English Course Topics
Recently offered courses (with descriptions):
Intro to Discipline of English
Introduction to the Discipline of English. The course will be
built around study of three major genres (poetry, fiction and
drama). Through close reading, class discussion and writing we will
exercise our ability to interpret, argue for interpretations and
appreciate diverse interpretations. At the same time we will gain
practical knowledge of literary terms and become acquainted with
major approaches in critical theory.
Intro Creative Writing: Poetry-Fiction
Introduction to Creative Writing: Poetry-Fiction. An
introduction to the writing of short stories and poetry. Required
of English majors with an emphasis in writing. Non-majors who enjoy
reading contemporary fiction and poetry and who would like to try
writing in order to deepen their understanding and enjoyment of
those genres are also welcome.
Intro Creative Writing: Essay
The Writer in the World: Introduces students to techniques used
by good writers in all disciplines. Readings designed to turn
students' eyes out onto the world. Practice in techniques of
non-fiction prose and journal writing.
Themes in Literature: Changing Images of Humanity
Literature & Contemporary Values. Analyzes selected literary
works and the moral standards and values by which fictional
characters evaluate their own and each other's lives. (Core
course.)
Inquiries in American Literature and Cultural History I
This course will be organized around a theme in early American
literature, and thereby seek to increase students' understanding of
major works, authors and literary movements of the period.
Texts for the course will come primarily from the period up to the
American civil War, and both the texts and the authors studies will
be placed within their larger literary and cultural contexts.
Particular themes for the course will be published each semester in
the schedule of classes.
Inquiries in American Literature and Cultural History II
This course will be organized around a theme in early American
literature, and thereby seek to increase students' understanding of
major works, authors and literary movements of the period.
Texts for the course will come primarily from the period after
the American civil War, and both the texts and the authors studies
will be placed within their larger literary and cultural
contexts. Particular themes for the course will be published
each semester in the schedule of classes.
Inquiries in British Literary and Cultural History I
This course will be organized around in early British
literature, and thereby seek to increase students' understanding of
major works, authors and literary movements of the period.
Texts for the course will come primarily from the period up to
1800, and both the texts and the authors studies will be placed
within their larger literary and cultural contexts.
Particular themes for the course will be published each semester in
the schedule of classes.
Inquiries in British Literary and Cultural History II
This course will be organized around in early British
literature, and thereby seek to increase students' understanding of
major works, authors and literary movements of the period.
Texts for the course will come primarily from the period after
1800, and both the texts and the authors studies will be placed
within their larger literary and cultural contexts.
Particular themes for the course will be published each semester in
the schedule of classes.
Comparative Literature 1
Comparative World Literature. Explores the questions of identity
and authorship in modern European literature. Close examination of
texts by Dostoevsky, Rimbaud, Kafka, Rilke, Duras and others. Open
to juniors and seniors.
Studies in Major Authors: Jane Austen
Jane Austen. Whose Pride and Prejudice was the most popular
series in the history of British television; whose Emma provided
the plot of Clueless; whose Sense and Sensibility was adapted into
an Oscar-winning screenplay by Emma Thompson; whose Persuasion
received rave reviews as a movie, and whose novels are selling like
hot cakes nearly 200 years after their first publication? Jane
Austen, of course, an author of whose work a semester-long study
will turn into a life-long passion.
Studies in Major Authors: Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes. A study of the poetry, prose fiction and drama
of Langston Hughes. Hughes as a literary theorist, technician and
fountainhead of Afro-modernism. His role in the Harlem Renaissance,
his influence on important movements in literature and the arts
including Negritude, the Beats, the Black Arts Movement,
performance poetry, spoken word poetry, and rap music. His place on
the Seminal Quartet of 20th Century American poets.
Studies in Fiction: Contemporary American Novel
Contemporary American Novel. A survey of major American novels
from 1970 to the present. Selections may include EL Doctorow,
Ragtime; Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping; Toni Morrison, Beloved;
Don DeLillo, White Noise; Maxine Hong Kingston, Tripmaster Monkey;
Art Spiegelman, Maus; Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn.
Studies in Rhetoric
Studies in Rhetoric. This course provides an introduction to
rhetoric, the art of producing effective communication. We will
read widely in rhetorical theory and criticism and practice
employing various rhetorical strategies. In addition to studying
the traditional divisions of rhetoric, we will also consider such
topics as the relationship between rhetoric and poetics and the
effects of social context on rhetorical performance.
Research Seminar: Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe. The fiction of Edgar Allan (that's an 'a' not
an 'e') Poe will serve as the basis for a course on scholarly
research skills. Students will learn to conduct exhaustive
searches, evaluate sources, develop annotated bibliographies, and
engage in critical debates.
Special Topics in Literature: Fin de Siecle Literature
The last two decades of the nineteenth century were a time of
great anxiety and debate in Great Britain and France. Many citizens
in these countries believed that their nations were undergoing
decline, becoming at once increasingly crime-ridden, brutal,
exhausted, effete, and immoral. Others viewed the changing social
landscape of the period more optimistically, celebrating changes in
gender and social relations that at the time were deemed
'unnatural.' This course provides an introduction to some of the
most important literature of this historical moment. The first half
of the course will trace the rise of Naturalist, Decadent, and
Aestheticism literatures in France and Britain. The second half of
the course will examine developments in popular British literature,
including the emergence of such then new fictional genres as the
science-fiction tale, the modern gothic thriller, and the detective
story. Texts will include Emile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, Oscar
Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Joris-Karl Huysmans's Against
Nature, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Charles Baudelaire's Flowers of
Evil, Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, H.G.
Wells's The Time Machine, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes, and the works of various feminist 'daughters of
decadence.'
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