English Department Course Offerings Fall 2011
ALIT 200-01 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1865 (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: We will survey the literature produced in America until the end of the Civil War, including work produced by Native Americans, the Puritans, and representatives of the Age of Enlightenment, the American Renaissance, and the early period of American Realism. Genres will include poetry, fiction, essays, and autobiography.
FORMAT: Lecture and discussion. Frequent quizzes and three exams. Regular attendance and class participation are expected.
TEXTS: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Pkg. 1 (Vols. A & B): Lit to 1865 (SIXTH Edition)(New York, W.W. Norton, 2002) ISBN: 0-393-97793-5 General Editor, Nina Baym
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 10-10:50am—HOVIS
ALIT 207-01 ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE ( LA,AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course is a survey of American environmental literature (also referred to as literary environmentalism or nature writing) that will examine topics such as American attitudes toward nature and the wilderness, the spiritual aspects of nature study, the connection between American literary nationalism and nature, the effect of nature writing on the growth of the conservation and environmental movements, and modern developments in literary environmentalism. Our reading and class discussions will center on nature and how we—both as individuals and as a society—interact with our environment.
The first few weeks of the course will include a survey of early natural history essayists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and John Burroughs, and will include an overview of early American attitudes toward nature and the wilderness. We will then move on to modern environmental literature, which often deals with themes quite different than those developed by earlier writers. Works by Henry Beston, Edward Abbey, Bill McKibben and Carl Hiaasen will be studied in depth, and we will also discuss some children’s stories, popular films, and television programs with an environmental theme.
FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion. Midterm, final, quizzes, and writing assignment(s).
TEXTS: Texts for the class will be chosen from the following list:
The Palgrave Environmental Reader—Payne & Newman, eds.
Desert Solitaire—Edward Abbey
The Age of Missing Information—Bill McKibben
The Outermost House—Henry Beston
Light Action in the Caribbean—Barry Lopez
Hoot—Carl Hiaasen
Silent Spring—Rachel Carson
A Sand County Almanac—Aldo Leopold
Walden—Henry Thoreau
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place—Terry Tempest Williams
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; or permission
TTh 12-1:15pm—PAYNE
ALIT 210-01 AMERICAN POETRY (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course is a study of the range and styles and formal innovations that embody American Poetry during the Modernist era. Beginning with the works of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, we will explore the significant movements that effectively changed the shape poetry. Poets we will study include the major Modernist figures (Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, E.A. Robinson, Marianne Moore), Langston Hughes and writers of the Harlem Renaissance, and representative of early post-war movements--the San Francisco Renaissance (Beat) and Confessional poets.
FORMAT: A combination of lecture and discussion, web-based reading responses, quizzes, exams, and research paper. Students will also be responsible for a short, in-class presentation on a individual poet.
TEXTS: Anthology of American Poetry, Carey Nelson, ed.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; or permission of instructor.
MWF 1-1:50pm—HECHT
ALIT 372-01 MARK TWAIN (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course centers on Mark Twain, one of America’s most beloved, complicated literary figures. Celebrated and censored, Twain’s work continues to be relevant to America’s preoccupations with its identity-especially along race and class lines-as well as its status among other nations. His role as literary innovator and cultural commentator will be examined through the lens of his era and ours. More specifically, we will read his major novels, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Puddn’head Wilson, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, while examining critical responses to his work both in the post-Civil war era and today. Films, literary criticism, and other sources will situate Twain’s central role in both American popular culture and literary history.
FORMAT: A mixture of lecture and discussion, with frequent in-class and take-home assignments; a research project and exams.
TEXT: TBA
PREREQUISITES: LITR 150; LITR 250; COMP 200; 6 s.h. ENGL courses, or by permission of instructor
MWF 12-12:50am—BERNARDIN
ALIT 374-81 HAWTHORNE & MELVILLE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course is will consider the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, two of the key figures associated with the mid-nineteenth century’s “American Renaissance.” In addition to numerous short stories and other works, two of the most powerful novels in American literary history—Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Melville’s Moby-Dick—will be explored in depth.
FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion. Midterm, final, quizzes, and writing assignment(s).
TEXTS: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales, James McIntosh, ed. (Norton Critical Edition)
The Scarlet Letter—Nathaniel Hawthorne (Norton critical edition)
The House of the Seven Gables—Nathaniel Hawthorne (Norton Critical Edition)
Typee—Herman Melville (New Riverside editions)
Melville’s Short Novels, Dan McCall, ed. (Norton Critical Edition)
Moby-Dick—Herman Melville (Norton Critical Edition)
PREREQUISITES: COMP 200; LIT 150; LITR 250; 6 s.h. ENGL courses; , or permission of instructor.
T 6-8:30pm—PAYNE
COMP 150-01 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course provides a foundation in the basic theory and practice of fiction and poetry. By balancing workshops of student writing with discussions and analysis of published work (in contemporary world literature), students will be introduced to a range of models in these two genres that allow opportunities for students to express their own voices. Writing exercises and formal assignments will help students to develop proficiency in the technical aspects of fiction and poetry—such as structure, plot, characterization, point of view, writing dialogue, creating scenes, poetic voice, stanzaic development, rhythm, texture of sound, image and metaphor. Emphasis will also be placed on the creative writing process (including the role of revision in producing well-crafted work).
FORMAT: Reading and discussion, some lecture, formal analysis, in- and out-of-class writing, peer workshops, and conferences.
TEXTS: Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, Janet Burroway, Longman, ISBN-10: 205750354
Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers, Ed. Joyce Carol Oates, Norton, ISBN-10: 0393971767
The Giant Book of Poetry, Ed. William Roetzheim, Level 4 Press, ISBN-10: 0976800128
Students should also anticipate the expense of photocopying their writing for workshop.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 12-12:50pm—FERRARA
COMP 150-02 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course provides a foundation in the basic theory and practice of fiction and poetry. By balancing workshops of student writing with discussions and analysis of published work (in contemporary world literature), students will be introduced to a range of models in these two genres that allow opportunities for students to express their own voices. Writing exercises and formal assignments will help students to develop proficiency in the technical aspects of fiction and poetry—such as structure, plot, characterization, point of view, writing dialogue, creating scenes, poetic voice, stanzaic development, rhythm, texture of sound, image and metaphor. Emphasis will also be placed on the creative writing process (including the role of revision in producing well-crafted work).
FORMAT: Reading and discussion, some lecture, formal analysis, in- and out-of-class writing, peer workshops, and conferences.
TEXTS: Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, Janet Burroway, Longman, ISBN-10: 205750354
Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers, Ed. Joyce Carol Oates, Norton, ISBN-10: 0393971767
The Giant Book of Poetry, Ed. William Roetzheim, Level 4 Press, ISBN-10: 0976800128
Students should also anticipate the expense of photocopying their writing for workshop.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 1-1:50pm—FERRARA
COMP 150-03 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This workshop is for students interested in creative writing and will include units in short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and screenplays. Students can expect to write some pieces in response to specific writing exercises while other pieces will be entirely discretionary. Each student will create a portfolio that will include five to ten revised, polished submissions. Although the primary focus of the class will be on issues specifically related to creative writing, students should have already mastered technical aspects of writing prior to taking this class.
FORMAT: Workshop with lectures, class discussions, and individual conferences. To facilitate the discussion of work submitted for this class, work will be submitted on Blackboard. Because of the workshop format of this class, students should be prepared to read and discuss their own work and that of their fellow students openly, honestly, and without rancor.
TEXTS: Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief—David Starkey
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTH 2-3:15pm—PAYNE
COMP 200-01 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course extends the foundations established in COMP 100. Students can expect attention to be paid to both general writing issues and their individual needs. This section of the course is organized around rhetorical strategies such as argumentation and analysis, but it also focuses upon the real needs of college writers—such as the proper role and use of outside source materials. Assignments are grounded in common readings of essays on American popular culture and literature: these assignments allow for creative topic development.
FORMAT: This is a Portfolio-Review course: the work of the semester culminates in the submission of a student-driven portfolio that presents the best work of the term; extensive revision of drafts is the norm. The portfolio accounts for 50% of the final grade. Regular individual conferences focused on major-assignment revision will take up the majority of class time after mid-semester. A reading/writing journal, minor assignments, and occasional quizzes make up the remaining 50% of the final grade.
TEXTS: Troyka, Lynn Quitman and Douglas Hesse. Quick Access Reference for Writers (5rd edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001
Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R. Cooper. Reading Critically, Writing Well (7th edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2002
Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say / I Say: the Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W. W. Norton, 2009 (2006).
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100
MWF 3:00-3:50pm—LEE
COMP 200-02 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Emphasizes advanced work in organization, style, and various rhetorical devices in expository writing. May be repeated for up to 6 s.h. credit.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: McGraw-Hill Reader, 10th ed., Joyce, Dubliners, Viking Critical Library, eds. Scholes & Litz
Strunk and White, Elements of Style, 4th Edition
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTh 2-3:15pm—MEANOR
COMP 200-03 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Extending the foundations of COMP 100, students can expect to focus on both general writing issues and their individual needs. This section of the course is organized around rhetorical strategies such as argumentation and analysis, but also focuses upon the proper role and use of outside source materials. Assignments will be grounded in readings of essays and will allow for creative topic development.
FORMAT: Students will be required to compose and revise at least six essays and to participate in in-class writing activities and peer evaluations.
TEXTS: TBA.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTH 10-11:15am—RICE
COMP 200-04 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: Emphasizes advanced work in organization, style, and various rhetorical devices in expository writing.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: TBA.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 2-2:50pm
COMP 290-01 WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: The focus of this class is on moving from critical discussions of literature to writing critical analyses, with and without secondary sources for support. Students will learn both the basic mechanics involved in writing about literature (how to quote, paraphrase, summarize, and cite correctly) and different means of writing analytical essays about literature, from basic explications to research-informed essays.
FORMAT: In-class discussions, some lectures, and group work. Students will be required to write and revise several essays as part of the course.
TEXTS: Levithan, David. The Realm of Possibility. New York: Knopf, 2004. ISBN 9780375836572
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009. ISBN 9781603290241
Wells, HG. The Time Machine. Norton Critical Ed. New York: Norton, 2008. ISBN: 9780393927948.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; SoS
MWF 11-11:50am—DOUGHTY
COMP 294-01 SpTp: FORMS OF FICTION (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: We will undertake a broad survey of fiction (and narrative) in the Western tradition, beginning briefly with the Greek epic and moving swiftly forward to the modern and contemporary periods, which will comprise the major focus of the course. We will examine the texts from the point of view of the practitioner and, through discussion and individually designed presentations, attempt to relate the forms we encounter to the fictional content, ideas, and socio-historical contexts of the readings. A further goal of the course is that students are able to incorporate new understanding of forms into their own creative writing. Toward this end, students will produce a number of emulations, a full-length short story, and an essay, each of which is designed to make students more aware of the ways that they can adapt a variety of narrative forms into their own fiction.
FORMAT: Lecture and Discussion, Student Presentations, Directed Writing, Examination.
TEXTS:Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. (Harper, 2009). ISBN-10: 0061862312; ISBN-13: 978-0061862311
Clyde Edgerton, The Floatplane Notebooks, (Ballantine Books, 2004) ISBN-10: 0345419065 / ISBN-13: 978-0345419064
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, (Bantam Classics, 1981) ISBN-10: 0553208845 / ISBN-13: 978-0553208849
Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Terror and Detection
(Dover Publications, 1995) ISBN-10: 0486287440 / ISBN-13: 978-0486287447
Edgar Allan Poe, The Gold-Bug and Other Stories
(Dover Publications, 1991) ISBN-10: 0486268756 / ISBN-13: 978-0486268750
Additional texts to be determined.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 150 or COMP 270.
MWF 2-2:50pm—HOVIS
COMP 315-01 EARLY LITERARY CRITICISM: IMITATING THE MASTERS (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: In this composition clinicum practicum, students will submit short weekly writing exercises in imitation of seminal figures in the early history of literary theory and practice, beginning with the codification of the rhetorical arts in Greek and Roman culture, then focusing on the ars dictamina and ars praedicandi of the medieval period, and ending with the literary conventions and excesses of the Renaissance. Theoretical works will be read in conjunction with literary works exemplifying or defying the prescriptions of the theorists. Like classical, medieval and Renaissance scholars, the students in this class will hone their own composition and critical skills first by imitating the exemplars we will read together, and then by developing their own styles and voices. We will divide our time equally between smaller and larger editing projects, starting the term with a study of the logic and stylistics of sentences, then completing some experiments in vocabulary enhancement and dictionary usage, and then moving on to consider the logic and presentation of larger arguments in paragraphs and full essay forms.
Grading Weights: Quizzes, 10%; Midterm and Final Examinations 10% each; Short Weekly Writing Exercises 70%.
TEXTS: Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s, 2001), 2nd edition, ISBN 0312148399;
Richard A. Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms (Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1992), 2nd edition, ISBN 0520076699.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
MWF 3-3:50pm—CRANE
COMP 390-01 CAPSTONE: THE BEATNICKS
COURSE SUMMARY: The early 1950s saw the emergence of a literary subculture that, by the end of the decade, exploded to become an international force. The Beat movement grew out of a friendship of a handful of writers residing in New York and traveling at times to San Francisco, Mexico City, Paris, and Tunisia. Through their avant garde experiments in prose and poetry styles, their fusion of writing with jazz improvisational techniques, spiritual questing, and their adventures in the bohemian world of drugs, sex, and wayward traveling, these writers tapped into a powerful anti-establishment force running just below the surface of American culture. The Beat movement was not, however, the singular creation of a small group of white men, it tapped into a vibrant network literary scenes (San Francisco Renaissance, Black Mountain, The New York School) with their system of readings and small presses, nightclubs and bars that nurtured and supported the movement. This course will explore the world of the Beat movement, the work of its principal figures (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Snyder, Corso), and the important contributions of African-American and Women writers (Amiri Baraka, Ted Joans, Diane DiPrima), too-often overshadowed by the Beat legend. We will also explore the legacy of the Beat movement through the work of selected artists, musicians, and writers of the 1970s and 80s.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: SrS (or dept. waiver); LITR 150, COMP 200, & LITR 250
MW 3-4:15pm—HECHT
ELIT 200-01 ENGLISH LITERATURE—BEGINNINGS TO EARLY RENAISSANCE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course is designed for students interested in exploring a wide-range of literatures written by male and female authors in England during the Anglo, Medieval and Renaissance periods. The material will be arranged in four, roughly chronological, units:
Warriors & Kings; Quests & Pilgrimages; Utopias, Courtiers, & Poets; and Renaissance Theatrics. In addition to close readings of the literary texts, we will examine the conventions associated with these literatures and consider the historical/cultural contexts in which they were produced.
FORMAT: Combination of lectures & discussion. Careful reading/rereading of assigned material and class attendance crucial. Frequent writing assignments & quizzes, 5-7 page paper; midterm, cumulative final exam.
TEXTS: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volumes 1A & 1B (8th edition). Ed. Stephen Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams. New York & London: W W Norton, 2006.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTh 10-11:15am—FININ
ELIT 240–01 MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: In this course, we will explore a wide range of medieval literary genres (including myth, legend, hagiography, wisdom literature, romance, fabliau, dream vision, and lyric), reading tales of courtly love and chivalric battle, dragons, wizards, warlords, hermits, saints, and some truly spectacular sinners. We will also examine a number of medieval literary techniques (including allegorical composition and exegesis, as well as rhetorical ornamentation), and themes (including iconic imagery and rhetorical topoi). Students completing the course will also have acquired a overarching familiarity with the major events of medieval history (migratory patterns, economic and political evolutions, medical disasters, and religious / racial persecutions). Students will have practiced reading literary texts in a cultural and historical context, and writing about these texts from an historical as well as an aesthetic perspective.
FORMAT: Lecture and class discussion. Grading Weights: Quizzes (12): 25%; Library Exercise: 5%; Thesis and Bibliography draft: 5%; Research Paper Outline, 5%; Research Paper (7-10-pages): 20%; Midterm Examination: 15%; Final Examination, cumulative: 25%.
TEXTS: Jeffrey Gantz, Early Irish Myths and Sagas (New York: Penguin)
Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Anglo-Saxon World (New York: Oxford)
Brian Stone, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (New York, Penguin)
Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur, Vol. 2 (New York: Penguin)
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (New York: Penguin).
PREREQUISITES: COMP100; LITR 100 OR LITR 150; ELIT 200.
MWF 2-2:50pm—CRANE
ELIT 246 –VICTORIAN LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Great works of British prose and poetry from 1832 to 1901. The Victorians were wonderfully twisted. Therefore, we will read texts involving necrophiliac lovers, insane witchy women, and goblins whose evil spells are cured by homoeroticism. In addition we will read what is, quite possibly, the coolest novel ever written, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
FORMAT: This is primarily a discussion course with occasional lectures. There will be at least two thesis-driven papers, frequent reading quizzes, etc.
TEXTS: Stoker, Bram. Dracula
Dickens, Charles, Great Expectations
Norton Anthology of British Literature: The Victorian Age.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LIT 100 or LIT 150
TTh 12-1:15pm—TREDENNICK
ELIT 270-01 SHAKESPEARE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course focuses on a wide range of Shakespeare’s work and traces the development of his career from the 1590s through 1612. Increasing your understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare’s plays and poems will be our primary goal. In addition to careful reading of these texts, we will consider their historical, biographical and cultural contexts. Toward that end, we will discuss Renaissance notions of love, friendship and family; the politics of poetry and court culture; and the impact of emerging “New World” discoveries on Shakespeare’s drama.
FORMAT: Combination of lectures & discussion; class attendance crucial; frequent writing assignments and quizzes, midterm, and final exam.
TEXTS: The Norton Shakespeare: Essential Plays / The Sonnets. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Norton, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93313-0
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTh 12:00-1:15pm—FININ
ELIT 273-01 MILTON (LA, AH2)
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: A study of all the major poems and most of the minor ones, including “Lycidas,” “Comus,” and the sonnets. Prose pieces “Areopagitica” and “Of Education” also considered.)
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
TTh 2-3:15pm—SADOW
LING 201-01 LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Students will study how language is influenced by, among other things, region, class, culture and gender. Students will learn how speakers move between and within different types of language communities through code switching and investigate the problems that occur when people do not adapt to new linguistic situations.
FORMAT: Primarily lecture and discussion. In addition to taking several exams, students will be required to complete a field-work project exploring language use in their own communities.
TEXT: TBA
PREREQUISTIES: SoS or LING 150
TTh 5:30-6:45pm—LEE
LING 210-01 TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR: ENGLISH (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: Students will examine the grammar of English from a sentence structure perspective. Beginning with sentence patterns, they will progress to parts of sentences and how the sentences are constructed to make meaning. They will also discuss the relationship of grammar to mechanics in writing.
FORMAT: In-class discussions and exercises, as well as some lecture. The primary evaluation will be through several exams.
TEXT: Packet of materials
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; SoS
MWF 8-8:50am—DOUGHTY
LITR 150-01 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES (LA, Z)
COURSE SUMMARY: Introduction to Literary Studies is designed for those who are or wish to be English majors. It provides a foundation for the contexts, concepts, and methods relevant to the study of literature. Course coverage will include instruction in the use of relevant terminology and concepts, familiarization with literary and historical periods, and an overview of literary and genre conventions. The course should be taken within one year of declaring the major.
FORMAT: A mixture of lecture and discussion. Frequent writing assignments, including 4-5 essays, as well as a midterm and final exam.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: Declared English Major; or by permission of the Department
MWF 10-10:50am—BERNARDIN
LITR 150-02 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: Introduction to Literary Studies is designed for those who are or wish to be English majors. It provides a foundation for the contexts, concepts, and methods relevant to the study of literature. Course coverage will include instruction in the use of relevant terminology and concepts, familiarization with literary and historical periods, and an overview of literary and genre conventions. The course should be taken within one year of declaring the major.
FORMAT: A mixture of lecture and discussion. Frequent writing assignments, including 3-5 short essays, as well as a midterm and final exam.
TEXTS: Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, eds. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 6th edition. New York: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007.
PREREQUISITES: Declared English Major; or by permission of the Department.
MWF 12-12:50pm—HECHT
LITR 150-03 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES (LA, Z)
COURSE SUMMARY: Introduction to Literary Studies is designed for those who are or wish to be English majors. It provides a foundation for the contexts, concepts, and methods relevant to the study of literature. Course coverage will include instruction in the use of relevant terminology and concepts, familiarization with literary and historical periods, and an overview of literary and genre conventions. The course should be taken within one year of declaring the major.
FORMAT: A mixture of lecture and discussion. Frequent quizzes, an in-class exam, one short paper, one long research-informed paper, and a final exam.
TEXTS: Kirszner and Mandell, Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 6th ed., and other texts to be determined.
PREREQUISITES: Declared English Major; or by permission of the Department.
MW 2-3:15pm—MORGAN-ZAYACHEK
LITR 220-01 SHORT FICTION (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Appreciation and understanding of form and meaning in fiction through reading and analysis of selected works. We will be reading the stories in chronological order, after achieving a basic grounding in short-story history and theory (i.e., the instructor’s essay on “The American Short Story” in the Encyclopedia of American Literature, which will be distributed in class).
FORMAT: We shall be using a number of handouts by Mann, March, Forster, etc. We shall be reading the stories in The Norton Anthology chronologically, and will be getting a basic grounding in the history and theory of the American short story in Patrick Meanor’s essay on “The Short Story,” in the Encyclopedia of American Literature, editor, Steven Serafin, Continuum Press, 1999. (a handout). There will be two essay examinations and a final paper of 6 to 8 pages in length. There will be a reading quiz every class. Each essay examination (open book) will count 30%, the paper 25% and the quizzes 15%. You may not make up any quiz without a medical excuse. The student must meet with the teacher or the TA to determine the content of the paper.
TEXTS: The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction: Shorter: 7th Edition. Eds, R.V. Cassill and Richard Baush
The Stories of John Cheever, Random House
Joyce, Dubliners, Viking Critical Library, eds. Scholes and Litz
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTh 4-5:15pm—MEANOR
LITR 250-01 APPROACHES TO LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Exploration of the various approaches and techniques used in understanding and judging literary works; includes the reading of representative literary works, written criticism, critical theory, and practice in literary criticism.
FORMAT: Although primarily a lecture / discussion course, there will also be regular small-group presentations by students as they act as tutorial guides for the class as a whole. There is a heavy emphasis on writing, including a semester-long journal assignment, short papers on specific critical fields, and a longer (term) paper on a novel. Throughout the semester, regular examinations of classroom pedagogy and the implications of content choices will occur. Graded evaluations include weekly online quizzes, two exams, two written projects and group facilitations of assigned topics.
TEXTS: Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (4th edition). Prentice Hall, 2007.
Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2000.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 150; 3 s.h. 200-level ALIT, ELIT, LITR or WLIT.
MWF 1:00 – 1:50pm—LEE
WLIT 201-01 WORLD LITERATURE –RENAISSANCE TO 18TH CENTURY (LA, HO2)
COURSE SUMMARY: We will study the poetry, prose, and drama of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This will be an international look at the period, focusing on the ways that ideas about literature, art, and culture traveled across nations. We will look at shifting prose genres--including fiction and the essay--innovation in theater, and new ideas about poetry. We will also examine associated developments in aesthetics, gender, philosophy, colonialism, and politics.
FORMAT: Discussion and Lecture
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100.
TTh 4-5:15pm—SADOW
WLIT 202-01 WORLD LITERATURE – 18TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT (LA, HO2)
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: A study of selected world literary texts from the 18th century to the present.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100
MWF 10-10:50am—BLACK
WLIT 212-01 SURVEY OF GREEK AND ROMAN LITERATURE (LA, HW2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course offers an introduction to the various genres of Greek and Roman literature, including epic, lyric poetry, tragedy, comedy, philosophy, history, and satire.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 3-3:50pm
WLIT 257-01 MODERN BLACK LITERATURE (LA, HO2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course examines selected novels by African-American and African writers
since 1945. The major issue we shall be raising has to do with how the works are affected structurally
and thematically by the social and political experiences of their authors.
FORMAT: Students will be expected to complete two quizzes, one essay (of 3-5 pages), a midterm and final
exam (essay format).
TEXTS: Native Son [Restored text] by Richard Wright, Harper, 1993.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Random [2nd],
1995
Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin, Random, 1952.
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes, Random, 1959
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Penguin, 1993.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Random, 1959.
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, PGW, [Rev.] 2001
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100 or ALS 100 or SoS
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This course is cross-listed with ALS 257.
TTh 2-3:15pm—CHOONOO
WLIT 268-81 READINGS IN JAMES JOYCE (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: The course will consist of in-depth reading and analysis of the three major works of James Joyce: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses. We shall concentrate on the ways in which James Joyce used local, literary, and mythic allusions in his works to uncover the chaos, despair, and paralysis in the modern world, and to create a meaningful world through the vitality and life-sustaining energies of the imagination.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: Joyce, Dubliners, Viking Critical Library, eds. Scholes & Litz
A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man, Viking Critical Library, ed., Anderson,
Ulysses, Vintage Books, Random House, 1990, no other edition of Ulysses will do.
James Joyce Quarterly (Milne Library);Blamires, Harry, The New Bloomsday Book (latest edition)
M 6-8:30pm—MEANOR
WLIT 270-01 POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE AND CULTURE: AFRICA (LA, HO2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course examines postcolonial literature culturally, thematically, and theoretically. Students read writers who have responded to the impact of colonialism in such geographies as Sub-Saharan Africa. We identify the cultural legacies of British imperialism and we locate expressions of resistance.
FORMAT: A midterm and final exam (in essay form); reading responses on each text.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 or ALS 100 or SoS
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This course is cross-listed with ALS 270
TTh 4-5:15pm—CHOONOO
WLIT 317-01: YEATS (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course examines the life and career of the Nobel prize-winning Irish poet William Butler Yeats, whose politics and poetics have figured prominently in recent debates on nationalism and gender within the fields of Irish cultural and postcolonial studies. We will study some of the traditional topics in the study of Yeats’s writing: for example, the doctrine of the mask and Yeats’s construction of himself in his poems and autobiographical writing; his place in two literary histories, the history of late 19th-century romanticism (or aestheticism) and the history of literary modernism; Yeats’s political uses of his literary identity and authority; and his beliefs in the transcendent and universal. We will also investigate recent interpretations of Yeats’s work and life, especially those that study Yeats’s writing in light of the forces that inspired the poet himself: nationalism, colonialism, gender and literature.
FORMAT: A mixture of lecture and discussion. Students will complete weekly quizzes, several short essays, including one composed in class, a research-informed essay (approx. 7 pages), and deliver one oral presentation on their research project.
TEXTS: Yeats, the Man and the Masks (Ellmann, Richard. Norton 2000)
Yeats’s Poetry, Drama and Prose (Pethica, James. Norton 2000)
W.B. Yeats: A Beginner’s Guide (Startup, Frank. Hodder & Stoughton, 2002).
PREREQUISITES: COMP 200; LITR 150; 6 s.h. of ENGL courses; or permission
Th 4:30-7pm—MORGAN-ZAYACHEK |
