Fall 2010 courses

ENGL 101. Seminar in Rhetoric & Culture

A writing-intensive introduction to cultural inquiry and the art of persuasion. Through the analysis of texts in various genres and through the production of their own written arguments, students will learn to recognize and employ appropriate strategies for effective communication. Students will also attend and respond critically to co-curricular cultural events, including art exhibits, concerts, films, lectures, and plays.

ENGL 102. Introduction to Literature (Havird)

Despite its title, this course is not an introduction to literature but rather an introduction to ways of reading it. The aim, then, is to get you familiar with the basic theoretical assumptions and practical applications of several widely used types of criticism and to give you practice using them yourself. Our texts will include a “primer” on “writing about literature with critical theory” and a collection of stories by an individual author and a similar one of poems.

ENGL 201. Studies in Literary Masterworks - Modern Drama (Newtown)

An overview of modern drama (largely European and American) from the rise of Naturalism in the late Nineteenth Century to the experimental theaters of the present day. This course requires extensive reading, writing, and oral presentations.

ENGL 219. Creative Writing (Strange)

An introduction to poetry and fiction, this course focuses on basic craft elements, the steady discipline of writing itself, and the skillful task of revision. We read much in this course so that we can better respond to previously published and peer-produced pieces, regularly writing and workshopping your own poems and prose as well.

ENGL 243. World of Jack London (Labor)

This course in an intensive study of the life and works of America's most widely read author. Study will include some attention to the era in which London wrote, one of the most dynamic periods in American history, and to the phenomenon of literary naturalism, with which London is most often identified. Considerable attention will also be given to the critical approach called "Mythological/Archetypal," since most of London's best work is informed by what C.G. Jung has called "primordial vision." How a writer acheives status as a "major author" and how his or her works gain admission to the literary canon will be considered.

ENGL 262. Shakespeare and Film (Shelburne)

This course is the meeting ground of the single most influential English author, Shakespeare, and the most distinctive and pervasive modern artistic form, the film. From its beginnings, film recognized Shakespeare as one of its most reliable and popular sources of material, and Shakespeare remains a potent presence in contemporary film. The course investigates this peculiar dedication to Shakespeare by considering both film versions of Shakespeare's plays ("Shakespeare on Film") and the frequent presence of Shakespearean material in films that have only the most tenuous connection to the actual playwright ("Shakespeare in Film").

ENGL 282. Multimedia Writing and Literature (Hamming)

Beginning with an historical overview of the "digitalization of literature" and ending with our own attempts to author multimedia texts, this course will look at cultural, communicational, and design concerns related to the reading and writing of multimedia. We will use rhetorical/cultural analysis to consider such issues as authorship, audience, usability, creative expression, interactivity, hypertexuality, and remediation.

ENGL 290. Playwriting/Screenwriting (Kallenberg)

ENGL 314W. Advertising and Public Relations (Laffy)

This course makes a broad sweep through the related fields of advertising and public relations—what they are, why they exist, and what they do in contemporary culture. Students will analyze historical and contemporary instances and experiment with creating their own. The widest variety of media will be engaged to better appreciate and understand the visual and textual images used in these professions and much will writing will be done to hone the composition skills required for these specific tasks.

ENGL 329W. Studies in Contemporary Literature (Hendricks)

Intensive reading in contemporary writers (since 1950). Emphasis is on significant literary figures and movements.

ENGL 332. Seminar in the Novel. (Hamming)

A study of the novel with particular attention to historical and artistic influences. May emphasize either British or American traditions.

ENGL 341. Seminar in Major Authors-Wordsworth & Austen. (Havird)

It can come as a surprise to note that the poet William Wordsworth and the novelist Jane Austen were contemporaries. Wordsworth was born in 1770, Austen in 1775; and though Wordsworth outlived Austen by 33 years, he had written all of the poems upon which his reputation rests by the time she died in 1817. And in fact the natural world of Wordsworth's verse and the social world of Austen's fiction are contiguous. This seminar will examine those two genres and the world that they together compose. We'll read a generous selection of Wordsworth's poetry and three of Austen's novels: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion. And since the latest publication by Lord Byron comes up in conversation in Persuasion, we'll enjoy a dash of Byron in the form of his poem The Giaour.

ENGL 351. Seminar in Women's Literature. (K.VanHoosier-Carey)

An intensive study of literature written by women.

ENGL 368. History of Film to 1939. (Hendricks)

A chronological survey of the cinema from its beginnings in the 1890s to the development of classical Hollywood cinema to 1939. Special attention is paid to major directors (Griffith, Eisenstein, Renoir), influential national cinemas (American, Russian, French, and German), and to dominant styles and genres (silent comedy, expressionism, Hollywood gangster, and Western films). This course meets six hours per week, three of which are devoted to screenings.

ENGL 441. Tutorial in Literature. (Havird)

Directed reading on a subject to be agreed upon by the student and faculty-tutor. May require presentation of pertinent materials in undergraduate courses under the direct supervision of an English Department faculty member.

ENGL 471. Senior Seminar in English (Hendricks)

A capstone course investigating topics in literary and communication theory, in which theoretical insights relate to practical experiences within the course. Specific course-related duties may include participating in a mentoring internship in the First-Year Experience or English 101, staffing the Centenary Writing Laboratory, and constructing a web-based portfolio.

ENGL 478S. Literary and Cultural Theory from Plato to the Present. (Hendricks)

An overview of literary and cultural theory from ancient Greece to the contemporary world of multimedia narrative and design. Heavy emphasis is placed on theory and criticism emanating from the "theory explosion" of the past few decades, especially ideological, psychoanalytic, and gender analyses of texts.