At its most basic level, this course is about reading. In fact, it's a course about how to read. Put yet another way, this course is less about content than it is about methods and strategies, and we will learn a variety of ways to read a text, and that includes traditional "literary" texts like poems, short stories, fables, and plays, but we will also practice on advertisements, films, photographs, song lyrics, music videos, etc.

In a sense, this class is also about assumptions, for we will ponder and write about some fundamental questions that define our field of study:

1. What is the role of the reader?
   

2. What does it mean to "interpret" a text?
   

3. What is the nature of the work of art?
   

4. What is the role and function of art and the artist?
   

5. What is "good" literature?
   

6. Why should we read?
   

7. What should we read?
   

8. How should we read?
   

9. What are the gains and limitations of particular reading strategies?
   

We will address these questions and more in class discussions and written assignments. After a semester's worth of hard work, you should have a better sense of the history of the discipline, an awareness of contemporary issues and debates dealing with literary studies, a greater sensitivity to premises and assumptions, and an ability to read a text from multiple perspectives. To be more specific, this course helps...

1. Readers: You will discover new tools to make sense of texts. You will be able to say more about texts.
   

1. Teachers: Not only will you learn new tools to pass along to future students, but you will practice examining fundamental assumptions and their consequences. You'll become a self-reflexive teacher, considering why, what, and how you teach.
   

1. Writers: Being keenly aware of the fundamental issues in literature should help you become a more self-reflexive writer. All good writers are good theorists because they think critically about language, culture, and their own role as writers.