Character, theme, and plot analysis, occasionally touched upon by the instructor to put things into perspective, may be the question of literary analysis. Modern plays written in or translated into English may be more suited to the course than earlier plays, but Shakespeare is likely to prove a universal favorite. This course is to be based on reading literature and literature criticism. Its aim is to develop students' ability to write essays about their reading of literary texts, about their own understanding and appreciation of assigned material short fiction, poetry, a short novel or play. Students, having been trained to read critically, are taught now how to formulate a thesis out of a large number of opinions and responses and then to develop an argument to support it.
Scholarship is to be introduced and is to form an integral part of students' essays.
Documentation should follow as a further step in writing about about literature. Number of essays to be written should not be less than 7, of 5-8 pages each. The course aims at introducing students to stylistics as the linguistic study of literature. After a brief examination of relevant linguistic theories based on students previous knowledge of several linguistics, the emphasis is to be placed on practical stylistics, on ways and techniques to see how linguistics not only saves us from impressionistic literary criticism but can also contribute a great deal to interpretation and appreciation of literature, can go beyond what traditional literary criticism has been able to achieve. The works to be considered include both fiction and poetry and the reading list can be found in any anthology.