This semester-long course is designed to improve students’ ability in reading and writing English through close readings of literature. Denotations and connotations as well as issues such as gender, race, and class raised by the texts will be discussed in class for an in-depth understanding of both the language and the content. After each reading, questions will be given in class for group discussion and oral presentation. For this semester, we will study short stories by Katherine Ann Porter and James Joyce, essays by Freeman J. Dyson, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Irene Rosenfeld, a play by August Strindberg, and, if we have time, poems by Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. Students are also required to perform in English drama presentation at the end of the semester.