Catalog Course Description:

Introduction:

English 218 is a sophomore level literature course that examines the literary and prose contributions of various California authors. Like many other literature courses, California Writers is meant to expose you to the rich tradition of novelists, poets, fiction, and non-fiction authors who have left their mark on the literary landscape of our state. This course is not meant to be exhaustive nor definitive. That only comes with a lifetime of reading, much more than we can cover in 18 weeks.

This course will be organized around various themes that are important to writers in California. One of the most important themes is that of migration, not just in the form of immigration, but also in the form of people who are displaced by other groups. We will also examine the relationship between the individual and the land. In this respect the climate plays an important role in setting up the basic conflict or struggle between the latter entities. Another forceful theme deals with people’s fascination with myth as it is represented in the notion of California as the land of opportunity, the golden state, Hollywood’s celluloid world, and the disillusionment of what life in California ultimately is not. And we cannot ignore the value of water throughout the state. Without the importation of water, the very sustenance of life, Southern California, where we all live, would not thrive as it does today. These are but a few of the important themes we will explore in our journey through the prose of the literary folks that have lived in and written about California (and still are).

One of the assumptions we will make of one another is that we have all mastered the fundamentals of English 100: a focused thesis, coherent organization, logical paragraphing, varied sentence structure, effective diction, and standard spelling and punctuation. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to: