The literature major at Hawai'i Pacific
University is designed to present students with the literary
genres of fiction, poetry and drama and introduce them to
the major Western and Asian literary periods and writers.
Such encounters are intended to foster intellectual development,
aesthetic appreciation, intercultural awareness and ethical
debate. While developing distinctive personal writing voices,
students refine skills in critical reasoning and academic
research that will prepare them for a variety of graduate
programs and careers.
Program Objectives
Students will:
develop awareness and appreciation of the richness of language
and the various creative and rhetorical uses to which it is put,
developing facility in interpreting and analyzing the language
of others and in employing it themselves in both oral and written
form.
develop cognitive skills such as the ability to synthesize
diverse materials and experiences, to perceive shades of meaning
-- finding the common ground among ideas, experiences and works
apparently disparate and the subtle differences among those superficially
the same -- to entertain paradoxes and envision multiple truths
or ways of approaching a problem, and to construct complex, logical
arguments.
learn to identify the principles, concepts and techniques used
in the creation and analysis of literature, to use appropriate
terminology in describing and analyzing them, and to employ them
capably in creative writing courses.
develop intercultural awareness and ethical sensibility. As
students read literature from various cultures and sub-cultures
they learn to appreciate different perspectives and traditions
and enter imaginatively into different literary worlds. As students
observe and participate in the ethical deliberations of literary
characters, exploring the values that guide them and debating
the choices they make, they become aware of moral ambiguity and
complexity and develop their own capacity for exploring moral
and ethical decisions.
progress from formal (new critical) analysis in introductory
classes to exploring and critiquing literature from the various
epistemological approaches to literary criticism such as sociological
and cultural, biographical, historical and psychological approaches.
demonstrate appropriate literary research methods and techniques
and the ability to present their own arguments in response to
or supported by primary or secondary research.
What makes the literature major at HPU special?
A multi-cultural perspective
we offer the customary courses in British and American literature,
(including ethnic literature) but also offer courses in Asian and
local literature that you won’t find at most Mainland colleges and
universities, as well as courses that juxtapose writers from different
cultures.
Rich creative writing opportunities
you can take courses with award-winning published authors in poetry,
fiction and screen writing, work on the Hawai'i Pacific Review,
attend the Ko‘olau Writing Workshops, and submit your own work to
the literary supplement of Kalamalama, the student newspaper.
An accomplished, professional faculty dedicated to offering you
personalized attention
all faculty teach both composition and literature and both upper
and lower division students. Enrollments in upper division classes
are generally in the low teens, giving the instructor the opportunity
to work closely with each student, and each student the opportunity
to make meaningful contributions to discussion. Furthermore each
student in the major can choose a faculty advisor to provide advice
and guidance as he/she progress through it.
