English
Boston University Academy’s English curriculum promotes close reading and historical understanding. Through study of major works, in class discussion and in analytical papers, students learn to appreciate both the dramatic sweep of literary and cultural history and the special ways in which fiction, drama, and poetry do their thinking and enrich us individually and collectively. Over the three years, writing assignments grow in length, complexity, and use of sources, and each year students have a chance to do some creative writing.
EN20: The Literary Canon in Conversation: Self in Society (Grade 9)
What is the self–and how does it develop? What role do social processes and interactions play in shaping the individual’s experiences and identity? And what are the boundaries between the self and society? English 9 invites conversation between canonical and contemporary texts to explore these questions. Students join this lively conversation by engaging in the art and science of close reading, the delight and despair of creative, personal, and analytical writing, and the fundamentals of grammar. Ninth graders read selected stories from The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan); The Odyssey (Homer); Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston); Macbeth (William Shakespeare); Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen); and Exit West (Mohsin Hamid). In addition, teachers provide relevant ancillary materials.
EN40: British Literature: Global Citizenship (Grade 10)
How does a language almost flickering out of existence not just survive but thrive as a global lingua franca–and produce an enduring, evocative literature? Are there reasons for this language to transcend national boundaries and not just unify but celebrate the difference of its speakers? English 10 surveys the scenes, themes, and players from its Germanic roots in the British Isles to its multicultural present in various continents. Tenth graders refine the reading and writing skills through an extensive study of various literary forms and genres in addition to building on their knowledge of grammar: Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation); Othello (William Shakespeare); The Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri); Purple Hibiscus (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie); and The Wife of Willesden (Zadie Smith). Students read Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brönte) as summer reading. In addition, teachers provide relevant ancillary materials.
Focusing on major works of American prose, plays, and poetry, students are invited to discover what is American about American literature, and to explore – in conjunction with the junior history course – how America’s literature, like the nation itself, forged its own unique identity. Extending from American Romanticism through the contemporary moment, the class investigates American literature’s rather fraught response to social and political changes. In that spirit, students are encouraged to discover and discuss how American literature is singularly informed by ideas and cultural debates concerning freedom, destiny, adversity, success, community and belonging, class, gender, and race. Students are also introduced to literary research and literary criticism. Assignments include interpretive arguments and comparative analyses, research-based responses, as well as opportunities for reflecting on films and for creative writing. Students read Severance (Ling Ma); The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne); There There (Tommy Orange); Passing (Nella Larsen); The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald); The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsmith); Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates) and Giovanni’s Room (James Baldwin). EN60: American Literature: Identity and Belonging (Grade 11)
In this seminar, we will study seven authors whose work stand at the intersection of philosophy, psychology, and literature: Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Franz Fanon, Albert Camus, and Byung-Chul Han. These authors each explore the challenges of “becoming who we are”, or more precisely the difficulty of navigating between our desire to be authentic and our societal and unconscious need to deceive ourselves and others about who we are. Nietzsche, for example, postulates a hidden will to dominant others that is the true motive of our behaviors and values – a view that is explored by Dostoyevsky and Camus. Freud, on the other hand, believes civilization must restrain our unconscious erotic and destructive instincts, but in doing so, produces neuroses requiring therapy – a lesson taken up by Fanon, Beauvoir, and Han. Most of the works are either short (novella length) or else excerpted. The reading list is Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals, Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Camus’s The Fall, and Han’s The Burnout Society. Students will also write several short response papers to the readings. For 12s only. EN80A: Suspicious Literature: The Challenge of Becoming Who We Are
The world is vast and its languages edifying. As global citizens, it behooves us to examine literature that reflects that complexity; we should read works by people from other parts of the world. This class touches on the foundations of comparative literature, colonialism/postcolonialism, and notions of nationalism and community building. We will ground ourselves by examining World-Systems Analysis by Immanuel Wallerstein to consider the ways in which various parts of the world, often considered separate and discrete are more connected than we typically give them credit. Then this course will dive into rich, page turning, nail biting novels whose language and characters will be as vivid as lapis Aleutian seas and peridot Patagonian rainforests. This course includes works such as Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Book of Salt by Monique Truong, and Out by Natsuo Kirino. We will examine various weltanschauungs and ask ourselves what these authors have to say about belonging and community, what understandings we can take from their offerings to inform and advance our own, and—most difficult of all—we will begin to identify which aspects of our own experiences we could offer cultures who may be examining us. For 12s only.EN80B: Global Literature
JSHEAR: Humanities, Experiential Learning, and Arts Research Seminar (HEAR)
How can we use humanities and social science research to drive change? This junior research seminar answers this essential question while exploring adventurously the City of Boston and the resources of Boston University. The seminar includes classroom discussions on research tools and methods, critical analyses of current research, meetings with professionals in social impact fields employing the humanities and social sciences, visits to BU libraries and archives, and field trips to museums and historical societies. By the end of the course, students are prepared to find purpose through research and action that matter. For 11s only.