English Department Course Offerings Spring 2012
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 12-12:50PM - HECHT
ALIT 201-01: AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1865 -PRESENT (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Survey of major writers of America from the Civil War to the present. Readings include novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and nonfiction by writers such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, and Tony Kushner. The course covers—in broad strokes—some of the major literary and cultural movements from the last century and a half, with an emphasis upon close reading of representative texts.
FORMAT: Reading and discussion, lecture, quizzes, exams, directed writing.
TEXTS: TBD.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 10:00-10:50AM - HOVIS
ALIT 250-01: AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course is designed to expose students to a side of American literature to which they have rarely had access. The course aims to bring about a better understanding of Black literature and the motives which generated it since the turn of the 20th century. In particular, we shall be reading the fiction of some of the most outstanding Black women writers of recent years. This is an introductory course which should stimulate all those interested in the vitality of the African-American experience.
FORMAT: Midterm and final exam plus short written responses to works every week. Final grade dependent on papers, exams and class participation.
TEXTS: Works by Alice Walker (The Color Purple), Ellison, Wright, Baldwin, Morrison and others.
ADDITIONAL COMENTS: Open to all majors and honor students. This course is cross-listed as ALS 250 (Africana-Latino Studies)
PREREQUISITES: SoS; COMP 100 or ALS 100
TTh 1-2:15PM– CHOONOO
ALIT 351-01: LITERATURE OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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 200; LITR 150; LITR 250; 6 s.h. of 200-level Literature courses; or permission of instructor.
TTh 2:30-3:45PM—CHOONOO
ALIT 394-01: SpTP: THOMAS WOLFE (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course focuses on the writings of Thomas Wolfe, an American modernist and novelist and short story writer of the early twentieth century. The course will situate Wolfe within his historic moment and examine within his oeuvre representative literary traditions and techniques of the period. In addition to his fiction, we will read a play, a biography, and a substantial body of criticism.
FORMAT: Will include lecture, discussion, directed writing (including a major research project), and in-class examination
TEXT: TBD
PREREQUISITES: COMP 200 or COMP 290; LITR 150
MWF 1-1:50PM – HOVIS
COMP 150-01: INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: The primary focus of this course will be how poetry and fiction (primarily short fiction and short plays) are created. Students will read sample writings, discuss their structures, and attempt to develop their own creative writing though a series of exercises. Topics of discussion will include plotting, setting, characterization, metaphor and imagery, dialog, language use and play, rhythm, point of view, and pacing.
FORMAT: In-class and out-of-class writings, discussion, and peer reviewing, as well as some lectures and conferencing. Students will submit portfolios of their own writing, generated through a variety of exercises and assignments.
TEXT: Starkey, David. Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief. New York: Bedford, 2008. ISBN 9780312468668
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 9-9:50AM - DOUGHTY
COMP 150-02: INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course is for students who are interested in exploring and exercising their creative abilities in language. Our focus will be on developing a familiarity with the forms and structures of poetry and fiction and in writing within the conventions of those genres. All students will have the opportunity to have their written work work-shopped by their peers and in conference with the instructor. The final project will be a portfolio of your creative work.
FORMAT: Reading and discussion, formal analysis, journal-keeping, in-class writing, peer workshops, and conferences.
TEXTS: TBD
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MW 2-3:15PM - HECHT
COMP 150-03: INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Workshop in imaginative writing (verse or prose).
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: Bell, Madison Smartt. Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form. W.W. Norton. ISBN: 978-0-393-32021-3; Addonizio, Kim and Dorianne Laux. The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. W.W. Norton. ISBN: 978-0-393-31654-4.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 2-2:50PM - PELLETIER
COMP 150-04: INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Workshop in imaginative writing (verse or prose).
FORMAT: TBA
TEXTS: Bell, Madison Smartt. Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form. W.W. Norton. ISBN: 978-0-393-32021-3; Addonizio, Kim and Dorianne Laux. The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. W.W. Norton. ISBN: 978-0-393-31654-4.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 3-3:50PM - PELLETIER
COMP 150-05: 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, by Janet Burroway, Longman, ISBN-10: 0205750354, 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 200-01: ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA,WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: In this section of COMP 200, we will divide our time equally between smaller and larger editing projects. We will begin the term with a study of the logic and stylistics of sentences, explore some exercises in vocabulary enhancement of dictionary usage, and then move on to consider the logic and presentation of larger arguments in paragraphs and full essay forms. To develop the students’ skills in analyzing and writing about visual texts, we will be reading two graphic novels, which will be the subject of several writing exercises in this class.
FORMAT: Lecture, discussion and in-class exercises. Library Research Preparation Exercise, 5%; Grammar Exercises (6): 25%; Writing Exercises (6): 25%; Quizzes (6): 25%; Midterm Examination (1): 10%; Final Examination (1): 10%.
TEXTS: Required Texts: John Langan and Beth Johnson, English Essentials, 1st edition(New York: McGraw Hill, 2005), ISBN 0-07-304326-5; Michael Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003), ISBN 0-87220-573-8; Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins, Watchmen (New York: DC Comics, 1995), ISBN 978-0-930289-23-2; Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (New York: Pantheon, 1986), ISBN 0-394-74723-2. Recommended Texts: A good college dictionary of student’s choice (e.g., Webster’s Collegiate); A good thesaurus of student’s choice (e.g., Roget’s).
PREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 12-12:50PM – CRANE
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: TBD
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 4-5:15PM— MEANOR
COMP 200-04: 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 1:00-1:50PM - LEE
COMP 200-05: 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: TBD.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100.
TTH 10-11:15AM – RICE
COMP 200-06: ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This class focuses on various forms of argumentative writing. Reading, writing, and discussion will focus on substantive social issues, often through the lens of popular culture such as advertisement, television shows, and so on. Assignments include three thesis-driven arguments, one autoethnography, as well as several short response papers.
FORMAT: Discussion
TEXT: Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100
TTh 2:30-3:45PM – TREDENNICK
COMP 200-07: ADVANCED COMPOSITION (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This is an advanced course in expository and argumentative writing that continues the work of COMP 100. In this class, we will work on developing strong thesis statements, the skill of close reading and scene analysis, the effective use of evidence, and fundamental research skills. In order to develop these skills, students will analyze and write about the themes of love and war in a wide swath of media ranging from lyric poetry to film.
FORMAT: TBA
TEXT: TBD
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100
MWF 2-2:50PM - YATSUHASHI
COMP 203-01: ADVANCED COMPOSITION FOR ENGLISH EDUCATION (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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: TBD
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 or equivalent, COMP 200
T 4:00-6:30PM-STAVE
COMP 239-01: TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This class acquaints students with the principles of workplace and academic writing about science and technology and improves their communication of such topics. Although we will emphasize science and technology issues, students from all majors are welcome. Students will practice and learn (or learn more about) common forms of professional writing like the resume, letter, memo, proposal, and report. Students will produce such documents in the context of three major projects: (1) an employment project, in which students apply for a position in their field and interview a professional in that field; (2) an informative project, in which students investigate a science or technology issue related to their major and write a report for a decision maker in government or industry; and (3) a final client-based or service-learning project, such as instructional or marketing materials for a campus or community group (students in the sciences will be strongly encouraged to write a publishable journal paper as their final project). Other issues to be covered include questions of audience (how to adapt writing for expert vs. lay audiences), document design (how to make a text look attractive on paper or on screen), and collaborative project management (how to structure a complex writing task as a team).
FORMAT: Primarily discussion and workshops of student writing. In addition to the three major projects and participation in discussion and peer review sessions, students will be required to complete five short (one to two-page) writing assignments.
TEXT: Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Technical Communication Today (3rd ed)
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100 and SoS
MWF 2-2:50PM - BLACK
COMP 270-81: FICTION WORKSHOP (LA,WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: Students will learn the fundamentals of fiction writing and will apply them to the production of their own stories and, in workshop, to a discussion of work by other students in the course. Readings will include stories from an anthology, essays from a book on craft, and stories produced by other students in the class. In this course we will “read as writers,” paying particular attention to the technical aspects of story writing—such as structure, plotting, character development, point of view, writing dialogue, and creating scenes. An emphasis will be placed on investigating students’ own lived experiences as sources of fiction. May be repeated for up to 6 s.h. credit.
FORMAT: Workshop, discussion, and spot lecturing. The course requires the writing and revision of short fiction, and writing exercises to be completed in class and outside of class. The course also includes quizzes and examinations as necessary.
TEXTS: Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991). ISBN: 039332124X; The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: 50 North American Stories Since 1970 (Touchstone Books, 2007) ISBN-10: 1416532277/ISBN-13: 978-1416532279
PREREQUISITES: “B” in COMP 150 or permission of instructor
W 5:30-8PM – HOVIS
COMP 290-01: WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE ( LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course teaches students to apply college writing skills to the discipline of literary studies. Students will increase proficiency in writing, researching, organizing, and revising skills in order to write successful papers in upper-division literature courses. Course builds on the skills learned in LITR 100 and is only open to English majors/minors. English concentrates can be signed in to the course, too.
FORMAT: This is primarily a discussion course with occasional lectures and frequent workshops.
TEXTS: TBD.
PREREQUISITE: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150. SoS.
TTh 11:30-12:45 – MORGAN-ZAYACHEK
COMP 390-01: CAPSTONE: THE ART OF BIOGRAPHY
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Biography has a long history as a distinct literary genre that has its roots in ancient Greece and Rome, where classical biographies such as Memorabilia by Xenophon, Lives of Caesars by Suetonius, and Plutarch’s Lives examined the lives of powerful, often controversial public figures. During the Middle Ages, the growing power of the Roman Catholic church in Europe moved the focus of biographical writing to inspirational accounts of the lives of religious figures such as martyrs and saints, and includes such classics as Fox’s Book of Martyrs and the Confessions of Augustine. Beginning in the seventeenth century the genre of biography began to take on a more modern cast with works such as Izaak Walton’s Life of Donne (1640) and James Boswell’s Life of Johnson (1791). Twentieth-century works in biography have varied widely, ranging from the magisterial work of biographers such as Leon Edel and David McCullough to thinly researched celebrity biographies. This course will examine how biography has developed as a literary form, with particular attention directed toward modern literary biographies.
FORMAT: Lecture/ discussion, research project.
TEXTS:TBA
PREREQUISITES: SrS (or dept. waiver); LITR 150; COMP 200; LITR 250
TTh 11:30-12:45- PAYNE
ELIT 243-01: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: We will read eighteenth-century novels, essays, satirical prose, journalism, drama, and poetry. There will be a focus on the shifting nature of the novel, with particular attention to the relationship between genre and gender. We will also examine the changing cultural ideas that produced developments in poetry, art, science, and enlightenment philosophy.
FORMAT: Discussion and lecture.
TEXTS: TBD
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150.
TTh 4-5:15PM - SADOW
ELIT 270-01: SHAKESPEARE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course will provide students with an overarching view of Shakespeare’s poetry and plays, beginning with an exploration of his sonnets and continuing with readings in the dramatic genres of comedy, history, tragedy and romance. We will be concerned this term not only with Shakespeare’s unique genius, but also with understanding the cultural forces (political, religious, and economic) shaping Shakespeare’s world-view, language and literary techniques. Frequent in-class screenings of individual scenes from Shakespeare’s plays will introduce students to the rich variety of stage and film interpretations of the texts. Students will submit two writing assignments: (1) a summary of two critical essays which the students will find in the library, and (2) a critical essay combining library research with the students’ own insights. The writing assignments are designed to introduce students to the conventions and vocabulary of Shakespeare criticism, and, most importantly, to help the students develop their own interpretations as they become more familiar with the cultural and/or biographical contexts of the assigned readings.
FORMAT: Lecture and class discussion. Regular attendance will be essential to those students expecting passing grades on the weekly quizzes, which will comprise 30% of the course grade. A library seminar will introduce students to the Milne Library resources required for completion of a research summarization exercise (10% of the course grade), which will, along with several in-class editing exercises, assist students in completing a 5-to-7-page research essay (15% of the course grade). The midterm and final examinations will constitute 20% and 25% of the course grade, respectively.
TEXTS: William Shakespeare: The Poems (NY: Bantam), ISBN 0-55321309.
Midsummer Night's Dream, ed. David Bevington (NY: Bantam), ISBN 0-55321300-8.
Henry IV, Part One, ed. David Bevington (NY: Bantam), ISBN 0-553-21293-1.
Merchant of Venice, ed. David Bevington (NY: Bantam), ISBN 0-553-21299-0.
King Lear, ed. David Bevington (NY: Bantam) ISBN 0-553-21297-4.
The Tempest, ed. David Bevington (NY: Bantam) ISBN 0-553-21307-5.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 2-2:50PM – CRANE
ELIT 274-01: MODERN BRITISH POETS
COURSE SUMMARY: This class will focus on English, Scottish and Welsh poetry from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. Although we will spend time in class doing close reading and formal analysis of individual poems, we will also seek to place Modern British poetry in its larger historical and cultural context, relating it to major events in British history and examining the larger place of poetry in modern England. Examples of poets to be studied will include Hardy, Hopkins, Kipling, Lawrence, the First World War poets, MacDiarmid, Bunting, Smith, Empson, Auden and his circle, Thomas, Larkin, Hughes, Redgrove, Adcock, and more contemporary experimental writers.
FORMAT: Discussion with student presentations (students will be asked to choose a poet and introduce him/her to the class) and occasional peer-review. Three papers, weekly reading responses on Angel, a midterm and a final.
TEXT: Anthology of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry, ed. Keith Tuma.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
MWF 10:00-10:50AM- BLACK
ELIT 371-81: SHAKESPEARE AND CULTURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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. Other text TBA
PREREQUISITES: LITR 150, COMP 200, ELIT 270, LITR 250
M 4:00-6:30 PM - FININ
LING 210-02: 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
MWF 12-12:50PM - BLACK
LING 322: VARIETIES OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course will explore the different varieties and dialects of English in the United States, including both regional and cultural variations, from the first English settlements to the present. Coverage will also include the impact of other languages on American English.
FORMAT: A combination of lecture and discussion. Students will complete a project or research essay related to aspects of American English, as well as take several exams.
TEXT: Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. American English: Dialects and Variation. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. ISBN 978-1405112666
PREREQUISITE: LING 201 or JrS.
MWF 11-11:50AM – DOUGHTY
LITR 150-01: 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 and quizzes, midterm, 5-7 page paper, and final exam.
TEXTS: Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 6th edition by Laurie and Stephen R. Mandell, Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007; Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Ed. Stevie Davies) Penguin Classics, 2006; The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, Penguin, 2002.
PREREQUISITES: Declared English Major; or by permission of the Department.
TTh 1-2:15PM - FININ
LITR 150-02: 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, two in-class writing assignments, research project.
TEXTS: Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing (Compact Sixth Edition)— Kirszner & Mandel; A Glossary of Literary Terms—M.H. Abrams; The Island of Doctor Moreau—H.G. Wells
PREREQUISITES: Declared English major, or by permission of the department.
TTh 2:30-3:45PM- PAYNE
LITR 222: SCIENCE FICTION (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: Students will read a wide variety of science fiction from both classic and contemporary authors. Sub-genres of science fiction will be discussed, and students will analyze the literature in an attempt to create a definition of science fiction.
FORMAT: Class discussions, reading quizzes as needed. The primary method of evaluation will be through student writings and a presentation as well as the final exam.
TEXTS: (subject to change based on availability)
Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. 1979. New York: Random, 1995. ISBN:9780345391803.
Asimov, Isaac. Foundation. 1951. New York: Random, 1991. ISBN: 9780553293357.
Bradbury, Ray. A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories. New York: Harper, 2005. ISBN: 9780060785697
Butler, Octavia. Kindred. 1979. Boston: Beacon, 2004. ISBN: 9780807083697.
Clarke, Arthur C. Childhood’s End. 1953. New York: Random, 1987. ISBN: 9780345347954
Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl. New York: Hyperion, 2011. ISBN: 9780594041078.
Halderman, Joe. The Forever War. 1975. New York: St. Martin’s, 2009. ISBN: 9780312536633.
Lovecraft, H.P. At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror. 1931. New York: Random, 1991. ISBN: 9780345329455.
Otomo, Katsuhiro. Akira, Volume 1. New York: Kodansha, 2009. ISBN: 9781935429005.
Wells, H.G. War of the Worlds. 1898. New York: Dover, 1997. ISBN: 9780486295060
MWF 12-12:50PM - DOUGHTY
LITR 250-01: APPROACHES TO LITERATURE (LA, AH2)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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 3:00-3:50PM - LEE
LITR 285-01: AUTOBIOGRAPHY, GENDER AND CULTURE (LA, WS2)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course will consider autobiographies from a variety of cultural backgrounds, exploring the relationship between gender, culture, and the representation of the self in autobiography. More specifically, we will examine a range of texts whose cultural, geographical, and historical backgrounds shape narratives of varying forms, structures, and styles. We will ask why autobiography has proved such a quintessentially “American” form of writing, while serving as an especially appealing (and enduring) form for writers from marginalized positions both within and outside the United States. We will especially consider questions of gender and genre, as well as conceptions of identity, home, and belonging.
FORMAT: A mixture of lecture and discussion. Short essays; exams; memoir writing.
TEXTS: may include Ecology of a Cracker Childhood; Persepolis; Canícula; Books and Islands.
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150; or permission of instructor.
MWF 12-12:50PM - BERNARDIN
LITR 307-01: MADNESS IN LITERATURE (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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.
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.
PREREQUISITES: LIT 150; LIT 250; COMP 200; 6 s.h. ALIT, ELIT, LITR or WLIT; or permission of instructor.
TTh 11:30-12:45 - TREDENNICK
WLIT 200-01: ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: A survey of global literatures, beginning with the earliest developments of Neolithic pictorial texts and ending with the richly varied literary productions of the 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, 2nd edition(New York: Pearson Longman, 2009), ISBN-13: 978-0-205-62595-6
David Damrosch, General Editor, The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Volume B: The Medieval Era, 2nd edition(New York: Pearson Longman, 2009), ISBN-13: 978-0-205-62596-3
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100
MWF 3-3:50 PM - CRANE
WLIT 271–01: POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE: THE AMERICAS (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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 10-10:50PM - BERNARDIN
WLIT 281-01: THE CHINESE NOVEL (LA, HO2)
COURSE SUMMARY: 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 294-01 SpTp: HOMER (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: A study and close reading of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Topics to be discussed include the warrior ethic, heroic friendship, oral vs. literate poetry, the social function of epic and its historicity, myth and epic, and the changing nature of heroism. We will also consider the importance of the Homeric tradition in the ancient and the modern world.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
MWF 3-3:50PM - YATSUHASHI
WLIT 294-81 SpTp: LITERATURE OF ADDICTION (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course will examine works that deal with addiction, especially alcohol and drugs. As important, however, will be evaluations of the works as specifically literary texts and not simply as sociological tracts on the evils of drugs and alcohol. We are not going to spend time arguing over definitions of “addiction” or comparing psychological “models” of the condition. Addiction as “loss of controls” will constitute the bottom line of our discussions.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 100; LITR 100 or LITR 150
W 6-8:30PM - MEANOR
WLIT 380-81: WRITING AND VIOLENCE (LA)
COURSE SUMMARY: This course examines the relationships between writing / textuality and oppressive or violent behavior. Texts that deal with national or institutional aggression, individual acts of violence, or the intensity of problematic family relationships will come under consideration. World literatures will be presented along with American narratives and film so that the thematic possibilities of the subject can be universally explored yet locally contextualized.
TEXTS: TBA
PREREQUISITES: COMP 200; LITR 150; LITR 250; 6 s.h. 200-level courses in ALIT, ELIT, LITR or WLIT; or by permission of instructor.
W 5:30-8:00PM - LEE |
