James Berg

Literary “Character”
In this course we will investigate literary character—what it is; what makes it “round,” “flat,” “deep,” “shallow”; its history. In seeking to understand “character,” we will create our own stories, using characters from our readings, or introducing characters we create into plots or settings from those readings. In expository essays and class discussions, we will also consider the following questions: how and why did “fictional person” acquire the name “character” (literally “engraved mark”)? How does “character” relate to representations of body, property, authorship, gender, race? How does theatrical character relate to novelistic and short-story character? Possible authors: Aristotle, Theophrastus, Terence, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Richard Wright, Julia Alvarez. 3 hrs. lect. (Formerly ENAM 0109)

Poetry and Performance
Most poems are meant to be performed. In this course we will explore many short poems and a few long poems, spanning three-quarters of a millennium, with performance in mind. We will memorize poems, perform poems out loud for each other, and interpret poems with tone foremost in mind, on the theory that everything about a poem, from its form to its diction to its imagery to its historical or social context, instructs its reader as to its voice. Texts will include diverse poems in English, from Middle English tales or lyrics to slam poetry, from Renaissance and Romantic lyrics to postcolonial poetry, from modernist experiments to indigenous poetry. Formal assignments will include recitations, presentations, a paper or two, and a poem, to be created, memorized, and performed by the student. 3 hrs. lect. (Formerly ENAM 0135)

Merchants of Venice
In this class we will read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice from different perspectives, including those of race, religion, gender, staging, and form, engaging the play at the level of rhetorical analysis, textual history, character analysis, source analysis, stage and film history, and current performance. We will study contemporaneous dramas resembling The Merchant of Venice (e.g., Three Ladies of London, Jew of Malta, Othello). Throughout, we will consider the multiple attitudes towards Jewishness and Judaism implicit in the play, its performance history and its literary and cultural influence. Finally, we will study the literary legacy of The Merchant of Venice, from the early modern period up to our own times. The class should also give us an opportunity to enhance our skills in rhetorical analysis, writing, speaking, and research. 3 hrs. sem. (Formerly ENAM 0458)