ENGL 299 - What is Literature: Introduction to the Advanced Study of Literature

FC ARHU WINT

4 credits
This course will introduce students to fundamental issues, approaches, and methods in the study of literature. We will do a lot of reading and writing, but above all we will ask a lot of questions: What makes a text “literary,” and how does it matter to our reading experience? What questions should we ask about literary texts, and why? Who gets to say what a text “means,” and how many meanings does a text have? What are the relationships between texts and the social world? How do literary scholars read a poem, a play, a film, a novel, or a cereal box, and why? This course is for anyone with an interest in literature, but it is strongly recommended for English majors.
Prerequisites & Notes: Students should have completed a Writing Intensive course or gained Writing Certification in any course in the humanities. Requirements can be waived with instructor consent. For complete prerequisites, please refer to the English Program section titled 200-Level Courses. This course is intended to prepare students for the English major and advanced work in literary study. Students who are interested in majoring in English are strongly encouraged to take this course by the end of their sophomore year and before they declare the English major.