They hurt so good. A single gesture from your crush can spark an untamable wildfire of awe, curiosity, lust, confusion, denial, hope, resentment, embarrassment, and/or despair inside you. This literature seminar celebrates the dramatic frivolity of crushes while exploring the ways crushing relates to artmaking, identity formation, and gender dynamics. Because crushes are often associated with adolescence, especially one involving a fluffy pen and diary, they are not taken seriously. But we all know that obsession can inspire great works of art. We will also consider the queer conflation of desire and identification, encapsulated by the evergreen question, “Do I want to be with them or be them?” Finally, we will expand our discussion to celebrity crushes and parasocial relationships. As a class we will read works by Annie Ernaux, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Roland Barthes, Patricia Highsmith, T Kira Madden, Hanif Abdurraqib, Adrienne Rich, and more. Students will practice engaging in substantial in-class discussions; creating unique and critical connections to studied texts; and writing