Winter 2003 200-Level ENGL Courses

Course Descriptions (as of 30 December 2002)
The following course descriptions have been written by individual instructors to provide more detailed information on specific section sthan 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
Holzer
(W)
The Politics and Aesthetics of Re-Vision takes writing and re-vision as its theme. Poet William Stafford titled a book You Must Revise Your Life, suggesting that any writing is already a re-vision of life. Likewise, Adrienne Rich writes "writing is re-naming" and defines re-vision as "the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction." A major premise of this class is that re-vision occurs both in our lives and in our writing. Our reading will consist of a series of paired texts: Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, The Scarlet Letter and The Holder of the World, and lastly, The Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now. Studying these texts individually and in dialogue with each other, we will discuss both the politics and aesthetics of seeing again, or writing and re-writing as we address the following questions. What does it mean to tell the same story in a different way? How does one revise one's life? Why step back and see again? What changes in that re-seeing? Texts: Bharati Mukherjee, Holder of the World; Nathaniel Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter; Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea; Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre; Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.

200 B (Reading Literature)
Dy 11:30
Goss
(W)
[Techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature. Examines some of the best works in English and American literature and considers such features of literary meaning as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense. Emphasis on literature as a source of pleasure and knowledge about human experience.]

200 C (Reading Literature)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Elkington
(W)
Me vs. You: The Search for Self and Other. Who are you, and how do you know? What seems like a simple question has in fact been a central issue for artists, philosophers, writers, scientists, and scholars for centuries. This course uses the question of selfhood as a framework for developing skills in reading and understanding literature. The course looks at a variety of theories about how we construct an idea of individual self-hood, and how this concept relates to, and is shaped by, the people around us. We will look at several philosophical paradigms for understanding the relationship between me and you. In doing so, we will draw upon literary examples that engage the complex series of assumptions and assertions lying behind the belief in ourselves as selves. Grading will be based on three 3-5 page papers, as well as upon in-class participation. Texts: Miller & Williams, Ways In; Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness; Charles Johnson, Middle Passage; Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body; Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man; Paul Auster, City of Glass; photocopied course packet.

200 D (Reading Literature)
TTh 1:30-3:20
Keeling
(W)
Destiny: Fixed and Inevitable or Unsettled Futures. In this course we will explore the themes of "destiny" and "fate" and consider some of the many ways we experience them through fiction, poetry, drama, and film. Our goal throughout the course will be to increase our understanding both of the diverse ways people conceive of this notion of "destiny" and of the critical approaches to writing about the different genres. Students should be prepared to write four papers, complete a possible mid-term and final exam, and participate actively in class discussion on a daily basis. In addition to a Course Reader (for our poetry), texts for this course include those by Nella Larsen, Andre Gide, Virginia Woolf, Tennesee Williams, and Sophocles. Texts: Muller & Williams, eds., Ways In: Approaches to Reading and Writing about Literature and Film, 2^nd ed.; Larsen, Passing; Gide, Immoralist; Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; Williams, The Sweet Bird of Youth; Sophocles, Oedipus the King; photocopied course packet.

207 A (Introduction to Cultural Studies)
Dy 11:30
Ladino
American Environments: The Spaces of Everyday Life. How do everyday environments affect (and effect) their inhabitants? How is environment tied to race, class, and American national identity -- practically, economically, and emotionally? How have our conceptions of urban and public space changed since 9/11? How do everyday spaces constitute subjects, and how do they act in ways that diverge from what these various spaces encourage? Rather than limit "environment" to strictly the "natural world," this course takes as a starting point "public spaces" in contemporary America. This broad topic allows us to practice a cultural studies approach by looking at a variety of environments -- from National Parks to suburban malls. After spending the first week becoming familiar with what cultural studies tries to do, we'll divide the course into three 3-week sections: public lands and common space; urban space; and the shopping mall (or, we might say, commodified space). As cultural studies scholars, we will "read" a variety of "texts," including literature, film, advertisements, government documents, persuasive essays, and particular spaces within the city of Seattle. Asking (and trying to answer) questions about our daily environments is both an important pursuit in cultural studies and a necessary step towards thinking critically about the world we inhabit. Requirements: short response papers, one in-class presentation, one longer written project (a case study of a particular "space"), film viewing outside of class, and a final exam. Text: photocopied course packet.

210 A (Literature of the Ancient World)
MW 8:30-10:20
S.Taylor
In this course we will read literature from the ancient world, beginning with Akkadian (Babylonian), moving through Hellenic (Greek and Roman) and ending up with the Bible. Most readings will be available in a course reader. Students should expect to attend all meetings and to engage in discussion. Several short papers, midterm and final. Readings will include Inanna, Gilgamesh, Archilocos, Sappho, Thucydides, Theocritus, Ovid, Virgil, Genesis, Job, Matthew. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. (210B = 5 spaces in this class reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) Texts: Kovacs, ed., The Epic of Gilgamesh; Wolkstein & Kramer, eds., Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth; The Bible: New Revised Standard Version; photocopied course packet.

211 A/B (Medieval & Renaissance Literature)
MW 9:30-11:20
Major
[Introduction to literature from a broadly cultural point of view, focusing on major works that have shaped the development of literary and intellectual traditions from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. ] No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1 (211B = 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) Texts: Winny, tr., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (ed. Paster & Howard); photocopied course packet.

212 A (Literature of Enlightenment & Revolution)
Dy 9:30
Lawshe
Pulp Fiction. Traces the rise of the novel in 18^th- and 19^th-century England. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Texts: Lawrence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Transtram Shandy, Gentleman; Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders; Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

212 B/C (Literature of Enlightenment & Revolution)
MW 9:30-11:20
Tandy
[Introduction to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature from a broadly cultural point of view, focusing on representative works that illustrate literary and intellectual developments of the period.] No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1 (211C = 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.)

213 A (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
Dy 9:30
VerSteeg
This course will focus on moments throughout American history and literature during the 20th century that address the concept of "American" national belonging. We will do this primary by examining the tropes of frontier and frontiers as they appear in American literature, keeping close at hand the concept of citizenship as it is extended or refused to various groups in American history. We will be concerned less with an idea of frontier that is limited to nostalgic representations of "cowboys and Indians" in the "wild west" than about frontiers as more complex spaces--in that sense, "national frontiers" is perhaps more appropriate to our subject matter. Think about frontier as a sort of margin or boundary space -- perhaps a real land, perhaps a figurative one. This course will ask you to consider what conditions create the different "sides" of that boundary -- that is, who suggests these boundaries and for what purposes, and what literature does to modify those boundaries. The texts that we will read can be loosely (and somewhat ambiguously) organized into the following categories, although there is of course overlap between them, as well as anachronistic moments that tie them together: "frontier" and its deployment, immigrant assimilation, the "black" question and migration, American normalization, and U.S. imperialism and global capitalization. We will attempt to tie these ideas together by talking about the contemporary debate on citizenship during the 20th century and how ideas like "frontier" are used to define citizenship. Be prepared for an intensive course. Texts will include E.L. Doctorow's The Book of Daniel, Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters, and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. In addition, there will be a substantial course reader of critical readings and selections from other literature, which may include such texts as Roosevelt's "True Americanism," Henry Roth's Call it Sleep, W.E.B. Dubois' "The Souls of Black Folk," Ellison's Invisible Man, Herr's Dispatches, and O'Brien's The Thing They Carried, as well as some work by Don DeLillo and Maxine Hong Kingston. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Texts: Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters; Doctorow, Book of Daniel; Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

213 B (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
MW 11:30-1:20
Karl
Modernism and the Masses. One of the ways that so-called Modernist literature of the early twentieth century is typically identified is by its ambivalence about mass culture, and for its critiques of popular institutions. While the figure of the aloof and critical artist is easy enough to conjure, this course takes a broader approach to "the Masses" in Anglo-American Modernist literature. Through novels, short fiction, journals and critical essays, we will examine the ways in which "the Masses" are manifested and implicated in the agendas and representations of Modernists writing during a period where the growth and modernization of mass culture was changing the lives of both individuals and entire populations. Specifically, we'll explore what these literary representations mean for conceptions of popular politics and democracy, the location of identity and dissent, and the meanings of mass culture and its institutions for individuals. We'll also think about how these texts position themselves within mass culture, and how they might suggest other popular cultures, or alternatives. Also, what do these critiques mean for us today? No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Texts: Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent; Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; Jean Rhys, Quartet; Nella Larsen, Quicksand; Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer; photocopied course packet containing short stories, poetry, and critical writings.

213 C/D (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
Dy 12:30
Buck
In this course we will read Anglo-Irish and American literature written in the 20th century, mainly novels, but also short stories, poetry, and criticism. Beginning with Eliot's The Waste Land and ending with Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine, we will discuss modern and postmodern negotiations of artistic, racial and sexual identity amidst the alienation and exile that characterize modernity. While we will explore the social and historical contexts of the works we read, we will also pay close attention to the technical and thematic innovations of modern and postmodern writing. Active class participation is essential. Requirements include several short papers, midterm, final and a group presentation. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. (213D = 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) Texts: Samuel Beckett, First Love and Other Shorts; T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Writings; James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine; Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark; Vladimir Nabokov, The Annotated Lolita; Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway.

225 A (Shakespeare)
MW 8:30-10:20
Schillinger
(W)
[Survey of Shakespeare's career as dramatist. Study of representative comedies, tragedies, romances, and history plays.] Text: Greenblatt, et al., eds, The Norton Shakespeare.

225 B (Shakespeare)
Dy 10:30
Sucich
(W)
[Survey of Shakespeare's career as dramatist. Study of representative comedies, tragedies, romances, and history plays.]

228 A (English Literary Culture: to 1600)
MW 8:30-10:20
Gonyer-Donohue
The course catalog identifies this class as a survey of medieval and early modern English literature; however, we need to ask what makes early English literature specifically "English." Is it satisfactory to categorize literature by its location of origin alone? What are we to do with the fact that the literary tradition was constantly shifting, being heavily influenced, and sometimes supplanted altogether, by the literary traditions of non-English visitors/conquerors/missionaries? In our quest to trace the development of "English" literature, we will be reading texts that were originally composed in Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Old French, and Middle English (all but the Middle English in translation, of course). As we examine the cultural and political context of this transnational hodge-podge we call medieval English, we will also discuss how the texts were physically transmitted: the production and dissemination of manuscripts, literacy and readers, and the movement from an oral/aural culture to a literary one. Because we only have ten weeks to deal with a time period of over 900 years, our reading list will be selective rather than comprehensive. (ENGL 228B represents 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Text: Baswell & Schotter, eds., The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 1A: The Middle Ages; photocopied course packet.

228 C (English Literary Culture: to 1600)
MW 1:30-3:20
S.Taylor
In this course we will examine English literary culture from the Middle Ages to the end of the sixteenth century. Students should expect to attend all meetings, and to engage in discussion. Several short papers, midterm and final. Readings will include: selections from Old English, Marie de France, Sir Gaway and the Green Knight; medieval drama, John Skelton, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Isabella Whitney, Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sydney, and Shakespeare's sonnets. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Text: Abrams, et al., eds., Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1.

229 A/B (English Literary Culture: 1600-1800)
Dy 9:30
Cooper
Humor as a Cultural Value. In a period of great change -- political, social and literary -- one way of understanding the writing of the times is by looking at the way it defines and uses humor. As this period is considered to be a golden age of comedy and satire, we ought to find this a fruitful route into understanding what kind of writing was most prized at the time, and how and why humor was taken for granted as being a necessary component, if writing was to both "delight and instruct" its audience. In addition, we will consider the relationship of literature to events such as the civil war, the arrival of actresses on the stage, the growing popularity and accessibility of books, the increase in female authorship, and the growth in population and the creation of a middle class. To begin, we will look at the concept of humor itself, how its literary modes grew out of the medieval concept that a person's overall temperament could be traced to the levels of certain fluids in the body, and how the dominance of one fluid over the others determined one's overall personality. From here we can widen our definition of what humor is to include more subtle uses, to examine the seriously ironic (moments in Milton's Paradise Lost, for example) as well as the uproariously funny. Readings will range from the comedic plays of Ben Jonson, the late seventeenth-century sex and marriage comedies, the satires of Pope, Swift and others, up to the imaginative possibilities of the eighteenth-century novel, from the frenetic narrative of Defoe's Roxana to the buoyantly delicate exploration of the comic aspects of social interaction in Steren's Sentimental Journey. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1 (229B 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) Texts: Abrams, et al., eds., Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1C (Restoration & 18th C.); Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey...; Daniel Defoe, Roxana, The Fortunate Mistress; photocopied course packet.

229 C (English Literary Culture: 1600-1800)
MW 12:30-2:20
Osell
[British literature in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Study of literature in its cultural context, with attention to changes in form, content, and style.] No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1.Text: Damrosch, ed., Longman Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 1 (2nd ed.).

230 A/B (English Literary Culture: after 1800)
MW 12:30-2:20
Bloom
[British literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Study of literature in its cultural context, with attention to changes in form, content, and style.] No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. (230B = 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) Texts: Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey; Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol; Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre; E. M. Forster, Howards End; George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion.

242 A (Reading Fiction)
MW 8:30-10:20
Barnett
(W)
This section focuses on contemporary American fiction. These pieces provide us with complex narratives that may or may not make complete sense. Expect a rigorous reading schedule, daily journals, weekly papers, and a final 10-page paper. Texts: Gloria Naylor, Mama Day; Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys; Gregory Maguire, Wicked; Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Malidies; Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies; Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.

242 B (Reading Fiction)
Dy 9:30
Vidali
(W)
Disability Fiction(s): Problematizing Textual Depictions of Disability. Investigating the complexities of such seemingly natural representational systems as race and gender is a current them in many fiction courses; however, the social construction of disability, another site where identity is inflected, is often ignored. This unwarranted absence is increasingly addressed by the field of Disability Studies, and this course will examine a variety of text types, including autobiography, fiction, drama, children's literature, and film, in order to problematize depictions of disability, which often portray disability as a medical tragedy or "problem," rather than utilizing a minority model of disability. This course will require a challenging amount of reading, in-class participation, a midterm paper, a final exam, and a series of response papers.

242 C (Reading Fiction)
Dy 10:30
Mower
(W)
Rebels and Outsiders in U.S. Fiction: Self-Making and the Nation 1820-1920. What does it mean to be alienated from oneself, from one's culture? In this class we will examine how selected nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century writers imagine or construct the self as "outside" of or in opposition to U.S. society and the nation. The process of self-definition or as we will be referring to this -- self -making -- requires different acts, different negotiations which depend in part on the particular location of the subject within the broader framework of the nation. Much of our attention will focus on the gender, socioeconomic and racial considerations which shape how literature defines and values the self as part of a broader historical moment. We will also look at how literary texts intervene into particular sociocultural moments in order to influence, criticize, illuminate and sometimes transform deeply entrenched ideas. By looking at a number of interdisciplinary writings, such as journalism, legal decisions and historical analyses, at the same time as we read short stories and novels from the same period, this class will help you gain a deeper appreciation of how literature participates within the broader frameworks which produce and are produced by it. Texts: Catherine Maria Sedgwick, A New England Tale; Nathaniel Hawthorne, Blithesdale Romance; Harriet Wilson, Our Nig; Henry James, Daisy Miller & Other Stories; Frances Harper, Iola Leroy; Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie; Edith Wharton, Summer.

242 D (Reading Fiction)
Dy 11:30
Nimura
(W)
American Ethnic Women, American Dreams. The current NBC show "American Dreams" proclaims a return to the lost innocence of America (the 1960s?). But was the American Dream ever innocent? In this class we'll consider how American ethnic women negotiate the demands of the American Dream. Beginning with the classic American Dream novel by Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick, we'll move to twentieth-century novels by Gloria Naylor, Gish Jen, Anzia Yezierska, Linda Hogan, and Ana Castillo. Throughout the quarter we will test the formula of the American dream against the readings and ask if there are other ways of becoming American. Class requirements will include active participation in class discussion, several short response papers, a reading journal, a movie review, and a longer critical analysis paper. Texts: Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick; Linda Hogan, Mean Spirit; Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers; Gish Jen, Typical American; Gloria Naylor, Linden Hills; Ana Castillo, Peel My Love Like An Onion; photocopied course packet.

242 E (Reading Fiction)
MW 1:30-3:20
Liu
(W)
Finding the Self in Fragmentation. This course focuses on how authors in the past thirty years have explored finding a sense of self in a 20th-century America where heterogeneity and homogenization are in constant competition. Whether considering the impacts of immigration, formal education, or consumerism on the formation of self and community, this course will examine the individual's struggle to find integration with and integrity within society at large. Taking works ranging from realism to science fiction, this course will ask how characters of different races and genders respond to social institutions and economic forces that normalize behavior in ways both potentially liberating and repressive. Course requirements will include 2 papers, a class presentation, reading journals, and a final exam. Texts: Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye; Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker; Forrest Carter, The Education of Little Tree; Don DeLillo, White Noise; Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club; Ursula LeGuin, The Dispossessed.

243A (Reading Poetry)
Dy 9:30
Brenner
(W)
This is a course in reading poems and writing about the poems we read. Expect weekly writing and participation in class discussion. Text: Donald Hall, To Read A Poem (2^nd ed.)

250 A (Introduction to American Literature)
MW 9:30-11:20
Linder
How does Tarzan's jungle upbringing relate to the 1893 World's Fair? Why might Faulkner and modernist literature be a historian's worst nightmare? What connections exist between a Xerox machine and the "white noise" of consumer culture? Our work in this class will attempt to answer these and related questions by focusing on the stylistic and broader cultural concerns of a series of late 19th- and early 20th-century American novels and stories. Throughout the quarters, we'll supplement our look at twentieth-century American fiction with brief examples from art, political speeches, and legal documents. We'll discover how American literature helps define what it means to be an American, how "stories" influence how we think of ourselves as Americans. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Texts: Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes; Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49; Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!; Larsen, Quicksand.

250 B/C (Introduction to American Literature)
Dy 10:30
Enomoto
This course -- "Introduction to American Literature" -- will attempt to do just that: to acquaint you with some of the major questions, themes, and narratives that have shaped our understanding of a national literature. Beginning with the Puritans and Extending into the twentieth century, our epic sweep will span almost 400 years of creative expression. We will sample the work of several representative figures, as well as dissenting voices. Required readings will provide you with a conceptual framework for approaching poetry and prose "in the American grain," allowing you to explore your own interests through independent reading. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. (250C = 5 spaces in this section reserved for new transfer students; add codes in English Advising, A-2B PDL.) Text: Baym, et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter 6th ed.

250 D (Introduction to American Literature)
MW 12:30-2:20
Barnett
Introduction to American Literature is a fast-paced, historically-grounded analysis of American literature from pre-colonial times to the present. Expect a rigorous reading schedule, daily journals, exams, and papers. No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Text: Perkins, ed., The American Tradition in Literature, shorter ed.

250 E (Introduction to American Literature)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Whitmire
[Survey of the major writers, modes, and themes in American literature, from the beginnings to the present. Specific readings vary, but often included are: Taylor, Edwards, Franklin, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, James, Eliot, Stevens, O'Neill, Faulkner, Hemingway, Ellison, and Bellow.] No ENGL majors, Registration Period 1. Texts: Thoreau, Walden & Civil Disobedience; Chopin, The Awakening & Selected Short Stories; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Baldwin, Giovanni's Room; Morrison, Sula; Alexie, The Toughest Indian in the World.

251 A (Introduction to American Political Culture)
MW 12:30-2:20
Linder
In what ways might Leave It To Beaver be an outgrowth of radioactive atomic fallout? How are political statesmen such as John Foster Dulles presenting a viewpoint that has affinities to that offered by Jack Kerouac and the Beats? How, according to some, were Moms ruining America? Our work in this class will attempt to answer these and related questions by examining postwar American culture through a variety of texts -- from detective fiction to political speeches, from sociological tracts to Hollywood movies, from legal documents to Beat Poetry In short, we'll work to attain a more comprehensive picture of 1950s and to some extent, 1960s America by putting seemingly disparate cultural forms in dialogue with one another. We'll attempt to discover what unites these various postwar texts, what common concerns and/or hopes they give voice to. As the Beav might say, "Gee, Wally, this course is gonna be swell!" (Offered jointly with POL S 281A) Texts: Spillane, I, the Jury; Kerouac, On the Road.

257 A (Introduction to Asian-American Literature)
TTh 11:30-1:20
Solberg
Introductory survey of Asian-American literature provides introduction to Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Hawaiian, South-Asian, and Southeast-Asian American literature and a comparative study of the basic cultural histories of those Asian American communities from the 1800s to the present. Texts: Shawn Wong, ed., Asian-American Literature: Brief Introduction and Anthology; Vienvenido N. Santos, Scent of Apples; Monica Sone, Nisei Daughter; Gary Pak, The Watcher of Waipuna; G. S. Sharat Chandra, Sari of the Gods.

281 A (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 8:30
Dalley
Throughout the quarter we will read and respond to several texts (essays, novels, films, etc.) that consider the nature of history and the politics of writing history. Of course, his is a composition class, so the activities we engage in will be geared toward developing analytical arguments and effectively articulating those arguments in academic writing and discussions. You will be expected to complete several writing assignments (consisting of short informal responses and longer formal academic papers), participate in group work, contribute to peer review workshops, and attend writing conferences with your instructor. Majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: E. L.Doctorow, The Book of Daniel; Tim O'Brien, In the Lake of the Woods; Keith Jenkins, The Postmodern History Reader; Andrea Lunsford, The Everyday Writer (optional).

281 B (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 10:30
Opitz
In this course, we'll examine the various ways in which we construct, experience, and negotiate spaces. We will read fiction (Sandra Cisneros, Nella Larson), non-fiction (Eudora Welty, Virginia Woolf), and criticism (Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Adrienne Rich) to explore the relationships between spatial practices--walking, traveling, writing, reading--and questions of self and community. Students will be expected to complete a number of assignments in and outside of class, such as group work, presentations, shorter writing assignments, and three longer papers, as well as participate in class discussions. Majors only, Registration Period 1.

281 C (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 2:30
McDonald
A sports writer from the 1950s once said: "I hate writing. I love having written." This sentiment is often shared by student writers who are navigating different kinds of writing in academia. Why do we write in the first place? Writing is a "way of knowing" that equips as well as forms you: this course will investigate forms of academic writing and the implications behind them. We will look at the disciplinary expectations that your particular career path demands and how to make your writing matter. We'll explore practices of rhetoric itself and how to make meaning with words. You will write in multiple genres (editorials, reviews, summaries, parodies, argumentative essays, etc.) and often reflect on the conventions of these particular genres. There will be a number of short assignments in addition to three longer papers and a collaborative assignment. Majors only, Registration Period 1. Text: photocopied course packet.

283 A (Beginning Verse Writing)
MW 11:30-12:50
Arthur
An introduction to the craft of poetry. In this course, you'll write between five and eight poems, with close attention to such poetic devices as alliteration, enjambment, and line breaks. If you don't know what these terms mean, don't sweat it ... by the end of the clsas, you will. We'll also have talked about the professional aspets of writing and you will have submitted at least one batch of poems to a literary magazine. Participation is extremely important in this course, so be forewarned that you'll have a fair bit of work to do for each class. Don't buy any textbooks now, but do be prepared to spend about fifty dollars for course materials; we'll discuss all this on the first day of class. Majors only, Registration Period 1.

283 B (Beginning Verse Writing)
TTh 2:30-3:50
Shapiro
We will read, write and converse thoughtfully about poems. We will identify verse’s musicality, its imagery and its artistry and make our own. Full participation and willingness to take risks is necessary. Majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: Instructions about book purchases will be given by instructor in class.

284 A (Beginning Short Story Writing)
MW 9:30-10:50
Sherman
This course introduces and provides practice in the elements of short literary fiction, including (but not limited to) imagery, characterization, setting, plot, etc. In-class assignments will consist of the discussion of contemporary short stories in terms of craft, short writing exercises, and workshopping of student pieces. The main goal in the introduction of the elements of a short story shall not be the provision of predictable models, so much as it shall be exposure to the wide variety of approaches contemporary writers have taken. In-class time will heavily emphasize discussion, rather lecture. Student contribution to the course is an essential element to its success. Majors only, Registration Period 1.

284 B (Beginning Short Story Writing)
TTh 1:30-2:50
Juergenson
[Introduction to the theory and practice of writing the short story.] Majors only, Registration Period 1. Texts: John Gardner, The Art of Fiction; Sue Miller, ed., The Best American Short Stories 2002.

WINTER 2003 200-Level Courses

WINTER 2003
200-Level Courses