Ways of Reading: Writing in New England
ENGL 201M
Fall 2017 not offered
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Ways of Reading courses introduce students to the characteristics thought of as literary and the methods for studying them. This is a gateway course into the English major. Only one of the ENGL201 series may be taken for credit.
Ways of Reading courses develop strategies for careful and close reading, and techniques for the analysis of literary forms such as poetry and drama, and prose narratives such as novels and short stories. They familiarize students with some of the protocols of the literary-critical essay, examine the idea of literature as a social institution, and explore ways of connecting textual details and the world beyond the text. The ways of reading learned in the course are powerful tools for critically assessing discourses that expand far beyond the realm of literature. So while students will become adept literary critics, they also will learn quickly that to be a literary critic is to read critically and carefully all the time: in poems, novels, and plays, but also in political speech, in popular culture, and in the discourses that shape everyday life.
This course focuses on literature written by New Englanders from the 18th century to the present day. As we consider works of of poetry, memoir, drama, and fiction, we will consider the ways in which New England writers shaped the American literary tradition and developed lasting and transformative traditions of purposeful writing and politicized assessment. We will consider substantial literary movements such as transcendentalism; think together about the nature of realism, regionalism, and sentimentality; and discuss the power of gender, place, race, and religion in the writerly imagination. Reading and writing assignments will involve spirited close reading and careful textual analysis. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Louisa May Alcott, BEHIND A MASK
Andrew Delbanco, WRITING NEW ENGLAND: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE PURITANS TO THE PRESENT
Angelina Weld Grimke, RACHEL
Anita Shreve, FORTUNE'S ROCKS
Maria Stewart, AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK POLITICAL WOMAN WRITER
Henry David Thoreau, WALDEN
Louis Untermeyer, AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE NEW ENGLAND POETS: FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY
Harriet Wilson, OUR NIG
Phillis Wheatley, COLLECTED POEMS
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Examinations and Assignments:
TBA |
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