Students are introduced to Old English and the poetic devices of alliteration, kenning, and compounding in preparation for reading the epic poem "Beowulf".
This text was enthusiastically adapted from Russell Sharman's incredible Moving Pictures, linked here, and was adapted specifically to focus on cinema regarding Tokyo for the purposes of Study Abroad.
This is the first lesson in a week-long, mini-unit contains four individual lessons. Through the course of all these lessons, students will be introduced to the concept of civil disobedience—people purposefully disobeying a law or protesting nonviolently about laws or social issues they feel to be unjust. They’ll read from, watch, and listen to three examples that address the issue: Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail," and the Teaching Tolerance documentary Viva La Causa written and directed by Bill Brummel.Activity Description: This lesson focuses on introducing, defining, and providing a basic example of historical civil disobedience using Henry David Thoreau's experience and an excerpt from his essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience."This lesson is designed to be used in a blended environment. Accommodations are listed for non-blended courses.Time needed for activity: ~45 minute class periodResources needed: Online discussion board(s) set up at either pinup.com or answergarden.ch; copies of the "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" excerpt (printed or electronic)
This is the first lesson in a week-long, mini-unit contains four individual lessons. Through the course of all these lessons, students will be introduced to the concept of civil disobedience—people purposefully disobeying a law or protesting nonviolently about laws or social issues they feel to be unjust. They’ll read from, watch, and listen to three examples that address the issue: Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail," and the Teaching Tolerance documentary Viva La Causa written and directed by Bill Brummel.Activity Description: This lesson focuses on introducing, defining, and providing a basic example of historical civil disobedience using Henry David Thoreau's experience and an excerpt from his essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience."This lesson is designed to be used in a blended environment. Accommodations are listed for non-blended courses.Time needed for activity: ~45 minute class periodResources needed: Online discussion board(s) set up at either pinup.com or answergarden.ch; copies of the "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" excerpt (printed or electronic)
This course studies representative twentieth and twenty-first-century texts and films from Hispanic America and Spain. Emphasis is on developing strategies for analyzing the genres of the novel, the short story, the poem, the fictional film, and the theatrical script. The novels read this semester are Magali García Ramis’s Felices días, Tío Sergio (1986, Puerto Rico) and Javier Cercas’s Soldados de Salamina (2001, Spain). We will study Lorca’s play “La casa de Bernarda Alba” (1936, Spain), films from Spain, México, and Cuba, poems by Darío (Nicaragua), Machado (Spain), Lorca (Spain), Hernández (Spain), Vallejo (Perú), Cernuda (Spain), and Luis Palés Matos (Puerto Rico), and short stories from México (by an exiled Spanish writer), Chile, Argentina, and Cuba. Thematic emphasis is on the Spanish Civil War, changing attitudes toward gender, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and the history of race in the Americas.
This course studies important twentieth century texts from Spain and Latin America. The readings include short stories, theatre, the novel and poetry. This subject is conducted in Spanish and all reading and writing for the course is also done in Spanish.
This course is a study of the history of theater art and practice from its origins to the modern period, including its roles in non-western cultures. Special attention is given to the relationship between the literary and performative dimensions of drama, and the relationship between drama and its cultural context.
Drama combines the literary arts of storytelling and poetry with the world of live performance. As a form of ritual as well as entertainment, drama has served to unite communities and challenge social norms, to vitalize and disturb its audiences. In order to understand this rich art form more fully, we will study and discuss a sampling of plays that exemplify different kinds of dramatic structure; class members will also participate in, attend, and review dramatic performances.
This subject serves as a broad introduction to the field of European and Latin American fiction. It is taught in an historical manner—beginning with the first picaresque novel, Lazarillo de Tormes, and ending with contemporary European fiction. It is designed to help students acquire a general understanding of major fictional modes-from 18th century epistolary fiction, Liaisons dangereuses, to 20th century avant-garde fiction: Cosmicomicsi and Aura. Attention is paid not only to the literary movements these works represent, but also to the subtle interplay of history, geography, language and cultural norms that gave rise to specific literary forms. While the reading load is heavy, the books are compelling.
This subject serves as a broad introduction to the field of European and Latin American fiction. It is designed to help students acquire a general understanding of major fictional modes. We will pay attention not only to the literary movements these works represent, but also to the subtle interplay of history, geography, language and cultural norms that gave rise to specific literary forms. The books we read in this course are compelling, and film versions of five of the works we read give variety to the course and time to think about the interplay of film and print.
This course investigates the uses and boundaries of fiction in a range of novels and narrative styles–traditional and innovative, western and nonwestern–and raises questions about the pleasures and meanings of verbal texts in different cultures, times, and forms. Toward the end of the term, we will be particularly concerned with the relationship between art and war in a diverse selection of works.
This course investigates the uses and boundaries of fiction in a range of novels and narrative styles, traditional and innovative, western and non-western, and raises questions about the pleasures and meanings of verbal texts in different cultures, times, and forms.
This course examines major social and political trends, events, debates and personalities which help place aspects of contemporary French culture in their historical perspective through fiction, films, essays, newspaper articles, and television. Topics include the heritage of the French Revolution, the growth and consequences of colonialism, the role of intellectuals in public debates, the impact of the Occupation, the modernization of the economy and of social structures. The sources and meanings of national symbols, monuments, myths and manifestoes are also studied. Recommended for students planning to study abroad. Taught in French.
This course is a study of major French literary genres and an introduction to methods of literary analysis. This semester, students will serve on the jury for the Goncourt Prize USA. “Le Goncourt” is the most prestigious literary prize in France. Students will study and rank books on the Goncourt shortlist. They will elect a representative to present their selection at the Villa Albertine in New York and choose the winner along with students from Princeton, Duke, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Virginia. Meanwhile, the other students will prepare a press article to present their experience as a jury!
Special attention is devoted to the improvement of French language skills. The course is taught in French.
About the instructor: Bruno Perreau is the Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies at MIT and Director of MIT’s Center of Excellence in French Studies. He is also an Affiliate Faculty at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University.
Perreau recently published The Politics of Adoption: Gender and the Making of French Citizenship (MIT Press, 2014), Queer Theory: The French Response (Stanford University Press, 2016), Les Défis de la République (ed. with Joan W. Scott, Presses de Sciences Po, 2017), Qui a peur de la théorie queer ? (Presses de Sciences Po, 2018), and Sphères d’injustice. Pour un universalisme minoritaire (La Découverte, 2023).
Students will be introduced to irony with a focus on the three types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. RL 8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.Students will review the definitions of the three types of irony. After viewing examples and taking notes, they will view three videos: verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.Students will get a copy of the lyrics to the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette. They will listen to the song a few times.and highlight examples of irony. Students will then work with a partner to share and discuss. Next, students will type their own song lyrics using the song "Ironic" as a template portraying examples of irony.Students will then share with the class. During presentations, students will highlight examples of irony using classmates' lyrics.
This resource is an introduction to William Shakespeare's tragic play, "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar", through the study of universal themes using multiple-perspective investigations of betrayal scenarios.
This subject examines the ways in which we read. It introduces some important strategies for engaging with literary texts developed in the twentieth century, paying special attention to poststructuralist theories and their legacy. The course is organized around specific theoretical paradigms. In general, we will: (1) work through the selected readings in order to see how they construe what literary interpretation is; (2) locate the limits of each particular approach; and (3) trace the emergence of subsequent theoretical paradigms as responses to what came before.
Introduction to Literature: Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, and How They Shape Us introduces college students to the study of literature through a focus on texts that, generally, they already know, or think they know, and how those texts aim to shape audiences to be compliant members of their culture.
This is a resource for teaching an introduction to literature course.
This material would be useful for teaching a course that aims to instruct students on how to read, analyze, and write critically about literature. The resources comprise important terms, readings, and information on how to engage with literary scholarship.
These are two resources that I find helpful for teaching an Introduction to Literature course. This material would be useful for teaching an introduction to literature course that aims to instruct students on how to read, analyze, and write critically about literature. The resources comprise important terms, readings, and information on how to engage with literary scholarshi