Evans, Jonathan
MWF 4 :10 PM
Park Hall 0269
This is a course in English composition with special emphasis on writing about literature. While attention will be paid to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and the larger structures of paragraphs and the rhetorical dimension of essay composition, the major focus will be on interpretive strategies for understanding complex texts from English and American literature. Additionally, we will devote a measurable amount of time to the interplay between written/printed literary works and their representation in film. For example, in the opening weeks of the semester, after going through detailed reading, discussion, and interpretation of a modern translation of the Old English epic poem Beowulf, we will view at least one of several movie verisons of the story and discuss how the film-maker(s) interpreted the poem. Students will be required to write interpretive essays about the poem and then a concluding essay concerning how the filmed interpretation(s) may have influenced -- and probably will have changed -- students' understanding of the plot, characters, settings, and deeper issues addressed in the story. We will follow a similar process in reading Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I, followed by a viewing of the BBC televised version of the play. Subsequent reading, viewing, and writing assignments will be announced as we get deeper into the semester, with input from students themselves concerning the second half of the course. In any event, students will write 5 essays in all, plus a final exam, and these will be graded for both grammar and content. A syllabus will be provided by the first day of class on August 14.