HS 431 Reading Fiction

Course Instructor: Suddha Shastri

Course Name: HS 431 Reading Fiction
Credits: 6
Course Type: Honours Elective
Prerequisites: 

No formal Prerequisites. Informal Prerequisites involve an above average grasp of English in both oral and written forms and a base interest in reading diversified fiction.

Course Content: 

Bare essentials of literary theory, Postcolonial and Postmodern literature.

Course Structure:

1. Essentially a flipped classroom model is followed. Assigned reading (usually 2 chapters or around 30 pages) is to be done before the class, discussions on literary techniques and language usage and plot devices, etc follow. Attendance is monitored visually since the class is usually around 15 people. Occasional use of slides and movies. Primarily blackboard and vis-a-vis discussions make up the lectures.
2. It's a flipped classroom model, where around three to four chapters of a book are to be read over the weekend and 1 chapter in weekdays. Grading is moderate. The difficulty level can be very high if you do not have any previous experience with literary fiction.
3. 2 quizzes of 10 marks each, 1 midsemester exam of 30 marks, 1 end-semester of 50 marks. All exams contain only long answer questions of minimum 5 marks. Grammatical mistakes cost marks. Sentence composition needs to be perfected. Vocabulary helps. Experience with creative writing is an added bonus.

Pro Tips:

Do Not: Take the course as a trial or as something that is low effort, you will get a 7 or below. Expect it to be a reading club. The discussions are semi-formal but it's still monitored. Skip more than one class in continuation, losses are quite high.

Respondent: Toshi Parmar