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English 4950  Literary History

As a capstone course for English majors, this class is intended to get you thinking about the overall meaning and value of literary study – how texts relate to other texts, how writers respond to the world around them and to other writers, how in one’s own reading certain patterns begin to emerge, why one might read and write, and so forth. The reading for the course will cluster around Barbara Kingslover’s The Poisonwood Bible, a novel set in the Congo in Africa. Along with this we will read some history, several African novels, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, as well as watch several movies in order to explore literary history in the making. You will also work on a semester long project exploring your own history as a reader and student of literature. (Group 4)