FEBRUARY 1994 Supersedes all previous printings
ARTISTIC AND LITERARY STUDIES (ALS-A, ALS-L) (Core Studies)
Description:
Artistic and Literary Studies: Two courses, one in each sub-area, intended to develop appreciation and understanding of artistic and literary forms -- their essential elements as well as their various functions in human life and culture.
A. Artistic Studies (ALS-A):
Guidelines:
1. Artistic forms include the visual and performing arts--visual art, film, music, theater, and dance.
2. Courses must help students achieve an informed appreciation of the aesthetic and formal properties of the art that is the subject of the course, and an understanding of the art within the broader context of human life and culture.
3. Courses may develop appreciation and understanding through performance, creation or criticism:
(a) Performance includes acting in plays, or performing musical compositions or choreographed dances.
(b) Creation is the making of new works, in the studio arts, film, music, theater or dance.
(c) Criticism is the analysis of artistic forms.
4. Fractional courses totaling one course may satisfy this requirement if:
(a) All courses are in the same artistic form
(b) The combination of fractional courses as a whole satisfies the guidelines above.
Comments: (Numbers correlate to numbered guidelines)
2. "Informed appreciation" may be achieved and expressed in a variety of ways, depending on the artistic form being studied. In making course proposals, faculty are encouraged to describe the most appropriate way, in their particular field, by which students can meet this section of the guidelines. The "broader context of human life and culture" refers to the contexts and circumstances in which artistic forms arise, and the ways in which they affect performer, viewer or audience. More generally, it refers to the role artistic forms play within human culture, and the distinctive experience or knowledge they offer. All courses, whether in performance, creation or criticism, must relate their subject-matter to aspects of this broader context.
4. (b) It is the responsibility of departments, in consultation with faculty teaching the relevant courses, to design the combination of fractional courses that would meet the guidelines as a whole.
B. Literary Studies (ALS-L):
Guidelines:
1. Literary forms include the genres of poetry, prose, and drama as text.
2. Courses must help students achieve an informed appreciation of the aesthetic and formal properties of the literature being studied, and an understanding of the place of the literature within the broader context of human life and culture.
3. Courses fulfilling this requirement may be either in creative writing or in literature.
4. Creative Writing Courses:
(a) Courses must give equal attention to creative writing and to the reading of primary works.
(b) The writing and the reading may be in one or more genres.
5. Literature Courses:
(a) The reading must concentrate on primary rather than secondary or critical texts.
(b) Texts may include works in translation.
(c) The scope of the course must be broad; it must include texts by several writers; it may contain works in one or more genres.
Comments: (Numbers correlate to numbered guidelines)
2. Insofar as "informed appreciation" will be expressed in written form (it could also emerge in class discussions and oral reports), it might appear in either critical or creative writing. Critical writing explores literature from the outside, creative writing from the inside. The "broader context of human life and culture" refers to the contexts and circumstances in which literary forms arise and the effect and influence they have upon readers. More generally, it refers to the role literature, as against other forms of human expression, plays within human life and culture, and the distinctive kinds of experience or knowledge it offers.
4. To fulfill this requirement, creative writing courses must provide more than a workshop setting in which students practice and improve their own writing. They must require students to read, analyze and discuss examples of work within the chosen genre or genres in which they are writing. The reading and creative writing should be designed to work in conjunction to achieve the ends of the course.
5. (c) In order to be suitable for and attractive to the general education student, courses should offer a broad selection of literature. These cannot be single author courses. They should include work by half a dozen or so writers, but faculty are free to justify a lesser or larger number in light of the aims of the course.
