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Literature and Culture Minor
Curriculum

Minor Requirements

Electives (choose five) Credits:
ICLT 300 Core Seminar in Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this Core literature seminar, students will focus on a specific theme, genre or approach. In addition, the course will examine literature in relation to other disciplines. The content of the course will vary from semester to semester.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 301 Contemporary American Immigrant Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

Students will read, discuss, and write about contemporary American immigrant literature and related texts from other disciplines, becoming conversant in issues surrounding recent immigration to the United States and how authors respond to them in literature. The course includes classroom presentations and a research essay.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 302 Strange Creations: Literature, Intelligent Technology, and Ethics 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course examines literary representations of artificial, intelligent servants, such as robots, androids, computer networks, and human replicants. Using a broad definition of intelligent systems, a definition which includes intelligent networks as well as artificial humans, we will explore tales about such creations. These stories will range from very ancient legends and written accounts from Chinese, Indian and Greek sources to medieval and Renaissance stories of talking, moving statues, and talking brass heads. We will also discuss later tales in which artificial humanoids are central figures. The focus of our explorations will be how these tales represent various views of the appropriate bounds for humankind's intellectual and scientific ambition.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 303 On the Visionary Frontier: Science Fiction and its Cultural Significance 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

Science fiction uses various literary, philosophical, psychological, social, and scientific concepts to examine and comment on contemporary society. Students analyze the various ways science fiction engages a range of cultural and social issues, such as the nature of science and scientific exploration, science and ethics, scientific dystopia, technological apocalypse, relationships between faith and science, cybernetics and human identity, medical ethics, and nanotechnology.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 304 Children's Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

Students will study selected children's literature from the nineteenth century to the present. A variety of genres, including fairytales, fantasy, fables and adventure stories are examined, each in the light of literary, historical, archetypal, feminist, and psychological themes.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 305 America, the Promised Land: Religious Vision or Material Dream? 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, students will study works of art, chiefly literature, but also song lyrics, painting, sculpture, and film, as a means to identify and analyze different versions of the America dream, especially as they relate to the religious motif of the Promised Land or the materialist fantasy of the Gold Mountain. Historical, religious, and sociological articles will be used to give context to these works, as well as relevant literary (and art or film) criticism.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 306 American Nervousness: Mental Health and Madness in American Literature and Culture 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course focuses on psychological themes and subjects in American literature and culture, with a particular emphasis on the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Students will read a wide variety of texts from different genres and disciplines in order to explore the concept of American Nervousness, physician G.M. Beard's provocative notion that American life could foster a unique form of mental disease. We will examine how madness is represented in literature, how literary texts reflect and respond to historical developments in psychiatry, and how psychiatry and concepts of mental health are themselves products of particular historical moments in American culture.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 307 Narnia, Middle Earth, and Beyond: Fantasy Realms in Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

Fantasy literature is dismissed, misrepresented, and devalued by some literary scholars, even though, as Ursula Le Guin notes, it is the oldest form of literary expression, the grandmother of all literature. This core literature seminar investigates several examples of "high fantasy" literature, analyzing elements of mythopoeic literature and exploring such issues as the creative imagination, philosophy, ethics, and cultural commentary that mark fantasy literature as a significant literary genre.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 308 American Contemporary Poetry: Self, Society, World 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course will read and research contemporary American poetry in different venues for what it tells us about contemporary American society in relationship to individual writers and to the world.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 309 Literary Journalism of the 1960s 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This interdisciplinary seminar examines the work of the so-called "New Journalists" of the 1960s; a cadre of writers who include luminaries from the world of literature, including Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe. Combining the techniques and tools of fictional writing with journalistic reportage, these writers sought to decode and interpret some of the major upheavals and social movements of the 1960s, while forging a vibrant and powerful new genre, whose influence is still being felt today.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 310 "Neoyorquinos!" Latino Culture in New York 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this course students will read, discuss, and write about U.S. Latino/Latina culture based in and around New York City. The main texts will be literary, including prose fiction, poetry, memoirs, and essays, drawn mostly from the last 50 years. Students will also study Latin music, cinema, and other cultural objects, analyzing texts for how they represent the experience of being a Latino/an American in U.S. society and how they portray New York as a site where Latino culture comes into contact with others.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 311 What Was Modernism? Literature and Culture of the Early Twentieth Century 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this interdisciplinary course students will read, discuss, and write about "Modernism" - that explosion of innovation in the arts and culture of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority of texts will be literary, including prose fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Further readings will be drawn from fields such as history, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and theoretical physics. Students will also study the period's visual arts (cinema, painting, and sculpture), analyzing all of these texts for how they represent and enact societal changes of the early twentieth century.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 312 Shakespeare: Old World Meets New 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course focuses on selected dramas and poems of William Shakespeare from multiple perspectives. The works are made accessible through study of key moral, legal, literary, scientific and political figures and conflicts that the poet-dramatist summons to view and that have continuing relevance to today's world.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 314 Make a New World! Modern Drama as Political Protest and Social Prophecy 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, students will study modern plays which shaped the social and political landscape of their times, whether through shocking protest or ironic commentary. Each work will be examined as catalyst or prophecy of change within its contemporary social and political context. It will be studied as well within the context of other artistic media, including film, painting, and sculpture, as a means to identify and analyze different themes and techniques of protest and commentary.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 315 Revolution! From Within and Without: The Art and Literature of Social Change 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course focuses on poetry and prose having to do with social and spiritual revolutions through history. The idea of revolution is analyzed through discussion of key images, motifs, visual works and literary techniques.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 316 Literature and Medicine 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, students will examine literary representations of illness, disability, and disease. Through close readings of poems, short stories, plays, essays, and medical memoirs, we will consider questions such as the following: How does illness define and sometimes transform us? What do our responses to the sick tell us about ourselves? What is a "good death"? What shapes public responses to disease and epidemics? Who defines normality, and how do we react to those who deviate from it? What are the obligations of the healthy to those who suffer? This course is interdisciplinary in nature, and will examine how social, cultural, and historical forces have shaped attitudes toward illness, disability, and medical treatment.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 317 Gothic Literature and the Aesthetics of Excess, Transgression, and Transcendence 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course examines the aesthetic development of Gothic literature, focusing on how representations of cultural transgression, emotional excess, and spiritual transcendence mark the artistic essence of Gothic literature. The course focuses mainly on literati Gothicism of England and America, and it explores how film has appropriated Gothic elements in the contemporary age. Includes a literary research project and an oral presentation.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 318 Romantic Literature and the Emerging Sciences of the Mind and Life 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course analyzes various selections of poetry and prose from the English Romantic period in light of emerging sciences of that era. It has been commonly thought that the Romantic poets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were transcendental dreamers lost in the idealism of their theories of the sublime imagination. However, most Romantic writers were well versed in the contemporary intellectual debates within the scientific community, and this course examines the creative intersections between Romantic literature and the Romantic sciences. The course includes a literary research project and an oral presentation.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 319 The Simple Art of Murder: the Literature of Detection and the Private "I" 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course explores how the literature of detection is related to a range of discourses, ranging from the scientific to the philosophical to the cultural and the sociological. Emphasizing the detective's unique social mobility and ability to range across the borders of class, race, and culture, as well as the detective's exemplary empirical, rational, and intuitive abilities. This course will examine how detective fiction encompasses some of the key ideas, theories, and practices of both the modern sciences and the humanities. This course includes a literary research project and an oral presentation.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 320 Global Literature and Human Rights 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course will explore the theme of global human rights and literary expression. We will read literary texts addressing the issues raised by Sander Gilman in the above quotation. They will help us consider the role of art and literature in the struggle for human rights, including the writer's struggle to represent often unspeakable crimes against humanity and create a cultural memory that recognizes the forgotten or marginalized voices from the past. What does it mean to bear witness through literature? What is the reader's role in the process? The role of advancing technologies in documenting and archiving human rights crises will also be examined. Interdisciplinary perspectives, including historical/legal documents; psychological theories on torture, traumatic memory, and witnessing; and sociological research on collective/cultural dimensions of human rights issues, will be addressed. The class will explore human rights issues across cultures and continents, making every effort to respect specific cultural values and practices while also thinking about the universal implications of human rights.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 321 LGBT Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, students will explore literary representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals from approximately 1890 through the present. Readings will focus on pre- and post-Gay Liberation texts, beginning with texts published shortly after the late-19th- century medical designation of "homosexuality" and ending with "post-queer" writings of the 21st century. Readings include poetry, plays, short stories, novels, films, and essays on the medical, social, political, and religious constructions of homosexuality. Course requirements included a critical essay, a research project, an oral presentation, and midterm and final essay exams.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 322 New York Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, students will explore the principal literature of America's cultural, historic and financial capital: New York City. Since the early 1600's, New York has been a universal symbol of diversity and conflict. The city's writings reveal celebratory and violent attempts to sustain cultural plurality that is unknown anywhere else in the world. Readings included poetry, plays, short stories, novels, films, and essays on the social, political, and religious constructions of New York "identity." Course requirements include a critical essay, a research project, an oral presentation, and midterm and final essay exams.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 323 Irish Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course introduces students to a broad range of Irish Literature in English from the formation of the Anglo-Irish literary tradition through Irish modernism. Writers will include Jonathan Swift, Maria Edgeworth, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, and others. We will also look at recent film versions of several writers' works. Students will discuss important political allegiances. Themes to be explored include representations of "national character" and the relationships between religion and national identity, Ireland and England, and "Irishness" and "Englishness." Throughout the course owe will explore the Irish Experience and the sometimes competing and conflicting versions if Ireland presented in its literature.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 324 Toil and Trouble: The Literature of Work 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, we will examine the theme of "work" as it is reflected in fiction and poetry from the 19th through the 21st centuries. "Work" is central to our lives, yet we rarely reflect on it. This seminar will encourage us to think about how "work" affects not only our own lives, but also wider cultural values and social trends. What distinguishes contemporary "work" and workplace dynamics from earlier forms of labor? How does "work" determine economic or social class? Ho do different cultures define the boundaries between "work" and "leisure"? And how do fiction writers depict "work" through the elements of plot, character, setting, and style? Our texts will include poetry, short stories, novels, and films, as well as non-fiction texts and materials from the fields of economics, philosophy, and history. Course requirements include an analytical research paper, a team oral presentation, and both a midterm and final exam,

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 325 Cityscapes: The City in World Literature 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

In this seminar, we will examine the themes and structures of cities as they appear or are imagined in selected literature from around the world. Both as setting and metaphor, cities reflect our political, social, and economic ambitions- and, as the site of urban poverty and alienation, our cultural failures, as well. Out texts will include poetry, drama, fiction, and film from Asia Africa, Europe, and the Americas from ancient times to the modern era. Course requirements include an analytical research paper, a team oral presentation and both a midterm and final exam.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 326 Travel Literature: Explorations in Cultural Exchange 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course examines the rich literary heritage of travel writing. As civilizations began exploring beyond their national boundaries, many people began writing about their adventures of encountering different cultures and civilizations. The course approaches the literature historically, and engages students in a wide variety of cultural expressions and exchanges. Includes a literary research project and an oral presentation.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
ICLT 327 Rites of Passage: The Literature of Initiation 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Take one course in each group: Group 1 (FCWR 101 or FCWR 111 or WRIT 101 or WRIT 111) and Group 2 (FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161)

This course explores the theme of initiation in a variety of literary works. We will study the basic patterns of rites of passage in cultures around the world and examine their impact in the past and present. Historical, anthropological, sociological and psychological works will be used to give context to these works.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
WRIT 335 Writing for Publication 3
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: FCWR 151 or FCWR 161 or WRIT 151 or WRIT 161

An advanced writing course, with special emphasis on published work. Students interested in writing and those seriously committed to their own writing improvement and to the writing of prose articles, fiction or poetry are especially encouraged to take this course.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
One three-credit ICLT course will be used to satisfy the Core Curriculum requirement. Students take four additional courses from among the Literature Core, one of which may be a creative writing course.
 
Total Minor Requirement = 15