This dissertation dealt with the preparation, design, teaching, and evaluation of a course in moral values in contemporary literature. Through lectures, group discussions, and multi-media presentations the course examined the possibility of using the moral approach to literary criticism as a form of analysis for contemporary literature. The course focused on the following five themes: that moral criticism provides a broad and helpful point of view for the analysis of literature, that contemporary literature lends itself well to moral considerations, that literature functions as an instrument for the edification of mankind, that the discipline of literature benefits from a sound and comprehensive theoretical criticism, and that teachers and students of literature are engaged in the act of criticism. The course directed itself toward suggesting possible answers to such questions as: (1) What is literature? (2) What is criticism? (3) What acts are moral, amoral, or immoral? (4) What is the purpose of literature? and (5) What is the relationship between moral concerns and the concerns of literature? The materials of the course, including syllabi, reading lists, bibliographies, texts, reading guides, course descriptions, methodology, and classroom objectives, are contained in the dissertation. (Author/WR)