This course looks at selected works of literature with particular reference to their cultural contexts and thematic developments. Students will continue to practice writing critical essays.
To pass English 103 at Dawson College, students must be able to do the following:
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| 603-103-MQ |
21st Century Novels and Contexts |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will read three 21st-century novels alongside a range of non-fictional material contextualizing the subjects the novels explore. Though the different novels develop different themes, they all offer, as good novels do, a deep experience of other lives and situations. In doing so, the novels invite us to reflect on a range of human experiences, including our own. Themes explored (and occasionally overlapping) may include the Indigenous experience in Canada; the Black American experience; imagined futures, as explored in speculative fiction; and contemporary women's experience. Varied assignments will allow you to focus on the aspects of the novels that interest you most. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Abandoned Children in Fiction |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will consider a range of texts that feature abandoned children, including traditional fairy stories, excerpts from Victorian novels, various short stories and a contemporary novel. Through close analysis of these literary works, students will recognize the recurring motifs and conventions in the depiction of abandoned children. We will consider how different types of abandonment - such as physical, emotional, temporary, permanent - impact the position and purpose of the abandoned child in these texts. In particular, we will explore how authors use the abandoned child to critique social issues such as racism, poverty, and parenting. Students will also develop skills in literary analysis by examining techniques and devices used by authors, such as plot, setting, conflict, characterization, symbolism, metaphor, and various other common elements in literature. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Abandoned Children in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will consider a range of texts that feature abandoned children, including traditional fairy stories, excerpts from Victorian novels, various short stories and a contemporary novel. Through close analysis of these literary works, students will recognize the recurring motifs and conventions in the depiction of abandoned children. We will consider how different types of abandonment - such as physical, emotional, temporary, permanent - impact the position and purpose of the abandoned child in these texts. In particular, we will explore how authors use the abandoned child to critique social issues such as racism, poverty, and parenting. Students will also develop skills in literary analysis by examining techniques and devices used by authors, such as plot, setting, conflict, characterization, symbolism, metaphor, and various other common elements in literature. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Anna Karenina |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Often considered among the best novels ever written, Anna Karenina is a phenomenal introduction to the art and themes of the novel and to the works of the one of the world’s great writers, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. With the astonishing realism of Tolstoy’s art, we come to feel his characters are as real as people we know, as we marvel at his development of several key themes: the nature and complexity of love, marriage, and individual identity; the tension between artificial life and natural life; death (and the coincidence of life and death); the search for meaning and purpose in life. The novel is a brick – 800 pages (approx.). Students should be prepared for a reading challenge. But if you put in the effort, it becomes a page turner, and reading it can be a memorable life experience. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Anti-Capitalism in Fiction |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Should we read fiction about economic issues? The common answer is yes, we should read about characters surviving economic dystopias because it will ‘raise awareness’ through fiction’s ability to facilitate narrative empathy. However, literary critics, such as Raymond Williams, claim narrative empathy to be “a waste of sentiment and encouragement of withdrawal” while Marcus Wood suggests it can facilitate a “pornographic indulgence of sensation acquired at the expense of suffering others.” If economic dystopias give readers a false sense of comfort, then, should we stop reading them? Is the role of literary art to provoke a change in the reader, or is pleasure enough: are large, structural economic issues too great for individual action, anyway? The course explores these questions while examining short stories and novels set in economic dystopias. Attention will be paid to fostering a participatory class culture where students feel comfortable developing unique arguments. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Augustan Satire |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will examine themes of the satirists of the Augustan period. Through an examination of the work of Swift, Wycherley, and Pope, we will see how and why these satirists reacted with moral outrage to the encroaching of what has become the modern world, with its love of individualism, democracy, business, and science. The course will limit itself to the genre of satire in the period; so the study of that genre and its history, as well as the study of the broader historical period and the cultural context these authors were writing in, will be our concern. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Augustan Satire 1660-1745 |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will examine themes of the satirists of the Augustan period. Through an examination of the work of Swift, Wycherley, and Pope, we will see how and why these satirists reacted with moral outrage to the encroaching of what has become the modern world, with its love of individualism, democracy, business, and science. The course will limit itself to the genre of satire in the period; so the study of that genre and its history, as well as the study of the broader historical period and the cultural context these authors were writing in, will be our concern. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Banned Books |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Book censorship has been and continues to be a contentious issue in the literary world, raising questions of governmental control over literature and freedom of expression. Book banning usually occurs with political, religious or moral motives but, ironically, often has the effect of popularizing the text, causing people to go to great lengths to seek it out for its forbidden wisdom or pleasure (Eve's apple comes to mind). In this course, we will be looking at "challenged" modern and contemporary literature, including poetry, graphic novels, and literature for children and young adults, in order to address questions of censorship and the way banned or challenged texts have shaped and continue to shape our social and literary landscape. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Being Blitzed: British Literature of World War II |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course explores the various representations of the Second World War in British literature. While the focus falls on the literature of the blitz, many other thematic preoccupations (borders, propaganda, patriotism, love, the domestic and the foreign, the public and the private, reconstruction and damage) emerge that speak to the wide variety of writings and perspectives on the war. The Second World War was the most momentous set of events in the twentieth century, and inspired a wealth of writing: factual and fictional texts that explore an immense range of experiences. In addition to conveying different aspects of the war’s actuality, these works also raise important questions about the relation of art to life, the relationship between the individual and the nation or state, the role of women in otherwise male-dominated narratives of war, and about politics and culture. Course readings include poems, stories, essays, radio broadcasts, documentary/feature films, and a short novel. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Book Club |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course looks at selected works of contemporary literature from a student-directed perspective. Although students will examine texts with reference to their cultural contexts and thematic developments, the goal of the course is to have open discussions of the books based on the students’ initial responses and thoughts about the readings, and then have them work toward an understanding of the books as literature. Major assessments will be based on critical analyses of the texts. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Canada and the First World War |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Cultural memory of the First World War is predicated as much on the literature it inspired as anything else. In fact, most young people are introduced to the First World War in English class rather than history class. These literary works are then interwoven into state-sanctioned efforts to memorialize the war dead. Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Canada. Few Canadians cannot recite at least some of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields.” Canadian war literature tackles issues related to war that are often elided by the official narrative. Canadian writers reimagine the Canadian soldier as a site of skepticism and resistance, affording Canadians the opportunity to claim counter-histories, reject master narratives and find new originary myths. Through reading emblematic texts, students will examine how Canadian identity has been formed in close identification with war. Students will examine the historical contexts of these works, their themes, and their formal features. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Deceptive Desire |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course uses critical theory and fictional stories to investigate what drives people’s behaviours and shapes their psychology. We study and apply Marxist and psychoanalytic (mainly Freudian and Lacanian) methods of analysis to help closely read and make sense of Canadian and English works of literature. Using these methodologies, we examine what motivates people to make seemingly irrational and self-destructive decisions despite the damaging consequences — whether these motivations are desires internally rooted in the unconscious or desires externally rooted in preexisting social structures. We read stories that raise thematic issues such as capitalism, sex, and death in conjunction with scholarly texts that explain our Marxist and psychoanalytical approaches to analysis. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Displaced Persons: 20th Century Themes |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
The 20th century brought change in many forms, and with change comes displacement. In this course we look at various works of literature from the 20th century that involve some form of displacement — be it physical, psychological, technological, social or cultural. While the main focus of the course will be the development of close readings and thematic interpretations of these texts, which will include poems, short stories and a novel, we will also consider the historical contexts out of which the texts were generated. In this way, the course helps us understand how 20th century literature can be seen as both a response to displacement and an effort to find a new place in the challenging new world we find ourselves in now. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Drama, Tragic to Absurd |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
A close study of the social, historical and philosophical concerns of drama from classical Greek theatre to 20th c. modern theatre. We will consider the origins of drama as an art form and the cultural context in which Sophocles wrote. Then we'll examine Shakespeare's roots in medieval religious drama and Senecan tragedy and how and why the slice-of-life realism of Chekhov was constructed in the late 19th c. Finally, we'll analyze Beckett's legacy of absurdism. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Encounters with Death |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will try to answer some questions we usually avoid considering. Why do we have to die? Does death give life meaning? How have attitudes about death changed over time? How do these attitudes relate to cultural context? Above all, how can reflecting on death help us to live better? We will address these and other questions through a close examination of an eclectic selection of texts representing diverse approaches to this grim topic: myth, allegory, satire, gallows humour, ratiocination, and others. Authors include John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, John Donne, Emily Dickinson, Donald Barthelme, Sylvia Plath, Leo Tolstoy, and Amy Hempel. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Family Dramas |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Family Dramas will explore contemporary plays written in or translated into English that have as their primary focus family in all its various forms. Dark themes such as the corrosive effect of secrets, the potentially suffocating burden of parental expectations and the soul-destroying effect of emotional and physical violence will mingle alongside the more hopeful, though often quite complicated, themes of loving parental sacrifice and familial affection. Playwrights are from different countries and are of varying races, ethnicities and genders so we can appreciate differences and overlapping concerns. All of these plays are critically acclaimed and have enjoyed long runs and, in some cases, adaptation into film. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Family in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
The concept of a family is a difficult thing to define. According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, family is “a group of people related by blood, legal or common-law marriage, or adoption” (500). Throughout the semester, we will examine the difficult concept of the family as it is practiced in North America. To do so, we will analyze various narratives (both written and visual) to see how such an apparently simple concept is represented. Our goal is to understand how, in narrative form and through literary analysis, concepts of family are interrogated and how we, as readers, respond to the issues raised in the texts we will examine. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Gender and Utopia |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will read various science fiction texts (novels and short stories) that share the goal of analyzing and re-imagining the role of gender in society. We will take as a starting point the feminist assumption that gender is socially constructed and that the meaning of sexual differences is never natural, essential, or self-evident, but is always a matter of (social) interpretation. We will be particularly interested in later writers of science fiction who, beginning in the 1960s, interrogate and challenge the male dominance of earlier examples of the genre and their (mis)representations of women and other sexual nonconformists including gay or bisexual men and women and transgender individuals. Key authors include Ursula K. LeGuin, James Tiptree Jr., Joanna Russ, Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, and John Varley, among others. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Gender Issues in Drama |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course examines the various gender issues that are addressed in four or five highly acclaimed plays that challenge gender role constructs and stereotyping. Plays will be selected from the modern and contemporary periods and students will be encouraged to explore their historical and social contexts. The class will read aloud from the plays and act out a scene in a group. Attendance at a relevant play is mandatory as well as a written review of it. Personal opinions and insights are welcome. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Glimpses, Insights, Epiphanies |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
All literature and even art in general can be seen as the result of a moment of revelation, a glimpse into a truth, or an insight into a reality that goes beyond our “default” comprehension. Art can equally be understood as an effort to recreate and explore these moments in different fictional scenarios. In this course, we’ll be identifying, analyzing, and interpreting such epiphanies – explicit or implicit – as phenomena often arising from inconspicuous ordinary situations in a number of short stories, poems, and films. What are the contexts in which these epiphanies occur, and what do they bring to the text as a whole? Are they positive, negative or even absent moments? Whose epiphany is it: the author’s/narrator’s/speaker’s, the character’s, or the reader’s? These are some of the questions we’ll discuss in this course. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Go to Hell! |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
How do you get there? What’s it like? What’ll you do there? Who (or what) will you meet? Luckily, we don’t have to go through Hell to find out: we can look into (among others) prose translations of Homer’s Odyssey, Virgil’s Aenead, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and the poetry of Dante’s Inferno. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Gods and Monsters |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Grief, Loss, and Magic |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
“‘Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all.” (Tennyson) “Between grief and nothing, I will take grief.” (Faulkner) Losing something or someone important, and grieving that loss is a universal, unavoidable and formative human experience. The map of a lifetime can be traced through the intricate series of losses, small and big: we can lose other people, we can lose ideals, relationships, friendships, countries, identity, youth, dignity, freedom, beliefs, and all kinds of metaphoric battles. How do we deal with this? How do we grieve, do we talk about it, and how do we talk about it? What is it that allows Tennyson and Faulkner to proclaim the above confidently? What kinds of magic are humans capable of conjuring (and turning into a reality) in order to make sense of their losses? In this class, we’ll speculate on these and other questions with the help of a novella, a few short stories and poems, and a couple of films. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Heroism and Culture |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course emphasizes the study and consideration of the literary, cultural and human significance of selected works of the Western and non-Western literary traditions from Antiquity to Modern period. An important goal of the class is to promote an understanding of the works in their cultural, historical and political contexts and of the enduring human values which unite the different literary traditions. As we move through the texts, we will pay particular attention to the question of the kinds of values that these foundational works were meant to instill in their audiences. We will consider what, for each culture, constitutes the exemplary person, often known as the “hero” or “heroine,” and what each work has to say about human nature and ethics, gender issues, and the ‘Other.’ The format of the course will include class discussions, short lectures, group work, writing assignments and essays, reading quizzes, and film screening. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Homes and Homelands in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Ibsen and Pinter |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will explore six plays by two very important yet very different figures in the history of world theatre: Henrik Ibsen, a Scandinavian dramatist whose works were produced in the mid- to late nineteenth century, and Harold Pinter, a renowned British playwright of the mid- to late twentieth century. Special emphasis will be devoted to the authors' choice of subjects, themes and range of dramatic styles (realism, naturalism, symbolism, theatre of the absurd) and to the social and philosophical climate in which their works were created. The written work in the course will be focused on giving clear expression to our personal reactions to these plays. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Jane Austen |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course students will be reading three novels by Jane Austen as well as excerpts from Austen’s letters and commentaries by other writers. In addition to this primary material, there will be discussions and research on the social, cultural, economic and domestic realities of her day – Austen lived between 1775 and 1817 – in order to understand Austen’s fictional universe: her characters, settings, plots, themes, and language. Of particular interest will be the protagonist and the resolution of the conflicts she experiences. Other topics for discussion include Austen’s life, the rise of the woman novelist, gender issues in her fiction, critical reaction to Austen’s work, her influence on literary history and the various film adaptations of her work. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Law and Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Law and literature are not rival activities; they are complementary and often preoccupied with the same subjects: human lives and the human heart. In a court of law, lawyers and witnesses typically tell stories that captivate juries and judges. They frame their arguments, or what has happened to them, narratively, very much as a short story writer or a novelist would. Similarly, short stories, novels, plays, and at times poems urge us to think about and arbitrate social and internal conflict. In this course, we will look at the ways in which the law is often literary and appeals to our need to hear stories and feel emotions, as well as to our sense of what is right. We will also study the manner in which literature, in turn, asks us to think as prosecutors, judges, and jurors as we weigh and “cross-examine” the storytelling found in literary texts. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Literary Themes |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Literature and Shell Shock |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This class investigates how the “self” is constructed in works of autofiction. Autofiction — “autobiographical fiction” (AF) — is a genre blending the author’s perspective on real events with fiction, blurring the line between the two. Some authors treat AF as a safe way to explore memoir without having to claim that their works are 100% true; others use the blurring of the two parent genres to critique the way claims of “objectivity” are deployed socially to uplift certain perspectives while erasing others. We will begin by familiarizing ourselves with the genre by reading theoretical excerpts and authors’ perspectives on autofictional writing. Next, we will use this knowledge to study works of AF in both short story and novel form, comparing the different “selves” depicted through each author-narrator. Apart from analytical assignments (quizzes, discussion questions, essays), evaluation for the course will involve personal reflection in the form of journals and creative works. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Literature and Tourism |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
What do reading and travel have in common, and in what ways have tourism and literature been influenced by each other? Considering these questions through a selection of literary works that explore the role of travel and tourism in the modern world. We will trace how tourism has been represented in literature from E. M. Forster’s 1908 satire of English tourists abroad in A Room with a View to Yun-Ko-eun’s recent speculative novel The Disaster Tourist and discuss topics such as the enlightening and disorienting effects of travel, the meaning of authenticity, the legacy of colonialism, and the future of tourism in a time of climate crisis. By using discussions, group work, and in-class writing activities to deepen our understanding of the texts, students will explore what can be learned from thinking about literature and tourism together and consider what it means to be a conscientious reader, writer, and traveller in an age of rapid globalization and unprecedented mobility. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Love, Loss, and Loneliness |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course explores various ways people respond to disappointment and tragedy. Oftentimes, these reactions are self-destructive and irrational — at least from an outsider’s limited perspective. Through analysis of texts by authors from Canada, the United States, and England, we investigate motivations for harmful behaviours and choices that lead to detrimentally influencing interpersonal relationships. We read texts that address matters of the heart and the body while exploring thematic issues of solitude, heartache, and death. We start by asking general questions such as, do we control our desires or do our desires control us? And progress to more precise interrogations such as, what compels people to maintain damaging relationships despite the consequences? And, of course, we propose answers to our questions. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Material Culture in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will employ some of the tools of material culture analysis to examine literary representations of “the stuff of everyday life,” including domestic spaces, products and practices, clothing, toys, or other everyday goods. We will note how material objects are used to mediate relationships and convey social meaning. In other words, we will consider how “material culture makes culture material.” Students will write a 1000-word essay developing from their study of a category of material culture represented in one or more texts to be studied in the course. Students will also be responsible for an oral presentation, and will write a “Biography of a Thing” essay incorporating findings from secondary research and based on an interview with a relative. One assignment may be linked to an exhibition at the McCord Museum or the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Material Culture in Literature is listed as part of Dawson's Women’s/Gender Studies Certificate. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Metamorphosis in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Webster’s Dictionary defines “metamorphosis” as “a transformation, as by magic or sorcery” or as “a marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.” As we will see, writers and artists throughout the centuries have been fascinated by the theme of physical and psychological change. Beginning with the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s collection of poems, written in 1 C.E. and entitled the Metamorphoses, we will analyze how this recurring theme is explored in Shakespeare’s Othello, Shaw’s Pygmalion, Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Towards the end of term, we will read Neil LaBute’s play The Shape of Things, which is the culmination of our course’s theme since it includes many references and allusions to the transformations explored in the works above. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Migrations |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course explores migration and its repercussions as a recurring theme in contemporary literature. Course readings revolve around ideas of displacement, refuge, alienation, re-invention and belonging, as well as home, family, tradition and language. The course involves brief lectures and discussion in the online forum. Students will write about the class texts and do a final assignment inspired by their own life experience. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Moby Dick and the Buddhist Tradition |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Modern Love |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will look at portrayals of romantic love in contemporary short fiction. Each writer on the syllabus takes a unique approach to defining love and exploring it through language. Inevitably, their explorations intersect with questions of identity, power, societal expectations, collective fantasies, and individual psychologies. Students are expected to participate regularly in group work and class discussions, as well as completing in-class writing exercises and reading quizzes. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Myths and Fairies |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Society now relies on science to explain the world, but in the days before science, people relied on stories – myths and folklore – in order to try and make sense of the world around them. Many of these stories have survived to this day, though generally in forms adapted to a modern audience’s tastes and expectations. This course will focus on examining various myths and fairy tales, and how they have changed and transformed over the years to remain relevant, and interesting, to contemporary audiences. Students will read traditional myths and fairy tales by such authors as the Brothers Grimm, Straparola and Perrault; more contemporary adaptations and updates by several writers, including Gaiman and Willingham; and critical theory by Zipes and Poniewozik. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Nature and the Four Seasons |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Nuturing Nature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will be examining literature that focuses on the environment and the complicated relationship between humans and the natural world. While nature has sustained humanity, we have not given back, leading to the current environmental crises we are experiencing. Most of the works we read will be from the twentieth century onwards, but we will take the occasional look back in time. We will be reading some poems, short stories and a novel, but most of the readings will be selections from memoirs and essays. The writers – people like Alice Munro, T.C. Boyle, Richard Powers, Hope Jahren, Roger Deakin, Bill McGibben, J. B. MacKinnon, Elizabeth Kolbert, Jonathan Franzen – will take us through gardens, dirt, trees, forests, waterways and wild places. We will be introduced to travellers, conservationists, ecoterrorists, loggers and people like ourselves. Through these landscapes, literary and real, we will come to understand some of the major challenges facing the earth today. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Reading, Writing and Eating |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, students will explore food in relation to literature, politics, and culture. Through reading both fiction and non-fiction, students will engage in discussion, produce several written texts and participate in small group and independent projects. Although most of the emphasis in this course is on studying texts that explore the vast and universal theme of food, students will enjoy films, guest lecturers, a restaurant visit and the sampling of various foods in class. Classes will consist of short lectures, discussions, graded group work, e-journals, reading quizzes, short writing exercises, oral presentations with peer feedback and process essay writing (multiple drafts, peer-editing). |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Remember the humans? Posthumanism and Sci-Fi |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Remember the Humans? Posthumanism in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Humans are very good at placing our own concerns above those of other life forms. Indeed, seeing ourselves as the apex of the species hierarchy has caused untold damage to our planet, to other species, and even to our fellow humans. Increasingly, scientists and philosophers are grappling with the possibility of a posthuman future in which humans are transformed, displaced from our positions as Lords of the Earth, or simply gone altogether. Of course, Speculative Fiction has been exploring these possibilities for decades through storytelling. Sci-Fi gives us imagined futures that help us to reconsider our place in the universe. And maybe that’s a good thing! In this course, we will look through the portal of fiction into a multiverse of posthuman worlds. We will explore short stories, novels, graphic texts, films and podcasts, and use active learning, discussion, and creative and analytical writing to experiment with imagining the implications of our own displacement. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Shakespeare's Green-Eyed Monster |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Our class will examine how Shakespeare depicts jealousy in his plays Othello, The Winter’s Tale and Troilus and Cressida. Sexual jealousy in The Winter’s Tale and Othello showcase anxieties concerning female chastity that feed into the idea of the cuckold. Jealousy also plays out as intense rivalry between the soldiers who fight for status and power in Troilus and Cressida. We will look at early modern theories of emotions to understand how Shakespeare depicts jealousy. Because jealousy is mostly visual, our class will also establish how jealousy becomes a way of knowing through which characters draw false conclusions. This class will teach you about early modern theatre practices and the historical circumstances surrounding the productions of these plays. Class time will include group discussions, performing sections of the play, debates, writing assignments, lectures, close reading activities, concept mapping and games. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Shakespearean Conversions |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
What experiences in life change us forever? Are we changed in a moment of recognition, or slowly, imperceptibly, little-by-little and day-by-day? Because of the volatile religious reformations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, these questions about conversion, identity, and an individual’s place in the community became central cultural anxieties and concerns, and these concerns have remained at the centre of western culture even to today. Taking “conversion” as our theme, in this course we will examine how Shakespeare, writing at the height of the Reformation, engages with ideas about conversion in his poetry and plays, thereby bringing conversion into the imaginative realm of myth and theatre. We will study Shakespeare’s plays and narrative poems first in their historical and cultural contexts, and more broadly, we will consider how modern performances of his art, on film, stage, and even in the classroom, offer living opportunities for secularized forms of conversion. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Southern Stories: Themes in Literature of the American South |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Tales of the Tribes |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Origins and namings, visions and spells, death and defeat, ritual and community: these themes can be said to have inspired poetry for over 50,000 years. We’ll hear, read, and write back to poetry — from the primitive to the avant-garde — to understand these themes and their variations. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Text and Trail |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
A story is a kind of path. In American fiction, characters often figure on real or metaphorical trails. This course will consider some of the innovative ways in which American authors have presented the path as a central motif in their writing — and also how the textual tracks that these authors have laid down as narratives allow us to better understand how and who we are. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Black Canadian Experience |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Although Black Canadians are often considered to be only recent immigrants, we have been here since the early colonial era, contributing to the fabric of Canada. This thematic course shares works reflective of the Canadian experience of those of African and Afro-Caribbean descent since that time. It seeks to engage with history as well as art in genres as varied as poetry, biography, the novel, and documentary and fictional films. Topics to be covered include slavery, the world wars, postwar immigration, the 1968 Congress of Black Writers, and the 1969 Sir George Williams Protest. The objective is to give students an appreciation of Canadian citizenship from this perspective. Among the authors who works will be studied are Dionne Brand, Cecil Foster, and H. Nigel Thomas. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Drama of Ibsen and Strindberg |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will explore six plays by two very important yet very different figures in the history of world theatre: Henrik Ibsen, a Scandinavian dramatist whose works were produced in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and Harold Pinter, a renowned British playwright of the mid-to-late twentieth century. Special emphasis will be devoted to their authors' choice of subjects, themes and range of dramatic styles (realism, naturalism, symbolism, theatre of the absurd) and to the social and philosophical climate in which their works were created. The written work in the course will be focused on giving clear expression to our personal reactions to these plays. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Immigrant Experience |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines short fiction, essays, and novels depicting the experiences of immigrants. We will focus on contemporary fiction exploring the lives of newcomers from places such as Latin America, South-East Asia, and the former Soviet Union. The course pursues questions of cultural adaptation, generational conflict, marginalization, racism, and the abiding dreams of political freedom and economic success in a new society. It necessarily involves some consideration of the history of immigration patterns — the forces that have induced or obliged people to migrate, the nature of the societies they leave behind, the policies and attitudes that greet them in their new countries. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Lord of the Rings |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, has undeniably been an important influence on the imagination of readers worldwide. Its imagined world and its characters and story have been reproduced and embellished in visual art, music, poetry and on film.Tolkien’s influence on the genre of Fantasy Literature is just as important. But far from being an escape from reality, we can see that these works, set in an imaginary realm and peopled by fantastic creatures, in fact deal with very real problems and ideas confronted by the 20th and 21st centuries: war, lust for power and its corrupting influence, abuse of the natural world, and the demand upon the individual to fight injustice and evil. By examining the genre of Fantasy Literature through this fundamental example, we will try to understand how fantasy reveals truths about the real world, and how it works as storytelling, connecting with readers at a deep level through the use of archetype and folklore. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Love Story |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines how different methods of storytelling contribute to our understanding and expression of love and individual identity, and how (or whether) such an identity is relevant to a larger society. In our treatment of the question of how love is represented in literature, we will focus on poems, plays, and stories written in different literary periods and take into consideration their cultural and historical contexts. Literary representations of issues such as “idealness” in love, false illusions of romance, obsessive desire, and “anti-love” will be explored. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Magic of Art |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Confronted with the transitory nature of their existence, humans have always looked for ways to transcend their physical and metaphysical limitations. One of the oldest and most consistent human activities that takes us out of this existential confinement is art. Creating and witnessing art allows us to connect with something deep within us and to reach out into the wider world, dead or alive. How does art invest us with an almost superhuman power to reimagine or reinvent reality, make sense of our own and other lives, and get glimpses into what’s usually inaccessible or unknown to us? In its function of connecting, transcending, awing and fulfilling, could art be seen as a secular equivalent of religion? We will examine these and related questions in a few stories, poems and essays. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Past: Memory, History and Narrative |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines the complex and often fraught interplay between memory and narrative, particularly in the face of traumatic historical and personal events. How do we use memory to revisit and reconstruct the past, especially that which is difficult to face? How do we use narrative to understand but also evade these histories, both individual and collective? Looking at the work of such writers as Kazuo Ishiguro, W.G. Sebald, Colson Whitehead, Nona Fernandez, and Mariana Enriquez, we will pose these questions alongside specific historical milieus and events, from the Holocaust to post-World War II Japan, from the Jim Crow South to the Dirty War and “disappeared” of South America. In these texts, the past is never past, and the characters and narrators we encounter both retreat within and turn away from their own memories, in some cases grappling with their own complicity and guilt, in others finding moments of reckoning and even defiance. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Quest Pattern |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will look at various European texts in English translation to trace a well-known theme in literature, that of the hero's transformative quest for a transcendent goal after having left his or her community of origin and undergone a difficult initiation. Different quests will be examined and the quest pattern will become the template for analysis. The class format will consist of brief lectures, followed by work done in class. The goal of the course will be to develop student analytical autonomy. Films will occasionally be shown. Throughout the semester, a great deal of emphasis will be placed on the writing of sound and intelligent essays and on proper citation rules. Strong note-taking skills are vital to this class. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
The Red and the Black |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Often considered among the greatest novels ever written, The Red and the Black — the one major book we’ll read -- is a phenomenal introduction to the art and themes of the novel and the works of one of the world’s great writers, French novelist Stendhal. It's the story of a young man making his way in the world in early-19th century France; there's some love, there's some tragedy. The novel is a brick – 500 pages (approx.). Students should be prepared for a reading challenge. But if you put in the effort, it becomes a page-turner, and reading it can be a memorable life experience. We will read the novel in English translation, but students will be encouraged to read at least some excerpts in French (this course thus complements those courses that prepare students for the French Exit Test). |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Autobiographical Writing |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will read excerpts from various twentieth-century American autobiographies and memoirs, and we will discuss them in connection to works of autobiographical fiction by the same authors. Students will continue to learn how to write effective interpretive essays. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Children's Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Literary Horror – Monsters Within: Evil in the Ordinary |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Through a careful examination of selected works, this course delves into the intricacies of horror storytelling, uncovering the psychological, emotional, and societal fears that permeate the genre. Through an in-depth exploration of the novel form, we will uncover the psychological, social, and cultural factors that transform common lives into disturbing tales of moral descent. Examining contemporary horror literature, students will analyze how authors portray the shadow side of humanity, reflecting on themes such as guilt, ambition and vengeance, entitlement, and power. These readings demonstrate the potential for malevolence in the most unlikely places. Ultimately, these narratives challenge our understanding of human nature and in all its complexity. Students will engage with primary texts, secondary scholarship, and multimedia resources. Class time will be devoted to discussions, writing workshops, group work and lectures, oral presentations, and various written compositions. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Scottish Fiction |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, Wales and England, is one of the countries that make up the United Kingdom. The name itself is somewhat misleading, as the relationship between the four countries has often been marked by conflict and disagreements, frequently centred around identify and self-government. Concepts of identity direct much of Scottish literature, especially in writers’ interest in duality and otherness. These arise in large part from Scotland’s relationship with England and has, at its roots, the trauma of invasion, colonialism, and class. In this course, we will explore how Scottish writers navigate the above themes in styles that are experimental both in form and content. Class time will consist of short, focused lectures, writing blocks (individual and/or group), discussions and workshops. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Shakespeare |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The course will explore aspects of theme in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (comedy),Othello (tragedy) and The Tempest (romance). We will study the plays in the historical context of their production/staging and with a view to understanding their enduring appeal. Historical background texts and other useful sources will be made available online. In this course we will read and discuss literature critically, closely, and sensitively and learn to develop effective spoken and written arguments. The course will include instruction in the revision and editing of texts. All major assignments will adhere to MLA guidelines re. format, references, and presentation |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Time Travel in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Although predominantly considered a theme of science fiction, the concept of time travel has popularity beyond the issues surrounding the scientific possibility of travelling in time itself, made theoretically possible by Einstein. Since time affects everyone, a wide spectrum of authors has explored what it might mean to travel in time, be it to the past or the future. But time travel is far more than simply about poking into the past to change something undesirable or popping into the future to have a peek at where things might be going. The device of travelling in time is more about the present and how we feel about it, usually that something could — and sometimes should — be changed to make life better. This course will explore how time travel — and time itself — is explored in a variety of texts. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Twentieth Century Themes: Displaced Persons |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The 20th century brought change in many forms, and with change comes displacement. In this course we look at various works of literature from the 20th century that involve some form of displacement — be it physical, psychological, technological, social or cultural. While the main focus of the course will be the development of close readings and thematic interpretations of these texts, which will include poems, short stories and a novel, we will also consider the historical contexts out of which the texts were generated. In this way, the course helps us understand how 20th-century literature can be seen as both a response to displacement as well as an effort to find a new place in the challenging new world we find ourselves in now. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Utopia / Dystopia |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines the theme of utopia/dystopia in literature and its evolution and metamorphosis into fantasy, science fiction and political satire. Beginning with Thomas More’s Utopia, we will consider what the word 'utopia’ means and look at some short fiction it has inspired from writers such as H.G. Wells, Joanna Russ, and others. We will then cross over the line to dystopia, utopia’s dark and cynical underside, and consider two longer contemporary works: George Orwell’s 1984 and Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. At the conclusion of the course, students will try to determine why this theme resonates with many writers and provides inspiration for the building of fantastic imaginary worlds that are ultimately an extension of our own living dreams, while also unearthing nightmares that most immediately reveal our fear of our own time and place in history. Major works studied include 1984 and Cat’s Cradle. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Voices Across Contemporary Quebecois Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course aims to initiate students to contemporary Quebecois literature. The short stories, poems, drama, and essays we read (some originally written in English, some translated from French) will serve as a springboard to observe how literature reflects the current realities of Quebecois society. One thread that will run through all the texts we read is community. How does the intersection of identity, language, and community inform our very particular realities in Quebec? What unique challenges do Quebecois communities face, and how can reading Quebecois literature help us wrestle with these challenges? A special feature of this course is that we will engage in frequent collaborative activities with students from a French course with a similar theme, titled "Voix croisées dans la littérature québécoise contemporaine.” The aim is opening ourselves to as many varied perspectives as possible. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Welcome to the Machine |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Are humans just wind-up toys? Do we control machines or live in the belly of one? Is so-called “reality” merely a simulation? Are our fates determined by our programming? If so, do choices matter? Welcome to the machine! Strap in as we travel through space and time and ponder questions foundational to Sci-Fi and Ethics. Our journey begins with myth and metaphysics in Ancient Greece. From there we’ll jump to the ethical implications of early mechanistic philosophers and of modern thinkers including Bentham, Nietzsche, and Freud. We’ll then turn to recent scholarship on the uncanny valley; cosmic dread; robot rights; alternate techno-histories; and black, queer, and Indigenous futures. Authors include: Philip K. Dick, H.P. Lovecraft, Octavia Butler, Sherman Alexie, and Seo-Young J. Chu. Directors include: Stanley Kubrick (2001), Alex Garland (Ex Machina) and the genre-bending David Lynch… We’ll also discuss the Pink Floyd song after which this course was named! |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Windrush: Caribbean British Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Windrush refers to the postwar generation of Caribbean people arriving in the United Kingdom. Beginning in 1948 and lasting until 1971, these migrants, who arrived as British subjects from part of the empire, would go on to make a huge impression on their new country. Their descendants now run into the fourth generation, and whether in sport, media, or the arts, have changed the U.K. and its idea of itself. This course will look at history, autobiography, and literature (poetry, short story and novel) to come to an understanding of this key element of 20th and 21st century Britain. Among the focuses that arise are identity, race, politics and gender. This course is part of the Women and Gender Studies Certificate. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Woman with Agency |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
To have agency is to be able to exert some control over one’s life: to be an active subject rather than a passive object. Women in patriarchal societies have historically been denied equal agency to that of men, and still face barriers to fully realizing their goals for themselves, particularly if other factors such as racial prejudice, ableism, ageism, class discrimination, homophobia and/or transphobia are involved. In this course students will explore a number of themes related to women asserting their agency, often against norms of their times and places. Novels, essays, and short stories by a diversity of women and nonbinary authors (included because they were assigned female at birth and discuss that experience) are among the course's required works. The relevance of historical and cultural context will be considered in our discussion of works in the course. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Words of Love: On Literary Depictions of Love |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
“Love” is among the most malleable words in the English language. We encounter the word on a near daily basis, but its definition is impossible to pin down. Love is at once universal and transcendent, and deeply personal and historical. This course, through the careful investigation of a range of texts from different genres and historical periods, asks you to contemplate diverse literary depictions of love and their consequences. We will consider the medieval romance and courtly love, the fairy tale and true love, queer literature and forbidden love. Students will be encouraged to understand, appreciate, and analyze works of literature, and to write critically about these works by developing their own ideas in the form of a literary essay. Class time will be divided between lectures, class discussions, group work, and in-class assignments. Assignments include reading quizzes, in-class brainstorming and writing exercises, homework (esp. reading), and major essays. |
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| 603-103-MQ |
Writing the Great War |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will examine how the First World War (1914-1918) transformed Western society and played a significant role in shaping the culture, values, and geography of the modern world. After a brief introduction to the concept of warfare, students will move to an examination of the Great War’s literature—primarily poetry and excerpts from memoirs. The class will focus on how soldiers responded to the physical and psychological trauma of the War but will also examine writing by non-combatants to see how the effects of the War were felt well beyond its battlefields. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Year Zero: Writing Around Punk Rock |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In the 1970’s Britain was a bleak place for many, especially for the young. Unemployment was high, there seemed to be no hope. Your choices, particularly if you were of the working class, were largely (and perhaps stereotypically), unemployment, the army or a factory job; at least, so it seemed to many. This is the framework of Punk Rock, a musical movement and, in Britain particularly, a social movement as well. This course will explore a variety of writing around this movement. Starting with 1976 (and a little before) and moving to 1978 (and a little after) we will investigate a selection of lyrics, videos, essays, journalism, biography and other fiction and nonfiction work in an attempt to define the movement and examine the resonance which is still felt to this day. Topics to be covered (amongst others) deal with questions of class, income equality, educational opportunities, race, gender discrimination, lgbqia2+ inclusion, and DIY philosophy. |
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