Course Info

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We enjoy a wide range of texts – poetry, drama, novel, satire, live-action film, animated film, comic, children's story – as we work back gradually from the twenty-first century to Shakespeare. We explore texts, terms, contexts, theory and approaches. We consider new findings about human minds and human nature relevant to literature and life. We stress creative and critical thinking and reading and writing, in our authors and in our responses to them. We consider the element of play and laughter in literature, from Dr. Seuss and Wallace and Gromit to Shakespeare. We also briefly consider material outside English-language traditions, both European (this year, a Polish film) and non-European (a Brazilian novel and the Chinese poet Li Po).

Course texts:
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (Oxford);
Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Penguin);
Machado de Assis, The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas (Oxford)
Nabokov, Lolita (Penguin);
Dr Seuss, Horton Hears a Who! (Collins);
Spiegelman, Maus I (Penguin or Random);

There will also be a class handbook, with an anthology of poems (by Shakespeare, Swift, Wordsworth, Keats, Dickinson, Collins and Duffy) and a glossary and guide to literary terms.

Lecturer: University Distinguished Professor Brian Boyd. His work, on American, Brazilian, English, Greek, Irish, New Zealand and Russian literature, from epics to comics, has appeared in seventeen languages. Among his publications are books (and articles) on Shakespeare and Nabokov and on storytelling and verse, and articles and/or book chapters on Austen, Machado, Dr Seuss and Spiegelman.

Course structure: two weekly lectures and one weekly tutorial (small-group discussion).

Lectures: Wednesday, Friday 11am-12pm

Assessment: is by two-hour exam (50%) and coursework (50%). For the coursework, 10% counts for tutorial participation, the other 40% for two essays (1250-1500 words) or one essay and one creative work (with short essay). For the creative option, students have so far submitted poems, stories, live-action videos, animated videos, paintings and sculptures, but you are welcome to think up other options.

Student feedback from recent years:
What improvements would you like to see? "Nothing comes to mind. It's hard to improve on perfection." "None I can think of. This is my favourite paper."

What did you like most about the course? "Incredibly stimulating”, “My most inspiring lecturer to date. I enjoyed every aspect of this course and will keep reading the rest of the work produced by many of the writers on the course”, “The wide range of really great literature”, “The spread of material caused me to broaden my horizons, to read and see things I may not have by choice”.