Western Literature II (LIT203DL)

Course Description
 
Western Literature II covers classic works from the Neo-Classical Era, the Romantic Era, 19th-Century Realism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism, coming to understand them in the context of cultural and intellectual history. Students will learn answers to questions such as: Why are these works important? Why have they lasted and are still being referenced by Western culture today? What might be a Christian point of view on them? Students will also learn literary terms and the formal aspects of literary construction to help answer these questions. Students participate in online discussion forums with each other during the week, and will participate in one mandatory live chat discussion with each other and the professor once a week as well. The professor provides lectures, some in multi-media, and notes and discussion questions on the works. Students will write three short papers: a one-pager on the first book; one to “dialogue” with a professional critic; and one to engage in literary criticism of their own. Students are evaluated by these papers, two exams, and the quality of their class participation.
 
Course Objectives
 
This course promotes the learning objectives for the Classical Liberal Arts Core Curriculum by requiring students to enhance reading and writing skills, refine critical thinking skills, and apply the Judeo-Christian worldview to the study of the liberal arts.
 
Literature to Be Studied
 
We study the following works, each of which is central to the movement of Western culture since the early 1700s: 
 
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Voltaire, Candide
Goethe, Faust
Shelley, Frankenstein
Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard
Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author
Kafka, The Metamorphosis
Eliot, The Wasteland
Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children
Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Credits: Prerequisites:

3 LIT193