Instructor Information
Instructor: Megan N Fontenot
Office: Park Hall 10.8
E-mail: megan.fontenot@uga.edu
Class Days, Time, & Location
Tuesday/Thursday, 8am, Park Hall 79
Course Description:
In this course, we’ll be looking short stories, novels, and films in the science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian traditions. Fantastic literature and film provide a unique glimpse into their own historical contexts, so we’ll also be discussing and critiquing political, social, and environmental ecologies in our world today. By taking a fresh look at works that have been with us throughout our lives, we’ll learn how to approach so-called entertainment media with a critical lens and how to understand the critiques of societal norms that are embedded in the stories we know and love (and sometimes, hate). Along the way, we’ll explore and practice different types of writing about literature and film, which will in turn require us to build skills in critical reflection, rhetorical strategies, and communal reading/writing.
Reading List
- “Smith of Wootton Major” — J.R.R. Tolkien
- “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” — Ursula K. Le Guin
- “The Ones Who Stay and Fight” — N.K. Jemisin
- Kindred — Octavia Butler
- Good Omens — Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film) — Dir. David Yates
- Iron Man 3 (film) — Dir. Shane Black
Course Objectives
In ENGL 1102, students will learn to:
- extend the skills of expository writing and critical thinking established in English 1101;
- read, appreciate, and interpret fiction, drama, and poetry and write analytically about them;
- understand literary principles and use basic terms important to critical writing and reading;
- document essays using textual evidence;
- address papers to a range of audiences;
- understand the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process and demonstrate an ability to critique the writing of themselves and others;
- develop a sense of voice appropriate to the subject, the writer’s purpose, the context, and the reader’s expectations;
- understand how genres shape reading and writing and produce writing in several genres;
- follow the conventions of standard edited English and MLA documentation;
- use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts;
- understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts.