Introductory Subjects

Overview

These subjects are designed for students who may have no prior experience studying literature at the university level. The offerings include classes that introduce students to well-known texts and authors, to a literary form , to particular national literatures, or to the study of particular media. In addition, most of these classes fulfill the Communication Intensive and the HASS requirement aspects of the General Institute Requirements. This means that the reading of literary texts is accompanied by close attention to writing and speaking in the context of lively classroom discussion. Introductory classes are mostly small in size and allow each student personal attention.

INTRODUCTORY SUBJECTS

21L.000[J] Writing About Literature
(Same subject as 21W.041[J])
Prereq: none
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-HW

Intensive focus on the reading and writing skills used to 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.

21L.000[J] Writing about Literature (Spring 2025)

21L.001 Foundations of Western Literature: Homer to Dante
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-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.

21L.002 Foundations of Western Literature: From Shakespeare to Now
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

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.

21L.003 Reading Fiction
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Samples prose narrative from different traditions, examining texts that feature distinctive styles and formal rhythms in their social and historical contexts. May include European and US classics, alongside global and contemporary authors. Considers writing and reading as forms of social engagement, with special attention to the ways that authors borrow from and innovate on the past. Enrollment limited.

21L.003 Reading Fiction (Spring 2025)

21L.004 Reading Poetry
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Concentrates on close analysis of poems written in English in various forms (lyric, epic, dramatic). Syllabus varies from term to term but typically includes Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Blake, Keats, Whitman, Dickinson, Frost, Eliot, Langston Hughes, Lowell, and Plath. Enrollment limited.

21L.004 Reading Poetry: Section 1 (Spring 2025)

21L.004 Reading Poetry: Section 2 (Spring 2025)

21L.005 Introduction to Drama
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-A, CI-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.

21L.006 American Literature
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Studies the national literature of the United States since the early 19th century. Considers a range of texts - including, novels, essays, films, and electronic media - and their efforts to define the notion of American identity. Readings usually include works by such authors as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Emily Dickinson, Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, Sherman Alexie, and Toni Morrison. Enrollment limited.

21L.006 American Literature (Spring 2025)

21L.007 World Literatures
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-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. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor if content differs. Enrollment limited.

21L.007 World Literatures (Spring 2025)

21L.008[J] Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies
(Same subject as 24.912[J], 21H.106[J], 21W.741[J], WGS.190[J])
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-A/H, CI-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.

21L.008[J] Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies (Spring 2025)

21L.009 Shakespeare
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Focuses on the close reading of six to eight of Shakespeare plays, as well as their adaptation for stage and/or film. Selected texts cover the range of genres in which Shakespeare wrote (i.e., history, comedy, tragedy, and romance). Special emphasis in some terms on performances and adaptions of Shakespearean drama around the world. Plays studied vary across sections and from term to term, and have recently included Henry IV Part 1, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Othello, and The Tempest. Enrollment limited.

21L.009 Shakespeare (Spring 2025)

21L.010[J] Writing with Shakespeare
(Same subject as 21W.042[J])
Prereq: None
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.

21L.011 Introduction to Film Studies
Prereq: None
3-3-6 HASS-A, CI-H

Concentrates on close analysis and criticism of a wide range of films, including works from the early silent period, documentary and avant-garde films, European art cinema, and contemporary Hollywood fare. Through comparative reading of films from different eras and countries, students develop the skills to turn their in-depth analyses into interpretations and explore theoretical issues related to spectatorship. Syllabus varies from term to term, but usually includes such directors as Eisenstein, Fellini, Godard, Griffith, Hawks, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Tarantino, Welles, and Wiseman.

21L.011 Introduction to Film Studies (Spring 2025)

21L.012 Forms of Western Narrative
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Examines a wide assortment of narrative forms, from Homer to the present, and considers why and how stories are told. Focuses on the close reading of literary and cultural issues, the emergence of different narrative genres, and how different media affect the construction and interpretation of narratives. Syllabus varies by term, but usually includes materials such as epics, novels, tales, short stories, films, television programs, graphic novels, and interactive games. Enrollment limited.

21L.013 The Supernatural in Music, Literature and Culture
(Same subject as 21M.013[J])
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-A/H, CI-H

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 an 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 also include selections from the most recent scholarship on magic and the supernatural. Writing assignments range from web-based projects to analytic essays. No previous experience in music is necessary. Projected guest lectures, musical performances, field trips. Limited to 36.

21L.014 Introduction to Ancient and Medieval Studies
(Same subject as 21H.007[J])
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Explores the fascinating history, culture, and society of the ancient and medieval worlds and the different methodologies scholars use to interpret them. Wrestles with big questions about the diversity of life and thought in pre-modern societies, the best ways to study the distant past, and the nature (and limitations) of knowledge about long-ago eras. Considers a wide range of scholarly subjects such as the rise and fall of the Roman empire, the triumph of Christianity and Islam, barbarian invasions and holy wars, courts and castles, philosophy and religion, and the diversity of art, literature, and politics. Ponders different types of evidence, reads across a variety of disciplines, and develops skills to identify continuities and changes in ancient and medieval societies.

21L.014 Introduction to Ancient & Medieval Studies (Spring 2025)

21L.015 Children's Literature
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Analyzes children's literature from a variety of eras and genres, taking even the most playful texts seriously as works of art and powerful cultural influences. Considers the types of stories adults consider appropriate for children, and why; how opinions about this subject have changed over time and across cultures; and the complex interplay of words and images in children's books. Enrollment limited.

21L.017 The Art of the Probable
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Examines literary texts and/or films in relation to the history of the idea of probability. Traces the growing importance of probability as a basic property of things and the world, as well as a measure of the reliability of our ideas and beliefs. Connects the development and use of probabilistic reasoning (e.g., in the lottery and in statistics) 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) in conjunction with works by Shakespeare, Voltaire, H. G. Wells, Pynchon and Stoppard, among others. Enrollment limited.

21L.018 Introduction to English Literature
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Examines the rich heritage of English literature across genre and historical period. Designed for students who want to know more about English literature or about English culture and history. Studies the relationships between literary themes, forms, and conventions and the times in which they were produced. Explores (for instance) Renaissance lyrics and drama, Enlightenment satires in word image, the 19th-century novel, and modern and contemporary stories, poems and film.

21L.019 Introduction to European and Latin American Fiction
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Studies great works of European and Latin American fiction. Attention to a variety of forms including: the picaresque, epistolary, realist, naturalist, and magical realist fiction. Emphasizes ways in which the unique history of each country shaped the imaginative responses of its writers. Authors include Cervantes, Laclos, Goethe, Mann, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Zola, Unamuno, Wolf, García Márquez, and Allende. Taught in English.

21L.020[J] Globalization: The Good, the Bad and the In-Between
(Same subject as 21G.076[J])
Prereq: None
3-0-6 HASS-H, CI-H

Examines the cultural paradoxes of contemporary globalization. Studies the cultural, artistic, social and political impact of globalization across international borders. Students analyze contending definitions of globalization and principal agents of change, and why some of them engender backlash; identify the agents, costs and benefits of global networks; and explore how world citizens preserve cultural specificity. Case studies on global health, human trafficking and labor migration illuminate the shaping influence of contemporary globalization on gender, race, ethnicity, and class. Develops cultural literacy through analysis of fiction and film. Enrollment limited.

21L.021 Comedy
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Surveys a range of comic texts in different media, the cultures that produced them, and various theories of comedy. Authors and directors studied may include Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Moliere, Austen, Wilde and Chaplin.

21L.022[J] Darwin and Design
(Same subject as 21W.739[J])
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

In The Origin of Species, Darwin provided a model for understanding the existence of objects and systems manifesting evidence of design without positing a designer, and of purpose and mechanism without intelligent agency. Texts deal with pre-Darwinian and later treatment of this topic within literature and speculative thought since the 18th century, with some attention to the modern study of feedback mechanism in artificial intelligence. Readings in Hume, Voltaire, Malthus, Darwin, Butler, Hardy, H. G. Wells, and Freud.

21L.023[J] Folk Music of the British Isles and North America
(Same subject as 21M.223[J])
Prereq: None
3-1-8 HASS-A, CI-H

Examines the production, transmission, preservation and the qualities of folk music in the British Isles and North America from the 18th century to the folk revival of the 1960s and the present. Special emphasis on balladry, fiddle styles, and African-American influences. Enrollment limited.

21L.024 Literature & Existentialism
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Studies major literary works associated with the 19th- and 20-century philosophical movement known as existentialism. Through close reading of these works, students explore how existentialist writers grappled with the question of death; the nature of free will; emotions like boredom, disgust, and radical doubt; and the fate of the individual in a modernity marked by war, illogic, and absurdity. Includes novels, short stories, and aphorisms by Sartre, Camus, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Hesse, Chopin, and Nietzsche; plays by Beckett and Stoppard; and films by Bergman, Tarkovsky, and others. Enrollment limited.

21L.025 A History of the Book from Papyrus to Pixel
Prereq: None
3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

Studies a broad range of texts and artifacts related to the history of writing and reading across cultures. Introduces students to the history and theory of media, to literary topics such as metafiction and narratology, and to the study of rare books and distinctive collections. Readings vary but may include literary works by authors such as Miguel Cervantes, Emily Dickinson, and Italo Calvino and theoretical writing by scholars including Marshall McLuhan and Roland Barthes. Regular sessions in MIT Libraries lead to capstone research projects on objects in MIT Archives and Special Collections. Students present on their readings and research in a variety of forms.

21L.032[J] Afrofuturism, Magical Realism, and Other Otherwise Worlds
Prereq: None
3-0-9 CI-H, HASS-H

Examines Afrofuturism, magical realism, and other forms of the fantastic in literary texts, film, and other media. Through close reading and attention to historical, cultural, and sociopolitical context, students consider how these works reinterpret the past, diagnose modernity, and posit alternative futures. Particular attention given to the roles race, gender, class, and sexuality play within these radically imaginative worlds. [Syllabus varies from term to term but might include work by Octavia Butler, Gabriel García Márquez, Samuel Delany, Toni Morrison, N.K. Jemisin, José María Arguedas, and Janelle Monáe.]

21L.040[J] Foundations of East Asian Literature and Culture: From Confucius to the Beats
(Same subject as 21G.041[J])
Prereq: None
3-0-9 CI-H

Studies foundational works from East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam) with a focus on their cultural context and contemporary relevance and asks how "Literature" looks different when conceived through some of the world's oldest literatures beyond the West. Explores philosophical texts, history writing, poetry, stories and diaries, tales, and novels. Hones skills of reading, writing, and speaking with a sense of cultural sensitivity, historical depth, and comparative contemplation. Students who have taken this topic under 21L.007 cannot also receive credit for 21L.040.

21L.494[J] Classics of Chinese Literature in Translation
(Formerly: 21L.044[J])
(Same subject as 21G.044[J], 21G.195, WGS.235[J])
Prereq: None
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.