An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year Students are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Transfer Students register into the designated section(s).

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year Students are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Transfer Students register into the designated section(s).

Major Requirement | BFA

The Gothic tradition in literature has a wide and varied history. It is filled with contradictions that create a kind of uneasy unity; the natural world and the uncanny; patriarchal structures and strong women; and the awful beauty of the sublime. It also goes hand in hand with the vampire tales, that Nina Auerbach says have been our companions for so long that it is hard to imagine ourselves living without them. This course will explore the places vampire and Gothic novels, short fiction, and film intersect and diverge, as well as the way these genres approach representations of the monstrous feminine. We will consider these works of fiction in their cultural contexts using frameworks from gender studies, and feminist and post-colonial theory. Texts will include vampire stories from around the world, the European origins of the Gothic, and contemporary work that challenges the boundaries of both genres. As seminar participants, students will take an active role in class meetings, and produce research and project-based work.

Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

We are all familiar with the moral of the story that comes at the end of a fairy tale. Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood cautions unmarried young ladies not to let "wolves" into their beds, while the Grimm's "Little Red Cap" chastises girls for not listening closely to their mothers. Traditional versions of these tales are conduct manuals, cautionary tales, and homemaking primers for young girls, but they also address the underlying uncertainties associated with growing up and entering adulthood. Over the years, the fairy tale has been retold or reimagined to reflect shifting gender norms, and changing cultural anxieties around the transition to adulthood. Most recently, adaptations on the large and small screens have asked us to consider the motivations of the fairy tale's most notorious female villains in the context of traditional gender roles such as wife and mother. This course will examine tellings and retellings of four classic fairy tales: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. We will read and watch classic versions, contemporary retellings, and film and television adaptations of these texts that both challenge and reinforce ideas of gender normativity, contextualized by readings in feminist theory, gender studies, and psychoanalytic theory. We will also put these western tales in conversation with other similar literary texts and folk tales from around the world, and yes, we will talk about Disney.

Elective