Training in writing expository prose. Further instruction in expository writing in conjunction with reading literature. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

A course in the history of a feeling, a diagnosis, and an idea: melancholy. More than a feeling, as well as a feeling of no-feeling, "melancolia" also a describes a relation to the world of objects, to time, labor, others and oneself. We will trace this multi-faceted concept from the melancholy-craze of Early Modern England to its contemporary persistence, and across the discourses that shaped and were shaped by it: art, medicine, literature, race, politics. Our goal will be to understand why and how this idea came to operate so widely, and to explore works of art and literature which embody, refuse, or reframe the melancholic disposition. The core of the course will be the practice of formal analysis, reading and understanding scholarship in the humanities, seminar-style discussion of texts in class, and the production of several substantial essays incorporating scholarly research. Students will also be immersed in the practice of writing through less formal modes, including short weekly reading-responses – remaining vigilant, however, that to lose oneself under a heap of papers and books is itself to risk a melancholic turn.

Requisites

• Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills