Literature Summer Courses

LIT 61F

Session 1

Close reading of short stories and some novels with the aim of developing critical methods for the analysis and interpretation of prose fiction. Topics include character, plot, narrative structure, and the poetics of prose. The course topic is Moby-Dick. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): TA, IH.)

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Instructor: Chacko Kuruvilla

LIT 61U

Session 1

Online only course. 

Close reading of speculative and science fiction texts (short stories, novels, and films) with the aim of developing critical methods for the analysis and interpretation of SF as a critique of science, technology, and culture. Course will explore themes like encounters across species; novelty and change; expanded concepts of life; and the role of technology in human development. (General Education Codes: PE-T.)

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Instructor: Zac Zimmer

Syllabi and Course video

LIT 102

Session 2

Promotes the understanding of translation and its role in redefining meanings across epochs and cultures, in establishing common norms, and in advancing mutual intelligibility; but also providing encounters with absolute alterity. Actual translations are used as case studies. Prerequisite(s): one year of college-level, non-English language study or the equivalent reading ability in a non-English language. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: Maxim Dobrushin

LIT 111D

Session 2

Study of representative works by William Shakespeare. Among his contemporaries, Shakespeare may have been more famous as a poet than a playwright, at least at the beginning of his career as a writer. We will read a selection of his sonnets; three narrative poems that explore the experiences of love, desire, and sex; and two plays that are specifically concerned with the effects that love poetry has on its readers.

As a bonus for enrolling in the course, students will receive free tickets to Santa Cruz Shakespeare's summer season, where the plays that we will read together will be performed.

Critical approach designations: Canons, Histories. Distribution requirements: Poetry, Pre-1750. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: Sean Keilen

LIT 112C

Special Session: July 15 - July 21

Study of representative work by Charles Dickens.  Course topic:  Little Dorrit.  Critical approach designations: Canons, Histories. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: John Jordan

LIT 120J

Session 2

Survey of contemporary poetry with attention to race, sex, and gender; includes a variety of poetic forms. Current topic: Power and Politics in 21st Century American Poetry. Critical approach designations: Genres, Histories. Distribution requirement: Poetry. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: Kirstin Wagner

LIT 121K

Session 1

Focuses on a generation of early twentieth-century poets from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and beyond. Studying their poetic output through the lens of modernism and other genres, we discover a truly global moment in literature/politics. Critical approach designations: Genres, Power and Subjectivities. Distribution requirements: Global, Poetry. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: Kenan Sharpe

LIT 155L

Session 1

Examines development and central themes of vampire film from the silent era to the present. Critical approach designations: Genres, Media. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: H. Marshall Leicester, Jr.

LIT 163A

Session 2

Explores works of fiction, creative non-fiction, drama, and poetry written by American Indians. Focuses on historical and political issues within the text as well as on formal and thematic structures. Critical approach designations: Histories, Power and Subjectivities. (General Education Code(s): TA.)

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Instructor: Courtney Kersten

LIT 167H

Session 1

Investigates US imperialism in the Asia-Pacific region through a focus on race and disability; examines how “disabled” subjects have responded to historical and social alienation. Critical approach designations: Geographies, Power and Subjectivities. Distribution requirement: Global. (General Education Code(s): ER.)

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Instructor: Ka-eul Yoo

LIT 179C

Special Session: August 20 - August 31

Prerequisites lifted in summer for all students.