Course Outline of Record

Item	Value
Eff Term	Fall 2026
Curriculum Committee Approval Date	10/15/2025
Top Code	150100 - English
Units	3 Total Units (Lecture Units 3)
Hours	54 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 54)
Total Outside of Class Hours	108
Total Student Learning Hours	162
Course Credit Status	Credit: Degree Applicable (D)
Material Fee	No
Basic Skills	Not Basic Skills (N)
Repeatable	No
Open Entry/Open Exit	Yes
Grading Policy	Standard Letter (S),  Pass/No Pass (B)
Associate Arts Local General Education (GE)	Area 3 Arts and Humanities 3A Theory (OC1)
Associate Science Local General Education (GE)	Area 3B Humanities (OSC2)

Course Description

Read, analyze, and write on important texts of Popular Fiction including popular novels, detective fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, young adult, romance, historical fiction, and graphic novel/comics. Explore the historical, cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic implications of representative works. Formulate and produce written analyses of assigned works. Enrollment Limitation: Same as ENGL A168; students who complete ENGL A168H may not enroll in or receive credit for ENGL A168. ADVISORY: ENGL C1000. Transfer Credit: CSU; UC.

Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)

1. Explore significant historical, philosophical, cultural, and aesthetic implications of representative works of Popular fiction, including defining traits and major themes.

Course Objectives

• 1. Read and demonstrate an understanding of major authors, works, and genres of Popular fiction.
• 2. Analyze and interpret the literature along with the intellectual, social, philosophical, cultural, mythic, religious, and/or historical elements of Popular Fiction.
• 3. Recognize and interpret the literary devices and writing styles evident in Popular Fiction. Distinguish how these elements represent an individual author?s aesthetic sensibility and a larger context of social understanding and consciousness.
• 4. Relate the literary works of Popular Fiction to their historical, philosophical, social, political, and aesthetic contexts.
• 5. Demonstrate and understanding of the above through appropriate academic discourse and conventions of literary analysis.
• 6. Demonstrate comprehension of the above through classroom discussion, written exams, and essays, using appropriate citation form.

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Lecture Content

1. An overview of the differences between traditional/canonical literary texts and popular/mainstream texts.
A. Historical, social, economic, and philosophical context of popular, commercially successful literature.
B. Central themes and concerns of Popular fiction, including ones that have characterized cultures, sub-cultures, or time periods.
C. Discuss literary analysis, literary theory, and significant theories concerning race, culture, sexuality, and identity.
D. An examination of various genres of Popular
Fiction:
2. Popular, commercially successful novels such as 
A. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
B. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind
C. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird
D. Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club or Choke
E. Yann Martel’s Life of Pi
F. Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
G. Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides
3. Detective Fiction
A. Edgar Allen Poe’s Murder in the Rue Morgue
B. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, or The Hound of the Baskervill
C. Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, or Red Harves
D. Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep or The Long Goodbye
E. Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None 
F. Chester Hime’s If He Hollers Let Him Go 
G. Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress or Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned 
H. James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential 
4. Science Fiction 
A. H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, the Invisible Man or The Island of Dr. Moreau 
B. Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 
C. Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan or John Carter of Mars 
D. Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness or A Wizard of Earthsea 
E. Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man or Fahrenheit 451 
F. Frank Herbert’s Dune 
G. Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guild to the Galaxy 
H. Neil Gaiman’s American Gods or Neverwhere 
5. Spy/Thriller 
A. Rudyard Kipling’s Kim 
B. Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, From Russia With Love, or Goldfinger 
C. John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The Day of the Jackal, or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity 
D. Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October or The Cardinal of the Kremlin 
6. Westerns 
A. Zane Grey’s Rider of the Purple Sage or The Lone Star Ranger 
B. Louis L’Amour’s Hondo, The Quick and the Dead, or Sackett’s Land 
C. Charles Portis’ True Grit or The Dog of the South 
D. Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove 
E. Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian 
7. Horror 
A. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 
B. Bram Stoker’s Dracula 
C. H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories
D. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House
E. Stephen King’s The Shining, Carrie, or It 
F. Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho 
G. Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire or Vampire Chronicles 
H. Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs 
8. Young Adult 
A. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women 
B. L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables 
C. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie 
D. Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being A Wallflower 
E. John Green’s The Fault in our Stars 
F. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games 
G. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series 
9. Graphic Novels and Comics 
A. Alan Moore’s Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, From Hell or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 
B. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil: Man Without Fear, or Sin City 
C. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman 
D. Daniel Clowe’s Ghostworld 
E. Alison Beachdel’s Fun Home 
F. Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead

Method(s) of Instruction

• Lecture (02)
• DE Live Online Lecture (02S)

Instructional Techniques

Instructional techniques involve some or all of the following: lecture/discussion, in-class writing prompts, close reading, group work, panel discussions, debates, response papers, quizzes, and collaborative research presentations.

Reading Assignments

A minimum of four hours per week reading, analyzing, and annotating representative works from the genre of popular fiction.

Writing Assignments

Write a minimum of 3000 words (15 pages, 12 pt double spaced typed) about popular fiction: a) minimum of 2000 words (10 pages) of the writing must be in the form of analytical essays, b) the other writings may be in the form of tests requiring primarily short or long essay responses, journal writing, creative modeling of the literature, written notes outlining oral presentations, or other types of writing that demonstrate an understanding of the literature.

Out-of-class Assignments

A minimum of between four to six hours each week on writing assignments--including (but not limited to) essays, summaries, reading responses, research essays using secondary sources, and take home exams

Study Non-Contact Hours Recommended

108

Methods of Student Evaluation

• Midterm Exam
• Final Exam
• Short Quizzes
• Written Assignments
• Essay Examinations
• Projects (Individual/Group)
• Problem Solving Exercises
• Oral Presentations
• Skills Demonstration

Demonstration of Critical Thinking

Tests, analytical essays, journals, class discussions, or class presentations

Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration

Tests, analytical essays, journals, or class presentations

Resources Subscreen

• Textbook: Wilkin, Kim and Fletcher, Lisa.. Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction and Twenty-first Century Book Culture, 1st ed. . Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, (2022 ).
• Textbook: Grey,Z ane. Riders of the Purple Sage. Modern Library (2002 (Classic)).
• Textbook: Conan Doyle, Arthur Sir.. Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories, 1st ed. Oxford University Press, (2014 ).
• Textbook: Maas, Sarah J.. . A Court of Thorns and Roses. Bloomsbury Publishing (2020 ).
• Textbook: Ito, Junji. Uzumaki. VIZ Media LLC (2013 ).
• Textbook: Highsmith, Patricia. The Price of Salt,. Dover Press (2015 ).
• Textbook: Goines, Donald. Dopefiend. Holloway House (2021 ).
• Textbook: Hazelwood, Ali. The Love Hypothesis. Berkeley (2021).
• Textbook: SenLinYu. Alchemised . Del Rey (2025).
• Textbook: Agustina Bazterrica. Tender is the Flesh. Scribner (2020).
• Textbook: Suzanne Collins. Sunrise on the Reaping. Scholastic (2025).

Eligible Discipline(s)

• English: Master’s degree in English, literature, comparative literature, or composition OR bachelor’s degree in any of the above AND master’s degree in linguistics, TESL, speech, education with a specialization in reading, creative writing, or journalism OR the equivalent. Master's degree required.