Topics Courses Offered: Fall 2008

Every quarter, the English Department offers courses such as English 315 (Studies in Literary Genres), English 324 (Studies in Literary Topics) and English 515 (Senior Seminar) on selected topics. The topics for these courses change each quarter; those scheduled for Fall 2008 are described below. If you'd like further information about these courses or other English Department offerings, please contact the instructor.

English 315: Studies in a Literary Genre: Film and Literature/ Prof. Marshall

Literature and Film: In this course we will examine film adaptations of classic and recent literature such as Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in order to consider what happens to literary works when they are transposed into a different medium (film) and why film-makers choose to make the changes that they do.

English 319: Studies in Literary Diversity: Folklore in Literature / Prof. Pilinovsky

Read literally, folklore – the lore of the folk – is the knowledge of the people. It encompasses proverbs, anecdotes, songs, and stories: tales of etiology and entertainment, social mores and so-called “culture.” But can culture be communicated through a written, normalized form?

This class will seek to differentiate between the various categories of story which are frequently folded into the category of “folklore” - myth, legend, and fairy tale, as well as folklore proper – and to explicate its values, purposes, and functions. We will be concerned with authenticity and effect, contemporary and modern application, and also, issues of
intent.

English 321: Language and Gender / Prof. Smith

In this course, students will explore the answers to the many questions people have about female-male speak.

-Do men and women speak differently? If so, in which ways?

-What kind of differences in language are made between men and women?

-What do these differences mean and how can we interpret them?

-Is gender at all related to power, class, ethnicity or sexual orientation?

-How are we socialized into gender roles?

This will prove to be an interesting course--we will examine gender roles and language in movies, fiction, as well as "real-life."

English 440: Studies in a Literary Period or Movement: The 19th Century British Novel / Prof. Doane

In this course, we will read and analyze six novels written in Nineteenth Century Britain: Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, Hard Times, Wuthering Heights, Silas Marner, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Course requirements include two exams and two papers, journals, and class attendance and participation.

English 440: Studies in a Literary Period or Movement: Contemporary Drama / Prof. Harris-Ramsby

In English 440, we will study a selection of contemporary social dramas. Specifically, by examining the text and viewing film adaptations of works by Wasserstein, Kushner, Hwang and others, we will discover how theatre engaged with emerging socio-political issues and concerns relevant to recent twentieth and twenty-first century American culture. Indeed, while
reading plays designed to raise social awareness, we will explore the play itself, the issue being examined, and the ways in which the playwrights bring the issue into focus on the stage

English 440: Studies in a Literary Period or Movement: Literature of the American Revolution / Prof. Carlson

In this course, students will have the opportunity to closely study a collection of widely-read texts published between the outbreak of the American Revolution and the end of the Federalist Era (1775-1800). Students will read major works of non-fiction prose from this period, as well as three of the earliest American novels. Thematically, the course will focus on three main areas: (1) the rhetoric of Revolution, (2) emerging definitions of the American, and; (3) fictions of nationhood. Through our reading and discussion, we will come to a deeper understanding of Revolutionary-era interest in classical notions of virtue and republicanism, as well as of the role of eighteenth-century theories of moral sentiment in the literature of the period. We will also closely examine the ways that American writers sought to model new forms of individual and national identity, as well as the manner in which early
American novelists addressed the ideological, social, and political problems confronting the newly formed United States.

The reading list for the class will include the following texts (though in some cases we will be reading only parts of longer works): Tom Paine's Common Sense, Judith Sargent Murray's On the Equality of the Sexes and Observation on Female Abilities, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Ethan Allen's A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity, David Humphreys's An Essay on the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam, Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, J. Hector St. John de Crvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette, and Charles Brockden Brown's Edgar Huntly.

English 441: Studies in a Major Author: Henrik Ibsen / Prof. Page

English 441 will focus on the last twelve plays of Henrik Ibsen's career, including A Doll House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, and The Master Builder.

English 515: Senior Seminar: The Lyrical Novel / Prof. Paegle

The Poetic Prose and Prose Poetry of Some Newer Lyrical Novels

In this course we will explore the symbiosis of lyric and narrative in modern and post-modern “experimental” novels, addressing questions such as: from a craft perspective, when does lyricism intensify narrative possibilities, and when is it a cop-out? Why and how does genre-bending provide ongoing sources of controversy and transgression, and to what end? How do such novels revise conventional oppositions between narrative time and lyrical time? How does this genre force us to rethink our assumptions about what counts as literary value? When is purple regal, and when is it just pulp? We'll be reading excerpts from James Joyce's Ulysses and from Gertrude Stein's Making of Americans, Djuna Barnes' Nightwood, Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Vladamir Nabokov's Pale Fire, Keri Hulme's The Bone People, Louise Erdrich's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

English 602: Seminar in Dramatic Literature for the Stage or Screen: Transgressive Shakespeare/ Prof. Golden

Transgressive Shakespeare: a study mainly of The Merchant of Venice and Antony and Cleopatra, considering these plays mostly through conceptions of religion, race, and gender in early modern Europe and contemporary Shakespearean criticism since the 1980's. 

English 651: Seminar in a Literary Topic: Graphic Novels / Prof. Sanders

What kind of a world is it where comic books rate a Pulitzer and a special issue of The New York Times Book Review? What the %$#@ has happened to the books about chiseled men and curvy women, the books our parents would read while they were supposed to be reading, you know, "literature"? Join us as we look at the transformation from the world of
comics to the world of graphic novels. What literary criteria are valid when our analysis turns to a text in which words and images produce meaning together? What new theoretical frameworks are necessary for this medium? Assignments will allow students to follow their own interests and engage with the most current debates on comics. A seminar paper will be
preceded by a research project on comics scholarship and a self-directed project exploring the wider world of comics.