This course treats analysis as a creative act. It assumes that analysis makes it possible to enjoy literature in unexpected ways and that worthwhile analysis stems from creative excitement and enjoyment.
It is divided equally between poetry and prose. In both parts we study short works: short poems and, in the prose section, short stories and essays. The relative shortness of the readings enables us to consider a wide variety of authors and styles while exploring each work in depth. And the works we study do reward detailed attention. Authors include standard figures such as Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Eudora Welty, and Scott Fitzgerald; experimental writers such as E. E. Cummings, Tom Wolfe, and Sesshu Foster; and writers from traditionally marginalized groups: people of color, people of unconventional sexuality, and people of physical disability, a group that includes such writers as James Baldwin, Louise Erdrich, Judy Grahn, Audre Lorde, and Nancy Mairs.
In addition to traditional topics such as diction and form, the poetry section explores the relation between poetry and music, including rap and popular song. The prose section adds concepts especially suited to the study prose and includes both fiction and nonfiction. Both parts involve short exercises in creative writing as a way of听 understanding the relation between analysis and creativity. We also look at what鈥檚 happening with poetry and prose right now, including electronic literature as presented on the web. The overall goal is to acquire new ways of understanding creativity, including your own.
The instructor: Professor Ed Rivers writes on modern literature and has won five awards for teaching, including the University鈥檚 highest, the President鈥檚 Teaching Scholar award.
Texts: 听A custom-designed course pack costing about $20.00 in the UMC plus short texts available online at no cost.
Requirements (subject to change):听 Two short tests, a mid-term, various in-class exercises, and a final paper.听
Taught by Ed Rivers.