This experimental subject combines a short, intensive seminar segment held during IAP with a longer segment that will meet only virtually. This semester, the class will focus on John Milton’s Paradise Lost (see 21L.320).
Class begins in week 2 of Sp14, picking up where the IAP course left off (refer to IAP website for details). During the next nine weeks of the semester, students will progress through reading the rest of Paradise Lost. Each week’s reading will be introduced by a short video, followed by online office hours (archived for reference). Participants will synthesize and record their questions and understandings about the text and produce materials for use and comment by on-campus students in 21L.320, Big Books: Reading Paradise Lost. Materials might include: video or audio recording of a key passage being read out loud; written or recorded commentary; storyboards of key scenes or plot segments; a wiki of FAQs and useful resources. The process will include feedback and discussion among the group and with the course TA before materials are “published” to the 21L.320 group.
The final four weeks of the semester will be devoted to a reflective project in the form of a short video organized around two questions: What was most important for you from the process of reading and engaging with this poem? How would you explain and teach it to others?
