| ENGL 2300 Introduction
to Literary Studies |
ENGL 3334 Children’s
Literature |
| ENGL 2322 British
Literature I |
ENGL 3335 Development of
English Drama up to the Moderns |
| ENGL 2323 British
Literature II |
ENGL 3336 Shakespeare’s
Tragedies and Romances |
| ENGL 2324 Topics
in Literature |
ENGL 3337
Shakespeare’s Comedies and
Histories
|
| ENGL 2325 Catholic
Writers |
ENGL 3338 Modern and Contemporary
Drama |
| ENGL 2330 Poetics |
ENGL 3339 Special Topics
in Literature |
| ENGL 3301 American
Literature I |
ENGL 4310 Modern American
Poetry |
| ENGL 3302 American
Literature II |
ENGL 4311 Regional Writers |
| ENGL 3303 Literature
of the Middle Ages |
ENGL 4319 Modern and Postmodern
Literature |
| ENGL 3304 The
Age of Milton |
ENGL 4321 Women Writers |
| ENGL 3305 The British Romantics |
ENGL 4322 Turn-of-the-Century and Early- Modern Novel |
| ENGL 3306 American
Novel
to 1890 |
ENGL4326 Minority Writers |
| ENGL 3307 The Victorians |
ENGL 4327 The 18th Century British Novel |
| ENGL 3308 Restoration and 18th Century British Literature |
ENGL 4341 Literary Criticism |
| |
ENGL 4355 Senior Seminar
in English Literature |
| |
| 2300 Introduction
to Literary Studies |
Open to all interested students, this course introduces literature majors to basic critical and analytical methods, in particular, the skills of careful, analytical reading. Students will strengthen pre-critical skills such as the ability to identify and analyze rhetorical and linguistic features of texts (metaphor, imagery, metonymy, etc.), perceive and discuss complexities of theme, and understand how generic elements (epic, lyric, narrative, etc.) function to create meaning. Students will also be introduced to interpretive frames of reference (philosophy, psychology, history, etc.) that are fundamental to advanced literary critical analysis. Emphasis will also fall on expository writing — thesis and support essays that interpret literature. Texts for study will be drawn from world literature, including works in translation. Prerequisite for all ENGL courses numbered 4000; may replace CULF 1318 for ENGL and ENGW majors, and for students recommended for honors status. Fall, Spring. 3 hours |
| |
| 2322
British Literature I |
| A survey of the principal authors,
their works and trends in English literature, from Beowulf
to 1660, with special attention to Chaucer, Sidney, Shakespeare
and Milton. Texts will be read with a view to understanding
the development of the English language through its two major
transitions, Old English to Middle English, and Middle English
to Modern English. Prerequisite: CULF 1318 or ENGL 2300 or
comparable transfer
course. Fall. 3 hours |
| |
| 2323
British Literature II |
| A continuation of the first survey
of British authors. The course will begin with the major writers
of the Restoration, who favored drama and satire, and end
with modern poetry and short fiction. Major periods to be
covered include the Romantics and the Victorians, with a special
focus on poetry and the development of the novel. Prerequisite:
CULF 1318 or
ENGL 2300
or comparable transfer course. Spring. 3 hours |
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| 2324 Topics
in Literature |
| From time to time courses not covered
by other Undergraduate Bulletin descriptions will be offered. Prerequisite:
CULF 1318 or
ENGL 2300
or comparable transfer course. 3 hours |
| |
| 2325 Catholic
Writers |
| This course will focus on Catholic
authors who have impacted civilization from the Middle Ages
to the present day. Students will examine the way writers
have used Catholic beliefs to shape their prose and poetry.
Although the focus of the course will be on both literature
and theology, students need not be of any particular religion
to benefit from the course, since it will presume no prior
religious training. These authors will be studied: Dante,
Chaucer, Southwell, Dryden, Newman, Hopkins, Frank O’Connor,
Flannery O’Connor, Waugh, Greene. Prerequisite: CULF
1318
or ENGL 2300
or comparable transfer course.
3 hours |
| |
| 2330 Poetics |
An in-depth and rigorous investigation
of the distinctive features of poetry and of poetic production,
with a special emphasis on the evolving approaches to the
reading of poetry. Classical figures and tropes, formal elements,
and New Critical and postmodern theories
and reading techniques will be discussed and applied to a
selection of poems. Previously taught as ENGL 3339 Topics.
Offered occasionally. 3 hours |
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| 3301 American
Literature I |
This course deals with the intellectual
history of our country from the Colonial Period to the Civil
War. Against this backdrop, it concentrates primarily on the
more significant literary figures: poets, short story writers,
novelists. Secondarily, it considers the more important political
and theological writers of the times. This 250-year period
is divided into three eras: the Puritan Age (1620–1720),
the Age of Deism (1720–1820), and the age of Romanticism
(1820–1865). Prerequisite: CULF 1318 or ENGL 2300 or comparable transfer
course. Fall. 3 hours |
| |
| 3302 American
Literature II |
A survey of American literature
from the Civil War to the present. The major periods are the
half century between the Civil War and World War I, the quarter
century between World Wars I and II, and the half century
following World War II. The literary periods
covered are the conclusion of American Romanticism, local
color and regionalism, Naturalism, and Realism. In addition
to analyzing poems, short stories, and novels as independent
aesthetic works, we also relate them to the historical happenings
and zeitgeist
of the times. Prerequisite: CULF 1318
or ENGL 2300
or comparable transfer
course. Spring. 3 hours |
| |
| 3303 Literature
of the Middle Ages |
| The course may focus exclusively
on Chaucer, or on selections from Chaucer’s works together
with other pertinent literary, historical, and philosophical
writings of the era. Some training in reading and speaking
Middle English will be included in the course. Prerequisite:
CULF 1318, ENGL 2300, or comparable transfer course. Fall even-numbered years. 3 hours |
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| 3304 The
Age of Milton |
The course will examine the literature
produced by some of England’s greatest writers during
her most turbulent era. The focus may be exclusively on Milton;
or may present a selection of Milton’s work, including
Paradise Lost, as well as the best work of his most
important predecessors, contemporaries and successors in the
17th century. Prerequisite: CULF 1318
or ENGL 2300
or comparable transfer
course. Fall, odd-numbered years. 3 hours |
| |
| 3305 The British Romantics |
| Examines poets whose work influenced
and was influenced by an age of political and cultural revolution.
Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats produced
a body of work at once exquisitely beautiful and iconoclastic.
The course will cover a wide selection of lyric poems as well
as selections from longer works. Prerequisite: CULF 1318
or ENGL 2300
or
comparable transfer course. Fall even-numbered years. 3 hours |
| |
| 3306 American
Novel
to 1890 |
Novels appeared in America as far
back as the colonial era and the eighteenth century with works
by writers such as Susanna Rowson and Charles Brockden Brown.
These early novels might be included in this course, but its
main focus will be on the 19th and
on important figures of the American romantic period —
an era in part defined by the antiromantic dialectic of Hawthorne
and Melville. Novels in this course may be considered within
historical and cultural contexts, discussed in terms of characteristic
themes and concerns, or analyzed through a variety of critical
and philosophical frames of
reference.
Spring, odd-numbered years.
3 hours |
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| 3307 The
Victorians |
During the Victorian Age, women
novelists such as Jane Austen, the Bröntes and George
Eliot took center stage for the first time. Dickens and Thackeray
used wit and satire to entertain readers and provoke them
to examine society. Characters such as Sherlock
Holmes and Dracula were created. Major poets and prose writers
of the period include Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins, Arnold,
Carlyle and Mill. This course will examine works selected
from novelists, poets and prose writers of the period. It
will consider how the literature represents cultural issues
that confronted the Victorians and still concern readers:
conflicts between religion and science, education, changing
gender roles, love and marriage, sexuality and social problems
such as poverty. Prerequisite: CULF 1318, ENGL 2300, or comparable
transfer course. 3 hours |
| |
| 3308 Restoration and 18th -Century British Literature |
| Covers drama, poetry, and the essay from the Restoration of the Stuarts in 1660 through the French Revolution in 1789. It will include Restoration comedies by Wycherly, Etherege, Congreve, and Behn, early 18th-century works by Dryden, Pope, Gray and John Gay, and works from later in the century by Johnson, Boswell and others. The focus of the class will be placing these works in the historical and cultural contexts in which they occurred. Spring, odd-numbered years. 3 hours. |
| |
| 3334 Children’s
Literature |
| Literature appropriate to children:
its sources, prominent authors and illustrators, critical
evaluation and presentation. Attention is given to the fundamental
principles underlying the choice of children’s stories
and the techniques of selecting and telling stories. Students
preparing to become bilingual teachers will become acquainted
with Spanish children’s literature. (Cross-listed with
READ 3334.) This course does not meet requirements for English
Literature major. 3 hours |
| |
| 3335 Development
of English Drama up to the Moderns |
| The course will survey English
drama from its liturgical origins through the neoclassical
revival. It will survey representative dramas from the pre-Elizabethan
(other than Shakespeare), Jacobean, Caroline, Restoration
periods, as well as significant dramas of the 18th century.
Prerequisite: CULF 1318
or ENGL 2300
or comparable transfer course.
Offered occasionally. 3 hours |
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| 3336 Shakespeare’s
Tragedies and Romances |
| Examines a selection of the playwright’s
later works, with emphasis on the conventions and practices
of Renaissance theater, the Elizabethan social and political
landscape, and developments in genre, theme and style. Selections
to include Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. Prerequisite:
CULF 1318, ENGL 2300, or comparable transfer course.
Fall, Spring, even-numbered years.
3 hours |
| |
| 3337 Shakespeare’s
Comedies and Histories |
| Examines a selection of the playwright's
earlier works, with emphasis on the conventions and practices
of Renaissance theater, the Elizabethan social and political
landscape, and developments in genre, theme, and style. Selections
to includeA Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Henry V, and Richard III. Prerequisite:
CULF 1318, ENGL 2300, or comparable transfer course. Spring odd-numbered years.
3 hours |
| |
| 3338 Modern
and Contemporary Drama |
| An examination of major dramatists
of America and Europe, and of the theoretical, political and
social forces shaping their work. Special attention will be
paid to modern and postmodern theory and the aesthetic movements
— minimalism, theater of the absurd, “new theater,”
etc. Emphasis may be historical, theoretical, thematic or
critical. The course may be repeated for credit as topics
vary. Prerequisite: CULF 1318, ENGL 2300, or comparable transfer
course.
Offered occasionally.
3 hours |
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| 3339 Special
Topics in Literature |
| From time to time courses not covered
by the above descriptions will be offered. Prerequisite: CULF
1318, ENGL 2300, or comparable transfer course. 3 hours |
| |
| 4310 Modern
American Poetry |
| This course will survey the varied
body of poetry originating with Whitman and Dickinson and
flowering in such movements as the Imagist, Beat, Harlem Renaissance,
Black Mountain and Confessional. A focus will be maintained
on the self-expressed designation of poets as both “American”
and “modern.” Prerequisite: ENGL 2300 or comparable
transfer course. Fall, odd-numbered years. 3 hours |
| |
| 4311 Regional
Writers |
| This course will concentrate on
writers of various genres (including creative nonfiction writers)
from particular regions of the United States — the South,
the Southwest, the Midwest, etc. Authors, genres, historical
periods, themes and critical approaches may vary from year
to year.
Prerequisite: ENGL 2300 or comparable transfer course. Spring, even numbered years. 3 hours |
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| 4319 Modern
and Postmodern Literature |
This course involves study of representative
literary texts from both the modern and postmodern period,
with much discussion devoted to defining the periods and differentiating
modern (1910–1965) from postmodern (1965 and after)
thought and works. 20th century literature is characterized
by revolution and radical experimentation, by both liberal
and reactionary politics and, in general, by agonized conflicts
characterizing a “post-
Enlightenment” response to Eurocentric “master
narratives.” Thus, there will be an emphasis on historical
and cultural contexts of the literature studied. Reading assignments
will include relevant secondary materials on modernism and
postmodernism, as well as on selected authors’ works.
Modernist authors considered might include James Joyce, Virginia
Woolf, Edith Wharton, William Faulkner, Willa Cather, Richard
Wright, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’Neill, Flannery O’Connor,
Carson McCullers. Postmodern authors may include John Barth,
Patrick White, Vladimir Nabokov, Thomas King, Margaret Drabble,
Doris Lessing, John Fowles, Edward Albee, Toni Morrison. Prerequisite:
Junior or senior status. Spring, even-numbered years. 3 hours |
| |
| 4321 Women
Writers |
| A study of major women writers
and their works within a cultural and historical context.
Authors, genres, historical periods and themes may vary from
year to year. The course will include readings on critical
approaches to issues of gender and literature. If the course
focuses on 20th century writers, it might begin with Virginia
Woolf's A Room of One's Own for an overview of the history
of women writers in England and go on to cover contemporary
writers such as Marilynne Robinson, Sandra Cisneros, Nadine
Gordimer and Buchi Emecheta. Critical readings may include
texts such as Mary Eagleton’s Feminist Literary Theory.
Prerequisite: ENGL 2300 or comparable transfer course. Spring, even-numbered years.
Offered occasionally.
3 hours |
| |
| 4322 Turn
of the Century and Early Modern Novel |
| Students will read, analyze, discuss,
write about and conduct a modest amount of library research
in connection with very short novels representing the turn-of-the-century
and the early modern period. Authors could include Arnold
Bennett, Willa Cather, Kate Chopin, Joseph Conrad, Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, Henry James, Herman Melville, H.G. Wells and
Edith Wharton. Students should expect to learn much about
this fascinating literary historical period, about the novel
as a genre within this historical context and about these
authors, in particular. Prerequisite: ENGL 2300 or comparable
transfer course. Fall, odd-numbered years. 3 hours. |
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| 4326 Minority
Writers |
| In this course, students will read
works representing the experiences of minorities such as African
Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, gays and lesbians,
the working class, people with disabilities and others. It
may cover a single minority or a combination of groups. Attention
will be given to historical and cultural context and to issues
such as the social construction of identity. Authors, genres,
historical periods, themes and critical approaches may vary
from year to year. Prerequisite: CULF 1318, ENGL 2300, or
comparable transfer course.
Offered occasionally. 3 hours |
| |
| 4327 The 18th Century British Novel |
| Examines the growth of the novel as a literary form from John Bunyan's Pilgram's Progress and Aphra Bhen's Oroonoko through Daniel Defoe's novels, and those of Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Tobias Smollett and Frances Burney. The course covers canonical works and less-known ones such as Charlotte Lennox's Female Quixote and Eliza Haywood's The Adventures of Miss Betsy Thoughtless in an effort to show how the novel emerged into the dominant literary form by the end of the 18th century. Offered occasionally. 3 hours |
| |
| 4341 Literary
Criticism |
| An introduction to contemporary
critical theories and practices, with some time devoted to
clarifying the historical and philosophical antecedents of
these methods. Students write two short papers, and one term paper
and take two exams. Prerequisites: ENGL 2300 or comparable
transfer course (for ENGW majors, CULF 1318 and ENGW 2325)
and junior or senior standing, or permission of the instructor.
Fall. 3 hours |
| |
| 4355 Senior
Seminar in English Literature |
In this course, senior literature
majors will engage in independent, in-depth analysis and research
of a literary topic, and present their findings through a
formal oral presentation and either a single long term paper
or a series of shorter, interrelated writing projects.
Course content and readings are to be determined by individual
instructors. Prerequisites: ENGL 4341 and senior standing. Spring.
3 hours |
