Course Offerings: 2006-2007

Comparative Literature

Levels: High school. (Grades 9-12)
Prerequisites: Students should possess independent study skills and have had some experience in essay-writing. This class is reading-intensive and moves at the pace of a college literature class. A placement test is required for prospective students entering 9th grade or below and encouraged for rising 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-graders who are unsure if the pace of the class is appropriate for them.
Dates and Times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Duration: 72 sessions (34 fall / 38 spring), beginning August 22 and ending May 17 (with breaks for holidays).
Location: Mrs. Hogye's house.
Required Texts: Class novels, as noted in the syllabus.

Overview: The Comparative Literature class is a fast-paced, college-prep course that examines Western and global literature with an eye to commonalities and historical progression. The literature portion of the class is arranged in thematic units, where students read several major and minor works and compare each work's perspective on different themes. Students will read one novel, play, or poetry collection approximately every two weeks, including selections chosen from among classic authors such as Homer, Sophocles, Chaucer, Dante, Milton, Thomas Hardy, the Bronte sisters, Jonathan Swift, George Orwell, Chinua Achebe, George Bernard Shaw, and Jane Austen. Works from contemporary authors will include the writings of Sandra Cisneros, Jose Saramago, and Annie Dillard. Poetry studied will include the works of John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Tennyson, Keats, Shelley, T.S. Eliot, Matthew Arnold, Seamus Heaney, Adrienne Rich, W.B. Yeats, Rita Dove, and Alexander Pope. The writing component of the course will be derived from the reading material, including different styles of essays, creative writing, poetry, and drama, with emphasis on the creation of strong analytical essays. Students should purchase the major novels and plays; the out-of-class reading will be supplemented with short, in-class selections chosen from among the above authors. This course can be a helpful precursor to AP English Literature, should students wish to pursue that option in the future.

Syllabus: Click for the class syllabus. It is a PDF document and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing. If a viewer does not open automatically when you click on the link, right-click on the link and choose "Save Link As ..." and save the file to your computer. Then open it with Adobe Acrobat or other PDF viewer. Please contact the site administrator (e-mail below) if you have any difficulty downloading or viewing the document.

TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES:

Choose classes that are right for you by reading their individual descriptions. Contact Mrs. Hogye at kellan@languageandlit.com to register.