Time Schedule:
Henry J. Staten
ENGL 202
Seattle Campus
Gateway course designed for English pre-majors and majors. Introduces critical, historical, and theoretical frameworks important to studying the literature, language, and cultures of English. Concurrent registration with ENGL 197 required.
Class description
For SPRING 2007: This course is intended to enable English majors to understand, and participate in, contemporary debates in literary history, literary criticism/theory, and the politics of interpretation. We will therefore discuss both literary and critical/theoretical works, always reflecting on the context within which our discussions take place. That is, we will reflect that we are in an English department in an American university at a specific moment in history, and that what we find in the works we read is not what other people at other times and places would have found; and we will attempt to understand the nature of the historical forces that create these differences. We will focus on three pivotal historical moments: the Renaissance (key literary figure Shakespeare; about 1600), Romanticism (key literary figure Wordsworth; about 1800); and modernity (key literary figure: Chinua Achebe). Types of literary theory that we will explore include: New Criticism, formalism, feminism, and cultural materialism. Concurrent enrollment in ENGL 197 required.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
