Studies of the Arts and Literature

Writing for Life
56:606:608:A1
cross-listed with:  50:989:390:A1
On-line:  go to http://canvas.rutgers.edu
Professor Grodstein

This course is designed to allow students to plumb their own lives for subject matter for short stories or essays. The four subjects we’ll tackle are childhood, travel, grief, and work, but these subjects are broad enough that they welcome other topics into their scope. For instance, when considering travel, we might think about food, international norms, or the sad state of the airline industry; when we write about work, we might write about our houses, our hobbies, our loves. Each unit contains a lecture, several mandatory readings, a few suggested readings and/or videos (which are designed to help inspire you to write your weekly submission), and a mandatory discussion forum, in which you must respond to the readings and to one another’s posts). Graduate students are responsible for one six-nine page submission weekly, and undergraduates are responsible for four-seven page submissions.

20th Century American Fiction
56:606:609:D6
cross-listed with:  50:352:393:D6, 56:352:522:D6
M,T,TH 6:00 pm – 9:40 pm
Course runs:  6/25 – 7/19
Professor Singley

Course description will be updated as it becomes available.

New Media Art
56:606:612:J1
cross-listed with:  50:080:224:J1
On-line:  go to http://sakai.rutgers.edu
Course runs:  7/23 – 8/15
Professor Demaray
This class is dedicated to advancing the conceptual and practical uses of digital media in a fine arts context. Focused on a nexus of theory and studio-based work, the course utilizes much of the technology already available in our day-to-day lives to make video art, mash-ups, interactive media and web based artworks. New Media Art also offers the opportunity to actively participate in the innovations that are the hallmark of this new medium while tracing the historic significance of computing, hacktivism and shared interfaces. Students need no prior background in art to take this class.

Philosophy and Religion

Evil
56:606:641:H1
cross-listed with: 50:730:333:H1, 50:840:333:H1
On-line:  go to http://canvas.rutgers.edu
Course runs:  7/9 – 8/15
Professor Wall
Examines the phenomenon and meaning of evil, especially “moral” evil. Key questions pursued are how evil may be explained, why humanity is capable of It in the first place, whether it belongs to some or all people, how to differentiate its perpetrators and its victims, whether evil is compatible with the existence of a good God, and how one may judge the difference between evil and good. These and other fundamental questions are pursued through a wide range of classic, historical, and contemporary texts and in relation to examples of evil in today’s world.

Capstone Research

Research in Liberal Studies
56:606:689:T1 & T2
Professor Charmé
Independent study of a special interest to the student, under supervision of an advisor chosen in consultation with the program director.