Kansas State University

English Department Course Descriptions
Fall 2004

ENGL 030 Writing Laboratory

Section A: By Appointment—D. Murray, R. Mosher, and staff
Enroll during drop/add only in ECS 122D. Laboratory practice of the writing process. Regular sections are for students enrolled in Expository Writing 1 or 2. (Walk-in sections are for undergraduate students who wish to improve their writing skills.) Hours are not applicable toward degree requirements. Prerequisite: Consent of student’s Expository Writing instructor and Writing Laboratory staff.

ENGL 110 Honors English I

Section A: MWF 8:30; Section B: MWF 9:30—B. Nelson
Permission obtained from Dean Reeck, EH 113-119. From the perspective of the new Millennium, it is quite fitting to look back through the centuries to explore the historical, social, and cultural impacts on the relationships between the sexes as depicted in the literature of various periods.
We will look at various genres -- plays, poetry, essays, short stories, and novels -- in England and America -- written by both men and women. We will begin with William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (which we will see is really much ado about 'something' in terms of women's subordinate position in Elizabethan Society) and end with Gloria Naylor's gritty, realistic picture of the impact of ghetto life on The Women [and men] of Brewster Place.
In addition to lively class discussions on our readings, there will be 6 essays of varying lengths required. Individual conferences and group workshops will provide constructive feedback to help you hone your critical writing skills.

ENGL 110 Honors English I

Section C: MWF 9:30, Lab T 7:05-9:55P—D. Smit
Permission obtained from Dean Reeck, EH 113-119. “Writing About Film.” We will study film as a medium and the way people talk about film. During the first part of the course we will study cinematography and editing. Later, we will study the most common genres and discourse communities that write about film and the genres these communities use.
You will write four papers and a short formal analysis of a film clip. The four papers will be an essay, a newspaper review, a magazine review or journal criticism, and a scholarly study.
The text will be Stephen Prince, Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film, 3rd Ed.
There will be a “lab” on Tuesday evenings, when we will watch films in their entirety together as a class.

ENGL 110 Honors English I

Section D: MWF 12:30—N. Ransom
Permission obtained from Dean Reeck, EH 113-119. Professional development. Throughout college, students have the opportunity to explore different fields and ultimately to choose a field and begin the process of becoming a professional. This honors course will speed that process by examining a major of the student’s choosing, interviewing and profiling the profession and adjunct organizations, learning to critically read and synthesize information from the field, and analyzing employers and applying for internships. Writing assignments will allow students to explore their chosen field, ultimately leading to an application for an internship in their field.

ENGL 220 Fiction Into Film

Section A: MWF 8:30, Lab M 2:30-4:20; Section B: MWF 10:30, Lab M 2:30-4:20—L. Baker
We’ll read at 6 or 7 successful film adaptations of notable novels and short stories in the light of these literary originals. Our purpose will be to appreciate more deeply the different ways in which narrative prose fiction and film work as media for articulating imaginative possibilities. Under consideration (but not yet decided upon) for Fall 2004 are: Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968; the basis for Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner); Laura Esquivel’s “magic-realist” novel Like Water for Chocolate; Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s absurdist satire Slaughterhouse Five; Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; Ernest Hemmingway’s “Soldier’s Home”; and Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”; Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Brian Moore’s Black Robe; Peter Matthiessen’s At Play in the Fields of the Lord; and Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. There will be a short quiz over each piece of fiction. Attendance at showings of the films will be required (or must be demonstrated, by special quiz, to have been made up). Students will write a short essay on each pair of works we take up, and on an additional fiction/film pair of their choice.

ENGL 231 Medieval & Renaissance Humanities

Section A: MWF 9:30—A. Warren
This course introduces the student to major concepts of literature, art, architecture, philosophy, and music which shaped western culture during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Reading assignments include works by Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Machiavelli, Montaigne, and many others. Class activities include slides, recordings, lectures, and discussions. Grades are based upon careful reading, class participation, four in-class exams, and two out-of-class essays. English 231 is a General Education course.

ENGL 234 Modern Humanities

Section A: MWF 9:30; Section B: MWF 10:30—J. Henderson
Modern Humanities finishes the four-course sequence of the humanities series by asking both what it is to be “modern” and what constitute “the humanities.” Course readings are an interdisciplinary mix of literature, philosophy, history, and examples of the fine arts—from the time of the French Revolution up until the present. English 234 is a General Education course.

ENGL 251 Introduction to Literature (Non-Majors)

Section A: MWF 8:30; Section D: MWF 1:30; Section F: TU 1:05-2:20—Staff
The study of fiction, drama, poetry, and (possibly) nonfiction. Students may write papers, take quizzes and/or exams, participate in electronic discussions, complete group projects, etc., while gaining experience in reading, writing, and critical thinking.

ENGL 251 Introduction to Literature (Non-Majors)

Section B: MWF 10:30—C. Hauck
This is an introductory course in literature for non-majors. Its primary purpose is to develop your skills and confidence as a reader of literature by reading literature (short stories, poetry, at least one play and one novel), talking about literature (class room discussions and small group work) and writing about literature (journal entries, in-class responses, one short essay, two mid-term examinations, a final.

ENGL 251 Introduction to Literature (Non-Majors)

Section C: MWF 11:30—B. Nelson
Lively discussion and critical study of a variety of fiction, drama, and poetry through the centuries. Special emphasis on the historical, social, and cultural impacts on relationships between the sexes as depicted in literature from Greek times to the present.

ENGL 251 Introduction to Literature (Non-Majors)

Section E: TU 9:30-10:45—R. Mosher
This course aims to give students experience thinking, talking, and writing about prose, poetry, and drama. Students will be required to participate in class discussion, complete daily out-of-class exercises, take three exams, and write an analytical paper.

ENGL 261 British Literature/Medieval & Renaissance (Non-Majors)

Section A: TU 1:05-2:20—Staff
British literature for non-majors from the earliest period to the 1600s.

ENGL 287 Great Books

Section A: MWF 12:30; Section B: MWF 1:30—A. Warren
Introduction to world classics; we will read a variety of books, from ancient Greek epic to 20th century novel. Participation in a listserv will be part of the course. English 287 is a General Education course

ENGL 297 Honors Introduction to the Humanities

Section A: TU 9:30-10:45—L. Behlman
Permission obtained from Dean Reeck, EH 113-119. This class introduces you to the humanities through a varied course of readings from (mostly) European writers, beginning in the eight century B.C. with Homer and ending in the mid-twentieth century with the Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. We’ll sample from almost every kind of writing under the sun, including epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry, short stories, novels, political theory, religious and scientific tracts, counter-cultural rants, and fevered love letters.
ENGL 297 shares its syllabus and general approach with three other classes, HIST 297, MLANG 297, and PHILO 297. In ENGL 297, we’ll pay special attention to the formal properties of these books, how they use language to make their points and to shape their literary worlds. We’ll also consider how these books respond to and comment on each other, sometimes in surprising ways.
Finally, this course is as much concerned with your own writing as with that of the authors we will read. We will discuss ways to write persuasively about books and how to create stimulating, well-tailored arguments. Requirements include three papers and a take-home final exam.

ENGL 300 Expository Writing 3

Section A: TU 1:05-2:20—I. Ward
The U.S. Presidential campaign is already shaping up to be contentious and interesting. The course will take a non-partisan look at the arguments of the candidates for U.S. Presidential and at how each party and candidate craft and present their persuasive messages to voters. The class will not try to decide which arguments are right or wrong, but try to determine how they are put together and who might find them persuasive. This will be an exciting and fun way to learn about and participate in public argumentation, while learning how it effects us as citizen voters. Even if you feel you’re not “into” politics this will be a great way to learn about argumentation in a way that you can observe immediately outside the classroom. Students should plan on watching, reading, and taking notes on newspaper accounts of the campaign and watching a television news program at least once a week. Your instructor will inquire about a free subscription to a major news magazine or national newspaper. We will also look at recent political web sites such as “rightmove” and “moveon.” We will also start a class “blog,” where students can post reactions and arguments about campaign issues. The class will engage in lots of discussions in class, online, and in writing. We will also be using a technology classroom, so that we can readily use computers and access to the Internet to write and to do research directly from the classroom.
Text: Everything’s an Argument: with Readings, by Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, and Walters (Bedford/St. Martin’s 2004).
Requirements: password access to KSU’s Internet Service and web accessible email account (KSU Webmail preferred); brief weekly journal notes covering a newspaper and television news broadcast; informal and brief rhetorical analysis of assigned reading and found reading; periodic blog posting; four argumentative papers (4-7 pages); quizzes over concepts and vocabulary related to argumentation. Evaluations will be based on participation, the quizzes, and the quality of written arguments.

ENGL 310 Introduction to Literary Studies (Majors)

Section A: MWF 9:30; Section B: MWF 10:30—M. Janette
Permission obtained from English Department, ECS 108. In this class, we will learn and practice many of the tools of literary criticism, and apply them to works from the main genres of literature. This semester, most of the readings for the course will be related to Greek and Latin mythology. We’ll start by reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses and will then look at various ways that myths have been revised and altered by later authors, including Hawthorne in the 19th century (A Wonder Book), George Bernard Shaw at the beginning of the 20th century (“Pygmalion”), and Mary Zimmerman at the beginning of the 21st century (“Metamorphosis”). We will also look at a very contemporary version of identity-shifting, as we read and attend a production of “Y2K” (about identity theft). One of the joys of 310 is that it is a small seminar class, in which there is time and space enough for detailed reading and thorough discussion of texts. This is a discussion class, and active participation will be expected of us all. In addition, students will write and revise three 1-2 pg papers, three 5 pg papers, and journals/reading assignments throughout the semester.

ENGL 310 Introduction to Literary Studies (Majors)

Section C: TU 11:30-12:45—L. Brigham
Permission obtained from English Department, ECS 108. An introduction to criticism for English majors and minors. Intended as a first course in the analysis of form, style, and technique, the course provides an introduction to literary terms commonly used in later courses, and practice in critical interpretation as well as reading and responding, to literary criticism. Readings from a broad range: poems, plays, essays, and novels. A writing intensive course; active participation required.

ENGL 310 Introduction to Literary Studies (Majors)

Section D: TU 2:30-3:45—A. Wheatley
Permission obtained from English Department, ECS 108. An introduction to criticism for English majors and minors. Intended as a first course in the analysis of form, style, and technique, the course provides an introduction to literary terms commonly used in later courses, and practice in critical interpretation as well as reading and responding to literary criticism. Readings from a broad range: poems, plays, essays, and novels. A writing intensive course: frequent writing assignments, four major papers. Active participation required.

ENGL 320 The Short Story

Section A: MWF 9:30—R. Friedmann
An introduction to reading short fiction closely, this course focuses on critical concepts and the diversity of experience and theme reflected in modern and contemporary stories. Students will read approximately 35 stories, write 2 short papers, and take 3 exams.

ENGL 320 The Short Story

Section B: MWF 10:30; Section F: TU 11:30-12:45—Staff
Study of short stories from world literature with emphasis on American, British, and Continental.

ENGL 320 The Short Story

Section C: MWF 11:30; Section E: MWF 1:30—L. Baker
In this course we read intensively (rather than extensively) a variety of short fictions that presuppose different “moves” on the part of the reader. The works range from stories constructed on the conventions of psychological or social “realism” to those built as fables or allegories, sometimes quite fantastic or “surreal.” The focus is on how readers pick up cues about what sorts of agendas of curiosity are likely to pay off for a given story, and on what one has to do in order to carry through different kinds of agendas of curiosity. There are 3 essay exams, each with an in-class and an out-of-class component, and 8 short out-of-class writings on topics of your choice out of 18 topics.

ENGL 320 The Short Story

Section D: MWF 1:30—L. Chakrabarti
Students will learn to appreciate and critique literary short stories from different cultures and countries around the world. We will start the semester by reading stories that reflect the cultural diversity of the United States of America. We will read mainstream American short stories as well as African American stories, Native American stories, Asian American stories, Asian Indian American stories, and Hispanic American stories. Later in the semester we will read stories from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, France, Germany, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, India, and others. Toward this goal,the class will close read and examine a variety of stories that reflect different styles, voices, values, and themes. We will also learn to use the literary vocabulary of fiction (point of view, plot, conflict, crisis, climax, resolution, characters, irony, theme, etc.). Requirements: Active and dedicated class participation, student-led discussions (two per student), several homework assignments, daily reading quizzes, one short paper, and a cumulative final exam.

ENGL 320 The Short Story

Section G: TU 1:05-2:20—J. Machor
The purpose of this course will be to help students develop their skills in reading and responding to short fiction to enhance enjoyment and appreciation of different types of stories as well as to facilitate a critical understanding of what fiction is and how it works. We will read a variety of short stories (as well as one novel for comparative purposes) from Europe, the United States, and Latin America, paying special attention to the relation between the structural elements of fiction (e.g., character, plot, point-of-view, narrative discourse) and the stories’ contents. In the process, students will discover how writers have used this combination to create different fictional modes and how short fiction has changed historically through experimentations and innovations in literary form. Requirements: three exams including a comprehensive final, short quizzes, an optional analytical paper, and participation in class discussion.

ENGL 330 The Novel

Section A: TU 9:30-10:45—L. Warren
Novels selected from various periods and cultures. Concern for form and critical analysis.

ENGL 330 The Novel

Section B: TU 2:30-3:45—C. Franko
We will study novels which span the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the continuum of fantasy and realism, and which represent several kinds of fiction, including the novel of manners, the Bildungsroman, modernist fiction, weird satire (not to get too technical), mythopoeic fantasy, and science fiction. Probable authors include (though this could change): Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, Flannery O’Connor, Iris Murdoch, C. S. Lewis, and Philip K. Dick. Students will write analytical journal entries, one critical essay, and four short essay exams.

ENGL 340 Poetry

Section A: MWF 12:30; Section B: MWF 1:30—C. Hauck
This is a course in how to read poetry of several different types: narrative poetry, such as Homer’s Odyssey; didactic poetry, such as Lucretius’s The Way Things Are; lyric poetry, such as the sonnets of Shakespeare or the love poems of Edna St Vincent Millay; and “spoken word” poetry. Learning to read poetry in this class means not only reading poetry (casting your eyes over the page or saying the words out loud), but talking and writing about it as well. Journal work, in-class responses, one or two short essays, one or two mid-terms examinations, a final. Majors and minors are especially encouraged to enroll.

ENGL 345 Drama

Section A: TU 9:30-10:45—D. Murray
In this course we will analyze and enjoy drama as literature and as performance. The course’s primary purpose is to expose you to plays from ancient to modern times and to give you the opportunity, through classroom discussion and activities, to understand those plays. Connected to this is a secondary goal: development of your critical reading & writing skills—so you can better study and understand any kind of text. Course work includes two papers, two exams, and a dramatic presentation.

ENGL 350 Introduction to Shakespeare

Section A: TU 9:30-10:45—D. Hedrick
We will read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, including examples of comedy, tragedy, history, and romance. There will be particular attention to understanding and appreciating Shakespeare’s language, especially through the practice of literary close-reading. Our goal is to increase everyone’s confidence in reading and seeing Shakespeare with pleasure, comprehension, appropriate interpretive skills, and a sense of the play’s literary and historical contexts. The course will also make use of selected films as well as the great opportunity to see a live, professional production of Twelfth Night in KSU’s McCain series, in order to understand how the plays translate from “page to stage.” Throughout the term we will also introduce examples of Shakespeare’s continued “contemporaneity,” sometimes addressing the big question of why this author is supposed to be so great, why the “bardolatry” surrounding his image. There will be two hour exams and a final, regular exercises or quizzes on the readings, and two short papers, one of which may be substituted with a scene presentation.

ENGL 350 Introduction to Shakespeare

Section B: TU 11:30-12:45—M. Donnelly
An introduction to Shakespeare’s plays and how to read, interpret, and understand them as drama and literature. We will read some representative examples of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances, attending primarily to the ways in which Shakespeare’s language and design create and convey meaning and evoke audience response, but glancing at contemporary critical approaches insofar as the class finds these interesting. Participation in class discussions emphasized. One hour exam, in-class exercises, one paper ( a “Director’s Notebook” laying out the staging of a scene or self-contained episode from a play read in class, chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor); a comprehensive final examination. Text: Stephen Greenblatt, et al., The Norton Shakespeare (New York and London, 1997)

ENGL 355 Literature for Children

Section A: MWF 9:30; Section D: M 7:05-9:55P—A. Phillips
Permission obtained from English Department, ECS 108, beginning 15 March 2004. Arranged by genre, this section of Literature for Children is designed to enable students to achieve two particular goals: first, to demonstrate a fairly broad knowledge of children’s literature, and second, to view that literature critically. Discussion units on picture books, folk and fairy tales, myths and archetypes, poetry, fantasy, realism, and detective fiction, among others. Authors may include the following: Maurice Sendak, the Grimms, Charles Perrault, L. Frank Baum, Ellen Raskin, Katherine Paterson. Requirements: participation, two papers, two midterm exams, and a final exam. English 355 is a General Education course.

ENGL 355 Literature for Children

Section B: MWF 10:30—N. Wood
Permission obtained from English Department, ECS 108, beginning 15 March 2004. We will explore characteristic genres of children’s literature such as picture books, poetry, folk tales, realistic fiction, adventure stories, and historical fiction in a technology classroom. Active learning is encouraged through use of literature circles, electronic discussion, and the like. Enrollment is by permission only. Priority is given to junior and senior Elementary Education majors, who should have passed a college-level literature course prior to taking this one; spaces gladly given to non-Education majors if available. For more details see web site <http://www.ksu.edu/english/naomiw/courses/>. English 355 is a General Education class.

ENGL 355 Literature for Children

Section C: TU 1:05-2:20—P. Nel
Permission obtained from English Department, ECS 108, beginning 15 March 2004. Enrollment by permission only: priority is given to junior and senior Elementary Education majors; spaces gladly given to non-Education majors if available. Arranged by genre, this section of Literature for Children is designed to introduce major genres in and conventions of literature for children, and to develop critical skills for reading, thinking and writing about children’s literature and culture. Components of the course include discussion of picture books, fairy tales, myths, poetry, fantasy, realism, and animal stories, among others. For a representative syllabus and book-list see, please see <http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/choose.courses.html>. English 355 is a General Education class.

ENGL 361 British Survey I (Majors)

Section A: TU 9:30-10:45—Staff
British literature from Anglo-Saxon times to 1700.

ENGL 362 British Survey II (Majors)

Section A: MWF 1:30—K. Westman
A survey of representative British authors since the late 17th century. We will consider their works in terms of form and the historical context of their cultural production, exploring the often contested relationship between life and art. Our goal is two-fold: familiarity with a canon of British literature and further practice in literary analysis and interpretation. Success in this course depends upon careful reading and participation in our discussions. Two short papers, quizzes, postings to an electronic bulletin board, and two exams (midterm and final).

ENGL 381 American Survey I (Majors)

Section A: MWF 1:30; Section B: MWF 2:30—T. Dayton
American literature from the early accounts of colonization through the American Renaissance. See instructor for details.

ENGL 382 American Survey II (Majors)

Section A: MWF 8:30—G. Eiselein
This class is a survey of American literature for English and English Education majors, covering the period from the Civil War to the present. We will focus on major developments in literature and culture as they relate to social changes in the US during the historical period we will cover. Authors to be studied will include Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin, Jack London, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, David Mamet, Allen Ginsberg, Toni Morrison, John Ashbery, and Jorie Graham among others. Assignments: two exams, a group project, two papers, and several short writing assignments.

ENGL 390 Fable and Fantasy

Section A: MWF 9:30; Section B: MWF 11:30—G. Keiser
This semester we read books that retell old tales and consider how the modern retellings redirect the concerns of the old story to address those of a modern age. We begin with Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which retells the Genesis story of good and evil. Next we read a small portion of the most famous Arthurian story, Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthure, and an American reaction to the story by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. We will also look at two films, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and a version of Connecticut Yankee from 1949. Next we will read a few early Robin Hood tales and then examine how Howard Pyle retold the old stories in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. We will look at two films made from the Robin Hood story, the 1938 version with Errol Flynn and the 1993 spoof by Mel Brooks. We conclude with Richard Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, a story about stories, and we look at the film version made in 1982. Requirements for the course include 5-6 short papers (2-4 pp. each).

ENGL 399 Honors Seminar: Films of the 1930s

Section A: MW 2:30-4:20—G. Keiser
This course will view and study a group of classic films from the 1930s, the first decade of the “talkies” (i.e., sound films). Exploiting the new technology, filmmakers addressed social issues that had come into sharp focus as a result of the economic upheavals produced by the Great Depression. Students will undertake independent research to discover the original and subsequent reception of the films, the historical and social conditions that inspired the films, and other issues specific to the particular films. The films to be studied in the course are Scarface, 42nd Street, It Happened One Night, Petrified Man, Modern Times, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, and Stagecoach.

ENGL 400 Advanced Expository Writing for Prospective Teachers

Section A: TU 8:05-9:20—R. Mosher
Expository Writing for Teachers will ask you to both study and practice the writing process. The aim of this class is to help prepare you to teach writing through studying and discussing composition and rhetoric theory, and practicing the techniques we talk and read about. We will do five major writing assignments.

ENGL 415 Written Communication for Engineers

Section A: MWF 9:30; Section B: MWF 10:30; Section C: MWF 11:30—L. Chakrabarti
Section D: MWF 11:30; Section E: MWF 12:30; Section F: MWF 1:30—R. Friedmann
Section G: TU 8:05-9:20; Section H: TU 9:30-10:45; Section I: TU 11:30-12:45; Section K: 1:05-2:20—-M. Reekie
Section J: TU 11:30-12:45—P. Marzluf
Restricted to juniors and seniors in the College of Engineering. Permission is required for enrollment. This preprofessional writing course provides intensive study of and practice in the techniques and forms characteristic of professional practice. See instructors for further course and section details.

ENGL 435 Linguistics for Teachers

Section A: MWF 9:30—T. Murray
This course will acquaint prospective teachers of secondary English with the history, structure, and use of the English language. We will discuss the nature of language, as well as how it is acquired, both as a first and a second language; how and why language changes, and how the English language in particular has changed (and continues to change today); why different varieties of (mostly American) English have developed, and why they continue to be used; how linguists have attempted to account for the phonological and grammatical and semantic regularities of English; how language and culture are related; and how linguistics can be used as a pedagogical and diagnostic tool in the classroom. This is not a methods course, but it will give you a considerable amount of information regarding how the scientific study of language can be brought to bear in the English classroom. Books: Linda Miller Cleary and Michael D. Linn, eds., Linguistics for Teachers; Virginia P. Clark, Paul A. Escholz, and Alfred F. Rosa, eds., Language: Introductory Readings; and a bound collection of handouts. Three tests, no papers.

ENGL 445 Science Fiction

Section A: TU 11:30-12:45—C. Franko
We will read novels, short stories and essays (by Wells, Asimov, Le Guin and many others) that represent the characteristics and historical development of British and American science fiction. We will consider the narrative strategies of science fiction, including the ways that “sf” stories present their hypothetical settings, and how these settings implicitly or explicitly compare to the real world. Some favorite sf topics we’ll encounter include the celebration or condemnation of technological progress; the creation of intelligent life; the “competition” between reason and feeling or intuition; aliens; post-holocaust scenarios; gender and social structures; space exploration; the clash of scales or perspectives (human versus “cosmic”), and the question of “what is human?” in the context of new technologies. Students will write two essay exams, a critical paper, and a reading journal.

ENGL 461 Introduction to Fiction Writing

Section A: MWF 10:30; Section B: MWF 11:30—S. Rodgers
This course involves the study of narrative form and technique as well as practical experience in writing short stories. In the early stages of the class we will discuss the nature of fiction and narrative, using the work of professional writers as examples. We will write—a lot—both in class and outside of class, using various brainstorming techniques, exercises, collaborations, and writing triggers to help you generate material and develop your writing voice. You will write several short pieces as well as one completed short story that will be workshopped in class. Other course requirements include quizzes on the readings, written and oral critiques of your classmate’ stories, participation in class, and a midterm. Authors will also meet with the instructor for private manuscript conferences.

ENGL 463 Introduction to Poetry Writing

Section A: MWF 12:30; Section B: MWF 1:30—J. Henderson
Open to English Majors and Minors (for Major credit) as well as interested students from other disciplines. The course is an INTRODUCTION to poetry writing, and will include exercises, much reading of contemporary poetry, occasional quizzes over terms and vocabulary, and specific assignments to give students practice in the fundamentals of writing poetry. While no particular experience in writing poems is necessary, students should genuinely enjoy reading and writing. We’ll focus on topics such as imagery, metaphor, meter, tone, concrete detail, and other elements vital to good poetry.

ENGL 463 Introduction to Poetry Writing

Section C: TU 9:30-10:45—J. Holden
The class consists of 8 assignments, each of which gives the student a “model” poem and asks the student to imitate that model. The models are carefully chosen. Each is significantly different from the previous one. These models cover all the the major conventions which comprise the contemporary tradition. “Models” consist of poems by Brendan Galvin, Tim Seibles, Louis Simpson, Yusef Komunyakaa, Robert Mezey, William Stafford, Bin Ramke, E.A. Robinson, Edgar Lee Masters, Li Po (trans. by Ezra Pound), Randall Jarrell, Ted Kooser, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alexander Pope, W.C. Williams, E.E. Cummings, Robert Creeley, Wallace Stevens, Stephen Dunn.
The class is hard, exerts pressure: one fresh poem every two weeks. The poems can be revised or rewritten as necessary, and the grade of the rewrite replace the grade of the original. The intent in to minimize raw talent as a factor in grades, because each assignment is graded according to objective “criteria.”

ENGL 465 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing

Section A: TU 1:05-2:20—I. Rahman
A practical introduction to creative nonfiction or what can be called “the literature of fact.” Writers of creative nonfiction use many of the stylistic and literary tools that fiction writers and poets use, but in the service of rendering factual, literary, accurate prose.

ENGL 476 American English

Section A: MWF 11:30—T. Murray
This will be an exciting romp through the history and modern use of the English language in the United States. The topics covered in the course will include Tall Talk, the advent of Americanisms, the European origins of American English, Names in American English, Noah Webster and cracker barrel lexicography, regional and social dialects in American English, American English slang, Ebonics, the “crisis” of Modern American English, and why American English will live forever (probably). I haven’t yet chosen a text for the course, but there will be a course packet. We’ll have three or four tests, and a mid-length (about 10 pages) paper may also be required.

ENGL 490 Development of the English Language

Section A: MWF 1:30—T. Murray
This course is an introduction to the many ways that the English language has changed and developed through its 1,500-year history. After acquiring the tools necessary to study linguistic change, we’ll talk first about where English comes from and how it’s related to other of the world’s languages, then consider in some detail the development of the sounds, words, and grammar of English as they have been influenced by the forces both inside and outside the language. We’ll also trace the history of certain groups of works as well as discuss briefly the differences between American and British English, the role prescriptivism has played in the development of the language, and writing systems. Students will use one textbook and one workbook, write four exams, do homework exercises, and compile a journal of their experiences with the changing English language.

ENGL 516 Written Communication for the Sciences

Section A: MWF 8:30; Section B: MWF 9:30; Section C: MWF 10:30—N. Ransom
*Section D: TU 11:30-12:45—Staff [For Hotel and Restaurant Majors Only; See Pat Pesci in Justin 103 to enroll]
A preprofessional writing course intended to acquaint students from a number of disciplines with the types of writing they will be doing in their professional lives. Assignments focus on audience, purpose, and content and cover a range of formats (memos, letters of various sorts, short and long reports based on research in the students’ fields, as well as assignments centered around such reports). Assignments also include an oral presentation based on research.

ENGL 525 Women in Literature

Section A: TU 2:30-3:45—P. Nel
How many women writers are published in the Norton Anthology of Literature: Major Authors, 3rd ed (1975)? Zero. How many women writers are published in the Norton Anthology of Literature: Major Authors, 7th ed (2000)? Twenty-three. Where did all these women come from? How did earlier editors overlook five centuries of work? And who should be in the 8th edition? We’ll discuss answers to these questions and more. A list of authors who we’ll likely read include: L.M. Montgomery, Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, Gloria Naylor, Lynda Barry, Marjane Satrapi, Jane Yolen, E. Nesbit, Barbara Kingsolver, Gish Jen, Jane Austen, Julia Alvarez, Tove Jansson, Francesca Lia Block, and Jan Eliot. We’ll explore women writers’ choice of themes and genres, their readers, the changing social role of the woman author, and the ways that racial, class, and national affiliations affect the production and reception of women writers’ work. Requirements: Active class participation, quizzes, two papers, and a final exam. Prerequisites: ENGL 125 or ENGL 200. This course satisfies requirements for the English and Women’s Studies programs and for General Education.

ENGL 545 Literature for Adolescents

Section A: MWF 11:30; Section B: MWF 12:30—N. Wood
This course introduces students to a variety of young adult novels published in the twentieth century reflecting different attitudes towards American and British adolescence. The course will focus on the ways these books represent adolescence as a distinctive psychological, social, and moral state. We will give particular attention to character development (both realistic and fantastic) and the ways in which narratives attempt to convey that development by incorporating it into their structure as novels. This class is a requirement for secondary education majors, but others are certainly welcome to enroll. English 545 is a General Education class.

ENGL 562 Playwriting

Section A: MWF 11:30—S. Bailey
Study and application of techniques of playwriting with regard to plot, characters, and production. See Sally Bailey in the Department of Theatre for further details.

ENGL 580 Indian Literature

Section A: MWF 10:30; Section B: MWF 11:30—D. Hall
This course samples novels written in English in the twentieth century by Indians and Pakistanis. Though many subjects will be discussed, the following foci will be included in the discussion of the appropriate novels: Indian and Pakistani cultural values (family, home, treatment of children and so on), sexual politics, east-west relations, mysticism, colonialism, post-colonial history, language, Hinduism, sikhism, ghandism, and vedic philosophy. The class will be a combination of lecture and discussion with the instructor providing introductory overviews for each writer and novel followed by close reading and discussion by class members. Requirements: Class attendance and participation (including the assigned leading of the class for part of one or more meetings), one short paper, one in-class midterm, one in-class final, and one long paper on a novel not discussed in class. Participation through listserv will be expected every week in response to questions and other prompts provided by the instructor and other students. Readings may include: R. K. Narayan (The Guide), Kamala Markandaya (Nectar in a Sieve), Raja Rao (Kantapura), G. V. Desani (All About Mr. Hatterr), Anita Desai (Clear Light of Day), Bharata Mukherjee (The Tiger’s Daughter), Ruth Jhabvala (Heat and Dust), some selections from Rabindanath Tagore, and Khushwant Singh (Train to Pakistan). Be prepared to read at a pace of about one novel for every 3-4 class meetings. Reading quizzes will be given as we start each novel.

ENGL 604 Feminist Rhetoric

Section A: TU 5:30-6:45P—I. Ward
Advanced Expository Writing Workshop: Feminist Rhetoric(s) and Alternative Discourse in Academic and Professional Writing. [This course counts toward the Certificate in Technical and Professional Communication and for Women’s Studies credit.]
“But to continue my story. The Angel was dead; what then remained?” — Virginia Woolf
The course starts with the assertion that a “feminine” discourse exists and operates differently in/on the world. Although the use of this discourse has never been solely in the hands of females, it is still culturally coded as “female” and, therefore, often denigrated in academic and professional arenas.
However, recent scholars of women’s discourse are now able to demonstrate the ways in which “feminine” discourse might be used more productively in public discourse than the traditional, coded “manly,” modes of persuasion. This course will first examine such discourse and then test its relevance to and appropriateness for advocating solutions to common human problems. The first three weeks will establish familiarity with feminist and alternative discourse and its differences from more traditional forms of discourse, by reading and analyzing examples. The rest of the course will examine three common human problems and produce both traditional and alternative kinds of writing in response to the problems. For each problem the class will work in teams to identify and to devise a written responses to it. Ample class time will be devoted to team meetings and writing workshops. Students will be encouraged but not required to write experimentally in response to the problems.
Texts: A photocopied anthology of theoretical work on Feminist and Alternative Discourse, examples of traditional, feminist, and alternative discourse, including essays by Virginia Woolf and excerpts from A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas, speeches and writing of prominent British and American women. Examples will cover feminist, literary, academic, political, philosophical, scientific and various kinds of professional writing.
Requirements: short (1-2 pages) rhetorical analysis of models of traditional and alternative discourse used as models. Short quizzes over concepts and vocabulary. Three short position papers. Evaluation of team performance. Three longer documents in response to each of the problems to be determined by each team.
Evaluations will be based on quizzes, participation, and written assignments.

ENGl 625 Readings/18th Century British Novel

Section A: TU 11:30-12:45—L. Warren
In this course we will sample the variety of fictional forms that were avidly read in England over the “long 18th century” (1660-1880), the period during which the novel as we know the form today is supposed to have first appeared. Traditionally, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Henry Fielding have been cited as the genre’s fathers; more recently, scholars have given attention to writers such as Aphra Behn, Delariviere Manley, and Eliza Haywood, whose works could arguably justify calling them mothers of the novel. But increasingly we recognize that if the parental metaphor has any validity, then we must declare the novel a bastard with a wide range of possible progenitors, some of which would not be eager to claim so messy a child. Although we will give some attention to ephemeral works, we will spend most time on major texts whose varying emphases can help us to understand the emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic appeals of fiction and perhaps why the success of the novel came to obscure the roles its motley array of parents may have played in its birth and growth.

ENGL 650 Readings/American Literature 1910-1950

Section A: MWF 12:30—T. Dayton
This course will concentrate on American poetry and prose, 1910-1950. We will spend most of our time on three interrelated developments in the literary culture of the period: the emergence and development of modernism (Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, etc.), the Harlem Renaissance (Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, etc.), and proletarian literature (Richard Wright, Muriel Rukeyser, Tillie Olsen, Thomas McGrath, etc.). We may also look at the popular literature of the period as seen in the emergence of the hardboiled detective story (Hammett, Chandler). Major assignments: midterm and final, research paper, report on a magazine or journal of the period (Dial, New Masses, Blast!, etc.)

ENGL 655 Readings/Multicultural American Literature

Section A: MWF 10:30—G. Eiselein
An examination of the diversity of American literature from the European conquest of the continent to the present, this course focuses on selected masterpieces from six different cultural traditions. We will begin with “White” literature (is there such a thing?) and move to Latino/a, American Indian, African American, American Jewish, and Asian American literary texts. We will explore questions such as: What differentiates these traditions? What connects these texts from different traditions and makes each “American”? What do these texts reveal about the cultural history of America? Why are these texts celebrated as literary-cultural landmarks in American history? Authors to be studied are Mark Twain, Cabeza de Vaca, Zitkala-Sa, Harriet Jacobs, Emma Lazarus, Langston Hughes, Saul Bellow, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Ana Castillo. Course requirements include a final examination, two papers, a presentation, and some shorter writing assignments.

ENGL 660 Readings/Whitman and Dickinson

Section A: MWF 9:30—D. Hall
The course will begin with a short introduction to early and mid-19th century poetry (the Fireside poets, et.al.) to clarify the contexts for Whitman and Dickinson, to illustrate how radical their poetry was for the time. We will then read a biography, sample letters, and much of the poetry of both Walt and Emily. We will also make ourselves familiar with the main critical work on both poets. Most in class work will focus on close readings of individual poems with some sort of grand synthesis attempted after a body of work has been examined. Undergraduates will take a midterm and final; a paper will be optional. Graduate students will take both exams, be assigned to lead at least one class discussion, and write a paper.

ENGL 661 Advanced Creative Writing/Fiction

Section A: TU 4:05-5:20P—I. Rahman
Advanced writing of prose fiction.

ENGl 670 Topics/Epic, Romance, and Allegory

Section A: TU 2:30-3:45—M. Donnelly
“Epic, Romance, and Allegory in the Age of Reformation.”
Studies in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Samuel Butler’s Hudibras, and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and their contexts. Examination of continuity and change in generic traditions and modes of representation in three of the most influential works in the English tradition, plus a work which was still a central point of reference in literate circles in England through the nineteenth century, but is today almost forgotten. Some attention to classical, medieval, and continental Renaissance antecedents, but the course will concentrate on the ways contemporary political, social, and religious conflicts and consciousness are mediated through literature. Several short (2-3 pp.) papers explicating or annotating particular episodes, images, or allegories; two hour exams centered on passages and take-home essays, and a longer term paper.

ENGL 700 Old English

Section A: U 7:05-9:55P—Staff
The course will begin with an introduction to Old English pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and syntax. Students then will learn the language of Old English well enough to translate short prose passages, riddles, poems, and selections from Beowulf with the help of a dictionary. Old English is a rigorous course, intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

ENGL 705 Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Cultural Studies

Section A: M 7:05-9:55P—D. Hedrick
In this course students will transform themselves, by undertaking a collective exploration of this new field of English studies (represented in our department by a graduate “track” in Literature and Cultural Studies). Cultural studies is not the study of other ethnicities (as Barnes and Noble thinks it is), but is the discipline that expands the object of literary study to include also the nonliterary (popular culture, for instance, from shopping malls to horror films and reality TV), and applies theoretical models for understanding these objects (sometimes including “cultural differences” such as race and nationality). To help understand society’s relations of power that reach into everyday life, four theoretical models from primary readings will be introduced and practically applied: structuralism (the theory based on the nature of language, and applied to mythmaking, in readings from Saussure to Barthes); Marxism (sometimes spelled “marxism” to distance it from Marx and to create new ways of looking at production and consumption, in readings from Marx to Adorno and recent revisionary “materialists” ); feminism (activist issues of gender and sexuality, from early feminists to Judith Butler); and psychoanalysis (from Freud to the “post-Freudian” or “French Freud” psychoanalysts such as Jacques Lacan). Some areas of special emphasis will be “early modern cultural studies” (applying the theories to Shakespeare, Montaigne, and nonliterary topics such as Renaissance “festivals”), and a more in-depth study of certain key terms in the field (your theory “toolbox”), such as “ideology,” “performativity,” “hegemony,” “deconstruction,” and “postmodernism.” A final goal of the class is to decide what the field of cultural studies should be, how it might be transformed.
There will be substantial, weekly reading assignments along with short exercises and oral reports; one or two hour exams (any part of which may be take-home) and a short essay final exam; one short and one longer research project.

ENGL 730 Studies/Contemporary British Literature

Section A: MWF 11:30—K. Westman
A study of representative writers from 1950 to the present, focusing on writers’ responses to earlier traditions of realism and modernism in an increasingly postmodern and postcolonial Britain. Cultural, historical, and theoretical contexts will be integrated into our discussion through secondary readings. We will read fiction, drama, and poetry by such authors as David Lodge, John Fowles, Kazuo Ishiguro, Helen Fielding, Jeanette Winterson, Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, and Seamus Heaney. We will also take a look at some influential British films and t.v. series. Requirements for all students: active participation in class discussions, weekly postings to an electronic bulletin board, response papers, a short paper (5 pages in length), and a final exam. Undergraduates will complete one additional writing assignment: a longer paper (7-8 pages in length). Graduate students will complete three additional writing assignments: a longer paper with secondary resources (12 pages in length), an essay review of four articles or of a book-length study about one of our authors (4-5 pages in length), and a one-page abstract for the longer paper.

ENGL 761 Creative Writing Workshop: Fiction

Section A: MWF 1:30—S. Rodgers
A writing workshop limited to no more than 15 students, most of whom will be graduate students. In addition to workshop, we will read and discuss contemporary short stories, with students leading discussion. Course requirements include five pages a week of informal writing; two short stories; regular participation in workshop discussion; written critiques of classmates’ work; and a review of a collection of short fiction by a single author published in the last decade. Each graduate student will also examine and report on a literary magazine or journal, selected in consultation with the instructor.

ENGL 763 Creative Writing Workshop: Poetry

Section A: TU 1:05-2:20—J. Holden
There are two components to this class. One major component (A) of this class is a workshop. The class will discuss in a non-competitive spirit—a spirit of constructive criticism—poems submitted before it. B. “Annotations”: Each week you will hand in “annotations” which are like small “book reports” on the chapters in Style And Authenticity In Postmodern Poetry, by Jonathan Holden. They must be neatly typed (double-space) and well-written, a minumum of two pages long, a maximum of six. C. Your final grade will equal the average of your grades on the annotations plus your grade on the poetry-writing component of this class, divided by two. Your grade on the poetry-writing component will hinge more on effort than talent. Four to five “finished” poems should earn you an “A” for that component. The hardest part of this class is the “annotations,” because to write well about poetry is hard.

ENGL 801 Graduate Studies in English

Section A: TU 9:30-10:45—J. Machor
As the catalog explains, 801 serves as an intensive introduction to “the methods and aims of advanced-level research and scholarship in language and literature.” As a foundational course for the M. A. in English, 801 will provide students with exposure to—and practice working with—the scholarly tools and critical methodologies of literary and cultural studies as well as research resources relevant to the creative writing and composition/rhetoric tracks. For those interested in pursuing graduate work beyond the M. A., this course will also serve as an “introduction” to the profession. Course requirements will include 2-4 library-based writing/bibliographical assignments, one or two short pieces of writing, two interrelated medium-length research papers, and some group work through oral presentations and a collaborative project.

ENGL 805 Practicum/Teaching University Expository Writing

Sections A, B, and C: M 3:30-5:50—D. Smit, P. Marzluf, R. Mosher, D. Murray
Required of GTAs teaching Expository Writing in the English Department. Instruction in the theory and practice of teaching in a university expository writing program. Repeatable. Prerequisite: Graduate status and a GTAship in the English Department. Credit/No Credit.

ENGL 825 Seminar: The Sense of History in Victorian Literature and Culture

Section A: T 7:05-9:55P—L. Behlman
The Victorians thought of themselves as having arrived at the end-point of a long process of historical change, yet they also understood their own time to be a period of rapid, often unstable transformation. Sound familiar? They were indeed much like us, and we can find in this period the beginning of many quintessentially “modern” concerns about the place of the present in history.
This class examines how Victorian novelists, essayists, artists, and poets established a sense of history as both utterly exhausted and disturbingly, thrillingly alive with the new. We’ll read classic works of historical fiction and poetry to see how they mythologized the ancient, medieval, and quite recent past. We’ll also read a set of very self-conscious texts that address current historical change, including shifts in gender and marriage roles, in the nature of work, in the status of Christianity, in technology, and in the scope and nature of empire. The central work of the term will be a novel that synthesizes and extends the terms of much else we will read about the Victorian sense of history: George Eliot’s Middlemarch.
We’ll take note of the significant influence of Continental writers such as Hegel, Fichte, Comte, Feuerbach, and Marx on Victorian notions of historical change, but our main focus will be on the original contributions of Victorian historical thinkers such as Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin, Mona Caird, and of course, Charles Darwin. We’ll be reading these writers’ theories of history along with current critical writing about the Victorians’ sense of history.
Requirements include a class presentation, several short writing assignments, an annotated bibliography, and a mid-length paper that you’ll later revise and extend into a longer (15-20 page) research paper.
Primary Texts (a few of these will be cut before the term begins): Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus; Signs of the Times, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Alfred Tennyson, Idylls of the King, Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy (selections), Darwin, The Origin of Species (selections), George Eliot, Middlemarch, Bram Stoker, Dracula, R. L. Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, George DuMaurier, Trilby, George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion, H. Rider Haggard, She.
Poetry by Leticia Landon, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, William Morris, and Thomas Hardy. Critical writing by such nineteenth-century figures as John Ruskin, Oscar Wilde, Comte, Fichte, Hegel, Feuerbach, and Marx, and by such contemporary critics as Mary Poovey, Gillian Beer, and James Eli Adams.

ENGL 830 Seminar: Vietnamese-American Literature

Section A: W 7:05-9:55P—M. Janette
Vietnam has been a touchstone for American debates, identities, and mythologies for the past 35 years. Yet the Vietnam most of us know is not the actual country, but “Nam”: the site and sign of an American trauma. This course begins from such paradoxes in our common knowledge. We will start by revisiting narratives about Vietnam itself, and the Vietnamese war, from the perspectives of the Vietnamese who have moved to the US (rather than the Americans who visited Vietnam). We will look at what historians like Ngo Vinh Long have to tell us about Vietnam under French Colonization, what visiting students were saying in college newspapers during the war, what former military leaders (both Communist and Republican) wrote after the war, and what civilians caught in the crossfire have said about this conflict. Our readings will also move beyond the war, since many Vietnamese American writers have protested this restricted significance of their ancestry. Since 1995, we have seen the publication of works by the “1.5 generation”: born in Vietnam, but raised here, fluent in English, and writing literature whose topics range from coming out to one’s parents to imagining the life of Gertrude Stein’s cook to the trials of bicycling across an entire country. There will be a lot of reading: fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, history, theory, and even a film or two; there will be an emphasis on discussion (very little lecturing), and students will write frequent response journals, two short papers, and one long seminar paper.