Fall 2007

E 314L • Reading Literary Form (CANCELLED!)

Course Description

This course has been cancelled.

Literature comes in different kinds that we identify through their formal conventions. Poetry is made up of lines and stanzas, fiction is made up of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters, and drama is made up of speeches, scenes, and acts. But this is a simplification, and we do literature an injustice when we reduce it to these formal properties. In Introduction to Literary Form, we will study examples of these three broad categories, paying special attention to how innovative writers manipulate traditional, formal conventions to achieve their unique designs.

Grading Policy

Attendance/Participation 10%
Informal Writing/Position Papers 20%
Formal Writing:
Essay 1 20%
Essay 2 20%
Essay 3 20%
Peer Reviews 10%

Texts

Among other items, we will study poetry by Shakespeare, Blake, Pope, Mallarmé, and Brooks, fiction by Melville, Joyce, Faulkner, and Conrad, and drama by Ibsen, Chekhov, and Beckett. Our readings of these primary texts will be supplemented by critical writings in a course packet.

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