YOUR SELECTIONS        

            In an introduction to literature course we have what one must call "an embarrassment of riches." There is simply too much to ever be able to cover in a semester, if not in a lifetime. Not only that, there are too many approaches to literature to feel confident that any one manner of making a selection can provide an adequate logic for a course.

            Somewhere between my wanting you to read some of my all-time favorites, and my wanting you to be exposed to those works of literature most often read in an introductory course, I have made my pick. I will make some notes for you on them below, but not comprehensively. In fact, all I want to do is note what about the poems and stories appeals to me personally.

            There is the concept of being academically well-rounded. You would have to read widely and in many disciplines. There is the concept of your being culturally literate. You have to read what everyone else reads--the list that we all can refer to at cocktail parties. Then there is the list I have made of titles I have responded to over the years. If this course works for you, it will lead to your making your own list of favorites. That, after all, may be the only meaningful list, or at least the only list you really remember!

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COMMENTS ON POETRY SELECTIONS

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COMMENTS ON PROSE FICTION SELECTIONS