ENG 211 - Critical Explorations of Literature and Film

This course will help students better perceive the way authors, playwrights, graphic novelists and filmmakers use their art to think critically about the world. Students will become more knowledgeable participants in the on-going conversation about the value of literature and film to society and the debate surrounding the cultural and political significance of the methods we use to read and interpret narratives. Students will also be challenged to question and think critically about their own responses to the moral, ethical, and political positions and dilemmas portrayed in the texts they read and the films they see, both in class and outside of it. The critical approaches used in class will be interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from cognitive science, literary theory, eco-criticism, disability studies, and film studies and include multiple narrative forms, such as graphic novels, plays, contemporary novels and film. Students will not only write formal critical analyses, but will also produce independent and group creative projects relating to the genres and mediums studied. This is a writing-enhanced course open to all students but is especially recommended for students considering minors in these areas or for English and Creative Writing majors who desire a supplemental course to ENG 209 - Applying Literary Theory.

Credits: 3

NOTE:
* This course fulfills the Aesthetic: Literature Mode of Inquiry of the Liberal Studies Program.
** This course counts toward the 63-hour Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) graduation requirement.
*** This is a writing-enhanced course.