In this introduction to literary studies course, we will be reading poetry and fiction from fifteen British and American writers, with a focus on modern and contemporary literature. Among the authors included are Lucia Berlin, James Purdy, Somerset Maugham, Sylvia Plath, Patricia Highsmith, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Danez Smith. The course will emphasize issues of genre, reader-response, alternative worldviews, existential awareness, imaginative sympathy, and the relationship of lived experience to artistic expression. The coursework will consist of weekly short-answer quizzes and three assigned essays. This course will be taught via zoom online. The lecture-discussions also will be recorded and posted under the zoom tab on Canvas and it is possible to take the course entirely as an asynchronous course at your own pace, although bonus points will be available to those who attend and take the quizzes in real time.

 

This required course for the English major will introduce you to some of the major theoretical approaches to the interpretation of literature. The course will demonstrate how literary theory can be used as a tool illuminating aspects of the text. Throughout the semester, we will explore case studies pairing works of literature with key theories, attending to what these approaches reveal and conceal. In addition to practicing these skills through written analysis, you will present a conference style paper in response to a current call for papers in the field of literary studies. At the end of the semester, you should feel comfortable not only identifying the interpretive strategies of the major theoretical schools but applying them to texts.

 

Together, we’ll delve into myths and fairytales from around the world as well as retellings and adaptations of those stories. We’ll look at a range of myths and fairytales sources, from stories many are familiar with like Snow White or the story of Circe and Odysseus, to stories that may be less familiar like that of the Maya Hero Twins or the Celtic Tuatha Dé Danann. We will also compare contemporary adaptations of these myths and fairytales across time periods from Victorian era poetry to contemporary science fiction and fantasy. Most of our readings will be short stories and poetry, but we will also read two novels: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow.

 

In some senses as much a philosophy class as a literature class, this course will introduce you to the names and theories attached to many of the approaches currently taken to approaching literature from an analytic perspective. While the various theorists, philosophers, linguists, and psychoanalysts may not, in their own time, have had literature at the front of their minds, later literary scholars would borrow or adapt their theories: to such an extent that anyone studying literature at the graduate level today would be expected to be at least familiar with their basic arguments and how they might be used in a critical context. As such, we will read both the birth and development of more formalist literary criticism—from Matthew Arnold in the nineteenth century through the didactic-, New Critical-, and archetypal formalisms of the mid-twentieth century as well as works by seminal figures including Marx, Saussure, Freud, Benjamin, Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida whose inquiries surrounding language and the social contexts of literature continue to inform and determine approaches to literary analysis to this day.

 

Ethnic Studies Certificate

 

This course explores U.S. LatinX literatures with emphasis on Cuban-American, Puerto Rican and Mexican-American traditions. Over the course of the term, we will explore themes such as exile, resistance, assimilation, and transculturation. We will also explore the power of literature in shaping political presence and identity formation and will engage critical discussions on race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Students will attend to the dynamic interplay between literary forms such as autobiography, poetry, novels, film, &c. and intuit how these literary forms contribute to the vibrant portrayal of U.S. Latinidad. By reading works by authors such as Christina Garcia (Cuban), Arturo Islas (Chicano), Natalie Diaz (Mestiza), and Junot Diaz (Dominican), students will gain an understanding of the diverse voices that shape the Latino/a/x experience in America.

Ethnic Studies Certificate

In this course, we'll explore medieval women through historical documents that demonstrate the "standard" life cycles of women while questioning the very notion of a standard; early medieval penitentials & secular law codes; representations of “monstrous” women, such as Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation of Beowulf; ancient & medieval antifeminist writings that heavily influenced not only medieval culture but also our culture today; two of Geoffrey Chaucer’s pilgrims from The Canterbury Tales; a French proto-feminist treatise by Christine de Pizan; some religious prose and poetry by and for women, including the story of a Black Egyptian saint and a transgender saint; and more! Medieval women are not exactly what you expect, and sometimes they’re exactly what you expect. Just like women today, however, there is no one mold, nor should there be.