The intention of this course is to offer techniques and practice reading and enjoying literature. Specifically, we will explore approaches to literature that emphasize what is said in the text itself rather than what it "symbolizes" or its "deeper meaning." To help us, we will read a selection of texts that, just like we will, grapple with the task of interpretation and the stakes of reading as they bear on our experience of reality.

Texts will likely include Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, H.D., T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein, James Agee, Mark Danielewski, and Paul Auster.

Requirements will include 2, 5-7 page papers, occasional short writing tasks, and active participation in class and in online discussion groups. This class fulfills both VLPA and W credits.

Texts:

• Paul Auster. City of Glass. [10: 0140097317]
• Mark Danielewski. House of Leaves. [10: 0375703764]
• Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter. [10:0743487567]
• James Agee and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. [10: 0618127496]

Course Pack with essays, excerpts, poetry, etc.