English 10C-1 - Fall, 2014

Literatures in English III: 1900-Present

Class Information

Instructor: Kitses, Jasmine
CRN: 42375
Time: TR 10:30-11:50
Location: 102 Hutchison

Description

Making & Breaking it: Innovation and Degradation in 20th- and 21st-Century Literature

Course Description: ENL 10C Literatures in English III: 1900 to Present
As the final course in a three-part series, English 10C is designed to prepare students majoring in English for advanced work in upper-division literary studies. In this reading- and writing-intensive class, we will hone your ability to “read” and “write”: to engage with texts both critically and aesthetically, to recognize and apply concepts that pertain to literary analysis, and to articulate your ideas in a more precise, informed, and complex manner. We will read closely, paying attention to presentation, genre, and style, as well as to subject matter, while situating texts within and against their particular historical and literary contexts. We will trace a broad literary history of the 20th/21st century with the help of two key terms: innovation and degradation. Yet, as the desire to “make” can often be a form of “breaking,” the overlap between these terms will ultimately allow us to question the stability and function of such histories.

Grading

Two 500-word dissections 10%
5-7 page paper 15%
7-10 page paper 25%
Final Exam 20%
Quizzes 10%
Participation 20%

Texts

Cane, Jean Toomer
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee
Closely Observed Trains, Bohumil Hrabal
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic , Allison Bechdel
Course Reader