This course is, most broadly, about engaging with great works of literature—learning how to be engaged, careful, erudite readers—and, just as importantly, incisive, articulate, confident writers. By studying, and learning to appreciate, the unique, whole-hearted expression of the great writers of the past, we will learn to make our own unique, whole-hearted expression. More specifically, the junior year English class is about comparative thinking and writing—drawing unexpected connections between texts, discovering commonalities that are unique to our own reading of the texts, that say something about ourselves as readers just as much as they say something about the authors of those texts. (This semester, James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," Gloria Anzaldúa's "La Conciencia de la Mestiza," Chen Chen's "Kafka's Axe and Michael's Vest," Mohsin Hamid's Exit West, and Rachel Ingalls's Mrs. Caliban.) The texts we will read will be challenging (in all senses of the word), but will reward effort. The same can be said for this course.