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. We will cover some formal academic writing technique in this class, but please keep in mind that this is not fundamentally a writing course. Though prior
composition credits are not prerequisite, such experience will be to your distinct advantage.

NOTE: This class is "A-term" only. Though we will have an equivalent number
of class hours as full-term summer courses, there will be less time between
classes for you to complete out of class work. As a result, the writing and
reading load over these four and a half weeks will be very intense and very
fast-paced.

Course readings will likely include the following texts:

Prose: "Bartleby the Scrivener," "The Dead," The Sound & the Fury, Apex
Hides the Hurt

Film: Pulp Fiction

Drama: The Importance of Being Ernest, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
or Waiting for Godot

Poetry: "My Last Duchess" & "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"