Syllabi
Summer 2013 Courses
Beyond Middle-earth
Taught by Professors Corey Olsen & Tom Shippey
Middle-earth legends dominated his creative life, from their birth in the early Silmarillion tales through their absorption of Bilbo Baggins’s diary and their culmination in the tale of the Great Ring. However, throughout his life, Tolkien wrote many small pieces of prose and verse that were not directly drawn into the great narrative of Middle-earth….
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The Dystopian Tradition
Taught by Professor Amy H. Sturgis
Over the years, thinkers have used dystopias — stories of worlds gone wrong, of worst-case scenarios – to warn their contemporaries about what they viewed as dangerous trends in society and challenge their readers to make the world better. This class will consider a variety of historical and current “what if?” thought experiments, including classics such as 1984 and current bestsellers such as The Hunger Games….
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Spring 2013 Courses
Tolkien’s World of Middle-earth
Taught by Professor Verlyn Flieger
In this course, students will read Tolkien’s two critical essays, Beowulf, and The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings to explore how his world and his myth developed over time. There are three interim exams, one on the essays and Beowulf, one on The Silmarillion, one on The Hobbit, plus a two-hour final exam on The Lord of the Rings. Each exam builds on the one before it. All are open book, open notes. The goal is not to test your memory, but to get you to think deeply and critically about the material.
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Science Fiction, Part II
Taught by Professor Amy H. Sturgis
What does it mean to be human? Are we alone? What wonders or terrors will tomorrow hold? Join award-winning scholar Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as she explores the ways in which the literature of science fiction over time has asked the question: “What if?” This course will consider the development of the genre from the emergence of the New Wave in the 1960s to today.
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The Story of The Hobbit
Taught by Professor Corey Olsen
This course will examine the life of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. We will examine several important precursors of the book, works that helped establish the genre in which Tolkien was writing. We will then read the growth of the story in manuscript and typescript, examining carefully how the story developed and in what directions. Finally, we will turn to the publication and reception of The Hobbit, including its adaptation to film.
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Fall 2012 Courses
Science Fiction, Part I
Taught by Professor Amy H. Sturgis
What does it mean to be human? Are we alone? What wonders or terrors will tomorrow hold? We will consider the development of the genre from “proto-SF” writings through the Golden Age, with an eye toward how the great works and movements within science fiction both reflect the concerns and attitudes of their time and imagine beyond them.
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The Story of The Hobbit
Taught by Professor Corey Olsen
This course will examine the life of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. We will examine several important precursors of the book, works that helped establish the genre in which Tolkien was writing. We will then read the growth of the story in manuscript and typescript, examining carefully how the story developed and in what directions. Finally, we will turn to the publication and reception of The Hobbit, including its adaptation to film.
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Summer 2012 Course
Modern Fantasy
Taught by Professor Corey Olsen
In this class, we will examine the work of some of the top fantasy writers of the last fifty years. The works we will discuss in this class do not constitute an orderly or systematic survey of the development of the fantasy genre, but rather a series of case studies. We will read six books by six different authors. As we discuss each book, we will compare and contrast the authors’ approach to fantasy and subcreation, myth and magic.
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Spring 2012 Courses
Taking Harry Seriously: The Aristry and Meanings of the Harry Potter Saga
Taught by Professor Amy H. Sturgis with Professor Travis Prinzi
In this course we will discuss the ancestors to the Harry Potter phenomenon, examine the specific works and traditions that inform the Harry Potter universe, study the Harry Potter texts in depth, and, perhaps most importantly, consider why the Harry Potter franchise has achieved unparalleled global popularity today.
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The Making of Myth: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
Taught by Professor Corey Olsen
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are two of the pillars of modern fantasy, and their friendship is well known. In this class, we will engage in a careful comparison of Lewis’s and Tolkien’s fiction: what do these two authors really share in common, and where do their primary differences lie?
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Fall 2011 Course
The Great Tales: Tolkien and the Epic
Taught by Professor Corey Olsen
With special guest lecturers:
Tom Shippey
Verlyn Flieger
Michael Drout
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