Autumn 1997 400-level ENGL courses

Course Descriptions (as of 22 August 1997)
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.)

Graduate Course in Old English open to undergraduates
ENGL 512 (Introductory Reading in Old English; daily 8:30) is open to undergraduate students interested in language study and/or Anglo-Saxon literature. This is a beginning course in the earliest written form of the English language, indispensable for study of literary (and other) texts from the middle ages, extremely helpful to understanding the nature of the English language, and fundamental to historical study of the English language. Students should have some background in language study, preferably ENGL 370 or equivalent. Permission of the instructor (Professor Robert Stevick) required; e-mail to: stevickr@u.washington.edu.

407A (Special Topics in Cultural Studies)
TTh 10:30-12:20
Simpson
McCarthyism. This course will address the cultural politics of McCarthyism, both in the 1950s and since that time, as they evolved in historical, literary and filmic accounts. In addition to the required written texts, the class will use class time to view and discuss a few definitive films, such as The Front. Two short papers and in-class reading response essays, as well as regular class discussion constitute a major part of the final grade. Texts: Navasky, Naming Names; Miller, The Crucible; Doctorow, The Book of Daniel; Coover, Public Burning; Belfrage, UnAmerican Activities; Hellman, Scoundrel Time.

471YA (The Composition Process)
MW 4:30-6:20 p.m.
Brenner
(Evening Degree)
This is a class for those who plan to teach writing. Expect to do a good deal of writing (a class journal and other requirements). The two listed books, a number of photocopied articles, and your own writing will be our texts. (Add codes in English Advising office, Padelford A-2-B. Evening Degree students only, Registration Periods 1 & 2. Other students should see an English adviser in A-2-B Padelford to secure place on waiting list.) Texts: Joseph Harris, A Teaching Subject: Composition since 1966; William Coles, The Plural I--And After; photocopied course packet.

479A (Language Variation and Policy in North America)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Wennerstrom
This course examines languages, dialects, and ways of speaking in North America, considering how these vary by geography, class, gender, ethnicity, and individual circumstance. We will also investigate how language policy can affect access to education, the labor force, and political institutions. Assignments include gruop presentations, discussions, responses to readings, final paper. Course added 6 May 1997; sln: 8453. Text: McKay & Wong, eds., Language Diversity: Problem or Resource.

483A (Advanced Verse Writing)
TTh 11:30-12:50
Wagoner
Intensive study of ways and means of making a poem. Prerequisite: ENGL 383 or equivalent, and writing sample. Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily.

484A (Advanced Short Story Writing)
MW 3:30-4:50
Wogan
[Experience with the theory and practice of writing the short story.] Prerequisite: ENGL 384 or equivalent, and writing sample. No texts. Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily.

484B (Advanced Short Story Writing)
TTh 1:30-2:50
Flygare
[Experience with the theory and practice of writing the short story.] Prerequisite: ENGL 384 or equivalent, and writing sample. Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily.

485A (Novel Writing)
MW 1:30-2:50
Sonenberg
This class will concentrate on the writing and reading of your novels. However, we will also be reading one published novel and several essays novelists have written on their craft. This is not a class for beginning fiction writers, and you should expect to write and read extensively over the quarter. I'll expect that you're familiar with the basics of fiction writing and that you will start the quarter with a very solid idea and plan for your novel--one of your first assignments will be to do an outline of your whole project. As part of writing a novel is simply generating pages, I'll expect you to complete at least 30-40 pages over the quarter, as well as several sketches, outlines, diagrams, etc., as well as reading and commenting on each other's work. We will discuss issues of character development and imagery, and pay special attention to issues of pacing and organization in the novel. This is not a course in writing commercial or genre fiction. Prerequisite: ENGL 484 or equivalent, and writing sample. Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily. Texts: E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel; David Lodge, The Art of Fiction; J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians.

491A (Internship)
*Arrange*
Supervised experience in local businesses and other agencies. Open only to upper-division English majors. Credit/no credit only. Prerequisite: 25 credits in English. Add codes and further information in English advising office, A-2-B Padelford.

492A (Advanced Expository Writing Conference)
*Arrange*
Tutorial arranged by prior mutual agreement between individual student and instructor. Revision of manuscripts is emphasized, but new work may also be undertaken. Instructor codes and further information available in Undergraduate Programs office, A-11 Padelford.

493A (Advanced Creative Writing Conference)
*Arrange*
Tutorial arranged by prior mutual agreement between individual student and instructor. Revision of manuscripts is emphasized, but new work may also be undertaken. Instructor codes and further information available in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, open 11-3 daily.

494A (Honors Seminar)
TTh 10:30-12:20
LaGuardia
Basic Texts of Modern and Post-Modern Thought. Anthology will include such writers as: Nietzsche, Freud, Marx, Hegel, Wittgenstein, Derrida and Foucault. English Honors majors only. Add codes in Undergraduate Programs office, A-11 Padelford. Text: Cahoone, ed., From Modernism to Postmodernism.

496A (Major Conference for Honors)
*Arrange*
Individual study (reading, papers) by arrangement with the instructor. Required of and limited to honors seniors in English. Instructor codes and further information in Undergraduate Programs office, A-11 Padelford.

497/498A (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
MW 9:30-11:20
Patterson
America Everyday. This seminar will be devoted to a mundane question: What is it like to live everyday? The focus of the course will be on the literature, films, and theories of everyday life. A survey of Books in Print discovered over 1000 titles containing the word "everyday," yet it's clear they don't agree what the term means. This course isn't about a definition, but rather about the assumptions we make about the common, the ubiquitous, the mundane. And it is about the ways theorists (Foucault, Marxists like Henri Lefebvre, and poststructuralists), artists, and writers have used the everyday. In order to understand the ways in which we use and yet overlook the everyday, the course will be divided into three sections. The first, "Keeping Record," will be devoted to journals and diaries, including Thoreau's journal, Patricia Meyer Spack's essay on boredom, and Sue Hubbell's book on bee keeping, "A Country Year." The second section, "Objects," will look at how artists and theorists--like Roland Barthes, Susan Willis, and others--focus our attention on everyday things. The final section, "Experiencing the Everyday," will look at fictional and visual representations of everyday existence. Included will be Nicholson Baker, Ben Katcher's Julius Knipl, and the films Groundhog Day and Smoke. Requirements will include keeping a journal everyday (naturally), short essays, and one long essay on an everyday subject of your choosing. Senior English majors only. Texts: Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine; Ben Katcher, Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer; Sue Hubbel, A Country Year; Henry D. Thoreau, A Year in Thoreau's Journal: 1851.

497/498B (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
MW 11:30-1:20
Toolan
Lowell and Heaney. --CLASS CANCELLED 6/18/97--

497/498C (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
MW 1:30-3:20
Eversley
The Harlem Renaissance. A study of the critical issues and writings associated with what has been called "the Harlem Renaissance." Texts: Wallace Thurman, Infants of the Spring; Jean Toomer, Cane; Nella Larsen, Quicksand & Passing; Alain Locke, The New Negro Voices of the Harlem Renaissance; Claude McKay, Home to Harlem; Zora Neale Hurston, The Complete Short Stories; Langston Hughes, Not Without Laughter; C. Wintz, The Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940: The Politics and Aesthetics of "New Negro Literature"; photocopied course packet; optional: Langston Hughes, The Langston Hughes Reader.

497/498D (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
T Th 9:30-11:20
Goodlad
Where the Boys Are: Middle-Class Women and the Marriage Plot, 1816 to Present. This course takes a literary and historical approach to constructions of class, gender, and sexuality and the plotting of "domestic" narratives over nearly 200 years in literature and film. We begin with Jane Austen's Emma (1816), move to poetry, prose and journalism of the early and mid-Victorian period (including works by Ruskin, Christina Rossetti, and Nightingale), read a mid-Victorian "sensation" novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (The Doctor's Wife, 1864), and a late-Victorian "realist" novel by George Gissing (The Odd Women, 1893). Our consideration of twentieth-century courtship and marriage plots concentrates on films from the 1960s (Where the Boys Are), 1970s (Carrie), 1980s (Pretty Woman), and 1990s (Clueless, a cinematic adaptation of Austen's Emma). This course is especially designed for those who enjoy analyzing literature and film within a cross-disciplinary, theoretical and historiographic frame. Reading requirements are demanding. Senior English majors only. Texts: Austen, Emma; Nightingale, Cassandra; Gissing, The Odd Women.

497/498E (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
TTh 10:30-12:20
Allen
Fear, Gratitude, Grief, Joy and Other Emotions I Have Known While Reading and Living. This is a course about emotional responses to literature (and some film). Its point is to explore the intense reactions we have to some things we read and view, and to try to understand exactly what they are, and why we have them. We'll read fiction and poetry (mostly from modern and contemporary writers) together with essays about emotions, feelings, and affects from other disciplines including psychology, communications, and anthropology. We'll take up some provocative questions: What does it mean to "identify" with a character, really? How much of our own lives do we read into a character's life? What does it mean to "escape" into a book? Why would someone want to do that, anyway? What does "being moved" by something we read/view involve? How do we account for the bodily responses that sometimes accompany intense emotional responses? Students will choose between writing two shorter or one longer paper, and will give a class presentation. Participation in discussion is required. So are lively opinions, and an interest in this topic.Senior English majors only. Texts: Jeanette Winterson, The Passion; Arlie Hothschild, The Managed Heart; Catherine Lutz, Unnatural Emotions.

497/498F (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
TTh 12:30-2:20
Fuchs
Transatlantic Fictions. In this seminar we will analyze how Renaissance Europe digests or assimilates the New World, with a special emphasis on English texts. The course considers the genres of discovery and colonization--letters, "relaciones," chronicles, utopias--and the transformation of those genres by writers from the Americas and later English authors. How do rhetorical problems of quotation, translation, and certification shape European visions of the Americas? How do literary strategies relate to imperial goals? Some of the issues we will discuss include the contrasts between Renaissance conceptions of the New World and first-person, experiential accounts; the central role of language in the American exchanges; the relation of English imperial expansion to that of other empires; and the intersections between desire and conquest. All readings in English. Senior English majors only. Texts: Jane, The Four Voyages of Columbus; More, Utopia; Nuqez Cabeza De Vaca, Castaways. Hakluyt, Voyages and Discoveries; Shakespeare, The Tempest; Bacon, The New Atlantis; Behn, Oroonoko; Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, Bernal Diaz, The Conquest of New Spain..

497/498G (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
TTh 1:30-3:20
Simpson
Novels of the Fifties: The U.S. Although the 1950s have been popularly remembered as a period of affluence and conformity, the decade was rocked by challenges to social conventions and beliefs: desegregation; censorship trials; youth rebellion. American novelists in particular attempted to address many of these changes as they developed what, taken as a whole, emerges as a very complex aesthetic and unsettling perspective on a decade that was anything but ideal. In addition to active, regular class discussion, this course will require students to complete at least one oral presenation, infrequent reading response/critiques, and a final long paper. Texts: Ellison, Invisible Man; Salinger, Catcher in the Rye; Petry, The Narrows; Bellow, Seize the Day; Okada, No-No Boy; Nabokov, Lolita; Sinclair, The Changelings.

497/498H (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
MW 11:30-1:20
George
The Academy vs. the Academy. "Prize giving, by nature, is a dangerously subjective task," writes J. Douglas Bates in The Pulitzer Prize: The Inside Story of America's Most Prestigious Award. That subjective danger, he goes on to argue, is one reason why the Pulitzer has become "the Academy Award of almost all American writing," a prize that celebrates the popular cliché rather than the critical masterpiece. In this course, we will test Bates's contention by reading, analyzing, contrasting, and evaluating a winner of the American Pulitzer award with a winner of the British Booker award, and a winner of no literary award. We will also analyze the film adaptations of each text, grounding our analyses in an assortment of theoretical methodologies. Student intellectual expectations are these: a serious commitment to learning about literary and film analysis grounded in cultural theoretical contexts; engaged discussion in every class session; periodic written analyses (3-5 pp.); secondary research; and a final oral and written term project which will require your theoretical conjecturing about why a certain Pulitzer or Booker prizewinning fiction (that we have not read as a class) won that particular award.Senior English majors only. Texts: Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence; Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient; John O'Brien, Leaving Las Vegas; M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms; photocopied course packet.

497/498I (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
TTh 11:30-1:20
Donahue
Extreme Poetry: The Beats. This course will examine the poetry and prose of writers associated with the Beat movement. Our main interest will be the textual procedures and spiritual preoccupations that have inspired a wide range of texts. A special effort will be made to place the Beats in the context of European art movemenst such as Dada, Futurism, Surrealism, and Negritude, beginning with the crucial reception of the work of Jean Genet and Antonin Artaud by American artists and writers in the early nineteen-fifties. Works by Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and many others. Texts: photocopied course packet. Senior English majors only.

497/498YA (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
MW 7-8:50 p.m.
Shaviro
(Evening Degree)
Science and Culture. This class will focus on the literary and cultural character, and the philosophical presuppositions, of scientific texts. Physical science, natural science, and social science are increasingly seen by their historians, theorists, and some practitioners as socially created constructs rather than as unproblematic "mirrors of nature" (to use the phrase of the philosopher Richard Rorty). The traditional "common sense" assumption that scientific language is a direct, objective representation of the world--one which is somehow very different from poetic or literary language (which is indeterminate in meaning and which invites interpretation) seems rather naive today. In this class we will study the writing and interpretive practices of scientists, as well as the literary and aesthetic character of scientific work. We will first look at theories about the general nature of scientific practice, and then focus on developments in biology, from Darwin to recent controversies about genetics. We will take a careful look at the literary, rhetorical qualities of scientific texts and accounts of scientific discoveries. And we will also grapple with the implications of recent scientific claims for a new understanding of "human nature," something which had previously pretty much been the domain of literature and philosophy. The texts we will be reading contain a diversity of views, and often argue directly with one another; untangling the disagreements and trying to adjudicate between opposing views will be a major part of what we do in this class. The books ordered here will be supplemented by additional readings. (Senior Evening Degree English majors only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Texts: Steve Woolgar, Science; Evelyn Fox Keller, A Feeling for the Organism; Philip Appleman, ed., Charles Darwin; James D. Watson, The Double Helix; Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene; Ruth Hubbard & Elijah Wald, Exploding the Gene Myth; Matt Ridley, The Red Queen; Donna Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women.

499A (Independent Study)
*Arrange*
Individual study by arrangement with instructor. Instructor codes and further information in Undergraduate Programs office, A-11 Padelford.

AUTUMN 1997 400-Level Courses

AUTUMN 1997
400-Level Courses