English 1006D Introduction to Literature

Course Description

The course is designed to introduce you to diverse literary genres, develop your powers of critical analysis, and increase your ability to express your ideas in writing. With an eye toward a comparative understanding of character, plot, action, theme, form, and style, we will read a substantial amount by writers as varied as Robert Frost, Charles Dickens, and Paula Vogel. The primary objective is to explore the myriad ways in which words come together to form meaning(s).

The poems and short stories to be read in the first semester will be photocopied and handed out.

First semester texts you are required to purchase:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Second semester required texts:
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, Dover Publications
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Oxford Press
Moliere, Tartuffe, Richard Wilbur translation, Harvest Books
Judith Barlow, ed., Plays by American Women, 1900-1930, Applause Books (we will read Trifles and Plumes)
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Penguin
Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive, Dramatists Play Service