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A total of 4 courses have been found.
Reading of Chinese literature concerning ghosts, marvels, and supernatural from the first millennium B.C.E. through the 1800s; readings analyzed against changing historical and religious contexts. Taught in English.

Although talk of ghosts and the supernatural was discouraged by Confucius, tales of the dead and their doings abound from the beginning of ancient civilization in China. What is a ghost in traditional Chinese culture? What is the underworld like? How (and why) do ghosts interact with people? Are they friends or enemies, or simply indifferent? What about romance with a ghost? Who is more powerful, humans or ghosts?

This course introduces a variety of Chinese ghost stories and tales of the weird from ancient times to 1800. We’ll read tales of ghosts, shape-shifters, foxes, dragons, and other creatures, and their interactions with humans, including Taoists with magic ghost-controlling skills and Buddhist monks. The earliest tales are presented as history and may teach moral lessons, while the latest are pure fiction, literature meant for pleasure and entertainment.

The major projects for this course will be creative: students will select and rewrite two of the ghost stories we read, perhaps updating the setting to modern times or moving the story from China to Iowa, changing the ending or other plot elements, transforming or adding characters, making a scary story campy or fun, or giving a happy story a tragic ending or vice versa, and write an essay discussing the changes. In addition to the two adaptations, other assignments include frequent in-class writing, brief response essays, quizzes/reading checks, regular attendance and enthusiastic class participation.

All readings are in English translation, and may also include brief forays into other Asian or world literary traditions. This is a discussion-based course and attendance is required.

Interpretation of Literature
Development of skills in literary interpretation through study of ancient Greek and Roman literature in translation; students read dramatic and nondramatic poetry, fictional and nonfictional prose, non-Greco-Roman literature of ancient Mediterranean, and classical reception; 8th century B.C.E. to 4th century C.E. Interpretation of Literature
Ways of reading; focus on reader, text, contexts; poetry, short fiction, drama, novels.

Format: Interpretation of Literature is a small-enrollment class.  Students can expect mini-lectures from the instructor, but most class sessions will focus on discussion of reading material either as a full class or in smaller groups.  Assignments: Students can expect to read texts in four literary genres: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama, as well as shorter pieces of literature. Reading comprehension quizzes or tests will be given, and some form of midterm and a final are required.  Written work will include formal and informal projects comprising some 5,000 words (around 20 pages). At the semester’s end students will collect this written work into an electronic portfolio and write a reflection on the arc of their work across the semester.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY ONLINE REQUEST TO ADD THIS COURSE OR CHANGE SECTIONS OF ENGL:1200 AFTER 12:00 AM ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CLASSES WILL BE DENIED.

Interpretation of Literature
Development of skills in reading, understanding, and critically engaging with literary texts, and of research skills for informed inquiry; sense of oneself as a situated reader; range of texts reflecting diversity of French and Francophone writers. Taught in English.

This course serves as an introduction to well-known works of the French literary tradition. Focus will be on critical reading techniques, in-class discussion, and writing assignments that will discuss themes, characters, concepts and historical dimensions of the various works we will read. Although this is not primarily a history or culture course, we will view literary works as inroads into the understanding of different cultural formations across historical time. Thus we will be getting a sense for the differences between Medieval culture and the Renaissance as it manifested itself in France; also for the major flashpoints in the chronological unfolding of modernity in France, through the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and up to the end of the twentieth century opening onto the present day. The various social trends we observe will bring us to ask questions about gender, power, social class, environment and identity, all through the lens of literary language and the storytelling it carries out.  

Interpretation of Literature