Genre and Literary Analysis

COURSE OBJECTIVE
This course will provide a grounding in critical analysis of genre in English Literature as well as provide a thorough introduction to the concept of close reading, which will be the basis of all courses in our program. This course examines the specificities and characteristics that are associated with various genres of literature -- poetry, fiction, and drama -- and guides the student through an understanding that genre and literary form helps shape the way we look at and analyze a text. Students will become familiar with the terminology used in literary analysis.

COURSE CONTENT
This course will comprise of seminars in which students learn the skill of close reading. By means of discussions with the instructor and fellow students, individual, group, and creative exercises, the student will learn how to analyze a variety of literary texts, how to create their own interpretation of that text, and how to support that interpretation with evidence from the text.

TEACHING METHODS
6 seminar hours each week. Attendance in the course seminars is compulsory. If you are absent for more than 3 seminars (20%), you cannot pass the course. Exceptions may be made in grave personal circumstances. Make sure to inform both your lecturer and the student advisor in such cases.

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Poetry Explication (30%)
Presentation (20%)
Exam (50%)
Students must receive a 5.0 or higher on each assignment to pass the course (with an average of at least 5.5).

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Students must have taken part in the modules “Literature, Culture, and Society” and “Literary Theory.”