2023-24 Academic Catalog

From the ancient Greeks to the King James Bible to the modern serial killer novel, murder has always been a preeminent topic of intellectual and artistic investigation. Slaying our way across different genres and periods, we will explore why homicide has been the subject of such fierce attention from so many great minds. Prepare to drench yourselves in the blood of fiction and non-fiction works that may include: the Bible, Shakespeare, Poe, Thompson, Capote, Tey, McGinniss, Malcolm, Wilder, and Morris, as well as legal and other materials. Warning: not for the faint-hearted. Not open to students who took English 187, Murder. Prerequisite: English 295 and one 300-level English course

Roland Barthes claims that "narrative is international, transhistorical, transcultural: it is simply there, like life itself." Yet metahistorian Hayden White wonders, "Does the world really present itself to perception in the form of well-made stories?" To study narrative is to confront art's distinctive interplay of fiction and nonfiction, invention and truth. We will read contemporary narrative theory by critics from several disciplines and apply their theories to textual and visual narratives such as literary texts, graphic novels, films, images, television shows, advertisements, and music videos. Students will collaborate on a digital storytelling project. Prerequisite: English 295 and one 300 level English course