English Department Course Offerings Spring 2010
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |
ALIT 200-01 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1865 (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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. We will read poetry, fiction, essays, and autobiography.
FORMAT: Lecture and discussion. Frequent quizzes and three exams, two of which include papers (2-4 pages each). Regular attendance and class participation are expected.
TEXTS: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Pkg. 1 (Vols. A & B): Lit to 1865 (6th 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 200-02 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1865 (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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. We will read poetry, fiction, essays, and autobiography.
FORMAT: Lecture and discussion. Frequent quizzes and three exams, two of which include papers (2-4 pages each). Regular attendance and class participation are expected.
TEXTS: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Pkg. 1 (Vols. A & B): Lit to 1865 (6th Edition) (New York, W.W. Norton, 2002) ISBN: 0-393-97793-5 General Editor, Nina Baym
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 12-12:50PM—HOVIS
COURSE DESCRIPTION:There are two primary components to this class. The first is a survey of American environmental literature (or nature writing) that will consider such topics as American attitudes toward nature and the wilderness, the link between nature writing and literary nationalism, the spiritual aspects of nature study, the impact of nature writers on the growth of the conservation and environmental movements, and modern developments in literary environmentalism. Second, the course is a writing course that will draw from the students’ own experiences and writings about nature as well as their research and ideas about the writers and issues we will cover in class. In both cases, our considerations will primarily center on the ways in which we-both as individuals and as a society-interact with our environment. As befits a class on nature, outdoor sessions, including field trips, will be included in the curriculum.
FORMAT: Lecture/ discussion. Midterm, final, quizzes and writing assignment(s).
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; or permission of instructor
TTh 10-11:15PM-PAYNE
ALIT 225-01 MODERN AMERICAN DRAMA (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course investigates the evolution of the American drama tradition over the past century. Students will ideally learn both the history and socio-political significance of particularly influential plays, and gain appreciation of the playwrights who have made the greatest impact on American society. As this is primarily a reading course, students do not need theater experience. I will, however, encourage and reward active participation in class. Indeed, the class will rely primarily on analytical discussions with some spot lecturing.
FORMAT: Students will be required to complete scheduled quizzes, a mid term and final, and to submit two essays of moderate length (3-5 and 6-8 pages, respectively) by the deadline indicated on the syllabus.
TEXTS: Kushner, Tony. Angels in America, part 1 & 2: Millennium Approaches & Perestroika. (1995) ISBN: 1-55936-061-5 & 1-55936-073-9. Richardson, Gary A. and Stephen Watt. American Drama: Colonial to Contemporary. (1995) ISBN: 0-15-500003-9
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 & LITR 100 or LITR 150
TTh 10-11:15AM – MORGAN-ZAYACHEK
ALIT 255-01 20th-Century Irish-American Writers (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Set in the context of recent discussions about ethnicity in the United States, including discussions of ethnicity studies in higher education, this course engages 20th century writing (novels, stories, plays, and memoirs) by and about Irish-Americans, especially those dealing with immigrant experiences and clashes between traditional-read Irish Catholic-values and modern American social habits.
FORMAT: Students will be required to read and watch the assigned texts; participate in class discussions; complete weekly quizzes, a midterm and final exam; and submit two essays of medium length (3-5 and 5-7 pages, respectively).
TEXTS: Readings will include texts by some of the following authors: J.T. Farrell, Mary Gordon, Pete Hamill, William Kennedy, Frank McCourt, Alice McDermott, Eugene O’Neill and M.G. Stephens. To help us visualize images of Irish-Americans and their experiences in the United States over the past century, we will also examine a few films on the subject, including Miller’s Crossing and The Brothers McMullen.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
TTh 12-1:15PM - Morgan-Zayachek
ALIT 351-01 LITERATURE OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course looks at the glorious outburst of literature by African Americans during the decade of the 1920s. This period, known as the Harlem Renaissance, stands out in literary history as one of the most significant developments in American literature. The course surveys the works of the most important African American writers of the Renaissance: Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Alan Locke, Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, et al.
FORMAT: Two essay exams and a paper are required.
TEXTS: Hughes, Selected Poems of Langston Hughes (Vintage, 1974); Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Harper & Row, 1990); Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Vintage, 1989); Larsen, Passing (Penguin, 1997); Lewis, Poetry Harlem Renaissance Reader (Penguin 1997); Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue (Penguin, 1994); Toomer, Cane (Norton, 1988), A course package is required.
NOTE: This course is cross-listed as ALS 351.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 or ALS 100; LITR 250 or ALS 273; or permission of instructor.
TTh 12-1:15PM—CHOONOO
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |
COMP 150-81 INTRODCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This workshop is for students interested in creative writing and will include units in short fiction, poetry, 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 o 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 Angel. 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: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
T 6-8:30PM - PAYNE
COMP 200-01 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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 will be grounded in common readings of essays on American popular culture and literature, and these assignments will allow for creative topic development.
FORMAT: This is a Portfolio-Review course, which means that the work of the semester is capped by 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 and development will take up the majority of class time after mid-semester. A 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, 2006.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100.
TTH 12:00-1:15PM-LEE
COMP 200-02 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course in expository writing will continue to develop the skills of composing, developing and editing a range of writing projects while emphasizing the creation of a competent but personal style. The assignments will cover the variety of tasks usually demanded of the college writer but will keep in mind the goal of publication, with the writer’s attention always on motivating the reader, informing and even entertaining the imagined audience. Articles for reviews, think-pieces for newspapers and magazines, scholarly and satirical pieces will be modeled and discussed for emulation by the students. May be repeated for up to 6 s.h. credit.
FORMAT: Frequent informal writing assignments that will be helpful in developing five essays that will be suitable for hypothetical or actual submission for publication. Discussions will be mostly informal with most class time devoted to individual work. Discussion of techniques and readings of student work will precede and follow each assignment.
TEXTS: Reading Critically, Writing Well. (7th edition). Rise Axelrod. Bedford, 2001; The Little Penguin Handbook, Lester Faigley
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 and passing grade on CWE.
TTh 2-3:15PM – HENNESSY
COMP 200-03 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will encounter several different types of expository essays and learn ways to evaluate and edit their own work. Revision, particularly at the sentence level, will be the primary focus of the course.
FORMAT: Discussion, in-class and out-of-class writing, and revision. Students will write several essays and take each essay through several revisions aimed at different aspects of revising writing.
TEXTS: Ross-Larson, Bruce. Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words. New York: Norton, 1996. ISBN: 9780393313260
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 or equivalent and passing grade on CWE
MWF 9-9:50AM - DOUGHTY
COMP 200-04 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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 or equivalent and successful completion of the CWE.
TTH 10-11:15AM – RICE
COMP 200-05 ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Emphasizes advanced work in organization, style, and various rhetorical devices in expository writing. May be repeated for up to 6 s.h. credit.
FORMAT: McGraw-Hill Reader, 10th ed., Joyce, Dubliners, Viking Critical Library, eds. Scholes & Litz, Strunk and White, Elements of Style, 4th Edition
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 or equivalent and passing grade on CWE
TTh 2-3:15PM— MEANOR
COMP 203-01 ADVANCED COMPOSITION FOR ENGLISH EDUCATION (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Advanced development of clear, effective ideas through expository/prose writing. This section, only taken by Secondary English Education majors, includes discussion of current theories and practices for teaching writing in secondary schools as well as computer use in classroom writing.
FORMAT: Writing workshop including peer and instructor conferences, journal-keeping, portfolio preparation (6 papers minimum), and discussion.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 or equivalent, COMP 200, and passing grade on CWE
T 4-6:30PM— STAVE
COMP 260-81—POETRY WORKSHOP (LA, WS2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class is designed to provide a space where students can dedicate themselves to developing both their writing and their understanding of poetry. Our purpose is to create situations (rhetorical, logistical, psychological, intellectual) in which we can create poetry and learn to discern what works in our own writing and in others’. The course will have two primary components: composition and critique. On the composition end, we will focus on generating poems, grasping hold of the formal aspects of poetry, and widening our perspectives the varieties of poetry written today. To this end, class time will be spent discussing a wide range of published works, performing invention exercises, and generating all kinds of in-class writing. On the critique end, we will devote a significant portion each class to discussing and assessing student work. Critique is not simply a matter of deciding if a given poem is good or bad, successful or unsuccessful. It is a means of understanding what effects a writer is trying to accomplish, sharing influences, discussing the purposes of a work, and in every way helping each other produce interesting work. To effectively critique poetry it is necessary to further enhance our understanding of poetry as a genre and a practice. To that end, we will focus on developing a critical understanding of the work of established poets through discussion and research.
Format: In-class writing, discussion/evaluation of student work, field trips. Students will be responsible for a presentation and paper on the work of an individual poet.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: "B" or higher in COMP 150; or permission of instructor.
A poetry workshop works best when student come to class with a good understanding of poetry, its structures, and its history. While it is not a requirement, students who are not yet familiar with the American poetry canon should consider taking ALIT 210 in addition to this course.
W 5:30-8pm - HECHT
COMP 390 -01 CAPSTONE IN ENGLISH: LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This capstone course will provide students with an overview of the southern literary tradition, from Thomas Jefferson to contemporary writers. We will situate the literature of the American South within relevant national and international trends, such as Romanticism, Realism, local color, Modernism, and Postmodernism. We will investigate prominent southern genres, such as frontier humor, the fugitive slave narrative, plantation literature, and gothic literature. Some of the authors we will read include Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Mark Twain, Kate Chopin, Booker T. Washington, Charles Chesnutt, H. L. Mencken, John Crowe Ransom, Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner, W.J. Cash, Richard Wright, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor, Janisse Ray, and Randall Kenan.
FORMAT: In addition to reading a wide body of literature, students will also survey a history of critical responses. Students will give class presentations, take quizzes and three in-class exams, and will undertake a semester research project (about 20 pages), as well as other course writing.
TEXTS: A Norton Anthology, The Literature of the American South, William L. Andrews, General Editor, (New York: Norton, 1998) ISBN 0-393-31671-8; Additional texts TBA
PREREQUISITES: SrS (or departmental waiver); completion of LITR 150, COMP 200, and LITR 250.
MWF 2-2:50PM—HOVIS
COMP 390-SS CAPSTONE SEMINAR: ART OF THE ESSAY
COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this course, we will survey the history of the personal essay genre, reading exemplary essays drawn from the Western and Eastern traditions, from the Characters of Theophrastus (4th century B.C.E.) to the essays currently posted on Salon.com. We will consider how the genre has been molded to meet the needs of specific individuals in specific cultural settings – taking the forms of descriptive portraiture, topical reflection, didactic moralizing, and impassioned autobiography, and sometimes overlapping with the field of creative non-fiction. We will chart the evolution of the essay form as the assigned authors work beyond proposing the individual character as a topic suitable for rhetorically crafted presentation to the more creative project of inventing a “self” whose qualities and opinions merit expository development. Students will choose a research topic early in the term and submit preliminary bibliographies and drafts as they prepare the research essay which will be due at the end of the semester. We will focus on research techniques, and on the importance of drafting and revision, and we will practice editing in class.
FORMAT: Seminar group discussion of assigned readings; cooperative in-class editing exercises. Occasional quizzes; midterm and final examinations; research essay.
TEXTS: Philip Lopate, The Art of the Personal Essay (Anchor, 1997), ISBN 978-0385423397.
PREREQUISITES: SrS (or department waiver); completion of LITR 150, COMP 200, and LITR 250
MWF 2-2:50PM - CRANE
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |
ELIT 202-01 ENGLISH LITERATURE 18th-CENTURY-PRESENT (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class offers a survey of British literature from the Romantic era to the contemporary, seeking to place texts within their historical contexts and to trace the development of themes, forms, and ideas over the centuries covered. Themes covered will include gender, sexuality, sex, violence, the monstrous, etc.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
FORMAT: Discussion with occasional lectures. The primary coursework will consist of a combination of formal papers and at least one exam.
TEXTS: Novels will include Frankenstein and Dracula. Poets covered will range from William Blake to Carol Ann Duffy.
TTh 2-3:15PM – TREDENNICK
ELIT 240–01 MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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- to 10-pages): 20%; Midterm Examination: 15%; Final Examination, cumulative: 25%.
TEXTS: Jeffrey Gantz, Early Irish Myths and Sagas (New York: Penguin); Brian Stone, Medieval English Verse (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 241-01 THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is explores the rich tapestry of English Renaissance culture, with a particular emphasis on the drama We will read a variety of plays written by Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson, John Webster, and Elizabeth Cary. In addition to reading the plays carefully, we will consider how the stage both reflected and participated in the changes throughout early modern English culture.
FORMAT: Classes will be a combination of discussion and lecture. Class participation crucial; short weekly papers; commonplace book; possibly an oral presentation; 7-10 page paper; and final exam.
TEXTS: English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology, David Bevington. ISBN 978-0-393-97655-7; English Renaissance Drama by Peter Womack. ISBN: 10-0-631-22630-3; others TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100, LITR 100 or LITR 150; ELIT 200 or permission of the instructor.
MWF 12:00-12:50– FININ
ELIT 371 –01 SHAKESPEARE AND CULTURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This seminar course is designed for students who wish to immerse themselves more fully in reading and analyzing Shakespeare's plays. We will focus on two or three plays, reading them closely and considering how they intersect with a number of contentious issues in both early modern and post modern cultures. We will examine the editorial history of the plays’ we are reading, along with historical and current critical responses to them.
FORMAT: Seminar format; weekly research and writing assignments; student presentations, 12-20 page paper.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Any scholarly edition of Shakespeare (e.g. Norton, Bevington or Arden); McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with Documents. 2nd
Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2001. ISBN: 0-312-24880-6.
PREREQUISITES: ELIT 270, LITR 250
T 4-6:0PM - FININ
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |
LING 201-01 LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will study how language is influenced by, among other things, region, class, culture, and gender. Students will learn how speakers move among different types of language communities through code switching and the problems that occur when people do not adapt to new linguistic situations.
FORMAT: A combination of 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: Montgomery, Martin. An Introduction to Language and Society. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008, ISBN: 9780415382748
PREREQUISTIES: SoS or LING 150
MWF 11-11:50AM - DOUGHTY
LING 210-01 TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR: ENGLISH (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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
MWF 8-8:50AM – DOUGHTY
LING 210-02 TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR: ENGLISH (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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
MWF 12-12:50PM - BLACK
LING 317-01 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will learn how children and adults acquire language by studying the theories, the structure, and stages of language development. Also they will learn how to apply these theoretical constructs to practical learning strategies. This course is ideal for English, Education, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, and foreign language majors.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: LING 150 OR LING 200; JrS
TTh 2-3:15PM- MCPHAIL
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |
LITR 150-01 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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, familiarity 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: Lecture/ discussion. Midterm, final, 3-4 short papers.
TEXTS: Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing (Compact Sixth Edition), Kirszner & Mandel, A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abrams. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Joseph Gibaldi, Ironweed, William Kennedy
PREREQUISITES: Declared English major, or by permission of the department.
TTh 2-3:15PM- PAYNE
LITR 150-02 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY SUDIES (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Designed for those who are or wish to be English majors, this course provides a foundation for further study. LITR 150 students ideally become proficient at performing close readings of primary texts, but they also strengthen their understandings of both the English major and scholarly aspects of literature. Specific goals for this course include gaining familiarity with the vocabulary, forms, and elements of the three major textual genres (fiction, poetry, drama); understanding periodization, and contextualizing texts according to literary and cultural traditions; developing fluency with the vocabulary of literary analysis; developing research and writing skills specific to literary studies; and learning discipline-specific formatting and citation conventions.
FORMAT: Primarily discussion, with occasional mini-lectures and peer-review/ workshopping of student writing. Students will be asked to choose 1-2 works from the textbook and to help begin class discussions of them. In addition, students will write two or three papers, post a weekly reading response to Angel, and take three unit tests.
TEXTS: Kirszner & Mandell, Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing and one novel (TBA but possibly Forster, A Passage to India)
PREREQUISITES: Declared English major or permission of the department.
MWF 9-9:50AM - BLACK
LITR 150-81 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES (LA, Z)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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: TBA
PREREQUISITES: Declared English Major; or by permission of the Department.
T 5:30-8pm— HECHT
LITR 220-01 SHORT FICTION (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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 244-01 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this class, students study a wide range of literature (novels, short stories, plays, and poetry) by contemporary North American, African, Asian, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern writers. Our focus will be on contextualizing these works both historically and culturally and to exploring their religious and philosophical dimensions. The variety of genres and countries represented (Turkey, Japan, Nigeria, Trinidad, Mexico, and the United States) mean that comparative approaches to literary studies will be encouraged.
FORMAT:A mixture of lecture and discussion, research essays, group projects, reading quizzes, as well as a midterm and final exam
TEXTS: My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk, Vintage, ISBN-10: 0375706852, Collected Plays: Volume 1, Wole Soyinka, Oxford University Press, ISBN-10: 0192811363, Collected Stories, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Harper Perennial, ISBN-10: 0060932686, Thousand Cranes, Yasunari Kawabata, Vintage, ISBN-10: 0679762655, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry, J.D. Mcclatchy (Editor), Publisher: Vintage; Rev Exp edition, ISBN-10: 1400030935, A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul, ISBN-10: 0375707166
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; or permission of Instructor
MWF 1-1:50PM – FERRARA
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, two short papers on specific critical fields, and a longer (term) paper on a novel. Throughout the semester, there will be regular examinations of pedagogy, primarily based upon readings of texts regularly used in the American high-school classroom. Regular quizzes, a midterm and a final exam, and the necessity of participation round out the format.
TEXTS: Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (4th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. OTHER TEXTS TBA.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 150; 3 s.h. 200-level ALIT, ELIT, LITR or WLIT.
W 5-7:30PM – LEE
LITR 286-01 GENDER & GEOGRAPHY: WOMEN’S ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING (LA, CPA)
COURSE DESCRIPTON: This course uses gender as a central lens through which to examine human relationships with the natural world. Through personal essays, creative nonfiction, poetry, and novels, we will trace the complicated relationship between the status of nature and the status of women. At the same time, diverse texts by Native American, African American and Latina writers, as well as by urban and rural-based intellectuals and environmental activists, will put into question assumptions governing the “nature” of nature. Theoretical and critical readings from scholars who write at the intersections of science and literature will complement the course’s focus on how contemporary women writers connect their writing of place with attention to toxicity and women’s health; the global climate crisis; ecofeminism; indigenous activism; environmental racism.
TEXTS: Refuge; Ecology of a Cracker Childhood; Under the Feet of Jesus; Blood Run; Gathering Moss and others.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150 or permission of instructor.
MWF 10-10:50am - BERNARDIN
LITR 294-01 SPTP: “EARLY WOMEN’S WRITING” WOMEN’S WRITING FROM ROMANCE TO GOTHIC (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores the evolution of early modern women’s writing from the romance through the gothic. We will begin with the romances of Aphra Behn and Madame de La Fayette, then trace women’s writing through Haywood, Burney, and Graffigny, finishing with gothic and political writers of the 1790’s like Radcliffe and Wollstonecraft. We will focus on the ways women writers contributed to the development of the novel in England and France, and look at shifting questions of gender, sexuality, domesticity, and terror.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko, The Rover and Other Works; Burney, Frances. Evelina; de La Fayette, Madame, The Princess of Cleves; Graffigny, Frances. Letters to a Peruvian Woman; Haywood, Eliza, The Adventures of Eovaai, Princes of Ijaveo, The Female Spectator, Radcliffe, Ann. The Romance of the Forest; Sheridan, Frances, The Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph; Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary; Maria; Matilda
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR100 or LITR 150; or 3 s.h. ELIT, WLIT, LITR, or WMST; or permission of instructor
TTh 4-5:15PM – SADOW
LITR 394-01 MADNESS IN LITERATURE (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will examine how literary texts from the Romantic through to the present era represent insanity in ways that both reflect and help construct discourse about important social and political issues such as gender, sexuality and race. We will also explore relevant literary criticism and theory that engages with the issue of madness.
PREREQUISITES: LIT 150; LIT 250; COMP 200; 6 s.h. ALIT, ELIT, LITR or WLIT
FORMAT: Discussion with occasional lectures. The primary coursework will consist of a combination of formal papers and at least one exam.
TEXTS: Texts may include such works as Dracula, Jazz, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Affinity, etc.
TTh 4-5:15PM - TREDENNICK
LITR 394-81 SPTP: POETICS (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course examines theories of poetic form from the time of the ancient Greeks to the present. Students will study theories of language, aesthetics, politics, and psychology and the impact these theories had on the shape of poetry. We will also survey major poetic movements including Romanticism, Imagism, Surrealism, Dadaism, New York School, Language Poetry, and the neo-formalistic and narrative movements.
FORMAT: Lecture, discussion, and student presentations. Students will write short response papers and a final research paper.
TEXTS: Readings will include selections from Plato’s The Republic, Aristotle’s Poetics, the English and American Romantics (Wordsworth, Keats, Shelly, Emerson, Whitman) and twentieth-century Modernist and Post-Modernist movements.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 200; LITR 150; LITR 250; 6 s.h. 200-level courses in ALIT, ELIT, LITR or WLIT
M 5:30-8pm—HECHT
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |
WLIT 200-01 WORLD LITERATURE - ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey of global literatures, beginning with the earliest developments of Neolithic pictorial texts and ending with the richly varied literary productions of Middle Ages. In our reading of mythological, epic, lyrical, mystical, and historical texts, we will compare poetic techniques and genres from a variety of cultures, and consider the cultural and historical contexts which produced those literary achievements. One goal of this course is to provide students with the chronological framework, geographic orientation, vocabulary and basic literary knowledge which is prerequisite to the more detailed and focused readings they will be assigned in their upper-division courses. This course is highly recommended for English and English Education majors who are just beginning their literary studies on this campus.
FORMAT: Lecture and class discussion. Overall course grades will be weighted as follows: 7 quizzes, 30%; 2 Midterm Examinations, 20% each; 1 Final Examination, 30%.
TEXTS: David Damrosch, General Editor, The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Volume A: The Ancient World (New York: Pearson Longman, 2004), ISBN 0-321-05533-0; The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Volume B: The Medieval Era (New York: Pearson Longman, 2004),
ISBN 0-321-16978-6.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 3-3:50 PM – CRANE
WLIT 202-01 WORLD LITERATURE- 18TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: A study of selected texts of the modern era, representing various national literatures in English, with an emphasis on cultural interactions and the historical events shaping those literatures. Representative texts would include works by authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nikolai Gogol, Marguerite Duras, Christina Stead, Octavio Paz, and Yasunari Kawabata.
FORMAT: Primarily a lecture & discussion course; students will take turns as classroom facilitators to present basic research on the contexts and historical backgrounds of individual authors. Regular group work and focused discussions-grounded in an assigned Reading Journal-should help to encourage students to think outside of their usual cultural parameters as they prepare for two assigned papers and two exams. Students who have taken LITR 250, Approaches to Literature, will get a chance to further practice their analytical skills.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
TTh 2-3:15PM- LEE
WLIT 227 SEX & GENDER IN GREEK LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores gender in Greek mythology and literature, paying special attention to how the Greeks thought about and constructed maleness and femaleness. That focus means that we will examine not only the roles of men and women in Greek society, but also how the Greeks defined the categories of male and female. Since the lives of women are often neglected in more traditional classical civilization courses, this course devotes a good deal of attention to the lives and representations of women in Greece. But we shall also consider the lives of men and more generally what it meant to "be a man," and how concepts of masculinity and femininity shaped Greek literature, mythology, and daily life. Subjects studied include Homer's Odyssey and Greek myths of creation, Athenian laws on adultery and rape, Greek homosexuality, and the daily lives of women in Athens and Sparta.
FORMAT: Lecture and discussion
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
MWF 2-2:50PM - VREDENBURG
WLIT 260-01 THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this course is to introduce the Hebrew Bible. The primary goal of the course is for students to learn to read the Bible in an informed and sophisticated way, to learn the basic stories and literary forms in the text, and to analyze current scholarship on the Bible.
FORMAT: Lecture
TEXT: Suggs, Jack M. et al., The Oxford Study Bible, Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 12-12:50PM – VREDENBURG
WLIT 260-81 THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this course is to introduce the Hebrew Bible. The primary goal of the course is for students to learn to read the Bible in an informed and sophisticated way, to learn the basic stories and literary forms in the text, and to analyze current scholarship on the Bible.
FORMAT: Lecture
TEXT: Suggs, Jack M. et al., The Oxford Study Bible, Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
T 5:30-8PM – VREDENBURG
WLIT 268-81 READINGS IN JAMES JOYCE (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 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 o 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, James Joyce Quarterly ( Milne Library)
M 6-8:30pm - MEANOR
WLIT 271 – 01 POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE: THE AMERICAS (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course serves as an introduction to postcolonial literary studies by focusing on coming-of-age stories in colonial contexts within the Americas. More specifically, we will examine how selected Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean writers, indigenous writers from North America, and Latino/a writers from the Mexico-U.S. borderlands, use literature to represent the making and un-making of colonial subjects. We will read short fiction, novels, and memoirs that explore the complex relationships between language and identity, gender and race, education and resistance. Some critical essays on postcolonial theory will help us to think historically and comparatively.
FORMAT: A combination of lecture and discussion, with emphasis on frequent in-class work and several formal assignments.
TEXTS: Readings will include works by Merle Hodge, Patrick Chamoiseau, Sherman Alexie, and Helena María Viramontes.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; or permission of instructor
MWF 12-12:50PM - BERNARDIN
WLIT 281-01: THE CHINESE NOVEL (LA, HO2)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: One of the great masterpieces in world literature, Dream of the Red Chamber recounts the story of two mythological lovers destined to repay a debt of tears in the red dust human world. Reborn into an extravagantly wealthy bondservant family in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), they lead a cultured life of ease in Prospect Garden. Yet, decadence and corruption outside of the garden walls results in the ruin of their noble family and to the estrangement of the would-be lovers. Much more than a simple love story, Dream is a profound meditation on finding meaning in a transitory world. During the semester, we will explore East Asian culture, history, and philosophy through the prism of this enchanting narrative.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: The Story of the Stone (vol.1): Golden Days, Cao Xueqin (author), Penguin, ISBN: 0140442936, Story of the Stone (vol. 2): Crab Flower Club, Cao Xueqin, Penguin, ISBN 0140443266, Story of the Stone (vol.3): The Warning Voice, Cao Xueqin, Penguin, ISBN 0140443703, Story of the Stone (vol.4): The Debt of Tears, Cao Xueqin, Penguin, ISBN: 0140443711, Story of the Stone (vol 5): The Dreamer Wakes, Cao Xueqin, Penguin, ISBN: 014044372X, Between Noble and Humble: Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber, by Ruchang Zhou (Author)
ISBN-13: 978-1433104077
PREREQUISITES: LITR 100 or LITR 150
MWF 3-3:50PM – FERRARA
WLIT 394-81 SPTP: GOOD AND EVIL, EAST AND WEST (LA)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class looks at questions of good and evil cross-culturally in literary works and their relationship to religious, ethical, and philosophical ideas. We will look at some classical Chinese, Hebrew, and Greek texts and medieval Chinese plays, but then move on to discuss novels and plays by writers such as Jeanette Winterson, Arundathi Roy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Berthold Brecht, Voltaire, and Lautreamont.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: Berthold Brecht, The Good Woman of Setzuan and the Caucasian Chalk Circle; Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov; Lautréamont, Maldoror; Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things; Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; Voltaire, Candide
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR100 or LITR 150; or 3 s.h. ELIT, WLIT, LITR; or permission of instructor.
W 5:30-8PM - SADOW
| ALIT | COMP | ELIT | LING | LITR | WLIT |