Description: In Literature Core, students explore the principal motives which prompt people to read literature: to assemble and assess the shape and values of one's own culture, to discover alternative ways of looking at the world, to gain insight into issues of permanent human importance as well as issues of contemporary urgency, and to enjoy the linguistic and formal satisfactions of literary art. Literature Core will strive to develop the student's capacity to read and write with clarity and engagement, to allow for that dialogue between the past and present we call history, and to provide an introduction to literary genres. For course descriptions of the individual sections please see:www.bc.edu/literaturecore
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Gasson Hall 303 MWF 10:00AM-10:50AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 21 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: O'Neill Library 247 MWF 12:00 Noon-12:50PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 23 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 103N MWF 02:00PM-02:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 301N MWF 10:00AM-10:50AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 22 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Gasson Hall 303 TuTh 12:00 Noon-01:15PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 109S TuTh 03:00PM-04:15PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 21 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 401N MWF 12:00 Noon-12:50PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 21 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Gasson Hall 210 TuTh 01:30PM-02:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 113S TuTh 12:00 Noon-01:15PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 101N MWF 10:00AM-10:50AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 109S TuTh 09:00AM-10:15AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: O'Neill Library 257 MWF 11:00AM-11:50AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 23 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 403N TuTh 03:00PM-04:15PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 209S TuTh 10:30AM-11:45AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 209S TuTh 01:30PM-02:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 23 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 209S TuTh 09:00AM-10:15AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 0 / Total Seats: 0
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Campion Hall 204 MWF 11:00AM-11:50AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 103N MWF 01:00PM-01:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 103N TuTh 09:00AM-10:15AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 22 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Campion Hall 231 MWF 01:00PM-01:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 21 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 103N MWF 12:00 Noon-12:50PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Gasson Hall 303 TuTh 03:00PM-04:15PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 23 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 113S MWF 03:00PM-03:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Devlin Hall 221 MWF 09:00AM-09:50AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 10 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Campion Hall 235 TuTh 10:30AM-11:45AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 21 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Campion Hall 9 TuTh 01:30PM-02:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Description: This course continues in second semester as ENGL1094This course offers beginners an enjoyable introduction to the language and culture of Ireland. Well learn how to speak Gaelic and read modern Irish texts and poetry. And we'll examine major themes in Irish history and culture associated with the rise and fall of the language over its long history. This courses count towards your Irish Studies minor, and one towards your English major. In the spring semester, you can build on what you've gained and, if you wish, satisfy the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences language proficiency requirement by completing the four-course cycle the following year.
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: TuTh 04:30PM-05:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 2 / Total Seats: 15
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Gasson Hall 201 TuTh 09:00AM-10:15AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 9 / Total Seats: 15
Description: This section of Literature Core will explore how literary texts bear witness to historical events and address social issues. Through the study of poetry, fiction, drama, and autobiography, we will examine how writers have used a variety of literary genres and forms to transform traumatic memories and the experiences of displacement and oppression into art. Topics include slavery and the Holocaust. Texts may include Herman Melville's Benito Cereno, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Art Spiegelman's Maus, Tommy Orange's There There, and The Laramie Project.
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 103N TuTh 12:00 Noon-01:15PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 103N TuTh 10:30AM-11:45AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 24 / Total Seats: 24
Description: Writers since Meriwether Lewis have tried to know the great diversity of American landscape through acts of language. In this course we'll ask how poems, essays, and fiction depict American encounters with nature: As the unknown other to be conquered? As access to a spiritual dimension? As a site of contested claims for use and power? How have these many meanings we've assigned our landscapes shifted in the face of environmental degradation? Our readings, discussion, and writing will focus on how the American psyche has been influenced by both a fear of, and a love of, what is "wild."
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 107S Th 06:00PM-07:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 14 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Carney Hall 302 TuTh 09:00AM-10:15AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 14 / Total Seats: 19
Description: This is an Enduring Questions course and is open to FRESHMEN only. You must take PHIL1721 with this course."What role and significance does work have in flourishing lives and good societies?"This course pair offers Boston College students the opportunity to reflect on the significance and meaning of the human activity of work an activity that is likely to occupy a large portion of their lives. Around the globe, politicians promise "good jobs," and scholars discuss automation and "the future of work." But what is a good job? What form of value is most central to work as a part of a good lifefinancial reward? social purpose? personal fulfillment? How do individuals and communities understand and achieve justice and meaning at work?
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 286S MWF 01:00PM-01:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 17 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: By Arrangement
Time Category: Unspecified
Used Seats: 17 / Total Seats: 19
Description: This is an Enduring Questions course and is open to FRESHMEN only. You must take UNAS1719 with this course.What can literature tell us about the complex interactions between individuals and the law? What are the links between values, ethics, religious beliefs, and the law. How do various authors grapple with the complex interplay of these elements? In what ways can literary texts serve as an argument for justice or a polemic against injustice? In this course we will read a range of fiction and nonfiction narratives that examine the meanings of justice and the role of individuals within a legal system. We will work to understand why societies enact laws and whose interests those laws serve. We will also examine the role of lawyers, judges, and litigants and the complex dilemmas they face in both upholding laws and pursuing justice. In the context of the United States, we will specifically examine texts that address the intersection of race, justice,and the legal system. Major Course texts include: Beloved (Toni Morrison), The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), A Civil Action (Jonathan Harr), Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson). Students will further develop their close reading and analysis skills, but also understand that literature is tied to and influenced by the historical and social contexts in which it is both created and read. This broader understanding of literature will encourage students to consider the cultural work that literary texts can do in the pursuit of justice. Students will further develop their close reading and analysis skills, but also understand that literature is tied to and influenced by the historical and social contexts in which it is both created and read. This broader understanding of literature will encourage students to consider the cultural work that literary texts can do in the pursuit of justice. Students will further develop their close reading and analysis skills, but also understand that literature is tied to and influenced by the historical and social contexts in which it is both created and read. This broader understanding of literature will encourage students to consider the cultural work that literary texts can do in the pursuit of justice.
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: By Arrangement
Time Category: Unspecified
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 107S TuTh 12:00 Noon-01:15PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 14
Description: Who is the we in a national hymn or a protest song? Times change, wills triumph, and imagined communities evolve. How do the arts specifically, song and film help define the "public" in a Republic? Likewise, how do the arts mediate the relation between individuals and minority communities, and the relation between those minority communities and the larger social world in which they take shape? Can examining artists specifically, writers and filmmakers and their relation to inherited aesthetic forms help one understand some of the complex negotiations (of feeling, of political conviction, of a sense of belonging) between individuals and larger-scale groupings? What if, for example, our sexualities are not simply confirmed or disparaged by aesthetic representations; what if they are also formed and determined by them? Tracing, on the one hand, the evolution of audio and visual representations of citizenship, political participation and the nation-state since the late 19th century, and, on the other, the film and literature of minority sexual cultures in the United States and Europe in roughly the same period, we will consider who and what makes it into national narratives and national identity in Europe and the United States, and some of the different relations between minority sexual cultures and mainstream and avant-garde practices of literature and film. Examining the relation between aesthetic forms and, on the one hand, changing political institutions, and, on the other, political and sexual identity and affiliation, the courses will lead participants to consider how political institutions and political culture are constantly reshaping one another, reflecting the shifting subjects of our political systems, and how literary texts and films shape the lives of those who read them.
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: By Arrangement
Time Category: Unspecified
Used Seats: 13 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 105S TuTh 01:30PM-02:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 13 / Total Seats: 19
Description: This is a Complex Problems course and is open to Freshman only.The realities of a changing climate, including intensified extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and strengthening heat waves and droughts, are already being felt by frontline communities around the world. This course focuses both on hearing stories about climate change as told by climate writers, scientists, and members of frontline communities, and telling these stories ourselves. We will examine storytelling as it works across mediums and genres from literature to scientific data visualizations, and consider what it means to write an essay, produce a graph, create a podcast, or make a film. Students in the course will read, watch, and analyze examples of climate storytelling, broadly defined, and produce their own personal essays, infographics, podcasts, and/or films. Some questions well foreground throughout the semester are: How do we communicate the science and the human impacts of the climate crisis? Whose ways of knowing and lived experiences do we privilege? How can the stories we tell move society towards just climate solutions?
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 145N Tu 06:00PM-07:25PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: 245 Beacon Street Room 215 F 01:00PM-02:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 14 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: 245 Beacon Street Room 107 TuTh 01:30PM-02:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 68 / Total Seats: 74
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: 245 Beacon Street Room 215 M 01:00PM-02:50PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 203S Tu 06:00PM-07:25PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 12 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: 245 Beacon Street Room 215 F 11:00AM-12:50PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 17 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: 245 Beacon Street Room 215 M 11:00AM-12:50PM
Time Category: Afternoon
Used Seats: 18 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 141N Tu 06:00PM-07:25PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 18 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 205S Tu 06:00PM-07:25PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Description: What does a city--this city in which we find ourselves--mean?Meaning flows through a city just as populations, capital, power, resources, and ideas do, and each of these flows conditions the others. As we consider what Boston has meant in different moments and to different people, we engage follow-on questions: How does the form of a text express meaning? How can we understand the relationship between that text and the historical moment in which it took form, and/or the historical moment it seeks to capture? What happens when we consider the local in relation to national and international events and artistic movements? Our students will develop skills of historical reasoning, will learn how to interpret works of literature and allied arts, and will sharpen their analytical thinking and writing skills within the disciplinary traditions of history and literary/cultural studies. We will encourage them to move beyond the received meanings and standard tropes of Boston--the accent, the city on a hill, the regular-guy mythos retailed by Hollywood--and explore questions that Boston has consistently raised about human beings and nature, race and class difference, the form and function of the good life, the double-edged quality of moral causes, and the contest between the persistence of old ways and the succession of new ones.
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: By Arrangement
Time Category: Unspecified
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 217N TuTh 01:30PM-02:45PM
Time Category: Evening
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Description: This is an Enduring Question course and is open to FRESHMAN only. You must also register for the accompanying PSYC1701The Literature of MemoryHow do literary forms engage with questions of remembering? Can a fictionalized account of the past be more true than a transcription or videotape? What are the ethical obligations for a memoirist who exposes secrets about her family or friends? In the Literature section of this team-taught course, we will read memoir, literary essays, and novels that engage with key issues about memory, including the cultural work of monument-building and the preservation of dignity when memory deteriorates. Texts might include Bechdels Fun Home, Tim OBriens The Things They Carried, Natasha Tretheways Beyond Katrina, Grace Talusans the Body Papers, and Lisa Genovas Still Alice. Creative assignments may include a graphic narrative, 1-2 personal essays, and a team-built monument. Short analytic exercises will explore the ways that literary forms (graphic narrative, short stories, lyric, memoir, and elegy) work both to challenge and reinforce the ways we remember.
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: Stokes Hall 363S TuTh 10:30AM-11:45AM
Time Category: Morning
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19
Professors: (BC Email Needed)
Location and Time: By Arrangement
Time Category: Unspecified
Used Seats: 19 / Total Seats: 19