Pursue the advancement of human culture, the promotion of dialogue between faith and reason and formation in the intellectual and moral virtues. In this program, you鈥檒l dive into the greatest writers of Western tradition and explore life鈥檚 biggest questions: man鈥檚 purpose, the foundations of his knowledge, the basis of human community and man鈥檚 relationship with God.
Pursue the advancement of human culture, the promotion of dialogue between faith and reason and formation in the intellectual and moral virtues. In this program, you鈥檒l dive into the greatest writers of Western tradition and explore life鈥檚 biggest questions: man鈥檚 purpose, the foundations of his knowledge, the basis of human community and man鈥檚 relationship with God.
1. Sharpen your intellect. Read insightfully, appreciate deeply, understand clearly and appreciate the complexity and richness of human experience.
2. Refine your expression. Learn to write skillfully to express, explain and argue your ideas clearly and thoroughly, and to persuade your listeners.
3. Discover a more complete perspective. Learn to better understand yourself and the world by reading what the best authors have thought about the most important questions.
Instructor of Communications and Literature
Email:
maria.boersma@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 304-7142
Office:
Henkels 3003
Chair of the Humanities Department; Professor of Humanities and Literature; Director of Shakespeare in Performance
Email:
travis.curtright@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 280-1612
Office:
Canizaro Library 219
Assistant Professor of Literature; Director of Literature Program
Email:
william.gonch@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 304-7035
Office:
Henkels 3038
Associate Professor of Communications and Literature; Director of the Writing Program; Director of Composition Program
Email:
gavin.hurley@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 280-1662
Office:
Henkels 2052
Associate Professor of Communications; Director of Communications Program
Email:
john.jasso@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 304-7936
Office:
Henkels 2054
Assistant Professor of Literature and Modern Languages
Email:
deana.kelly@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 304-7188
Office:
Canizaro Library 254
Assistant Professor of Literature
Email:
jessica.schnepp@avemaria.edu
Phone:
(239) 304-7072
Office:
Canizaro Library 250
Literature is a great program for those who love the classics and want to spend their college years studying great works of literature and the language behind them. Students who have earned a degree in Literature might end up working in many different careers, from writing to teaching to academia.
Literature Majors and Minors understand life and express themselves clearly so others will understand. These abilities come from confronting the literary efforts of the best human minds from across the centuries. No Major or Minor other than Literature brings the full range of human experience so clearly into focus. In every field of endeavor, these qualities of understanding and expression bring Literature Majors and Minors to the front where they can be heard.
Examples of career possibilities include the professions where understanding and expression are most useful, such as business, law, teaching, and many others.
Click on the following link to view the top ten careers with a Literature or English degree
LITR 206 Shakespeare
LITR 223 How to Read Poetry: Form and Meaning
LITR 224 How to Read a Novel: Form and Meaning
LITR 230 Survey of American Literature
LITR 360 Survey of English Literature
LITR 491 Capstone in Literature
Three electives (including at least one elective in Medieval or Renaissance Literature, one elective in 18th-Century or Modern Literature, and one free elective)
鈥
Accepted Free Electives
Any Literature Elective
COMM 200 Media, Society, and the Church
COMM 303 Classical and Medieval Rhetoric
HUMS 325 Jane Austen and Samuel Johnson
HUMS 370 C.S. Lewis: Theological Apologetics
HUMS 490 Thomas More
Other courses may be accepted with the approval of the Director of Literature.
鈥
To earn a minor in Literature, students must complete LITR 223 How to Read Poetry and four Literature electives.
The Literature Department seeks the advancement of human culture, the promotion of dialogue between faith and reason, the formation of men and women in the intellectual and moral virtues of the Catholic faith. The Department seeks to aid in the formation of men and women who can read insightfully, appreciate deeply, understand clearly, and write skillfully to express, explain, argue, and persuade.
The University courses in literature introduce students to the classics of the West so that they may better understand themselves and their world by reading what the best authors have thought about the most important questions鈥攓uestions about human purpose, the relationship between God and the human person and between man and woman, the foundations of knowledge, and the basis of human community.鈥淥ne writes only half the book; the other half is with the reader.鈥
-Joseph Conrad
