Overview of Course

When Merlin changes young King Author into a hawk, King Author is amazed at his freedom, ability to soar and escape his problems. Finally, King Author figures out that it was what he didn’t see from the air that is important. He didn’t see any borders. Through the lens of literary fiction, we will experience our voyage from the air with no borders. We will concentrate on works that explore the universal theme of coming of age in one’s society. While building skills for reading fiction, such as theme, setting, context and metaphor, we will analyze the aspects of becoming an adult in various cultures. In turn, we will examine what it means to be a member of our own societies. We will read poetry, short stories and novels from Spain, Greece, Jordan, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and China and analyze the commonalities of the human experience.