| ENGL 101-01 |
Monsters & Madness: Secret Lives in Victorian Literature
Instructor: Sarah Kersh
Course Description:
Evil alter-egos, soul-sucking vampires, and detective thrillers-all have their roots in the literature of the nineteenth-century. From Dorian Grey to Dracula and the Hound of the Baskervilles, the sensational literature of the Victorian era sought to stimulate the mind and awaken emotion. This course will examine how monsters, mad scientists, and secret identities rose in the public imagination alongside of a rapidly-changing nation. The nineteenth century saw unprecedented growth of industry and leaps in scientific discovery; new and rapid global communication as well as transport; tenuous relationship of commodities, consumers, and economic stability; as well as changing conceptions of class, gender, and what it meant to be an individual. This course is intended to be an introduction to Victorian literature in a variety of genres, including poetry, the novel, and non-fiction prose by authors such as Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Oscar Wilde, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MWF
DENNY 313 |
| ENGL 101-02 |
How to Love Poetry
Instructor: Carol Ann Johnston
Course Description:
As chemists compound elements to make new solutions, poets test language in order to discover new gradations of feeling. Like a carpenter, a poet is a maker, crafting aesthetic objects out of words. We will explore poems as things made from words that engage our senses and thought in intense pleasure. We will become familiar with lyric (short) poems written in English from the 15th-21st centuries, not chronologically, but according to kind, such as: poems about place, love, nature, time, death, regret, the self, memory. We will also see how poets draw upon poems from the past, leaning upon historical poetic forms as emotional frames that support new kinds of solace, joy, and kindness. Students will write short exercises, two papers, and a final examination that detail the relationship between the formal aspects of poetry and how poems both signify and embody our worlds.
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
DENNY 304 |
| ENGL 101-03 |
The Legend of King Arthur: From Medieval to Monty Python
Instructor: Chelsea Skalak
Course Description:
The legend of King Arthur has captured imaginations for hundreds of years, inspiring adaptations even into the present day. Yet when the legend originated a millennium ago, it was already considered a tale of a bygone age, the dream of a romantic past. This class will study the medieval origins of the King Arthur story and then trace that legend through time to the present day, including the films King Arthur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As we read, we will consider how each text responds to both its historical context and its own imagined past.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
EASTC 411 |
| ENGL 101-04 |
American Television
Instructor: Greg Steirer
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FMST 220-01.For most of the twentieth century-and arguably still today-American television has functioned as a form of "public sphere," in which contemporary debates about race, class, gender, and sexuality were represented through visual and narrative forms. In this course we will examine television from institutional, aesthetic, social, and historical perspectives so as to understand its role in the negotiation of cultural change and identity. Attention will be given to traditional broadcast television and cable as well as more recent streaming television platforms, such as Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
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09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
EASTC 411 |
| ENGL 101-05 |
American Television
Instructor: Greg Steirer
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FMST 220-02.For most of the twentieth century-and arguably still today-American television has functioned as a form of "public sphere," in which contemporary debates about race, class, gender, and sexuality were represented through visual and narrative forms. In this course we will examine television from institutional, aesthetic, social, and historical perspectives so as to understand its role in the negotiation of cultural change and identity. Attention will be given to traditional broadcast television and cable as well as more recent streaming television platforms, such as Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+.
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
EASTC 411 |
| ENGL 220-01 |
Introduction to Literary Studies
Instructor: Sheela Jane Menon
Course Description:
In literary studies, we explore the work texts do in the world. This course examines several texts of different kinds (e.g., novel, poetry, film, comic book, play, etc.) to investigate how literary forms create meanings. It also puts texts in conversation with several of the critical theories and methodologies that shape the discipline of literary study today (e.g., Marxist theory, new historicism, formalism, gender theory, postcolonial theory, ecocriticism, etc.). This course helps students frame interpretive questions and develop their own critical practice. Prerequisite: 101. This course is the prerequisite for 300-level work in English.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
EASTC 410 |
| ENGL 220-02 |
Introduction to Literary Studies
Instructor: Wendy Moffat
Course Description:
In literary studies, we explore the work texts do in the world. This course examines several texts of different kinds (e.g., novel, poetry, film, comic book, play, etc.) to investigate how literary forms create meanings. It also puts texts in conversation with several of the critical theories and methodologies that shape the discipline of literary study today (e.g., Marxist theory, new historicism, formalism, gender theory, postcolonial theory, ecocriticism, etc.). This course helps students frame interpretive questions and develop their own critical practice. Prerequisite: 101. This course is the prerequisite for 300-level work in English.
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
EASTC 303 |
| ENGL 220-03 |
Introduction to Literary Studies
Instructor: Jacob Sider Jost
Course Description:
In literary studies, we explore the work texts do in the world. This course examines several texts of different kinds (e.g., novel, poetry, film, comic book, play, etc.) to investigate how literary forms create meanings. It also puts texts in conversation with several of the critical theories and methodologies that shape the discipline of literary study today (e.g., Marxist theory, new historicism, formalism, gender theory, postcolonial theory, ecocriticism, etc.). This course helps students frame interpretive questions and develop their own critical practice. Prerequisite: 101. This course is the prerequisite for 300-level work in English.
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09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
EASTC 303 |
| ENGL 221-01 |
Writing, Identity, & Queer Studies: In & Out, Either/Or, and Everything in Between
Instructor: Sarah Kersh
Course Description:
Cross-listed with WGSS 351-01.Kate Bornstein writes: "I know I'm not a man...and I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not a woman either. The trouble is, we're living in a world that insists we be one or the other." In this reading and writing intensive course, students will investigate how we approach the space outside of "one or the other" through literature, film, and narrative more generally. Throughout the semester we will explore and engage critically with established and emerging arguments in queer theory, as well as read and watch texts dealing with issues of identity and identification. Although "queer" is a contested term, it describes-at least potentially-sexualities and genders that fall outside of normative constellations. Students will learn how to summarize and engage with arguments, and to craft and insert their own voice into the ongoing debates about the efficacy of queer theory and queer studies. Moreover, we'll take on questions that relate "word" to "world" in order to ask: How might our theory productively intervene in LGBTQ civil rights discourse outside our classroom? How do we define queer and is it necessarily attached to sexual orientation? How do our own histories and narratives intersect with the works we analyze? Our course texts will pull from a range of genres including graphic novels, film, poetry, memoir, and fiction. Some texts may include Alison Bechdel's _Fun Home_, Audre Lorde's _Zami_, Jackie Kay's _Trumpet_, David Sedaris' _Me Talk Pretty One Day_, and films such as _Paris is Burning_ and _Boys Don't Cry_.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
EASTC 410 |
| ENGL 221-02 |
Visual Poetry
Instructor: Carol Ann Johnston
Course Description:
Cross-listed with CRWR 219-02.Poetry began as verse recited by bards and scops going from town to town entertaining crowds with history, myths of origin, hymns, and genealogy. Rhythmic and repeating language made poetry an important aid to memory before writing existed. When the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable type in 1440 Europe, the printing press could produce around 3500 pages per day, as opposed to the page or two produced by the scribe copying by hand. Mass printing of poetry transformed the focus of the genre. We will discover the myriad ways that poetry and print interact, including through typography, illustration, and design, by looking at artifacts such as broadsides, emblem books, and artists' books; by reading scholars and theorists discussing the evolution of poetry and print; by writing and designing our own visual poetry. Prior experience writing poetry will be useful for students taking the class.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
EASTC 410 |
| ENGL 222-01 |
Feminist Genres
Instructor: Claire Seiler
Course Description:
Cross-listed with WGSS 201-01.This course explores the centrality of literature to feminist thought, consciousness, and activism. Since women began gaining access to literacy itself, women writers have used inherited literary genresand created new onesto make and expand feminist thought, the category of woman, and the scope of feminist action. We will study how and why (mostly) twentieth-century US feminist literary artists approached and reimagined six literary genres and modes, among them essay, authotheory, novel, lyric poetry, and noir. Students can expect to develop a solid grounding in the history and contestation of feminist literary studies, to experiment with writing in several genres, and to read exemplary works across genres by Gloria Anzalda, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kate Chopin, bell hooks, Dorothy B. Hughes, Audre Lorde, and Maggie Nelson, among others.
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
DENNY 204 |
| ENGL 321-01 |
Literature of Migration & Displacement
Instructor: Sheela Jane Menon
Course Description:
This course examines contemporary literature that has emerged from complex histories of displacement, migration, war, and exile, and analyzes how these histories continue to shape texts and communities around the world. We will focus on 20th and 21st century literature that spans countries including: Palestine, Syria, Central America, Vietnam, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Our readings may include: Susan Muaddi Darraj's, The Inheritance of Exile (2007); selections from Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline (2014), edited by Malu Halasa, Zaher Omareen, and Nawara Mahfoud; Valeri Luiselli's Tell Me How it Ends (2017), and Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer (2016). Guided by Postcolonial and Cultural Studies methodologies, we will examine how race, class, gender, and politics influence the movements of people across the globe.
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03:00 PM-04:15 PM, TF
EASTC 301 |
| ENGL 331-01 |
Reading Contemporary Fiction
Instructor: Siobhan Phillips
Course Description:
This course will consider two questions in tandem. First, how do contemporary conditions (of media, technology, economics, history) alter how we read fiction? Second, what aspects of fiction as a craft and genre do contemporary conditions make especially significant? To answer the latter question, we will analyze how books from the last five years test the limits of autobiography, the artificiality of character, and the border between narrative and history, among other issues. Meanwhile, to answer the former, we will consider how advances of social media, changes to journalism and education, and developments in publishing shape our own and others' reading lives. This is not intended to be a comprehensive survey; rather, we will consider a selection of recent Anglophone novels that raise pertinent issues. Authors may include Ayad Akhtar, Rachel Cusk, Danielle Evans, Sheila Heti, and Charles Yu.
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10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MWF
DENNY 212 |
| ENGL 331-02 |
Shakespeare and Tragedy
Instructor: Jacob Sider Jost
Course Description:
An exploration of tragedy through primary texts (Sophocles, Euripides, above all Shakespeare), canonical theories (Aristotle, Hegel, Frye) and recent critical discussions (Rowan Williams, Blair Hoxby, Joshua Billings).
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
EASTC 301 |
| ENGL 341-01 |
Jane Austen in Her Time
Instructor: Wendy Moffat
Course Description:
Cross-listed with WGSS 301-01.This course may count as either a pre-1800 or post-1800 300-level literature class, depending on the student's research. Those students who wish to earn pre-1800 credit must inform me before add/drop is over, and I will inform the registrar and supplement and guide research accordingly. Students must satisfactorily complete the final research paper as a pre-1800 course to receive pre-1800 credit.>Here is a rare opportunity to study the whole of a great writer's oeuvre in a single term. We will read all six of Austen's major novels, biographical material, and selected social history with the aim of understanding the cultural conditions described by the novels, and the novels in their cultural context. Students will lead one class discussion, write one research paper, and present an "accomplishment" befitting Austen's milieu: e. g. performing a musical composition, completing a piece of needlework, learning a card game and teaching it to the class, composing a verbal "charade," and the like. In addition, each week, each student will be expected to write and mail one letter (not e mail) to a correspondent of his/her choosing. (The letters may remain private.)
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09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
EASTC 301 |
| ENGL 341-03 |
Late Victorian Literature and Culture
Instructor: Sarah Kersh
Course Description:
The fin de sicle-French for 'the end of the century'- is a period of literature and culture that has been portrayed as being "caught between two ages, the Victorian and the Modern" (Ledger and Luckhurst). This in between period is perhaps known best for its cry of "art for art's sake" and the suggestion that morality is relative. Because it usually is characterized by decadence and questions of immorality, the end of the nineteenth century is too often overlooked as a period of enormous technological, political, social, and intellectual change in British literary and cultural life. In this course, we will examine literature, and art more broadly, in the context of discourses on urban problems, 'The New Woman,' imperialism and socialism, as well as place it in conversation with a number of developments in science, psychology, and sexology. We will read a range of different works of fiction, drama, and poetry by authors such as Oscar Wilde, Michael Field, Mona Caird, H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker, and William Morris.
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03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
EASTC 301 |
| ENGL 403-01 |
Methods and Models of Literary Scholarship
Instructor: Claire Seiler
Course Description:
In preparation for the Senior Writing Workshop, students in this seminar will: (1) strengthen their grasp of the history and current configuration of literary studies and related fields; (2) frame and begin to pursue the questions that will motivate their senior theses; and (3) hone their critical self-awareness as readers and writers. During the first ten or so weeks of the semester, we will devote a significant portion of our class time to Ralph Ellison's touchstone novel Invisible Man (1952), as well as to readings of the novel enabled by a range of literary methodologies, cultural and institutional contexts, historical and theoretical vantages, and research strategies. Throughout the semester, we will make our collaborative discussion of Invisible Man into a model for thinking in broader terms about the questions, practices, and habits of mind that inform the most generative literary scholarship, including and especially students' own.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, R
EASTC 303 |
| ENGL 403-02 |
Methods and Models of Literary Scholarship
Instructor: Greg Steirer
Course Description:
In preparation for the writing of the senior thesis, this course aims to help students develop an advanced understanding of the practice of research in literary studies and related disciplines. Over the course of the semester, we will explore how research has been conceptualized at different periods in history, by practitioners of different institutional affiliation, and at different junctures in the evolution of literary studies as a discipline. In exploring these issues, we will also query the concepts of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity themselves, in part by applying them to students own research ideas. By the end of the course, students will have developed an advanced understanding of what scholarly research is, how to practice it, and what it ultimately is for. Primary texts will be determined based upon students interests and prospective thesis topics.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, T
EASTC 303 |
| ENGL 500-01 |
Advanced Seminar in American Television
Instructor: Greg Steirer
Course Description:
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