by Amanda Zazueta
It’s that time of year again—Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Nope—registration! As you navigate the stress of trying to figure out next semester’s classes, while still taking tests and writing essays for your current ones, do you ever wish you could just get away? Well, what if I told you that you can? (Sort of. Please attend your classes.) Looking forward to summer, why not study abroad in Austria or China or have a local adventure in Ashland? Have I piqued your interest? Check out the course preview interviews below. Applications for studying abroad the summer of 2018 have been extended until December 1st.
ENG 391 “Identity Abroad: Americans in Europe”
Salzburg, Austria
Dr. Larson
What is the focus of the course?
LL: The theme of Summer Session II in Salzburg 2018 is identity in motion. And so the English [course] takes on this theme (in concert with the two other course offerings in History and Fine Arts) and will explore poems, fiction, and nonfiction involving Americans abroad in Europe—an intentional parallel with students’ own experience.
Have you taught this course before or is it a new course?
LL: It is a new course I’ve created.
What works are going to be explored?
LL: We start with Alain de Botton’s engaging nonfiction work The Art of Travel to set up some theoretical concepts, then continue our six weeks by exploring an anthology of travel poems, short stories (e.g. Henry James’ “Daisy Miller”), novels (Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises), nonfiction travel (Mark Twain’s A Tramp Abroad), a graphic novel (Art Spiegelman’s Maus), and a film (Caroll Reed/Orson Welles’ The Third Man).
How does being in Salzburg influence the course?
LL: The course is built entirely around engaging with the space of Salzburg and Austria. Students will be invited to reflect deeply on their own travels (during the three-day weekends, etc.) alongside the reflections of the authors. And field trips will augment our learning, as with a visit to Mauthausen Concentration Camp to provide a physical reinforcement of Spiegelman’s depiction of the Auschwitz experience, or a day in Vienna to pass through the streets of The Third Man.
(Important note: This course is cross-listed with ENG 112 if that requirement is needed instead of an upper-division course.)
ENG 391 “Modern Chinese Literature in Translation“
China
Dr. Orr
What is the focus of the course?
JO: Literature from mainland China in the 20th and 21st centuries. We also spend a goodly amount of time learning about Chinese history, since so many of the literary works require some understanding of life in China over the past century.
Have you taught this course before or is it a new course?
JO: I have taught the class twice on previous study abroad trips to China.
What works are going to be explored?
JO: We will use The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature and two novels: To Live by Yu Hua and Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Gua Xiao Lu.
How does being in China influence the course?
JO: Being in China is the background for understanding the material in the course. We do excursions all around Beijing that provide experiential understanding of Chinese culture. That kind of connection to the place is crucial to the class. And China is awesome!
ENG 329 “Shakespeare in Ashland”
Ashland
Dr. Hersh
What is the focus of the course?
CH: The class is cross-listed with Philosophy. It’s unique in that you will be learning about metaphysics through the lens of Shakespeare (a philosophy professor teaches these sections of the course) AND will explore both the literary and theatrical aspects of the Bard’s plays. I love that this class actually focuses on so many things at once and allows us to think about a single author through so many different lenses. I also am super excited that the class includes seeing high-quality performances of the plays we study.
Have you taught this course before or is it a new course?
CH: The class is not new, but it’s new to me. I have been looking forward to teaching this class for a long time and am really excited to be teaching it this summer with Professor Gauthier from Philosophy.
What works are going to be explored?
CH: We base our readings on what is playing in Ashland. This is determined by what tickets are available, but our choices this summer include Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Henry V, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and one non-Shakespearean play.
How does visiting Ashland influence the course?
CH: At the end of the summer term, after we have studied and discussed the plays together, the class travels down to Ashland for four nights and gets to view Oregon Shakespeare Festival performances of the plays we have covered.
As the wise poet Walt Whitman once wrote, “I tramp the perpetual journey.” Why not let your own journey begin with one of these travel-based courses?
For more information on how to apply for the Summer 2018 study abroad program, click here.
*Photo of the Great Wall of China by Jakub Halun CC BY-SA 3.0
*Photo of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival stage by T. Charles Erickson CC BY-SA 3.0