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Course Descriptions (as of 15 December 2003)
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.)
Add Codes
Registration in 200-level
English classes
is entirely through MyUW. Instructors
will have add codes beginning the first day of classes for
overloads only. If the instructor chooses not
to give overloads, the only way students can enroll in a 200-level
English class during the first week will be through MyUW if
space is available.
First Week Attendance
Because of heavy demand
for many English classes, students who do not attend
all reguarly-scheduled meetings during the first week of the
quarter may be dropped from their classes by the department.
If students are unable to attend at any point during the first
week, they should contact their instructors ahead of time. The
Department requests that instructors make reasonable accommodations for
students with legitimate reasons for being absent; HOWEVER, THE FINAL
DECISION RESTS WITH THE INSTRUCTOR AND SPACE IS NOT GUARANTEED FOR ABSENT
STUDENTS EVEN IF THEY CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR IN ADVANCE. (Instructors'
phone numbers and e-mail addresses can be obtained by calling
the Main English Office, (206) 543-2690 or the Undergraduate Advising
Office, (206) 543-2634.)
200 A (Reading Literature)
Dy 8:30
(W)
S. Frey
sfrey@u.washington.edu
Art and Mass Culture. This course will use several novels in conjunction with
film, visual art, and critical essays to interrogate the relationship between
art and mass culture. In particular, we will look at the way that mass culture
is represented, incorporated, and contested in contemporary literary and
visual art. We will use the following questions to frame our discussion:
What does art look like in an age of mass media and pop culture? How do artists
respond to mass culture and its technologies in their work? Can art play
a critical role in a mass mediated society? The course goals can be summarized
as follows:
•
To be able to read closely and critically; to unpack literary and visual language
and explore its implications.
•
To be able to analyze how works of literature and art make arguments about
the world.
•
To be able to pose questions about literature and art that are relevant to
your own experience of the world.
•
To be able to explore these questions through writing by making and supporting
arguments about a particular work.
Requirements: Daily attendance and participation.
Two short papers, a longer final paper, and several minor writing assignments,
along with in-class presentations
and discussion-leading. There will be a midterm exam and reading quizzes
based on reading, viewing, and in-class discussion. Texts: Don DeLillo, White
Noise;
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor;
Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn; photocopied
course packet; additional items on library reserve.
200 B (Reading Literature)
Dy 11:30
Taylor
(W)
Little Angel, Bad Seed: Child Characters in Literature. We will read a variety
of literary works that have in common the presence of children, either as main
characters, narrators, objects of desire, buddies, bad-guys (and bad-gals),
innocents, little kids, big kids, and one baby. This is not a course in literature
written for children; rather, we will examine the presence of children in ordinary
grown-up texts. We will read several novels from the mid-to-late twentieth
century, and one from the twenty-first. In addition, we will take brief forays
into other genres, including poetry, short stories, memoir and the comic. Some
of the key questions we will consider include: What expectations do we have
of childhood and children, both in written works and in our everyday lives?
How are children used in texts to get at larger social meanings? Where do our
sympathies lie when dealing with a child character who does not behave as he
or she ought, and what do we mean by ought? We will consider the way in which
our experiences as former children shape or influence our reactions to characters
in texts, as well as the various means writers have of portraying those characters.
We will examine a range of features of literary texts, including plot development,
structure, setting, point of view, characterization, language choice, imagery,
dialogue, etc. Coursework will include a demanding reading schedule, class
discussions, several writing assignments, group or individual presentations,
and a possible mid-term and/or final. Texts: William Golding, Lord
of the Flies;
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita; Ian McEway, Atonement; Roddy Doyle, Paddy
Clarke Ha Ha Ha; Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions:
A Journal of My Son’s First Year; Lynda Barry, The! Greatest!
Of! Marlys!;
photocopied course packet.
200 C (Reading Literature)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Zindel
(W)
bzindel@u.washington.edu
This course introduces literature as an opportunity to improve interpretive
skills with a pronounced focus on close, critical reading. We will examine
several imaginative literary texts by considering the social and political
dimensions of technology, transformation, violent conflict, and territory.
While common thematic interests will help to provide a vocabulary for our
exploration of these books, we will also be fostering an appreciation of
how the formal elements of fiction and narrative style work. Our discussions
will demand active, engaged participation and in-class presentation There
will also be some short response papers, a longer paper, a midterm, and a
final exam. Texts: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein;
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland; Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian;
Stever Erickson, Arc d’X; Tim O’Brien, The Things
They Carried; Don DeLillo, Mao II; Denis Johnson, Fiskadoro; Neal Stephenson, The
Diamond Age.
200 D (Reading Literature)
MW 1:30-3:20
Mower
(W)
Leiren@aol.com
Revising the “American Dream.” Historian
Stephanie Koontz has recently argued that America's nostalgic desire for
a return to lost innocence is, in fact, an imagining
which fantastically erases deeply entrenched (and long-standing) conflicts
of ethnicity, race, class, gender and sexual orientation. In this class we
will consider how twentieth-century US ethnic writers negotiate the demands
of the "American" dream. Through a critical engagement with the
work of Anzia Yezierska, Meridel Le Sueur, John Okada, Gish Jen, Sherman
Alexie, Eric Liu, Gloria Naylor and Ana Castillo we will test the formula
of the American dream and ask if there are other ways of becoming "American," other
ways of negotiating identity within the intersections of race, ethnicity,
class, gender and nation. Texts: Horatio
Alger, Ragged Dick; Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers; Meridel
Le Sueur,
Girl; John Okada, No No Boy; Gish Jen, Typical Americans;
Gloria Naylor,
Linden Hills; Ana Castillo, Peel My Love Like an Onion;
Sherman Alexie,
The Business of Fancy Dancing.
207 A (Introduction to Cultural Studies)
MW 11:30-1:20
Ladino
jladino@u.washington.edu
Green Cultural Studies: Nature, Space, and Bodies in Postmodern Culture. This
course will give students a working knowledge of a cultural studies approach,
then use that approach to ask questions about the ways in which
nature, space and human bodies are figured in postmodern literature and
culture.
The focus
of the course is “green cultural studies” – a
critical approach that adds nature to the categories more commonly
addressed by cultural studies
(e.g., class, race, gender, sexuality). We will treat nature
as both a material reality, which can be commodified or consumed,
and as a social construct, which
reflects cultural values. We will examine space as socially produced,
rather than simply an empty vessel that we “fill,” free
of intent or consequence. And, we will challenge our familiar
understandings of the human body, looking
at bodies as contested sites at which complex political narratives
play themselves out. As cultural studies scholars, we will “read” a
variety of “texts,” including
literature, film, advertisements, critical theory, 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, film viewing outside of class, and
a midterm
exam. Text: Ruth Ozeki, My Year of Meats.
207 B (Introduction to Cultural Studies)
TTh 11:30-1:20
Shaviro
shaviro@u.washington.edu
As recently as fifteen years ago, computer-mediated communication (CMC) was in its infancy. The internet as we know it today scarcely existed. E-mail accounts were few and far between, 300-baud modems were the rule, and the World Wide Web had not yet been invented. In an astonishingly short time, everything has changed. Today we take the Net so much for granted that it’s hard to gauge the distance we have gone, or the difference it has made. This course will consider the many ways that contemporary culture has been reshaped – and is still in process of being reshaped – as a result of the growth of the Internet, and associated electronic technologies. We will look into the new electronic forms of culture, and try to decode the new messages that are being conveyed by the new digital media: personal computers and world-wide information networks, above all, but also video, multimedia, interactive games, online communities, and virtual reality technologies. We will look at a wide range of material: from theoretical writings about the nature of virtualization to policy debates about issues such as copyright and encryption, and from speculative science fiction to experiments in interface design to “net art” projects. Texts: David Bell & Barbara Kennedy, eds., The Cybercultures Reader; Marshall McLuhan, et al., The Medium is the Message.
211 A and 211B (Medieval & Renaissance Literature)
MW 9:30-11:20
Fogerty
Medieval Myths, Manhood and the Evolution of Early Modern English Monarchy. The literature of the medieval and Early Modern eras is extraordinarily diverse.
Rather than attempt broad coverage of the entire period, in this course we
will examine one of the central threads of political and intellectual thought:
theories of kingship. We will begin with a variety of Arthurian legends,
read selections from political philosophers such as Erasmus and Machiavelli,
and contemplate the dramatic kings of Shakespeare and Marlowe. We will end
by exploring selections from the political tracts of both James I and Milton.
Along the way we will consider ideas such as the divine right of kings, the
interconnections of religion and monarchy, gender and leadership, and the
power of the charismatic politician. The reading for this class will be both
challenging and rewarding. Participation will be essential to doing well
in this course. Assignments will include group presentations and may also
take the form of several formal papers. There will likely be a midterm and
either a final exam or final paper. N.b.: Please do not purchase your texts
before the first day of class. (211B = 5 spaces for new transfers) No
majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Christopher Marlowe, Edward
II; Shakespeare, King Richard
II; King Henry V; photocopied course packet.
212 A and 212B (Literature of Enlightenment & Revolution)
Dy 9:30
Dalley
ldalley@u.washington.edu
Recently, many historians and literary scholars of Victorian England have
argued that gender was the preeminent category of social organization in
the 19th century. They support their argument by noting a conceptual shift
from gender as hierarch in the 18th century to gender as separate, complimentary
spheres in the 19th century. In this course, we will examine these shifting
attitudes towards gender – or, in the terminology of the course, gender
enlightenment(s) and revolution(s) – in the context of other concurrent
political and social movements (French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, “The
Enlightenment,” etc.). Our discussion will be facilitated by reading
several non-fiction texts and three novels from the late 18th century and
early-mid 19th century. In addition to studying the aforementioned themes,
we will also discuss the period’s literary trends and tropes. (212B
= 5 spaces for new transfers) No majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts:
Gaskell, Mary
Barton; Bronte, Jane Eyre; Austen, Pride and Prejudice;
Mill, The
Subjection of Women; Wollstonecraft, The Vindications.
213 A (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
Dy 9:30
Reddinger
arr75@u.washington.edu
American Mobilities: Identity, Consumption and Motion in Modern and Postmodern
Literature. This course will investigate the ways in which both
literal (e.g., cars, planes, elevators) and metaphoric (racial, gendered,
class)
mobility
is represented and constituted in 20th-century American literature. We
will work towards creating definitions and understandings of “modern” and “postmodern” literature
by asking a set of critical questions about capitalism, consumption and
the construction of ”self” as represented in the course texts.
Graded course work will include one short paper, quizzes, a mid-term,
one 8-10-page
paper and class discussion/contribution. No majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Fitzgerald, The
Great Gatsby; Larsen, Passing; Kerouac, On the Road;
Okubo, Citizen 13660; Dick, Ubik; Whitehead, The
Intuitionist.
213 B and 213C (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
MW 11:30-1:20
Itano
ditano@u.washington.edu
[Introduction to twentieth-century literature from a broadly cultural point
of view, focusing on representative works that illustrate literary
and intellectual developments since 1900.] (213C = 5 spaces for new transfers) No
majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: James Weldon
Johnson, Autobiography
of an Ex-colored Man; F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby;
Chester Himes, Yesterday Will Make You Cry; Maxine Hong
Kingston, The Woman Warrior; Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters.
213 D (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
MW 9:30-11:20
Emmerson
cemmerso@u.washington.edu
Fragmenting Modernity: Modernism, Postmodernism, and World War II.
In this course we will read two long novels, Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus
(1947) and Thomas Pynchon’s V (1963), along with selected poetry.
In these novels, Mann and Pynchon comprise their visions of Modernity and
Post-modernity out of the impasse between artistic ambition and political
responsibility that arose during and after the second World War. The course
therefore considers World War II as a historical moment whose representational
value was contested by Modernists and Post-modernists. We’ll discuss
the relative value of configuring both Modernism and Postmodernism around
World War II, as opposed to the conventional method of configuring Modernism
around World War I and Postmodernism around the Vietnam War. Indeed, we’ll
discuss the relation of both movements to the concept and practice of war
in general. No majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Thomas
Pynchon, V; Ramazani, Ellman, O'Clair, The Norton Anthology
of Modern and Contemporary Poetry; Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus.
225 A (Shakespeare)
MW 8:30-10:20
Lenz
(W)
tlenz@u.washington.edu
Designed to introduce several of Shakespeare’s dramatic works as well
as the cultural and social forces that surrounded their composition, this
course builds upon a fundamental understanding of the plays as performances
rather than texts meant for more interior reading. As such, class time often
will be devoted to oral recitation and performance, as well as analysis and
discussion. We will also approach the texts from historical and critical
perspectives. In addition to regular response papers that will encourage
individual synthesis of the texts along with the experience of performing
them, the course will likely include a midterm exam and final formal paper.
Research assignment(s) and/or presentations may also be included. Text: The
Riverside Shakespeare.
225 B (Shakespeare)
Dy 10:30
Easterling
How does one approach the prolific phenomenon of Shakespeare in just 10 weeks? By being selective, setting a few helpful course goals, and understanding that we are always only making a start when we study literary texts. ENGL 225 will thus not be a survey of Shakespeare, but will instead use the 10 weeks to focus on four interesting, important, and diverse plays in his oeuvre. After some introductory work with the sonnets, we’ll read a tragedy (King Lear, which we will also see in live performance early in the quarter), a comedy (Much Ado About Nothing), a history (Henry V), and a romance (The Tempest), all sharing some themes we’ll try to trace. The main goal is to make you more confident readers of Shakespeare. Classwork, papers, and a group project will all support this goal. Texts: Shakespeare, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, King Lear; McDonald, The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare, 2nd ed.
228 A (English Literary Culture: to 1600)
TTh 10:30-12:20
Gonyear-Donohue
jengd@u.washington.edu
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: Damrosche, Longman Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 1A (2nd ed.)
229 A and 229B (English Literary Culture: 1600 – 1800)
Dy 9:30
K. Cooper
karolcoo@u.washington.edu
Literary Tradition and the Female Figure. In the literary tradition
of the early modern era, authors relied on female-gendered figures more with
the goal of conveying certain abstract ideas and less with the intention
of
realistically representing real women. This practice of using gender
in a symbolic fashion
interacted with and drew upon, but did not necessarily reflect, the reality
of women’s roles in society. Yet as women came to play increasingly
visible, active and participatory roles (one indication of this shift
occurred when female actors replaced boys in women’s parts on stage),
authorial styles and themes adapted to treat these and other social phenomena.
The
character of Eve for example, in Milton’s Paradise Lost,
represents many things at once. At times she is portrayed as stereotypically
female:
vain, ambitious, and dangerously independent. Other times we could consider
her waywardness as representative of humanity in general, and her character
as one type of reaction to divine authority, comparable to, yet distinctly
different from, the reactions of Adam or Satan. Later in the Restoration
comedies of Aphra Behn, England’s first professional woman playwright,
concerns about marrying for money mingle with issues relating to freedom
of choice and the unreliability of love in an increasingly mercenary
world. In addition, we will consider the relationship of literature to
events and
movements such as: the English civil war; the influence of politics,
court life and religion on literary practice; empire and colonization;
the growing
popularity and accessibility of books; the ongoing theme of prostitution
and the creation of a middle class sensibility. (229B = 5 spaces for
new transfers) No majors, Reg. Period 1.
Texts: Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl; John Milton, Paradise
Lost;
Aphra Behn, The Rover and Other Plays; France Burney, Evelina.
229 C (English Literary Culture: 1600 – 1800)
Dy 12:30
Schillinger
sschilli@u.washington.edu
[British literature in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Study of literature
in its cultural context, with attention to changes in form, content,
and style.] No majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Damrosch,
ed., The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 1B: The Early
Modern Period and Volume 1C: The Restoration and 18th Century.
230 A & 230B (English Literary Culture: After 1800)
MW 12:30-2:20
Grooters
grooters@u.washington.edu
Reading Empire. In this course we will explore the ways English
literary culture constructed representations of empire from the early 19th
through
the 20th
centuries. We will read a variety of novels, short stories, and poems,
in addition to selected nonfiction texts meant to provide social and
historical context. Students can expect a challenging reading schedule,
weekly writing
responses, and two in-class presentations. Final grades will be determined
by students’ active participation in the daily work of the class,
in addition to their performance on a mid-term and final exam. (230B
= 5 spaces for new transfers) No majors,
Reg. Period 1. Texts: Caryl Phillips, Crossing
the River; Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford; E. M. Forster, A
Passage to India; Joseph Conrad, Heart of
Darkness; Jane Austen, Mansfield Park.
242 A (Reading Fiction)
MW 8:30-10:20
Yang
(W)
chy@u.washington.edu
In this class, we will explore the concept of American modernity through
various novels and short stories written in the U.S. after 1900.
In particular, we
will examine the constitution of American modern subject in and
through literature. Employing the argument that literature is a cultural
production that contributes
to the knowledge formation of a particular subject, we will, in
our
reading of the selected texts, interrogate the connections between
the “knowability” of
certain – exceptional – subjects and the advancement of U.S.
capitalism that disavows imperialist practices by claiming American exceptionalism.
Tentative texts include Bulosan’s America is in the Heart;
Ellison’s Invisible Man; Faulkner’s Light in August; Fitzgerald’s The
Great Gatsby; Larsen’s Passing; and Lee’s Native
Speaker. We will
also read short stories and theoretical essays from a course reader. Be
prepared
for a heavy reading load.
242 B (Reading Fiction)
Dy 9:30
Barlow
(W)
cbarlow@u.washington.edu
This course provides an introduction to reading and interpreting fiction
through the study of writing about the American (U.S.) West. The aims
of this course fall under three headings: to read fiction closely in order
to produce thoughtful and engaging arguments, to explore a variety of
critical
approaches available to readers, and to study cultural artifacts, such
as film and art, that provide context for the literature. Our work toward
these goals will center on several critical questions about the course
topic. Which strategies and themes are prominent in writing about the
West? Which visions for individual, regional, cultural, and even national, “identities” are
thereby expressed? How do these visions impact our understanding of larger
social and political issues? Primary readings will include novels and
short stories from the work of: Jack London, Willa Cather, Cormac McCarthy,
Hisaye
Yamamoto, Sherman Alexie, Gary Pak, and Jon Krakauer. Secondary readings
from a collection of literary criticism and theory will expand our initial
responses to the fiction. Daily work in the course will be based on group
discussion. Course requirements include active participation, short critical
response papers, a group presentation, mid-term exam, and final paper.
Texts: Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses; Sherman Alexie, The
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; Gary Pak, The Watcher
of Waipuna and other Stories; Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild; Charles E. Bressler, Literary
Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice; photocopied course packet.
242 C (Reading Fiction)
Dy 1:30
Martin
(W)
stefm@u.washington.edu
“The Future is Today”: Unlocking Science Fiction. Speculative
fiction, particularly science fiction, often is described as a genre of literature
that you have to grow up reading if you are going to be able to understand
and love
it. This course takes issue with this common assertion and is, in fact,
designed specifically to explore the strategies involved in reading science
fiction
as well as the genre’s common themes and metaphors. No prior knowledge
of science fiction is assumed, though a willingness to jump in and experience
the genre on its own terms will be helpful. Rather than attempting to
develop reading skills appropriate to the entire genre, we will focus
on how science
fiction engages elements of the world we know. To this end, we will be
reading science fiction that is drawn primarily (i.e., there will be
exceptions) from
the post-1945 Anglo-American context. We will approach science fiction
using two methods. First, we will examine how it defamiliarizes not only
history,
but also an array of people, objects, social relations, and experiences,
so that we can observe them critically. Second, we will consider each
text in
its historical context and speculate on how each text addresses the concerns
of its historical moment, and how the issues addressed relate to our
own historical moment. Some of the topics that we may consider in developing
strategies for
reading science fiction include: questions of citizenship, education
narratives and theories, political machinations and the future of the
nation state, the
politics of reproducing the social body, metahistorical narratives, cyborgs
and technobodies, and mediated experiences and living conditions. During
the latter part of the quarter, students will be able to use their understanding
of these themes and topics, as well as strategies of reading and writing
about
science fiction to understand, analyze, and, perhaps most importantly,
enjoy, Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age. Texts: Hartwell & Wolf, Visions of Wonder: The Science Fiction Research Association Reading
Anthology;
Neal Stephenson,The Diamond Age; Robert
A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers; Joe Haldeman, The Forever War.
250 A (Introduction to American Literature)
MW 9:30-11:20
Mower
Leiren@aol.com
Imagining Self, Imagining Nation: Race, Identity and the Making of "America" in
US Literature and Culture. In this class we will examine how 18th-19th-and-20th
century US writers have imagined the
self as within or in opposition to US society and the nation. The process
of self-definition 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 socio-historical 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, while at the same
time reading 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. While this course
does not aim to survey all aspects of US literature, it does cover a great
deal of material with the result that you will need to devote a substantial
amount of time and effort to carefully reading the texts for each week. In
addition, I will expect you to critically and enthusiastically engage with
the materials for each class period; to this end, there will be a particular
emphasis on class participation, both through active class discussions and
frequent in-class essays. No majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Benjamin
Franklin, Autobiography
and Other Writings; Charles Brockden
Brown, Wieland; James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans;
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Blithesdale Romance; Harriet Wilson, Our
Nig; Edith
Wharton,
House of Mirth; John Okada, No No Boy; Sui Sin Far, Mrs.
Spring Fragrance and Other Stories.
250 B and 250C (Introduction to American Literature)
Dy 10:30
Walker
codyw@u.washington.edu
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee: American Knowckouts. This class
will study some of the stronger jabs and roundhouses thrown by American
writers of the past 160 years. Texts will include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
The Great Gatsby, Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, James
Cummins’ The Whole Truth, and Tony Kushner’s Angels
in America. A course packet will include works by Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson,
Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound,
Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, John Berryman, Allen Ginsberg, Russell Edson,
Muhammad Ali, Jack Gilbert, Sylvia Plath, James Tate, Donald Barthelme,
Denis Johnson, Lorrie Moore, David Foster Wallace, Joe Wenderoth, and Amy
Hempel. (250C = 5 spaces for new transfers) No
majors, Reg.
Period 1.
250 D (Introduction to American Literature)
MW 12:30-2:20
Larkin
lalarkin@u.washington.edu
This course will take as its central questions, “What is America?” and “Who
are Americans?” In response, we will examine a range of literary works,
most from the 20th century, published in North and South America, often with
international readerships and shared themes and influences. We will ask what
makes a work of literature – or a writer – “American” and
will discuss thematic and contextual issues, including race, gender, political
idealisms, and popular culture. This course will ask you to read American
literatures within historical and cultural contexts and across borders. Through
class discussions and writing assignments, you will learn to respond to these
literatures – and the cultural and academic discourses surrounding
them – with arguments that illustrate your own ideas with textual and
contextual evidence. Participation in class discussion will be expected.
Written assignments will include regular response papers, two essay exams,
and a final paper, and will demonstrate students’ ability to analyze
the readings within the course them and in relation to each other. No
majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Carlotte
Perkins Gilman, Herland; Nella Larsen, Quicksand
and Passing;
Jack Kerouac, On the Road; Manuel Puig, Kiss of the Spider
Woman; Margaret
Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale; photocopied course packet.
250 E (Introduction to American Literature)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Crowley
scrowley@u.washington.edu
American Mobilities. This course will serve primarily as an introduction
to the literature of the United States. As such, we will read literature
(fiction, non-fiction, and poetry) from a variety of periods and writers,
covering a number of different themes. This is obviously too large of a
subject to cover thoroughly in just 10 weeks, so it is both useful and
necessary to focus our attention in some way, to read this array of works
through a variety of related lenses. Because the American mythos relies
so heavily upon a dream of free mobility along multiple axes (upward class
mobility, Westward expansion, modernization, immigration, racial and cultural
assimilation, Civil Rights, and women’s liberation, for example)
working in tandem to bring into being both the nation itself and its citizens,
I have chosen mobility as our basic focus. We will read texts that represent
various American mobility possibilities/impossibilities and their role
in the construction, celebration, and contestation of national and personal
identities. Along with our primary literary sources, we will read contemporary
critical essays about the scope and trajectory of American Studies as an
academic discipline, in order to establish a basic grounding for our conversations.
Required work: active participation in class discussion, reading comprehension
quizzes, a midterm exam, 3 short response papers, and a final 7-10 page
paper. No majors, Reg. Period 1. Texts: Baym, et al., eds., The
Norton Anthology of American Literature¸ Shorter,
6th ed.; Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson; Willa Cather, My
Antonia; Louise
Erdrich, Love Medicine; photocopied course packet.
250 F (Introduction to American Literature)
TTh 1:30-3:20
Barnett
Added 12/1; sln: 8987
In this section of ENGL 250 we will read texts ranging from pre-colonial
travel narratives to contemporary poetry. Expect to read and write more
than you ever
thought possible in a ten week period. Text: Baym, ed., Norton
Anthology of American Literature, shorter 6th ed.
257 A (Introduction to Asian-American Literature)
TTh 1:30-3:20
Liu
msmliu@u.washington.edu
This course will examine the historical currents that necessitated the emergence
of Asian American literature, in conjunction with a consideration of the
difficulties and possibilities inherent to defining an “Asian Pacific
American” literary sensibility. Asian American populations have been
deeply impacted by restrictive immigration legislation and American foreign
policy, putting its peoples in a unique position for defining Americanness.
How do artists with an Asian ancestry challenge a country that ostensibly
celebrates diversity yet looks with suspicion on the foreign? The course
will include novels, short fiction, theory, and film, beginning in the
early twentieth century with the works of Carlos Bulason and ending with
contemporary writers such as Christine Choi and David Henry Hwang. Texts:
John Okada, No-No Boy; Susan M. Choi, The Foreign Student; Maxine Hong
Kingston, The Woman Warrior; Chang-Rae Lee, Native Speaker; David Henry
Hwang, M. Butterfly.
281 A (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 8:30
Li
juanli@u.washington.edu
[Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate,
competent, and effective expression.] No auditors. Majors only, Reg.
Period 1.
281 B (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 10:30
Vidali
This class will foster a better understanding of writing by examining
how writing is used to transgress authority in a variety of settings. This
class imagines that rhetorical awareness and understanding can be fostered
by examining “real world” texts and producing both traditional
and innovative arguments about them. In some sense, the rhetorical awareness
gained by investigating and producing a wide variety of rhetorical texts
may actually be more transferable to the work you perform in your different
disciplines than would be an approach that imagines that a single “academic
essay” exists in the university and can be taught in this class. First
we’ll examine the rhetorics of graffiti, analyzing the theories
and case studies of both academic and pop culture experts as they discuss issues
ranging from the Berlin Wall to the walls of university bathrooms, and you’ll
have a chance to examine graffiti you locate and make an argument about it.
Next we’ll move into an analysis of the texts of culture jamming, which
is defined as “the viral introduction of radical ideas” in that
it uses existing resources to replicate itself and make its arguments (http://www.abrupt.org/CJ/CJ.html).
(The Onion would be a popular form of culture jamming.) Our analysis
of how culture jamming inserts transgressive meanings into existing texts will
be
connected to an examination of non-traditional academic discourse, and I will
ask you to produce a culture jamming text and make an argument about what it
does. I’m still sketching out the final assignment, but it will focus
on complicating the notions of what it means to ask students to write and investigating
how and why writing is used as punishment. It is important to realize that
ENGL 281 is an intermediate expository writing course: you are expected to
arrive
having thought about and practiced academic
writing in a variety of settings. Expect daily reading and writing, and much
time devoted to revision of your work. Regular attendance and effort is crucial. No
auditors. Majors only, Reg. Period 1. Text: photocopied
course packet.
281 C (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 11:30
Simmons-O’Neill
The subject of this computer-integrated intermediate composition course,
within the context of a brief overview of the history of Seattle, is the
study of three communities: the International District/Chinatown, the Pike
Place Market area, and the University District. Students will work individually
and in community groups using observational, demographic, newspaper, cartographic,
photographic, interview and/or service-learning research as ways both to
construct an understanding of a smaller community within its larger urban
setting, and to analyze the various methods used to study that community.
Training in all research methods will be provided by the instructor and
by subject area specialists in the UW Libraries. In addition to several
short writing and presentation assignments, students will write three papers,
with an emphasis on the process of planning, research, drafting, peer critique
and revising. The goals of this course are to introduce (or re-introduce)
students to the city of Seattle, to a specific community within Seattle,
to some of the research resources and methods available at UW, to writing
and revising processes, and to working collaboratively with teachers, librarians
and fellow students. This course is computer-integrated. You should review
(or learn) all necessary skills and procedures for working with the computers
covered in the CIC Student Supplement. No auditors. Majors only, Reg.
Period 1. Texts: Fulwiler & Hayakawa, The
College Writer’s
Reference, 2nd ed.; CIC Student Supplement (available at Communications
Copy Center).
281 D (Intermediate Expository Writing)
MWF 12:30
Gatlin
This rigorous and demanding course will provide an interactive, supportive workshop and discussion setting in which you will advance, add to, and refine the writing skills you began to develop in 100-level English courses. We will work on both reviewing and complicating our ideas about what makes a piece of writing persuasive, critical, interesting, meaningful, and, ultimately, important. Our focus will be on academic writing -- that is, on recognizing, understanding, and practicing the standard conventions that characterize argumentation and critical analysis within academic conversations. Expect DAILY reading, writing, and/or research assignments; we will use class time for discussions and writing workshops, which will succeed only with everyone¹s active, engaged participation. Be prepared to read a lot, think critically and in new directions, write constantly in response to those readings and thoughts, and share your ideas and your writing with the class at all stages of development.
Readings, discussions, papers, and projects will focus on the topic of ³American Environments.² We will be querying the social and material construction and negotiation of natural, rural, urban, and suburban environments, reading both fictional and non-fictional texts that articulate various experiences in, perceptions of, and arguments about environments. Thus, in some contexts, ³environment² will have meanings similar to ³nature,² but in others, it will refer more broadly to any social spaces we inhabit. We will also discuss the ways in which these spaces overlap, and we will interrogate the ways in which they are or are not recognized as a part of our everyday practices and experiences. An overarching idea that will guide all of our inquiries is the argument that, to some degree, we both produce and are produced by our environments. No auditors. Majors only, Reg. Pd. 1. Text: Rosenwasser & Stephen, Writing Analytically, 3rd ed.
282 A (Composition for the Web)
TTh 8:30-10:20
Clements
This course will focus on techniques for writing informative and persuasive Web pages, as well as the rhetorical elements of Webwriting. We will cover the basics of markup languages (HTML and XHTML) and Web design, and will discuss the social, political, and cultural implications of the web as a site for new forms of textuality. Two classes per week (MF) will meet in the computer lab, where much of our time will be spent analyzing and designing Web pages. Some familiarity with Windows and Unix environments helpful but not required. Major writing assignments will include group- and individually-authored Web pages to be submitted via posting to students’ Websites. Expect to do a lot of reading and writing (most, if not all of it, online). Majors only, Registration Period 1. No auditors; no freshmen, Registration Periods 1. Text: Musciano & Kennedy, HTML and XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 5th ed.
283 A (Beginning Verse Writing)
MW 10:30-11:50
Snyder-Camp
dmsc@u.washington.edu
[Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem.] No auditors. Majors
only, Reg. Period 1.
283 B (Beginning Verse Writing)
TTh 1:30-2:50
Greenfield
In this class we'll consult the work, both poetic and academic, of contemporary poets to learn the ins and outs of writing verse: image, metaphor, music, form and voice. We'll write poems based on assigned exercises. We'll share these poems with our classmates in a supportive workshop fashion. And, at the end of the quarter, we'll have a solid foundation of poetic craft and a renewed appreciation for the art. No auditors. Majors only, Reg. Period 1. Texts: To be announced by instructor in class.
284 A (Beginning Short Story Writing)
MW 9:30-10:50
Kannberg
chrissay@u.washington.edu
At the heart of this course is an introduction to conventional story workshopping
with craft-focused readings of short fiction, both student and published,
and developmental exercises centering on techniques of literary fiction
writing. A willingness to play on paper with the many aspects of storytelling
is primary; a close second is active participation in discussions and in-class
writing. Majors only, Reg. Period 1. Text: Hansen& Shepard, You’ve
Got to Read This.
284 B (Beginning Short Story Writing)
TTh 1:30-2:50
Preusser
k_preusser@hotmail.com
[Introduction to the theory and practice of writing the short story.] No
auditors. Majors only, Reg. Period 1.
