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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
The Bible is unmatched in its influence on African American literary and cultural traditions. No other book has inspired such a broad scope of oral and written work. From explorations of the Exodus narrative to the Gospel writers' parables of Jesus, this course examines the way Hebrew and Christian biblical texts have inspired African American artists. Beginning with oral traditions such as spirituals and sermons, students then consider the Bible's role in scribal literacy and political discourse, and conclude with its impact on contemporary writers. Students combine interpretation of biblical texts and course readings with literary/cultural theory and criticism. Prerequisite(s): one 100-level English or African American studies course. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. (Critical thinking.) [W2] Staff.
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3.00 Credits
This course offers an interdisciplinary and experiential approach to the study of New Orleans, the most African city in continental North America. The goal of the course is to understand the impact of place on culture and aesthetic practices, learn how institutions represent New World and creole transformations of Africanity, and introduce students to historical and contemporary debates about African influences in the United States. Students examine cultural memory, questions of power, and definitions of cultural terrain as expressed in literature, art, music, and architecture. In addition to attending the seven-day Jazz and Heritage Festival, students visit various sites of literary, cultural, and historical significance to New Orleans. Recommended background: a course in African American studies offered in English, music, rhetoric, or African American studies. Not open to students who have received credit for English/Rhetoric s29. Not open to students who have received credit for EN/RH s29. Enrollment limited to 16. Instructor permission is required. C. Nero, Staff.
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3.00 Credits
Colloquia introduce students to the study of literature from a variety of perspectives, with a focus on such objects as author, genre, and literary period. These courses not only delve into their particular subject matter, they also allow a preliminary discussion of critical vocabulary and methods that will carry over into more advanced courses. Discussion and frequent writing assignments characterize each section. Prospective majors are urged to take at least one colloquium. Enrollment limited to 25 per section.
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3.00 Credits
Medieval literature is famous for its monsters and magicians: from the dragon of Beowulf to the fairies of romance and the Merlin of the Arthur story, supernatural beings play a significant role in the plot and purpose of narratives from the Middle Ages. Likewise, in modern stories about the Middle Ages (especially Tolkien's), magicians and monsters figure prominently. This course explores the multiple meanings and effects related to this population of supernatural beings; students consider how and why such creatures appear in the texts and how they help to define the genre of medievalism. They read a number of medieval texts (in modern English translation) and a sampling of modern texts about the Middle Ages. Enrollment limited to 25 per section. S. Federico.
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3.00 Credits
Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams constitute a solid American modernist grain in twentieth-century poetry. Thorough reading of their work lets us question their surprising affinities and differences: What did each poet take to be the place and function of poetry Does the regional/parochial flavor in Frost's work enhance or limit its impact To what extent are we justified in deeming Stevens a philosophical poet Does Williams's materialist aesthetic limit the range of his work, or deepen its impact What vision of life in America does each seem to offer Students may consider the work of tutelary ancestors, competitors, and critics, but the focus is on comprehensive reading, writing, and discussion of these poets' poems, early and late. Enrollment limited to 25 per section. R. Farnsworth.
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3.00 Credits
Reading a selection of fiction and poetry by the three Bront sisters, as well as critical essays about them, students consider questions of authorial intention, and discuss the relation between literature and history in the Victorian period. Particular attention is paid to the Bront s' representations of gender and class, and to the interrelations between these social categories. Not open to students who have received credit for First-Year Seminars 306. Enrollment limited to 25 per section. L. Nayder.
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3.00 Credits
A critical study of the variegated terrain of American poetry in the twenty-first century. Readings include mainstream and experimental poetic works, critical works, and commentary. Students use music, film, and visual art to reflect on unique themes and novel directions for poetry in this century. Written work includes short response papers and a longer essay. Students also produce a small sample of poems in order to better grasp questions concerning the craft of poetry. Enrollment limited to 25. R. Strong.
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3.00 Credits
Focusing on the monstrous figures of nineteenth-century fiction, this course explores their cultural meaning for Victorians as well as ourselves, examining their ongoing fascination and purpose-their relation to changing conceptions of the marginal and "other" and to social norms and their violation. Students consider the tie between the monstrous or "unnatural" and the threat of class revolt, sexual "deviance," and imperial rise and fall. Readings include Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and The War of the Worlds, as well as contemporary revisions of these works in novels and films. Enrollment limited to 25. L. Nayder.
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3.00 Credits
A study of the short story and novella as characteristic twentieth-century genres, with a brief introduction to works in the nineteenth century. The course focuses on both "classic" and contemporary texts by writers selected from among Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, W. Somerset Maugham, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Doris Lessing, David Lodge, Bernard Malamud, Susan Sontag, Susan Minot, and David Leavitt. Students also have the opportunity to experiment with writing a short story. Enrollment limited to 25 per section. L. Shankar.
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3.00 Credits
This introductory course considers the motif of being stranded on a deserted island in literary and cultural texts from Shakespeare to the present. It traces the ways in which certain mythic figures, most notably Robinson Crusoe, strive to rebuild society in its absence or choose to "go native." A key focus is the relation between this recurrent fantasy and historical or political concerns: What do such island myths tell us about a given culture's conceptions of race, class, nation, gender, or sexuality Enrollment limited to 25. T. Nickel.
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