Literature and Writing - Curriculum

A Liberal Studies Degree with a concentration in literature and writing will ready you for work in many fields, including the law, business, marketing and advertising, publishing, medicine, human services, and teaching. It enables you to gain a broad and empathic understanding of how the world works and how our thoughts can be influenced and shaped by language. Like other concentrations in Union Institute & University’s B.A., this concentration requires that your studies address the following broad approaches. You’ll find your own interests will be deepened by considering questions within each of these realms:

Like all of the concentrations in the Union’s B.A., the curriculum comes out of your interests and questions.  We support the emergence of your unique plan of study by engaging in dialogue with you, listening to what you care about, and then helping you to develop core knowledge in history, theories and concepts, methods, controversies and applications of literature and writing, so that you will have a confident and broad grasp of the field as well as a deepened connection to your own place within it.  Below, we explain how studies can address these outcomes and illustrate with possible study titles:

History:
Literature deepens our understanding of the human experience through the ages. The development of language and writing has a history of its own, the tale of human literacy worthy of a lifetime of learning. Each genre of literature, namely poetry, drama, the novel, short stories and essays can be studied historically. Examining the development of literary traditions in historical context enables us to experience the inner and outer realities of those who are like us and, also, those who are very different. It expands our boundaries of self. Here are some examples of studies possible in the history of literature and writing:

• Expatriate American Writers in Paris, 1920-1950
• Shakespeare’s England and the Development of Modern Drama
• Walt Whitman’s Poetry and Times
• Women’s Voices in Poetry and Drama in the 1970s
• The Harlem Renaissance in America

Theories and Concepts:
The study of literature requires students to be familiar with different genre forms, to explore different theoretical and critical approaches to literature, and to begin to discern layers of meaning. Literature sheds light on culture and history and may be meaningfully focused by questions about a subject, theme, and particular writers and their times. Here are some examples of studies possible in this realm:

• Sexual Comedy: from Lysistrata to the Vagina Monologues
• Free verse, an Escape from Poetic Structures
• The Transcendentalists of New England
• Anti-Realism of Vonnegut, Barthelme and Kosinki
• The Influence of Jazz in Novels and Poetry

Methods:
Experiencing the written word via your own writing under qualified faculty supervision allows you to experience first hand the complexities of the writing process and opens up new possibilities of language and craft. Creative writing moves beyond standard clear prose to add dimensions of voice, adventure and the chance to experiment with varied shapes and forms, the use of rhythm, wordplay, figurative tools and shifts in point of view. Designs for these kinds of studies might be titled like this:

• Writing the Short Story: Setting, Character, Intent
• Saving My Life: Reading and Writing Poetry
• Fantasy Fiction’s Symbolic Essentials
• Choosing a Point of View: First Person or Third Person?
• Writing about Nature: Methods of Close Observation

Controversies:
Within any field of study controversies arise about interpretation, meaning, and importance of various theories, methods and applications. You should understand the role of controversy in building knowledge and be able to identify what some of those controversies are, as well as explain and defend your own opinion. Some of the study suggestions already listed would address this important area of controversy, but here are some more title possibilities to show you the flexibility your studies can have at Union. Remember, you and your faculty will design studies that fit your own personal needs and interests.

• Defending Dead White Male Writers
• Hidden Points of View: Coming out of the Literary Closet
• Chic Lit and Women’s Classics
• How Science Fiction Became Literature
• Censorship, Then and Now

Application:
Union’s B.A. is designed to give you ample writing practice because we know that writing itself will be your best teacher. Working closely with your faculty advisors, you’ll develop a series of studies that will hone your ability to discuss techniques and literary genres relevant to your personal interests. You will learn to engage with literary reading and its layers of meaning to explicate your own meaningful interpretations, supported by other scholars who will inform your ideas. Most importantly, you will produce a body of creative work of your own that will demonstrate your deeper connection with literary traditions and their relevant controversies. Your creative work will include essays and may also include poetry, drama, or fiction, as you choose.

Here are some samples of the final work of graduates of the B.A., who declared a concentration in literature and writing. Many of them include original poetry, fiction, memoir and drama, since creative work is often considered to be an integral part of furthering your studies at Union.

• A Mother’s Memoir of Life, Love and Potholes
• Dancing Home: Where This Body Led Me
• The Craft and Art of Poetry: A Study in Structure, Form, Voice and Audience
• Claiming Creativity, Finding Voice: The Struggle to Be Heard
• Why the Novel Matters: Research on my Novel in Progress
• New Orleans Literature, Religion and Folk Lore Traditions: My Connections and Writings
• Political Theater in My Town: An Original Play Made with Townspeople, Steeped in Traditions from Aristophanes to Yeats, from Japanese Noh to Hollywood
• The Young Adult Novel: My Role as a Modern Observer and Storyteller
• Writing Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Stories
• The Colored Woman and Her Cookie Factory: Personal Memoir