Description: This course introduces you to the study of literature. Its goal is to provide you with a toolbox of skills and approaches to literature—a set of tools applicable not only to this course but to the critical analysis of the texts you encounter in other classes at Stockton and beyond. This course builds the contents of your literary toolbox, increasing your knowledge of the tools available for interpreting literature, and it also helps you understand how and when to use these tools. A key skill you will practice in this course is how to produce close readings of texts. Your close reading skills will be enhanced through an introduction to popular literary methods—such as narrative analysis, metaphorical analysis, and intertextual analysis. We will also enhance your electronic literacy through the production and analysis of a variety of electronic texts. Students should come ready to read and re-read, write and re-write, think and re-think intensively.
In particular, this course has three essential goals. Students should:
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• Learn fundamental principles, generalizations, or theories (e.g. the basics of close reading and critical literary analysis methods and theories)
• Learn to apply course material (e.g., produce writing that demonstrates your ability to apply close reading skills and basic critical reading methods)
• Learn to analyze and critically evaluate ideas (e.g., critically evaluate a range of literary texts, genres, and appropriate methods for reading primary texts)
Other important goals for this course include:
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• Gaining factual knowledge (terminology, classifications, methods, trends) (e.g., building your vocabulary of literary terms, genres, and methods)
• Developing skill in expressing yourself in writing (e.g., sharpening your critical writing and analysis skills, particularly in regard to your writing about literature)
• Developing specific skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field (e.g., this course provides foundational knowledge for careers related to literary studies)
• Gaining a broader understanding and appreciation of literature (e.g., the aim of this course is to learn to appreciate poetry, fiction, and drama)
