How do you get from Point “A” to Point “B”? Do you take the most direct pathway, to save time and energy? Or do you take a more circuitous pathway, to see the sights and take your chances? When literary critics read works of fiction, they too take pathways, sometimes known as critical approaches. Depending on the critical approach they use—or the pathway they follow—the same literary work can take on a variety of new and unexpected meanings. In ENGL 162/3.0, we will study some of the most influential pathways through fiction, such as formalist criticism, reader-response criticism, gender criticism, sociological criticism, ecological criticism, postmodernist criticism, and more. We will study a diverse range of short-fiction authors, including Thomas King, Octavia Butler, Rohinton Mistry, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sherman Alexie, Madeleine Thien, and others.
Assessment
Assessments consist of:
- Essays
- Quizzes
- Online Discussion Forums
- Class Participation
- Final Examination
**Assessments subject to change**
Prerequisites
This course has no prerequisite, and is open to all students. ENGL 161 and 162 are intended to work together; however, they are independent courses. Students may take either one of them, or both, and may take them in any order. ENGL 161 is not a prerequisite for ENGL 162.
