English Course Listings

 

Spring 2003

COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC COURSES

      At the 100- and 200-levels, the following courses do NOT count toward English major credit. With permission of the department’s chairperson, a student may count one 300-level course as an elective in the English major.

101. Writing—An introduction to the art of expository writing, with attention to analytical reading and critical thinking in courses across the college curriculum. Assignments offer students opportunities to read and write about culture, politics, literature, science, and other subjects. Emphasis is placed on helping students to develop their individual skills. Enrollment limited.—Wall

103-01. Special Writing Topics: Analytical Thinking and Writing—This writing workshop is designed for students who would like to improve their ability to read texts in many disciplines actively and critically and to write strong, thoughtful analytical papers. Students will focus on developing strategies for discovering meaning, identifying analytical elements, and evaluating claims and evidence. Writing assignments will allow students to practice these strategies by writing critical analyses and responses to texts, current events, lectures, and films. Enrollment limited.—Butos, C.

202. Expository Writing Workshop—This intermediate workshop is designed for students who have achieved mastery in introductory-level college writing and who want to refine their writing abilities. Students will focus on developing stylistic strategies and techniques when writing for numerous purposes and audiences. Students will choose from these writing forms: interview, travel article, op-ed piece, memoir, sports article, criticism, humor, and science and technology article. Enrollment limited.—Butos, C.

208. Argument and Research Writing—A writing workshop emphasizing the development of argumentation and research skills. Students learn how to read and evaluate logical arguments, formulate research questions, explore print and electronic resources, and frame persuasive arguments in papers of substantial length. Frequent practice in writing and revising. Enrollment limited.--Peltier

[225. Writing “Broad Street” Stories[—This course combines community learning and writing as a means of discovering how we define others and ourselves through journals, diaries, essays, and stories. Students explore “Broad Street” as a social and cultural metaphor, with a wide variety of readings depicting “the other” and reflecting the voices of members of underprivileged and privileged classes throughout history. Students perform community service as a part of course activities. Enrollment limited.

[226. The Spirit of Place: Writing with an Active/Reflective Eye]—In this course we will write about “place,” and explore how writers render ideas of location, nature, and the environment, ranging from wilderness to city streets. We will move from simple descriptions to an exploration of the larger issues that arise in the interactions between people and places. Readings will include Gretel Erlich and Barry Lopez, among others, who have artfully evoked the spirit of place. Enrollment limited.

300. The Art of the Essay—An advanced writing workshop intended to help students find their own subjects and styles as essayists. We will read and write personal essays that express authors’ unique responses to ideas and experiences in deeply reflective ways. Our study will include essays by Seneca, Montaigne, Woolf, Dillard, and others from various historical periods that have explored their responses to the world in engaging and complex detail. Enrollment limited.—Papoulis

[331. The Art of Argument]—An advanced interdisciplinary workshop in argumentation, with frequent practice in writing and speaking. Students will explore the dynamics of language and logic in a variety of contemporary contexts, as well as engage in interactive debates on both academic and “real world” topics.  

CREATIVE WRITING COURSES

      The following courses emphasize the writing of prose fiction, poetry, and sometimes drama. They are open to any student with the permission of the instructor. It is strongly recommended that students do not enroll in more than one writing course simultaneously during the semester.

110. Creative Writing: Fiction—An introduction to fiction writing, critiques of student and professional work. Enrollment limited.—Albarelli and Ferriss

111. Creative Writing: Poetry—An introduction to the writing of poetry, workshop discussion of poems by students and established poets. Enrollment limited.—Libbey

334. Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction—Students will write and rewrite fiction. The class is run as a workshop, and discussions are devoted to analysis of student work and that of professional writers. Prerequisite: English 110, 111, or Theater and Dance 393. This course satisfies the requirement of a 300-level workshop for creative writing majors. Enrollment limited.—Ferriss

337. Writing for Film—An introduction to the craft of screenwriting with an emphasis on character development and narrative structure. Students will complete a short script over the course of the semester. We will read and analyze professional scripts that have been produced, and watch various film clips to determine why some scenes work better than others do. Writing experience recommended. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of an elective. Enrollment limited.—McKeon

[492. Fiction Workshop]—Advanced seminar in the writing of fiction. Class discussions devoted primarily to the analysis of student fiction, with some attention to examples of contemporary short stories. This course satisfies the requirement of a 400-level workshop for creative writing majors. Prerequisite(s): English 110, 111, and 334, or 336. Enrollment limited.

494. Poetry Workshop—Advanced seminar in the writing of poetry. Class discussions devoted primarily to the analysis of student work, with some attention to examples of contemporary poetry. Prerequisite(s): a poetry workshop on the 100-level or one on the 300-level. This course satisfies the requirement of a 400-level workshop for creative writing majors, and a senior project. Enrollment limited.—Libbey

INTRODUCTORY LITERATURE COURSES

      These courses require only a minimal background in the study of literature, but they demand close attention to the text. Students will normally analyze literary works in class discussion, and write a number of papers. Except for seminars and writing classes, and unless otherwise specified, all English courses are limited to 30 students.

204. Introduction to American Literature I—A survey of literature, written and oral, produced in what is now the United States from the earliest times to around the Civil War. We will examine relationships among cultural and intellectual developments and the politics, economics, and societies of North America. Authors to be read include some that are well known—such as Emerson, Melville, Dickinson—and some who are less familiar—such as Cabeca de Vaca, John Rollin Ridge, and Harriet Jacobs. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Lauter

211. Survey of English Literature II: 1700 to the Present—Through readings in novels, drama, poetry and prose from the Restoration to the 20th century, this course will examine shifts in the forms, functions and meanings of English literature in the context of cultural and historical changes. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Rosen

[213. 20th Century African-American Literature]—This course will introduce students to a broad survey of 20th century African American fiction, essays, and poetry by such celebrated writers as DuBois, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Petry, Hughes, Baldwin, Brooks, Baraka, Jordan, Killens, Morrison, Lorde, and Walker. Our discussions and strategies for reading will be informed by consideration of relevant social, historical, and political contexts. In addition to discussing issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality, emphasis will be on identifying and tracing recurring ideas/themes, as well as on developing a theoretical language to facilitate thoughtful engagement with these works. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

214. Slavery and Abolition in America—This course will trace 19th-century ideas about slavery, freedom, race, and identity through the writings of social activists and the exploration of cultural artifacts (speeches, newspapers, photographs, images, and icons). Authors will include Maria Stewart, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Lydia Maria Child, Sarah Grimke, Angelina Grimke, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown, and William Lloyd Garrison.  This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Steadman

217. Introduction to African-American Literature—A broad survey of African-American writing from the 19th century to the present, with an emphasis on issues of voice, identity and canonicity. Readings in Frederick Douglass, Nat Turner, Harriet Jacobs, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Gayl Jones, and others. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Perkins

[243. Literature and Culture of the Civil Rights Era]—This course surveys the literary production of the Civil Rights Era to examine the way that literature worked both to reflect and to shape the political and social movements of the time. We will read autobiographical accounts of life in a racially divided country, such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, and John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me. In addition, we will look at the way other genres, particularly nonfiction and poetry, became political tools for activists to express their visions of what the Civil Rights Movement should look like.  For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

244. Inventing Literary Ireland—An account of Irish writing from the Irish Revival to the modernism of Joyce, from the realism of the 1930s and 1940s to the postmodernism of the Eoin McNamee. Rather than attempt to define a single Irish literature, this course will investigate the many versions of Ireland and Irish identity in writings by canonical figures such as Yeats and Joyce to contemporary writers such as Jennifer Johnston and Roddy Doyle. We will also consider the role of Irish film in the 1980s and 1990s. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Martinez

256.  “I Am Here”: Poets in Exile---Through selected readings of exiled poets living in the U.S., and of U.S. poets living in exile, this course explores the dynamic of forced, or voluntary absence from one’s own country as it relates to the poet and the poem. We will discuss “exile” as not only a matter of citizenship, but also a matter of language. We will use the work of Czeslaw Milosz as a grounding force for our exploration. This is a reading intensive/writing intensive course. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Libbey

260. Introduction to Literary Studies—This course introduces the fundamental techniques of literary analysis. The goal of the course is to provide the critical vocabulary and skills with which to understand not only what a literary text means, but also how texts shape meaning. The course will apply this critical vocabulary to close readings of a wide range of literature in English across a variety of historical periods and genres. The course also emphasizes development of the skills necessary for analytical writing about literature and the importance of composing clear and compelling arguments in the interpretation of a text. Required of all English majors, beginning with the class of 2002.—Cohn, Steadman, and Wheatley

[263. Performing History in Literature]—Writers often reconstruct personal and private moments in the lives of  historical figures. Playwrights in particular tend to indulge in dramatic flights of historical fancy, and audiences in turn get to play the voyeur. In this course, we will read plays that try to bring history to life. What are the limits (if any) on dramatic license? We will look at works by a range of playwrights, including Shakespeare, Sondheim, Stoppard, Brook, and Oyamo. This course is designed for students who love history, drama, and the challenge of re-imagining the past in intelligent and creative ways. This course satisfies the requirement of a literary theory course.

[285. Scheming Poets]—A close-reading and writing-intensive course that focuses on how poets use rhetoric to shape meaning. We will examine how poets play with language in order to persuade and move audiences. Topics will include the allure of musical effects, the hidden arguments in figures of speech, the mystery of voice on the page, and the subversive roles that poets create for readers. Class will be interactive and participatory, with informal poetry exercises, short analyses, and presentations. This course satisfies the requirement of an elective.  

LITERATURE COURSES

      Although these are not introductory courses, many of them are open to non-English majors.

301. Introduction to Literary Criticism—This course explores the different ways in which literature has been— and can be—interpreted. Students will read critical theories from Platonism to feminism and queer theory, and will apply these theories to selected texts by Shakespeare, Keats, Austen, Conrad and others in order to define their own literary theory. This course satisfies the requirement of a literary theory course.—Benedict

304.  Multi-Ethnic Women’s Autobiography—Drawing on recent autobiography criticism and theory, this course will examine ways that life-writing by American women continues to expand the “conditions and limits of autobiography” in the western literary tradition. We will read a variety of first person narratives that will include mostly contemporary texts by African American, American Indian, European American, Latina, and/or Asian American women writers in comparative context. Some of the major issues we will discuss include the politics of writing for oppressed/marginalized groups; how gender, race, and sexuality shape modes of self-representation; the relationship between storytelling and self re-creation; and the significance of memory in autobiographical practice.  This course satisfies the requirement for a course emphasizing cultural context or a literary theory course.—Perkins

[306. The Literature of Colonialism, Past and Post]—This course examines how 20th century “postcolonial” literature responds to a literary and political tradition of colonialism. We will read authors such as Kipling, Conrad, and Forster to preface our focus on postcolonial authors such as Coetzee, Rushdie, Suleri, Achebe, Kincaid, and Cliff, and theorists such as Fanon, Said, Anderson, and Glissant. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context or a course emphasizing literature after 1800.

[308. The Culture of Adoption in America]—While adoption has been an important part of American family life since the 19th century, it has recently become a matter of public fascination for contemporary Americans. From adoptive mother Rosie O’Donnell to the growing number of Chinese baby girls adopted by Americans to the “Internet Twins”—essentially sold by an adoption broker over the Internet—adoption invites all Americans to contemplate issues of family belonging, cultural identity, and national responsibility. In this class, we will view adoption through a variety of lenses, examining fiction, popular psychology, film, and history to study the impact of adoption on racial, gender, and national identity. Texts will include fiction by Barbara Kingsolver, Charles Chesnutt, and Bharati Mukherjee, excerpts from adoption histories—Linda Gordon’s The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction and Rickie Solinger’s Wake Up, Little Susie—and films such as Flirting with Disaster, Mighty Aphrodite, and Catfish and Black Bean Sauce. Also listed under American Studies Program. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

[313. 20th Century African American Autobiography]—Autobiography has enjoyed a long tradition in African American letters from the 18th century to the present. This course investigates the significance of autobiography for African American writers historically as well as the genre’s continuing significance in the contemporary context. Major issues we will discuss include the politics of writing for oppressed/ marginalized groups, the struggle for voice or subjectivity, the relationship between storytelling and self re-creation, the tension between truth and fiction, and the precarious nature of memory in autobiographical practice. Drawing on recent autobiography criticism and theory, we will examine the autobiographies of a variety of 20th century figures, including performing artists, writers, academics, and political activists. Texts may include autobiographies by Nathan McCall, Assata Shakur, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Adrienne Kennedy, Sanyika Shakur, Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Wade-Gayles, Richard Wright, Miles Davis, Claude Brown, and Paul Robeson. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context or a literary theory course.

[315. Victoria’s Gaze: Women and Colonialism in Literature]—The Victorian Era (1837-1901) was characterized by great societal complexity, industrial growth, and colonial expansion. While the historical record leaves us with a thorough portrait of Queen Victoria’s ‘sons’ and their tales of colonial triumph, her daughters’ pages have been largely ignored. This course examines the literary portrait of the women involved in the colonial project in India and its aftermath. We will read various narrative accounts, as well as watch a number of films, in order to understand how India has been transformed by the Western imagination. Authors may include: Rudyard Kipling, Flora Annie Steel, Sara Jeannette Duncan, E.M. Forster, Hanif Kureishi, Amitav Ghosh, Meera Syal, and Jhumpa Lahiri. Also listed under Women’s Studies Program. Prerequisite: English 260 or Women, Gender, and Sexuality  101. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800.

[316. “Earth Song, Sky Spirit”]—A survey of the rich traditions of oral and written literature created by North American Indians. We will begin with some classic texts of story, song, and autobiography, and move to contemporary fiction and poetry. We will also listen to recordings and view films of oral literature, chant, and the storytelling tradition. Course requirements include written responses to texts, an oral report, a midterm, and a final project. Participants must review a history of Native Americans before the class begins. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

319. East Meets West—From pashmina shawls to the furniture of Pottery Barn, from Miss World competitions to Hollywood epics, “India” seems to be everywhere.  In this course we will explore the ways in which “India” has been imagined and constructed by the East/West encounter starting in the latter half of the 19th century to the present day.   We will chart the contradictory and competing construction of India (seen simultaneously as beautiful, spiritual, and pacifist as well as filthy, backward, and overpopulated).  Through novels, travel narratives, and films the course will explore how we have come to inherit a set of ideas about India that powerfully resonate in contemporary literature and culture.  Authors will include: Rudyard Kipling, Chitra Divakaruni, Jhumpa Lahiri, Arthur Conan Doyle, Paul Scott, Hanif Kureishi, Amitav Ghosh, and Tom Stoppard.  Recommended course:  English 260.  This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800.—Hallisey

[320. Black Women Writers]—Through readings in fiction, autobiography, essays and some poetry, this course will investigate the conditions and experiences shaping Black female identity in the United States. Although the focus will be on 20th Century African American women writers, some selections by earlier writers, and by writers from outside the United States, will be included as a way of exploring similarities (and differences) that exist between Black women’s writings, experiences, and ways of knowing trans-historically and across the Diaspora. Among the recurring issues/themes we will investigate are the impact of race, class, gender, and sexuality on Black women’s experiences and artistic vision, the quest for self-determination and self-actualization, the significance of spirituality, and the politics of Black women’s roles within community, family, and nation. Writers studied will vary from semester to semester, but may include: Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Gayl Jones, Harriet Jacobs, Jamaica Kincaid, Sapphire, Mariama Ba, Maya Angelou, Gloria Wade Gayles, June Jordan, Alice Walker, Harriet Wilson, Ann Petry, and bell hooks.  This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

[322. Revisions of Shakespeare]—Examination of works by Anton Chekhov, Luigi Pirandello, Virginia Woolf, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, Laurence Olivier, Tom Stoppard, and Kenneth Branagh in light of selected plays by Shakespeare. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800, a literary theory course, or a course emphasizing cultural context. Film screenings will be scheduled accordingly.

323. Parallel Lives: Shelleys, Woolfs, Plath/Hughes—This course examines the works, lives, and cultural contexts of Mary and Percy Shelley, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, and Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.  Key themes of discussion will include literary collaboration and inspiration, the history and psychology of marriage, how gender roles inform literary texts, Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. . Prerequisite: English 260 with a minimum grade of C- or permission of instructor.  This course fulfills a requirement for the Literature and Psychology Minor; and for the English major, the requirement for a theory course or for a course in cultural contexts.—Hunter

[325. Tales and Talk: The Rhetoric of Southern Voices]—In this writing-intensive course we will consider how rhetoric shapes meaning in Southern poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Assignments will call for creating imitations and parodies as well as doing interpretations and analyses. Much of the written work will be done on-line using Docex, electronic conferencing, and e-mail. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

327. The Literature of Daily Experience—This writing course explores the art of storytelling as it relates to real events and real people. Students will write several papers ranging from personal essays to descriptions of place to profiles of people whose lives, examined in the context of social change, tell a compelling and illuminating story. Students will also write analytical essays on books and articles by Joseph Mitchell, Mark Twain, Tom Wolfe, Madeleine Blais, David Hays, Alice Walker, Tracy Kidder, Lary Bloom, John McPhee, Cindy Brown Austin, Wally Lamb, and others. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context. Enrollment limited.—Bloom

[332. The Contemporary Short Story]—This course is an exploration of the short story in recent years, as it has moved away from traditional realism toward more fluid notions of plot, character, and theme. Our emphasis will be on form and its limits as much as on content. We shall not attempt a historical overview, but will begin with such masters as Kafka, Hemingway, and Flannery O’Connor and move to contemporary practitioners including Atwood, Carver, Dubus, Dybek, Erdrich, Ishiguro, Garcia Mαrquez, LeGuin, Updike, and Tobias Wolff. We shall also consider the story cycle as a unique form. Prerequisite: English 260 with a minimum grade of C-. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800

[340. Childhood in America]—An investigation of the changing conception of childhood in America as reflected in a variety of textual and graphic materials for and about children. Prerequisite: For English majors, English 260. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context or a course emphasizing literature after 1800. Enrollment is limited. This course fulfills major requirements for English and American Studies majors; if there is room, others will be admitted.

346. Dream Vision and Romance—A study of two major medieval genres as they are developed in the works of Chaucer, Langland, the Gawain-poet, and Malory. The course will explore the structural and stylistic as well as the political, social, and psychological issues raised by these genres and the individual authors’ treatments of them. Prerequisites: English 260 with a minimum grade of C-. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature before 1800. —Fisher

[348. Women Writers of the Middle Ages]—This course will study works in a variety of genres, from the lyric and the romance to the autobiography and the moral treatise, written by medieval women in England, Europe, and Asia. In addition to analyzing the texts themselves, we will be examining them within their social, historical, and political contexts as we discuss such issues as medieval women’s literacy, education, and relationships to the male-authored literary traditions of their cultures. Through the term, we will be trying to determine the degree to which we can construct a recognizable woman’s literary tradition for this period. Prerequisite: English 260 with a minimum grade of C-. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature before 1800.

350.  Lost Worlds: Fiction and Film—The idea of a "lost" or undiscovered world has remained compelling from the adventures of Odysseus onward to the films of Steven Spielberg. Writers and filmmakers use images of a lost world to represent the "primitive," the powerful, the mysterious, the ideal--whatever is not everyday experience. The course will compare a number of such representations, both in fiction and in film, examining how the media shape particular images as they do. Among the texts will be novels by Herman Melville, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, James Hilton, and Michael Crichton, and films like Lost Horizon, Jurassic Park, and both versions of The Lost World.  Students should plan to be available on Monday evenings for film screenings. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.—Lauter

352. Shakespeare—Through close study of a variety of Shakespeare's works and analysis of selected performances on video, this course addresses definitions of the Shakespearean and examines the constitution of Shakespearean theater. The course pays particular attention to the coherence of Shakespearean dramas around vivid patterns of imagery, to the psychology and arts of Elizabethan and Jacobean characterization, to representations of Elizabethan social and political hierarchies, and to British Renaissance poetic will synthesizing Classical, Medieval, and Celtic source materials. Prerequisite: English 260 or permission of instructor.  This course fulfills the English Major requirement for a course emphasizing literature written before 1800, for a theory course, or for a course emphasizing cultural contexts. This course may be used to fulfill a Literature and Psychology minor requirement.-Hunter

[354. 17th-Century Poetry]—A study of the relationship between the individual poetic voice and society during a century of violent social change. Readings in Donne, Herbert, Jonson, Marvell, and Milton. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature before 1800.

356.  Milton—In this course, we will consider the life, times, and literary works of the 17th-century writer John Milton. We will begin with a close and careful analysis of Milton's shorter poems and prose works, and then focus directly on Paradise Lost. Retelling in brilliant and imaginative ways the story of Genesis, Paradise Lost at once synthesizes long-standing intellectual and literary traditions and grapples with issues that still engage us today: the relation of men and women, the realities of loss and mortality, the concept of significant individual choice, and the power and limitations of language as the tool with which we forge an understanding of the world. Assigned materials will also include visual, literary, and political texts that help to elucidate Milton's epic project. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature before 1800. —Wheatle

[357. Urban Culture and Rural Retreat in Renaissance Literature]—Many literary texts of the English Renaissance represent the dynamic relationship of urban and rural spaces. Cities were important centers of political and cultural significance, but also thought of as places of corruption. The rural countryside was often juxtaposed against the city as a place of retreat—and, potentially, as a place of political resistance. This course will consider literary genres—such as the pastoral poem, romantic comedy, city comedy, satire, and the country house poem—that focus on the urban and rural setting and its symbolic significance. We will read works by writers such as Spenser, Shakespeare, Jonson, Lanyer, and Nashe, as well as others. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature before 1800.

360. Shakespeare in Film—In this course, we will study selected films based on Shakespeare plays. Though we will read the Shakespeare plays as prelude to film analysis, the films will be studied as independent texts. The filmscript (adapted from or based on a Shakespeare play) will be treated as one aspect of the text. Students will concentrate on analyzing camera angles, mise-en-scene, lighting, sound, editing, and script as aspects of a composite text. We will also discuss film genres and look at the signature work of specific directors, such as Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh. We will also study representative non-English films, such as Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood or Ran. Plays may be selected from Henry V, Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and King Lear.  This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context or a course emphasizing literature before 1800.--Riggio

362. Victorian Readers and Spectators —This course will study 19th century texts (fiction, poetry, and criticism) that reflect on the experiences of readers and spectators in Victorian England. Against the background of aesthetic theories and social constructions of race, class, and sexuality, we will examine representations of theater and theatricality, travel abroad, museums, the Great Exhibition of 1851, education, and taste. Authors include: Ruskin, Pater, Carlyle, Dickens, Eliot, the Brownings, the Pre-Raphaelites, and Wilde. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800.—Martinez

[371. Transcendence and Transgression: Versions of the American Sublime]—This course will examine the work of American writers from the 17th century to the present who have represented and negotiated with the idea of crossing boundaries. From religious ecstasy to gothic excess, from grand obsession to practical mysticism, from communion with nature to virtual reality, we will seek answers to the question, posed by poet Wallace Stevens, “How does one stand/To behold the sublime?” This will also take us to issues of race, gender, ethics, and perhaps the changing nature of the human need to surpass and trespass in the face of religious, cultural and social prohibitions. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context.

372. Literature of the Harlem Renaissance—In this course we will read a selection of novels, essays, short fiction, and poetry by African American writers of the period, including Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Jesse Fauset, and Jean Toomer. Emphasis will be on identifying the characteristics that unify this body of literature and on investigating the significance of the Harlem Renaissance within the African American literary tradition. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800 or a course emphasizing cultural context. —Perkins

376. Home Fires Burning: America in Fiction, 1945-75—A survey of American fiction from the end of World War II, through the Cold War 1950s, 60s, 70s, and concluding in the aftermath of U.S.-Vietnam War. Included will be novels and short stories by Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, John Cheever, J.D. Salinger, John Updike, Grace Paley, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, E.L. Doctorow, Robert Stone, and Joyce Carol Oates. Students should be prepared and willing to read a novel a week, or its equivalent, as well as occasional secondary readings for historical context. Evaluation will be through a combination of quizzes, short papers, mid-term, and final exam. This course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing cultural context. —Pfeil

384.  Modernism/Modernity—Concurrent with the growth of Modernist studies in the last 15 years or so has been  decreasing agreement about the nature of Modernism itself. In this course, we will consider the various competing accounts of Modernism (the artistic movement) and Modernity (the period) current in cultural theorists' attempts to reshape the Modern canon; we will also examine influential interpretations of modernist politics, aesthetics, technologies, and media. Readings will be divided equally between literature (familiar and less-familiar authors) and theory/philosophy (Nietzsche, Bergson, Adorno, Bourdieu, Jameson and others).  Prerequisite:  English 260 with a minimum grade of C-. This course satisfies the requirement of a literary theory course.—Rosen

399. Independent Study—A limited number of individual tutorials in topics not currently offered by the Department. Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment.—Staff

 [439. Special Topics in Film: Sacrificing Women]—What features and operations define the genre we call film melodrama—from the so-called Hollywood “weepies” of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s to the James Brooks films of our day? What relationship does film melodrama have to the dominant gender order; how has it responded to shifts in the sex/gender system? And how are its engendering operations and oppositions affected by the workings of class and race? What relationships has film melodrama proposed and promoted between gender ideology and pleasure, especially for the women who have throughout the years constituted its most devoted audience? These are some of the questions we will take up, with the aid of a mix of history and theory on gender, film genre, and the relations between the two. Weekly film viewing, intensive reading assignments, and frequent writing assignments required. This course satisfies the requirement of a literary theory course, a course emphasizing cultural context, or the integration course required for the completion of the Film Studies minor. Permission of the instructor is required.

460. Tutorial—Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment.

466. Teaching Assistantship—Students may assist professors as teaching assistants, performing a variety of duties usually involving assisting students in conceiving or revising papers; reading and helping to evaluate papers, quizzes, and exams; and other duties as determined by the student and instructor. See instructor of specific course for more information. Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment. (1/2-1 course credit)

Senior Seminars—Senior English majors will ordinarily take at least one Senior Seminar. They may take more than one. These courses are ordinarily restricted to senior English majors, but non-seniors may petition individual instructors for admission.

496-01. Senior Seminar: What You Should Have Read—This is your final year as an English major; this course is your senior seminar. There are books and authors, that, once upon a time, you thought every English major should have encountered. But you still haven’t. One of this seminar’s main purposes is to allow you to do so. One of its other purposes is to ask, and, we will hope, to answer the question: Why? Why did you or do you think that every English major should have read this book or author? Why haven’t  you? Why, now has or hasn’t the text satisfied your great expectations? Along the way, we will also be discussing related issues such as canonicity and canon changes, the structure of the major in English, and the (perhaps changing) reasons why you’re in this major. Obviously, the students in this course will generate (and debate) its reading list and syllabus. The instructor will generate the requirements. This course satisfies the requirement of a senior project. This course is open only to senior English majors.—Fisher

499. Senior Thesis, Part 2—Individual tutorial in the writing of a thesis on a special topic in literature or criticism. Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for each semester of this yearlong thesis. (2 course credits are considered pending in the first semester; 2 course credits will be awarded for completion in the second semester.)—Staff

601. IDP Study Unit. Independent study guide available only to students in the Individualized Degree Program. Permission of the instructor and a signed permission slip are required for registration. See the IDP Catalogue for a full listing.

602. IDP Project. Limited to students in the Individualized Degree Program. Requires submission of a special proposal form that is available in the IDP Office. (0-5 course credits) 

Courses offered in other departments that count toward the English major

American Studies 409-01. .Senior Seminar:  Making Whiteness Visible—This seminar examines the idea of “whiteness” and how various writers on the margin--Native American, African American, Chinese American and Chicano--try to subvert it. How does “whiteness” mark itself? How does it make its power felt? We will strive to understand what the recent secondary literature on whiteness is arguing and how it can help us understand marginalized writers in the 19th and 20th centuries. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800, or a course emphasizing cultural context.—Vogel

[Linguistics 101. Introduction to Linguistics and Lab]—A general introduction to the study of language. First we will study the fundamental components of language (sounds, words, sentences). We will then examine the crucial question of how words and sentences manage to mean anything. The latter part of the course will be devoted to theoretical approaches to the nature of language, to how and why languages change over time, and to the ways language determines and reflects the structures of society. This course includes one required laboratory per week in which students will conduct experiments on the physiology of speech production, acoustic phonetics, the phonetics, morphology and syntax of unknown languages, and issues in computers and linguistics. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a literary theory course.  (1 ½ course credits)

Theater and Dance 339. 20th-Century American Theater and Drama—A detailed study of the development of the modern American theater through an examination of the most famous works of prominent playwrights, directors, designers, and companies, including playwrights Belasco, O’Neill, Glaspell, Rice, Odets, Hart and Kaufman, Williams, Miller, Inge, Albee, Shepard, Norman, and Gray; director/designer teams Hopkins and Jones and Kazan and Mielziner; and companies such as the Provincetown Players, the Theatre Guild, the Group Theater, the Performance Group, and the Wooster Group. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a course emphasizing literature after 1800.--Polin  

GRADUATE COURSES

      NOTE: English majors with grades of B- or better in three 300- or 400-level courses may enroll in these graduate courses with the instructor’s permission. Instructors may give final permission only after the Graduate Office has enrolled all graduate students.

857.  Novels Into Film:  Coppola and Scorsese---In this course, we will concentrate on Francis Ford Coppola’s filming of The Godfather, and Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence.  We will read both Puzo’s and Wharton’s novels and assess the parallels and distinctions in the concept of family in both books. We will then study the way in which two major American filmmakers translate these novels into film. Basis film vocabulary will be introduced, and students will be expected to analyze the movies as film texts, not simply as visual versions of the books. Some additional reading may also be required. We will screen other Scorsese films. This course satisfies the requirement of a genre course or a literary history course.—Riggio

884.  Psychoanalysis and Shakespeare—This course will examine from a psychoanalytic viewpoint the concept of character dramatized in Shakespeare's works and Shakespeare himself as a character in works by other writers. This course satisfies the requirement of a critical theory course or a course in author-centered study.—Hunter

892. Contexts and Methods for the Study of Literature—This course is an introduction to contemporary theory and its application to literary study. We will read a broad selection of theoretical writings from various schools including new criticism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, deconstruction and post-structuralism, gender theory, race theory, cultural studies, and film theory. Emphasis will be on historicizing different theoretical trends and on analyzing the implicit or explicit dialogues that emerge in reading these critical texts against each other. This course is required of all Master’s students and should be taken in the first year of graduate study. This course is not open to undergraduate students.—Rosen

940. Independent Study—Staff

955. Thesis Part II—Staff

956. Thesis—Staff

 

Back to Top

Back to English Department Homepage