Overview

The English Department offers a strong program of classic and contemporary literature from diverse voices that act as both windows and mirrors to their own lives.

Through reading a broad range of genres including novels, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, articles, short stories, and plays, we intend for students to experience texts that reflect both characters and authors of diverse identities. Students in all curriculum levels read a core of important works in many genres, including The Odyssey and a collection of myths from varied cultures; Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex; Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God; and selected writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Other texts that students may read include The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The House on Mango Street, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Laramie Project, The Hate U Give, The Glass Castle, When the Emperor was Divine, The Handmaid's Tale, The Great Gatsby, Twilight: Los Angleles, 1992, Everything I Never Told You, and The Things They Carried. Through class discussions of the ideas and artistry in these and other works, students learn to read with greater insight, sensitivity, and pleasure as they engage with texts that reflect their own experiences and that allow them to see, know, understand, and empathize with people, cultures, and experiences different from their own. Read More