LIT 499-01 Seminar in Research and Theory: Dystopian Literature
Dr. Jean Graham
Tuesday/Friday 2-3:20pm
Dystopian literature critiques society, so the focus of this section will enable us to concentrate on questioning gender and sexuality, racial/ethnic and religious identities, economics, and other cultural issues within literature. Readings will include some of the dystopian novels most often taught at the secondary level.
LIT 499-02 Seminar in Research and Theory: Star Wars
Dr. Lincoln Konkle
Thursday 5:30-8:20pm
In this section of LIT 499, Scholarly Study of Star Wars, we will analyze the original trilogy: episodes IV, V, VI; the prequel trilogy: episodes I, II, III; a selection of Star Wars short story adaptations; and selected episodes of TV/streaming series, both animated and live action (such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian). Over the past 40 years, scores of articles and books (scholarly and mass market) have been published about Star Wars in its various iterations and from various points of view. Thus, our analysis will be interdisciplinary: film studies, myth, literature, philosophy, religious studies, political science, history, sociology, anthropology, economics/marketing, and perhaps others. The primary sources to be studied will be the fictional works created by George Lucas and others; secondary sources will include scholarly books and articles from a variety of disciplines on reserve at the library. The Force will be with us!
LIT 499-03 Seminar in Research and Theory: The Future of Live Narratives
Dr. Lisa Ortiz-Vilarelle
Monday/Thursday 12:30-1:50pm
This course offers a global study of autobiography, poetry, and fiction by women. Our objective is to explore the archetypal, stereotypical, and prototypical representation of women’s subjectivity in global contexts. We will focus on how women’s self-representation is not only complicated by certain linguistic and narratological confines, but it is also impeded by systems of oppression and human rights violations, such as censorship and captivity, throughout the globe. We will read works by authors with origins in Jamaica, Chile, Guyana, Senegal, Dominica, and Nicaragua with an eye toward exploring and problematizing the forms and functions of various archetypes, stereotypes, and prototypes of womanhood.
LIT 499-04 Seminar in Research and Theory: Ecocriticism Now!
Dr. Glenn Steinberg
Monday 5:30-8:20pm
Lots of the stories in the Middle Ages take place in “natural” settings. This section of LIT 499 examines how medieval writers conceive of and portray the natural world – in comparison with how we understand nature today and in the context of ecocritical theory and environmental sociology. We read lots of different medieval texts, including Arthurian romances, fabliaux (mildly dirty stories that engage in social satire), and dream visions. This course may also have a community-engaged learning component, working with TCNJ’s Campus as a Living Lab (CaLL) on an environmental education project that uses what we have learned in class. From knights wandering in forest wilds to modern-day initiatives to encourage sustainability, we consider how humans define, describe, and engage with the natural world.