Introduction to Literature
The following objectives and learning targets represent the major concepts studied and assessed in this course.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Analyze a variety of authors and literary styles.
- Define the elements of fiction.
- Demonstrate personal analysis and evaluation of fictional works.
- Explain and assess personal responses to fiction and explore others’ responses.
- Recognize how fiction reflects the components and contribution of one’s own and other cultures.
Semester 1
Unit 1: Introduction to Critical Modes of Interpretation
- Review literary elements and investigate various critical lenses in order to analyze literature and engage in real-world applications of those interpretations.
Unit 2: Pride and Power – Things Fall Apart
- Apply critical modes of interpretation focused on Marxist, feminist, and New Historicist criticism.
- Create defensible interpretation of the text using one of the critical modes of interpretation presented in Unit 1.
Unit 3: Dramatic Interpretation – King Lear
- Apply critical modes of interpretation focused on New Criticism and Reader-Response criticism.
- Contextualize the piece through use of real-world political or historical relation.
Unit 4: Men and Monsters – Frankenstein
- Apply critical modes of interpretation focused on psychological criticism, queer theory, and deconstructionism.
- Complete a multi-genre project encapsulating ideas presented not only in Frankenstein, but also in other works presented over the course of the semester.