Millikin University English—Writing About Literature


Welcome!

Millikin University Bronze Man Statue One of the hallmarks of an education at Millikin University is an engagement with Performance Learning, whereby students are given the opportunity to put their learning into direct practice. Those studying literature within the English Department at Millikin are therefore asked not just to study literature and literary scholarship, but to create it. These critical casebook websites are a prime example of those efforts. As a final project in EN202: Writing About Literature, students undertake the focused study of a single, novel-length text, utilizing the tools of literary theory that they have learned throughout the semester. The specific text chosen for this study is often a relatively new or under‐studied work, so that students are given the chance to contribute genuinely to the field of literary scholarship by joining (or even beginning) a new conversation about a literary work.

As part of this intensive study, students craft their own near‐professional critical analyses of the course text, but they are also asked to work in teams to gather or create resources that they feel would be useful to future scholars, teachers, or students working with the novel. All of this material is then gathered together as part of a critical casebook website, which is subsequently designed in collaboration with the students of the English Department's EN305: Web Publishing course.


Casebook Collection


A Children's Bible Casebook Home Page

A Children's Bible

by Lydia Millet

There There Casebook Home Page

There There

by Tommy Orange

Who Fears Casebook Home Page

Who Fears Death

by Nnedi Okorafor

80 Days Casebook Home Page

80 Days

by Inkle Studios

Ready Player One Casebook Home Page

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

Salvage the Bones Casebook Home Page

Salvage the Bones

by Jesmyn Ward

A Gate at the Stairs Casebook Home Page

A Gate at the Stairs

by Lorrie Moore

A Visit from the Goon Squad Casebook Home Page

A Visit from the Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan

Under the Feet of Jesus Casebook Home Page

Under the Feet of Jesus

by Helena Maria Viramontes

Wicked Casebook Home Page

Wicked

by Gregory Maguire

Persepolis Casebook Home Page

Persepolis

by Marjane Satrapi

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Casebook Home Page

The Brief Wondrous Life of

Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Oryx and Crake Casebook Home Page

Oryx and Crake

by Margaret Atwood

Beloved Casebook Home Page

Beloved

by Toni Morrison