12:20p-1:10p MWF (25) 3 cr.

COAS INTENSIVE WRITING SECTION. OPEN TO MAJORS ONLY. DECLARED MINORS OBTAIN AUTHORIZATION FROM BH402.

So you want to be an English major? This class will introduce you to the debates, issues, and expectations that govern literary studies today. We will explore the role of the literary critic, his or her relationship to the text, the writer, other readers, and the world at large. Similarly, we will consider the various uses of literary criticism and the different political purposes that criticism has served over time. We will also focus on currents in contemporary theory, looking carefully at how ethnicity, race, class, and gender can affect writing and reading. Students will develop the basic skills of textual analysis by working closely with poetry, short stories, novels, films, and plays. Readings will include literature produced in unfamiliar contexts, which will serve to challenge and expand already familiar resources. Students will hone their research and writing abilities by exploring various strategies toward completing both short and long papers. They will work individually and in groups, with exercises, outlines, drafts, and presentations.

You can expect that most readings will come from the twentieth century. Extended readings will likely include work by James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Salman Rushdie, and Irvine Welsh. For the later part of the semester, we will select as a class several contemporary texts for study.