Encountering the Great Books (recognized across generations and cultures as classics) is central to a good liberal arts education.

Sign up for a half-credit course this fall that will allow you to explore some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays in a low-stakes but thoughtful discussion group, guided by a Literary Studies professor specializing in early literature.

ENLS 101 03, Great Books, will meet weekly on Fridays 10 to 11:20 a.m. It welcomes students from all majors and colleges at Bucknell looking for a way to deepen their liberal-arts education as they may pursue other areas of study.

The fall half-credit course, with the focus “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits,” can be taken on its own, or in sequence with a half-credit course with different readings in the spring semester.

Readings this semester will include these plays by Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (one play every two weeks across the semester. Assignments appropriate to a half-credit course will include in-class written reflections on the plays as a basis for discussion. There will be no research papers or take-home writing assignments.

Meets AHLG, ARHC, FRST requirements.

Your instructor: Rev. Prof. Paul Siewers has taught at Bucknell in English Literary Studies for a quarter century, specializing in early literature, and received the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He has studied, taught, and written about Shakespeare as a part of his focus on overlapping themes between biblical, medieval and modern literature. A former award-winning writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, he is also a chaplain at Bucknell and at the Muncy State Women’s Prison.

This course is supported by the Bucknell alumni of the Open Discourse Coalition.

(Photo: Prof. Siewers leading discussion at the Bucknell bookstore.)