ENGL 266 - Popular Literature

5 Credits

To study popular culture is to study the very thing that defines a collection of individuals into a group. Using a variety of genres, which may include categories such as mysteries, detective stories, graphic novels, science fiction, etc., we will begin to probe the idea of popular consciousness whether it be defined historically, geographically, culturally, or politically. Choice of genres and the themes will vary depending on the instructor.

Fees

Quarters Typically Offered

Designed to Serve Student interested in popular culture and/or narratives written for the masses and the artistic and social questions that arise.
Active Date 2011-06-14

Grading System Decimal Grade
Variable Credit Yes Range 1-5
Class Limit 38
Contact Hours: Lecture 55 Lab 0 Worksite 0 Clinical 0 Other 0
Total Contact Hours 55
Degree Distributions:
AA

Humanities Area I

Course Outline
Selection of writers would be open to individual instructors, emphasizing writing which does not get identified as literature in other classifications within our catalog descriptions. Popular Literature may be structured thematically, historically, geographically; genre-based, including electronic transmission; or through various critical perspectives.

Student Learning Outcomes
Respond thoughtfully to popular assessments of the human condition.

Examine the distinction between literary and popular literature traditions, which may include nontraditional venues such as computer gaming, and the implications of such classifications: economic, social, historical, etc.

Recognize the relationships between values of the culture and its literature, especially that which is labeled “popular.”

Analyze and interpret literature individually and in groups

Effectively communicate their experience and thinking (orally and/or in writing and/or visually and not excluding multimedia possibilities of the computer)

Trace patterns of development of genre or through geographic or other analytic perspective.

Demonstrate basic literature research strategies via database and focused Internet searches.

Apply standard conventions of literature to the genre of popular literature including but not limited to plot, character, setting, theme, symbolism, language.