Literature
Mason-Browne, Administrative Coordinator.
The Literature major includes all areas of language and literature taught at Coe. Not limited to any particular language or culture, the major explores what literature is, what forms it takes, some of the possible approaches to its study, and the various ways that literature relates to other human activities and disciplines. Students are required to do work in a foreign language. Because the value of reading a work in its original language is recognized, students are strongly advised to take as many courses in a foreign language as possible. They may also take courses in foreign literature in translation, English and American literature, creative writing, and linguistics for credit towards the major.
The following requirements are designed to provide a framework within which the student can shape a program to suit individual interests:
Area I The Prerequisite
One of the following courses:
Area II Foreign Language
(Two courses, intermediate or advanced)
An assumption of the major is that an understanding of literature requires knowledge of at least one language other than one's own, so that some of the ways languages differ from one another and some of the problems that occur when one is translated into another can be appreciated. Thus, a minimum of two terms in one foreign language at the intermediate level or above must be taken at Coe by all literature majors. Students who enter Coe with advanced training and/or course credit as a result of having taken the Advanced Placement Test are required to take two terms of the foreign language beyond the level of proficiency at which they have entered Coe.
Area III General Literature and Linguistics (seven courses)
Students must choose a combination of seven courses from any of the following categories:
- Courses in literature in translation.
- Literature courses in a foreign language.
- Courses in English and American literature and in creative writing offered by the Department of English (no more than four).
- Linguistics courses offered by the Department of Foreign Languages or the Department of English.
- Independent Study.
Area IV The Senior Seminar
LIT 705 Seminar in World Literature
Required of all majors in the senior year. While the subject changes from year to year, the seminar explores how literature from different countries relates to other human activities and disciplines. Thus, the emphasis may be on a historical period (literature and politics in the Renaissance); on an interdisciplinary topic (literature and Freudian analysis); or on a cross-cultural mix (literature, games and play). When the number of senior majors is too small to justify offering the seminar, other arrangements are made for these majors to satisfy the Area IV requirement: either independent study or participation in an English Department seminar, with the stipulation that the term paper be on a topic in comparative literature.
