Literatures in English III: 1900-Present
Class Information
Instructor: Kitses, Jasmine
CRN: 43532
Time: MWF 12:10-1:00
Location: 293 Kerr
Description
The final course in a three-part series, English 10C prepares students majoring in English for advanced work in upper-division literary studies. In this reading-, writing- and discussion-intensive class, we will hone your ability to “read” and “write”: to engage with texts, to recognize and apply concepts pertinent to literary analysis, and to articulate your ideas in a precise, informed, and coherent manner. We will read closely, paying attention to presentation, genre, and style, while situating texts within 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. The desire to “make new” can often depend on breaking something down, and this breaking down can, in turn, lead to new forms. The entanglement of these terms will allow us to question conventional ways of reading modernist and contemporary texts and explore what is being lost, broken, challenged, and remade in key works of the period.
Grading
Two 500-word dissections 20%
4-page paper 20%
5-6 page paper 25%
Participation (including discussion Qs/Thesis Statements, Quizzes) 25%
Final Exam 10%
Texts
Cane, Jean Toomer
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
Top Girls, Caryl Churchill
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Fun Home, Allison Bechdel
Course Reader, Kitses