ENGLish 581 A -  Winter 2018

Instructor:  David Shields

Class Schedule: MW  3:30 - 5:20   LOW 118

Course Description:    

A course in the aphorism, which inhabits a space just about halfway between a line of poetry and a prose sentence. Via the aphorism, we’ll analyze the history of human thought from ancient civilization until now, study how a book-length sequence of aphorisms works to form a whole that’s considerably greater than the sum of its parts, and we’ll figure out the meaning/meaninglessness of existence.

Required Text: 

James Geary, Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists 9781596912526

James Geary, The World in a Phrase 9781582346169

James Lough, Short Circuits 9781943136375

James Lough, Short Flights 9781936182886

W.H. Auden and Louis Kronenberger, Aphorisms (American edition) 9780140059663

JPJ, Last Aphorisms 9781442173682

Sarah Manguso, 300 Arguments 9781555977641