MLA Formatting and Documentation

This course is designed as an introduction to the basic terms and methods of literary analysis. Perhaps more importantly, it is also an introduction to the fundamental critical processes of close reading and conceptual, analytical thought. The world we live in is made up of representations; everywhere, we are inundated by images, signs, and stories. In this course, we will take up some of the most foundational of those images, signs, and stories—Ovid's classic collection of Greek and Roman myths, Metamorphoses, and important fairy tales from around the world. Our subject matter will thus consist of some of the most easily recognizable myths of Western culture. Yet, the meanings of these stories are far from transparent, and artists throughout the ages have been rewriting, revising, and continually contributing to their formation. Ovid's Metamorphoses is itself a collection of retold tales, and the tradition of reinterpretation, rediscovery, and recreation continues in our own generations. Because each act of revision is also an act of interpretation and an act of creative re-presentation, we will emphasize the process of revision in a number of ways—both by examining a variety of literary adaptations by later writers and in our own writing and critical thought, as well. By using these key representations of the Western mind as our subject matter, we will work to denaturalize, demystify, and deconstruct some of the stories we tell—and stories we believe—about gender, race, class, power, and identity.

**Note that there is a minimum grade requirement for this course; all English majors and minors must pass with a C.

Class Policies

Required Texts

Grade Breakdown

Schedule (Subject to Change)

Responses and In-Class Activities

Explication Project 

Class Research Project

Exams

Technology

SANDBOX