5:45p-7:00p TR (25) 3 cr.

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

L202 introduces methods of close reading, critical analysis, and the enjoyments of reading. We'll learn how to write critical essays. The course aims at introducing various literary kinds or genres, including fiction, drama, and poetry. Our course will do that, and we'll also have a running set of general thematic orientations or concerns. These might be characterized as the "Don Quixote problem." We'll look at characters who read or use books, who are motivated by what they read, and who then try to go beyond their own reading. Novels in the course will include two by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This pairing gives us "romance" and "realism" in tandem, and it allows us to ask what common ground they share. In drama, we'll also deal with some bookish protagonists who make wider applications in the world. Texts will include Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare's The Tempest. We'll also read from a poetry anthology.

Students will write a series of brief informal working papers, plus four longer (6-plus pages). Regular attendance is expected. There will be a midterm and a final.