Course Descriptions Spring 2010

English 515: Studies in Shakespeare - 3 units
Dr. Donald Wineke Mon. 4:30-6:50

Course description: This course focuses on Shakespeare�€™s political plays. It will address such issues as the nature and legitimacy of authority and the ways it is threatened and subverted. It will consider in particular the English monarchy and what the office requires of the man, as well as what it does to the man. It will take up Shakespeare�€™s portrayal of the Roman world, in which the usual conspiracies among the aristocrats are countered by the incipient anarchy of the plebs. Finally, it will spend some time exploring the contribution of the Shakespeare�€™s studies in political behavior toward the major tragedies.

Plays to be covered: Richard III, Richard II, 1 & 2 Henry IV, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, Antony & Cleopatra, Coriolanus

English 580: Special Studies - 1 unit
Dr. Peter T. Zoller (peter.zoller@wichita.edu) Wed. 2:00-3:15 p.m. (12 weeks)

Ulysses

Ulysses is a one credit hour course in which we will study in as much as depth as possible Joyce�€™s famous Modernist novel. Students will be required to give a powerpoint presentation on one of the chapters, and to write a paper on that chapter from 5 to 10 pages.

English 580- Special Studies - 1 unit
Dr. Mary Waters; Dr. Jean Griffith Thursday 2:00-3:15 (12 weeks)

Professionalism

This course will follow a combination of seminar and workshop formats to cover topics such as application to advanced study, the academic job market, preparation of job application materials, where and how to present or publish research or creative writing, and more.

English 580: Special Studies - 3 units
Dr. Tina Bennett Wed. 1:30-4:00

Irish Literature

The course will examine many different works of Irish literature, both in translation and in English, across authors, genres, and periods. We will begin with prose such as the early myth cycles and also verse from the earliest Irish writers of the 5th and 6th centuries, lyrics from the sean-nos tradition, and the poetry of the colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary periods; read a variety of short stories, a genre in which the Irish have been prolific, especially beginning in the early 20th century; and we will conclude with modern and contemporary drama. Assorted works of non-fiction, where illuminating, will also be assigned.

An underlying theme of much of the work is that of duality: of the natural and supernatural worlds; of the identities associated with English and Irish cultures; and of ancient but ongoing and contemporary experiences. Students will write three papers and will also be required to select a work or group of works (in the case of short stories and poetry) outside of those discussed in class about which to write a paper and prepare a presentation.

English 704: Seminar in American Literature II - 3 units
Dr. Jean Griffith Tues. 1:30-4:00

Between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century, American writers increasingly abandoned the romanticism so influential to mid-nineteenth-century writing and opted instead to embrace realism--the literature of the home and the street. This course will examine the salient characteristics of American realism and its subgroups (regionalism, naturalism) in works by a range of authors, including Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, and Kate Chopin, among others. We will also explore in some depth the social, political, and economic conditions in which realism developed--westward expansion, the development of a consumer culture, urbanization, immigration--and pay attention to other manifestations of �€�realist�€� representation, such as non-fiction, photography, film, and journalism. Finally, our course will consider postmodern theory�€™s skepticism that realism, because if it�€™s very conventions, can accomplish the goal so many realist writers set for their works: to use the text to intervene in and shape its contexts.

English 705: Seminar in American Literature III -3 units
Dr Kimberly Engber Wed. 4:30-6:50

Novels of Identity and Autobiographical Plots

When an interviewer asks Ralph Ellison in 1955 if he would say that the search for identity is primarily an American theme, Ellison replies, �€�It is the American theme. The nature of our society is such that we are prevented from knowing who we are.�€� This course begins with Ellison�€™s premise about American society and American literature. We will discuss the various ways in which American identity is constructed and/or questioned in novels from the 1920s through the 1970s, from the Harlem of Nella Larsen�€™s novel Passing to the remembered past of Maxine Hong Kingston�€™s The Woman Warrior. We may end with a contemporary novel chosen by the class.

Larsen, Nella Passing (Norton Critical Editions) (1928)
Faulkner, William The Sound and the Fury (1929)
Wright, Richard Black Boy (1945)
Ellison, Ralph Invisible Man (1952)
Plath, Sylvia Ariel, the Restored Edition (1965)
Malcolm, Janet The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (1995)
Pynchon, Thomas Crying of Lot 49 (1966)
Okada, John No-No Boy (Paperback) (1957)
Kingston, Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior, China Men (1976/1980)

English 728: Seminar in Modern British Literature - 3 units
Dr. Peter T. Zoller (peter.zoller@wichita.edu) Wed. 7:05-9:45 p.m.

Modern British Dystopian Novels

In �€�The British Dystopian Novel�€� (English 728) we will examine the dystopian genre as it was manifested in British Literature during the 20th & early 21st centuries. Interesting critical work has been published about this genre and many of the novels are well-known to U. S. readers. Each novel makes a statement about the fears of its time and each novel fits into a sub-genre of Modern British Literature: �€�Dystopian Literature.�€� Through close reading of the novels and analysis of the social conditions of the times, we will be able to explore an interesting thematic thread within Modern British Literature.

Reading List

• H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (1898)
• Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
• George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945)
• William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)
• Anthony Burgess, The Wanting Seed (1962)
• Doris Lessing, Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)
• Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (2003)
• Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005)

English 721: Medieval Literature - 3 units
Dr. William F. Woods Thurs. 4:30-6:50

Course Description: In the Middle Ages, European culture was more homogenous than it became in later centuries. Latin was still the international language, and literature was less defined by national boundaries than by class and literary tradition. For students of English medieval literature it is therefore helpful to have some knowledge of major works by continental writers. In this seminar we are going to read continental literature, mainly narrative poetry, which was written between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. The literary forms include epic, romance, saga, beast epic, Breton Lai (brief romances), allegory and tales.

Required Texts:
Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances
The Poem of the Cid, trans. Hamilton and Perry
Boccaccio. The Decameron, trans. Musa and Bondanela
Dante. The Inferno, trans. Mandelbaum
The Song of Roland, trans. Terry
Renard the Fox, trans. Terry
The Lais of Marie de France, trans. Burgess and Busby
Wolfram von Eschenbach. Parzival, trans. Mustard and Passage
Njal�€™s Saga, trans. Cook. Penguin

English 801: Fiction Workshop - 3 units
Margaret Dawe Wed. 1:30-4 p.m.

Prerequisite: MFA Degree Program status or consent of the Director of Creative Writing.

Course Description: My assumption is students taking this class care a great deal about good writing, that they enjoy reading it and are intent on becoming well read, that they understand what literary fiction is, and that they understand in an MFA workshop the sole focus is literary fiction, in particular student works-in-progress. In the class we will discuss student writing in a forthright, interested manner with the goal not to �€�fix�€� the submission, but to consider all the implications of a writer�€™s choices, knowing a writer�€™s aim is to convince a reader of the significance of the action described and to establish a trust between the author and the reader about how to read the story. Here are some questions we might ask about a work-in-progress. Would there be an advantage to manipulating psychic distance, moving closer as the story goes on? What might be the advantages and disadvantages of using Anglo-Saxon language rather than Latinate in this story? Where do we, as readers, learn what is at stake for this protagonist? Discussion in class which reflects the student reader�€™s careful attention to the draft work is expected, as well as the student�€™s submission of at least forty-five pages of quality prose during the term and a revision of one piece at the end.

Books:
40 Short Stories: Portable Anthology edited by Beverly Lawn, 3rd edition.
The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer by Sandra Scofield
Structuring Your Novel: From Basic Idea to finished Manuscript by Robert C. Meredith and John D. Fitzgerald.

English 840: Graduate Studies in Criticism - 3 units
Dr. Christopher K. Brooks Monday 7:05-9:45p.m.

The History of Criticism

This course offers a survey of critical ideologies and major critical thinkers from the ancient Greeks to the Romantic age. Topics include the utility of poetry, the sublime, mimesis, polysemousness of language, modes of comic and dramatic expression, and the evolving forms of critical discourse. The role of the critic in assisting and evaluating the creative arts is kept in focus and independent of the writer or the reader. This course proceeds as a seminar in which the exchange of ideas is paramount.