Of what value is multiculturalism? In what ways are its values articulated, embodied and enforced—and with what future in mind? What categories make us different? Do these categories pertain across differing traditions, places and histories?  How does multiculturalism relate to tolerance? Can multiculturalism tolerate intolerance? Who or what is deemed intolerant? With what force should tolerance be enforced—and where?

If you’ve ever finished a good book with the urge to write a better one… if you’ve always thought of taking a creative writing class but been reluctant to commit… if you’re ever tempted to let the dishes pile up and lock yourself with your laptop in a room of your own… then this course is your chance to explore the storytelling impulse in a supportive environment completely free of intimidation and pretension.

Movie Screenings will be on Tuesday evenings from 5-8 in 101 Wheeler

In “The Arts of Epic” we shall study the purposeful crafting and re-crafting of legends and stories into epic and epic’s own derivatives and mockeries for the literary founding of cultural narratives, moral and ethical frameworks, and personal, artistic fame.  We shall pay particular attention to techniques of allusion, paraphrase, representation, and re-contextualization within literary recollection and invention.  Throughout the course we shall study examples of the visual and performing arts inspired by epic to consider the virtues and limitations of non-literary aesthetic forms in conve

What is a picture? How do pictures mean in literature? Can a literary work approximate the condition of visual art? What can we *see* when reading, and what can we *read* while gazing?   These questions have inspired literary critics and philosophers up to the present day. In this course, we will acquaint ourselves with literary theory through the lens of pictures, as we build a historical and conceptual framework to situate the dynamics of textuality and visuality in theory and culture.

Course can be taken for Pass/Fail only

Three years of HS Spanish or two years with B+ average

This class on “the manual” will investigate what is particular about literary language by looking at fiction next to and as a form of “self help.” How does literature help us to understand the world—and how doesn’t it? How does literature help us to understand ourselves? And, again, how doesn’t it?  Is reading literature a socializing or antisocial activity? A form of solipsism or access to points of view different from our own?

Modernity often seems to be defined by a sense of loss and fragmentation. We will read several texts in which here and now seem largely to be defined by a there and then that are painfully absent, yet still consume the present. Paradoxically, the acts of remembrance performed in these texts take a strikingly innovative form. Moreover, writing itself can be said to be a way of leaving the past behind as well as of sustaining it.

Goals of the Course:

This course fulfills the second portion of the undergraduate reading and composition requirement. It is designed to help you develop clearer and more effective writing as you also hone your critical reading and research skills. The course emphasizes reading and writing as processes that are shaped by communities of readers and writers.  This means that peer editing, oral presentations, and discussion in class and on the web-based discussion board will be important components of the course.

Theme of the Course: