LITR262 Themes in Literature - Psychology

Department of Language & Literature: Literature

  1. Course Number and Title

    LITR262 Themes in Literature - Psychology

  2. Number of Credits

    3 credits

  3. Minimum Number of Instructional Minutes Per Semester

    2250 minutes

  4. Prerequisites

    None

    Corequisites

    None

  5. Other Pertinent Information

    The Department of Language and Literature has determined that students will write 2500 words in all literature courses.

  6. Catalog Course Description

    This course is directed toward the understanding of selected literary works in terms of their experiential value and relevance to daily living. The course will include the use of and will focus particularly on works in which characters confront life with the need to integrate self and deepen their relationship with the world.

  7. Required Course Content and Direction

    1. Learning Goals:

      1. To introduce the psychological approach to literature as an interpretive perspective.
      2. To enable students to appreciate the psychological approach as a valuable tool in the search for meaning.
      3. To offer selected psychological approaches to the literary analysis of theme, symbol, and character.

    2. Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities:

      Students will be exposed to such concepts as existential alienation, Freud's theories of the unconscious, and William Blake's "Innocence and Experience."

    3. Assessment Methods for Core Learning Goals:

    4. Reference, Resource, or Learning Materials to be used by Students:

      Relevant texts are selected by the instructor. The material may include short- stories, novels, drama. and poetry. Texts used most recently
      1. Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl
      2. Initiation (collection of stories), Thorburn
      3. Ward Six, Chekhov
      4. Short Novels, Duras
      5. To the Lighthouse, Woolf
      6. A Pocketful of Prose, Vol. ll, Madden

      Supplemental Reading List:
      1. Barret, William. Irrational Man
      2. Bodkin, Maud. Archetypal Patterns in Poetry­
      3. Brod, Max.Franz Kafka: A Biography
      4. Frankl, Viktor. The Unknown God
      5. Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough (abridged)
      6. Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams
      7. Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism
      8. Jung, Carl. Memories. Dreams. Reflections
      9. Modern Man In Search Of A Soul
      10. May, Rollo. Existentialism and Modern Literature
      11. Sartre, Jean Paul. Nausea, No Exit
      12. Woolf, Virginia. The Waves

  8. Teaching Methods Employed

    1. Lectures and class discussion.
    2. Audio-visual aids at the instructor's discretion.

Review/Approval Date -7/00