Undergraduate English Courses
Graduate English Courses
Undergraduate Writing Courses
Graduate Writing Courses
Undergraduate English Courses
ENG 300-001 WIC: INTRO TO ENGLISH MAJOR
Instructor: Thomas Fisher
Focuses on methods of textual interpretation. This course provides students with the analytical and critical tools necessary for the successful study of English at the upper division level. Required for, but not restricted to, English majors. A prerequisite for 400-level English courses, English 300 is also strongly recommended as preparation for all upper-division English classes. Expected preparation: 8 lower-division credits in literature.
ENG 304-001 CRITICAL THEORY OF CINEMA
Instructor: Michael Clark
Outlines the central elements of cinema criticism, including interpretive theories and approaches. Begins with an outline of critical approaches, including critical history. Moves to contemporary criticism, including feminist, structuralist, sociological, and psychoanalytic analyses. Includes discussion of film as a cultural commodity.
ENG 305U-004 TOP: AFRICA IN WESTERN FILM
Instructor: Sarah Lincoln
“The cinema is war pursued by other means.” — Sylvère Lotringer
Since the earliest days of cinema, the "dark continent" has fascinated filmmakers and audiences, and provided a setting or subject for hundreds of Hollywood films, from big-budget epics to now-forgotten "B" movies. Recently, with films like Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, The Constant Gardener, The Last King of Scotland and Tears of the Sun, Hollywood has once again turned its attention to Africa. Why Africa, why now?
In this fast-paced 4-week summer course, we will be studying representations of Africa and Africans in Western film and television during the twentieth century, looking at the ways that myths, stereotypes and assumptions about the continent have persisted, been reinforced, and evolved over time. Comparing films made during the British Empire with later works that tackle Africa's place in the "war on terror," we will consider the relationship between film and imperialism, and the changing role of the media in shaping popular ideas about war, wealth, individualism, intervention and ethics.
We will work ONLINE each week between June 26 and July 23. Each week’s work will include viewings of films (available online and on reserve in the library), as well as discussion of the films and supporting perspectives from theoretical, historical and critical works. Course requirements include semiweekly keyword journal essays, active contributions to online discussion and quizzes, and a final exam.
Required films (all films will be available online):
- Kony 2012
- King Solomon’s Mines, dir. Robert Stevenson (1937)
- Tarzan, the Ape Man, dir. W.S. Van Dyke (1932)
- Zulu, dir. Cy Enfield (1966)
- Out of Africa, dir. Sydney Pollack (1985)
- Gorillas in the Mist, dir. Michael Apted (1988)
- Black Hawk Down, dir. Ridley Scott (2001)
- Blood Diamond, dir. Edward Zwick (2006)
ENG 305U-005 TOP: THE DEMONIC IN FILM
Instructor: William Bohnaker
By reputation evil lies on the opposite shore from good. Yet, life itself is an inextricable and poignant mixture of both evil and good. The birth in spring and the death in winter find a multitude of avatars in mortal existence. The human soul itself is a ragbag of the best and the worst, trundled along within the same body. But what is the nature of their cohabitation? Shakespeare said there is some soul of goodness in things evil, would men observingly distill it out. The toad, he wrote, wears a precious jewel in its head. But it is still an ugly and venomous toad.
This course is an exploration of these inflections of the “daemonic” in film and of some of the discourses that presume to analyze them.
ENG 313U-001 AMERICAN SHORT STORY
Instructor: Lorraine Mercer
“A great deal of the story is believed to be inside of the listener, and the storyteller’s role is to draw the story out of the listener.” Leslie Marmon Silko
Text: The Story and Its Writer, Compact 8th Edition, editor Ann Charters
In her introduction to the text Charters asks: What is a short story? Her answer includes the following: The short story is a concentrated form, dependent for its success on feeling and suggestion. When readers understand the ways an author uses language to create a fictional world, the story’s unity has an even greater impact. Then every detail of the narrative adds to our enjoyment of the final impression. Writers of short stories must forgo the comprehensiveness of the novel, but they often gain a striking compression by using language with the force of poetry. Like poets, short story writers can impress upon us the unity of their vision of life by focusing on a single effect (3).
Requirements will include an exam, weekly writings and posts and a final project.
This course will focus on elements of fiction, narrative strategies, and literary and political movements. The study of the American short story, or more specifically, the Short Story of the United States, in all its aspects will be our project for the next 10 weeks as we examine the development of the short story genre from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Sandra Cisneros and beyond.
This is a fully online course. This course fulfills groups C and E for the English major and also and American Studies Junior Cluster Course.
ENG 334U-002 TOP: CINEMA OF US-MEX BORDER
Instructor: Anoop Mirpuri
“We’re going to build a wall.” - Donald Trump
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” - Donald Trump
What is the relationship between the militarization of national borders and the way in which these borders are represented in film? This class investigates the politics and aesthetics of mid-to-late twentieth and early twenty-first century cinematic representations of the U.S.-Mexico border. We will explore how filmic representations of the border can work to simultaneously express, constitute, and reinforce the anxieties that give rise to calls to “build a wall.” Where do such anxieties emerge from? How do cinematic representations of the border facilitate or critique the widespread belief that undocumented border crossing is a kind of bodily violation akin to murder and rape? Is it possible to discern critical or resistant tendencies within border cinema that expose the role of borders in enforcing violent hierarchies of human value?
There are no required course texts, but you will be required to attain access to a number of readily available films, including Touch of Evil, La Frontera, No Country for Old Men, The Counselor, and more.
We will read political and cultural theory to contextualize the films, including the work of Wendy Brown, Edward Said, and Etienne Balibar.
This course will be conducted fully online
ENG 343U-001 ROMANTICISM
Instructor: W. Tracy Dillon
Selected works of Romantic literature; introduction to themes, genres, history, and culture of Romanticism.
ENG 367U-001 TOP: AMERICAN LIT & CULTURE
Instructor: Michael Clark
Studies of various American literatures within the context of American history and culture from colonial period to the present. May be repeated with different topics: maximum of 8 hours.
ENG 444-001 BRITISH WOMEN WRITERS II
Instructor: Lorraine Mercer
“Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.” ~Angela Carter
Re-envisioning Literature: New Versions of Old Genres
In this course we will read six texts by twentieth century British women writers. These texts reveal how these particular writers have re-envisioned traditional narrative structures. From fairy tales to war stories, from non-fiction to gothic, these writers challenge narrative forms in order to explore new stories and new visions of the world.
Texts:
- Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Bluebeard (weblink provided)
- Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, Norton Critical Edition, ed. Judith Raiskin
- Zadie Smith, White Teeth
- Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
- Virginia Woolf, Orlando, and A Room of One’s Own
& supplemental material including articles, poetry and other items provided online
[Please note: you may use any editions of the books, except for Wide Sargasso Sea, which is a critical edition. We will read and use the supplemental material in class.]
Graduate English Courses
ENG 544-001 BRITISH WOMEN WRITERS II
Instructor: Lorraine Mercer
“Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.” ~Angela Carter
Re-envisioning Literature: New Versions of Old Genres
In this course we will read six texts by twentieth century British women writers. These texts reveal how these particular writers have re-envisioned traditional narrative structures. From fairy tales to war stories, from non-fiction to gothic, these writers challenge narrative forms in order to explore new stories and new visions of the world.
Texts:
- Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Bluebeard (weblink provided)
- Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, Norton Critical Edition, ed. Judith Raiskin
- Zadie Smith, White Teeth
- Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
- Virginia Woolf, Orlando, and A Room of One’s Own
& supplemental material including articles, poetry and other items provided online
[Please note: you may use any editions of the books, except for Wide Sargasso Sea, which is a critical edition. We will read and use the supplemental material in class.]
Undergraduate Writing Courses
WR 121-001 COLLEGE WRITING
Instructor: Alice Hall
A writing course for lower-division students, in which they develop critical thinking abilities by reading and writing, increase their rhetorical strategies, practice writing processes, and learn textual conventions. Includes formal and informal writing, responding to a variety of readings, sharing writing with other students, and revising individual pieces for a final portfolio of work.
WR 212-001 INTRO FICTION WRITING
Instructor: Corey Millard
This course will develop your skills as burgeoning writers of fiction. We will debunk certain stereotypes regarding the writer as vessel of inspiration or spontaneity, and emphasize instead the value of hard work, particularly regarding brainstorming, drafting, and major revision in the writing process. We will also discuss elements of craft, strategies and techniques, as well as routines, that will aid in the creative process. Upon completion of this course, you should feel more aware of the decisions you make in the writing process, and therefore more engaged in developing fiction of greater depth.
You should be prepared to read a lot and to write a lot, not only in regards to volume, but frequency, because the difference between a good writer and a better writer is the time they put into their work. Throughout these ten weeks, you will be exposed to a variety of styles of fiction, and you will develop the parlance and process of workshopping; but most importantly, you will be encouraged to expand your horizons, push boundaries, and develop a work-centric approach, all while maintaining a sturdy embrace of new and unusual approaches to work.
WR 213-001 INTRO TO POETRY WRITING
Instructor: Darla Mottram
In this introductory course students will engage with a variety of poems through close reading and discussion. Throughout the course we will together develop a shared vocabulary for talking about poems—both those written by others and those we ourselves will be writing. Some of the primary objectives for students include establishing a robust writing habit through the use of a reading/writing journal as well as weekly exercises; learning how to share work and support each other's growth in a workshop environment during the latter half of the course; cultivating a sense for when a poem is provocative and effective, and how to go about revising when it is not. By the end of the term, students will have read widely, written continuously, accumulated a wealth of information and resources regarding craft, and will have begun to build the confidence necessary to know a poem when they encounter it—as Emily Dickinson wrote, “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?"
WR 214-002 INTRO NONFICTION WRITING
Instructor: Jennifer Woodman
An introduction to writing literary nonfiction, using selected works by Jon Ronson, David Sedaris, Alison Bechdel and others to delve into the skills that fostered their art. Beginning with the raw material of exercises in description and dialogue, students will write and discuss short works of creative nonfiction.
This course may be used for the Group I requirement for the Minor in Writing. It serves as a prerequisite for the following upper division WR courses: 456, 457, 458, 459.
WR 222-002 WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS
Instructor: Brierly Harris
An elective course. The techniques for compiling and writing research papers. Attention to available reference materials, use of library, taking notes, critical evaluation of evidence, and conventions for documenting academic papers. Practice in organizing and writing a long expository essay based on use of library resources.
WR 227-002 INTRO TECHNICAL WRITING
Instructor: Jessicah Carver
Practical experience in forms of technical communication, emphasizing basic organization and presentation of technical information. Focuses on strategies for analyzing the audience and its information needs.
WR 323-001 WRITING AS CRITICAL INQUIRY
Instructor: Sarah Lincoln
Garbage dumps are stinky, ugly, toxic and dangerous places, where societies send their embarrassing, broken, or just plain useless remainders. But they are also a richly productive resource, supplying not only food, shelter, valuable commodities and other necessities to millions of people around the world, but also inspiring some of the contemporary world’s most beautiful and important works of art, along with abundant writing on behalf of political, environmental, ethical, and economic causes. In this course, we will take garbage seriously as an aesthetic, social, and political object—and a subject for writing—asking what waste, excrement, refuse and disposability have to do with writing, representation, narrative, beauty, and pleasure. How do different genres of writing deal with waste, and what does it mean to think of writing as itself a form of recycling? What can garbage tell us about the past, about our present, and about the possibilities for a sustainable future? How can the wasteful aspects of writing (drafting, editing, revising) become your most productive practices? Focusing on rhetorical analysis and on developing student skills in research, drafting, argumentation, editing and other elements of successful academic writing, the course will improve your work as a writer, reader, and citizen—whatever your scholarly discipline.
Required Texts:
- Graff & Birkenstein, They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing (978-0393935844)
WR 323-009 WRITING AS CRITICAL INQUIRY
Instructor: Hildy Miller
In this upper division writing course we will focus on developing a more sophisticated understanding of our own writing processes, reflect on the academic discourse you’ve been doing and how to make the transition to workplace writing. Assignments will include reflecting on your own writing processes, learning to develop compromises when faced with opposing arguments, and developing a job portfolio that you can use . Includes formal and informal writing, responding to a variety of readings, sharing writing with other students, and reflecting on writing. Our class will run as a workshop in which you’ll be collaborating with other students throughout phases of both your and their writing processes.
WR 327-001 TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
Instructor: W. Tracy Dillon
Strategies for presenting technical information from the technician, management, and lay person's perspectives; rhetorical theory and techniques for adapting technical prose to nontechnical audiences; and techniques for emphasizing and de-emphasizing information
WR 474-001 PUBLISHING STUDIO
Instructor: Per Henningsgaard
Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editing, Design and Sustainable Production, Marketing, External Promotions, Sales, Digital Content, Social Media, and Project Management and Operations. Course may be repeated multiple times.
WR 475-001 PUBLISHING LAB
Instructor: Per Henningsgaard
Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editorial, Design, Marketing and Sales, Digital, and Social Media. Course may be taken multiple times for credit.
Graduate Writing Courses
WR 574-001 PUBLISHING STUDIO
Instructor: Per Henningsgaard
Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editing, Design and Sustainable Production, Marketing, External Promotions, Sales, Digital Content, Social Media, and Project Management and Operations. May be taken multiple times for credit.
WR 575-001 PUBLISHING LAB
Instructor: Per Henningsgaard
Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editorial, Design, Marketing and Sales, Digital, and Social Media. May be taken multiple times for credit.