Bachelor of Arts (BA) - The University of Hong Kong

154ENGL2043.Twentieth century American women's writings: Awakenings (6 credits)Beginning with Kate Chopin's provocative novella, The Awakening, a story of both personal liberationand destruction, this course will explore the many complex awakenings - literary, personal, political,familial, social – that American women experienced during the course of the twentieth century. In closereadings of a variety of texts, including novella, short stories, poetry, and essays, the class will engagefeminist theory as a tool for uncovering how these American women imagined themselves during theturbulent changes of the twentieth century.Assessment will be by 60% coursework, 40% examination.ENGL2044.Shakespeare with Asian faces: Cinematic adaptations of Macbeth, King Lear,Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet (6 credits)This course will look at cinematic interpretations of Shakespeare in Asian and Asian American settings.We will study four tragedies by Shakespeare and then watch a number of film adaptations, includingfilms by Akira Kurosawa, Chen Kai-ge, and Andrej Bartkowiak. We will examine the ways in whichour knowledge of these tragedies enhances our appreciation of these films and the ways in which thesefilms tell us what is unique or "untranslatable" about Shakespeare.Assessment will be by 100% coursework.ENGL2051.Critical and creative approaches to English (6 credits)For any creative writers - writers of poetry, fiction, drama - from outside the Anglo-American world,English has a complex history and often an uneasy relationship, with native languages. The decision, orthe choice, to write and publish in English, is an issue they have reflected upon and debated, nationallyand internationally, with other writers. Such reflections and debates constitute one of the dynamiccontours of "Global English" as a discourse. Critical questions often raised in the debate concern theEnglish language as the bearer of cultures. They include the changing roles of English as a colonial orpostcolonial language, as the language of the unitary or pluralistic nations, as a dominant or minoritylanguage, as the language of 'English literature' or 'Literature in English'. In this course, students will beintroduced to these questions through discussions of essays by writers who have considerable practicalexperience using English as the language of creativity, and who are active contributors to debates aboutEnglish in their own locations.Assessment will be by 50% examination, 50% coursework.EUROPEAN STUDIESThe Programme in European Studies provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Europeancivilization. Rather than being based in a single department, the Programme is administered through theFaculty of Arts by a Board of European Studies comprised of representatives from ten departments andthe Language Centre. Both rigourous and flexible, the Programme enables students to tailor theirstudies to suit their individual aims; students can develop the necessary skills for a wide range ofpursuits related to the politics, history, culture, and economy of Europe.To major in European Studies, a student must take the three European Studies Core Courses(EUST1001, EUST2001, EUST3001); three years of a Core Language (French, German, Italian, orSpanish); and a minimum of twenty-four credits from an approved list of second- and third-yeardepartmental courses (see below). In exceptional cases, a particular requirement may be waived. AnyEuropean Studies student who successfully fulfills the requirements of the major in French or the minorin French, German, Italian, or Spanish will be deemed to have satisfied the language requirement of theEuropean Studies major. In such a case, the student will be required either to take a second language inplace of the first, or to increase the load of departmental courses from 24 credits to 48 credits.