Ways of Reading: Imitation and the Real Thing
ENGL 201V
Spring 2025 not offered
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Are artworks imitations of "the real world," or are they "real things" in themselves? And what happens when one artwork imitates another? This Ways of Reading course explores the relationship between artistic representation and the reality it tries to capture, paying particular attention to what happens when literature engages with other kinds of art. We'll read variations of the Pygmalion myth--in which an artist falls in love with his creation and it comes to life--across a range of genres: poems, short fiction, novels, plays, and film. We'll also turn to various forms of literary critical inquiry, from close reading to psychoanalytic theory, and various kinds of historicism to ask how these depictions imagine the act of artistic creation and the kind of truth-claims that literature makes. Along the way, we'll think about the ways that these meditations on the mediated nature of literature--depictions of the relationship between the art objects and the world, the act of reflection, copying, or imitation--are used to imagine social difference, including questions of class, gender, race, and national identity. Throughout the course, we'll be paying attention to the ways that texts construct and convey meaning. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENGL) |
Major Readings:
Readings may include work by Mary Shelley, Henry James, Ovid, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Lacan, Freud, Barbara Johnson, and Sianne Ngai, visual art, and two films.
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Examinations and Assignments:
4-5 essays, ranging from brief close readings to 5-6 page essays |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This is the gateway course to the ENGL major. Priority enrollment will be given to prospective English majors during Drop/Add. Course will be taught by Professor Sierra Eckert. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
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