Thursday, August 27, 2009
Welcome to the Blog for ENGL 200 at Case Western Reserve University!
This course introduces students to the reading of literature in the English language and is intended to give English majors the skills necessary to succeed in more advanced literature courses and those students in other disciplines an additional critical consciousness crucial to any major. These include familiarity with literary terms and concepts; close reading skills; awareness of the sorts of questions raised by literary texts and addressed by literary scholars; and practice writing literary analysis papers that defend an arguable thesis based on a close reading of texts. In our discussions, we will focus on defining three genres of writing: poetry, prose fiction, and drama. Additionally, we will examine several examples that challenge prevailing definitions of these three genres. Finally, the course is intended to enhance students’ ability to appreciate and enjoy literature. In our pursuit of these objectives, we will ask ourselves some of the most basic (yet most complicated) questions about literature: What is the role of an author, and what is the role of a reader? How does a reader’s interaction with a text change among different genres? How do we make meaning when we read? Why should we study literature critically?
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In my opinion, the role of the author is to create a story that engages the reader and causes the reader to think about the text they are reading and how it can relate to the things going on around them. The role of the reader is to read, question the literature being read, understand what is going on in the story, and make meanings of what is occurring in the story, questioning why the author used whatever methods they used. With different genres come different topics, and some readers may be more engaged in some genres than other, depending on how interested the reader is in the subject. When reading, the reader makes meaning by comprehending what is being read and asking questions, such as why, or how. It is important to study literature critically to get a better understanding of what is being read, and question what is going on in the story and why.
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