Quarterly Course Offerings
SUMMER 1998

(Last updated: 15 June 1998)

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.


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, 381, or 481 only if they have met the following ESL requirements: a score of at least 580 on the 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.


Freshman English Courses

To top of page

104 (Introductory Composition)
M-Th 12:00
[Development of writing skills: sentence strategies and paragraph structures. Expository, critical, and persuasive essay techniques based on analysis of selected readings.  For Educational Opportunity Program students only, upon recommendation by the Office of Minority Affairs.]

111 (Composition: Literature)
2 sections: M-Th 9:40; M-Th 12:00
[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.

121 (Composition: Social Issues)
M-Th 10:50
[Study and practice of good writing; topics derived from reading and discussing essays and fiction about current social and moral issues.] 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)
5 sections: M-Th 8:30; M-Th 9:40; M-Th 10:50; M-Th 12:00
[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.


200-Level Courses

To top of page


200 A (W)
(Reading Literature)
Dy 8:30
Hennessee

ENGL 200 is meant to focus on literature as a source of pleasure and knowledge about the human experience. In this section I plan to take seriously the idea that literature is enjoyable and relevant. We'll look at a variety of American literature from the last 150 years or so, including poems and stories (short and long) that represent a character's self-making or self-transformation, with an emphasis on developing the skills necessary for understanding literature and "appreciating" literary texts as both aesthetic artistic works and socially-situated documents. Writers may include Horatio Alger, Stephen Crane, Herman Melville, James Weldon Johnson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Nella Larsen, and Toni Morrison. Texts: Lauter, et al., Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. 2; Winterson, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

200 B (W)
(Reading Literature)
Dy 9:40
Stearns
This class will focus on reading a range of short fiction, poetry, and a novel or two, as a means to discuss and examine why literature remains a crucial factor in any university education. Our class discussions will begin with general questions about the role of the literary in our culture, and soon become more focused on a variety of approaches to reading the specific texts assigned for this course. There will be paper assignments in conjunction with your reading and possibly an exam, but your main responsibility will be to spend time this summer reading. Texts: Ellman & O'Clair, eds., Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry; James Joyce, Dubliners; Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse.

200 C (W) 
(Reading Literature)
Dy 10:50
R. Harris
A general introduction to the interpretation of literature and film. Our readings and viewings will range widely through the poetry, short stories, novels, and films of the last two centuries, from William Blake to Doctor Seuss, from Zora Neale Hurston to Thomas Pynchon, and from Fritz Lang to Alfred Hitchcock. We'll be especially concerned with the way these works manipulate language and visual images to explore and express the intensities of human experience. Your grade will be based on the following components: daily class participation, one major group presentation, weekly contributions to an e-mail discussion group, and three papers. Texts: William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience; Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems; Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market and Other Poems; Dr. Seuss, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew; Edgar Allen Poe, The Gold-Bug and Other Tales; James Joyce, Dubliners; Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God; Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49.

200 D (W)
(Reading Literature)
MW 12:00-2:10
Patterson
Visionary Literature. In this introduction to literature, I want to look at the ways in which literature helps us see the world and ourselves. As an introduction, the course will consider some of the primary forms of literature (poetry, drama, narrative), our assumptions about what makes something "literary," and different theories and strategies of reading. Tying these things together will be the theme of "vision," and all of the works we will read are involved in some way with looking at the world and the way sin which literature translates pictures into words as a way for us to see more clearly and more complexly. Assignments will include several short essays. Texts: Art Spiegelman, Maus I; Ann Charters, ed., The Story and Its Writer (compact 4th ed.); David Madden, ed., A Pocketful of Poems; Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

200 U (W)
(Reading Literature)
TTh 7-9:10 pm
Patterson
Visionary Literature. In this introduction to literature, I want to look at the ways in which literature helps us see the world and ourselves. As an introduction, the course will consider some of the primary forms of literature (poetry, drama, narrative), our assumptions about what makes something "literary," and different theories and strategies of reading. Tying these things together will be the theme of "vision," and all of the works we will read are involved in some way with looking at the world and the way sin which literature translates pictures into words as a way for us to see more clearly and more complexly. Assignments will include several short essays. Texts: Art Spiegelman, Maus I; Ann Charters, ed., The Story and Its Writer (compact 4th ed.); David Madden, ed., A Pocketful of Poems;  Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God..

211 A
(Medieval & Renaissance Literature)
Dy 10:50
Alfar
Gender and Power in English Medieval and Renaissance Literature. In this survey, we will examine a number of Medieval and Renaissance texts to study the construction of male and female gender in English drama, poetry, and romance traditions. We will examine in particular the construction of gender as it relates to power-domestic, sexual, religious, and monarchical. We will ask how Renaissance texts go about constructing men and women (in relation to one another) in various power structures in ways that may be different from Medieval texts. What are the forms of power depicted in a text such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and what relationship does power have to masculinity and femininity? How are this text's constructions of gender and power different from Spenser's in The Faerie Queene? Part of our task, therefore, will be to trace a development of gender and power in medieval texts and determine how writers from the Renaissance-such as Sidney, Wroth, Spenser, Marlowe, and Cary-recoup or revise (and maybe sometimes both) constructions of masculinity and femininity as they relate to the home, marriage, the church, and the monarch. Texts: Burrow, ed., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales; Sidney, Selected Poems; Spenser, The Faerie Queene; Marlowe, Doctor Faustus; Fitzmaurice, et al., Major Women Writers of Seventeenth-Century England.

212 A
(Literature of Enlightenment & Revolution)
Dy 9:40
Ellsworth
In order to explore what is meant by the terms "enlightenment" and "revolution," as a class we will read works by the eighteenth-century British writers Johnson, Pope, Sheridan, Swift, and Wollstonecraft. We will use these literary works as a springboard, however, to discuss a wide array of ideas, events, people, and places. We will explore the intellectual battles over words such as nature, reason, education, liberty, as well as others, that resulted in real battles involving guns and guillotines. Apart from the reading we'll be doing as a class, you will be asked to do some reading outside of class from both primary and secondary texts. In addition to the reading load, course requirements will include reading quizzes, a variety of smaller homework assignments, response papers, and 3-4 short papers. There will be a substantial amount of library research required. Final grades will be based on a portfolio. Texts: Swift, Gulliver's Travels; Pope, Essay on Man and Other Poems; Johnson, The History of Rasselas; Wollstonecraft, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman; A Short Residence in Sweden and Memoirs; The Vindications; photocopied course packet.

213 A 
(Modern & Postmodern Literature)
Dy 8:30
Wacker
This course will explore several very recent issues emerging in the discussion of literature, culture and society in the aftermath of modernism. We will read Don DeLillo's White Noise as both a portrait of a media-saturated U.S. popular culture and as an example of literary postmodernism. In Robert Reich's The Work of Nations we will examine some of the social and cultural consequences following on the transformation of the national economy of the U.S. into a so-called postindustrial economy. We will in some ways sum up the course by exploring in Richard Rodriguez's Days of Obligation a growing contemporary awareness of the historicity and the cultural hybridity of the ethnic and cultural backgrounds against which individuals and groups assert their identities, backgrounds shaped simultaneously by global integration and growing cultural differentiation. Texts: DeLillo, White Noise; Reich, The Work of Nations; Rodriguez, Days of Obligation; Woolf, To the Lighthouse.

225 A
(Shakespeare)
Dy 12:00
Alfar
Shakespearean Tyrannies. In this course, we will examine a number of Shakespeare's plays through the issue of tyranny: romantic, sexual, cultural, and political. In our inquiry regarding Shakespeare's treatment of tyranny we will ask questions about the subtleties required of playwrights writing under governmental censorship. What are the limits to which Shakespeare could interrogate absolute monarchies, gender and class hierarchies, and race relations? What are the ideological limits of such interrogation? We will view several contemporary films of his plays on video. There will be pop quizzes, written responses, two papers, a midterm, and a final. Texts: Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale; Romeo and Juliet; The Tempest; Merchant of Venice; Much Ado About Nothing; Othello; Richard II; McDonald, The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare.

228 A
(English Literary Culture: to 1600)
M-Th 8:30-10:40
Simmons O'Neill
(A-term only)
An introduction to English literary culture to 1600. Short writing assignments, on essay, one exam. Texts: Hamer, ed., A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse; Borroff, tr., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Katharina M. Wilson, ed., Medieval Women Writers; Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Hieatt & Hieatt eds.); Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

229 A
(English Literary Culture: 1600-1800)
M-Th 9:40-11:50
van den Berg
(A-term only)
An intensive reading of English culture during two crucial centuries.  Writers in the 17th century claimed the self as their topic, their identity painfully tested by religious conflict, scientific revolution, civil war, and the complexities of interior life. The 18th century featured a new model of social literature, of cultural thinking marked by satire, sentimentality and speculation, by ethics and exploitation.  It was an Age of Reason obsessed with madness, an Age of Exuberance shadowed by right thoughts and reverie, and an Age or Urbanity built on memories of deserted villages and moral decay. Texts: Abrams, et al., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1 (6th ed.); Graham, ed., Her Own Life: Autobiographical Writings of 18th-Century Englishwomen.

230 A
(English Literary Culture: after 1800)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
Frank
(A-term only)
This course is an introductory survey of English literature of the Romantic and Victorian periods. Special emphasis will be placed on such issues as the relationship between the individual and society, identity construction, and the woman question. We will also explore the larger issue of periodization by questioning the readily accepted division between the Romantic and the Victorian periods.  Requirements include one or two short critical essays, a midterm, and a final. Texts: Abrams, et al., eds., Norton Anthology of Enlgish Literature, Vol. 2; Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights.

242 A (W)
(Reading Fiction)
Dy 8:30
Holberg
What does it mean to read fiction? In this course, we will be paying particular attention to the strategies of narrative authors employ-strategies that influence our readerly expectations and shape our interpretations. Come prepared for an enjoyable summer of reading and discussion. Written work: response papers, 3 exams. Texts: Dickens, Bleak House; Woolf, The Waves; Byatt, Possession: A Romance; Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

242 B (W)
(Reading Fiction)
Dy 10:50
Holberg
What does it mean to read fiction? In this course, we will be paying particular attention to the strategies of narrative authors employ-strategies that influence our readerly expectations and shape our interpretations. Come prepared for an enjoyable summer of reading and discussion. Written work: response papers, 3 exams. Texts: Dickens, Bleak House; Woolf, The Waves; Byatt, Possession: A Romance; Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

242 U (W)
(Reading Fiction)
MW 7-9:10 pm
Harris
This course will examine the ways in which selected novels and short stories of the past two centuries, and selected films of the past seventy-odd years, have chronicled the transformation of Western culture from its traditional agrarian roots to the high-tech postmodernism of the new fin de siècle. Our first several meetings will set the parameters of our exploration by pursuing a single cultural theme-the construction of femininity-through three exemplary works: E.T.A. Hoffmann's short story "The Sandman," Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis, and Ridley Scott's film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel, Bladrunner. Thereafter we will move through a series of more wide-ranging cultural critiques, from Smollett's Expedition of Humphry Clinker through Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland to Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49, with a number of other literary diversions along the way. Expect weekly journal writing, one major essay, and much in-class discussion. Texts: Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker; Dickens, Hard Times; Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderlan; L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49.

250 A
(Introduction to American Literature)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
George
(A-term only)
Telling Stories of 20th-Century America. This subtitle defines the main objective of this course: to introduce you to many fictional perspectives of 20th-century American life that stem from biographical, historical, and/or cultural fact. In 4-1/2 weeks we will read and analyze a variety of fictions written during the 20th century. We will acquaint ourselves with facts of biography, history, and culture that form the contextual core of various authors' imaginative expressions of what matters in American experience. Course requirements include thoughtful and regular attendance, oral and written discussion and analysis, a midterm and a final short essay examination. Texts: Lauter, The Heath Anthology of American Literature, 3rd ed.; recommended: Harmon & Holman, A Handbook to Literature; Lunsford & Connors, The Everyday Writer.

251 A
(Introduction to American Political Culture)
MW 1:10-3:20
Feldman
This course is oriented around the theme of "American individualism."  To what degree are Americans united by a commitment to individual liberty and the freedom to puruse one's self-interest in a market economy? Are there alternative (communitarian) traditions in American political culture?  How successful are contemporary discourses of both "individualism" and "community" in dealing with conflicts over race, class, and gender?  To explore these questions we will engage with a wide variety of texts and cultural materials, including historical accounts of the founding of the republic, discussions of popular culture and political paranoia, and contemporary theoretical debates about the values of individualism and communitarianism.  We will explore, first hand, examples of popular culture (television, film, advertising) in an attempt to read their political dimensions. Assignments: two papers (5-7 pages long) and a take-home final exam. Offered jointly with POL S 281. Texts: Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America; Robert Bellah, et al, Habits of the Heart; Anne Norton, Republic of Signs; Angus and Jhally, eds., Cultural Politics in Contemporary America; articles; an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; and selected films, advertisements and other cultural products.

281 A
(Intermediate Expository Writing)
M-Th 8:30-10:00
Simpson
(A-term only)
[Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate, competent, and effective expression.]
(Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 281 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

281 B
(Intermediate Expository Writing)
M-Th 10:50-12:20
Simmons-O'Neill
(A-term only)
We will investigate the theme of family from the perspective of personal narrative, social history, and quantitative social science research. Students will be introduced to research methods and databases necessary for their final research-based project. The goal of the course is to develop an effective workshop community in which students will increase their ability and confidence as readers and writers, and understand the research and writing demands of a specific academic disclipline. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 281 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.) Texts: Ann Merle Feldman, Writing and Learning in the Disciplines; Joseph M. Williams, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace; photocopied course packet

281 C
(Intermediate Expository Writing)
M-Th 9:40-11:10
Stygall
(B-term only)
[Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate, competent, and effective expression.]
(Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 281 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.) No texts.

281 D
(Intermediate Expository Writing)
MW 8:30-10:00
Tollefson
(full term)
This class involves writing on a particular theme within a variety of discourse communities. The theme for our class will be the spread of English as an international language. For the first time in human history, a "world language" seems to be emerging. For many people, the spread of English offers hope for easier communication worldwide and a lowering of international boundaries. For others, it raises major concerns: the splitting of English into new varieties that are not mutually intelligible, new linguistic barriers to education and employment, and domination of world communication systems by English speakers. We will examine these issues through readings, discussions, and writing. A major focus of the course will be ways that audience shapes the task of writing. You will become familiar with differences between professional and nonprofessional writing. Your work will involve approximately 5,000 words (approximately 16-17 pages) of revised writing spread across three papers and a final portfolio cover letter. The three papers will revolve around the theme of the spread of English. Text: Sharon Goodman & David Graddol, Redesigning English: New Texts, New Identities (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 281 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

281 E
(Intermediate Expository Writing)
TTh 8:30-10:00
Oldham
(full term)
Q. What do the following things have in common: Genes, numbers, dreams, noises, sentences, frequencies, land, human beings, melodies, ideas, rights, faces, and names? A: All have been treated as "property" at one time or another. In this class, we'll look at the idea of "property" from a variety of perspectives-historical, cross-cultural, legal, and bio-ethical especially. We'll examine changing attitudes toward land ownership over the past few hundred years, and look at how people can treat abstract or intangible phenomena, such as songs, rights, or radio frequencies, as property. Along the way we'll touch on some unusual recent developments, like the patenting of human genes and of numbers, or the controversy over "Kennewick Man." Throughout, we'll be trying to answer the big question, "What is 'property'?" This will propose research in one or more different fields, which in turn will become the basis for a final paper. The course is designed to develop skills in academic (argumentative) writing, in particular forming complex descriptive claims, marshalling evidence, addressing counter-arguments, and organizing an argument for maximum effect. Two different citation formats (MLA & APA) are covered. Two essays, one research paper, various short writing assignments. Text: photocopied course packet. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 281 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

283 A
(Beginning Verse Writing)
TTh 8:30-10:00
Wagoner
Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem. No texts.

284 A
(Beginning Short Story Writing)
MW 8:30-10:00
Shields
Writing, rewriting, reading, rereading short stories. Text: Photocopied course packet.

284 B
(Beginning Short Story Writing)
MW 10:50-12:20
Flygare
Introduction to the theory and practice of writing short stories through the workshop/discussion format. Students will be expected to write and revise original literary fiction stories; critique, in writing and verbally, the work of their peers; complete a variety of writing exercises; and read and analyze as writers exemplary published stories. Text: Wolff, ed., The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories.

284 C
(Beginning Short Story Writing)
TTh 10:50-12:20
Wogan
Introduction to the theory and practice of writing short stories through the workshop/discussion format. Students will be expected to write and revise original literary fiction stories; critique, in writing and verbally, the work of their peers; complete a variety of writing exercises; and read and analyze as writers exemplary published stories. Text: Wolff, ed., The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories.


Upper Division (300-400 Level) Courses

To top of page


310 A
(The Bible as Literature)
Dy 10:50
J. Griffith
A rapid study of readings taken from both the Old and New Testaments, focusing mainly on those parts of the Bible with the most "literary" interest-narratives, poems and philosophy. Students will be expected to attend class regularly and take part in open discussion of those assignments. Written work will consist entirely of a series of between five and ten in-class essays, done in response to study questions handed out in advance. Text: Metzger & Murphy, eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha (Revised Standard Version).

321 A
(Chaucer)
M-Th 8:30-10:40
Rose
(A-term only)
An introduction to Chaucer in Middle English, with emphasis on learning to read and understand the Canterbury Tales in Middle English. Focus on the Tales in their literary, social, and historical context in order to appreciate Chaucer's genius and his age; to understand the extraordinary complexity and beauty of the Canterbury Tales as generic experiments, as poetry. Texts: Benson, ed., The Riverside Chaucer; Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy; optional: Helen Cooper, The Canterbury Tales (Oxford Guides to Chaucer); Norman Davis, et al., eds., A Chaucer Glossary; Mann & Boitani, eds., Cambridge Chaucer Companion; Robert P. Miller, Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds.

323 A
(Shakespeare to 1603)
MW 9:40-11:50
Dunlop
Not the very earliest works, but Shakespeare coming into his prime with tragedy, comedy, history-and the intermingling of all three. Plenty of in-class performance; various writing options. Texts: Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice; Julius Caesar; 1 Henry IV; 2 Henry IV; Twelfth Night.

324 A
(Shakespeare after 1603)
TTh 9:40-11:50
Dunlop
Three plays by a Shakespeare who has become not only a seasoned and versatile playwright but also adept at making the resources of poetic language serve dramatic functions. Therefore, a lot of close reading, and as much performance as we can manage. Students may choose between writing papers or taking a final examination. Texts: Shakespeare, Othello; Antony and Cleopatra; The Winter's Tale.

326 A
(Milton)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
van den Berg
(A-term only)
English literature, wrote T.S. Eliot, could only afford one Milton. We'll consider why that might be so. We'll read and discuss his impassioned poetry and prose, seeing how he shaped the politics and literature of his time. He thought in terms of oppositions: good and evil, destruction and creation, time and eternity, soul and body, freedom and service. He valued introspection, intimate friendship, and sweeping vision. A profoundly religious man, his beliefs were uniquely his own. He believed in free will and a free society, writing in defense of regicide, divorce and writing itself. We'll read his prose and his poetry, especially Paradise Lost, and discuss the paradoxes in the work, the man, his era and the criticism he has evoked. Course requirements: two midterms, final exam or term paper. Text: Flannagan, ed., The Riverside Milton.

329 A
(Rise of the English Novel)
Dy 8:30
Ellsworth
Although the phrase "rise of the novel" suggests a seamless process, in reality the development of the novel involved endless debate about the form and function of fiction. We will look at long and short novels to explore what an eighteenth-century novel might look like and how it might reproduce or resist existing forms. As many novels were written by women or featured female protagonists, gender will necessarily occupy a large part of our discussion. We will be reading novels by Aubin, Austen, Fielding, Haywood, Lennox, Richardson, Sterne, Walpole, and Wollstonecraft and will be looking at contemporary reviews of these novelists' works and other contemporary selections addressing the novel in general. Be prepared for substantial reading, a good deal of writing, and some library research. Assignments may include response papers, a research project, and two papers (one short; one long). Texts: Austen, Northanger Abbey; Fielding, Joseph Andrews and Shamela; Lennox, The Female Quixote; Richardson, Pamela; Sterne, A Sentimental Journey; Walpole, Castle of Otranto; Wollstonecraft, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman; photocopied course packet.

331 YA
(Romantic Poetry I)
MW 6:00-8:10 pm
Shabetai
We will study the English Romantics writing during the first part of the Romantic period. Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge will be studied alongside less well-known figures. Students will be expected to attend class regularly, come to class prepared, write weekly short papers, one longer paper, and take one exam. (Evening Degree students only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Text: Duncan Wu, ed., Romanticism.

333 A
(English Novel: Early & Middle 19th Century)
M-Th 8:30-10:50
Goodlad
(A-term only)
This course approaches early-nineteenth-century British fiction in relation to its historical contexts.  Special attention will be given to the making of overlapping class, gender and national identities and to the novel's distinctive role in producing them. Texts: Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility; Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol; Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth.

335 A
(English Literature: The Age of Victoria)
Dy 10:50
Alexander
Among the poets and prose writers to be studied are Carlyle, Tennyson, Mill, Newman, Arnold and Ruskin. They will be viewed in relation to what the historian G. M. Young called "A tract of time where men and manners, science and philosophy, the fabric of social life and its directing ideas, changed more swiftly perhaps, and more profoundly, than they have ever changed in an age not sundered by a political or a religious upheaval." Some of the recurrent topics will be: the reaction against the Enlightenment; rejections and revisions of romanticism; the nature of authority; the religion of work; the idea of a university. Texts: Abrams, et al., Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2.

337 A
(The Modern Novel)
M-Th 8:30-10:40
George
(A-term only)
This intensive course (4-1/2 weeks) will focus on defining literary Modernism through the study of three novels: Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and Richard Wright's Native Son. We will analyze each in biographical, historical, cultural, and structural contexts as we try to determine in what ways each novel and author is "modern." Course requirements include regular attendance; active, thoughtful discussion; weekly short essays, and a final examination. Texts: Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Wright, Native Son; Harmon & Holman, A Handbook to Literature.

352 A
(American Literature: The Early Nation)
Dy 8:30
J. Griffith
We'll read and discuss an assortment of novels, stories, poems and essays by American writers in the period preceding the Civil War. 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 between five and ten brief in-class essays written in response to study questions handed out in advance. Texts: Baym, et al, The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. 1 (4th ed.); Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin; Herman Melville, Moby-Dick.

353 A
(American Literature: Later 19th Century)
M-Th 12:00-2:10
Moody
This course will focus on the representation of True Women and New Women by multi-ethnic authors. We will study prose texts mostly by women, one or two men. Texts: Lauter, ed., Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. 2 (3rd ed.); recommended: Ammons, Conflicting Stories; Hacker, The Bedford Handbook.

354 YA 
(American Literature: The Early Modern Period)
TTh 4:30-6:40 pm
Donahue
This course will examine major American literary works from the first decades of this century. The emphasis will be on poetry and formally innovative prose. Midterm, term paper, and final. (Evening Degree students only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.) Texts: Eliot, Selected Poems; H.D., Selected Poems; Stein, Tender Buttons; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; West, Miss Lonelyhearts; Toomer, Cane; Barnes, Nightwood.

355 YA
(American Literature: Contemporary America)
TTh 7-9:10 pm
Cummings
Living on the Edge. During the quarter we will direct our critical attention to portrayals of "ex-centric" Americans in recent U.S. novels, short stories, essays, film, and popular media. A few of them are historical figures commonly identified with political extremes: they are self-styled "cold war warriors" and alleged "national security threats." We will (re)discover these ex-centrics in Coover's Public Burning and sample practices (i.e., other works and historical events) to which the novel is related. We'll then consider the presence and evaluate the impact of similar ex-centrics in documentaries and short fictions about the VietNam War. The Cold War and VietNam are likely to engage the first 4 weeks; by the end of this period we should all have a working knowledge of cultural studies' methodology and uses to which ex-centricity has been put. Over the weeks remaining, the objective is to hone cultural studies reading skills and complicate understandings of "ex-centric." In these weeks we'll shift attention to fictional figures whose life experiences, behavior, or identity are outside the American mainstream-trivialized, marginalized, and/or villified as exceptions to the natural order of things. Some of these figures are genuinely disturbed; a few cross the line into criminality. The vast majority seem queer from a conventional perspective; significantly, they live in locales where conformity to middle-class scripts, traditional family values, established gender roles, and sexual norms is strictly enforced. They are represented as troubled youths/juvenile delinquents; gritty survivors/white trash; free spirits/gender deviants; perverts and diseased/lovers and dreamers in the novels and supplements we'll read; our task will be to discuss these ex-centric representations in context and to evaluate their human effects. Requirements: active engagement in class discussion; short written responses to readings and films; a final (7-8 page) paper. Texts: Coover, Public Burning; Robinson, Housekeeping; Bush, Sometime I Live in the Country; Allison, Bastard out of Carolina; Kenan, A Visitation of Spirits; in-class films; photocopied course packet. (Evening Degree students only, Registration Periods 1 & 2.)

358 A
(Literature of Black Americans)
M-Th 8:30-10:40
Moody
(A-term only)
This course will concentrate on African American autobiography from Emancipation through Modernism. Offered jointly with AFRAM 358A.Texts: Elizabeth Keckley, Behind the Scenes; Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery; James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son; Jill Nelson, Volunteer Slavery.

370 A
(English Language Study)
MW 10:50-1:00
Tollefson
This course is an introduction to major issues in English language study, with an emphasis on issues that are important for English teachers. We will especially focus on the links between language and society. Major topics will include language varieties in school settings (including the Ebonics controversy); the official English movement; language acquisition; gender and language; and language change. Text: Virginia P. Clark, Paul A. Eschholz, & Alfred F. Rosa, eds., Language: Introductory Readings.

(Note: In Winter 1999, ENGL 370 will be taught in conjunction with ENGL 373; concurrent enrollment in both ENGL 370 and 373 will be required. Students wishing to take ENGL 373 in Winter should not take ENGL 370 in Summer or Autumn, but wait and sign up for both ENGL 370 and ENGL 373 in Winter.)

381 A
(Advanced Expository Writing)
MW 8:30-10:00
Dillon
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. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 381 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.) No texts.

381 B
(Advanced Expository Writing)
TTh 8:30-10:00
Butwin
A handful of people write novels, poems, and plays; almost all of us are obliged to write letters, applications and recommendations. We will focus on functional writing, writing with a particular purpose and audience-beginning with (1) a personal letter, (2) a letter to the editor, (3) an application, and (4) a recommendation. Numbers (2) through (4) are for public consumption. They will be revised and graded. Number (1) will be put in the mail. Texts:New York Times for (2); photocopied course packet. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 381 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

381 C
(Advanced Expository Writing)
TTh 10:50-12:20
Butwin
A handful of people write novels, poems, and plays; almost all of us are obliged to write letters, applications and recommendations. We will focus on functional writing, writing with a particular purpose and audience-beginning with (1) a personal letter, (2) a letter to the editor, (3) an application, and (4) a recommendation. Numbers (2) through (4) are for public consumption. They will be revised and graded. Number (1) will be put in the mail. Texts:New York Times for (2); photocopied course packet (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 381 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

383 A
(Intermediate Verse Writing)
TTh 10:50- 12:10
Wagoner
Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem. Further development of fundamental skills. Emphasis on revision. Prerequisite: ENGL 283. Meets with 483A. No texts. (Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 PDL, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily.)

384 A
(Intermediate Short Story Writing)
MW 10:50-12:20
Shields
Writing, rewriting, reading, rereading short stories. Prerequisite: ENGL 284. Text: Photocopied course packet. (Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 PDL, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily.)

440 A
(Special Studies in Literature)
TTh 10:50-1:00
Solberg
Contemporary Asian American Literature. We will read works representing the variety of contemporary Asian Pacific American authors. They reflect and refract the experience of being Asian American (and all the ambiguity with which that term is laden) as it is given structure and meaning through prose narrative. Our reading will be done against the backdrop of the situation-political, economic and social, of Asians in predominantly English-speaking North America and a Hawai'I where English was, and is, the language of power. Probable class requirements: All required texts will be covered in class. In addition, students will be expected to read at least one of the recommended texts and utilize it in the final paper. Two formal papers, one a short autobiographical sketch, and the other a 10-15 page critical paper, will be required, as well as a running journal to be handed in weekly. Class attendance and participation in discussion is expected. There will be no exams or quizzes. (Meets with AAS 402A) Texts: Peter Bacho, Dark Blue Suit and Other Stories; G. S. Chandra, Sari of the Gods; Frank Chin, The Chickencoop Chinaman and The Year of the Dragon: Two Plays; Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters; Maxine H. Kingston, Woman Warrior; Bharati Mukherjee, Wife; Gary Pak, The Watcher of Waipuna and Other Stories; Shawn Wong, Homebase; recommended: Heinz Insu Fenkl, Memories of my Ghost Brother; Peter Bacho, Cibu; Frank Chin, Gunga Din Highway; Chock & Lum, eds., The Best of Bamboo Ridge; Kamala Markandaya, Nectar in a Sieve; Ty Pak, Guilt Payment; Roshni Rustomji-Kerns, ed., Living in America: Poetry and Fiction by South Asian American Writers.

452 A
(Topics in American Literature)
MW 10:50-1:00
Solberg
Asian-American Literature: Literature of Hawai'i. A general introduction to the literature of Hawai'I from the mele and chants of the native Hawaiians down to the contemporary novel and the stories and poems of the latecomers-today's locals. (Meets with AES 498A) Texts: Bushnell, Molokai; Chock & Lum, eds., The Best of Bamboo Ridge; Daws, Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai; Elbert & Mahoe, eds., Na Mele o Hawai'I Nei: 101 Hawaiian Songs; Holt, On Being Hawaiian; Holt, Waimea Summer; Holt, Princess of the Night Rides; Lum, Sun: Short Stories and Drama; Lum, Pass On, No Pass Back; Lum, Expounding the Doubtful Points; Morris, Damien; Murayama, All I Asking for Is My Body; Sumida, Two Novels of Hawaii; Song, Picture Bride; Chum, The Romance of Laieikawai; recommended: Bushnell, Ka'a'awa: A Novel about Hawaii in the 1850s; Daws, A Dream of Islands: Voyages of Self Discovery in the South Seas; Daws, Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands; Kanahele, Ku Kanaka-Stand Tall: A Search for Hawaiian Values; Pukui & Korn, trs., The Echo of Our Song: Chants and Poems of the Hawaiians; Sumida, And the View from the Shore: Literary Traditions of Hawai'i.

471 A
(The Composition Process)
Dy 12:00
Sale
A course in composition, designed primarily for teachers, and prospective teachers, of writing, but anyone is welcome who wants to get lots of practice writing and for whom the focus on classrooms is not inhibiting. Entirely workshop stuff: "What is a writing assignment?" asks William Coles, and goes on, "What's the difference between a good assignment and a bad one? How do you read a student paper? How do you read fifty of them? What do you do in class with what students write?" My task is to devise ways of keeping those questions alive; our task together is to try to enact some answers. The "texts" are small prose and poetry anthologies we'll use to devise assignments about literature. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 471 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.) Texts: Madden, ed., A Pocketful of Poems; A Pocketful of Prose, Vol. 1. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 471 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

481 A
(Special Studies in Expository Writing)
MW 10:50-12:20
Dillon
Writing Hyper-Text. This is a class in writing hypertext in HTML for posting on the Net. Our interest ranges over four uses of this new medium: for self- and artistic expression; for finding and exchanging information; for advocating positions and debating public issues; for providing instruction. We will have less to say and do with HTML on the Net as a means of advertising and marketing, public relations, or recreation. Some sessions will be taught in a computer lab, and we will do a quick "homepage" course if you don't have one yet ("new-weber" and all that) and cover topics including: markup languages (LaTex, SGML, HTML); DTDs and validation; types of hypertext structures; shaping navigation; style guides and principles of "good HTML"; net search tools; monitoring traffic; inclusion of images and sound (multimedia) (copyright!). In addition to spiffing up your home page, we will work on group projects to create archive sites on topics of general interest and on individual projects as well. You will be able to work from home (via a modem) or another campus lab outside of class (and you will probably want to and need to). Text: Musciano & Kennedy, HTML: The Definitive Guide. (Non-matriculated students may sign up for ENGL 481 if they meet the ESL requirements listed above.)

483 A
(Advanced Verse Writing)
TTh 10:50-12:10
Wagoner
Intensive study of the ways and means of making a poem. No texts. Meets with 383A. Prerequisite: ENGL 383 and writing sample. (Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 PDL, (206) 543-9865, open 11-3 daily.)

485 U
(Novel Writing)
Mon. 6:00-9:00 pm
Bosworth
This is not a course for beginning fiction writers. Just as one shold never attempt a marathon before training at shorter distances, it is not wise to attempt a novella or novel without some experience in short fiction. It is presumed, then, that you are familiar with the fundamentals of fiction writing, of dramatizing experience, and creating a "fictional moment." For although we will pay attention to all dimensions of fiction, emphasis will be placed on those problems which arise from length--how one orders a longer sequence of events, how one manipulates a large cast of characters, how one retains a sense of unity and identity within the diversity which characterizes most novels. (Note: it is acceptable for this course, and in many cases advisable, to undertake a long story or novella before attempting a full-length novel.) Fiction writing is a serious way of knowing the world, and no time will be squandered on analyzing the purely commercial marketplace, or on how one might reduplicate fiction whose only function is the passing of time or the making of money. Prerequisite: ENGL 384 or 484 or equivalent, and writing sample. Add codes in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford, (206) 543-9865 (open 11-3 daily). Text: Joseph Conrad, Secret Agent.

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, further information in Undergraduate Advising office, A-2-B Padelford (543-2634).

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, further information available in Writing Programs office, A-11 Padelford (543-2190).

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, further information available in Creative Writing office, B-25 Padelford (543-9865; open 11-3 daily).

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, further information available in Undergraduate Programs office, A-11 Padelford (543-2190).

497/498A (W)
(Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar)
MW 9:40- 11:50
Wacker
Other Modernities: Czech Literary Culture and the Birth of Civil Societies. The comprehensive policing of individual expression and the decimation of civil institutions in Warsaw Pact societies failed to prevent periods of vital literary and intellectual flowering. In Czechoslovakia publications of the writers' union and manuscripts circulated clandestinely in samizdat networks and "flying universities," along with the so-called "new wave" of Czech cinema and the independent theatre movement, proved a major impetus to two non-violent citizen revolutions in the post-war period. The critical literary and intellectual culture that informed Czecho-slovak reforms in 1968 and 1988 also offers a model for understanding the role of literary and social thought in the construction of civil societies undistorted by the totalitarianism, super power politics and xenophobic self-assertion that have shaped the region since World War II and beset the "imagined communities" of emerging societies in general.Senior English majors only. Texts: Kafka, The Trial; Hrabal, Closely Watched Trains; Kundera, The Joke; Perkarkova, Truck Stop Rainbows; Vaculik, The Axe; Wilson, ed., Good-bye Samizdat: Twenty Years of Czechoslovak Underground Writings; Lappie, ed., Daylight in Nightclub Inferno

497/498 B (W)
(Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar)
TTh 10:50-1:20
Donahue
Postwar American Poetry: Olson, Ginsberg, O'Hara. This course will examine three major figures in Postwar American Poetry: Charles Olson, Allen Ginsberg, and Frank O'Hara. We will begin with some background in Whitman, Pound and the international modernisms of the first part of this century, then focus closely on the poems. Particular attention will be paid to the lives of the poets, to their formal innovations, and to the visionary ambitions of their works. Related concerns will include: the uses of history, the cultivation of extreme states of mind, and the relation of poetry to painting. Text: Photocopied course packet. Senior English majors only.

497/498C (W)
(Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar)
TTh 12:00-2:10
Cummings
The 1950's. This seminar will take a cultural studies approach to the 1950's. We will focus on representative literary works, and we will read them in relation to "nonfictional" 1950's documents and events with two cultural studies precepts in mind. One is that context is everything. Implicit in this precept is the recognition that the meaning and force of any work depends on its context; reading contextually requires looking not only at how messages are expressed in one work but also how they are reinforced, amended, or contested elsewhere. The second cultural studies precept is that discourses matter because-and only insofar as-they move people to think, feel, and do certain things; in practice, this principle demands reading literature and other texts in terms of their effects. During the quarter we'll look critically at definitions of 1950's "America" and "American," taking up such topics as McCarthyism, the cold war, conformity, momism, rebellious youth (e.g., beats, rock 'n roll, juvenile delinquency), civil rights, and homosexuality. These definitions of nation and national subjectivity are taken from literature, law, (social)science, politics, cinema and popular media. The course objectives are: to hone cultural studies reading and writing skills; to cultivate a deeper understanding of 1950's America; and to evaluate the decade's definition of "America" and "American" on the level of their effects. Senior English majors only. Texts: Robert Coover, Public Burning; Paule Marshall, Brown Girl, Brownstones; James Baldwin, Another Country; Jack Kerouac, On the Road; in-class films; photocopied course packet.

499A
(Independent Study)
*Arrange*
Individual study by arrangement with instructor. Prerequisite: permission of director of undergraduate education. Add codes, further information, available in Undergraduate Programs office, A-11 Padelford (543-2190).


Graduate Courses

To top of page

Add codes are required for all graduate courses, and may be obtained in the English Graduate office, A-105 Padelford.

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). /p>

to home page
top of page
top