Detailed Course Information

Select the desired Level or Schedule Type to find available classes for the course.

LITR 414 - SEMINAR:
LITERATURE SEMINAR: The topics studied in this course vary from semeser-to-semester, as well as from instructor-to-instructor. This course is the capstone of the Literature Major. Students should expect to engage in sophisticated discussion, to work independently, and to participate in--and lead--seminar discussions. The couse will require students to call on the experience of their previous coursework in the major to produce polished writing informed by reseach. LITR 414: American Literature & Law -- This is an interdisciplinary, literature-based course examining fictional and non-fictional literature on American law. There is an emerging field of literature and law which recognizes how essentially stories shape the field of law, how an understanding of the ambiguity inherent in studying literature can assist anyone examining the law, and how such literary acts as character analysis and inference span the two disciplines. Much of American philosophy and culture are embedded in its literature, and the literature of the law is a particularly rich site for exploring the meaning of American life and its legal culture. LITR 414: Perf. of Everyday Life -- Prior to the twentieth century, most people assumed that “great art” was defined by its ability to transcend the concerns and constraints of popular, everyday life. However, the twentieth century welcomed a number of artists, philosophers and activists who challenged the sacred line separating “art” from “real life.” These vanguard artists and scholars challenged traditional definitions of art by asking: What happens if we apply what we know about literary interpretation to the world outside of the book? If all the world is truly a stage, can we analyze that stage the way we analyze dramatic performances? What props and what settings shape the variety of characters we perform in our daily routines? How are theatrical rituals related to other social rituals, and how are these related to quotidian habits (e.g. ordering food, making jokes, puttering, or walking through the city)? How is the line separating art from everyday life constructed and maintained by institutions such as schools, churches, museums, galleries, and courts? This course will introduce students to an interdisciplinary field known as “everyday life studies,” a growing field that combines the methods and insights of literary studies with those of theatre and performance studies, anthropology, psychoanalysis, political theory, cartography, architecture, the visual arts, and sociology. The main text in the class will be the everyday life and world of the students, but we will also read essays by writers who have blurred the distinction between the “aesthetic” and the “everyday.” Such writers may include Walter Benjamin, Bertol Brecht, Michel de Certeau, Siegfried Kracauer, Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes, Erving Goffman, Richard Scheckner, Guy Debord, J.L. Austin, Jacques Derrida and Slavoj Žižek. 0.000 TO 4.000 Credit hours 0.000 TO 4.000 Lecture hours Levels: Undergraduate Schedule Types: Seminar Literature Department Course Attributes: WRITING INTENSIVE Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Undergraduate Must be enrolled in one of the following Classifications: Senior Junior Prerequisites: FOR LITR 414 General Requirements: ( Course or Test: CRWT 102 Minimum Grade of D May not be taken concurrently. and Course or Test: LITR 300 to 399 Required Courses: 1 Minimum Grade of D May not be taken concurrently. ) and ( Course or Test: LITR 101 Minimum Grade of D May not be taken concurrently. ) or ( Course or Test: LITR 203 Minimum Grade of D May not be taken concurrently. )

LITR 414 - SEMINAR:

LITERATURE SEMINAR: The topics studied in this course vary from semeser-to-semester, as well as from instructor-to-instructor. This course is the capstone of the Literature Major. Students should expect to engage in sophisticated discussion, to work independently, and to participate in--and lead--seminar discussions. The couse will require students to call on the experience of their previous coursework in the major to produce polished writing informed by reseach. LITR 414: American Literature & Law -- This is an interdisciplinary, literature-based course examining fictional and non-fictional literature on American law. There is an emerging field of literature and law which recognizes how essentially stories shape the field of law, how an understanding of the ambiguity inherent in studying literature can assist anyone examining the law, and how such literary acts as character analysis and inference span the two disciplines. Much of American philosophy and culture are embedded in its literature, and the literature of the law is a particularly rich site for exploring the meaning of American life and its legal culture. LITR 414: Perf. of Everyday Life -- Prior to the twentieth century, most people assumed that “great art” was defined by its ability to transcend the concerns and constraints of popular, everyday life. However, the twentieth century welcomed a number of artists, philosophers and activists who challenged the sacred line separating “art” from “real life.” These vanguard artists and scholars challenged traditional definitions of art by asking: What happens if we apply what we know about literary interpretation to the world outside of the book? If all the world is truly a stage, can we analyze that stage the way we analyze dramatic performances? What props and what settings shape the variety of characters we perform in our daily routines? How are theatrical rituals related to other social rituals, and how are these related to quotidian habits (e.g. ordering food, making jokes, puttering, or walking through the city)? How is the line separating art from everyday life constructed and maintained by institutions such as schools, churches, museums, galleries, and courts? This course will introduce students to an interdisciplinary field known as “everyday life studies,” a growing field that combines the methods and insights of literary studies with those of theatre and performance studies, anthropology, psychoanalysis, political theory, cartography, architecture, the visual arts, and sociology. The main text in the class will be the everyday life and world of the students, but we will also read essays by writers who have blurred the distinction between the “aesthetic” and the “everyday.” Such writers may include Walter Benjamin, Bertol Brecht, Michel de Certeau, Siegfried Kracauer, Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes, Erving Goffman, Richard Scheckner, Guy Debord, J.L. Austin, Jacques Derrida and Slavoj Žižek.
0.000 TO 4.000 Credit hours
0.000 TO 4.000 Lecture hours

Levels: Undergraduate
Schedule Types: Seminar

Literature Department

Course Attributes:
WRITING INTENSIVE

Restrictions:
Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels:
Undergraduate
Must be enrolled in one of the following Classifications:
Senior
Junior

Prerequisites:
FOR LITR 414

General Requirements:
( Course or Test: CRWT 102
Minimum Grade of D
May not be taken concurrently.
and
Course or Test: LITR 300 to 399
Required Courses: 1
Minimum Grade of D
May not be taken concurrently. )
and
( Course or Test: LITR 101
Minimum Grade of D
May not be taken concurrently. )
or
( Course or Test: LITR 203
Minimum Grade of D
May not be taken concurrently. )

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Detailed Course Information

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