This course is a small, faculty-led seminar on the practice and discipline of literary analysis. It is meant for all students who seek an introductory literature course and would like to improve their ability to read and write critically, including those who may wish to major in English. Focusing on the close study of a few works, rather than a survey of many, the seminar will help students develop college-level skills for interpreting literature, while gaining awareness of different strategies and approaches for making sense of literary language, genres, forms, and contexts. The seminar also will develop students’ ability to write about literature and to communicate meaningfully the stakes of their analysis to an audience.

This course will teach you how to conduct original research in relation to literary texts and problems, beginning with formulating your own personal questions (what is it you really want to know?) and moving through the stages of information gathering and self-education, analysis and interpretation to the formulation of a rhetorical strategy for the presentation of your evidence in essays you can be proud of (and publish if you wish to). Undergraduate essays do not need to be busy work! Through a series of tiered assignments accompanied by opportunities for collaboration and productive critique, this class will aim to nurture your intellectual confidence and refine your innate curiosity, empowering you to make your work count for yourself and for the discipline in which you are engaged. Whether you are writing ordinary undergraduate essays, considering a senior thesis, hoping to win a library prize or write (eventually) a Ph.D. dissertation, the principles are the same, and they are ones you can learn and master—while having so much fun you won’t want to put your work down! Imagine that.

Book List:

Materials for this course will be provided electronically.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills