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21L.315

Prizewinners and Laureates

2-0-4 units · Undergraduate

Examines particular texts and authors as having special merit and significance. Considers modern authors and filmmakers who have received such accolades as a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer Prize, or an Oscar, as well as older authors who have been named as poets laureate, or honored by traditions of commentary, interpretation, and translation. Specific topics vary from term to term. May be repeated once for credit if the specific works studied differ. Confirm start and end dates on Literature website. Enrollment limited.

Spring 2014 · Prizewinners: Nobelistas

This half-semester Samplings course, worth six instead of the typical twelve credits, drew attention to the thirteen female Nobel laureates. As the {{% resource_link "6d23334a-d381-456c-9e88-9130930ea1f8" "MIT Literature website" %}} explains, Samplings serve students looking for "a less intensive, more discussion and reading oriented way of continuing literary study." Secondly, "they allow the Literature Faculty to offer occasional subjects that cannot be permanently and regularly offered. Finally, they are a site of experimentation—a way of trying out new authors and new themes."

Readings

Spring 2007 · Prizewinners

Topics

  • Beowulf , translator’s introduction, “The Settle Bed”
  • Beowulf , translator’s introduction (cont.)
  • Death of a Naturalist , Wintering Out , Door into the Dark
  • North
  • Field Work , Seeing Things
  • The Spirit Level
  • In a Green Night
  • The Castaway , The Gulf
  • Sea Grapes , The Star-Apple Kingdom
  • The Star-Apple Kingdom , The Fortunate Traveller
  • Omeros , books I-II
  • Omeros , books III-V
  • Omeros , books VI-VII

Readings

  • Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation . New York, NY: Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393320978.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996 . New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. ISBN: 9780374526788.
    Listed reading
  • Walcott, Derek. Collected Poems, 1948-1984 . New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1987. ISBN: 9780374520250.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Omeros . New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992. ISBN: 9780374523503.
    Listed reading
  • With the exception of Beowulf , we’ll work through each poet’s work chronologically. Although we’ll be using collections of “selected works,” titles on the syllabus indicate the original volumes in which poems appeared.
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None U (Fall; first half of term) 2-0-4 units Can be repeated for credit.

Sources