ENGL 4039-002: Critical Thinking in English Studies, Mythology and Modern Literature (Fall 2019)

Instructor: Prof. Marty Bickman

The course focus on the prevalence to two mythic patterns and how they persist and are transformed in the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, the more masculine journey of the hero and the more feminine archetype of Demeter and Persephone. For the former, our main example will be Moby-Dick, although we will read shorter works by John Barth and Robert Graves, as well as mythographic essays by Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. For the latter, we will do a close study of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter along with supplementary critical materials, all found in Helene Foley’s edition of the Hymn. The modern materials will focus on women’s poetry beginning with Emily Dickinson moving through Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and more contemporary figures. Backgrounds to the literature will include study of 19th and 20th century mythography and 20th century psychology and anthropology. Students will be expected to be active participants and share in the creation of course structures and content. To this end, attendance is required and a sense of community will be rewarded even more than individual achievement. Instructors are encouraged to speak with the instructor before the class begins, so we can ground each other in ways of proceeding. Phone: 303 492 8945.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 9.00 total credit hours. 
Requisites: Requires prerequisite courses of ENGL 2102 and ENGL 2112 (all minimum grade C-). Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Junior or Senior) English (ENGL) or Humnanities (HUMN) majors and minors only.
Additional Information:Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
Departmental Category: Critical Studies in English