Fall 2010 Courses
ENG 215-W1 Survey of African American Literature
CRN: 14231
ONLINE with Dr. Alicia Kent
This course provides an introduction to the rich and varied traditions of African American literature. We will look at literature in several genres, including novels, poetry, music, and autobiographical writing. In addition, we will examine the socio-historical context that influenced the writers whose texts we are reading. The course is arranged historically around the theme of migration. We will be examining both literal and metaphorical movement as we make our own semester-long journey. We will begin with the Middle Passage and examine representations of forced migration; then, we will examine the movement out of enslavement, the Great Migration, and the movement to attain civil rights. Finally, as our survey moves into the present, we will examine the role of the past in the present and the problems and possibilities of social change for the future.
Course Texts:
The Vintage Book of African American Poetry edited by Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walter
Vintage Books; ISBN: 0375703004
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
Dover Publications; ISBN: 0486284999
The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Waddell Chesnutt
Penguin USA; ISBN: 0140186867
Quicksand and Passing by Nella Larsen, Deborah McDowell (Editor)
Rutgers University Press; ISBN: 0813511704
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
HarperCollins; ISBN: 9780060838676 (10-digit ISBN: 0060838671)
ENG/WGS 228 Women & Literature
TR 11-12:15 p.m.
Dr. Jacqueline Zeff
This course is about heroes and survivors—American and British women writers who claim the right to write and who place women’s experiences and concerns at the center of their literary efforts. Texts include: C. Brontë, Jane Eyre (novel); V. Woolf ,A Room of One’s Own (essay); H. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (autobiography); M. Piercy, Mars and Her Children (poetry); J. Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies (novel). There will be two in-class exams, a paper, and a take-home final exam.
ENG 241-02 Introduction to Literary Analysis
CRN: 10074
Tuesday, Thursday 11 am – 12:15 pm
Dr. Alicia Kent
Ever thought about why we read literature? In this course we will read a variety of literary genres, focusing on short stories, poetry, and drama, in order to learn how to analyze literature. To this end, we will examine not only what the texts say, but how they are written, how authors choose and use words, and what effect these choices have on us. This course functions in part as a skills-based course in which you will learn methods of textual analysis, the formal elements of literary texts, and the vocabulary of literary analysis.
Throughout the semester, we will ask ourselves why we read literature, and while we may not come up with the answer, the many answers we develop will hopefully lead you to ask new questions about literature and to develop a new joy for analyzing texts of all kinds. By the end, you should emerge from this course with an expanded vocabulary of concepts for interpreting literature on the thematic and formal levels with a richer sensitivity to the nuances of literary texts and the range of questions that a literary text can pose.
Course Texts:
The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Tenth Edition. Ed. Alison Booth. W.W. Norton Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-393-93514-1
Howl. Allen Ginsberg. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1956. ISBN-10: 0872860175
ISBN-13: 978-0872860179
ENG 336: HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF RHETORIC
MW 4:00-5:15
Dr. Stephanie Roach
ENG 336 is as an introduction to rhetorical theory that surveys the history of rhetoric from the Greeks to the 20th Century. ENG 336 examines current and historical definitions of rhetoric and explores the evolution and development of some of the historical thinking about language and rhetoric that has influenced modern composition theory and practice. ENG 336 helps fulfill the “Composition Theory” requirement for those majoring in English with a Specialization in Writing but is taken by anyone interested in a historical look at how oral and written language works.
Required text:
The Rhetoric of Western Thought from the Mediterranean World to the Global Setting, 9th edition, Golden, Berquist, Coleman and Sproule. Kendall/Hunt Publishers, 2007.
Contact Dr. Stephanie Roach for additional information.
ENG 358/538 Major Novelists: Edith Wharton & Willa Cather (LT, AM)
R 4-6:45 p.m.
Dr. Jacqueline Zeff
Passion. . . Violence. . . Redemption . . . Betrayal . . . Wall Street . . . Corn Huskers . . . Independent women . . . Irresistible men. In this seminar we immerse ourselves in the fiction, essays and literary imaginations of two extraordinary American women writers who shared an intense commitment to their art, an unusually full immersion in the world of their times, enduring readability, and courageous life choices. Works by Wharton include The House of Mirth, Summer, Custom of the Country, and a few short stories. Works by Cather include My Ántonia , Song of the Lark, The Professor’s House, and a few short stories. There will be three short papers, a midterm exam, a group project, and a final paper. Graduate students will complete an additional paper or project.
ENG 374: Major Themes in American Ethnic Literature
Topic:
Lost in Space: American Immigrant Literature
TR 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Dr. Jacqueline Zeff
With the exception of those of Native American descent, we all came here from somewhere else. Some came because of “pull” factors such as seeking fortune or spiritual opportunity; others because of “push” factors such as political upheaval, religious persecution, or famine. Some came for the sheer excitement of exploration. Some came against their will and others came with their will but no legal or civil protections. This course explores the poetry, fiction, autobiography, and drama of American immigrants and their enduring contributions to the formation and meanings of our national literature. Texts include: Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth; Curran, The Parish & the Hill; Singer, Enemies: A Love Story; Yamada, Camp Notes & Other Writings; Marshall, Brown Girl, Brownstones; Santiago, When I was Puerto Rican; Alvarez, The Other Side/El Otro Lado, and Hwang, Golden Child. There will be three short papers, a midterm exam, and a final paper. Students also conduct an oral history (with guidance).
ENG 400-02 Hurston & Wright
CRN: 13565
Tuesday, Thursday 4 – 5:15 pm with Dr. Alicia Kent
Considered two of the most important American novelists of the twentieth century, Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright represent two very different approaches to literary representation. Throughout the semester, we will examine writings by both authors for the connections alongside the differences between these two writers, the places where their approaches to literature both diverge and converge. We will read these authors’ best known novels (Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Wright’s Native Son), as well as their other novels, autobiographical writings, essays, and short stories to get a sense of the many different genres, topics, and issues they explored in their careers. We will also watch some film adaptations of their works and their lives.
Course Texts:
Black Boy (American Hunger) by Richard Wright
Harperperennial Library; ISBN: 0060929782
Uncle Tom’s Children by Richard Wright
Perennial; ISBN: 0060812516
Native Son and “How ‘Bigger’ Was Born” by Richard Wright
HarperCollins; ISBN: 006053348X
A Father’s Law by Richard Wright
Harper Perennial; ISBN-13: 978-0061349164
Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
HarperCollins; ISBN: 0060921684
Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; ISBN-13: 978-0061350191
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
HarperCollins (paper); ISBN: 0060931418
The Complete Stories by Zora Neale Hurston
Perennial; ISBN: 0060921714
ENG 500 English Studies: Issues and Methods
Mixed-mode: M 5:30-8:15 (selected) and online
Professor Tom Foster
If you want to know who we are and what we do, this course will tell you. Through presentations and workshops with various members of the English Department, you will engage with the issues and research methods of the several disciplines that come under the heading of “English Studies.” From the role of biography in literary criticism to linguistic primary data collection, this course will give students the opportunity to discover trends in the field and to carry out research projects in fields both familiar and new to them. Required of all candidates for the Master of Arts in English degree.
ENG 525 British Literature since 1800: Dickens (LT, BR)
W 5:30-8:15
Professor Steve Bernstein
Charles Dickens (1812-70) is one of the greatest English novelists. From impoverished beginnings he rose to the height of celebrity, exercising impressive business savvy along with his incredible creative gifts. His fourteen novels explore vast worlds of experience, and several of his characters are recognized even by those who have never read his work. In this course we will read and study a small but representative group of Dickens’s novels, along with criticism about them and relevant literary theory, to better understand his themes, techniques, and lasting importance. This will be a weekly, face to face class with a Blackboard Course Companion; work will include papers, presentations, and a substantial reading load.
ENG 534 American Drama (LT, AM)
T 7:00-9:45
Professor Lauren Friesen
The course will focus on the development of theatre in the United States. Lectures and readings will cover plays and their historical contexts from the colonial era up to the contemporary age. The major project for the course will be a paper on a selected theatre topic.
ENG 549 History of the English Language (LN)
R 5:30-8:15
Mr. John Pendell
ENG 562 Creative Writing Workshop: Fiction—The State of the Field (WR)
M 5:30-8:15
Professor Stephanie Carpenter
This workshop-style course is intended to help you grow as a writer and reader of short fiction through intensive study of published works and practice in story-writing. An additional goal of this course is to familiarize you more closely with literary magazines and journals. These publications are the launching pads for many writers’ careers; they are important showcases of new voices and issues in contemporary fiction. In order to develop a stronger sense of the state of the field, we will examine last year’s Best American Short Stories anthology, and each student will prepare a short presentation about a literary magazine of his or her choosing. Craft essays from Writing Fiction will serve as frameworks for our discussions of published and student fiction. Each student will workshop two full-length stories over the course of the semester.
ENG 563 Seminar in Collaborative Writing Theory and Practice (WR, TH)
TR 12:30-1:45
Professor Jacob Blumner
ENG 590 Directed Study
Staff (arrange)
ENG 591 Independent Scholarship Experience
Staff (arrange)
AMC 501 The Mind of America
Thursday 5:30-8:15
Professor Mike Kassel
AMC 503 The American Character
W 5:30-8:15
Dr. Jan Furman
This course asks two questions: In what ways is our national identity dynamic and evolving and what are its enduring main currents? Our study will be both historical and thematic as we trace the development of an American character.
LIN 520, Linguistics for Teachers (LN)
Mixed-mode: online and selected Mondays 5:30PM-8:15PM
Dr. Annemarie Toebosch
Key question: How can learning about linguistics enhance your work in the classroom?
Course components:
- Reviewing linguistic systems: syntax, semantics, morphology, phonetics, and phonology
- Exploring sources of language variation in a classroom:
- Standard and non-standard grammars including African American English
- Limited English Proficiency students (learning English as a Second Language)
- Gender differences
- Applying linguistics to the teaching of writing, literature and grammar Examining language policy issues faced by schools.
EDR 543 Foundations of Literacy (TH)
W 5:30-8:15
Dr. Suzanne Knezek (EDU)