Statement of Purpose

The course is structured to mirror the ways people read literature when they read for private interests and purposes. Thus, reading in this class is intended to help you develop or elaborate an interest in literature that will help you continue your intellectual growth for throughout your life.

The primary work in the course is reading literary works, writing about your responses, and discussing your reading and responses in class. In terms of the course requirements, you will read literary works of your own choosing and write informally about them in a reading journal. While the class will read a small number of literary works in common, the bulk of your reading in the course will be independent selections, selected by you in conference with me.

There will be only two limits on your reading. The first limit is human decency. I will not permit readings that involve purposeless brutality, physical or mental. The second limit is that any work you read for the class must be fiction, poetry, or drama. I recognize that judgments about morality and definitions of literary works involve matters of personal choice and taste. Therefore, together we will evaluate your choices and be guided by this discussion. However, I reserve the right to make the final determination, based upon my experience as an English teacher.

You will also be expected to discuss your journal entries and your readings with a small group of your peers. About two thirds of class time will involve small group discussion of your private reading. In addition, you will be expected to give formal presentations, or book talks, of your private readings to a small working group. In this manner, every student in the class will act as a resource for reading material for all of us. Personally, I have found the book talks to provide me with an unending source of interesting reading.

At least one book talk will be presented to the entire class. This book talk may be a repeat of one that you gave in your small group to provide you with an opportunity to rehearse in advance.

Course Requirements

Deadlines for each requirement are listed with the description of the requirement. I do not accept work after the class period in which it is due. I do not permit make up work.

Description of Course Requirements

Each of the requirements in the list below is a link to a description of that requirement.  The Independent Reading link includes a link to some books and an indication of which of the six criteria they meet.  The Reading Journal link includes a link to a list of possible topics for you to consider as your write about the book you are reading.

Criteria for Readings in EN 121

1.     Focus on important works of Western literature through an examination of its major genres (fiction, drama, and poetry), avoiding excessive emphasis on one author or genre or nation's literature;

2.     Include works from at least three different centuries (e.g. the 16^th, 18^th, and 20^th), although treatment need not be chronological or sequential;

3.     Include work by women and minority writers;

4.     Include an Anglo-American work;

5.     Include a work in translation;

6.     Include a contemporary work (i.e., 1945 to present).

 

An online source for free books that fulfill these criteria: Project Guttenburg (Follow the link)