19 courses with the subject LITT, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
LITT 216Lyric Poetry3
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course Close study of short poems from a wide range of literary history. The major goal of the course is to intensify sensitivity to language as both sound and meaning. We will be doing intricate line-by-line textual analysis in class. This course is highly recommended for song writers who wish to develop their skills in structuring and refining their lyrics. While term papers in this course must be critical (as in literary criticism) rather than creative, training in detailed analysis of poetry is extremely valuable for professional song writing. Assignments are light because of the brevity of the poems, but this is a classroom-intensive course where attendance is required. Term papers are encouraged in poetry of any period or world culture. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course Students will read and critically examine a selection of works by writers who identify as women; genres considered may include poetry, fiction, playwriting, creative nonfiction, and others. The course will be informed by critical theories of gender, sexuality, and literary practice. It will consider what it means to read within a gender-based category, particular in light of contemporary thinking and experience, and how the work of women writers relates to literary history, culture, and artistic practice. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course This course examines the arc of American literature over the span of the 20th century, interrogating both its roots and its legacies. Through close readings of texts from a diverse range of writers, students will investigate some of the literary movements, ideas and themes that define the century. Students will analyze texts in context of the historical, social, and political forces that shaped them, including industrialization, mass migration, military actions, and ongoing struggles for civil rights and social justice. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course In this course, students examine selected tropes in science fiction, looking at sources all the way from Graeco-Roman literature to the early 21st century. The particular focus of the course is the short story, with some film resources. A thematic approach is taken, with a view of science fiction as a mode of social and political commentary on themes such as identity and artificial intelligence, the question of reality versus virtual reality, and the nature of time. The course also emphasizes the understanding of this literature in the larger context of science, technology, and culture. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course American Southern Writers focuses on the groundbreaking, seminal works of 20th-century writers from the American south who have left a deep mark on the ways we imagine American culture and identity: William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, and Eudora Welty. Close attention to how a work’s rhetoric and style affects its presentation of basic motifs (poverty, sexuality, race, religion, rural and small-town life) and of the cultural and social topography of the south. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course The dramatic works of the supreme writer of the English Renaissance: Shakespeare. A selection of his comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances are read. Focuses on the plays not only as literary accomplishments but also as theatrical performances existing in three-dimensional space. Concerned with both the parameters of the original Renaissance stage and with modern translations and transformations of the plays. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course A study of the American theater in the past 75 years, looking at the works of such authors as O’Neill, Miller, Williams, Albee, and Shepard. Theater trips as well as showings of filmed plays. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course A study of how modern song lyrics developed from the ancient tradition of lyric poetry and folk ballads and hymns, with roots in both Europe and Africa. We will examine a variety of song styles and attempt to formulate artistic criteria to evaluate them. Why does a song become a hit and remain popular for years? What organizing structures work best? Are there persistent themes or conflicts that can be called universal? How does a vocalist interpret or alter a song? We will also trace the intimate interconnection of popular music and dance in modern media. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course By immersing students in works from a broad range of first- and second-generation immigrant writers–like Julia Alvarez, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ocean Vuong, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie—this course will examine how immigrant voices have engaged with and spoken back to the dominant culture and how, over time, this has shaped ideas of what it means to be American. It will also investigate how U.S. immigration laws and policies have changed over the years and how this has affected the literature emerging. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course Students will study the history, development, and cultural significance of the graphic novel. They will practice critically reading this distinct form of storytelling in the context of its historical beginnings, its contemporary exemplars, and its potential next directions. The course will consider works by authors and artists such as Lynda Barry, Alison Bechdel, Emil Ferris, Alan Moore, Chris Ware, and Gene Luen Yang. Students will further their investigation of course concepts by completing projects that combine creative and critical methods and by considering the role of collaboration in the graphic novel. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course This course considers the memoir as a literary form. Students will gain an understanding of the craft and history of personal writing, while exploring critical questions about narrative, the self, community, and the nature of creative nonfiction. The course will include readings from authors such as James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Roxane Gay, Renee Gladman, Mary Karr, and David Sedaris. It will examine the significance of autobiographical writing in contemporary culture, as well as its connections to literary history. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 200 level undergraduate course Selected Topics in Literature supports the study of special topics, authors, and themes. Selected Topics courses include reading, critical writing, research, creative projects, and literary analysis. See course section descriptions for more information. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H Priority enrollment for Creative Writing majors & minors. This course may be repeated for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 300 level undergraduate course What is it about the novel as a form that has allowed it to endure and to flourish for centuries? How do contemporary novels engage with, innovate, and expand on this form? What light do these novels shed on our current world and on what it means to be human? This course will investigate these and other questions through close reading of several contemporary novels from a diverse range of international writers. It will also examine the writers’ creative processes and the social and political forces that shaped these works. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 300 level undergraduate course This course considers the evolution of children’s literature from the 19th to 21st centuries across decades and genres, from picture books to YA to graphic novels. Students will analyze texts by authors such as L. Frank Baum, Dr. Seuss, Angie Thomas, E.B. White, Gene Luen Yang, and J.K. Rowling, as well as relevant literary theory. They will explore the ways in which books written not just about children but for them can be of critical importance to our lives and culture. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 300 level undergraduate course The course explores a variety of texts by authors from formerly colonized countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and elsewhere. Generally, we will examine how the colonial experience may have affected the form and content of the literature written in these places and will touch upon a wide range of issues such as the legacies of colonialism, history, and nationhood. More particularly, the course will pair Western canonical texts with postcolonial responses to look at the ways in which postcolonial literatures question, complicate, nuance or subvert central Western intellectual tenets and reframe concepts such as identity, justice, power, and knowledge, as well as conceptualizations of migration, cosmopolitanism, transnationalism and globalization. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 300 level undergraduate course A selective survey of key works by African American writers from slave narratives to recent works in prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, and theatre. Close analysis of form and style with attention to the works’ social and historical contexts. Targeted use of important critical works on the African American literary tradition and its continuing development. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 300 level undergraduate course Historically, some of the most exciting literary innovations—both in content and in form–have come from queer writers. This course will highlight some of the authors who have shaped this landscape, from pathmakers like Walt Whitman to explosive new voices like Alison Bechdel, Danez Smith, and Carmen Maria Machado. It will look at the historical, social, and cultural contexts in which these literatures have emerged. The class will also investigate the term “queer” and think about how it might be applicable beyond sexual and gender identities. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course is not repeatable for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
45.0 hours 300 level undergraduate course Advanced Selected Topics in Literature supports the advanced study of special topics, authors, and themes. Advanced Selected Topics includes reading, critical writing, research, and theoretical perspectives that are appropriate to the 300 level. Prerequisites WRIT*102 or WRIT*102H This course may be repeated for credit. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
undefined hours 500 level graduate course Graduate Selected Topics in Literature supports the advanced, intensive study of special topics, authors, and themes. Graduate Selected Topics includes reading, critical writing, research, and theoretical perspectives that are appropriate to the graduate level. Prerequisites LITT course or current graduate student status This course may be repeated for credit. This course requires permission by the offering program office. This course can fulfill a critical studies elective or general elective requirement.
