Four-Credit
Literature Courses
ENG 181 Literary Analysis and Interpretation
Intensive
practice in reading and writing about poetry, prose fiction, and drama, with an
emphasis on basic critical terms and close analysis of the text. Enrollment
limited to students who will be taking a series of literature courses in their
majors or concentrations. ENG 100 and
declared literature or creative writing major. [Various instructors: each
semester]
ENG 250 Shakespeare
An introductory
study of Shakespeare’s works with emphasis on the plays. Further considerations may include genre
studies (comedy, tragedy, history, etc.) and film and stage adaptations. ENG
100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181.
[Brown Spring 07, Fall 07, Spring 08; TBA Fall 06, Spring 07]
ENG 251 British Texts and Contexts I
A study of
representative English poetry, prose, and drama from the medieval period
through 1798, with an emphasis on literary, historical, and cultural contexts.
ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG
181. [TBA Fall 06, Spring 07; Gunn Spring 08]
ENG 252 British Texts and Contexts II
Study of
representative texts of British literature from the Romantic Period (roughly
1798-1832), the Victorian Period (roughly 1832-1901), and the twentieth century
with an emphasis on literary, historical, and cultural contexts. ENG 100; for
students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [Darrohn Fall 06, Fall 07; TBA Spring 08]
ENG 263 Studies in Twentieth-Century American
Literature
Study and
discussion of representative twentieth-century American writers, including such
authors as Cather, Steinbeck, Hemingway and Bellow.
ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG
181. [Dean Fall 06, Fall 07]
ENG 265 African American Literature and
Culture
An
interdisciplinary study of African American literature examined in the context
of music, art, film, and other media representations of African American life
that will include a wide range of literary, historical, and cultural materials
(from ancient African folk tales to contemporary black writers, performers, and
artists). ENG 100; for
students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [Johnson
Fall 06]
ENG 266 American Short Story
A study of
the development of the short story in
ENG 267 Twentieth-Century American Poetry
Beginning
with a study of backgrounds of American poetry in the twentieth century, students
in this course will examine the work of selected modern and contemporary poets
in
ENG 272 American Texts and Contexts
A study of
representative American literature from pre-Colonial and Colonial to
Contemporary, with an emphasis on literary, historical, and cultural contexts.
This course will be attentive to the study of the cultural, racial, and ethnic
diversity of American literary voices. Individual sections of the class may
focus on a particular literary theme or tradition. ENG 100; for students in
CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [Outka Fall 06, Fall
07; Johnson Spring 07, Spring 08]
ENG 273 American Poetry to 1900
This course
will survey American poetry from its beginnings in Anne Bradstreet to the end
of the nineteenth century. While we will
read broadly, particularly important authors like Walt Whitman and Emily
Dickinson will receive additional attention.
We will be concerned through the course with how gender, race, class,
sexuality, and democratic politics inflect writing and reading. ENG 100; for
students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [Outka
Spring 07]
ENG 277 Topics in English
Study of an
author, a literary form, a sequence of texts, or specific area or genre of
creative writing, or some other special topic not included in the regular
curriculum. [Rooks-Hughes F07, TBA Spring 08]
ENG 279 Multicultural Literature and Film
In this
course we will study a diverse range of representations of ethnicity in
literature and film. The course will likely include the study of several filmed
adaptations in conjunction with their literary sources. The course will also
likely require some attendance at films outside the regular class meeting times
(possibly a screening of a recently released movie or possibly in conjunction
with a campus film series or a nearby film festival). ENG 100; for students in
CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [Johnson Spring 08]
ENG 283 Fiction by Women
Study of
selected fiction by nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and British
women. This course explores women’s
literary traditions from feminist perspectives.
ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100
and ENG 181. [Darrohn Spring 07]
ENG 285 Contemporary Literature
Study and
discussion of representative literature of contemporary society primarily in
American and English literature. ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or
ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [
ENG 287 Poetry by Women
A study of
poetry that constitutes a literary tradition for women, beginning with tribal
poetry and Enheduannas hymns to Inanna
and progressing to the work of contemporary women poets. Considerable class
time will be devoted to close reading of individual poems and their gendered
relationship to the cultures they both mirror and reinvent. Students will
undertake an in-depth study of a contemporary poet and will develop a portfolio
that defines their own poetic heritage. ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN,
or ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [Sharkey Spring 08]
ENG 291 Twentieth-Century Short Story
Study of
the development of the short story, from writers such as Chekhov and Conrad to
contemporary writers. ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or ELE-Language
Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181. [O’Donnell
S07]
ENG 293 Literary Nonfiction
A brief
history of literary nonfiction, especially the essay, will lead to an
examination of the most important modern and contemporary writers of what John McPhee has called "the literature of fact." ENG 100; for students in CWR, ENG, SEN, or
ELE-Language Arts, ENG 100 and ENG 181.
[Legler F07]
ENG 296 Postcolonial Literature
Study of
literature in English by writers from formerly colonized regions, such as
ENG 340 Medieval Literature
Works from
the Anglo-Saxon period through the fifteenth century, including Beowulf, the
Norse Eddas, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The
Book of Margery Kemp, Everyman, the Mystery Plays, and selections from
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. ENG 100, ENG
181, and either ENG 251 or ENG 252, or permission of instructor. [Brown Spring
07]
ENG 341 English Renaissance Literature
A study of
representative poetry, prose, and drama from the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Selected writers may include
ENG 344 Eighteenth-Century English Literature
English
poetry, prose, and drama of the Restoration and the eighteenth century, with an
emphasis on satire and other forms of moral and social commentary. Texts chosen
from the works of writers such as Congreve, Dryden, Behn,
Addison, Swift, Pope, Goldsmith, Johnson, Wollstonecraft, Burney, and others.
ENG 100, ENG 181, and either ENG 251 or ENG 252, or permission of instructor.
[Gunn Fall 07]
ENG 345 Romantic Era
Study of
representative literature from 1798 to 1832, with an emphasis on the
development of lyric poetry. Texts are chosen from the works of writers such as
Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Austen, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. ENG 100, ENG
181, and either ENG 251 or ENG 252, or permission of instructor. [TBA Fall 06]
ENG 346 Victorian Literature
Study of
British literature written during the period from the first Reform Bill (1832)
through the death of Queen
ENG 350 English Novel
Study of
selected English novels from the beginning of the eighteenth century through
the present, with particular attention to the emergence and historical
development of the novel as a form. Eight or more novels chosen from the works
of Behn, Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Smollett, Burney, Austen,
the Brontës, Eliot, Dickens, Hardy, Conrad, Forster,
Lawrence, Woolf, Joyce, and others. ENG 100, ENG 181,
and either ENG 251 or ENG 252, or permission of instructor. [Gunn Fall 06]
ENG 366 Nineteenth-Century American Novel
This class
will ask how American authors developed and changed the form of the novel over
a century of great development and ferment in novel-writing. The course will
cover such canonical authors as Hawthorne, Melville, and James, as well as more
recently rediscovered writers like Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Wilson, and Kate
Chopin. ENG 100, ENG 181, and ENG 272; or permission of instructor. [Outka
Spring 08]
ENG 367 American Auto/Biography
An overview
of American autobiographical and biographical writing and of theories of the
self. We will explore various forms of
life writing (such as confession, slave narrative, testimonio)
and a range of writers from classic to contemporary, with an emphasis on
exploring the role gender and ethnicity play in shaping representations of the
American self. ENG 100, ENG 181, and ENG 272; or permission of instructor. [Johnson Fall 07]
ENG 368 The American Dream in Literature
Study of
"the American Dream" in modern American Literature. Handling of this
theme by a number of writers, representing different viewpoints toward the
criteria of the "dream." ENG
100, ENG 181, and ENG 272; or permission of instructor. [
ENG 369 Comedy & Satire in
Twentieth-Century American Literature
Study of
representative twentieth-century American writers of comedy and satire such as
Bellow, Bombeck, Tom Wolfe, P.J. O’Rourke, Thurber,
and Bryson. ENG 100, ENG 181, and ENG 272; or permission of instructor. [Dean
Fall 06]
ENG 377 Advanced Topics in English
Intensive
study of a single author or special topic, or intensive workshop study of a
specific area or genre of creative writing. [TBA Fall 07]
ENG 397 Independent Study in English
This course
provides superior advanced students the opportunity to study in depth topics in
literature and language of special interest to them. [By special arrangement.]
ENG 449 Twentieth-Century British Literature
Focused
study of twentieth-century British literature, concentrating on one or more
aspects of it and its cultural context with an emphasis on texts that stretched
literary and social conventions. Texts
chosen from the works of writers such as Conrad, T.S. Eliot, Joyce, Woolf, and Yeats. ENG 100, ENG 181, either ENG 251 or ENG
252, and one 300-level ENG course in literature, or permission of
instructor. [Darrohn
Spring 08]
ENG 455 Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
Study of
various theoretical approaches (psychoanalysis, feminism, ethnic studies, etc.)
used in the analysis of literature, with the emphasis on contemporary
developments in literary theory and cultural studies. Texts will include an
anthology of literary theory, one major literary work, and various examples
drawn from contemporary popular culture. ENG 100; ENG 181; ENG 251, 252, or
272; and one 300-level literature course. [Johnson Fall 06]
ENG 461 The
A study of
the literary, cultural and political flowering of African American art in and
around
ENG 465 Modern Period in American Literature
Study of
significant American literature from 1900-1970, including such authors as
Wharton, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and Hemingway. ENG 181, ENG 272, and one
300-level course in literature. [Dean Fall 07]
ENG 477 Seminar Topics in English
Intensive
study of a single author or special topic, in a seminar format, with students
presenting materials and leading portions of class discussion. Students will
also undertake independent research projects under the guidance of the
instructor. Prerequisite varies, but
usually one previous 300-level literature course [Darrohn
Fall 06, TBA Spring 07, Johnson Fall 07, Outka Spring 08]
ENG 481 Early European Literature
Seminar on
early European and