LI 256 The Variety of Literature
Spring 2001
Dr. Hamblin

Course Description:

A survey of literature in all its variety--fiction, poems, plays, and essays.  Emphasis on reading, analysis, and writing about literature.  Prerequisite: EN 100.  University Studies course.

Principal University Studies Objectives:

• 1: Locating and gathering information

• 2: Thinking critically

• 3: Communicating effectively

• 8: Making aesthetic judgments

Textbook: 

Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience, edited by Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz with Peter Richardson, 7th edition (available in Textbook Service)

Course Requirements:

• 3 Outside Papers (1000-1500 words, 3-5 sources) (30%)

• Midterm and Final Exams (40%)

• Panel presentation (on one of the plays*) (10%)

• Class activities (20%)

Course Outline:

Innocence and Experience

Jan 16                    Introduction

Jan 18                    Hawthorne, Joyce

Jan 23                    Fl. O'Connor, Bambara       

Jan 25                    Frost, Thomas

Jan 30, Feb 1         *Sophocles

Conformity and Rebellion

Feb 6                    Melville, Pirandello

Feb 8                    Wordsworth, Tennyson, Wilbur

Feb 13                   Yeats, Stevens, Auden

Feb 15, 20              *Ibsen                   

Feb 22                    Swift, King

Culture and Identity

Feb 27                    Faulkner

Mar 1                     Walker, Erdrich

Mar 6                     Eliot

Mar 8                     MIDTERM EXAM

Mar 13, 15             *Miller

Mar 27                    Orwell, Mitford, Baldwin

Love and Hate

Mar 29                    Chopin, Shaw, Houston       

Apr 3                        Shakespeare (sonnets), Donne

Apr 5                        Marvell, Arnold, Plath

Apr 10, 17                *Shakespeare (Othello)

The Presence of Death

Apr 19                        Poe, Hempel

Apr 24                        Keats, Housman, Yeats

Apr 26                        Frost, Williams

May 1                        *Fierstein          

May 3                        Donne ("Meditation"), Twain

May 10                       FINAL EXAM

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