Differing examples and ideals of leadership are related to the philosophical assumptions and cultural values of the authors and civilizations represented by each work. The course examines attitudes toward solitude, comradeship, and the ocean s beauty and power. Moral and physical qualities needed by a ship s officers and crew are also discussed. Readings are drawn from world literatures, ancient and modern. Attention will be given to specific problems in the writing of fiction, poetry, drama, and other literary forms.
Classes involve lecture, discussion, readings in film criticism, and the viewing of selected films.
Representative films may include works by Keaton, Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, Jerry Lewis, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, and others. A brief glance at Colonial and Revolutionary poets and a more extended analysis of Poe, Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Whitman, Dickinson, and Lanier. Students are urged to pursue ideas, problems, movements, or themes as freely outside standard literature as within it. Emphasis will be on student initiative, guided reading, and consultations with the mentor. May be repeated once, on a different topic, for a maximum of 6 credits.