Middlebury

ENAM 0109

Literary "Character"

Literary “Character”
In this course we will investigate literary character—what it is; what makes it “round,” “flat,” “deep,” “shallow”; its history. In seeking to understand “character,” we will create our own stories, using characters from our readings, or introducing characters we create into plots or settings from those readings. In expository essays and class discussions, we will also consider the following questions: how and why did “fictional person” acquire the name “character” (literally “engraved mark”)? How does “character” relate to representations of body, property, authorship, gender, race? How does theatrical character relate to novelistic and short-story character? Possible authors: Aristotle, Theophrastus, Terence, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Richard Wright, Julia Alvarez. 3 hrs. lect.
Subject:
English & American Literatures
Department:
English & American Literatures
Division:
Literature
Requirements Fulfilled:
EUR LIT
Equivalent Courses:
ENAM 0439 *

Sections in Spring 2020

Spring 2020

ENAM0109A-S20 Lecture (Berg)