ENGLIT 1101 - INVENTION OF ENGLISH

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
The English language and its literatures are in constant flux, but this was especially true in medieval england as waves of foreign invaders and immigrants shaped the language, and political, religious, and mercantile contact with other regions of Europe contributed new aesthetic and poetic ideals. Beginning with old English riddles, this course helps you discover the linguistic and literary DNA of English. You will discover the multiple "Englishes" and other languages that remain present in modern English and prefigure the global diversity of the anglophone world. Along the way, you will develop familiarity with old English and multiple dialects of middle English. You will begin to chart the continuities and ruptures involved in the transitions from tribal heroic culture to a growing sense of common identity as English people of an English kingdom. And on a parallel trajectory, you will track how the notion of a specifically English literature written by the English, in English, for the English, emerges from adaptations and negotiations with other European vernaculars. This focus forms a bridge to further study in early modern or Renaissance English literature. The tools of philology, historical language study, rhetorical analysis, and manuscript studies, lend themselves to this course's emphasis on language and history, and in developing facility with them, you will be better prepared for the study of any area of literature.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis

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