Classes

Sophomore Seminar: Introductions to British Children's Literature and British Women's Literature

In the first semester this class examines British children’s literature from its beginnings in the late 1600s to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). We look at ten classic children’s books: this introduces students to literary study, as well as to the historical development of ideas about childhood and education. In the second semester the class examines British women’s literature from its beginnings to Pride and Prejudice (1813). We look at a series of plays, poems and novels: this leads students into more advanced literary study, and introduces them to some “feminist” thinking about the disadvantages women experienced (and often overcame!) in the past.

STUDENTS: To download texts for this class click HERE.

Junior Seminar: British Musical Theatre from The Mikado to Mamma Mia!

This class examines the development of the modern British “musical” from the time of The Mikado (1885), which for 50 years was the most profitable theatrical work in the world (and an incredibly influential representation of Japan!). We study twelve classic musicals, but also look at four operas – more serious and challenging kinds of musical theatre. We read and discuss the stories, watch extracts from filmed versions, and consider how the music contributes to the theatrical experience. We also study the way classic novels (Oliver Twist and Wuthering Heights) have been adapted as musicals.

STUDENTS: To download texts for this class click HERE.

An Introduction to English Culture

This class introduces you to several key aspects of English culture and history and gives you a framework in which to compare them with Japanese culture. It begins by looking at other countries' views of England over the last 700 years, and considering England's historical relationship with Japan. It then looks at a number of topics―food, religion, humour, music, painting, sport, nursery rhymes―and considers how these things evolved in England, and what that evolution tells us about England and the English. The course ends with a discussion of how England developed the influential idea of “Cultural Studies.”

STUDENTS: To download handouts for this class click HERE.

An Introduction to English Poetry

For this class, the textbook is The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language (1861), a collection of around 300 short poems written between the early 1500s and the mid-1800s. It is the most famous and successful anthology of English poetry ever published. Each week we discuss the language and ideas of two or three poems. The ideas, we find, are usually timeless and universal: ideas about love, death, happiness, loss, growing up, the countryside, and other fundamental elements of human experience. There will be a vote to decide which poems are studied in this class.

STUDENTS: To download a shortened version of The Golden Treasury click HERE.