ENGL 113(F) Critical Reading+
What makes a literary text "literary"? Is it something fundamental to the text itself? Is it the circumstances in which we encounter it? Or is it the way we read it? This course will focus on some of the skills and issues involved in critical reading of literary texts. It will be organized around a series of key questions and topics, such as: What do we expect of literary texts? What do they expect of us? What pleasures and parameters are established by the way(s) we read? What characterizes "interpretation"? Where does meaning come from: author, reader, text? How can the form or genre of a work influence our interpretation of it? How is our understanding of a text shaped by the contexts (a literary tradition, a historical moment) we place or encounter it in? We will address each of these questions by reading and interpreting literary texts (mostly poems and short stories) and pertinent critical essays. Each group of questions or topics will invite increased self-consciousness about literary form, the function of criticism, and the process of reading and interpreting. In the last part of the course, we will bring this self-consciousness to bear on a play (Brian Friel's Translations), a movie (Thelma and Louise), and a novel (A. S.. Byatt's Possession). The course is intended both to develop your skills in reading, writing about and discussing literary texts, and to complicate your understanding of the potential pleasures and profits of critical reading. Requirements: five papers ranging from 2-7 pages and active participation in discussion. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 19. Two sections.