Spring 2013 English Department Undergraduate Course Descriptions
230—Exploring Literature (26476)
Sinkwan Cheng
The Victorian writer Matthew Arnold refers to the two founding stones of Western civilization as Athens and Jerusalem. The tensions between Greco-Roman thought and Judaic Christianity will guide our close reading of both the form and the content of Greek epic, Greek tragedy, and the Bible. Topics to be explored will include reason versus faith, glory versus humility, the rooted citizen versus the wandering shepherd, timelessness versus time, and totality versus infinity.
230—Exploring Literature (26477)
Sinkwan Cheng
The Victorian writer Matthew Arnold refers to the two founding stones of Western civilization as Athens and Jerusalem. The tensions between Greco-Roman thought and Judaic Christianity will guide our close reading of both the form and the content of Greek epic, Greek tragedy, and the Bible. Topics to be explored will include reason versus faith, glory versus humility, the rooted citizen versus the wandering shepherd, timelessness versus time, and totality versus infinity.
230—Exploring Literature (26478) West Campus
Lael Ewy
English 230, Exploring Literature, taps participants’ lived experiences, academic interests, and critical thinking in order to bring the vibrancy and relevance of literature to life. The course asks what literature is, studies how and why it is done, and applies analytical tools to essential texts in the major genres: written and graphical fiction, poetry, and drama. Participants use class discussion, creative projects, and papers to express their unique perspectives on the works they encounter in the course.
232—Themes in American Literature (26479)
Andy (David) Jones
American Science Fiction and Society
Throughout history, Science Fiction has reflected societal anxiety. From Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo as a substitute for the unstoppable horror of the atomic bomb to the Red Scare represented by the insidious alien take-over by the pod people, Science Fiction holds a, sometimes distorted, mirror to society, revealing truth and allowing us to see who we really are. In this course, we will examine Science Fiction as a reflection of society, casting light on issues and anxieties that we cannot or will not see for ourselves. We will examine classic American Science Fiction as well more modern near-future works that are only a step away from current reality; all in an attempt to discover what we seek to hide.
232—Themes in American Literature (26480)
Andy (David) Jones
Stories from the Road
“O public road! I say back, I am not afraid to leave you – yet I love you;
You express me better than I express myself;
You shall be more to me than my poem.”
“Song of the Open Road” ~Walt Whitman
The road plays a particular role in American literature. At once representing the physical connectivity of American life and the figurative pathway to salvation and damnation, the road carries us on our quest though life to destinations unknown. In this course, we will examine the road and where it leads in American literature. From an examination of the pathway to Hell in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” to the search for American mythology in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and the purgatory of Hunter S. Thompsons’ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, we will walk the path of the American adventurer seeking the holy grail of the American Dream, discovering dangers, finding truth, and exploring the wilds of the American psyche.
232—Themes in American Literature (26483)
Andy (David) Jones
The Gothic
One of the oldest and most popular sub-genres in American literature, the gothic story represents and illustrates American society’s innate anxiety. Founded an ocean away from its homeland, forged by rebellion, and plagued by revolutionary social upheaval, America and its people continually struggle with issues of sex, race, religion, social status, and the rapidly advancing scientific world; all of these struggles are represented in the gothic tradition. In this course we will examine these issues with readings and viewings from classic American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith Wharton, and Sherwood Anderson as well as popular modern authors such as Ray Bradbury, Harlon Ellison, and Stephen King. Our exploration of the gothic will take us from the dark recess of the American psyche to the outer limits of man’s knowledge to the inner workings of social fear.
232—Themes in American Literature (26484)
Kerry Jones
Literature in the Jazz Age
The 1920s was one of the most fascinating decades in American history, and not until the 1960s was America presented with a similarly lively and active youth culture (although strong correlations are also made between the 1920s, the 1950s, and the 1990s). Coined “The Jazz Age” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this course will examine the aspects and attitudes of American life during the 1920s as reflected in some of the literature during the period. That being said, we will also examine the period from a historical mode. Our course reader, Joshua A. Zeitz’s Flapper, will assist us with this, as will various documentaries and films. Throughout this course, you should gain a deeper understanding of American youth culture, the social liberalism of the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance. This decade of glitz, glamor, and false opulence, flappers, gin, and petting parties, eventually hit the ground faster than a banker could fall from a window in October, 1929, when Wall Street, according to Variety, “[laid] an egg.”
232—Themes in American Literature (26845)
Brian Evans
Incarceration will examine the theme of incarceration from a variety of literary perspectives. Texts for the class include Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, about a young woman kidnapped and imprisoned for more than a decade in a tiny room, Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which examines incarceration in relation to mental health, Edward Bunker’s prison novel Animal Factory, and a variety of short stories, poems, and nonfiction.
232—Themes in American Literature (26486)
Brian Evans
Literature of the Vietnam War will examine a number of fictional perspectives of the War in Vietnam. Particular focus will be given to the recent novel Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes, and his nonfiction exploration of military service What It Means to Go to War. Also included are Tim O’Brien’s collection of interrelated stories The Things They Carried, Michael Herr’s Dispatches, and a collection of war and antiwar poetry, Carrying the Darkness.
285—Introduction to Creative Writing (26487)
Margaret Dawe
Students write poetry and short stories which aim for a literary audience, also learning about the craft of creative writing and reading the work of professional writers. Studying poetry, students learn about images, sound devices, and figurative language. Studying fiction writing, students learn about point of view, characterization, setting, and plot. Students write and revise five poems for the final portfolio and write and revise two short stories for the final portfolio. Attendance is required and regular reading quizzes will be given.
Required Book:
Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry (2nd edition) by Jeff Knorr and Tim Schell
Prerequisite: English 101 and 102.
285—Introduction to Creative Writing (26489)
Sam Taylor
This course introduces students to the vast possibilities of creative writing, emphasizing both the freedom and the discipline of the art form. Students will be given various exercises that range from unstructured free writing to writing structured poems and short stories to fun assignments designed to stimulate creative thinking. Beyond any concern for product, this course will prioritize each student's deepening relationship to the creative process itself—beginning with freeing him/her from inhibitions, self-censorship, and fears of vulnerability, and guiding each writer to touch the world up close with the imaginative power of language. At the same time, we will read diverse selections of successful poetry and fiction and discuss the elements of strong literary work.
Prerequisite: English 101 and 102.
301—Fiction Writing (26491)
Josh Barkan
Primary emphasis on student writing of literary fiction. Students study form and technique by reading published works and apply those studies to the fiction they write. Course may be repeated once for a total of 6 hours credit.
Prerequisite: English 285 with a B or better.
303—Poetry Writing (26492)
Sam Taylor
In this poetry writing workshop, we will focus on writing poetry as a way of intimately exploring the world and the self. This course requires an intense engagement with your whole being and should be entered with purpose and intention. Beyond any concern for product, this course will prioritize each student's deepening relationship to the creative process itself—beginning with freeing him/her from inhibitions, self-censorship, fears of vulnerability, and rational control, and guiding each writer to touch the world up close with the imaginative power of language. The poem will be presented as a field in which a vision of the world is enacted, a space in which indeed anything can happen. Throughout the semester, we will read diverse models of great poems and gradually introduce formal considerations of the craft as we share and respond constructively to each other's work.
Prerequisite: English 285 with a B or better.
310—Nature of Poetry (26493)
Albert Goldbarth
Acquaints the student with the variety of poetic forms and techniques. Notes contributions of culture, history, and poetic theory as background to the works under study, but primarily emphasizes the characteristics of poetry as a literary communication.
Prerequisite: English 102
320—Nature of Drama (26494)
Mary Sherman
This course will introduce students to drama as a literary genre as we read landmark plays drawn from a variety of historical periods and cultural environments, including classical theatre, Shakespeare, 17th and 18th century drama, and modern and contemporary theatre. As we learn about the major elements of drama, as well as issues surrounding dramatic performance, we will also attempt to understand the plays we read as a reflection of their particular historical and cultural contexts. To enhance our appreciation of theatre as a performance art, we will also watch video excerpts of some of the plays we read. Our main course text will be Klaus, Gilbert, and Field’s Stages of Drama.
Prerequisite: English 102
322—Origins of Western Literature (26496)
Sinkwan Cheng
The course will begin with a critical examination of the differences between language used in literature, natural science, social science, and commerce. It will end with an assignment requiring students to creatively cross the boundaries between literature and other disciplines. In between, students will be introduced to the main genres in literary studies—poetry, drama, fiction, essay, and literary theory. Particular emphases will be placed on dialectically engaging form with content, and text with context.
Prerequisite: English 102
330—Nature of Fiction (26497)
Josh Barkan
This course surveys famous contemporary American short stories, primarily from 1960 to the present. As we read the stories we will study some of the recurring themes found in recent American fiction: the difficulty of growing up and sexual awakening, infidelity, fractured love, family dysfunction, the experience of war, societal breakdown—following the Vietnam War and September 11—etc. We will also study the experience of immigrating to the United States and the diversity of American voices, studying major Jewish American, African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American authors. We will see the increasing role of female writers and the attempt to gain equality. Finally, we’ll study the recurring strength of regional authors, representing the South, West, and rural areas of the United States. Along with these themes and major trends in American contemporary fiction, we’ll study the elements of how fiction is written with respect to plot, voice, setting, style, point of view, use of metaphors, and so on. We will look not only at what stories are telling us but how they are crafted. The course will end with a brief exploration of postmodern fiction and recent experimentation in the form of writing stories. When you finish this course, you will be familiar with many of the important writers of contemporary American fiction and with the basic elements of how stories are crafted.
Course Texts: American Short Story Masterpieces—Edited by Raymond Carver and Tom Jenks
The Vintage Collection of Contemporary American Short Stories—Edited by Tobias Wolff
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: 50 North American Stories Since 1970—Edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone
Prerequisite: English 102
346—American Multicultural Literature (26499)
Mary Sherman
In this course, we will study a broad range of American ethnic literature, including American Indian, African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American writing as well as literature from other ethnic groups. We will read a variety of non-fiction texts, including legal documents and essays, along with novels, stories, and poetry. As we go, we will try to enhance our understanding of how ethnic and national identity have been formed through literature, analyze the social and cultural contexts that have shaped ethnic writers’ perspectives, and examine how ever-changing definitions of race and ethnicity have contributed, at various times, to the inclusion and exclusion of these writers from the American social and cultural landscape.
347—World Comparative Literature (26501)
Susan Spillman
Comparative World Literature invites students to broaden their perspectives. We will read and analyze literary works which resonate outside their countries and eras of origin, and we also will consider the cultures from which these works arose. Readings begin with the dawn of writing (approximately 1200 B.C.E.) and run to the present. In this age of electronic communications and scholarly translations, we will consider Goethe’s prescient comment that world literature is “inevitable given the ever-increasing rapidity of human interaction.” The oldest literature continues to influence modern works, and both enrich our understanding of the universe(s), our fellow human beings, and ourselves. Close reading of about 80 pages a week is essential for this course. The final grade will be based on active class participation, several essays (which require sophisticated writing skills), quizzes, and a final exam. Prerequisite: English 102
360—Major British Writers I (26502)
Fran Connor
Around 500 C.E., England was something of a cultural backwater, a former Roman outpost recently conquered by Germanic invaders; by 1800, it had established itself as a major literary, cultural, and military power. Literature offers one way to trace this remarkable development, and our course will do so by reading lyric and narrative poems, drama, and narrative prose with keen attention to their political and social contexts. In particular, the course will emphasize how innovations in writing and publishing technologies—from medieval scriptoria to 18th century congers—served as the engine for English literary culture. We’ll start with Caedmon and end with Dr. Johnson; in between we’ll read the era’s superstars—Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton—and a few important writers who should be superstars—Langland, Wyatt, & Behn among them.
Prerequisite: English 102
361—Major British Writers II (26503)
Mary Waters
The second half of the British literature survey, covering the period from 1789 through the twentieth century, includes some of the most important and best loved of all British writers, many of them writing about some of the most contentious issues in British history—issues such as women’s rights, labor reform, the abolition of the slave trade, social responsibility, technological progress, gender relations, nationalism and patriotism, and the possibilities for a spiritual life. We will read works in all major literary genres—poetry, fiction, drama, essay, autobiography—by writers such as William Wordsworth, Olaudah Equiano, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Keats, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Virginia Woolf, and many others.
Prerequisite: English 102
362—Major American Writers I (26504)
Brian Evans
Major American Writers I surveys American Literature from its beginnings up until the dawn of the 20th century. Students will be examining a broad range of authors, genres, and texts to experience the full breadth of the American literary experience. Major themes for the literature in the course include religious idealism and freedom, slavery and abolitionism, native and colonial rights, civil liberties, and the formation of a national identity. We will be examining these major issues within the literature itself and ultimately looking at the trajectory and development of these ideas over time.
Prerequisite: English 102
363—Major American Writers II (26506)
Kerry Jones
When an interviewer asked Ralph Ellison in 1955 if he would say the search for identity is an American theme, he replied, “It is the American theme. The nature of our society is such that we are prevented from knowing who we are.” This survey course will examine the various ways in which American identity is constructed and/or questioned from roughly 1900 to the end of the 20th century. That’s a long time. Like all overviews, it will be selective, and we will read closely and discuss many works in detail. We will concern ourselves mostly with the general themes and implications of the works. If you are puzzled by something you read, please raise your hand and ask questions. The word “modern” in the course title doesn’t just indicate “somewhat recent” literature. There is a period in 20th century literature called Modernism and another, the current jargon for our era, called Postmodernism. We will try to understand the meaning of those terms by definition and inductively through the texts themselves. In addition to the selections from our anthology, we will read three novels: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey; The Color Purple, by Alice Walker; and The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.
Prerequisite: English 102
365—African-American Literature (26507)
Kimberly Engber
When an interviewer asked novelist Ralph Ellison in 1955 if he would say that the search for identity is primarily an American theme, Ellison replied, “It is the American theme. The nature of our society is such that we are prevented from knowing who we are.” What does it mean to say that we are prevented from knowing who we are? This course tackles this question through analysis of several centuries of African American literature. We will begin our reading with early songs, spiritual texts, and poetry and move through the narratives of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington to the poetry of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen and the fiction of Toni Morrison and Toni Cade Bambara. We will spend several weeks reading Ellison’s Invisible Man, considering how Ellison’s work fits within the African American literary tradition. Assignment will include: reading quizzes, three seminar papers, and a final exam.
Required Books:
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Nellie McKay, ed. Norton Anthology of African American Literature 2nd edition
Ralph Ellison Invisible Man
Prerequisite: English 102
401—Advanced Fiction Workshop (26508)
Margaret Dawe
Students write poetry and short stories which aim for a literary audience, also learning about the craft of creative writing and reading the work of professional writers. Studying poetry, students learn about images, sound devices, and figurative language. Studying fiction writing, students learn about point of view, characterization, setting, and plot. Students write and revise five poems for the final portfolio and write and revise two short stories for the final portfolio. Attendance is required and regular reading quizzes will be given.
Required Book: Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry (2nd edition) by Jeff Knorr and Tim Schell
Prerequisite: English 301
403—Advanced Poetry Workshop (26509)
Sam Taylor
In this poetry writing workshop, we will focus on writing poetry as a way of intimately exploring the world and the self. This course requires an intense engagement with your whole being and should be entered with purpose and intention. Beyond any concern for product, this course will prioritize each student's deepening relationship to the creative process itself—beginning with freeing him/her from inhibitions, self-censorship, fears of vulnerability, and rational control, and guiding each writer to touch the world up close with the imaginative power of language. The poem will be presented as a field in which a vision of the world is enacted, a space in which indeed anything can happen. Throughout the semester, we will read diverse models of great poems and gradually introduce formal considerations of the craft as we share and respond constructively to each other's work.
Prerequisite: English 303
508—Critical Studies in Film (26511)
Fran Connor
Postpunk Shakespeare
Some of the boldest Shakespearean re-readings of the past 30 years have occurred onscreen, as directors, emboldened by experimental theatrical productions of Shakespeare in the 1960s and 1970s, broke away from established conventions of Shakespearean film to re-affirm the playwright’s resonance in our increasingly complex information age. The films we will look at (and plays we will read) will look at some recent approaches to cinematic Shakespeare, and will consider what claims these films make about Shakespeare continuing relevance (or, possibly, lack of relevance.) Topics may include meta-Shakespearean cinema (Peter Greenway’s Prospero’s Books, Al Pacino’s Looking For Richard); modern reinterpretations (Billy Morrissette’s Scotland PA, Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus); postmodern parody and pastiche (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas’ Strange Brew, Gus Van Zant’s My Own Private Idaho); teen cinema (Tim Blake Nelson’s O, Gil Junger’s 10 Things I Hate About You); and Kenneth Branagh’s attempts to preserve a ‘heritage’ Shakespeare (Henry V, Hamlet.)
516—Graduate Studies in a Major Author (26513)
Sam Taylor
Graduate Studies in a Major Author: T.S. Eliot
In this course, we will investigate all the major poetic works of T.S. Eliot, as well as review critical perspectives and significant literary contexts (predecessors, contemporaries, and the following generations).
540—Introduction to Critical Theory (26514)
Chris Brooks
This course will serve as an introductory course in literary theory. Topics explored will range from Reader Response criticism to Psychoanalytical Theory and include Marxism, Poststructuralism, Gender Theory, Queer Theory, Feminism, Cultural Criticism, and Intertextual Theory. The central idea will maintain that theory is a lens through which one gazes to see literary works differently. Papers will employ theory as applied to literary, cinematic, and musical works. Class method mixes lecture and discussion.
581—Composition Practicum (26515)
Susan Spillman
Restricted to GTAs teaching English 101
581—Composition Practicum (26518)
Mary Sherman
Restricted to GTAs teaching English 102
581—Composition Practicum (26520)
Melinda DeFrain
Restricted to GTAs teaching English Basic Skills courses
586—Writers Tutorial: Poetry (26521)
Malena Mörling
Ms. Morling will be conducting a month-long tutorial in poetry February 18th – March 15th.
Prerequisite: consent of creative writing coordinator
590—Senior Seminar (26522)
Mary Waters
Transatlantic Romanticism
Like those of the ocean itself or the profitable commerce in goods and bodies that enriched some while making life bleak for others, currents of thought crossed the Atlantic to engender Romantic literature in Britain and America. Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century American and British writers read the news, pondered events over the seas, and inspired the accomplishments of their literary counterparts. This course aims to familiarize you with one of the more recent perspectives in the study of Romantic literature. We will use an anthology to read some significant texts in transatlantic romantic studies, included poetry, essays, and slave narratives, as well as two novels, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams and Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland. In addition, because it is a senior writing capstone seminar, it will improve your analytical and writing skills by asking you to engage at an introductory level in the various kinds of assignments frequently demanded in graduate seminars while providing the intellectual support and writing coaching appropriate to a rigorous undergraduate writing class. Because these assignments will require significant research, you will develop your research skills and increase your familiarity with library resources. Supplemental readings in criticism will familiarize you with some of the debates about these novels and improve your ability to evaluate and draw upon secondary sources.
Prerequisite: completion of 18 hours toward the major. Not available for graduate credit.
680—Theory and Practice in Comp (26523)
Mary Sherman
Introduces theories of rhetoric, research in composition and writing programs, and practices in schools and colleges. Students investigate the process of writing, analyze varieties and samples of school writing, and develop their own and others’ work. Designed especially for prospective and practicing teachers, and may not be taken for credit by students with credit in ENGL 780.
681—Editing American English (26524)
Chris Brooks
This class will proceed as an intensive and exhaustive study of the rules of good writing as emerging from a mastery of grammar, mechanics, diction, and proper usage. Moving from the word to the sentence to the paragraph, the course will investigate sentence varieties and punctuation strategies that communicate and determine meaning. The final project, on which the course grade is based, will require each student to create a course syllabus, exercises included, for teaching an essential course in proper writing.
Prerequisite: English 101 and 102