Why Literary History?
CHUM 317
Fall 2022
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 354 |
Why should poems, novels and plays written centuries ago engage our attention? Why should we care? And how have answers to these questions themselves changed over the course of literary history? We will dwell, in particular, on two key historical turning points: eighteenth-century Britain, when influential canonizing projects in print worked to define a native "English" tradition at the same time as the country pursued imperial expansion, and mid-twentieth-century America, when New Criticism institutionalized certain modes of reading historical literature just as English as a discipline was taking something like its modern shape. And, of course, we will grapple with the purposes, the pleasures, and the possibilities of literary history now. Throughout, we will also be attending to the practical work of doing literary history - students will work in Special Collections to produce their own edition of a historical text. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENGL) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
TBD
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Examinations and Assignments:
Presentation, frequent short response papers, edited text, and "Why Literary History Now?" concluding meditation paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to fulfillment of ENGL major requirements: Lit. History 2, British Lit., elective |
| Instructor(s): Smith,Courtney Weiss Times: ..T.... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: OLIN204; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 8 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 0 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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