Autumn 2021 Course Description:

Instructor: Karen Winstead 
I teach this course with the conviction that engaging deeply with the literature of the past can enrich your lives and make you savvier consumers of the present. Everything you read and do is designed to stimulate a creative and productive engagement with the literature and culture of pre-1800 Britain. The readings and lectures will introduce you to major trends, authors and works from each of the four major periods of pre-1800 British literature and explore the contexts—social, historical, political, cultural—within which works were written and read. You will discover important forerunners of today’s popular genres, including horror, romance, comics and science fiction. Weekly quizzes will help consolidate your knowledge, while weekly writing assignments and discussions will challenge you to apply what you learned and to grow intellectually from your colleagues’ insights. The final portfolio project encourages you to channel your knowledge and think in creative ways. 
Potential text(s): All readings will be available in a PressBoooks anthology designed specifically for this course. 
Potential assignments: Weekly quizzes and informal writing assignments; participation in recitations; and a final portfolio project