Contact Information and Office Hours

Paul L. Hebert

Jason Nielsen

Semester Outline

We’ll spend the first weeks getting comfortable using the online tools and getting to know each other. In our readings and discussion we’ll explore three questions central to this course: What is theory? What is scholarship? What purposes can literary scholarship serve?

Our first longer text will be The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Using this play, we will being to investigate the relationship between a text and history. We’ll investigate the British exploration of the Americas that inspired the play to understand how it was timely in 1610. We’ll also watch multiple productions to see how the play has been reinterpreted to remain timely (and because plays are meant to be watched and not read!). Expect extra-credit watch parties.

Our second long text will be the jazz-age novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Comparing the style of this novel to Shakespeare’s play we’ll explore how form is meaningful to literary interpretation. While Shakespeare polishes language with specific rhythms and rhymes, for example, Hurston emphasizes realism, rendering realistic dialect based on her extensive sociological research in rural, Southern communities.

Weekly Rhythm

In-person literature classes have a familiar structure. First, you prepare for class by reading a text carefully. taking notes on sections related to course themes and

Tuesday: Writing day

Over the weekend you will read and annotate a text based on some guiding questions and your own thoughts, or you will write a Expect a response based on long reading excerpt or

Thursday

On Thursday, we’ll post the discussion.

WE SHOULD DO A FINAL PROJECT. IT WORKED WELL IN SPRING, BETTER THAN JUST ESSAYS AND THE USUAL. WORKING ON IDEAS>