ENGL*1200 - Reading the Contemporary World

Course Description

This course, which is designed primarily for those not planning a specialization in English, introduces students to literary texts and persuasive forms of writing, bringing to the fore some of the links between language and contemporary social and political issues. Course materials will represent diversity in terms of national origins, gender, race, and class. The course emphasizes the use of figurative language as well as the development of students' critical reading and writing skills. Students planning to major or minor or pursue an area of concentration in English must take ENGL*1080 and ENGL*2080, but may also take ENGL*1200 and count it as an elective lecture.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:

1.    Use university-level interpretive and analytical strategies for reading and discussing texts

-       from the following genres: poetry, drama, and fiction.

-       written in English in Britain, Canada, and the United States.

-       written from and/or about the perspectives of traditionally marginalized voices, including but not limited to those of women, non-caucasians, and sexual                        minorities.

2.    Use close reading to understand how texts create meaning.

3.    Define a range of literary terms that are essential to university-level discussions of literature.

4.    Discuss the ways that literary texts reflect their social and political contexts and, in turn, may be understood to shape such contexts.

5.    Understand different theoretical positions that inform reading practices.

6.    Express increasingly sophisticated ideas about literature in writing.

7.    Write approximately 10-12 pages of polished prose, in which considerable attention has been paid to the formation and development of a sophisticated                       argument, the appropriate and effective use of textual evidence (primary text only), and the structure and generic conventions of literary criticism

Course Topics

• Fiction - Vanderhaeghe
• Drama - Vogel
• Reading Poetry
• Poetry - Clarke
• Drama - Churchill
• Fiction - Brand

Assessment