CATLOG ADDENDUM SPRING 2009

LITR 319 - MAJOR AUTHORS: Mark Twain
Time: 9:45 am - 11:15 am Days: MR

Instructor: Edward Shannon (eshannon@ramapo.edu)

In this class we will examine the work of one author in detail.  Our goal is to understand the work of this author in a variety of contexts.  While we want to be able to appreciate the works for their individual merits, we also want to approach the work in historical and biographical contexts.  Through intensive study of one author, we hope to gain insight into his artistic project, and to become “experts” on a major literary figure.
           
The writer whose work we will examine is virtually synonymous with American for much of the world.  Mark Twain was one of first American literary celebrities nationwide and abroad.  A southerner who went west, and later settled in Connecticut, Twain could represent the nation in a way that few other writers could.  He was also perceived abroad as, in Twain’s words “Not an American,” but “the American.”  Through a reading of Twain’s fiction and non-fiction, we will grapple with a writer whose savage wit and literary daring still shocks and delights readers almost a century after his death.

This course fulfills the Major Author requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill the American Literature requirement for secondary education English certification.
        

LITR 319 - MAJOR AUTHORS: Margaret Atwood

Time: 6:00 pm - 9:15 pm Days: Tuesday Evening


Instructor: Monika Giacoppe (mgiacopp@ramapo.edu)


MARGARET ATWOOD: This course will provide an in-depth look at the writings of a contemporary author from Canada who has established a truly international reputation for herself.  Although Atwood began her writing career as a poet, she is best known as a novelist and Canadian nationalist.  In this course, we will examine the range of Atwood’s literary production, studying several of her novels, selections of her poetry, and one of her collections of short fiction.  We will also explore Atwood’s contributions to the field of literary criticism.  This course should help you to appreciate the depth and breadth of Atwood’s work, to recognize and understand some of the recurring themes and motifs that characterize her oeuvre, and to trace their development over the course of her career to date.  We will also discuss how Atwood’s “Canadianness” is a shaping and defining feature of her literary production.  Furthermore, this class will help you to develop your own skills in researching and analyzing literary texts.

We'll read some of Atwood's novels, including The Edible Woman, Surfacing, The Handmaid's Tale, and Alias Grace. We'll also read some of her essays, poetry, and Wilderness Tips, a book of short stories.

This course can fulfill either the Major Author or International Literature requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill the European/International requirement for secondary education English certification.

LITR 414 Literature Seminar: Modernism
Time:9:45 am - 11:15 am Days:MR

Instructor: Lisa WIlliams (liwillia@ramapo.edu)

This course will look at modernism—that artistic period taking place between the two world wars—from an international perspective. We will look closely at both the form and content of literary texts as we analyze how different writers contributed to this movement. The effects of World War I, as well as the discoveries of Freud and Einstein, radically changed how people responded to the world around them. We will examine how artists, particularly writers, reacted to the great upheavals of the early 20th century.

This course can fulfill either the Capstone or International Literature requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill one of the European/International requirements for secondary education English certification.

LITR 414 Literature Seminar: The Rebel in Literature

Time: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Days: TF

Instructor:Peter Scheckner (pscheckn@ramapo.edu)

This new Capstone Senior Seminar will explore a theme that has recurred throughout the literature of Europe, North America, and South America since the beginnings of Western literature with Homer’s Iliad (composed as an epic poem in the eighth century BCE). This is the theme of the man and woman in rebellion, the character that stands up, like the first rebel in Western literature Thersites in the Iliad in Book Two, and refuses to accept the status quo. The most articulate renegades, comics, madmen, or miscreants in literature are synonymous with some of the most enduring works in the Western world and in the Americas. Although we (or even the authors themselves) may laugh at these renegades, or try to distance ourselves from what they are saying, our laughter may also enlighten us; it can even transform who we once thought we were. In any event, these rebels make for great and enduring literature.


This course can fulfill either the Capstone or International Literature requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill one of the European/International requirements for secondary education English certification.

NEW COURSE SPRING 2009!

BRAZILIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
LITR 330-01  

Time:8:00 am - 9:30 am Days: TF

Instructor: Paula Straile-Costa (pard@ramapo.edu)

This course will provide you with an introduction to Brazilian literary production within the context of major historical periods. We will also explore the diverse social and political movements and cultural practices that coincide with them. Despite the diversity and transnational character of many of its people, we can identify a search for and development of a distinctly Brazilian national identity.  Selected major literary works in translation will be studied alongside other Brazilian cultural products, such as film, music, visual and plastic arts, architecture, historical documents and non-fiction writing in order to gain a critical understanding of this Latin American ‘invisible giant’ and its people. 

Literature, Latino/a and Latin American Studies, International Studies Students
This advanced course fulfills the international focus requirement for the Literature Major.  As the only course that focuses entirely on Brazil, it is an excellent option for the Latino/a and Latin American Studies Minor and the International Studies major as well. 
General Education:  This course fulfills the International Issues category because it allows us to analyze and interpret a variety of contemporary issues in Brazil and its interconnectedness to other nations.
Prerequisite:  Any 200-level Literature course

This course can fulfill the International Literature requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill one of the European/International requirements for secondary education English certification.

(photo credit: corcovado-view-day_fs.jpg www.braziliantrip.com)

LITR 342 The Victorians: Poetry and Prose
Time: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Days: MR

Instructor: Patricia Ard (pard@ramapo.edu)

Britain under Queen Victoria (1837-1901) transformed itself into the first urban, industrial, technological, democratic, and imperial modern state. Writers—men and women alike—understood the revolutionary character of the time and confronted imaginatively the full range of social realities that continue to beset us now: the degraded environment, mass culture, changing sex roles, the alienated workplace, race, colonialism, and the endangered child. We will explore the achievements of a wide range of these writers in all their rich, varied forms of expression, including poetry, the novel, children’s literature, and the essay.
The invention of photography during this period and its intertwining with literature will be a particular focus, as will the Great Exhibition of 1851, and how Victorian culture is reimagined in contemporary culture.

* This course fulfills one of British Literature requirements for secondary education English certification.

LITR 239 Literature and Film

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Days: TF

Instructor:Peter Scheckner (pscheckn@ramapo.edu)

This class will examine the treatment of narrative as practiced in both literature and film. Students will explore the relationship between the two forms and consider which narrative devices and techniques are common to both and which are exclusive to one form or the other. Students will develop a range of critical skills to enable them to examine and discuss narrative as practiced in both literature and film. The specific topic of this course (which genres, regions, periods, etc. covered) as well as which readings and screenings will be considered will change from semester-to-semester, as well as from instructor-to-instructor.

This semester's theme is "Utopia to Dystopia: Visions of a Failed and Better World in LIterature and Film"

This class will explore apocalyptic visions in such cinematic and literary works (novels, plays, and graphic novels) as V for Vendetta, Fight Club, 1984, Terminator, Reds, Ten Days That Shook the World, Children of Men, and Freedom Road, among others. From the beginning of the twentieth century, film and literature have reacted to both the terror of the times--wars, nuclear catastrophe, dictatorships, and environmental disasters--but also to the possibilities of a better world. The past one hundred years have produced a body of exciting and enduring works that reflect this dual vision.

This course can fulfill the International Literature requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill one of the European/International requirements for secondary education English certification.

LITR 255 Literature of the Americas
Time:9:45 am - 11:15 am Days: TF

Instructor: Monika Giacoppe (mgiacopp@ramapo.edu)

This course is designed to introduce students to the many historic, thematic, and stylistic concerns common throughout the literature of the Americas. From the colonization that disrupted Native populations, to settlement, slavery, revolution, immigration, and many other issues, New World nations share a common heritage that we will explore. We will, therefore, read works from throughout the Americas: Canada, the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, and our readings will represent different genres, from pre-Columbian times through the present. We will engage with these texts by reading and writing about them, and by discussing them during our class time.

This course can fulfill the International Literature requirement of the Literature Major. At the same time, it can fulfill one of the American Literature requirements for secondary education English certification.