LIT: Literature

LIT 100. Popular Culture: Reading Culture as Text. 3 Credits.

An introduction to analyzing and interpreting everyday cultural expressions within diverse social, historical, economic, and political contexts.

Gen Ed Attribute: Humanities Distributive

LIT 101. Contemporary Issues Through Literature. 3 Credits.

This lecture-style course links the study of various genres of literature from a range of time periods (texts included on the syllabus can range from medieval to contemporary) to contemporary events and issues.

Gen Ed Attribute: Humanities Distributive

Distance education offering may be available.

LIT 165. Topics in Literature. 3 Credits.

A course designed to develop awareness of literature as being central to all the arts, to increase levels of literacy and critical faculties, and to broaden understanding of the human condition.

Gen Ed Attribute: Humanities Distributive, Writing Emphasis

Distance education offering may be available.

LIT 199. Literature Transfer Credits. 1-10 Credits.

Transfer Credits

Repeatable for credit.

LIT 200. American Literature I. 3 Credits.

Survey of representative American writers from Colonial times to 1860, including Bradstreet, Taylor, Franklin, Poe, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Melville.

LIT 202. African American Literature I. 3 Credits.

A survey of African American writing from the Middle Passage through the first decade of the 20th century. Authors include Wheatley, Equiano, Douglass, Jacobs, Wells-Barnett, Du Bois, Washington, Chesnutt, Weldon Johnson, and others, with an emphasis on the historical contexts of slavery and Jim Crow and on the oral/vernacular roots of the black literary tradition.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 203. African American Literature II. 3 Credits.

A survey of African American writing from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. Authors include Hughes, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Baraka, Brooks, Sanchez, Morrison, Butler, and others, with an emphasis on the historical forces and social and cultural movements that have shaped black writing in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Gen Ed Attribute: Diverse Communities, Writing Emphasis

LIT 204. Black Women Writers. 3 Credits.

Survey of black women writers of America. Examines themes and influences on American and African-American literary contexts.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 207. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. 3 Credits.

This course examines the courageous life and times of an American reformer and his influence on slavery, abolitionism, suffrage, and temperance movements in the development of America.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 213. Asian American Literature. 3 Credits.

Survey of representative Asian American authors from their earliest works at the turn of the twentieth century to contemporary works, examined in the context of the changing cultural, economic, and political experiences of Americans of Asian descent.

Gen Ed Attribute: Diverse Communities

LIT 219. Literature for Young Children. 3 Credits.

A critical study of the literature and culture for young children through age nine with an emphasis on literary analysis and the scholarly study of youth literature, including picture books, comics, early reader books, beginning chapter books, and other formats, such as children’s film, media, and culture.

Gen Ed Attribute: Humanities Distributive

Distance education offering may be available.

LIT 220. Children's Literature. 3 Credits.

A critical study of literature for children, setting standards for evaluation and appreciation.

Gen Ed Attribute: Humanities Distributive

Distance education offering may be available.

LIT 230. Survey of British Literature. 3 Credits.

Focuses on the literature of Great Britain and on representative authors across historical eras, from the Old English period through the 20th century. Addresses a range of key cultural contexts and movements, while offering students an overview of important themes, genres, and cross-cultural comparisons.

LIT 250. Victorian Attitudes. 3 Credits.

A study of 19th-century attitudes toward social changes as expressed in art, architecture, literature, and nonfiction prose.

Gen Ed Attribute: Interdisciplinary

LIT 272. New Fiction. 3 Credits.

Fiction published in the last 10 years.

LIT 274. Feminist Poetry. 3 Credits.

A study of poetry espousing the feminist cause and exploring the feminist response. Techniques and attitudes of such poets as Plath, Sexton, Rich, Morgan, Wakoski, and Kumin.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 302. Studies in the American Novel. 3 Credits.

Topics in the American Novel. The American novel examined in relation to identity, including national identity, and transnational contexts. Topics and historical periods vary.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 303. Intro to Multi-Ethnic American Literature. 3 Credits.

American ethnic, racial, and national groups in American literature and the contributions of creative literary artists representing these cultures.

Gen Ed Attribute: Diverse Communities, Writing Emphasis

LIT 309. Thoughts/Writings of Martin Luther King. 3 Credits.

Examines and analyzes the writings of Dr. King and their relationship to the themes he pursued and the leadership role he achieved.

Gen Ed Attribute: Interdisciplinary

LIT 335. Studies in Shakespeare. 3 Credits.

Reading, analysis, and discussion of selected plays and poems. Discussion of critical approaches to the plays and of the historical and intellectual climate of the times.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

Distance education offering may be available.

LIT 336. Shakespeare II. 3 Credits.

Reading, analysis, and discussion of selected comedies and nondramatic poems. Discussion of critical approaches to the works and of the historical and intellectual climate of the times. This course can be taken before LIT 335.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 337. Literature of the Enlightenment. 3 Credits.

A critical consideration of 18th-century writers, exclusive of the dramatists.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 338. Studies in British Drama. 3 Credits.

A variable-focus course covering topics in British drama ranging from themes to historical periods.

Gen Ed Attribute: Speaking Emphasis

LIT 339. 18th Century British Novel. 3 Credits.

The British novel from Defoe to Austen.

Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis

LIT 342. Victorian Literature. 3 Credits.

Victorian thought and culture in poetry and nonfiction prose.

LIT 360. Special Topics Children's/Young Adult Literature. 3 Credits.

In depth study of key genre, theme, or topic in children's or young adult literature.

LIT 367. Comedy and Humor. 3 Credits.

Through analysis of videos, literary texts, essays, memes, and other cultural artifacts, this course explores the role of humor in society, combining multiple disciplinary approaches.

Gen Ed Attribute: Interdisciplinary

LIT 370. Urbanism and the Modern Imagination. 3 Credits.

Covers a variety of responses of contemporary writers, artists, and planners to the rise of the modern city.

LIT 398. Young Adult Literature. 3 Credits.

A critical study of literature, including nonprint media, for young adults, focusing on helping prospective teachers develop familiarity with young adult literature and how it may be used in the middle school and high school classroom, stressing gender roles and multicultural issues.

Distance education offering may be available.