9:30A-10:45A TR (25) 3 cr

COAS INTENSIVE WRITING SECTION

OPEN TO MAJORS ONLY. DECLARED MINORS OBTAIN AUTHORIZATION FROM
BH402.

This section will be organized around three questions:  What goes
on in the subject called English?  What is literature?  What are
the means by which we understand the texts we call literary?=20
During the semester we will consider some historical answers to
these questions:  what English has been in American schools and
universities; how people in the past defined and went about
understanding literature. But at the beginning, and for most of
the semester, we will concentrate on what people who study
English do now, what they think of as literary, and how and why
they make sense of the literature of the past and present.  We
will read poetry, a couple novels and a collection of short
stories, some plays, some autobiographical writing, and some
prose by scientists, writers on politics, travel, and education,
and others.  Students will write something every week -- a short
response paper, or a journal telling how they worked to make
sense of a text, or a summary of an essay relevant to the work of
the class.  They will use these short sketches to write a longer
(4-6 pages) paper every three weeks.  No examinations.
Recommended to students interested in secondary school or college
teaching.