ENGL 285-01, The Incident Room: Investigations into Literature

Abstract

Like detective work, literary study involves methods of analysis; we learn critical writing and critical thinking in the process of asking questions and positing conclusions with regard to the challenges of technique as well as content. In this course we will consider twentieth century and contemporary novels, short stories and poems that present us with psychological mysteries. The three genres will include work by fiction writers such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, William Trevor, D.H. Lawrence, Alice Munro, and Cormac McCarthy, poets Robert Lowell, Stanley Kunitz, James Dickey, Elizabeth Bishop, James Wright, Countee Cullen, Robert Hayden and Philip Levine. We will use a film---Nicholas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now,” as an introduction to methods of analysis such as the use of symbols. Each discussion will invite students to consider the influence of literary ideas and backgrounds, as well as understanding literary terms. English 285 is designed to equip majors with the tools required for middle- and upper-division courses in English. It will focus on the necessary skills for understanding the verbal texture of literature, the development of argument and critical response, and the ability to frame discussion of texts in relation to a series of significant contexts. Such contexts might include a text’s historical and cultural circumstances, or its situation in the wider history or discipline of literary studies. The course will introduce a critical vocabulary through the demonstrated use of these terms in analysis. As a gateway course, this class will be writing intensive, allowing students to practice their analytical writing skills as well as thinking critically about the literature under discussion.