ENGL – English
ENGL 140 Introduction to Creative Writing (4)
A workshop course exploring the art and craft of the primary genres of creative writing, including fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Readings include contemporary and historical examples in these genres. (ART, EXP)
ENGL 160 The Literary Imagination (4)
Prerequisite: limited to first and second-year students. Introduces students to the critical concepts and vocabulary of literary study by focusing on a specific genre or topic. Designed for potential English majors as well as for all students who enjoy reading literature. Promotes the development of college-level skills in writing and critical thinking. (LP, WRT, EXP)
ENGL 180 The Reader’s Toolbox (3)
This course introduces students to various approaches to critical reading. Students will practice reading, summarizing, and responding to critical articles that reflect a variety of methods of literary study. Required for English majors. (LP, EXP)
ENGL 208 Literature for Children (3)
Prerequisite: Admission to the teacher education program or instructor’s permission. Intended for students in the teacher education program. Furnishes a background of juvenile literature through wide reading in various types of materials both classic and modern. Includes principles of evaluation, selection and presentations of material. Stresses an appreciation for good literature. Does not count toward the major.
ENGL 212 Caribbean Literature (3)
Studies contemporary writers of the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora. Emphasis on resistance and response to European colonialism and plantation slavery. Possible authors include Edwidge Danticat, George Lamming, Sam Selvon, Aimé Cesaire, Grace Nichols, Jamaica Kincaid, and Kei Miller. (LP, GPN)
ENGL 213 Literature, Environment, and Ecology (3)
Studies the literary tradition of nature as a source of inspiration for many poets, novelists, and essayists. Explores writings and films concerned with climate change and the triple bottom line of sustainability. Readings include authors such as Leopold, Carson, Kimmerer, Kingsolver, and Pollan. (LP, GS)
ENGL 214 Literature by Women (4)
Studies British and American literature by women from the Renaissance to the present. Attention to thematic and stylistic concerns of women’s literary traditions and an introduction to feminist theory. Authors might include Margaret Cavendish, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood. (LP, WRT)
ENGL 215 African-American Literature (4)
Explores the tradition of African-American writing, with an emphasis on the Harlem Renaissance to the present. Includes attention to thematic and stylistic concerns of African American literature and an introduction to critical race theory. Authors might include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Toni Morrison. (LP, GPC, WRT)
ENGL 216 LGBTQ+ Literature and Culture (3)
Examines how different genres of literature articulate LGBTQ+ experiences, intimacies, politics, and communities by undertaking close readings of plays, poetry, and fiction from the 16th century to the present. We will question how those texts stage sexuality in relation to gender, race, health, activism, economics, and kinship, aiming to understand how queer sexualities are produced both though and against these other categories of experience. (LP, GPC)
ENGL 217 Literature and Film of the Middle East (4)
Surveys the rich traditions of literature, film, music, and comics in the Modern Middle East and its diaspora. Uses a multi-media approach to study topics including the Arab Spring, Islamophobia, oil and international politics, gender and Islamic feminism, and the refugee experience. (LP, GPN, WRT)
ENGL 222 Literature for Young Adults (1)
Provides a background of literature for young adults through wide reading in various types of materials both classic and modern. Includes principles of evaluation, selection and presentations of material.
ENGL 230 Principles of Linguistics (3)
Presents the fundamentals of the science of linguistics and an overview of the major sub-fields of the discipline. The major focus is on the solution of problems in phonology and morphology, and on collateral work in areas selected with consideration for any special needs and interests of class members.
ENGL 236 The American Experiment, Origins-1890 (3)
Surveys American literature from the oral tradition through Romanticism. Major periods covered include Pre- Columbian indigenous literature, European contact with First Nations in North America, Puritan New England, the Early Republic, and American Romanticism. Representative authors include Cabeza de Vaca, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Jacobs, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. (LP)
ENGL 237 The American Experiment, 1890- Present (3)
Surveys American literature from the postbellum period to the present day. Major periods covered include Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Representative authors include Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Kate Chopin, William Faulkner, Willa Cather, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and Adrienne Rich. (LP)
ENGL 240 The Personal Essay (4)
Instruction, practice and experimentation in the art of the personal essay. Readings include both contemporary and historical examples of the form. (ART, WRT)
ENGL 241 Short Story Writing (4)
A workshop course exploring the art and craft of short story writing. Readings include stories by contemporary fiction writers. (ART, WRT)
ENGL 243 Writing Oral Histories (4)
Blends narrative techniques with fact-driven reporting. Explores both short articles and feature writing, hones interviewing and research skills, and emphasizes the importance of both note taking and revision in the writing process. Discussions emphasize selections from literary journalism and longform radio storytelling. (ART, WRT)
ENGL 244 Professional Writing (3)
Theory, principles and processes of effective communication typically encountered in business and the professions. Practice in many areas of professional communication, including letter, memo, and email correspondence; short and formal reports, and formal presentations. Best for students who have had an internship or are preparing for one. (WRT)
ENGL 246 Writing for Non-Profit Organizations (4)
Prerequisite: second- year standing. Instruction in and practice of writing designed to extend the concept of community and interrogate the notion of “service.” Students write for community organizations, social service agencies and other not-for-profit groups and associations. Note: This course does require a service-learning component. (WRT)
ENGL 251 Monsters and Monstrosity in English Literature 800-1785 (3)
Surveys major literary movements from Beowulf to the eighteenth century. Emphasis on the theme of monstrosity as it relates to politics, religion, race, gender, sexuality, disability, form, and genre. Reading list includes major authors and new additions to the literary canon as well as scholarship in medieval and early modern studies. Authors might include Chaucer, Wyatt, Sydney, Marlowe, Webster, Behn, Milton, and Equiano. (LP)
ENGL 252 The Haunted House of British Literature, 1785- present (3)
Surveys British literature from 1785 to the present with an emphasis on texts that examine the “ghosts” of Britain’s past and of Britain-yet-to-come. Possible authors include Zadie Smith, Hanif Kureishi, Salman Rushdie, Alan Moore, Virginia Woolf, Toru Dutt, Vernon Lee, and Mary Seacole. (LP)
ENGL 260 Irish Literature (3)
Studies the major literary artists in Ireland. Authors studied include Swift, Wilde, Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Heaney, Boland and McGuckian. (LP, GPN)
ENGL 270 Illness and Health in Literature (4)
Prerequisite: CIV 210 and second-year standing or 28 completed credits (sophomore standing). Emphasizes the interdependence of storytelling and science and raises questions about the human condition by exploring the roles of literature and the creative arts within medicine. Readings will include fiction, memoir, and drama. (LP, WRT, CTN)
ENGL 320 Teaching Writing (2)
Focuses on both the theory and practice of teaching writing. In addition to becoming conscious of their own writing process, students will gain practical experience in helping others to write.
ENGL 346 Discovering Shakespeare (3)
Studies Shakespeare’s major comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances. Includes background on Shakespeare’s life and times and an introduction to Shakespeare scholarship. Emphasis on oral interpretation and performance. (LP)
ENGL 361 World Literature (4)
Studies major works of world literature. Rotating reading list includes texts from the ancient world through the present day. Emphasis on writing and research. (LP, WRT)
ENGL 374 Studies in 19th Century Literature (4)
Prerequisite: Two 200-level literature courses or instructor permission. Studies major works by British Romantic and Victorian authors such as Wordsworth, Byron, P. B. and Mary Shelley, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, George Eliot and Hardy. (WRT)
ENGL 375 Studies in 20th Century Literature (4)
Prerequisite: Two 200-level literature courses or instructor permission. Studies works by major figures of 20th century literature in English such as Conrad, Joyce, Woolf, Yeats, Auden, Faulkner, O’Connor, Wright, Lessing, Pynchon, Rich, Rushdie, Gordimer, Achebe and Walcott. (WRT)
ENGL 378 Literary Topics (4)
Rotating topics in American and British Literature, repeatable for credit. Some courses might offer focused surveys of historical periods. Others might follow the genre/issue model. Topics might include Literary Histories of Race and Gender, Gender and Disorder on the Renaissance Stage, Medical Humanities, Modernism, Ethnic American Literature, Literature and Wonder, Sound and Voice in Literature, Environmental Literature, and Trans-imperial Lit and Postcolonial Theory. (LP, WRT)
ENGL 425 Seminar in Literary Studies (4)
Prerequisites: Third-year standing and at least one 300-level literature course. A specialized investigation into a specific and limited topic or major author, such as Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe; Willa Cather; Thomas Pynchon; Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison; or Ecocriticism. Each seminar will focus on the student’s critical and research abilities to produce a major analytic project.
ENGL 497 Internship in Writing (Arr)
Prerequisite: third-year standing and instructor’s permission. Available only to English majors or majors with an emphasis in writing. An applied writing experience in a business, institutional or governmental setting. Includes conferences with on-campus staff, a portfolio of work written during the internship, and evaluation by the job supervisor. Pass/No Credit basis.
ENGL 199, 299, 399, 499 Independent Studies in English (Arr)
Prerequisite: instructor’s permission. Student-defined tutorial of readings and research. Each participant will submit a proposal to the department.