Creative Writing / Literature Wizards, Witches & Writing: Reading & Writing the British Fantasy
Faculty: P. Andrew Miller Associate Professor Department of English Stephen Leigh Lecturer Course: Credit Hours: 3 Course Levels Offered: Upper Division (300-400 level) or Graduate (500+) Can this course be taken to fulfill major and minor requirements? YES Can this course be taken to fulfill general elective credit? NO Local Course Designator at Northern Kentucky University: ENG 358, ENG 366 Prerequisites: For upper-division credit, student must have completed the minimum composition requirements at his/her home institution
Description: Stalk the jub-jub bird and bandersnatch. Step through the magic wardrobe into Narnia. Catch the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 ¾ or take the tube to Neil Gaiman's London Below. In this course, we will be examining works of British fantasy literature, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Jabberwocky; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as other fantasy texts. We will look at the culture, history and literary tradition that inspired them. Students will have the option of taking the course for literature or writing credit. Content: This course could be either a creative writing or literature course. We will be looking at fantastic narrative literature in the British literary and historical tradition. Fantasy holds a different place in British culture than American. * Read We plan on using such classics as Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" and C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (to use the British title) and Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men. * Students will be asked to make connections between the cultural content of the course conveyed through field trips to the literature they are reading. * Students will write either a paper will be on the topic of relating the works to the culture or write a fantasy narrative based on one of the places we visited and incorporating themes from the class.
It may also be possible, with department and CCSA approval, to offer the course at the graduate level Assessment Methods: Quizzes on reading: 10% (short quizzes over books to be done in London) Short essay: 10% We will read Neverwhere on returning and students will be asked to answer questions in a short essay format Paper 1: 30% Students will keep a journal about the palces they visit and what they learned from that visit. After they return, they will turn those impressions into a 7-10 page typed essay about their excursions and how they contributed to the understanding of British culture and British Fantasy Paper 2: 40% Literature class 10-12 page paper talking about the relevance of fantasy in British culture Creative Writing: 10-12 page fantasy short story using London or one of the places we visited as a setting and incorporating themes from the class. Class participation: 10%
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