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World Literature/Writing (Honors Course)

Directed by Tom Rogers
(grades 11 - 12)

Honors World Literature/Writing is an upper-level independent study course in literature and writing that examines various works of World Literature, from the ancient Greek and Roman era to the present day. The course is designed both by and for the student in close coordination with the instructor. The course stresses college-level formats and extensive reading, as well as general preparation for the verbal portion of the SATs. Students will be expected to review and report on all books read for this course. Vocabulary enrichment and the evaluation of various writing styles will also be emphasized.

​This course stresses both reading and writing (both creative and academic writing), with an emphasis on reading for comprehension, stylistic appreciation, and understanding the nuances, goals, and historical contexts of a wide variety of well-known examples of w
orld literature. The work completed equals one high school credit. (Enrollment: 1–6 students)

Tuition: Tuition for this course, which is self-directed and has no formal classroom time, is discounted 50% (i.e., $50/quarter [if paying quarterly] or $90/semester [if paying by semester]). Papers and Literature Evaluations are graded by the instructor, Report Cards are issued quarterly, and students are expected to check in with the instructor several times over the course of the year to discuss their progress and the works they are reading.

Prerequisite: Survey of American Literature and/or Survey of British Literature (preferably both)

Books: Books should be obtained or purchased for a particular quarter before the first class for that quarter.

  • Honors Writing Project. Students will complete a long-form research or creative writing project, one that is planned, graded, and completed within an academic year. This project will consist of approximately 7 to 10 typed, double-spaced pages/quarter or 38 to 40 typed, double-spaced pages for the year. Four quarterly grading "milestones" will be established. Potential projects could, for example, include (i) an in-depth biography or research paper, with clear quarterly goals completed over the course of a year, (ii) a collection of four thematically related short stories (one per quarter), (iii) a longer play in five acts or a novella, or (iv) a detailed analysis and examination of a particular philosophical, political, or theological position.
  • Literature. Students will select and read ca. 10 to 20 classic works of world literature from a long list of classic novels and other types of literature over the course of the year (see below). Students, in coordination with the instructor, will develop a reading syllabus/prospectus, choosing a theme for each of the four academic quarters from the 12 categories listed below.

    For example, an academic honors reading curriculum might be structured as follows:

    Quarter 1—Classical Literature
    ​Quarter 2—European Literature
    Quarter 3—William Shakespeare
    Quarter 4—History, Science, and Exploration

​with corresponding works chosen from within each category. All books are assigned "point values" based on the relative length and difficulty (indicated by superscript numbers in the list below), i.e., a lengthy book = 3 points, a moderate-sized book = 2 points, and a relatively short book or play = 1 point. Students will be required to read the equivalent of at least 5 or 6 points per quarter). Reviews of the readings will be regularly completed and submitted online by students and graded by the instructor throughout the year. If you would like suggestions and recommendations regarding a course of study, please contact the instructor.

  • Writing: Art and Theory. Students will also read two of the following works about writing and literature: 
    On Writing Well by William Zinsser, The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes, Novel Writing Mastery by S. Evans, 
    ​My Reading Life by Pat Conroy, The Brightest Heaven of Invention by Peter J. Leithart (Shakespeare from a Christian Perspective), How Dante Can Save Your Life (Rod Dreher), and The Glamour of Grammar and/or Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark.
  • Supplemental Reading. Students may be given select articles, essays, and/or writing samples to read that are by or about various great writers or great works of literature, as directed and at the discretion of the instructor.
  • Periodic Conferences. The instructor will regularly check with the student via email, phone, and/or in person to review his or her progress on the honors writing project, to discuss the various books and articles assigned, and to address any writing- or research-related issues that may occur.

1. Classical (Greek/Roman) Literature

​Original Works
  • The Iliad, Homer (ca. 800 BC, Greece)²
  • The Aeneid, Virgil (ca. 100 BC, Greece)²​
  • Classical Tragedy: Eight Greek and Roman Plays (read any two), Robert Corrigan, ed.¹
  • Classical Comedy: Six Greek and Roman Plays (read any two), Robert Corrigan, ed.¹
  • Lives of the Noble Romans, Plutarch (ca. 100 AD, Greece)²
  • Lives of the Noble Greeks, Plutarch (ca. 100 AD, Greece)²
  • Metamorphoses, Ovid  (ca. 100 BC, Greece)²
  • Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths, Bernard Evslin (Evslin translates the myths from Greek into modern and very readable English)¹​​

​Notable (Modern) Novels Set in Ancient Times
  • Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae, Steven Pressfield (United States, 1998)²
  • Dear and Glorious Physician​ (historical fiction about the life of Luke) Taylor Caldwell (Britain/United States, 1958)²
  • Quo Vadis, Henry Sienkiewiecz (Poland, 1895)²
  • Imperium: a Novel of Ancient Rome (part 1 of a trilogy historical account of the life of Cicero) (Robert Harris, Britain, 2007)
  • The Egyptian, Mika Waltari (Finland, 1945)²
  • Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Lew Wallace (United States, 1880)²
  • Pompeii, Robert Harris (Britain, 2003)²
  • I, Claudius, Robert Graves (Britain, 1934)²

2. American Literature

  • The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939)²
  • Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1957)²
  • A Bell for Adano, John Hersey (1944)¹
  • A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway (1929)²
  • Of Mice and Men (1939), John Steinbeck¹
  • The Pearl (1947), John Steinbeck¹
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass¹
  • The Water Is Wide, Pat Conroy (1972)¹
  • My Antonia, Willa Cather (1918)¹
  • Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (1936)³
  • Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1868)¹
  • Everything That Rises Must Converge, Flannery O'Connor (1965)¹
  • The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin¹
  • The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk (1951)²
  • The Peaceable Kingdom: An American Saga, Jan De Hartog (1971)²
  • King Rat, James Clavell (1962)¹
  • The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)¹
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith (1943)²
  • Roots, Alex Haley (1974)³
  • The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)¹
  • The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers (1940)²
  • Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington¹
  • The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1906)²
  • The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck (1931)²
  • The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton (1967)¹
  • Tales of the South Pacific, James Michener (1947)²
  • Centenniel, James Michener (1974)³

3. World Literature*

  • The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay (Australia, 1989)²
  • The Sound of the Mountain, Yama no Oto (Japan, 1954)²
  • Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton (South Africa, 1948)²
  • On the Beach, Nevil Shute (Australia, 1957)²
​​
​
*The World Literature category also includes selections from all other reading categories.

4. Russian Literature

  • War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy³
  • The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky²
  • A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, Alexander Solzhenitsyn¹
  • The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov¹
  • Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev²
  • Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky²
  • Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak³

5. History, Science, and
​Exploration

  • The Kon Tiki Expedition, Thor Heyerdahl (Sweden, 1950)²
  • 1066: The Year of the Conquest, David Howarth 
  • Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, Alfred Lansing and Nathaniel Philbrick²
  • The Great Escape, Paul Brickhill²
  • Mornings on Horseback (a biography of Theodore Roosevelt), David McCullough²
  • Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Erik Larson²
  • Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World (an account of several critical events in the 1500s) Roger Crowley²
  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Barbara Tuchman³
  • Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, Stephen Ambrose³
  • How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World (interesting study of several crucial technological developments), Steven Johnson²
  • English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable (an entertaining overview of English history), Lacey Baldwin Smith²
  • Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson¹
  • The Lives of a Cell, Lewis Thomas²
  • Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam, Stephen W. Sears²
  • The Guns of August (the origins of World War I), Barbara Tuchman³​
  • Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Eric Metaxas³
  • America: The Last Best Hope​ (General U.S. History, Vol. 1), William Bennett³
  • Since Yesterday: The 1930s in America, Frederick Allen²
  • The Killer Angels (Battle of Gettysburg), Michael Shaara²
  • Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Roland Bainton²
  • Mayflower: a Story of Courage, Community, and War, Nathaniel Philbrick²
  • The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme, John Keegan²
  • The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors, Dan Jones²
  • Stonewall Jackson, James I. Robertson²

6. Poetry, Drama, and Short Stories

Poem and Short Story Collections
  • 101 Great American Poems, The American Poetry and Literacy Project, ed.¹
  • ​Great Short Stories by American Women​, Candace Ward, ed.²
  • 100 Best-Loved Poems​, Philip Smith, ed.¹
  • The Best of Poe, Edgar Allan Poe²
  • ​Six Centuries of Great Poetry, Warren and Erskine, ed.²
  • The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1, Robert Silverberg, ed.²
  • Great American Short Stories, Paul Negri, ed.²
  • The World's Greatest Short Stories, James Daley, ed.²
  • The Illustrated Man​ (short story collection), Ray Bradbury²
  • The Best American Mystery Stories of the Nineteenth Century, Otto Penzler, ed.²


​​Drama
  • Classical Tragedy: Eight Greek and Roman Plays (read two), Robert Corrigan, ed.²
  • Classical Comedy: Six Greek and Roman Plays (read two), Robert Corrigan, ed.²
  • The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde¹
  • Our Town, Thornton Wilder¹
  • The Hasty Heart, John Patrick¹
  • Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller¹
  • The Lion in Winter, James Goldman¹
  • ​Twelve Angry Men, Reginald Rose¹
  • ​West Side Story, Arthur Laurents¹
  • The Elephant Man, Bernard Pomerantz¹
  • Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck¹
  • A Man for All Seasons, Thomas Bolt¹
  • Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand¹
  • The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov¹
  • A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry¹
  • The Miracle Worker, William Gibson¹
  • Amadeus, Peter Shaffer¹
  • Long Day's Journey into Night, Eugene O'Neill¹
  • All plays listed under the William Shakespeare heading

7. European Literature

  • The Diary of Ann Frank, Ann Frank (Germany)¹
  • The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas (France)²
  • The Inferno, Dante Aleghieri (Italy)¹
  • The Divine Comedy (including The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso), Dante Aleghieri (Italy)²
  • The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom (Holland, 1971)¹
  • Heidi, Johanna Spyri (Switzerland, 1880)¹
  • All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque (Germany, 1930)¹
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne (France)¹
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel, Emma Orczy (Hungary/Britain, 1905)¹
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (Abridged), Alexandre Dumas²
  • Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand (France, 1897)¹
  • Les Miserables, Victor Hugo (France)³
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo (France, 1831)²
  • The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux (France, 1910)¹
  • Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad (Britain/Poland, 1899)¹
  • Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes (Spain)³

8. British Literature

  • Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scot (Scotland, 1820)³
  • 1984, George Orwell (Britain, 1949)¹
  • Beowulf/Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Unknown Author/Samuel Taylor Coleridge¹
  • The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer (England, 1386-1389)¹
  • Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë​ (Britain, 1847)²
  • Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë​ (Britain, 1847)²
  • Penmarric, Susan Howatch (Britain, 1971)²
  • Sarum, Edward Rutherford (Britain, 1987)²
  • Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier (Britain, 1938)²
  • Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (Britain, 1945)²
  • The Vicar of Wakefield, Oliver Goldsmith (Ireland)¹
  • North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (1854-55)²
  • Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy (1874)¹
  • The Warden, Anthony Trollope (Britain, 1855)​¹
  • The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde (Ireland, 1895)¹
  • The Quiet American, Graham Greene (Britain, 1955)¹
  • Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (Britain, 1932)¹
  • The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Henry Fielding (England, 1749)³
  • ​The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey (Scotland, 1951)¹ (This book goes well with Shakespeare's Richard III.)
  • Tristram Shandy, Lawrence Sterne (Ireland, 1760)¹
  • ​Lord of the Flies, William Golding (Britain, 1954)¹
  • Silas Marner, George Eliot (Britain, 1861)¹
  • The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham (Britain, 1944)¹
  • Tai-Pan: a Novel of Hong Kong, James Clavell (1966)²
  • Ten Little Indians, Agatha Christie (Britain, 1939)¹

9. William Shakespeare

  • Richard II (History)²
  • ​Henry IV, parts 1 and 2 (History)³
  • Henry V (History)²
  • Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3 (History)³
  • Richard III (History/Tragedy)²
  • Hamlet (Tragedy)²
  • Twelfth Night (Comedy)¹
  • Romeo and Juliet (Tragedy)¹
  • The Merchant of Venice (Comedy/Tragedy)¹
  • Richard II (History)¹
  • ​As You Like It (Comedy)¹
  • ​Much Ado About Nothing (Comedy)¹
  • Julius Caesar (Tragedy/History)¹
  • Coriolanus (Tragedy/History)¹
  • The Taming of the Shrew (Comedy)¹
  • Macbeth (Tragedy)¹
  • ​The Tempest (Comedy)¹
  • The Sonnets (Poetry)²
  • Othello (Tragedy)¹
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (Comedy)¹
  • King Lear (Tragedy)¹
  • Shakespeare: The World as Stage (biography), Bill Bryson¹

10. Faith, Philosophy, and Politics

  • Confessions, Augustine (North Africa)²
  • The Law, Frederic Bastiat (France), The Prince, Nicolo Macchiavelli (Italy), and Common Sense, Thomas Paine (United States)²
  • The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther (Germany)²
  • The Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (Great Britain)²
  • Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray (South Africa)¹
  • Desiring God, John Piper (United States)²
  • Foxe's Book of Martyrs, John Foxe (England)²
  • The Reason for God, Tim Keller (United States)²
  • Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis (Great Britain)²
  • The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Germany)²
  • If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty, Eric Metaxas²
  • Knowing God, J. I. Packer (Canada)²
  • The Gospel According to Job, Mike Mason (United States)³
  • The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer (United States)¹
  • The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis (Great Britain)¹
  • The Imitation of Christ, Thomas á Kempis (Germany)²

11. Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Speculative Fiction

  • 1984, George Orwell (Britain, 1949)²
  • Enders Game, Orson Scott Card (United States, 1983)²
  • Dune, Frank Herbert³
  • Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein²
  • Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke²
  • The House on the Strand, Daphne Du Maurier (Britain)²
  • The War of the Worlds/The Time Machine, H. G. Wells (Britain)¹
  • Dracula, Bram Stoker (Ireland)¹
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne (France)²
  • Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman²
  • Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (Ireland, 1726)²
  • Assassin's Apprentice, Robin Hobb²
  • Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (Britain)¹
  • Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey²
  • Foundation, Isaac Asimov²
  • Magician: Apprentice, Raymond Feist²
  • The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkein²
  • Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (1959)²
  • The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury²
  • The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (1952)²

12. Charles Dickens

  • Oliver Twist (1837-1839)²
  • Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865)³
  • ​The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844)³
  • David Copperfield (1849-1850)³
  • Little Dorrit (1855-1857)³
  • ​Great Expectations (1860-1861)²
  • ​A Tale of Two Cities (1859)²
  • Bleak House (1852-1853)³
  • Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839)³
  • Dombey and Son (1846-1848)³
  • Hard Times (1854)²
  • ​A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books (1843)²

13. Books on Writing or Literature

​All World Literature/Writing (Honors) students must read at least two of the following books.
  • The Courage to Write​ (Ralph Keyes)
  • On Writing Well (William Zinsser)
  • My Reading Life (Pat Conroy)
  • ​The Glamor of Grammar (Roy Peter Clark)
  • Writing Tools (Roy Peter Clark)
  • Brightest Heaven of Invention (Peter Leithart)
  • ​Novel Writing Mastery (S. Evans)
  • Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius within You (Ray Bradbury)

Some works may be considered for multiple categories, e.g., Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, is appropriate for both Poetry, Drama, and Short Stories and American Literature. George Orwell's 1984 is appropriate for both Speculative Fiction and general British Literature, etc. In some instances, category subdivisions (e.g., 19th Century British Literature and 20th Century British Literature) and/or new categories (e.g., American Women Authors or Military History and Literature) are also feasible, pending the approval of the instructor. 
Superscript numbers indicate proposed point values based on general length and difficulty.
Several important forms are included below. The first, a downloadable World Literature Honors Prospectus, will allow the student to design and then submit an overall plan for this course.

The second is a PDF version of this web page, which may be printed and used to complete the prospectus.

Finally, students will use the online Literature Evaluation Form to submit brief assessments of the various works of literature they have chosen to read over the course of the year. Evaluation forms must be completed on or before the end of the appropriate quarter (as specified in the prospectus) and are graded independently by the instructor.
world_lit_prospectus.pdf
File Size: 82 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

honors_literature.pdf
File Size: 167 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Literature Evaluation Form

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