Course Description

The Narrative course combines the intellectual breadth of a humanities education with a focused approach to university-level reading and writing. Over ten weeks, students engage with a curated collection of texts drawn from mythology, drama, philosophy, fiction, memoir, social criticism, and science fiction. The course approaches reading as participation in conversations that span cultures, genres, and historical periods.Through close reading, discussion, and analytical writing students develop the habits of mind necessary for academic inquiry.

The course is designed to strengthen incremental learning and support students in articulating their own voice in conversation with diverse perspectives. Students learn to craft thoughtful arguments based on evidence, and refine their writing through feedback, revision and editing. Practices such as annotation and note-taking are woven into the course, with consistent guidance from the instructor.

The readings have been selected because they are enduring works that continue to shape conversations about identity, knowledge, responsibility, freedom, memory, and human flourishing. Although they emerge from different times and traditions, they are brought together under the theme “Things Fall Apart”. Each text explores moments when familiar certainties break down and asks how human beings make meaning in periods of uncertainty and change.