Assumption College

Literature poses profound questions about what it means to be a human being. You will explore these questions, consider the aesthetic and ethical issues they raise, and think about how you can live your answers. Assumption offers an English major with a concentration in Literature.

Literature allows you to study works of a wide variety of periods, genres, and formats including film, audio, and websites. You will also be part of the ongoing conversation with these works, as well as part of the creation of new critical and imaginative texts of all kinds - written, visual and electronic. The ability to read, write, think and speak effectively will serve you well in the classroom and in your career.

Gain practical experience:

• Write for the campus newspaper, Le Provocateur

• Publish your work in Thoreau's Rooster, a journal of undergraduate creative non-fiction, or The Phoenix, a journal of undergraduate fiction, poetry and art
• Write and edit for broadcast at state-of-of the-art media facillities such as WUCW, a local radio station, or ACTV, Assumption College's own television station
• Participate in the English Honor Society
• Perform in theatrical productions
• Join professors and other students to go to out of town plays or visit area museums
• Travel through Ireland or England over spring break with other English majors and enjoy having your professors as “tour guides.”

Concentration in Literature

Students who concentrate in literature take a minimum of 10 courses (30 credits) in the English department, including writing and literature from a wide range of historic periods, genres and formats. The concentration culminates in an in-depth capstone seminar that gives students both theoretical and practical experience, especially for people planning to be teachers, writers and scholars. Students in Literature are encouraged to do an internship during their junior or senior year.

English is not simply a major: it is a journey to understand yourself and the larger world. Through the process of learning both inside and outside the classroom, you will come to see why C.S. Lewis wrote: “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it.”