Common Texts and FYS 101
Since the inception of FYS, one of its core principles has been the benefits of having an entire entering class of students reading and discussing texts in common. Over the years, though, there have been changes in the number of texts in common, and in the texts chosen. (More information about the common texts in previous years is available here.)

Beginning in Fall of 2006, the common texts for FYS 101 will be available in an anthology, The Mercer Reader. Each section of FYS 101 should read and discuss the following texts (using the term "texts" in the broader, academic sense):

  • The Gulf Stream, by Winslow Homer (a painting)
  • La Condition Humaine, by Rene Magritte (a painting)
  • Allegory of the Cave, by Plato (a parable)
  • The Loss of the Creature, by Walker Percy (an essay)
  • “servant, birthright,” by Pattiann Rogers (a poem)
  • “The Summer Day,” by Mary Oliver (a poem)
  • “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” by Wendell Berry (a poem)
  • “The Unknown Citizen,” by W. H. Auden (a poem)

These diverse and deep texts will help to frame some of the issues you will discuss in this course.

The Mercer Reader
This anthology was created through the imagination and hard work of four FYS instructors: Sarah Gardner, Gordon Johnston, Andrew Silver and Charlie Thomas. They selected the common texts and also put together the extensive collection of supplemental texts in the anthology. This anthology is one of the assigned textbooks for every section of FYS 101 and 102. FYS instructors should select and assign readings from this collection that will enhance the themes of Composing the Self and Engaging the World.

There is a blog site available as a resource for The Mercer Reader. Here FYS instructors can find background information, discussion topics and assignments on the common and supplemental texts. Just as important, they can add their own ideas and materials to this site.

FYS faculty have in previous semesters drawn from a diverse and eclectic range of other texts—including novels, stories, poems, films and nonfiction books and essays—to supplement the common texts. You can see a sampling of the supplemental texts used in previous sections of FYS 101 here and of FYS 102 here.