Autumn 1999 200-level ENGL courses

Course Descriptions (as of 6 August 1999)
The following course descriptions have been written by individual instructors to provide more detailed information on specific sections than that found in the General Catalog. When individual descriptions are not available, the General Catalog descriptions [in brackets] are used. (Although we try to have as accurate and complete information as possible, this schedule remains subject to change.)

200 A (Reading Literature)
Dy 8:30
(W)
McLaughlin
"Place" and Otherness in Contemporary American Fiction. This section of English 200 will focus on the role of geographic location and "otherness" in contemporary American fiction. We will work on carefully examining short stories and novels, by "close reading" what the texts do (while thinking about how narratives work, and what we do as readers when we read.) Some themes that will arise include representations of "place" and rurality, the supernatural, and constructions of race, class, sexuality, and nationhood. Texts: Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony; Gloria Naylor, Mama Day; Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina; Russel Banks, Affliction.

200 B (Reading Literature)
Dy 9:30
(W)
C. Fischer
The theme of this course is "Teenage Wasteland" and it will focus on the angry young men of Western literature. We will begin with Hamlet, read a little Milton, Burgess, and Eliot, and then tackle some novels: Huckleberry Finn, A Clockwork Orange, and This Boy's Life. We will also look at short stories. Texts: Shakespeare, Hamlet; Burgess, A Clockwork Orange; Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn; Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life; Ferguson, et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 4th ed.

200 C (Reading Literature)
Dy 10:30
(W)
Barda
"I Enjoy Being a Girl ... Sort of": Coming of Age as a Young Woman in America. In this class we will read young women's coming -of-age narratives. We will examine why the coming-of-age story has traditionally been associated with young men, how narratives about young women's lives are different, and what these narratives say about the experience of growing up female. Course requirements include active participation inclass discussion, oral reports, and short and longer papers. Texts for the course will include novels, short stories, films, television program episodes, radio programs, and essays. Sophomores only, Registration Period 1. Texts: Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina; Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird; Louisa May Alcott, Little Women; Michelle Cliff, Abeng.

200 D (Reading Literature)
Dy 11:30
(W)
Filas
This course will focus on a group of texts forming a broad introduction to ltierature and dealing with technology and culture. Texts: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Gratn Morrison, Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage; Aldous Huxley, Brave New World; John DosPassos, The Big Money; Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions; Don DeLillo, White Noise.

200 E (Reading Literature)
Dy 12:30
(W)
S. Johnson
Working with the theme Romantic Roots of the Modernist Epiphany, we will read poetry from the British Romantic period as well as short fiction and one novel from the early British Modernist period to trace the poets' influence on the later fiction writers' epiphanic styles. Through our reading and discussion, you will become familiar with some of Great Britain's prominent writers of the early 19th and 20th centuries; you will also begin to consider the issues of periodicity and intertextuality. Texts: Katherine Mansfield, Stories; Virginia Woolf, A Haunted House and Other Short Stories; Mrs. Dalloway; James Joyce, Dubliners.

205 A (Method, Imagination, Inquiry)
Dy 10:30
Searle
(W)
This course is offered as both an English and Comparative History of Ideas course. It offers a rigorous introduction to intellectual history by examining the rich relations between method and imagination, by treating Western intellectual history as overwhelmingly motivated by the idea of inquiry. Selections include literary, philosophical and scientific texts. The reading for the course is demanding, but coherent: each text provides a basis for better understanding the next. Selections include works by Plato, Aristotle, Giordano Bruno, Francis Bacon, Shakespeare, Descartes, Kant, Coleridge, C. S. Peirce, Thomas Kuhn and William Faulkner. The course meets daily; there is a take-home mid-term examination, a number of short papers, and a final paper. The course does carry “W” credit. (Meets with CHID 205A) Texts: Plato, Phaedo; A New Aristotle Reader; Shakespeare, The Tempest; Bacon, The New Organon; Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!; photocopied course packet.

210 A (Literature of the Ancient World)
Dy 9:30
McCracken
Readings in ancient Western literature, in translation: Mesopotamian, Jewish, Greek, and Roman. Generally, we’ll read entire works rather than short snippets, moving, with huge jumps, from Gilgamesh to St. Augustine. Readings will include epics (homer, Virgil), tragedies (Sophocles, Aeschylus), biblical narratives and poetry (Genesis, Job, Mark), lyric poetry (Sappho, Catullus), etc. Expect substantial reading assignments out of class, daily discussion,s some quizzes and short papesr (in and out of class), a mid-term and a final exam. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: Lawall, et al., eds., Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Vol. 1 (7th ed.); Euripides, The Bacchae.

211 A(Medieval & Renaissance Literature)
MW 10:30-11:20 (lecture)
A. Fisher
(quizzes: TTh 10:30; TTh 11:30)
Medieval and Renaissance tales: epics, romances, dream visions, moral apologues, comic fabliaux, and ironic tales that require some understanding of how tales are told to make any sense. Lectures will deal with conventions, contexts, and critical problems; sections will get after problems of reading. Midterm exam and paper, response-paper portfolio, and final examination. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Text: Lawall, et al., Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Vol. 1 (7th ed.).

212 A (Literature of Enlightenment & Revolution)
MW 1:30-3:20
Chaney
Bother "enlightenment" and "revolution" are convenient and traditional terms used to describe the historical and cultural shifts of the 18th to mid-19th centuries in Britain--from the "age of reason" to the "Industrial Revolution" and encompassing the French and American Revolutions in between. Yet the terms only begin to suggest the enormous range of literature produced during this period--literature which addresses fundamental and radically changing ideas of the self, the nation, God, nature, and art. We will investigate this literature closely both on its own terms and within its historical and cultural contexts. Texts: Berlin, ed., The Age of Enlightenment; Hobsbawn, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848; Pope, Essay on Man; Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience; The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; Austen, Persuasion; Dickens, Hard Times; Wordsworth/Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads; photocopied course packet. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1.

213 A (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
MW 12:30-1:20 (lecture)
Cummings
(quizzes: MW 1:30; TTh 12:30; TTh 1:30)
Twentieth-century American dreams and nightmares are the subject of this course: short stories, novels, poetry, film, and political speeches are the texts. Three basic questions will guide our reading of each dream work: (1) What is the vision and how is it expressed? (2) Under what socio-historical conditions is the dream produced and how might they shape its composition? (3) What are the dream work's real life consequences and for whom? (A critical essay, mid-term, and final are required writing assignments.) Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God; Kerouac, On the Road; photocopied course packet.

225 A (Shakespeare)
Dy 8:30
(W)
Lester
In the recently published Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom proposes that Shakespeare's plays should not be regarded as imitations of life so much as inventions of it. "Personality, in our sense," Bloom contends, "is a Shakespearean invention, and is not only Shakespeare's greatest originality but also the authentic cause of his perpetual pervasiveness." Such a bold assertion attests to the continued vitality and relevance of Shakespeare. In this course, a survey of Shakespeare's career as a dramatist, we will examine this claim through the study of representative comedies, histories, romances and tragedies. Special attention will be given to story, theme and language, in addition to character; and a variety of critical perspectives from which the plays may be approached will be explored. Texts: Greenblatt, ed., The Norton Shakespeare; Platus, The Menaechmus Twins and Two Other Plays; McDonald, The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare.

228 A (English Literary Culture: to 1600)
MW 12:30-2:20
Remley
The course will provide a lively and wide-ranging introduction to the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, an introduction that will endeavor to place texts remote from our modern era in their social and historical contexts. For this iteration of the course, an emphasis will be placed on the fictional “universe” of the women and men of Arthur’s court. Students will read and discuss important works of prose and poetry of the early Middle Ages and the Middle English periods, including works by a range of Anglo-Saxon poets, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and a selection of non-canonical items. There will be a mid-term, final, and major term paper. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: Hamer, ed., A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse; Allen, tr., Lawman: Brut; Thorpe, tr., Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain; Cooper, ed., Thomas Malory: Le Morte d’Arthur.

228 B (English Literary Culture: to 1600)
TTh 8:30-10:20
Mussetter
The texts for this course span eight centuries. A lot of things change in eight hundred years. It is some of these changes that we will be looking at. What is a hero in such and such a period? What roles did women get to play? What sorts of things did people worry about? How did they express their thoughts in art? We will be using the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1. It’s a heavy book and our reading list will be pretty hefty as well. You will have three exams (part in-class id’s and short answers, part take-home essays). We will try to have some interesting discussions, but that will depend on chemistry.) Non-majors only, Registration Period 1 Text: Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1.

229 A (English Literary Culture: 1600-1800)
MW 8:30-10:20
Bredesen
This course surveys seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British literature in the context of significant historical events of these two centuries. Students can expect to read a great deal and write short response papers to assigned questions due each day in class as well as one 4-5 page paper, a mid-term, a final exam and a final project. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1 Texts: Robert Demaria, British Literature 1640-1789: An Anthology; Fanny Burney, Evelina; Shakespeare, The Tempest; optional: Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel; Stephen J. Greenblatt, Marvelous Possessions; John Richetti, ed., The Columbai History of the British Novel.

230 A (English Literary Culture: after 1800)
TTh 8:30-10:20
Butwin
The dual revolution of modern times--industrial and political--has helped to define the project of English literature from the French Revolution through the Cold War. A study of representative writers and genres will help us situate ourselves as readers in the last years of the 20th century. Large lecture and discussion sections, short essays and exams. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Text: Abrams, et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th ed., Vol. 2.

230 B (English Literary Culture: after 1800)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Butwin
The dual revolution of modern times--industrial and political--has helped to define the project of English literature from the French Revolution through the Cold War. A study of representative writers and genres will help us situate ourselves as readers in the last years of the 20th century. Large lecture and discussion sections, short essays and exams. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Text: Abrams, et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th ed., Vol. 2.

242 A (Reading Fiction)
Dy 8:30
(W)
Eckman
The American Twenties. In this course we'll approach "reading fiction" through six American novels from the 1920s, focusing on the complicated relationship between fiction and history. How do fictional narratives relate to social changes? How should we, as readers, approach the reading of fiction? Texts: Willa Cather, The Professor's House; William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury; Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises; Nella Larsen, Quicksand; Jean Toomer, Cane; Anzia Yezierska, Arrogant Beggar; photocopied course packet.

242 B (Reading Fiction)
Dy 9:30
(W)
Eckman
The American Twenties. In this course we'll approach "reading fiction" through six American novels from the 1920s, focusing on the complicated relationship between fiction and history. How do fictional narratives relate to social changes? How should we, as readers, approach the reading of fiction? Texts: Willa Cather, The Professor's House; William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury; Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises; Nella Larsen, Quicksand; Jean Toomer, Cane; Anzia Yezierska, Arrogant Beggar; photocopied course packet.

242 C (Reading Fiction)
Dy 12:30
(W)
Christensen
Travel and the Topographies of the Imagination. There is an inherently imaginative dimension to traveling: a movement in space to a different country brings with it a whole array of changes in thought, emotion, and even personal identity. Each of the four novels we shall study in this course--E. M. Forster's Passage to India, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger, and Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities--explores in different ways the interplay between physical travel on the one hand, and the journey taken by the mind on the other. One might even speak here of "mental topographies" in the sense that these works seem to fuse geography with the protagonists' and narrators' minds, as well as with the contours of their texts. Through these novels we will be able to assess other domains, such as the genre of travel writing, as well as the relationship between memory and narrative form. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussion, and will write several short papers, as well as one medium-length final paper.

242 D (Reading Fiction)
Dy 1:30
(W)
Christensen
Travel and the Topographies of the Imagination. There is an inherently imaginative dimension to traveling: a movement in space to a different country brings with it a whole array of changes in thought, emotion, and even personal identity. Each of the four novels we shall study in this course--E. M. Forster's Passage to India, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger, and Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities--explores in different ways the interplay between physical travel on the one hand, and the journey taken by the mind on the other. One might even speak here of "mental topographies" in the sense that these works seem to fuse geography with the protagonists' and narrators' minds, as well as with the contours of their texts. Through these novels we will be able to assess other domains, such as the genre of travel writing, as well as the relationship between memory and narrative form. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussion, and will write several short papers, as well as one medium-length final paper.

250 A (Introduction to American Literature)
MW 9:30-11:20
Moody
This course reads five texts across American literary history to explore issues of national identity, including patriotism, race and racism, religious freedom, regionalism, women’s rights, and millennialism. Non-majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: David Walker’s Appeal (1829); Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861); Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899); William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury; Tony Kushner, Angels in America; Lunsford & Connors, eds., Easy Writer: A Pocket Guide.

281 A (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 8:30
Mazzeo
This course will focus on writing and the genre of the personal essay. We will read a broad selection of personal essays, from classical to contemporary, and students will respond to these works in short weekly papers. As a final project, students will compose their own personal essay, drawing from the rhetoric strategies demonstrated by the course readings. Please note that this is not a creative writing course. (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Texts: Phillip Lobate, Art of the Personal Essay; Jay Silverman, Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers.

281 B (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 9:30
Emmerson
[Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate, competent, and effective expression.] Texts: Henry James, Portrait of a Lady; William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury. (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.)

281 C (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 10:30
Somerson
This class will focus on the intersections of nationality, sexuality, and identity in novels, short stories, and autibiographical narratives by contemporary women writers. By pairing fictional with non-fictional accounts of identity, we will investigate the relationship between fact and fiction, the personal and the political. We will consider how these narratives present various aspects of identity (including race, gender, sexuality, and class) in relation to national identity. Examining the connection between what we think of as personal relationships and the larger forces of national and international politics, we will pay special attention to what is often considered the most personal attribute (sexuality) as it is negotiated in relation to these larger forces. Students will write several response papers, as well as a longer paper at the end of the quarter. (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Texts: Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina; Two or Three Thigns I Know For Sure; Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy; A Small Place; Michelle Cliff, Abeng; Anchee Min, Red Azalea.

281 D (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 11:30
Bredesen
In this class students will develop and extend their skills in expository composition in relation to considering issues attendant to travel and tourism as cultural practices as well as examining the rhetoric of travel writing. This composition course assumes that students already have a competency in the conventions of English grammar and a familiarity with standard university essay writing. In this class we will work on honing those skills and increasing that competency through formal and informal writing exercises and assignments, extensive reading and intensive discussions that emphasize critical and careful reflection of the verbal and visual texts we encounter. This class will be divided into three units. The first unit, "Imperial Eyes," borrows its heading from Mary Louise Pratt's book by that title. We will examine the travel writings of Richard Burton and Mary Kingsley in relation to the historical/rhetorical structures of British colonialism. Next, "Extremities" brings us into the twentieth century and to the critique of two travel trends: "adventure" and "eco"-tourism. Among the texts we will look at in this section is Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Finally, students will be given the opportunity to develop their competence in research methodology, proposal writing, critical analysis, and persuasive composition while also planning their dream trip.(Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Texts: Kingley, Travels in West Africa; Krakauer, Into Thin Air; Hacker, Pocket Style Manual; optional: Bonkreer, The Climb; Duncan & Gergory, Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Writing; Rojeh, ed., Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel and Theory.

281 E (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 12:30
Somerson
This class will focus on the intersections of nationality, sexuality, and identity in novels, short stories, and autibiographical narratives by contemporary women writers. By pairing fictional with non-fictional accounts of identity, we will investigate the relationship between fact and fiction, the personal and the political. We will consider how these narratives present various aspects of identity (including race, gender, sexuality, and class) in relation to national identity. Examining the connection between what we think of as personal relationships and the larger forces of national and international politics, we will pay special attention to what is often considered the most personal attribute (sexuality) as it is negotiated in relation to these larger forces. Students will write several response papers, as well as a longer paper at the end of the quarter. (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Texts: Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina; Two or Three Thigns I Know For Sure; Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy; A Small Place; Michelle Cliff, Abeng; Anchee Min, Red Azalea.

281 F (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 1:30
Aanerud
In 1968 President Johnson signed into law the Fair Housing Act which banned discrimination in housing. In this writing class we will take this Act and the subject of a racially-segregated United States as our central theme. We will read the Act as we consider its implications an history. We will also read a wide range of texts, from various disciplines, to examine the ways in which racial segregation continues to define neighborhoods across the United States. There will be a number of small writing assignments throughout the quarter, all of which will contribute to a final research project on the subject. We will focus on revision, making prose clear and concise, and research (including how to assess information on the Internet). (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Text: photocopied course packet.

283 A (Beginning Verse Writing)
MW 9:30-10:50
Haruch
This course will cover basic techniques in the writing of poetry, with attention to free verse and metered forms. The first half of the course will focus on reading, writing and aspects of the craft; the second half will be a workshop in which student participation will be crucial. Text: Wallace & Boisseau, Writing Poems (4th ed.). (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.)

283 B (Beginning Verse Writing)
TTh 11:30-12:50
Marcum
This class will introduce students to the basics of poem-making, focusing on sound, syntax, diction and imagery. Reading widely and deeply across continents and time periods, students will learn to recognize poetic devices such as metaphor, simile, synesthesia, and personification. We will also discuss metrical verse and poetic forms such as the sonnet. A daily journal of image and sound fragments will provide material for in-class exercises as well as weekly poem assignments. No texts. (Sophomores and above only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.)

284 A (Beginning Short Story Writing)
MW 12:30-1:50
Slean
This class is an introduction to writing fiction through the study and writing of the short story form. Various elements of story writing such as character, plot, narrative style, point of view, voice, theme and structure will be explored through reading, discussion and focused writing exercises. Students will be responsible for writing a minimum of one short story plus a substantial story revision. The course may also include in-class workshops or student works-in-progress. Text: photocopied course packet. Majors only, Registration periods 1 & 2.

284 B (Beginning Short Story Writing)
TTh 10:30-11:50
Gottlieb
This course will attempt to address short story writing by closely and carefully examining important elements of short fiction, including character, conflict, and plot; by reading contemporary short fiction; and finally, by writing both exercises and fiction. Majors only, Registration Periods 1 & 2. Texts: Charles D'Ambrosio, The Point; photocopied course packet.

AUTUMN 1999 200-Level Courses

AUTUMN 1999
200-Level Courses