HonorsLit

Dr. Nordquist
E N G L I S H 2100H: ARCHIVE
honors literature & humanities

twice-told tales
This course was last offered in the fall semester of 2002. Although the course site is no longer updated, it will remain available as an archive.

You may already know the story of the foolish old patriarch who divides his land into three parts and ends up howling in a storm, driven to the edge of madness, painfully isolated from the children whose love and whose hatred he never comprehends. Set in pagan Britain, it is, of course, the story of King Lear, arguably Shakespeare's greatest tragedy. Set in ancient Japan, it is the story of Lord Hidetora and his three sons in what is perhaps Akira Kurosawa's greatest film, Ran. Set in the cornfields of Zebulton, Iowa, it is the story of farmer Larry Cook and his three daughters in Jane Smiley's contemporary novel A Thousand Acres. And with a few variations, it is also an Irish fable, "The Children of Lir"; an English folk tale, "Cap o Rushes"; and the old French fairy tale "Cinderella." In this Honors English class, we'll examine all of these works (and several others) as we consider how the same few stories may be endlessly retold in efforts to explain our lives and our times--regardless of how different those lives and times may be. In addition to thoughtful reading, viewing, and listening, our labors will include a number of short reports (both oral and written), a few longer essays (by turns critical, investigative, and creative), and--at the end of term--an eccentric yet doubtless inspiring class performance.

English 2100H is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
University Hall 297D
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia 31419
912-921-5991
e-mail: nordqudi@mail.armstrong.edu

31 December 2002