LIT - Literature

LIT 110IH  Introduction to Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

(F, Sp) Introduction to basic concepts including but not limited to: plot, character, theme, symbol, and the primary literary modes of poetry, fiction, and drama.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Apply literary terms to various literary texts in oral and written assignments
  2. Analyze texts with an apparent understanding of literary terms and techniques
  3. Evaluate various authors' uses of language and conventions in oral and written assignment\\n

LIT 169IH  Literature as Popular Culture: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

An exploration of the interrelationship between high and low (popular) cultural traditions, emphasizing the social and artistic significance of popular cultural texts.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Understand the interrelationship between high (literary) and low (popular) culture
  2. Understand the interrelationship between dominant cultural practices and emergent countercultural practices
  3. Identify core stylistic features shared by literature and popular culture
  4. Analyze specific examples of the literary dimensions of popular cultural texts

LIT 201  Intro to Literary Studies: 3 Credits (3 Other)

This writing-intensive introduction to the English Literature major will prepare students for advanced study in literature by providing them with the foundational skills of literary analysis, literary theory, disciplinary methodologies, and close readings of literary texts. Restricted to English majors and English Literature minors.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Understand disciplinary methodologies.
  2. Apply and demonstrate foundational skills of literary analysis in a full-length essay.
  3. Apply and demonstrate foundational literary theories in a full-length essay.
  4. Perform close readings of literary works in a full-length essay.

LIT 202CS  The Environmental Imagination: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

An exploration of major developments in the study of environmental literature that introduces students to current debates and discussions about how diverse cultures have imagined the human place in the nonhuman world.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Gain deeper knowledge about the environmental issues shaping life in the 21st century
  2. Learn about how environmental literature has addressed the methods used by scientists in analyzing human relations with nonhuman nature
  3. Examine the primary approaches employed by environmental writers in addressing the most pressing ecological concerns of the era
  4. Improve critical thinking and writing as well as oral communication skills through low-stakes writing, large class discussions, and formal academic essays
  5. Work effectively in directed small group discussions

LIT 203IH  Great Books: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

(F) Offered Fall, odd years. An introduction to some of the "great books" of literary history and an exploration of why and how they have been regarded as great. Students engage with major, canonical literary works from classical antiquity to the present.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Analyze and interpret major, canonical works of literature and related literatures, from classical antiquity to the present, from different points of view.
  2. Explain the significance of the works studied in the times and places of their composition
  3. Explain the significance of the works studied in shaping literary and cultural traditions
  4. Assess the enduring influence of the works studied in the contemporary world
  5. Describe some of the ways in which literary scholars have defined the significance or canonicity of the works studied and the ways in which these definitions have changed over time
  6. Formulate and present (written or oral) persuasive literary-critical arguments about the works studied

LIT 214D  Regional Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

Examination of American literary regions in the context of critical multiculturalism. Analyzes topics such as the development of local color writing, borderlands/transnational studies, and the concept of the frontier as contact zone. May focus on a specific regional literature or adopt a comparative approach.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Read, interpret, and evaluate regional literary works.
  2. Identify literary, cultural, historical, and philosophical forces that shaped regional literary works.
  3. Interpret aesthetic and literary contexts of a range of regional works.
  4. Apply and demonstrate principles of literary analysis in a full-length essay on selected regional works.

LIT 240  The Bible as Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

(F) Offered Fall, even years. Study of the Bible and related texts and how this tradition has influenced subsequent literature.

LIT 285D  Mythologies: 3 Credits (2 Lec, 1 Other)

The study of specific cultural mythologies to explore the nature, function, and theory of myth.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Read, discuss, and evaluate a variety of mythological texs;
  2. Interpret mythological literature with an undestanding of how it forms the foundation of the ;literary tradition;
  3. Identify and describe key figures, images, and themes in mythological literature;
  4. Write critically about mythology from a historical and cultural perspective.

LIT 291  Special Topics: 1-4 Credits (1-4 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: None required but some may be determined necessary by the department. Courses not required in any curriculum for which there is a particular one-time need, or given on a trial basis to determine acceptability and demand before requesting a regular course number
Repeatable up to 12 credits.

LIT 292  Independent Study: 1-3 Credits (1-3 Other)

(F, Sp, Su) Directed research and study on an individual basis.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Directed research and study on an individual basis.

LIT 300  Literary Criticism: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and a 200 level LIT course. (F, Sp) Historical survey of principles, problems, and strategies of literary criticism

LIT 308  Multicultural Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and any 200-level Literature course. (Sp) Offered Spring, even years. Focuses on literature by American minorities, women, and ethnic subcultures

LIT 310  American Literature to 1900: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing and any 200-level Literature course. Intensive studies in early American literature, with attention to development of a distinct national literature and culture

LIT 311  American Literature after 1900: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing and any 200-level Literature course. Intensive studies in selected literary works by 20th-century American writers, with attention to historical context, particularly America's evolving national culture

LIT 320  Advanced British Literature I (Formerly LIT 324): 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing and any 200-level Literature course. Intensive studies in selected literary works from the origins of British literature to 1660, with attention to historical and cultural context

LIT 321  Advanced British Literature II (Formerly LIT 325): 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing and any 200-level Literature course
Intensive studies in selected literary works by British writers of the Restoration period, the eighteenth century, and the early nineteenth century, with attention to historical and cultural context.

LIT 322  Advanced British Literature III (Formerly LIT 326): 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing and any 200-level Literature course. Intensive studies in selected British literary works from the early nineteenth century to the present, with attention to historical and cultural context

LIT 335  Women and Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and a 200-level LIT course. (F) Offered Fall, odd years. A study of the relationship between women and literature, with some attention to feminist approaches to critical interpretation

LIT 343  African American Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: WRIT 101W or equivalent and Sophomore standing. (Sp) Selected works by African-American authors. Course may define a narrowed focus such as poetry, women writers, etc

LIT 343D  African American Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: WRIT 101W or equivalent and Sophomore standing. (Sp) Selected works by African-American authors. Course may define a narrowed focus such as poetry, women writers, etc

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Explain the development of African American literature since the Civil War.\\n
  2. Contextualize African American literature within its specific socio-historical context.
  3. Compare the important voices in African American literature.
  4. Analyze and interpret African American literature critically.
  5. Evaluate the important issues, problems, conflicts, and challenges that complicate the definition of black identity

LIT 382  Literature for Children and Adolescents: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and a 200-level LIT course. (F) Offered Fall, even years. Studies in selected literary works for children and young adults. The course may focus on genres, authors, themes, and/or critical approaches

LIT 431RH  Studies in Major Author/s: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and a 200-level LIT course. (F) Intensive study in the works, biography, and criticism of a particular author
Repeatable up to 6 credits.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Analyze a variety of the chosen author's texts in the context of critical scholarship.
  2. Contextualize the chosen author's writing within his/her cultural and historical milieu.
  3. Develop, define, and defend an independent scholarly project.
  4. Process a critically informed interpretation of the chosen author's work.

LIT 437  Studies in Literary Genres: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and a 200-level LIT course. (F) Offered Fall, even years. Intensive study of a single genre, such as the epic, novel, poem, dream vision, hypertext, or the idea of "genre" itself. Selection and approach will vary with each offering
Repeatable up to 6 credits.

LIT 438  Studies in Literary Topics: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and at least one 200 level LIT course. (F) Offered Fall, odd years. Provides an in-depth, rigorous analysis of current trends in literary scholarship. Organized around a specific theme, this course will expose students to new groups of literary works that cut across traditional historical, national, or generic boundaries
Repeatable up to 12 credits.

View Course Outcomes:

  1. After taking this course, students will be able to:
        Understand current trends in literary scholarship.  
        Identify literary, cultural, historical, and philosophical forces that shape new groups of literary works that cut across traditional historical, national, or generic boundaries.
        Interpret aesthetic and literary contexts of new groups of literary works.
    Apply and demonstrate principles of literary analysis in a full-length essay on new groups of literary works.

LIT 440  Studies in World Literature: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and at least one 200 level LIT course. (Sp) Offered Spring, odd years. Selected literary works in translation from non-English cultures and/or from English speaking cultures outside the United States and Britain

LIT 473RH  Studies in Shakespeare: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Sophomore standing and at least one 200 level LIT course. Studies in selected Shakespearean works, drawn from tragedies, comedies, histories, romances, and poetry. Development of Shakespeare's philosophy, poetics, and dramaturgy in the context of the Renaissance

View Course Outcomes:

  1. The ability to read and understand Shakespeare’s language.
  2. Familiarization with Shakespeare’s plays and some of his poetry in their historical context, and the ability to compare the plays effectively.
  3. Awareness of the importance of performance in understanding Shakespeare’s plays.
  4. Proficiency at reading what others have written about Shakespeare and forming your own written argument in response to these writings.

LIT 490R  Undergraduate Research: 1-6 Credits (1 Other)

Directed undergraduate research/creative activity which may culminate in a research paper, journal article, or undergraduate thesis. Course will address responsible conduct of research.
Repeatable up to 12 credits.

LIT 492  Independent Study: 1-3 Credits (1 Other)

Independent study of literature.
Repeatable up to 6 credits.

LIT 494RH  Seminar: Research Issues: 3 Credits (3 Lec)

PREREQUISITE: Senior standing. Consent of instructor. Senior capstone course for literature majors. Integration and assessment of students' cumulative experiences as English literature majors through specific seminar-style research issues which vary with each offering. Restricted entry

View Course Outcomes:

  1. Perform close readings in various genres
  2. Develop and discuss interpretations in large and small group settings
  3. Conduct independent and group research using academic sources
  4. Collaborate on a group project which your group will use to lead class discussion
  5. Complete a final research paper that is demonstrates the necessary learning, skills, and abilities for a degree in English.
  6. As a Research and Creative Experience course, LIT 494RH addresses the Core quality “MSU Students are Effective Communicators.” Through your study of literature, you will learn about various genres, approaches, and/or literary styles authors use to communicate experiences, ideas, and themes. In addition, you will study the ways that gender, class, and historical context (for the writer as well as for the audience) play important roles in communication and in how that communication is received and interpreted.
  7. LIT 494RH also address the Core Quality “MSU graduates are Thinkers and Problem Solvers.” As readers and writers, you will consider not just how, but also why and to what interpretative ends authors create literary works. You will wrangle with the difficulty of reading texts that offer up very different experiences than your own, whether because of differences in historical context, race, ethnicity, sexuality, or other perspectives, and then investigate your own process of “making sense” of that process of representation though the use of appropriate literary and critical theories.