Writing
The courses on this page reflect 2008 offerings.
Visit this page on December 15 to view course descriptions and schedules for the 2009 General Honors Program. |
CAS WR 100 Writing Seminar
Imaginative engagement through reading and writing with a theme or
topic in literature, thought, and society. Emphasis on assimilation of challenging
readings into essays that are clear, accurate, persuasive, and engaging. Practice
in classroom discussion of ideas and refinement of speaking skills. Special
attention to comparison and synthesis. Individual conferences. 4 cr.
WR 100 Seminar theme: Sympathy for the Devil
The concept of a Prince of Darkness or Evil anti-God has proved
fruitful in literature, from simple folk-lore to sophisticated epic
poetry. And literature has influenced and altered the theological
view of the devil. Milton made the serpent of Genesis into a kingly
and in some respects heroic Satan; Goethe took the simple tempter
Mephistopheles and added the character of a slightly underbred clever
cynic. Devil characters have proved invaluable for examining and
exposing aspects of human conduct. The Faust legend has lent itself
to Christian moralizing, romantic deism, and satire on the inadequacy
of human dreams. C.S.Lewis found the devil a splendid instrument
for examining the ethical pitfalls awaiting modern Christians, while
Mikhail Bulgakov used a team of comic devils to carry out his wish-fulfilment
and inflict ferociously hair-raising punishment on Stalinist timeservers,
counterpointing this against the tragedy of Pontius Pilate as a
bureaucrat without the courage to follow his conscience in defiance
of a corrupt regime. The reduced reading time in the summer session
allows us to study two poems by Burns, parts of Paradise Lost
and Goethe's Faust, Marlowe's Dr Faustus, Max
Beerbohm's Enoch Soames, Lewis's The Screwtape Letters
and Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
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WR 100 Seminar theme: The American Short Story
This seminar explores the evolution of the American short story
from its early forms to contemporary experiments. Our concern is
to understand both the formal qualities of the short story (plot,
setting, characterization, point of view) and the range of themes
that have found expression in this brief but potent prose genre.
We consider short stories as individual entities and as works grouped
together into collections. The seminar compares American short stories
with British and European models. Readings are selected from the
stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving,
Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Henry James, Kate Chopin, O. Henry,
Willa Cather, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor,
John Edgar Wideman, Eudora Welty, John Gardner, John Updike, and
William Gass, among others.
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COM CO 201 Introduction to Communication Writing
Prereq: CAS WR 100 or permission of the instructor. The core writing
course for communication students. Students review grammatical and
stylistic skills and apply those skills to professional writing
assignments: news stories, memoirs, proposals, film reviews, and
profiles. Weekly written assignments and writing workshops with
an emphasis on revision. Prepares students to write with confidence
in communication fields. 4 cr.
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