Jul 26, 2016

 

Here be dragons … and other literary villains. Those looking for something different in an English course at College of the Mainland have new options this semester, from World Literature to Post-Apocalyptic Lit.

World Literature II, taught by professor James Tabor, focuses on other voices in literature, from Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” to Voltaire’s “Candide."

“The class is for someone who wants something beyond reading ‘dead white guys’ and is looking for something diverse. We'll discuss different cultures, periods, values and perceptions,” said Tabor.

Worlds collide and universes collapse in the novels and films explored in COM’s Post-Apocalyptic Lit course. From the action-packed “The 5th Wave” by Rick Yancey to “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood, the class explores literature and films (such as “Idiocracy”) examining a not-so-brilliant future.

“These books touch on things that are issues in society,” explained professor Stacey Burleson. “It’s created some really good conversations about the world around us. We might not like something in society, but we can only change things if we’re aware.”

British Literature I focuses on discussion spiced with movie clips and historical readings to better understand the literature’s context.

“The overarching objective is to make British literature that's more than a 1,000 years old relevant to us and our lives here in the Gulf Coast of Texas,” said professor Dalel Serda, who teaches a section of the class. “At the end, we have a creative project that pushes students to consider the relevance of old British literature and our lives. My aim is to make this class fun.”

In American Literature II, students read and discuss classics spanning centuries from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” to “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

“We discover and examine common themes and conflicts reflected in American culture, and I ask students to continually question how their own identities fit into the larger American picture,” said Brian Anderson, a COM professor who teaches some of COM’s American literature online and in-person classes. “We also have an interesting creative project assignment and students create an original work (such as a painting or short story) inspired by one of the assigned readings."

The classes serve as an elective or English credit and transfer to universities.

To register for a class, visit www.com.edu/register.