English (ENGL) 302

Overview

This course introduces students to the Canadian literary tradition—major authors, works, forms, periods, movements, and concerns—from colonial times to the present. Works are chosen primarily from English-Canadian authors, although a number of French-Canadian works are studied in translation. The themes and questions considered in the course include the Canadian identity, nature and the Canadian attitude to it, isolation and alienation, women in Canadian literature, the gothic element, views of Native peoples in Canadian literature, and the relationship between Canadian literature and Canadian visual art.

Note: Since this is a senior course, we expect students to have good reading and writing skills as well as the basic critical tools and knowledge of literary forms and techniques that are acquired in an introductory university English literature course like Athabasca University's English 211 and 212. Students who do not have the recommended credits in an introductory English literature course may experience significant difficulty with the essay assignments and examinations.

Outline

Unit 1: Prose: Frontier Experiences

Unit 2: Prose: The Developing Canadian Community

Unit 3: Poetry

Unit 4: Prose: The Urban Experience

Unit 5: Drama

Unit 6: Affinities Between the Literary and Visual Arts

Evaluation

To receive credit for ENGL 302, you must achieve a composite course grade of at least “D” (50 percent) and a grade of at least 50 percent on each examination. The weighting of the course assignments is as follows:

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.