ENGL 111 A1: Composition: Literature

Course description:

This is a writing course with a focus on literature. Its goal is to prepare you to write effectively in “real life” and in university classes so that you can successfully create and communicate ideas. Be prepared to do a lot of reading and writing.

The literature that we will be reading and writing about is all by nineteenth-century British and American women writers. It was in the 1800s that the feminist movement began; it was in the 1800s that the LGBTQ+ community became so prominent that institutions felt the need to crack down on it—Oscar Wilde was sentenced to prison for “gross indecency” in 1895; it was in the 1800s that people began to recognize the effects humans can have on the environment; it was in the 1800s that colonialism, the railroad, and the telegraph accelerated the process of globalization; it was in the 1800s that the United States was so politically polarized that war broke out. Many of the most pressing issues of 2019—women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, globalization, race relations—have their roots in the nineteenth century. The nineteenth century also saw a proliferation of women writers. In this class, we will explore the ways these women addressed their own times.