                                                                         2 Sessions

Fridays, October 3 and October 10                                                                                           Fee:  $60

Note: A Zoom Link will be sent to you at least one day prior to the first day of class and again on a weekly basis prior to each successive class.

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Thomas Fahy is a nonfiction writer, novelist, and professor of literature and creative writing. His most recent book, The Life of the Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald, is being released in the fall of 2025. He has also published essays on everything from Paris Hilton and 1980s vampire films to contemporary television and theater. His works have been translated into several languages, and he has been interviewed by the Associated Press, Salon, and other publications, as well as radio hosts in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Malaysia. He was recently featured in a documentary about Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood for Arte Television and on the BBC radio program “Literary Pursuits.” When he is not writing, Dr. Fahy performs regularly as a classical pianist with the New York Paino Society and has appeared in recent concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, and other venues in New York City. He has a degree in music from the University of California, Davis, and he served as an adjunct professor of piano at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for several years before moving to New York. He is a fascinating and dynamic teacher who is able to bring his wide interdisciplinary knowledge to whatever the subject.