11:15a-12:30p TR (25) 3 cr.
COAS INTENSIVE WRITING SECTION. OPEN TO MAJORS ONLY. DECLARED MINORS
OBTAIN AUTHORIZATION
FROM BH442.
The College Bulletin describes L202 as a course in “the close analysis
of representative
texts (poetry, drama, and fiction).” The “close analysis” metaphor is
a powerful one and it
will shape a lot of what we will be doing in the course. But recent
criticism has shown us
that the “close” metaphor accounts for only a part of the reading
process. You can’t pay
attention to what is on the page without being aware of a wide range
of other texts which
inevitably shape your understanding of the text. And you can’t talk
about what is “on” the
page or “in” the text without also talking about the interpretative
acts performed by
readers.. We will be using terms like “narrative,” “metaphor,” and
“intertextuality” in
order to give students a sense of how English teachers understand what
it is that they do
when they read and interpret texts. Most of the texts will be short--
stories (by Hemingway,
Flannery O’Connor, Joyce, Stuart Dybek), poems (Keats, Frost, Richard
Wilbur, Blake, Hardy).
Later in the semester we will read two or three longer works, perhaps
a classic work like
Hamlet (in a Bedford Critical edition which includes
interpretations of the work
written in some representative contemporary critical languages). Last
time I taught the
course, students read Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire, a novel
which asks its readers to
perform interpretative gymnastics. I would be happy to make changes in
the reading:
prospective students are invited to make suggestions.
Course Requirements: I expect students to attend regularly and
participate in class
discussion. There will be frequent short papers and student
presentations as well as four
required papers, a midterm, and a final.