Alfred State courses are grouped into the following sections:
The Short Story introduces the student to the study and appreciation of the short story as an art form. Reading selections will include stories by such masters as Joyce, Lawrence, Faulkner, Hemingway, and O'Connor, as well as recent works by Olson, Paley, and Barthelme. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
Children's Literature covers a broad range of literature for children from preschool to age twelve, as they encounter it through the home, the library, and the school. Picture books, the classics, folk and fairy tales, novels, and plays for children are presented in a critical context. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
Using both classic and contemporary literature, this course will explore how gender, race, class, and the influence of family and relationships affect how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others. The course will introduce the terms of literary study and analysis and include reading, discussion, papers, exams, and presentations. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
Introduction to Literature focuses on literature, thought and language. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions and lectures. Literary selections include novels, short stories, poems, and plays.
Major representative works of science fiction are read and discussed. Works selected contain the major themes present in science fiction in the 20th century. Readings, class discussion, and lectures are the basis for oral reports and written assignments which continue training in composition and encourage a broadening of interest in science and technology. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
This course focuses on film, thought, and language through the viewing and analysis of representative fiction films. Writing is continued in assignments related to film viewing, class discussions, and lectures. From readings and lectures, the student will become acquainted with basic technical terms and film theory, thus facilitating analysis of the more complex aspects of film history and production. Permission of the instructor may supersede prerequisite. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
Images of Women in Fiction is a reading and discussion course of significant representations of women in American and British fiction with emphasis on works that present the female in a variety of roles. Writing is continued in assignments and oral reports related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
This course focuses on a survey of the principles of poetry, the literary traditions of poetry, and the critical terminology to understand, to define, and to analyze poetry. Special attention is given to poetry written during the twentieth century. Classroom exercises and discussions emphasize the importance of close literary analysis; writing skills introduced in freshman composition and introduction to literature are reinforced.
Survey of American Literature I is the first of two courses surveying American Literature from the time of the Puritans to the present; it stresses the development of the American voice in literature through the critical study of such authors as Edwards, Franklin, Poe, Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Melville. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
This course is a continuation of Survey of American Literature I with special attention to the works of Twain, Howells, Dickinson, James, Crane, Dreiser, Robinson, Frost, O'Neill, Eliot, Hemingway, Faulkner, Baldwin, and Updike. Writing is continued in assignments related to readings, class discussions, and lectures.
A student may contract for an independent study through an arrangement with an instructor who agrees to direct such a study. The student will submit a plan acceptable to the instructor and to the department chairperson. The instructor and student will confer regularly regarding the process of the study.
This course focuses on the experience of the theater, that is, on plays in production. Students analyze the texts of both contemporary and classic dramas and experience a selected number as actual productions in a field trip to the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Themes for exploration will be drawn from the choice of productions, so will differ each year. The goal of the course will be to expose students to the drama as it was meant to be experienced, through live productions on the stage. The course is also writing-intensive so that it further develops the writing and critical thinking skills introduced in Comp 1503 and other literature and humanities courses, in assignments related to readings, class discussion and theatrical productions, including writing analytical papers on the text or production. Information literacy is further developed through a written research paper, and students will present their findings orally.