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.

This course will ask students to hone their critical reading and writing by zeroing in on cultural works from the United States that were published or in process in the year 1930. We will read at least 3 novels (As I Lay Dying, Black No More, and another undecided). We will also read other prose, plays, and comics and view cartoons, shorts, and feature films from 1930. Taking comedy in a broad sense, this course will also familiarize students with various theories of comedy, humor, jokes, laughter, etc. One of the central questions the course will ask is: What happens to the procedures of comedy in a time of crisis (the aftermath of the 1929 stock-market crash, the beginning of the Great Depression, the rumblings of the Second World War)? Students will write a series of short papers culminating in a longer research paper.

Book List:

As I Lay Dying (Vintage); Black No More (Penguin)

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