Noble and Greenough School Course Catalog

What makes certain books last and last and last?  How does a complex story draw us in and hold our attention?  Why do certain characters stick with generations of readers?
In this course, we will study Tolstoy’s masterpeice, Anna Karenina, in depth to consider how a writer weaves a complicated and enduring story.  In addition to the novel, we will read supporting material to understand the context of the novel and the history of the writer.  Finally, we will consider the reception of the novel at publication, and study the scholarly discussion of the novel over time. 

English II focuses on world literature and writers across cultures who have sought to make sense of the human condition. Over time, writers have addressed the problem of how we understand, connect with, and engage in a diverse and complex world. While literature often reflects the conflict and pessimism that history has provoked, writers also use their art to offer hope and inspire change. Responding to a variety of literary genres, students will continue to build on the skills developed sophomore year as they strive to become more independent critical thinkers and writers. They will work to sustain longer analytical essays, and in the second semester, they will pursue a research project on an independent reading project and complete a personal narrative project. Literature may include: Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad), Hamlet (William Shakespeare), The Woman Warrior, The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy) and selected short stories and poetry.

English III focuses on American literature and the diverse perspectives of those who have sought, embraced, or survived the American experience. From various regions and in various genres, American writers have contemplated what it means to be an American citizen, and how the tension between our longing for the past and our desire for progress and reinvention affects communities and individuals. Our national literature is often fraught with conflict, contradiction, and pessimism, but it is also full of hope, optimism, and inspiration. Students will continue to build on the skills developed freshman year, especially the focus on close critical reading, as they push toward longer, analytical essays. Literature may include: The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne); A Mercy (Morrison);The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass); The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald); Fences (Wilson); Sweat (Nottage); poetry by Whitman, Dickinson, Hughes, Frost; and short stories.

The Class IV English curriculum prepares students for the future demands of upper school courses by encouraging them to build toward mastery in fundamental critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking skills. Students strive to hone the precision and power of both their written and oral language over the course of the year. By building distinct strategies for pre-writing, drafting, and revision through creative and analytic assignments, students come to understand writing as a process. To build confidence in their public speaking voices, all Class IV students prepare memorized declamations from two of the works they read. Students also review grammar and build vocabulary throughout the year. In conjunction with skill-building, students explore a diverse and challenging reading list across a variety of genres: selected short stories Interpreter of Maladies (Lahiri), Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), The Odyssey (Homer), Persepolis (Satrapi), and Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston).

Students in Journalism I will study all aspects of news gathering and dissemination in preparation for the creation of the school's monthly newspaper, The Nobleman. Throughout the year, students will collaboratively brainstorm ideas for articles that have significance for the Nobles community. This includes world and local events, significant school events, features related to student concerns, and contemporary satire. Foundational skills such as brainstorming, interviewing, and lede writing will be covered. Students will be responsible for writing articles and creating multimedia features engaging photography, video, text, and animation as a means of communicating their content. Classes focus on the practicalities of creating a newspaper, including journalistic processes and principles, writing and multimedia assignments, layout design, and production schedules. The end product of this academic pursuit is The Nobleman. Please note that this course does not fulfill the English requirement.

This course is designed for students who have successfully completed the Journalism I class and who wish to continue their contributions to our school newspaper, The Nobleman. Similar to Journalism I, students will brainstorm, write and edit articles, take photos, and make videos for all three of the Nobleman platforms (paper, website, and social media). With a focus on editing, managing, and leading a paper through the production process, students will get a hands-on opportunity to further hone their skills and take the lead in the production of The Nobleman. Lessons will also cover journalistic integrity, layout design for impact, and organizational leadership will be addressed on an ongoing basis. Besides writing, multimedia and layout design and production, this class will include leadership opportunities for Class I students in the areas of editorial management. By the school year's end, students will have developed comprehensive journalistic skills and experience. Please note, that this course does not fulfill the English requirement.

This course will examine several novels that are set on college and boarding school campuses with protagonists coming of age under a variety of pressures. We will explore the conventions, principles, and limitations of such a setting and how it provides a backdrop for writers to address broad social issues such as racism, cultural alienation, gender, and sexuality. With a focus on literary analysis and analytical writing, the course may include the following texts: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, and Trust Exercise by Susan Choi.

This course will examine contemporary examples of speculative and dystopian literature to consider the question, what does it mean to be human? Through a variety of texts, including literary fiction and graphic novels, we will explore both the extremes of societal collapse and how we respond, as well as worlds in which the magical and the mystical exist alongside the mundane. This course will study texts that look at real-world events, both historical and contemporary, through the lens of the dystopic and fantastical. We will discuss how using tropes crucial to the fantasy and dystopian genres helps us understand our own world and ourselves. Texts may include: Courage to Dream by Neal Shusterman, Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng, A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb, Grievers by Adrienne Maree Brown,Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, Greenwood by Michael Christie, and V for Vendetta by Alan Moore.

Since the birth of the novel, cities have figured prominently as metaphoric characters in fiction. Cities draw the jaded and the dreamer, the insider and the outsider, the opportunist and the altruist. They are fixed in their hierarchies yet depend on and foster social mobility. They are places of possibility and hope as well as decadence and decay, representing the heights of human innovation and the depths of immorality and corruption. In this course, we will explore how novelists reconcile this multiplicity, examining a variety of cities and the ways in which authors use their cityscapes to reflect on the individual in society and on the global society at large. We will explore the key role that cities play in embodying and propelling differenceandmdash; in thought, in philosophy, and in artistic expression. Our literature will take us to several cities around the globe, from Paris to Johannesburg, from New York to Delhi, and may include such texts as The Age of Innocence (Wharton), Let the Great World Spin (McCann), Jazz (Morrison), The Day of the Locust (West), There, There (Orange) and White Tiger (Aravind Adiga).

How do we tell the truth? How do we access and research our world, organize and structure it, verbalize and express it? How far can we stretch the truth for the sake of story and still call it nonfiction? This course will explore multiple subgenres of creative nonfiction, from the nonfiction novel to the magazine profile, from the autobiography to personal narrative, from immersion journalism to memoir. Students will examine and respond to nonfiction as an art form as well as craft their own personal essays, articles, and profiles. They will confront our texts both as writers of nonfiction and as readers of literature, creating their own stories and responding analytically to others'. Works may include In Cold Blood, Into the Wild, Between the World and Me, Autobiography of a Face, The Glass Castle and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, as well as nonfiction essays, both classic and contemporary.

Structured as a writing workshop, this course will allow students to explore the foundations of fiction (character, setting, conflict, and emotion) and experiment with different forms and styles. Throughout the second half of the course, students will draft, workshop, and revise a short story and participate in a Coffeeshop Reading, a celebration of writing in the form of a public reading of their final work.

With The New Yorker magazine as the central text for the course, students will explore the limitless possibilities of writing creative nonfiction such as personal essays, long-form journalism, profiles, and reviews. We will explore the foundations of storytelling and how the techniques of fiction (structure, word choice, setting, plot, dialogue, and character development) work to create compelling nonfiction. Throughout the second half of the course, students will work together to draft, workshop, and revise a variety of pieces for our own New Yorker style magazine, which we will share with the community.

How can analyzing the adaptation of a novel allow us to better understand what it is that literature does, and vice versa? This course explores fictional texts that have been adapted into various forms and how those adaptations offer the opportunity to not only discuss elements of literature but also examine a range of discourses related to ethnicity, class, gender, and other aspects of history and culture. We will look at the adaptation of several novels and short stories as a creative and critical practice. With a focus on literary analysis and analytical writing, the course may include the following texts and their adaptations: “Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King; “The Curious Incident of Benjamin Button” by F. Scott Fitzgerald; “Brokeback Mountain” by Annie Proulx; “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber; and "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, among others.

The goal of this course is to use literature to unpack the mythologies of the American Frontier. The tropes of rugged individualism, the pioneer spirit, and even the necessity of violence have long dominated our American ethos when considering our understanding of borders, the “West”, and the “country.” This same ethos has profoundly impacted our ideas about both race and gender, and - conversely - our comprehension of race and gender has helped to create this mythology. Moreover, the pervasive narratives of the archetypal cowboy and the classic western have impacted our national discussions surrounding politics, religion, and the arts. In order to understand and to problematize the profound effect of these narratives, we will read three texts that span nearly a century of American literary history. Each is set in some version of the frontier; each has a young female protagonist, and each is dominated by an overarching sense of loss. These texts will be supplemented by both film studies (such as Campion’s Power of the Dog and Eastwood’s Unforgiven) and works of nonfiction (such as Slotkin’s Gunfighter Nation). Texts may include Willa Cather’s My Antonia, Charles Portis’ True Grit, and Karen Russell’s Swamplandia!.

This course will use the study of literature to examine fundamental questions about leadership: What are the characteristics of effective leaders? Why do some leaders succeed while others fail? How do leaders navigate competing ethical obligations? Does power corrupt, and if so, how? Is there such a thing as a "born-leader?" Through the critical reading of novels, short stories, plays, and poems, students will learn to articulate their own definitions of leadership. In addition to fiction, readings will include excerpts from philosophical works and historical narratives. Course assignments will include analytical and creative writing, personal reflections, debates, role-playing exercises, interviews, presentations, and collaborative projects.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, artists began exploring new ways to express their impressions of the world. This period, which later became known as the Modernist Movement, marked a moment when artists began to push the boundaries of art, altering our expectations of the arts and of artists in the process. In this course, we will use T.S. Eliot's poem, The Waste Land as our primary text as we consider how artists of the past informed this re-interpretation of the role of art and how artists working in the aftermath of WWI introduced a new way of looking at the world. While our primary text will be Eliot's poem, we will be reading classical literature and classical mythology; poetry by John Milton, Andrew Marvell, and Shakespeare and historical documents.

One dominant theme in literature has been the depiction of social and personal change,, movement that is often associated with images of the road ("two roads diverged"), of travel, of transformation. These images have become so traditional that it seems fair to suggest that they represent one of humanity's great archetypal patterns. This course will explore that archetype through literature of the road, taking that genre in both its literal and metaphoric modes. Authors may include: Kerouac, Nabokov, Melville, Conrad, Coetzee, Homer, Faulkner, Thoreau, McCarthy, Morrison, Steinbeck, Cather.

Page and Stage offers students the opportunity to explore plays both as literature and as performance. Over the course of the semester, students will read plays from a variety of different time periods and genres, including some plays in translation, discuss these plays in depth, and then bring sections of these plays to life through on-you-feet exercises and scene studies. The central questions guiding our exploration will be how characters are created on the page and how these characters are brought to life on stage; how good theater exists at the confluence of text, tradition, and creativity; and how plays function differently from other types of literature. As part of their course work, students will perform selections of the plays they study, and they write essays exploring the plays’ characters and themes. To culminate their work in this course, students will revise and then perform one or more of their previous acting studies in front of an audience at the end of the semester. Texts may include: Death of a Salesman (Miller), Our Town (Wilder), The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov), Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Stoppard), Art (Reza), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (McGuinness), The Piano Lesson (Wilson), Angels in America (Kushner).

This course will introduce the student to the major philosophers in the Western intellectual tradition, and students will read literature that either offers a fundamentally philosophical approach to a subject or focuses on questions raised by philosophers. Topics include: the perception of reality, the nature of reality, ethics, aesthetics, personal freedom, service to self, service to a community, the social institutions of home and marriage, the nature of love, the impact of technology. Papers will mainly be short exercises in personal thought. Books may include: Black Dogs, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Brave New World, Grendel, Equus, Chimera, Passion of the Western Mind, Copenhagen, The Road.

This elective will explore a variety of poems and poets to unveil the power of language in this precise form. We will weigh form and meaning, and consider a wide variety of poems and poets. This course will balance reading poems with writing poems and about poems. Students will produce their own collections of poetry by the end of the course.. Texts may include: A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver; Constellation Route, Matthew Olzmann; Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay; Dream Work, Mary Oliver; Life on Mars, Tracy K. Smith.

This course will examine the function of satire and humor as a vehicle for criticizing, protesting, and mocking societal conventions. Through a variety of critical reading and writing exercises, we will discuss the following questions: What is the definition of satire in relation to other literary forms? What literary techniques do satirical writers employ? Why do groups in positions of authority often view satire with scorn and condescension? Is it possible for satirical writing to change the world? Readings will include, but are not limited to, Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift), Candide (Voltaire), short stories by Margaret Atwood, George Saunders, and Lorrie Moore, and excerpts from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Saturday Night Live. As part of the course, students will have the opportunity to write satire and develop satirical projects and presentations.

Music is one of the oldest forms of artistic expression, evoking a range of emotions both personal and universal. Often, songs and albums can exist as background, as something consumed like popcorn mindlessly tossed into one’s mouth in a dimly lit theater. This class will explore music, artists, literature, and songs in deep, academic, and substantive ways, to look at albums and songs as essays and literature in and of themselves. To this end, we will read albums and songs collectively and individually while also reading a number of fictional and non-fictional books centered on music. We will become producers and critics as we consume, critique, discuss and listen. The music podcast entitled Dissect will be one central text, alongside Patti Smith’s Just Kids, Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad, and Hanif Abduraquib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us. Below find the essential questions: What makes an album or song canonical, timeless, or universal? How do writers capture the emotions, ideas, and moods evoked in music and in literary texts through the written and spoken word? How have authors explored and utilized music as a thematic and symbolic tool in their literary works? How can an album or song construct a larger narrative arc akin to a novel or short story? This class is structured around two major goals. The first is to help you refine the communication skills (writing, reading, speaking, listening) necessary in college, the workplace, and daily life. The second is to prepare you to think critically about questions and works that shape our world.

This team-taught course will examine the power of race as a biological reality and as a social construct that has affected American history, culture, and literature as much as any other human force or entity. Looking at race through the lenses of literature, film, outside speakers, and field trips, we will explore the impact of race on us individually, collectively, and nationally. Texts may include: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria (Tatum), The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ( Diaz), The Human Stain (Roth), When the Emperor Was Divine (Otsuka), and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (Sherman Alexie).

Using as a case study the murderous environment created by Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators, this course explores foundational ideas concerning humanity, morality, justice, and citizenship in democratic societies. Through an examination of literature, journalism, memoir, diary, and political rhetoric, this course will challenge students to wrestle with important ethical issues that many will find to be not only historical but also contemporary. Texts may include: Hannah Arendt, excerpts from Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil; Heinrich Böll, Train Was On Time; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, After Ten Years; Charlotte Delbo, None of Us Will Return, Useless Knowledge, The Measure of Our Days; Han Fallada, Every Man Dies Alone; Ursela Hegi, Children and Fire: A Novel; Primo Levi, If This Is A Man; Julie Orringer, The Flight Portfolio; Margaret Paxson, The Plateau; Tatiana de Rosnay, Sarah’s Key; Gerda Weissmann Klein, All But My Life; Elie Wiesel, The Night Trilogy; Simon Wiesenthal et al, The Sunflower.