Time Schedule:
Jennifer W Atkinson
B CUSP 187
Bothell Campus
Examines how literary texts create meaning and emotion. Identifies literary elements and explain their use within formal structures in order to appreciate the pleasures and complexities of literary expression, and their usefulness in other arenas. Instructors may focus on specific genres or topics.
Class description
This course introduces students to key terms and theories of literary analysis and explores how formal features and structures create meaning within texts. Students develop knowledge while reading across multiple genres, from novels and creative nonfiction to short stories and poetry. The aim of the course, ultimately, is not only to deepen appreciation of and engagement with literary texts themselves, but also to provide analytical tools that enrich understanding of a much broader set of cultural productions--from newspaper, film and drama to television, advertising and other “texts” of everyday life.
The theme for this quarter is “The Space Between: American Literature & the Environment.” We will focus on writing in which physical environments--whether homes, shantytowns, forests or freeways--exceed their conventional function as a mere backdrop or “stage” upon which the central action unfolds to become a major and dynamic “presence” within the text. Readings may include works by Thoreau, Willa Cather, Toni Morrison, William Carlos Williams, Ursula Le Guin, Leslie Marmon Silko and others.
Student learning goals
- Build an understanding of the key terms and theories that literary scholars use in order to appreciate and enter conversations in this discipline.
- Develop the basic critical ability to identify, interpret, and analyze ideas and formal features within literary texts (such as genre, scene, voice, point of view, tone and characterization), and examine how these collectively produce meaning.
- Perform close readings of texts and build this analytical practice into your own writing to produce nuanced, sophisticated and carefully-argued essays.
- Produce written work that is sensitive to the plurality of meaning within literary texts and that acknowledges the diversity of perspectives, social experiences, and traditions embedded in these works.
- Increase communication skills through group work; generate a cooperative spirit as a community of students and mutually support one another as writers/learners through workshops and peer editing.
General method of instruction
Seminar-style discussion of readings, in-class writing exercises, peer-evaluation workshops and some lectures.
Recommended preparation
Successful completion of at least one college-level composition course.
Class assignments and grading
Reading journal, student presentations, class writing exercises, a midterm and final paper.
