Time Schedule:
Edmond Y Chang
ENGL 111
Seattle Campus
Study and practice of good writing; topics derived from reading and discussing stories, poems, essays, and plays. Cannot be taken if student has already received a grade of 2.0 or higher in either ENGL 111, ENGL 121, or ENGL 131.
Class description
NOT CURRENTLY OFFERED BY THE INSTRUCTOR / LAST OFFERED SPRING 2008
ENGL 111: "The Mirror of Erised: Critical Approaches to Harry Potter"
“Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?” Harry shook his head. “Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to see the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?” Harry thought. Then he said slowly, “It shows us what we want...whatever we want...” “Yes and no,” said Dumbledore quietly. “It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts...However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth.”
The central question for our class is: Can you think what Harry Potter shows us all? Much like gazing into the Mirror of Erised, what does reading, thinking about, and writing about J.K. Rowling’s famed series—both books and films—offer us? What do we see, know, desire? Can we read Harry Potter as more than just-for-kids, more than just fantasy? Is it literature? Is it important? Might it give us a different kind of knowledge or a different kind of truth? A requirement for this class is a well-developed curiosity about the world, about the culture we live in, and about the cultural productions we imagine, produce, and consume. Lister and Wells, authors of “Seeing Beyond Belief,” argue for just this kind of curiosity, a methodology for unpacking cultural productions; they say, “Cultural Studies allows the analyst to attend to the many moments within the cycle of production, circulation and consumption of [a text] through which meanings accumulate, slip and shift” (459). They argue that our understandings of identities, meanings, and power, as well as the intersections of cultural and social locations like race, gender, class, and sexuality, can be excavated through the analysis of the texts we create and consume. This class will spend the quarter reading, thinking, writing about Harry Potter and how and what these texts argue, reveal, narrate, hide, perpetuate, and complicate the world we live in.
We will be reading the first four novels of the J.K. Rowling series, related essays and critical approaches, as well as the film version of /Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire/. This is still a writing class, a composition class, and you will be expected to do quite a bit of writing (particularly since the reading is so easy). ADVISORY: If you love, love, love Harry Potter and just want to revel in its goodness, this is probably not the class for you (granted a fair amount of reveling will take place; you will be required to read critically, think critically, and write critically about Harry Potter.
NOT CURRENTLY OFFERED BY THE INSTRUCTOR / LAST OFFERED SPRING 2008
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Small classroom setting, some lecture, mostly class discussion, some group work, lots of reading, computer-integraged class. Be prepared for lots of writing -- it is a writing class, after all.
Recommended preparation
This class is part of the Computer-Integrated Classroom. There are no technical pre-requisites for this class, but obviously at least a basic familiarity with personal computers and the internet will be useful. Access to a computer and the world wide web is required.
Class assignments and grading
