This course “covers techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, and film. [It] examines such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense.”



And how will we accomplish this? We will learn to focus on key details and relevant contexts by practicing close reading and contextualizing techniques. The goal of such work is not to “pick apart” literature, but to approach its content meaningfully and intelligently in order to read its cultural and aesthetic engagement to the fullest.



This class offers a "W" credit. This means that course participants will be expected to produce a total of 10-15 pages of formal, academic writing which has gone through a cycle of instructor feedback and revision. This requirement will be met with two 5-7 page essays over the course of the quarter. Participants will also be responsible for a number of free-write assignments throughout the quarter and active participation in class activities and discussion. We will cover some formal academic writing technique in this class, but please keep in mind that this is not a full writing course. Though prior composition credits are not prerequisite, such experience will be to your distinct advantage.

Course “readings” will likely include some or all of the following texts (well, probably not all):

Prose: “Bartleby the Scrivener,” “The Dead,” “The Library of Babel,” The Sound & the Fury, Mrs. Dalloway, Slaughterhouse-Five, Things Fall Apart, If upon a winter’s night a traveler, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Apex Hides the Hurt

Film: Three Colors Red, Talk to Her, Mulholland Drive, Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Pulp Fiction

Drama: The Importance of Being Ernest, Waiting for Godot, No Exit, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Poetry: “The Miller’s Tale” & “The Reeve’s Tale,” selections from The Inferno, “The Raven,” “The Rape of the Lock”