An Introduction to British and American Literature
What you'll learn
- Free downloadable Kindle books and other reading material (poetry, dramas, and novels)
- Improve your knowledge and grades on standardized testing with history or literature content, such as GCSE, SAT, ACT, and TOEFL.
- Get the necessary background to feel confident in undgraduate literature courses
- "Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides." C. S. Lewis
- Learn important literary terms and concepts that will allow your appreciation of reading to grow, and even deepen your uderstanding of movies and music.
- Broaden your mind and increase your understanding of humanity and what it means to be human and part of society.
- Gain understanding and appreciation for British and American literature (novels, plays, short stories, and poetry) from 16th century to the 20th century
Requirements
- Be able to read and understand English as well as have an inquisitive mind
Description
This is a study of literature from the 16th century to the 20th century covering drama, poetry, short stories, and novels.
Who wrote the first English novel? How did Napoleon in France change the way literature was written in England? What is the difference between British literature and American literature? Who is the father of the detective novel (and it isn't Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!)? How do major wars and conflicts affect literature? What is stream-of-consciousness, and how did it change the way literature has been written?
These are just a few questions that this introduction to literature attempts to answer. This class attempts to make connections between literary periods, writers, and history. The goal of this class is to put history, biography, and literature together into a suitable whole. It would be impossible to cover every single work and history behind it, but I have attempted to cover the major periods and major writers of the time and to show how the history surrounding them has influenced their life and works.
Who this course is for:
- Those of any age wishing to learn or review the basics of British and American literature
- Students who need to improve literature score or standardized testing scores in literature
- Anyone who loves to read and shares a passion for literature
Instructor
![Steven Reeder](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 117 Reviews
- 682 Students
- 1 Course
Steven Reeder has been teaching at the post-secondary level since 2000. He was educated in the United States and moved to Korea to teach English as a second language, writing, and literature. His experience with beginners and second language speakers at the university level has allowed him to refine his teaching ability to make difficult literary ideas simple and easy to follow.
He graduated from California State University with a degree in the Humanities, where he focused his thesis on literature, philosophy, and history, a background that is made evident in his lectures. He has written several literature textbooks aimed at explaining literature to beginners and ESL students. The classes offered in his course are based upon many of these books and his lectures.
He has been a member of The Korean Society for Literature and Religion and The Korean Society of Nineteenth-Century Literature in English where he has written several papers and published them in peer-reviewed journals.
His extensive knowledge and research along with his expertise in teaching beginners make him the best online instructor for you, no matter your interests.