ENGL 210-02, Interpreting Literature, Fall 2004

Abstract

This most accurately titled course will guide you toward a deeper understanding of the major literary forms and their conventions, and an ability to discern and confidently articulate your own special interpretations of a literary work. Short response assignments and three formal five-page essays—one on each of the major genres—are required. Armed with the Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, we will immerse ourselves in prose fiction, long (C. Brontë, Jane Eyre and Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day) and short; drama (Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest and Overmyer, On the Verge); and five hundred glorious years of poetry in English, culled from the Norton Introduction to Poetry. Three meetings outside our registrar-appointed class times are also required. All of these will involve the drama portion of our studies: as a group we will screen a recent film rendition of The Importance of Being Earnest, attend our own Theatre Department's performance of On the Verge, and participate in a conversation with director Teresa Morrow and members of the cast and crew.