This course looks at selected works of literature with particular reference to their cultural contexts and thematic developments. Students will continue to practice writing critical essays.
To pass English 103 at Dawson College, students must be able to do the following:
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| 603-103-MQ |
Abandoned Children in Fiction |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will consider a range of texts that feature abandoned children, including traditional fairystories, excerpts from Victorian novels, J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy, and Heather O’Neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals. Through close analysis of these literary works, students will recognize the recurring motifs and conventions in the depiction of abandoned children. We will consider different types of abandonment - such as physical, emotional, temporary, permanent - to explore the position and purpose of the abandoned child in these texts. In particular, we will explore how authors use the abandoned child to critique social issues such as racism, poverty, and parenting. Students will also develop skills in literary analysis by examining techniques and devices used by authors, such as plot, setting, conflict, characterization, symbolism, metaphor, and various other common elements in literature. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
African and Asian Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Montreal is proud of its blend of languages, religions and ethnicities, and Dawson College reflects that reflects that mix – and pride. This course is all about that happens when different communities and cultural worlds collide: misunderstandings, conflicts, wars, accommodations... Students will read short stories by a native Canadian (Margaret Laurence) and by an immigrant Canadian of Indian descent from East Africa (M.G. Vassanji); a novel by a Nigerian (Chinua Achebe); and some haiku by various Japanese poets. Introductory lectures and class discussion on the readings make up a major part the course. Maps, charts and diagrams help to provide historical, political and cultural context. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Aliens in Science Fiction |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Augustan Satire |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will examine themes of the satirists of the Augustan period. Through an examination of the work of Swift, Wycherley, and Pope, we will see how and why these satirists reacted with moral outrage to the encroaching of what has become the modern world, with its love of individualism, democracy, business, and science. The course will limit itself to the genre of satire in the period; so the study of that genre and its history, as well as the study of the broader historical period and the cultural context these authors were writing in, will be our concern. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Banned Books |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Book censorship has been and continues to be a contentious issue in the literary world, raising questions of governmental control over literature and freedom of expression. Book banning usually occurs with political, religious or moral motives but, ironically, often has the effect of popularizing the text, causing people to go to great lengths to seek it out for its forbidden wisdom or pleasure (Eve's apple comes to mind). In this course, we will be looking at "challenged" modern and contemporary literature, including poetry, graphic novels, and literature for children and young adults, in order to address questions of censorship and the way banned or challenged texts have shaped and continue to shape our social and literary landscape. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Being Blitzed: British Literature of WWII |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course explores the various representations of the Second World War in British literature. While the focus falls on the literature of the blitz, many other thematic preoccupations (borders, propaganda, patriotism, love, the domestic and the foreign, the public and the private, reconstruction and damage) emerge that speak to the wide variety of writings and perspectives on the war. The Second World War was the most momentous set of events in the twentieth century, and inspired a wealth of writing: factual and fictional texts that explore an immense range of experiences. In addition to conveying different aspects of the war’s actuality, these works also raise important questions about the relation of art to life, the relationship between individual and the nation or state, the role of women in otherwise male-dominated narratives of war, and about politics and culture. Course readings include poems, stories, essays, radio broadcasts, documentary and feature films, and a short novel. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Book Club |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course looks at selected works of contemporary literature from a student-directed perspective. Although students will examine texts with reference to their cultural contexts and thematic developments, the goal of the course is to have open discussions of the books based on the students’ initial responses and thoughts about the readings, and then have them work toward an understanding of the books as literature. Major assessments will be based on critical analyses of the texts. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Confessional Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course introduces students to the concept of confessional literature. The texts we will study are diverse, ranging from letters to poetry, canonical to experimental. They are all linked, however, by the core thematic content that runs through each of them: in a word, confession. We will discuss the nature of confession, but for a basic definition from which to start, confession means an outpouring of intimate expression, testifying to both personal trial and social unrest. Our course texts range in time from the early-19th century to the present. Each one is autobiographical in nature (sometimes obviously, sometimes less so) and documents personal struggles against the backdrop of a tumultuous social context. Throughout the course, we’ll discuss the texts both as unique works of art in themselves as well as in the context of their creation. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Contemporary Women Writers |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Early in the 20th century, Virginia Woolf said that in order to write, a woman needed “a room of her own” plus a steady income. If women had such resources, they would be free to write about themes previously unexplored in literature. Now that more women have their own space and money, how do they treat their contemporary reality? This is the question we will pose in this course as we explore a series of themes as portrayed in women’s fiction, essays and memoirs. Themes discussed will include: coming of age; sexuality; marriage; family dynamics; work, women’s friendships; women’s creativity, and other issues related to gender. We will look at a range of texts from several different cultures and attempt to identify both commonalities and differences. Evaluation will be based on writing and revising essays, participation in class discussion and group work, brief informal writing, quizzes, and oral presentations. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Crime and Criminals in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In our meetings we discuss some of the reasons why men and women commit crimes against one another. Unveiling the motives as to why these individuals engage in acts of violent crime may not always be comfortable and may require you to look at aspects of humanity that are disturbing. This course does not offer easy answers or solutions to violence. What we do here, is look at stories about crime and criminals with a view to understanding what drives the individuals in these narratives. Engaging in these texts should not lead to the mistaken conclusion that to understand crime excuses it. What the readings do instead is encourage you to recognize the value of storytelling in comprehending the darker side of humanity. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Cultural Paradigms |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Certain cultural paradigms, or patterns, are worth studying because of what they show about cultural expectations. These paradigms are easy to find; their natural habitat is folktales. Folktales are more than bedtime stories. They teach their audiences how to view and survive a world full of threats, how to behave and succeed. This course will examine one old and very popular folktale, “Cinderella” (variations on its plot exist in almost every age and culture.) It will review the history and analyze the messages of the Cinderella story, and explore the aspects that have made it so appealing, so durable, and (so critics say) so dangerous. Students will go beyond the Disney version of the tale, looking for Cinderella in three literary genres in order to understand not only the rags-to-riches protagonist but the underlying plots and themes. There will be no films (and no talking mice); the course will include lectures, class discussions, essays, tests, and oral presentations. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Cultural Paradigms (Variations on a Folktale) |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Certain cultural paradigms, or patterns, are worth studying because of what they show about cultural expectations. These paradigms are easy to find; their natural habitat is folktales. Folktales are more than bedtime stories. They teach their audiences how to view and survive a world full of threats, how to behave and succeed. This course will examine one old and very popular folktale, “Cinderella” (variations on its plot exist in almost every age and culture.) It will review the history and analyze the messages of the Cinderella story, and explore the aspects that have made it so appealing, so durable, and (so critics say) so dangerous. Students will go beyond the Disney version of the tale, looking for Cinderella in three literary genres in order to understand not only the rags-to-riches protagonist but the underlying plots and themes. There will be no films (and no talking mice); the course will include lectures, class discussions, essays, tests, and oral presentations. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Dangerous Desire: Lust,Love&Loss |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Dangerous Desire:Lust,Love&Loss |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Drama of Ibsen and Pinter |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Drama of Ibsen and Strindberg |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will explore six plays by two very important yet very different figures in the history of world theatre: Henrik Ibsen, a Scandinavian dramatist whose works were produced in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and Harold Pinter, a renowned British playwright of the mid-to-late twentieth century. Special emphasis will be devoted to their authors' choice of subjects, themes and range of dramatic styles (realism, naturalism, symbolism, theatre of the absurd) and to the social and philosophical climate in which their works were created. The written work in the course will be focused on giving clear expression to our personal reactions to these plays. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Drama: The Tragic to the Absurd |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Dreams in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is an introduction to the use of dreams and other unconcscious materials in literature. The introductory lectures will concentrate on the historical development of the major theories of dream analysis as they apply to literature. The theories of Freud and Jung will be discussed in this connection. The literary movement of symbolism emerged in the latter part of the nineteenth century and in the central part of the course we will read and analyze specific works of the period, beginning with Lewis Carroll and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, continuing through various symbolist poets, such as Rimbaud and Baudelaire, to the beginning of the twentieth century and the work of Kafka. The last part of the course will review some of the works of the “Surrealists” of the 1920’s and examine some of the contemporary applications of their theories and works in the “beat” generation and their successors. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Epiphanies |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Extremities |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
William Wordsworth said that “poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”; short fiction usually relates the events of a brief but intense conflict in the life of the protagonist; and the novel is a long enough form to allow the development of characters’ relationships and personalities, as well as to elaborate on the themes and ideas embedded in the narrative. We will be reading examples of these forms, examining how various writers in various times have taken different approaches to the representation of emotional and physical extremity. Classes will consist of brief lectures, extended discussion, group work, written work and revision, and oral presentation. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Fables of Identity |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines ways in which the perception of a major “spiritual and philosophical crisis” dominated western literature in the 19th and 20th century, particularly intensifying in the period 1918-1960. In these years, literary artists almost universally proclaimed a cultural and spiritual breakdown in the Western World – a historical and a personal “crisis of identity” in which mass “alienation”, isolation, estrangement and “ennui” were the norm. Western civilization was proclaimed to have reached a “dead end”; to have become spiritually and psychologically bankrupt. Writers and social theorists repeatedly portrayed a world that was “rootless”, “empty”, “sterile”, a cultural “wasteland”, “estranged” from any regenerative sense of meaning and purpose. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Fairy Loves and Fairy Lais |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
One of literature’s oldest themes is the erotic encounter between a human and an otherworldly being. From this literature, we will begin investigating the theme of fairy love. We will start on our quest with the Breton lai, a relatively short narrative poem, set to harp music, that was spread thru 12th century Europe by travelling minstrels. Inspired by Celtic myth and lore, these Breton lais will introduce us to the fairy lover, a regally beautiful supernatural female, possessing magical powers, or her more treacherous male counterpart, a handsome knight clad in red armor, astride a magical war horse. Finally, we will see how this most ancient of themes, abduction by a faery lover, reappears in Graham Joyce’s contemporary novel, Some Kind of Fairy Tale, in which the 16-year-old Tara disappears to return to her family 20 years later, claiming she had been carried off by a handsome faery man. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
First Peoples Perspectives |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Literature by aboriginal North American writers will be the focus of this course, with and emphasis on Canadian authors. The works to be studied will be considered in their historical and cultural contexts. Themes such as identity, cultural values, spirituality, community, political conflict, colonialism, and representation will be discussed. Students are expected to be prepared for class discussion by reading the assigned materials. In-class written responses will be assigned on a regular basis in preparation for discussion and for the tests and essays. Group work (oral and written) as well as informal presentations will be expected of everyone. Background information will be provided in lecture format and with the aid of audio-visual materials. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Fool for Love |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
A close reading and formal analysis of the themes of the ideal of romantic love and eros and thanatos in three works of prose fiction and one play. Students will study a wide range of voices and techniques, from the detached, comic irony of Austen to the feverish Romanticism of 18th century German literature. Theoretical work will consist primarily of lectures and class discussion based on the primary texts as well as relevant secondary sources, including film adaptations. Practical work will include extensive reading from the texts, written responses in class to set questions, and longer, written analyses of the material. All written assignments completed outside the classroom must be typed and, where applicable, documented according to the MLA format. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Gender and Utopia |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we will read various science fiction texts (novels and short stories) that share the goal of analyzing and re-imagining the role of gender in society. We will take as a starting point the feminist assumption that gender is socially constructed and that the meaning of sexual differences is never natural, essential, or self-evident, but is always a matter of (social) interpretation. We will be particularly interested in later writers of science fiction who, beginning in the 1960s, interrogate and challenge the male dominance of earlier examples of the genre and their (mis)representations of women and other sexual nonconformists including gay or bisexual men and women and transgender individuals. Key authors include Ursula K. LeGuin, James Tiptree Jr., Joanna Russ, Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, and John Varley, among others. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Gender Issues in Drama |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines the various gender issues that are addressed in four or five highly acclaimed plays that challenge gender role constructs and stereotyping. Plays will be selected from the modern and contemporary periods and students will be encouraged to explore their historical and social contexts. The class will read aloud from the plays and act out a scene in a group. Attendance at a relevant play is mandatory as well as a written review of it. Personal opinions and insights are welcome. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Gender Issues in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In 1955, James Baldwin wrote that “our passion for categorization” was, paradoxically, leading us into chaos and leaving us “clutching the straws of our definitions.” Modern theorists have posed challenges to most of our conceptualizations of gender and sexuality, yet we cling to those definitions even as they are transformed and multiplied. This course, through the investigation of challenging literary and theoretical works, asks you to consider how we (should) conceptualize gender and sexuality? Students will learn to understand, appreciate, and analyze works of literature, and to write critically about these works by developing their own ideas in the form of the literary essay. Class time will be divided between lectures, class discussion, group work, in-class assignments, and oral presentations. Assignments include reading quizzes, in-class writing exercises, a short answer test, three literary essays, and a group presentation. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Glimpses, Insights, Epiphanies |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
All literature and even art in general can be seen as the result of a moment of revelation, a glimpse into a truth, or an insight into a reality that goes beyond our “default” comprehension. Art can equally be understood as an effort to recreate and explore these moments in different fictional scenarios. In this course, we’ll be identifying, analyzing, and interpreting such epiphanies – explicit or implicit – as phenomena often arising from inconspicuous ordinary situations in a number of short stories, poems, and films. What are the contexts in which these epiphanies occur, and what do they bring to the text as a whole? Are they positive, negative or even absent moments? Whose epiphany is it: the author’s/narrator’s/speaker’s, the character’s, or the reader’s? These are some of the questions we’ll discuss in this course. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Go to Hell! |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
How do you get there? What’s it like? What’ll you do there? Who (or what) will you meet? Luckily, we don’t have to go through Hell to find out: we can look into (among others) prose translations of Homer’s Odyssey, Virgil’s Aenead, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and the poetry of Dante’s Inferno. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Identity in American Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines how different methods of storytelling contribute to our understanding and expression of individual identity and how (or whether) such an identity is relevant to a larger society. In our treatment of the question of identity, we will focus on American stories written in the nineteenth century and onwards and take into consideration their cultural and historical contexts. The reading list is both diverse and representative: It includes frequently anthologized pieces, lesser known tales of famous authors, stories by previously unfairly neglected voices, and works by emergent writers. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Innocence, Imagination and Youth |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
We will read William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience (a collection of poems), Oscar Wilde’s The Decay of Lying (a witty critical essay in the form of a dialogue), Robertson Davies’s Fifth Business (a Canadian novel), and Joseph Conrad’s Youth (a novella). These different works illustrate on one part or another of the chosen theme. How do innocence, imagination, and youth all interconnect? |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Into the Wild: Writing about Nature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
How have the concepts nature, wilderness and environment evolved within the ecosystem of the North American imagination? What does Henry David Thoreau mean when he asserts that "wild thought" is "more swift and beautiful than the tame"? Are our technological advances leading us to an inevitable detachment from the natural world? Or is a widening awareness of ecology fostering a new and deeper relationship to nature? In this course we pose questions related to the themes of nature and wilderness in art, film, philosophy and literature. Course work encourages students to reflect on and write about personal outdoor experiences, and to respond to readings from across the arts, sciences and social sciences. This course is taught in the active learning classroom, and uses course blogs for the development and publication of student writing. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Irish Myths and Tales |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will introduce the student to Early Irish myths, tales, and folklore (in translation). The Irish are not the only Celtic people, but they have more surviving early texts than do the others. Even so, their Iron Age heritage was primarily an oral one now lost to us. The texts studied in class are intended to give students a glimpse of the lives, literatures, and beliefs of the Irish. A miscellany of themes will be explored including love, loyalty, freedom, fate, identity crisis and several others. The class will examine how the contemporary writer R.A. MacAvoy (1987-2014) uses such ancient lore in her fantasy novel, The Grey Horse. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Jane Austen and her World |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course students will be reading three novels by Jane Austen as well as excerpts from Austen’s letters and commentaries by other writers. In addition to this primary material, there will be discussions and research on the social, cultural, economic and domestic realities of her day – Austen lived between 1775 and 1817 – in order to understand Austen’s fictional universe: her characters, settings, plots, themes, and language. Of particular interest will be the protagonist and the resolution of the conflicts she experiences. Other topics for discussion include Austen’s life, the rise of the woman novelist, gender issues in her fiction, critical reaction to Austen’s work, her influence on literary history and the various film adaptations of her work. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Journalism and the Novel |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Journalism and the Novel is a course that examines the close connections that have existed between the purpose and writing of novels and the craft of journalism. In the English language, one of the very first people to issue a news publication was Daniel Defoe three hundred years ago, issuing weekly reports from his native London. He was also one of the early novelists in England. This course will review the past, but very quickly move on to the question how the Novel focusses on contemporary concerns, and the way in which fiction reflects the nature of the times. Students in the course examine the way a novel reflects its own society, its concerns, its problems and its values. The course requires the reading of three novels in their entirety and students will also do some reporting of their own, as well as writing a short piece of fiction. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Literary Rebels |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course deals with issues of freedom, conformity, definitions of “self,” and identity. The individual’s struggle to form beliefs and ideas in a society that values accepted ways of thinking and acting has been a concern of British writers since the late eighteenth century. These rebellious thinkers, known as the Romantics, tested the boundaries of individual creativity and self-expression. Often drawing on classical Greek and Roman literature and mythology, their works cast the individual in a new and important light. These ideas have had a far-reaching influence on Western literary tradition, and while they have been challenged in many ways, twentieth-century literature rests upon Romantic beliefs about the value of the individual. We will examine selected poetry, fiction and essays since 1770, as well as excerpts of early classical texts, in order to get a better understanding of the growing importance and celebration of individualism. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Literary Symbolism |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is an introduction to a basic language of traditional western literary “symbolic” patterns of metaphor and figure of speech. Through the study of a selection of representative works you will acquire knowledge of the figurative and metaphorical “meanings” and cultural traditions underlying standard English literary works. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Literary Themes with New School |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
What happens when innocence is lost? What happens when the foundation of something we thought solid — like family or love or friendship starts to crumble under our feet? What happens when our notion of who we are is challenged? Do we in that moment come into a more profound knowledge of self and environment that will remain fixed and steady? Or do we continually come of age — crossing one threshold into a new landscape only to find that that the earth was not so firm either — and that we can only stay here briefly before beginning the next leg of our lifelong journey. Or... maybe ignorance is bliss after all. In this course, we will examine the trope of coming of age, exploring various rites of passage primarily in fiction, but also in essay and film. The class will culminate with students crafting their own coming of age story. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Literature and Law |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Metamorphoses in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Metamorphosis in Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Myths and Fairies |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Society now relies on science to explain the world, but in the days before science people relied on stories – myths and folklore – in order to try and make sense of the world around them. Many of these stories have survived to this day, though generally in forms adapted to a modern audience’s tastes and expectations. This course will focus on examining various myths and fairy tales, and how they have changed and transformed over the years to remain relevant, and interesting, to contemporary audiences. Students will read traditional myths and fairy tales by such authors as the Brothers Grimm, Straparola and Perrault; more contemporary adaptations and updates by several writers, including Gaiman and Willingham; and critical theory by Zipes and Poniewozik. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Native American Perspectives |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Literature by aboriginal North American writers will be the focus of this course, with and emphasis on Canadian authors. The works to be studied will be considered in their historical and cultural contexts. Themes such as identity, cultural values, spirituality, community, political conflict, colonialism, and representation will be discussed. Students are expected to be prepared for class discussion by reading the assigned materials. In-class written responses will be assigned on a regular basis in preparation for discussion and for the tests and essays. Group work (oral and written) as well as informal presentations will be expected of everyone.Background information will be provided in lecture format and with the aid of audio-visual materials. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Native Perspectives |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Postcolonial Literature: Africa |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Many African countries have English as an official language, and one objective of this course is to share the art and thought of these cultures with students. Further, it introduces students to the creative and theoretical works of authors challenging European colonialism and oppression. Beginning with a socio-historical comparison of development in European and African societies in the year 1500, this course looks at works discussing first contact, mature colonies of intervention, as well as post-independence. At the same time, it uses varying genres, such as poetry (to be announced), novels, film, essays, and drama. The work of each of the authors studied will form a thematic unit evaluated in one essay. Students will also have the opportunity to present the class readings in small groups as oral presentations. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Postcolonial Literature: Caribbean |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The arrival of European colonists in 1492 changed the course of history in the Caribbean. This fascinating region was divided among the great powers and populated by people from Africa and Asia. All of them have contributed to the culture of the region. This course looks at the ideas and the art of diverse islands and peoples responding in essays, poems, novels and plays to foreign domination, enslavement, formation of national identity, and articulating new visions of personhood. Among the authors whose work, both theoretical and creative, will be studied are Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Jamaica Kincaid, Derek Walcott, Louise Bennett, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Kerry Young, and Austin Clarke. This course is cross-listed in Dawson’s Women and Gender Studies Certificate. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Quest for Identity |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course students will be studying the quest theme and in particular, the quest for identity in works recognized as classics of English and European Literature. The works represent different periods and cultural contexts; each of the selections represents a character on a journey, both real and metaphorical. By the end of the course, students will be able to compare the way the authors have developed the quest for identity, the cultural background affecting the quest of the main protagonist, and the underlying value systems in the literary works. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Reading, Writing and Eating |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, students will explore food in relation to literature, politics, and culture. Through reading both fiction and non-fiction, students will engage in discussion, produce several written texts and participate in small group and independent projects. Although most of the emphasis in this course is on studying texts that explore the vast and universal theme of food, students will enjoy films, guest lecturers, a restaurant visit and the sampling of various foods in class. Classes will consist of short lectures, discussions, graded group work, e-journals, reading quizzes, short writing exercises, oral presentations with peer feedback and process essay writing (multiple drafts, peer-editing). |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Representations of Family |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The concept of a family is a difficult thing to define. According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, family is “a group of people related by blood, legal or common-law marriage, or adoption” (500). Throughout the semester, we will examine the difficult concept of the family as it is practiced in the North America. To do so, we will analyze various narratives (both written and visual) to see how such an apparently simply concept is represented. Our goal is to understand how, in narrative form and through literary analysis, concepts of family are interrogated and how we, as readers, respond to the issues raised in the texts we will examine. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Shakespeare's Sonnets |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Is all the world staged or do Shakespeare’s sonnets house his loving aspirations towards two friends, neither of whom were his wife? Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets addressed to a young man and a dark lady. Together these poems tell a story of rivalry, jealousy, and ultimately unrequited love. This is definitely not another course about his plays. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Symbolism |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is an introduction to a basic language of traditional western literary “symbolic” patterns of metaphor and figure of speech. Through the study of a selection of representative works you will acquire knowledge of the figurative and metaphorical “meanings” and cultural traditions underlying standard English literary works. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The American Gothic |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The Gothic trend in American literature has its roots in the dire universe depicted in Puritanical texts such as Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741) and in later colonial captivity narratives and slave narratives. A subversive challenge to the institutions and official narratives of America as a democratic nation, the literary tradition of horror and the Gothic has had a strong influence on American literature, and has inspired writers from Edgar Poe, to Cormac McCarthy, to Joyce Carol Oates. We will study representative works by these and other major authors, including Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Shirley Jackson, and H. P. Lovecraft. We will occasionally study representative Gothic television and film texts, such as The X-Files, James Marsh’s 1999 docu-fiction film, Wisconsin Death Trip, and the recent Puritan horror film, The VVitch (2016). This course is cross-listed with the Womens’/Gender Studies certificate. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Individual in Modern Society |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course explores the theme of the individual in modern society through a variety of contemporary genres, including poetry, the short story, non-fiction, film, and the novel. After a brief introductory exploration of post-modernism, students will examine a wide range of topics, including recent immigrant fiction, experimental poetry, and recent forays into the philosophical novel. Texts include The Big Lebowski by the Coen brothers, Joan Didion and David Harvey’s non-fiction, Michael Robbins’ poetry, and novels by Ben Lerner and Sheila Heti. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Lord of the Rings |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, has undeniably been an important influence on the imagination of readers worldwide. Its imagined world and its characters and story have been reproduced and embellished in visual art, music, poetry and on film.Tolkien’s influence on the genre of Fantasy Literature is just as important. But far from being an escape from reality, we can see that these works, set in an imaginary realm and peopled by fantastic creatures, in fact deal with very real problems and ideas confronted by the 20th and 21st centuries: war, lust for power and its corrupting influence, abuse of the natural world, and the demand upon the individual to fight injustice and evil. By examining the genre of Fantasy Literature through this fundamental example, we will try to understand how fantasy reveals truths about the real world, and how it works as storytelling, connecting with readers at a deep level through the use of archetype and folklore. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Love Story |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines how different methods of storytelling contribute to our understanding and expression of love and individual identity, and how (or whether) such an identity is relevant to a larger society. In our treatment of the question of how love is represented in literature, we will focus on poems, plays, and stories written in different literary periods and take into consideration their cultural and historical contexts. Literary representations of issues such as “idealness” in love, false illusions of romance, obsessive desire, and “anti-love” will be explored. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Other |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
One basic definition of the “Other” is a person or group whose perceived difference from the majority or norm prompts them to be denigrated, marginalized, and sometimes even dehumanized by the dominant group. Literature, however, can give us the opportunity to see through the eyes of an “Other” and can thus work to disprove the assumptions of a particular group’s difference or inferiority. Writers who use the theme of “otherness” can combat stereotypes, give voice to oppressed groups and humanize the supposed “Other.” Over the course of the semester, focusing on short stories, poetry and a novel, we will meet characters whose “otherness” results from race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, social class, religion, and disability. We will explore how authors use this theme of “otherness” and consider how literature might offer us a way to empathize with the “Other” across these divisive but imaginary lines. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Pace of Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Shadow Self |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
"Literature is replete with characters who manifest a ‘shadow’ or ‘other.’ This phenomenon has origins in traits of the human character that society deems taboo or forbidden. While it can be argued that we all have aspects of our characters that we prefer others not see, the figures in the texts we will be studying, manifest traits that are far more sinister. As we will see, these untrammelled urges often result in chaos and destruction that effect both the individual and society. In this course, we will study the fragile balance between individual expression and societal convention. Engaging in these readings should not lead to the mistaken conclusion that to understand anti-social behaviour excuses it. Instead, the goal is to encourage students to recognize the value of storytelling in comprehending the darker side of humanity. Class time will consist of in-class writing assignments, lectures, work-shops, and group-work." |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
The Visual Image |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will explore a major theme or subject as it is presented in several feature films. Many of the movies we will watch share the concerns of serious literature. We will also read a text to help us understand how movies are made. Movies will frequently be compared in terms of genres, themes, styles of acting and photography, although these concerns are often closely interrelated. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Contemporary Irish Literature |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The two novels and one play in this course are either written by young Irish people or have as one of their central concerns young Irish people. Where these voices lead us thematically is not always pleasant: violence, sexual violence, substance abuse, repressed sexuality, patriarchal privilege, female subjugation, social media use and toxic youth culture are just some of the areas we will explore. The texts are by no means marginal choices; indeed, they are all critically acclaimed, both in Ireland and internationally. Some of the themes explored are unique to contemporary Ireland but many are recognized more generally. Please be warned that the material can be disturbing. The play involves male teenage prostitution; one novel, based on a true story, involves the beating death of a young man by three of his fellow rugby players; the other novel is about a young woman who is raped by a group of young men she knows from her small town. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Drama |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Literature of the American South |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course students will explore major themes in the works of some of the writers who have made significant contributions to the imaginative reinvention of the American South. Students will familiarize themselves with the literary and cultural heritage of the Southern United States, and its history, from the slave narratives of the late 18th and early 19th centuries to the “Southern Renaissance” of the 20s and 30s and the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s. Students will learn to recognize the major thematic elements that are central to Southern literature, particularly the burden of the past (regarding constructs of race, gender, social inequality), community, the grotesque, violence, the fierceness and solace of religious faith. Students will also learn to distinguish some of the stylistic devices that have evolved from Southern writing, such as the use of dialect, stream of consciousness, complex points of view, and jarring juxtapositions. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in Shakespeare |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The Liberal Arts "Themes in Shakespeare" course is an introduction to the thematic analysis of drama. As we explore some of the major themes of Shakespeare's plays, we gain an understanding of the socio-historical context of the plays' original production and staging and seek insight into the plays' enduring popularity. We explore the place of Shakespeare's drama within the western literary tradition, and make connections to many of the major philosophical ideas Liberal Arts students encounter in their philosophy courses. We look at the ways in which Shakespeare's plays intersect with the great historical movements of the early modern era - the early beginnings of our own (post-) modern world - and come to a better understanding of the ways in which Shakespeare's drama functions as a bridge between classical antiquity and modernity. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Themes in the Novels of Philip Roth |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
“What is being done to silence this man?” This was the outraged question of a New York rabbi in response to one of Philip Roth’s first published works in 1959. Since then, Roth has published more than thirty books, and his work has continued to elicit strong responses, including both rapturous praise and allegations that Roth is a misogynist, a pornographer, and a self-hating Jew. His 1969 novel, Portnoy’s Complaint, with its no-holds-barred depiction of human sexuality and its frank portrait of Jewish-American family life, is a touchstone of post-World War II American culture. Students will examine a number of representative works by Roth, beginning with Portnoy’s Complaint (not for the sexually squeamish!) and including one of Roth’s long, late-career political novels. Students will also continue to learn to write effective, well-organized essays of literary analysis. Anyone registering for this course should be prepared to complete substantial reading assignments on schedule. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Tolkien's Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, has undeniably been an important influence on the imagination of readers worldwide. Its imagined world and its characters and story have been reproduced and embellished in visual art, music, poetry and on film. Tolkien’s influence on the genre of Fantasy Literature is just as important. But far from being an escape from reality, we can see that these works, set in an imaginary realm and peopled by fantastic creatures, in fact deal with very real problems and ideas confronted by the 20th and 21st centuries: war, lust for power and its corrupting influence, abuse of the natural world, and the demand upon the individual to fight injustice and evil. By examining the genre of Fantasy Literature through this fundamental example, we will try to understand how fantasy reveals truths about the real world, and how it works as storytelling, connecting with readers at a deep level through the use of archetype and folklore. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Twentieth Century Themes - Displaced Persons |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The 20th century brought change in many forms, and with change comes displacement. In this course we look at various works of literature from the 20th century that involve some form of displacement—be it physical, psychological, technological, social or cultural. While the main focus of the course will be the development of close readings and thematic interpretations of these texts, which will include poems, short stories and a novel, we will also consider the historical contexts out of which the texts were generated. In this way, the course helps us understand how 20th century literature can be seen as both a response to displacement as well as an effort to find a new place in the challenging new world we find ourselves in now. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Unconventional While Female |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Living in a way that is contrary to, or not completely in sync with, the social norms of one’s country, culture, class, religion, community, and/or family can be stigmatizing to anyone. While men (or at least white, cis, hetero men) who seek lives beyond these norms are often exalted as mavericks or heroes, women have more frequently encountered judgement and punishment for living unconventionally. This course explores a number of themes related to women not being in accord with their times and places, whether by birth, by choice, or some combination of the two; in short, it explores the consequences and possibilities of identifying as a woman while going against the grain. The relevance of historical and cultural context will be considered as well. Genres studied in this course include novels, memoirs, essays, short stories, poetry, and film. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Underdogs, Outcasts and Loners |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Writing novels is a lonely vocation. It is not uncommon, then, for novelists to create lonely heroes—men and women who are disconnected from the people around them. Such characters’ stories often take the shape of discordant, abrasive struggles between their own emotional particularities and an often brutal and unfeeling world. In the three novels we will read, we can’t help rooting for these protagonists to succeed, against all odds. Their profound sensitivity sets them apart, and they frequently choose the solace of their own minds over the cruelty of other people. They are each unforgettable characters who manage to provoke profound feelings of empathy in readers. Perhaps this is due to the fact that, while none of us aspire to be shunned or set apart, we all struggle to assert our own places in the world—an effort that can be as beautiful as it can be tragic. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Utopia / Dystopia |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines the theme of utopia/dystopia in literature and its evolution and metamorphosis into fantasy, science fiction and political satire. Beginning with Thomas More’s Utopia, we will consider what the word 'utopia’ means and look at some short fiction it has inspired from writers such as H.G. Wells, Joanna Russ, and others. We will then cross over the line to dystopia, utopia’s dark and cynical underside, and consider two longer contemporary works: George Orwell’s 1984 and Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. At the conclusion of the course, students will try to determine why this theme resonates with many writers and provides inspiration for the building of fantastic imaginary worlds that are ultimately an extension of our own living dreams, while also unearthing nightmares that most immediately reveal our fear of our own time and place in history. Major works studied include 1984 and Cat’s Cradle. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Watching the Detectives |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The objective of this course is to enable students to communicate in forms appropriate to programs. To that end, we will examine the evolution of the detective in film and fiction from many different angles. We begin with the coldly analytical Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, then the hard-nosed-gum-shoe---the disenfranchised dick (detective) of film noir, and finally, Dexter, a blood splatter analyst who is also a murderer. We will examine how the detective copes when the rules of the game change during the play. How far will the detective go (like Oedipus and Oedipa and Angel) to figure things out? And how can the detective be sure that what s/he thinks is the truth is actually true. Moreover, does looking backward at clues and reading details suggest a well-ordered universe just gone a bit wrong? Or are there graver implications? |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
World War II and Memory |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
World War II was humanity’s greatest cataclysm, and has had a more profound effect on subsequent art and culture than any other world event. All writers who lived through the war, or came after it, have had to wrestle with the demons it unleashed, and to account for the darkness it revealed lurking in the human heart. This course will take a historical and psychological view of the war by approaching it through fictional and quasi-fictional retrospective narratives which illustrate authors' attempts to grapple with what the war meant and what ideologies like fascism and atrocities like the Holocaust tell us about human nature. Authors include Art Spiegelman, Primo Levi, Tadeusz Borowski, Jorge Luis Borges, Muriel Spark, Graham Greene, Robert Harris and Kazuo Ishiguro. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Writing the City |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Samuel Johnson, a great English critic, once said, “A great city is, to be sure, the school for studying life.” In this course, we will widen our optic of what city life is, whether in Johnson’s 18thcentury London, post-war Los Angeles, contemporary New York or Montreal, or in the imagined cityscapes of the texts we study, in order to create a speculative account of how human lives are enriched or deprived by city dwelling. We will focus on the complex artistic, literary and cultural representations of how we experience urban life. Among the questions we will pose in exploring this literature are the following: 1) how is anonymity a fundamental fact of city dwelling and what does it mean to be unknown by other people who live in such proximity?; 2) how do we encounter other people with whom we are unfamiliar?; 3) how is exchange a basic activity of the city, either in its early form as a marketplace, its influx and outflow of ideas and cultures, etc. |
|
| 603-103-MQ |
Writing the Great War |
2 - 2 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will examine how the First World War (1914-1918) transformed Western society and played a significant role in shaping the culture, values, and geography of the modern world. After a brief introduction to the concept of warfare, students will move to an examination of the Great War’s literature—primarily poetry and excerpts from memoirs. The class will focus on how soldiers responded to the physical and psychological trauma of the War but will also examine writing by non-combatants to see how the effects of the War were felt well beyond its battlefields. |
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