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Academic Year 2005/2006


Literature and the Life Cycle
ENGL 356 FA

Age is almost never considered as a factor in the production or the consumption of literature. We will try to remedy this failure, examining some great works with special attention to the stage of life they portray, beginning with a study of theoretical models of the stages of life, including Erik Erikson's. We'll consider artistic careers that have changed in time and focus on writers who have portrayed life at different stages. A hybrid course, with lots of reading and discussion. At the same time, much writing and training in non-academic forms: non-fiction or general magazine-audience critical essays, possibly even fiction.

MAJOR READINGS

Erik Erikson, CHILDHOOD AND SOCIETY
Selections from GHANDI'S TRUTH
Margaret Mead, COMING OF AGE IN SAMOA
William Shakespeare, HAMLET, OTHELLO, MACBETH, KING LEAR
John Updike, THE RABBIT ANGSTROM NOVELS (RABBIT, RUN; RABBIT REDUX; RABBIT IS RICH; RABBIT AT REST)
Philip Roth, GOOBYE, COLUMBUS; PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT; THE GHOST WRITER; PATRIMONY; THE HUMAN STAIN or AMERICAN PASTORAL
Jane Austen, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
Floida Scott-Maxwell, THE MEASURE OF MY DAYS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

No exams. Writing assignments will not be traditional academic papers. Students will be given the opportunity, for example, to update the plot and themes of Shakespeare's great tragedies in a work of fiction. They will write a portrait of a member of a specific age group, based on interviews and reading. And they will write critical essays about the literature they've read, but with a general rather than an academic audience in view. Short weekly assignments for four weeks, then 8-10 page pieces every other week.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: ENGL201 Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006


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