This seminar is designed to provide English majors with intensive and closely supervised work in critical reading and writing. Although sections of the course may address any literary question, period, or genre, they all provide an introduction to critical and methodological problems in literary studies.

We will read Moby-Dick slowly and scrupulously, immersing ourselves in Melville’s extraordinary prose and assessing the book’s literary, historical, and biographical contexts; the 20th- and 21st-century critical traditions it has generated; narrative theory relevant to understanding Melville’s literary experiments; and the presence of the book in global culture. Course requirements include oral presentations and two essays (5-7 pages and 8-10 pages). See also https://english.berkeley.edu/courses/7234

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills