Why a blog?

Dear students,

now we have our Blog. Good news!

The purpose for keeping this blog is to facilitate communication and access to the texts we will be reading in class or for homework, and to keep you informed. Also, this is a space for you to leave your comments, to read literature in English, to enjoy the texts and the images you see here (I'll be posting paintings and pictures related to our class activities).

The name of the Blog is the title of one of my favorite poems by John Donne (1572-1631): "A Lecture upon the Shadow", published in London in 1633, two years after his death. I chose it as the name for the blog because I feel this image (of a lecture, or a teaching, about shadows) is very powerful, and makes us think about what a class on literature should be like. Are we just going to reproduce the old-fashioned ways of dealing with literature? Or are we going to be critical about what we read, about the decisions we make, the interpretations we construct, and so on? I'll definitely need your help and enthusiasm to make this class be as good, instructive and delightful as I intend it to be!

Please visit the sites I list here on the Blog; they will be very useful for you throughout the semester.

Enjoy your readings! ;)