Literature Concentration

Romanticism

3 credits / clock hours

A study of the Romantic movement in European and English literature, with special concentration on the themes of individual authenticity, revolutionary politics, the philosophical and theological importance of the imagination, the encounter with the demonic, the nostalgia for a lost simplicity of being, and the reverence for nature as the source of moral law. Writers studied include Rousseau, Goethe, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, the Shelleys, Keats, and others.

Modernism

3 credits / clock hours

The phenomenon of modernism, particularly in England and America, with its emphasis on formal qualities, irony, point of view. Focus on connections between Modernist poetry and Neoclassical and Victorian literature. The modern novel, its roots in satire.

Southern Literature

3 credits / clock hours

A study of the poetry and fiction of the literary renaissance of the twentieth century. Emphasis on the communal character of the poetic vision. Includes writings of Davidson, Ransom, Tate, Warren, Porter, Welty, Gordon, Faulkner, O'Connor.

The Russian Novel

3 credits / clock hours

Studies include the fiction of Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. Special emphasis is accorded the theme of the abrupt and relatively belated confrontation of Christian society with European modernity.

Literary Criticism

3 credits / clock hours

Concentrates on nineteenth and twentieth century critical theory, with its treatment of the nature of poetic form, mimetic theory, genre, and the imagination. Culminates in a comprehensive critical study by the student. Emphasis on the development of the student's own critical ability.

The English Poetic Tradition

3 credits / clock hours

A study of poetry and prose from the Anglo-Saxon period up to Milton, with emphasis on Shakespeare and the major seventeenth-century lyric poets of the metaphysical and Cavalier schools. The genius of English poetry and the origin of the man of letters.

Focus

3 credits / clock hours

Junior year course for majors in literature, philosophy, and political science; taught by Humanities faculty. Opportunity for interdisciplinary exploration of a specific theme--such as love and its relation to society; time; freedom.

Special Studies

3 credits / clock hours

An advanced study may be offered on occasion that centers around a single literary author or a group of authors or of a particular problem or theme in literature.

Senior Thesis

3 credits / clock hours

During the last year of study, the student presents a thesis and a formal address on a topic chosen from the major discipline. Seniors must also pass a comprehensive examination. These final tasks offer the opportunity for further review and reflection upon what has been learned and for contemplation of earlier courses in the light of later studies.