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.

The short story form has been foundational to the historical development of Asian American literature. After the invention of "Asian American" as a category for political coalition in the late 1960s, editors, literary scholars, and publishers have retrospectively claimed a large archive of pre-1960s stories as key elements of the textual coalition now known "Asian American literature." The twenty-first century has also seen an explosion of authorial practice and readerly interest in the short story as a contemporary literary form. This course will focus on close readings of, and frequent writing about, selections from this vast archive.

Readings will be available via a printed course reader.

This class satisfies the Literatures in English Major Requirement

https://english.berkeley.edu/major-requirements

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills