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(Descriptions last updated 14 June 2005)
Course Descriptions
The following course descriptions have
been written by individual instructors to provide more
detailed information on specific sections than that found
in the General Catalog. When individual descriptions are not
available, the General Catalog descriptions [in brackets] are
used.
Add Codes
English classes, 300-level and above, require instructor permission for registration during Registration Period 3 (beginning the first day of classes). If students have not registered for a class prior to the first day, they should attend the first class meeting and/or contact the instructor to obtain the necessary add codes. Some creative writing classes require add codes for registration: see below, or contact the Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, (206) 543-9865.
400-Level
Creative Writing add codes
Admission to 400-level creative writing
classes is by instructor permission only. To obtain add codes,
students will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire,
provide an unofficial copy of their UW transcripts, and submit
a writing sample. The questionnaire contains more specific information,
and can be obtained at either the Creative Writing office (B-25 Padelford,
open 11-3 daily, (206) 543-9865) or the English Advising office
(A-2-B Padelford).
Senior Seminars
ENGL 497 (Honors Senior Seminar)
and ENGL 498 (Senior Seminar) are joint-listed
courses; students choose which number to sign up for depending
on their individual status. ENGL 497 is restricted to senior
honors English majors taking the additional senior seminar required
for the departmental honors program. Add codes for
ENGL 497 are available in the English Advising office,
A-2B Padelford. All other senior English majors should sign
up for ENGL 498. Neither ENGL 497 nor ENGL 498 can be taken more than
once for credit.
First Week Attendance
Because of heavy demand for many English
classes, students who do not attend all regularly-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. Mailto
e-mail links are also included in the descriptions on this page.)
ESL Requirement for Non-Matriculated
Students
Students not previously admitted to
the University of Washington (nonmatriculated status) may
enroll in ENGL 111, 121, 131, 281, 282, 381, 382, 471, or 481 only
if they have met the following ESL requirements:
a score of at least 580
on the paper-based TOEFL or 237 on the computer-based TOEFL, or one
of these equivalent scores: 90 on the MTELP,
410
on the SAT-Verbal, 490 on the SAT-Verbal
(recentered), or 20 on the ACT English. For more information, consult
an English adviser in A-2-B Padelford, (206) 543-2634, engladv@u.washington.edu.
111 (Composition: Literature)
3 sections: TTh 9:40-11:40; M-Th
12:00, MW 9:40-11:50
[Study and practice of good writing:
topics derived from reading and discussing stories, poems,
essays, and plays.] Students not previously enrolled at the
University of Washington (non-matriculated status) may sign
up for this course if they meet the posted ESL requirements.
131 (Composition: Exposition)
7 sections: M-Th
9:40; M-Th 10:50; M-Th 12:00; MW 1:50 - 4:00
[Study and practice of good writing;
topics derived from a variety of personal, academic, and
public subjects.] Students not previously enrolled at the University
of Washington (non-matriculated status) may sign up for this
course if they meet the posted ESL requirements.
200aA (Reading Literature)
M-Th 8:30-10:40
Gillis-Bridges
(W)
(A-term)
kgb@u.washington.edu
Heather: “It’s just like Hamlet said, ‘To thine own self, be true.’”
Cher: “Ah, no, uh, Hamlet didn’t say that.”
Heather: I think that I remember Hamlet accurately.”
Cher: Well, I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn’t say that. That Polonius guy did.”
Amy Heckerling, Clueless. Cher Horwitz’s Gibson quotation attests to the way most students encounter Shakespeare’s tragedy: via film. In this section of English 200, not only will we examine cinematic and novelistic interpretations, revisions, and expansions of Hamlet, but we will also analyze the play itself. By doing so, we will develop strategies for reading and writing about fictional texts. Throughout the term, we will focus on several approaches to literature and film: character analysis, psychoanalysis, and feminist theory. During the first week, we will develop our own interpretations of Hamlet before moving to other “readings” of the play, including Aki Kaurismaki’s 1987 film Hamlet Goes Business, Laurence Olivier’s 1948 film Hamlet and John Updike’s recent novel, Gertrude and Claudius. As we explore the ways other artists have interpreted, recreated, and expanded upon the original text, we will reconsider and revise our own understanding of the play.
This is a computer-integrated section, with students moving between a wired seminar room and a computer lab during most class meetings. The lab setting allows students to participate in inclusive electronic discussions, view and offer feedback on their peers’ work, collaborate on group activities, and conduct Web-based research. However, technical savvy is not a course prerequisite; students will receive instruction in all technical tools used in the classroom. Texts:Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Updike, Gertrude and Claudius; CIC Student Guide.
200aB (Reading Literature)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
O’Neill
(W)
(A-term)
joneill@u.washington.edu
We will read works from a variety of genres to develop interpretive skills
based on a close attention to textual detail and an appreciation of context.
Critical thinking and analytical writing are the means and end of the course.
Participation, presentations, and writing are required. Texts: Joseph Conrad,
Heart of Darkness; Muller, Ways In; Zadie Smith, White
Teeth; Coetzee, Disgrace;
Melville, Melville’s Short Novels.
213 A (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
TTh 9:40-11:50
Wacker
nwacker@u.washignton.edu
This course explores works of literature, social science and critical theory
that examine the link between political violence and modernism and the role of
postmodern thought in unmasking the operation of that violence. Course work will
consist of close, active reading of texts; structured reading logs; short papers
on major readings; and seminar presentations on background readings. Texts: Joseph
Conrad, Heart of Darkness; Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse;
Tadeusz Borowski,
This Way to the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen; Hannah Arendt, Eichman
in
Jerusalem; Sembene Ousmane, The Money-order with White Genesis;
Liisa H. Malkki,
Purity and Exile; Nawal El Saadawi, The Well of Life; Dubravka
Ugresic, The Museum
of Unconditional Surrender.
213 B (Modern & Postmodern Literature)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Robertson
(B-term)
vernr@u.washington.edu
This summer we will study representative modern and postmodern literary texts.
We will focus on experimentation in 20th-century literature and reading assignments
will include relevant secondary materials on modernism and postmodernism. Texts:Spiegelman, In
the Shadow of No Towers; George Orwell, 1984; James Joyce, Dubliners;
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake; Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse; Paul Auster,
Oracle
Night.
225 A (Shakespeare)
Dy 10:50
(W)
Stansbury
hls2@u.washington.edu
Ahh . . . Shakespeare in the summer time! What could possibly be better? Well,
maybe you would prefer chillin’ n the sun to being stuck in a classroom
reading the great Bard, but Shakespeare, despite the initial difficulties students
sometimes have with his language, can be very sexy. Along these lines, the theme
of our course for this summer will be romance in the texts of Shakespeare. Though
we will be looking at Shakespeare through the notions of love and desire, we
will also explore what romance was in the late 16th / early 17th centuries and
the cultural implications of this, inquiring how the emotion of love is defined
socially and of course, questioning what makes a Shakespearean Romance play a
romance at all. From a more general perspective, the course will focus on close
readings of texts, with a particular emphasis on decoding the language of arguably
one of the most important figures in the canon of Western literature. To this
end, the main goal is to make you more confident readers of Shakespeare. In addition,
we will negotiate the difference between the works as they perhaps might have
been understood in Shakespeare’s own culture and how they have been understood
since. We will also be working with modes of production, including film and art.
Because these works were meant for the stage, we will also be discussing aspects
of performance and if possible, we will attend one of the plays we will be reading.
As this is a W course, you will be expected to write. Text: Bevington,
ed., Complete
Works of Shakespeare.
229 A (English Literary Culture: 1600 – 1800)
MW 9:40-11:50
Olsen
elenao@u.washington.edu
We will discover the ways in which British poetry, drama, and prose comment upon the expanding British nation and also upon individuals’ experiences therein. In the process, we will explore how reading literature of an earlier time provides ground for examining our own positions in language, culture, and society. Because we survey a lot of territory in a course like this, the material is frustratingly selective, and whizzes by frustratingly fast, but you should acquire a good appreciation of several important texts and authors of the period, including Donne, Milton, Defoe, and Pope. In addition, we’ll look at some more bizarre and more minor texts and authors in order to get a better sense of the scope and the “fringes” of the period’s
literature. The readings demand intense close attention to detail and nuance,
playfulness with language, and the willingness to step outside of your own historical
circumstances. Requirements (subject to slight change): Fairly heavy reading
load, weekly response papers, one longer essay, midterm exam, final exam, and
presentation. Texts: The Norton Anthology of English Literature,
Vol. 1C: The
Restoration and Eighteenth Century; Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders.
230aA (English Literary Culture: After 1800)
M-Th 10:50-1:00
Butwin
(A-term)
joeyb@u.washington.edu
In the middle of the 19th century, in the decade that was to see the freeing
of slaves in the United States and the freeing of the serfs in the Czar’s
Russia, John Stuart Mill—in England—could define “modern institutions,
modern social ideas, modern life itself” as a condition under which “human
beings are no longer born to their place in life, and chained down by an inexorable
bond to the place they are born to, but are free to employ their faculties… [and]
to achieve the lot which may appear to them most desirable.” This is from
an essay on The Subjection of Women published in 1869. I would say that one of
the most consistent themes in the definition of what Mill calls modernity over
the past 200 years would be the many tests of his working definition—that
is, the association of modernity with social mobility. Mill himself notes that
what he ascribes to “human beings” is not yet true for human beings
who happen to be women. We will study the long period described by this course
(1800-2005) by our study of how various writers and film makers test Mill’s
premise in two periods separated by a century: England around 1860 and England
around 1960. Selections from Mill’s essays On Liberty (1859) and The
Subjection
of Women (1869) along with Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations (1861) will
characterize the earlier period; David Lean’s film of Dickens’ novel
(1946) along with the novella and the film of Alan Sillotoe’s Loneliness
of the Long Distance Runner (1959; 1962) and the play and film of John Osborne’s
Look Back in Anger (1956, 1959) will take us to the latter. Lecture and discussion
daily along with frequent short essays. Texts: (1860) Charles Dickens, Great
Expectations;
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty(selections – electronic reserve); (1960) John Osborne, Look
Back in Anger;
Alan Sillitoe, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
242 A (Reading Fiction)
M-Th 9:40
Luskey
(W)
luskey@u.washington.edu
Drawing on a range of short and longer works of fiction from the late 19th century
to the present, this course examines how various narrative forms and styles – realist,
naturalist, gothic, and fantastical – are used to explore issues of identity
and place. Special emphasis will be given to the development of a critical reading
vocabulary and the writing of short analytical papers. Texts: James Joyce, Dubliners;
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw; Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of
Earthsea; Tobias
Wolf, Old School.
242aB (Reading Fiction)
M-Th 12:00 – 2:10
(W)
Thornhill
(A-term)
thornhil@u.washington.edu
Theories of Childhood: Constructing the Child, the Adult and the Citizen
in Children’s Literature. As the title of this section states, we will be
exploring the various types of constructions circulating in didactic, evangelical,
macabre, and fantasy children’s literature spanning the 18th – 20th
centuries. We will begin the course by exploring the ways in which the concept
of the child has changed from medieval conceptions to present-day constructions.
Then we will explore the ways in which children’s literature rose out
of didactic, evangelical, and feminist concerns between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Next, we will explore the use of children’s literature as a way of addressing
a variety of concerns in both macabre stories and fanciful fairy tales. We
will end the course by examining 20th-century American preoccupations with
childhood and issues of language and ethnicity in the ways in which older versions
of children’s stories have become repackaged for American film and reading
audiences. Throughout the course, we will also be looking at assumptions of
audience (both child and adult) and explore the complex and interconnected
ways that issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, nationalism, sexuality,
dis/abilitiy complicate this easily-dismissed body of literature. You will
both write daily papers (in-class writing and out-of-class blogs) and two major
papers. Texts: Colin Heywood, A History of Childhood;
Iona and Peter Opie, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes;
Tatar, ed.,
The Annotated Classic
Fairy
Tales; Byatt, ed., The Annotated Brothers Grimm; Hoffmann,
Shock-Headed Peter; Lindgren, The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking; Carroll
(Gardner, ed.),
The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition; Murray, American
Children’s
Literature and the Construction of Childhood
250aA (Introduction to American Literature)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Keeling
(A term)
bkeeling@u.washington.edu
This course is not a “survey” of American literature, but rather
an “introduction” to it. Its aim is to introduce you to this national
literature by focusing on three themes – authorship, captivity, and passing – that
are often present in works by American authors. This means we will read the works
thematically, not chronologically. Because of the condensed nature of this particular
course, there are many things we will not be able to cover, including the biography
of the writers and many of the historical contexts in which they wrote. However,
I also look at this class as a brief (very brief!) introduction to themes in
American culture. We will be reading the culture through the literature, and
many of our discussions will try to understand how literature is both a part
of and a creator of culture. In addition to being about American literature and
culture, it is also meant to introduce you to some specific literary concepts
(like figurative language and narrative) and to methods of literary analysis,
especially close reading. Although I hope you enjoy the readings and discussions,
it is not intended for students who just want to read a few literary works as
an escape from organic chemistry, or who think a summer course will be easy.
The principal requirements include four in-class writing assignments, a longer
essay and participation. Texts: Susanna Rowson, Charlotte
Temple; Art Spiegelman,
Maus: A Survivor’s
Tale: And Here My Troubles Begin (vol. 1); Frederick Douglass, Narrative
of the
Life…; F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Nella Larsen, Passing.
258 A (African-American Literature: 1745 – Present)
TTh 9:40-11:50
Joly
[A chronological survey of Afro-American literature in all genres from its
beginnings to the present day. Emphasizes Afro-American writing as a literary
art; the cultural and historical context of Afro-American literary expression
and the aesthetic criteria of Afro-American literature. Offered: jointly
with AFRAM 214.]
281aA (Intermediate Expository Writing)
M-Th 12:00 – 2:10
Simmons-O’Neill
(A-term)
esoneill@u.washington.edu
This section is a one-month computer-integrated 5-credit intermediate composition
course in which the central theme – family history – is common
to all of our lives. While this theme is common, the nature of our families
and our experiences within them vary tremendously. Assignment #1 is designed
to begin with your own experiences and memories, and to develop skills of expressing
these personal narratives in an evocative and purposeful way. In Assignment
#2 we turn to the discipline of Social History as a way to understand a specific
person, element or event in each student’s family history. This project
requires extensive research (both personal and library-based); training will
be provided in part by UW libraries History subject area specialists. Peer
critiques and daily assignments (including an oral history interview and transcript)
are also required. Assignment #3, the Final Portfolio, requires that students
bring together examples of their work and analyze their learning about family,
history and writing this quarter. To be successful in this class, students
will need to come to class daily, to keep up with daily assignments, and to
spend a considerable amount of time outside of class pursuing their research,
d drafting and revising essays, and commenting on the work of peers. No auditors.
Texts: Hacker, Pocket Style Manual; photocopied course
packet. Students not previously enrolled at the
University of Washington (non-matriculated status)
may sign
up for
this
course if they meet the posted ESL requirements.
281bB (Intermediate Expository Writing)
M-Th 10:50-1:00
(B-term)
Li
[Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate,
competent, and effective expression.] Students not previously enrolled at the
University of Washington (non-matriculated status)
may sign
up for
this
course if they meet the posted ESL requirements.
283 A (Beginning Verse Writing)
MW 8:30-10:00
Wing
cdw@u.washington.edu
[Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem.] No texts.
284aA (Beginning Short Story Writing)
M-Th 8:30-10:00
Shields
(A-term)
dshields@davidshields.com
Via a sequence of short reading and writing assignments, students will learn some of the principles and possibilities of narrative.
Text: photocopied course packet.
284 B (Beginning Short Story Writing)
MW 10:50-12:20
Strelow
estrelow@u.washington.edu
[Introduction to the theory and practice of writing the short story.]
310 A (The Bible as Literature)
Dy 8:30
Griffith
jgriff@u.washington.edu
A rapid study of readings from both the Old and New Testaments, focusing primarily
on those parts of the Bible with the most “literary” interest – narratives,
poems and philosophy. Students will be expected to attend class regularly,
keep up with reading assignments and take part in open discussion. Written
work will consist entirely of a series of in-class essays done in response
to study questions handed out in advance. Text: Michael Coogan, ed., New
Oxford Annotated Bible, 3rd ed.
315 TS (Literary Modernism)
MW 7-8:50 pm
Walker
codyw@u.washington.edu
We’ll look at some of the major achievements in fiction and poetry from
the first part of the twentieth century. Expect a mix of Pound, Eliot, Woolf,
Yeats, Kafka, Moore, Williams, Faulkner, and others, along with spirited conversation
about what makes each of these Modernists modern. Evening
Degree students only. Texts: Franz Kafka, The Complete
Stories; Virginia Woolf,
Mrs. Dalloway; William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Wallace
Stevens, The
Emperor of Ice Cream and Other Poems; T. S. Eliot, Selected Poems;
W. B. Yeats, Selected Poems and Four Plays.
323bA (Shakespeare: to 1603)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
Streitberger
(B-term)
streitwr@u.washington.edu
Shakespeare's career as dramatist before 1603 (including Hamlet). Study of history plays, comedies, and tragedies.
Text: Bevington, ed., The Complete Works of Shakespeare.
324aA (Shakespeare: after 1603)
M-Th 10:50-1:00
Coldewey
(A-term)
jcjc@u.washington.edu
[Shakespeare's career as dramatist after 1603. Study of comedies, tragedies, and romances.
328 A (English Literature Later 18th C.)
MW 12:00-2:10
Olsen
elenao@u.washington.edu
In this course, we will read literature of the period formerly known as the “Age of Johnson.” It has also been known as the “Age of Sensibility” and the “Pre-Romantic” era. All of these titles are limited and limiting, and we’ll
examine the why and how of all of them by reading poetry and some prose of the
period. This was a time when the idea of authorship was in flux, and undergoing
changes that led to modern conceptions of creativity and literature. Authors
include: Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Oliver Goldsmith, Ann Yearsley, Hannah
More, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Reading load
is fairly heavy. Other requirements include short response papers, one longer
essay, and a midterm and/or final exam. Texts: Norton Anthology
of English Literature,
Vol. 1C: The Restoration and Eighteenth Century; Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar
of Wakefield.
335aA (English Literature: Age of Victoria)
M-Th 8:30-10:40
Butwin
(A-term)
joeyb@u.washington.edu
It is safe to say that more of what we commonly call “literature” was
produced, printed and consumed (that is, read) in Victorian England (roughly
1830 to 1900) than in all periods that precede it. The course is short, the period
long. We will resolve this difference by focusing on several magnificent texts
written dead center in the period, each approaching through different means what
I also consider to be issues central to the period. In fiction, prose argumentation
and in poetry, Charles Dickens, John Stuart Mill, and Robert Browning each describe
the complex emergence of the Self in the modern mass society that produced, printed
and consumed all that literature. We will read Dickens’ Great Expectations,
Mill’s essays On Liberty and On the Subjection of Women and
several of
Browning’s fine dramatic monologues. Each of our texts was written within
a few years of 1860. There will be frequent one page response papers written
during the course and a somewhat longer essay at the end. Brief lectures, lots
of discussion. Texts: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations;
J.
S. Mill, Liberty
with the Subjection
of Women (ed. Collini); Robert Browning (electronic reserve).
337 TS (The Modern Novel)
TTh 7:00-8:50 pm
Luskey
luskey@u.washington.edu
This class examines the Anglo-American novel during the first third of the
twentieth century. Special attention will be given to how narrative innovation – particularly
the emphasis on interiority, ambiguity, and fragmentation – operates
against a background of urbanization, migration, colonialism, racism, and world
war. Evening Degree students only. Texts: Henry James, Turn
of the Screw; James
Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Rebecca West, Return
of the Soldier;
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway;
Nella Larsen, Passing; William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying.
342aA (Contemporary Novel)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
George
(A-term)
elgeorge@u.washington.edu
“If an exploration of a particular culture will lead to a heightened understanding
of a work of literature produced within that culture, so too a careful reading
of a work of literature will lead to a heightened understanding of the culture
within which it was produced.” --Stephen Greenblatt, “Culture”
Social myth holds that novels are a means of escaping life, but the
readings for this course challenge you to do otherwise – to link painful
literary plots to social fact as a means of interpreting the nervous conditions
of contemporary life, what to ask of it, and how to live it. However much
the novels might differ in plot and locale, all are filled with contemporary
psychological, social, and political conflict; we will read them in these
contexts and with the aim of developing a felt awareness of current psychological,
cultural and global conditions. Course requirements include weekly discussion,
textual and cultural research, audiovisual presentations, and essay analyses.
Texts: Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions; Doyle, The
Woman Who Walked Into Doors;
Ishigura, Never Let me Go; Otsuka, When the Emperor was Divine.
345aA (Studies in Film)
M-Th 10:50-1:00
Gillis-Bridges
kgb@u.washington.edu
In ENGL 345 we will analyze how and why films tell stories by focusing on
films that portray the relationship between humans and technology. We will
examine
how such films both draw on and shape contemporary cultural conceptions of
technology. Our investigation of the visual language filmmakers use to represent
technology
will involve a review of formal film terms. However, we will go beyond formal
analysis to address the historical, social, and ideological contexts at play
in films about technology. Course films will include Brazil, The Conversation,
eXistenZ, The Matrix, The Terminator, and others. Course Goals and Methods: Students
in the course will work toward several goals: learning how to read film both
formally and contextually and developing as critical
thinkers and writers. Course activities promote active learning, with most
class sessions including a mix of mini-lectures, discussion, short writing
exercises,
and group work. My role as instructor is to provide the tools and resources
you sill need to advance your own thinking and writing. I will pose questions,
design
activities to help you think through these questions, and respond to your ideas.
Your role is to do the hard work - -the critical reading, discussion, and writing.
You will analyze films, generate ideas in electronic and face-to-face discussions,
verbally annotate a film clip, construct written arguments, and revise those
arguments. Books: Bordwell and Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction;
photocopied course packet.
353aA (American Literature: Later 19th C.)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
Keeling
(A-term)
bkeeling@u.washington.edu
The theme of this course will be literary movements. The period just after the
Civil War saw incredible social changes, much of which had to do with different
kinds of mobilities. There were large population shifts, as Americans moved from
east to west, north to south, south to north, and as immigrants from Asia and
Europe came to America for a variety of reasons. We will study a number of texts
that describe the realities and consequences of these movements. Along with geographical
mobility, there were dramatic shifts in the fortunes of Americans as economic
changes resulted in intense class movements. Writers in the late 19th century
chronicled the economic rise and fall of many individuals. These movements were
not only dictated by class ideologies but also by ideas of race and gender as
well. Literature is particularly adept at depicting class, race, and gender conflicts
and we will be studying a number of examples. Finally, there are also literary
movements that responded to these social and cultural changes. In particular,
this period saw the rise of “realism” as the prime literary mode.
We will be spending a good deal of time understanding what is real and not-so-real
about realism. This is particularly important because whoever defines “realism” as
a literary mode helps define the social realities as well. Requirements: There
are three main requirements: four in-class writing assignments, a final essay,
and participation. Texts: Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick and
Mark the Match Boy;
Mark
Twain, Pudd’nhead
Wilson; Charles Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition; Edith Wharton, The
House of
Mirth; Stephen Crane, Maggie a Girl of the Streets and other New York
Writings.
354bA (American Literature: the Early Modern Period)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Laufenberg
(B-term)
hjl3@u.washington.edu
An examination of American Modernism, beginning with the poems of T.S. Eliot and others, followed by early and late modernist novels and plays, including those classically associated with the Modernist movement and many challenging and/or following altogether separate threads in the American literary tradition. Authors: Pound, Hart Crane, Moore, Millay, Frost, Stein, Sandburg, Williams, H.D., O’Neill, Toomer, Hughes, Faulkner, Henry Miller, and others.
Texts: Baym, ed., Norton Anthology of American Literature:
Between the Wars 1914-1945, Vol. D, 6th ed.; Henry Miller, Tropic of
Cancer.
355aA (American Literature: Contemporary America)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Merola
(A-term)
nmerola@u.washington.edu
Dangerous Don DeLillo. In this intensive summer a-term course we will study
four of Don DeLillo’s novels as a way to examine the political, historical,
formal, and philosophical themes that interest DeLillo. Especially important
to our investigation will be DeLillo’s own assertion, made in a 1988 interview
with Ann Arensberg, about the role of the artist in society: “The writer
is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent
of influence. The writer is the man or woman who automatically takes a stance
against his or her government. There are so many temptations for American writers
to become part of the system and part of the structure that now, more than ever,
we have to resist. American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and
be more dangerous. Writers in repressive societies are considered dangerous.
That’s why so many of them are in jail.” Through our reading and
discussion of White Noise, Libra, Mao II, Cosmopolis, and selected theoretical
concepts and critical essays, we will explore DeLillo’s diagnoses and critiques
of contemporary American culture. Course requirements include: the ability to
keep up with the course’s brisk pace, some familiarity with contemporary
American literature and theories of postmodernity; consistent verbal participation
in which you proffer well-articulated points and pose questions that demonstrate
thoughtful engagement with the reading; three exams. Texts: DeLillo, White
Noise;
Libra; Mao II; Cosmopolis.
359aA (Contemporary American Indian Literature)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Colonnese
(A-term)
[Creative writings -- novels, short stories, poems -- of contemporary Indian
authors; traditions out of which they evolved. Differences between Indian writers
and writers of the dominant European/American mainstream.] Offered: jointly with
AIS 377, SISCA 490aA)
361aU (American Political Culture: After 1865)
M-Th 6:00-7:50 pm
Cummings
(A-term)
ckate@u.washington.edu
This course will examine ongoing tensions and marked disconnections between
mass-mediated national narratives and actual state policies: that is, between
hegemonic ideology and historical realities. The former includes representations
of America: as “the land of equal opportunity,” “individualism,” and “civil
rights”; a “color blind society” and “multicultural
mosaic”; a nation united in its respect for the ‘sanctity of all
human life”; and an international force for “peace, justice, human
freedom, and prosperity.” We will track articulations of these ideological
narratives and revisions to them from the Post World War II Era to the present;
we will read, therefore, across disciplines (eg., literature, law, journalism,
film, and social critique); and we will pay particular attention to experimental
texts whose formal strategies are a significant component of the challenge
they pose to hegemonic narratives of nation. Active and informed participation
in class discussion, five short critiques of assigned readings, a group project,
and either two 5 pages critical essays
or one 10 page critical essay are the core requirements. A course packet
supplements required texts which are likely to include: Toni Morrison, The
Bluest Eye; Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony; Jamaica Kinkaid, Small
Place;
Don Dellilo, MAO II, and R. Zamora Linmark, Rolling the R’s.
370aA (English Language Study)
M-Th 10:50-1:00
Dillon
(A-term)
dillon@u.washington.edu
A crash course in the analysis of language, mainly English:
*The basic sounds of English and how to transcribe them; rules for combining
sounds;
*Principles of English and formation; categories and rules of syntax;
*Principles of realtime language processing;
*How to describe word and sentence meaning; using a lexical corpus;
*Principles of language variation and language change.
Exercises, problems, and weekly quizzes. Text: Stewart and Vaillette, eds.,
Language Files, 8th ed.
381 A (Advanced Expository Writing)
MW 8:30-10:40
Dillon
dillon@u.washington.edu
What makes Advanced Expository Writing advanced? Not, in this course, the length
of the papers assigned, but the variety of types, audiences, and purposes of
the papers. We will begin with a little theory about kinds of rhetorical purposes,
understanding "rhetorical" as "attempting to increase the reader's
adherence to your point of view on a matter." The assignments are designed
to give practice writing papers with four different rhetorical purposes. That
is, you can choose
any topic for the papers, but the paper should be of the type assigned. They
should be of moderate length (roughly five pages typewritten). In addition
we will devote some class time to advanced points of mechanics and punctuation
and the analysis of style as it functions rhetorically. There will be a final
paper analyzing the style of a passage of prose which you select. Class will
consist of some lecture and discussion, class presentations. Writing groups
for each paper. Recommended preparation: good grasp of the conventions of formal
prose and habitual reading. No auditors. Students not previously enrolled at
the University of Washington (non-matriculated status)
may sign
up for
this
course if they meet the posted ESL requirements. Text: Bryan
Garner, Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style.
384aA (Intermediate Short Story Writing)
M-Th 10:50-12:20
Shields
(A-term)
dshields@davidshields.com
Via a sequence of short reading and writing assignments, students will learn
some of the principles and possibilities of narrative.
Text: photocopied course packet. Prerequisite: ENGL 284.
384bB (Intermediate Short StoryWriting)
M-Th 10:50-12:20
(B-term)
J. Cooper
jrcooper@u.washington.edu
[Exploring and developoing continuity in the elements of fiction writing. Methods
of extending and sustaining plot, setting, character, point of view, and tone.]
Prerequisite: ENGL 284. Text: photocopied course packet.
422aA (Arthurian Legends)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Rose
(A-term)
crose@u.washington.edu
This course examines one of the most powerful legends in Western literature:
the legend of King Arthur and his knights. We will read medieval works, mainly
in modern translations, concerned with various aspects of the legend and explore
the heroic archetype which Arthur, Lancelot, Perceval, Tristan, etc., represent.
More importantly, we will investigate how authors over hundreds of years have
shaped the Arthurian and Holy Grail material to suit their own politics, intentions,
and audiences. A constellation of themes is associated with the legendary Arthur.
These themes – love in conflict with honor, finding self-knowledge, empire-building,
the perfidy of women (and women are almost always – in this world – the
causes of destruction or dissention), loyalty to comitatus, the power of eroticism,
the conflict between cities and nature, between the matriarchy and patriarchy – are
poignant and intensely human. Despite the fantastic settings and ancient social
codes embodied in the romances and legends, the stories themselves continue to
move audiences and inspire artists because of their human content.
Most students will have some familiarity with the “Camelot” move,
or “The Sword in the Stone” or will have read T. H. White’s
Once and Future King, but will perhaps have little sense of the roots of
the legend, which is where we begin. We will look at literary genre (romance,
lay, chronicle, etc.) insofar as the genre informs our understanding of the
medieval audience’s expectations for the work. The focus of the course
will be literary development of the legend through time. From some vague
historical character of the ancient chronicles, Arthur becomes the center
of a mythic cycle of tales which are central to the ethos of the Western
world. Requirements: Quizzes, class report, short papers,
final. Class reports will focus on later versions of the legend or some medieval
versions
not
covered in class.
Texts: Wilhelm, ed., The Romance of Arthur; Matarosso,
tr., The
Quest of the Holy
Grail; Sir Thomas Malory, King Arthur and His Knights; Chretien
de Troyes, Arthurian Romances; Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan.
471bA (The Composition Process)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
Stygall
(B-term)
stygall@u.washington.edu
[Consideration of psychological and formal elements basic to writing and related
forms of nonverbal expression and the critical principles that apply to evaluation.]
Students not previously enrolled at the University of Washington (non-matriculated
status)
may sign
up for
this
course if they meet the posted ESL requirements.
475aA (Colloquium in English for Teachers)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Simmons-O’Neill
(S)
(A-term)
esoneill@u.washington.edu
This is a 5-credit service-learning course open to any UW student interested
in reading and writing about, discussing, and volunteering in public elementary
education. This course will be relevant for students preparing to work with children
in any capacity; you need not be or plan on becoming a teacher. Readings will
include theories and practices of literacy, discipline/management, multicultural
and anti-bias education and the role(s) of public education in a democratic society.
All students will also volunteer regularly in Seattle Public Schools Compensatory
Education summer program. To be successful in ENGL 475 students must attend all
class meetings and volunteer sessions. Text: photocopied course
packet.
477 A (Children’s Literature)
M-Th 10:50
Griffith
jgriff@u.washington.edu
We’ll read and discuss an assortment of fairy tales, other stories
and novels for children. Students will be expected to attend class regularly,
keep up with reading assignments, and take part in open discussion. Written
work will consist entirely of a series of in-class essays done in response
to study questions handed out in advance. Texts: John Griffith & Charles
Frey, eds., Classics of Children’s
Literature, 6th ed.; J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone.
491 A (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, further information in Undergraduate Advising office,
A-2-B Padelford (206-543-2634).
492 A (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, further information available in Undergraduate
Advising Office, A-2-B Padelford (206-543-2634).
493 A (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, further information available in Creative
Writing office, B-25 Padelford (206-543-9865; open 1-5 daily).
496 A (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, further
information available in Undergraduate Advising Office (A-2B Padelford; [206]
543-2634).
497/498aA (Honors Senior Seminar / Senior Seminar)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
George
(W)
(A-term)
elgeorge@u.washington.edu
Deflecting “Down Under”: Reading Australian Literature.
“ Seeing comes before words . . . It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world, we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.” --John Berger, Ways of Seeing
This course focuses on Australian literature in verbal and visual formats. We’ll be reading and critiquing these narratives in dual perspectives as well, popularly and commercially, more than simply as “Down under” entertainment or adventure narratives. We’ll also be reading with more discerning eyes that recognize and focus upon serious, sociopolitical themes. Printed texts include Nugi Garimata’s Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, and Robyn Davidson’s Tracks. We’ll also be studying film adaptations of the novel and memoir, plus the film Lantana, adapted from a play to screen). Course requirements include engaged discussion, online secondary research, PowerPoint (visual) presentations, and short essays. This is an intensive 4-1/2 week course – daily participation is essential. Texts: Garimata, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence; Davidson, Tracks; Edelson, Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the Land down Under.
497/498bB (Honors Senior Seminar / Senior Seminar)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
Streitberger
(W)
(B-term)
streitwr@u.washington.edu
Race, Class, Gender, and Religion in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. A study of one of Shakespeare’s most fascinating and challenging plays. We’ll spend our time situating the play in its historical and cultural context. We’ll also examine contemporary theories of reading and explore how they might be applied to an understanding of the play. Essay, assigned reports, participation in seminar discussion.
Texts: M. Lindsay Kaplan, ed., The Merchant of Venice:
Texts and Contexts; J. B. Stean, ed., Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Plays.
499 A (Independent Study)
*arrange*
Individual study by arrangement with instructor. Prerequisite: permission of
director of undergraduate education. Add codes, further information, available
in Undergraduate Advising office, A-2-B Padelford (206-543-2634)
Add codes are required for all graduate courses, and may be obtained in the English Graduate office, A-105 Padelford, (206) 543-2634.
586A (Graduate Writing Conference)
*Arrange*
590A (MA Essay)
*Arrange*
Research and writing project under
the close supervision of a faculty member expert in the
field of study, and with the consultation of a second faculty
reader. The field of study is chosen by the student. Work is independent
and varies. The model is an article in a scholarly journal.
Prerequisite: graduate standing in English. Add
codes available in English Graduate office, A-105 Padelford (543-6077).
591A (MAT Essay)
*Arrange*
Research and writing project under
the close supervision of a faculty member expert in the
field of study chosen by the student within the MAT degree
orientation towards the teaching of English, and with the consultation
of a second faculty reader. The model is an article in a scholarly
journal. Add codes available in English Graduate office, A-105 Padelford
(543-6077).
597A (Directed Readings)
*Arrange*
Intensive reading in literature or
criticism, directed by members of doctoral supervisory committee.
Credit/no credit only. Add codes available in English Graduate
office, A-105 Padelford (543-6077).
600A (Independent Study/Research)
*Arrange*
Add codes available in English Graduate
office, A-105 Padelford (543-6077).
601A (Internship)
*Arrange*
Credit/no credit only. Add codes available
in English Graduate office, A-105 Padelford (543-6077).
700A (Masters Thesis)
*Arrange*
Add codes available in English Graduate
office, A-105 Padelford (543-6077).
800A (Doctoral Dissertation)
*Arrange*
Add codes available in English Graduate
office, A-105 Padelford (543-6077).
