(formerly 21L.010)
(Same subject as 21W.734 J)
Prereq: –
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-HW

Intensive focus on the reading and writing skills used to analyze literary texts such as poems by Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare or Langston Hughes; short stories by Chekhov, Joyce, or Alice Walker; and a short novel by Melville or Toni Morrison. Designed not only to prepare students for further work in writing and literary and media study, but also to provide increased confidence and pleasure in their reading, writing, and analytical skills. Students write or revise essays weekly. Enrollment limited.

Prereq: –
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 2, CI-H, HASS-H

Studies a broad range of texts essential to understanding the two great sources of Western conceptions of the world and humanity's place within it: the ancient world of Greece and Rome and the Judeo-Christian world that challenged and absorbed it. Readings vary but usually include works by Homer, Sophocles, Aristotle, Plato, Virgil, St. Augustine, and Dante. Enrollment limited.

Prereq: –
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 2, CI-H, HASS-H

Complementary to 21L.001. A broad survey of texts, literary, philosophical, and sociological, studied to trace the growth of secular humanism, the loss of a supernatural perspective upon human events, and changing conceptions of individual, social, and communal purpose. Stresses appreciation and analysis of texts that came to represent the common cultural possession of our time. Enrollment limited.

Prereq: –
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 1, CI-H, HASS-H

Introduces prose narrative, both short stories and the novel. Examines the construction of narrative and the analysis of literary response. Enrollment limited.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 1, CI-H, HASS-H

Emphasis on lyric poetry in England and the US. Syllabus usually includes sonnets by Shakespeare, selections from Milton's Paradise Lost, individual poems by Donne, Keats, Dickinson, Frost, Eliot, Langston Hughes, Lowell, and Plath. Enrollment limited.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 3, CI-H, HASS-H

A study of the history of theater art and practice from its origins to the modern period, including its roles in non-Western cultures. Special attention to the relationship between the literary and performative dimensions of drama, and the relationship between drama and its cultural context. Enrollment limited.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 1, CI-H, HASS-AH

Studies the national literature of the US since the early 19th century. Considers novels, essays, films, and poems, focusing on efforts to define and reform a sense of American identity amidst increasing awareness of cultural diversity. Readings usually include works by Hawthorne, Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Dickinson, Frost, Faulkner, Maxine Kingston, and Amy Tan. Enrollment limited.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 1, CI-H, HASS-H

Introduces students to a coherent set of textual and visual materials drawn from different geographical regions, languages, artistic genres, and historical periods. The focus may vary but usually cuts across national boundaries. Includes non-English works read in translation and examines different kinds of writing, both fiction and nonfiction. Pays special attention to such issues as identity formation, cultural contact, exploration, and exile. Previously taught topics include contemporary writing from Africa and South Asia, the impact of the discovery of the New World, and Caribbean literature.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 4, CI-H, HASS-H

Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. Connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns. Includes lectures, discussions, workshops, and required field trips that involve minimal cost to students.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 1, CI-H, HASS-H

Close study of the major comedies, histories, and tragedies in the context of Renaissance thought, Elizabethan theatre, and the political and social setting of Shakespeare's age. Lectures and class discussions each week, supplemented by occasional reading of scenes and attendance at live or filmed performances. Enrollment limited.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-HW

Focuses on writing and speaking using Shakespeare as a model and means for mastery of English language skills. Emphasizes the development of students' ability to write clearly and effectively in a range of genres with an awareness of audience. Designed to increase students' confidence and pleasure in verbal communication and analysis of language. Students write frequently, give and receive feedback, improve their work through revision, and participate actively in class discussions and presentations. Enrollment limited.

Prereq:–
3-3-6 HASS-D, Category 3, CI-H, HASS-A

An introduction to narrative film, emphasizing the unique properties of the movie house and the motion picture camera, the historical evolution of the film medium, and the intrinsic artistic qualities of individual films. Syllabus changes from semester to semester, but usually includes such directors as Griffith, Chaplin, Renoir, Ford, Hitchcock, De Sica, and Fellini.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 1, CI-H, HASS-H

Examines forms of storytelling that have developed in Western cultures from Homer to the present. Emphasis on literary and cultural issues; the emergence of different narrative genres and media; story forms as anthropological artifacts. Syllabus varies but usually includes folk tales, and authors such as Homer, Sophocles, Cervantes, Laclos or Tolstoy, Poe, and at least one film.

(Subject meets with 21A.113J, 21M.013J)
Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 3, CI-H, HASS-A

Explores the relationship between music and the supernatural, focusing on the social history and context of supernatural beliefs as reflected in key literary and musical works from 1600 to the present. Provides a better understanding of the place of ambiguity and the role of interpretation in culture, science and art. Explores great works of art by Shakespeare, Verdi, Goethe (in translation), Gounod, Henry James and Benjamin Britten. Readings will also include selections from the most recent scholarship on magic and the supernatural. Writing assignments will range from web-based projects to analytic essays. No previous experience in music is necessary. Projected guest lectures, musical performances, field trips.

(Subject meets with 21H.007J)
Prereq:–
3-0-9 , HASS-H

Interdisciplinary investigation of three of the best-documented pre-modern empires: the Roman empire of Augustus, the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, and the English empire in the age of the Hundred Years’ War. Focuses on how large, multi-ethnic empires were created, sustained, legitimated, and contested through conquest, government, literature, art, architecture, thought, social relationships, economic organization, and technology. Students examine several different types of evidence, read across a variety of disciplines, and develop skills to identify continuities and changes in ancient and medieval societies.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 2, CI-H, HASS-H

Examines literary texts and films in relation to the history of the idea of probability. Traces the growing importance of probability both as a measure of the reliability of ideas or beliefs and also as a basic property of things and the world. Connects the development and use of probabilistic reasoning (e.g., in the lottery, the insurance industry, and the stock market) with literary and cultural concerns regarding the rationality of belief, risk and uncertainty, free will and determinism, chance and fate. Discussion of the work of scientific and philosophical pioneers of probabilistic thought (e.g., Pascal, Leibniz, Bernoulli, Laplace, and Einstein) in conjunction with a variety of literary texts and films, including works of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, H. G. Wells, and classic Hollywood cinema.

Prereq:–
3-0-6 HASS-D, Category 4, CI-H, HASS-H

Examines the cultural paradoxes of contemporary globalization. Studies the cultural, linguistic, social and political impact of globalization across international borders and on specific language communities. Students analyze contending definitions of globalization and principal agents of change, and why some of them engender backlash; learn to distinguish what is considered new, hybrid, and traditional; identify the agents, costs and benefits of global networks; and explore how world citizens preserve cultural specificity. Students also develop cultural literacy through study of second language and culture, research, development of virtual materials, and interactions with MIT's international students. Students cannot receive credit without simultaneous completion of a 9-unit language subject. Preference to freshmen.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-D, Category 4, CI-H, HASS-H

Explores a range of topics related to Asian American identity and cultural politics through discussion of literature (fiction and nonfiction). Topics include immigration, assimilation, cultural or biracial identity, affirmative action, Asian Americans in the workplace, and interracial dating and marriage. Examines cultural debates surrounding various identity labels, including "Banana," "AZN," and "FOB." Taught in English.

Prereq:–
3-0-9 HASS-H

Introduction to some of the major genres of traditional Chinese poetry, fiction, and drama. Intended to give students a basic understanding of the central features of traditional Chinese literary genres, as well as to introduce students to the classic works of the Chinese literary tradition. Works read include Journey to the West, Outlaws of the Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and the poetry of the major Tang dynasty poets. Literature read in translation. Taught in English.