Arts and Humanities Literature
An Arts & Humanities Literature (AHL) course, part of Clemson University’s general education core curriculum, is a requirement that focuses on development of an ability to close read texts, including novels, poetry, drama, essays, film, digital texts, and visual elements of our culture. From a basis in close reading, AHL courses also allow opportunities to think critically about the texts you read, to write analytically and creatively in response to those texts, and to study the historical, social, and cultural environments in which those texts have been written and are now being read.
The English Department offers six AHL courses:
- ENGL 2020 The Major Forms of Literature
- ENGL 2120 World Literature
Introduction to selected works from the Americas Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East from ancient to modern eras, with emphasis on major authors. Includes Honors sections. Preq: ENGL 1030. - ENGL 2130 British Literature
Introduction to selected authors and major periods of the British literary tradition, from the Middle Ages to World War II, with attention to poetry, fiction, and drama. Includes Honors sections. Preq: ENGL 1030. - ENGL 2140 American Literature
Introduction to selected authors and major periods of the American literary tradition from 1620 to 1945. Includes Honors sections. Preq: ENGL 1030. - ENGL 2150 Literature in 20th- and 21st-Century Contexts
Introduction to major contemporary cultural movements via selected authors in 20th- and 21st-century literature, primarily American and British, with attention to poetry, fiction, and drama since World War II. Includes Honors sections. Preq: ENGL 1030. - ENGL 2160 African American Literature
Introduction to selected authors and major periods of the African American literary tradition from the colonial period to the present through an examination of varied themes and movements and texts by authors of African descent. Includes Honors sections. Preq: ENGL 1030.
Each of these courses requires as a prerequisite ENGL 1030 Composition and Rhetoric, which provides a foundation for understanding writing conventions that are appropriate for both print and digital platforms, and which explores both classical and contemporary approaches to writings. AHL courses build upon the writing proficiencies begun in ENGL 1030, providing opportunity to hone skills in crafting a persuasive argument on a significant topic, to formulate a clear purpose for writing, and to support your claim with sufficient research and compelling logic.
AHL courses foster open, engaged discussions of intellectually challenging literature from American, British, and World traditions. They offer opportunities to learn more about individuals, societies, and cultures from a wide range of historical and contemporary periods and from a broad scope of geographical locations, as seen through both canonical works and texts from emerging voices. Literature will address socially, ethically, and politically significant issues, such as race relations, ethnic minorities, migration and dispossession, women’s issues, environmentalism, able-ism and disability, class inequities, and other important issues that furnish context and vocabulary necessary to responsible global citizenship.
