Course Description: Introduction to the Literary Experience
Students will explore, analyze and write about a wide variety of literary genres. The texts in question will be examined as close readings and in relation to society as a whole. Elements of literary theory will be incorporated into essays that string diverse texts together through a common interpretive thread.
Pre-requisite Text:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (1924). The Great Gatsby: New York: Random House.
Required Texts:
Cofer, J. O. (1993). The Latin deli: prose and poetry. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Larson, E. (2003). The devil in the white city: murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America. New York: Crown Publishers.
Shelley, M. (1994). Frankenstien. London: Macmillan Press.
Smith, A. D. (1993). Fires in the mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and other identities. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday.
Andrade-Watkins, C. (Director). (2006). “Some kind of funny Porto Rican” [Documentary]. United States : SPIA Media Productions
Supplemental: Wordsworth, Shelly, Hughes, Heaney, Plato, Swift, Bradstreet, Joyce, Madison, Paine, Franklin, Coleridge and Bradbury
Writing Requirement:
Students will write two formal, four to six page essays that analyze multiple texts through the prisms of the larger questions.. Students will write several informal short essays on various texts in course. Short essays will require a narrow and focused thesis buttressed by specific evidence from the text. Additionally, all students will be required to keep a written journal. Journal entries will help focus class discussions.
Grading:
| Grade Component | % of Grade |
| Major Essays (two)
|
30% |
| Short papers (one per week) and journal (four entries per week)
|
25% |
| Class Discussion Participation and professional behavior
|
15% |
| Quizzes
|
20% |
| Final Exam
|
10% |
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