English Department
Spring 2010 Upper-Level Classes
English 300 (CRN#: 10790): Introduction to the Major, Kathy King, MW 2:00-3:15 p.m., Comer 204.
This class is a prerequisite for all other classes in the major. It should be taken no later than a student’s junior year and is best taken before the junior year begins. The class is an introduction to how to read, write, and research in English studies that emphasizes close reading in a variety of contexts. Students will learn: how to use the basic vocabulary of the English major (critical terms and definitions); how to recognize and use some critical theory; how to use the library and electronic databases to do research in the major; how to produce written responses to literary texts that involve close reading, the use of secondary sources, and strong, unambiguous arguments. Literary texts will include Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year and selected short poems. Secondary works include Barry, Beginning Theory and Harmon/Holman, A Handbook to Literature. There are 2 major papers in the class, an OED assignment, presentations, research assignments, and at least 2 annotated bibliographies.
English 305 (CRN#: 10791): Introduction to the Study of British and American Literature I, Stephanie Batkie, TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Comer 206.
The goal of this series is to provide students with an introduction to the thematic range and the historical development of literature in English, from its beginnings to the present day. This course specifically will focus on the earliest period of that literature and will investigate the interactions between literature and the history of knowledge, culture, and society in the years before 1660. At the completion of the course, students will have a working understanding of the principal genres and authors of each period, as well as a view to how literature is a component of and a response to historical events and shifts.
English 306 (CRN#: 10792): Introduction to the Study of British and American Literature II, Glenda Weathers, TR 2:00-3:15 p.m., Comer 304.
This course, required of English majors, provides a survey of major American and British literary texts. We begin with the Separatists who settled in the New World in 1620; we subsequently trace the development of an American literature and American identity to 1865. We then turn our attention to major British literary periods, 1660-1865: Restoration and Augustan Periods, Age of Sensibility, Romantic Period, and Victorian Period. Emphasis will be on major trends, influential writers, and changing perceptions of gender, religion, nature, and sexuality. Prerequisite: ENG 300
Required Texts:Damrosch, Longman Anthology of British Literature. Volumes 1C, 2A, and 2 B. 3rd edition. (Please note: Over the course of the sequence (305, 306, 307) you will need all six volumes of the Longman Anthology. Beginning students will save money in the long run by buying all books at once in the two 3-volume shrink-wrapped sets. Students who have completed 305 will not need 1A or 1 B).
Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volumes A & B. 7th edition.Harmon and Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th edition.
English 307 (CRN#: 10793): Introduction to the Study of British and American Literature III, Lee Rozelle, TR 12:30-1:45 p.m., Comer 304.
A survey course required of all English majors, English 307 covers major authors and pivotal works in British and American literature of the late 19th century and the 20th century. Course objectives include familiarizing students with relevant texts, contexts, and current critical paradigms. Students will take two tests, write two papers, and offer presentations with handouts.
Required Texts:Longman Anthology of British Literature 3rd ed. (V2:B & V2:C)
ISBN : 0321333950ISBN : 0321333969
Norton Anthology of American Literature 7th ed. (Set:VC/VD/VE)ISBN : 0393929949
English 320 (CRN#: 10832): Studies in World Literature, Rosa Stoops, TR 9:30-10:45 a.m., Comer 102.
An introduction to the major works and authors of the French Literary tradition from the 16th century (François Rabelais and Michel de Montaigne ), 17th century (Moliere and Voltaire), and the 19th (Victor Hugo in prose and Charles Baudelaire in poetry) as well as a study of the literary movements and forms that these authors represent. The course is taught in English and literary works will be read in English translation. Cross-listed with FRN 320. 3 credit hours.
English 361 (CRN#: 10795): Creative Writing, Bryn Chancellor, MW 2:00 – 3:15 p.m., Comer 307.
This course is the first installment in a two-part sequence available in creative writing. In this course, we will explore multiple genres, including poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The heart of this course is the act of writing, assignments that will help writers cultivate their vision and develop their techniques, from the initial shadowy impulses to the shapelier, more polished outcomes. We will study the craft elements involved in poetry and prose (e.g. description, characterization, point of view, plot, theme, narrative structure) and read several contemporary poems, short stories, and essays that exemplify these elements. Another core part of this class is the workshop—the analysis and discussion of works-in-progress, which allows us to see work from new perspectives and to help each other recognize possibilities during the complex writing process. For workshop, students will present two original poems and one short story; additionally, they will write one memoir piece and a short analytical paper on an element of craft. Writers at all levels of experience are welcome. No prior workshop experience is required, though an appreciation of contemporary literary writing is strongly encouraged. May be repeated for credit.
English 405/505 (CRN#: 10796/10805): Studies in One or Two Authors: Vonnegut in Retrospect, Again, Paul Mahaffey, MWF 1:00-1:50 p.m., Comer 206.
The most unforgettable American novelist shattered the tenuous barrier between illusion and reality, and in the process, individualistic relevancy in the material world mattered no longer. Just ask Billy Pilgrim who became unstuck in time and realized that death is only a momentary stop during the epic journey known as the human condition. Or call Eliot Rosewater in the middle of the night and let him tell you how he failed in his attempt to use his family’s class status and money to fuel his monumental quest to know, but most importantly, love, people. Or have a seat in a dark hotel bar and listen to Kilgore Trout who learned that success is not found in the wealth you attained from your literary talent. It is found in the disruption and irreparable destruction you caused in the farce called life. If these individuals don’t satisfy your curiosity about their creator, friend and nemesis, Kurt Vonnegut, come and listen to, among others, Rabo Karabekian, Howard W. Campbell Jr., Malachi Constant, Eugene Debs Hartke, and Walter F. Starbuck as they offer their unique perspectives on both Vonnegut and the delightful but dysfunctional worlds he has created for them. You can find them hanging out in The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Timequake, Bluebeard, Jailbird, Hocus Pocus, Look at the Birdie and Armageddon in Retrospect.
English 411 (CRN#: 10830): Studies in Drama: Shakespeare and Original Practices, Nick Crawford, Wednesday nights, 5:00-7:30 p.m., Comer 308.
This course combines literary study, theatrical practice, and historical research, and pays the same attention to Shakespeare’s stagecraft that traditional courses pay to his words. Students will explore how Shakespearean dramaturgy functioned in both the outdoor and indoor theaters of his day. Classes will often employ a hands-on, exploratory, performance-based approach combined with literary study and the scholarly historicizing of original stage practices. Selected plays will serve as examples of what we know and what we can guess about their first lives on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage. We will also take a look at the transmission processes by which these plays have gone back and forth from playhouse to printing house, and through generations of editorial emendations of dialogue and stage directions, which often unwittingly superimpose a conception of theatrical practice more reflective of the editors’ time than of Shakespeare’s. The purpose of this course is not to excavate and enshrine museum-piece theater, but rather to recover an original vitality—often lost in modern theatrical re-conceptions of Shakespearean drama—and to comprehend not just the verbal medium but the theatrical means of Shakespeare’s art. There are ten seats available to Honors students and ten seats available to English majors. Please note that this course is NOT cross-listed as a graduate course. And please note that NO theater or acting experience is required or expected (but would of course be welcome!) Cross-listed with Honors 309.
Short stories were one of America’s first literary exports; indeed, such short story writers as Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne were widely translated, admired, and imitated in Europe. In this course, we will briefly focus on the history and characteristics of short fiction, then examine outstanding short stories by American writers from 1800 to the present. Among writers we will study are Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, James, Wharton, Cather, Crane, London, Anderson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, O’Connor, Welty, Faulkner, Wright, Cheever, Updike, Carver, Walker, and others—a host of writers who entertain, excite, surprise, and haunt us by means of the deliberate artistry that informs the short story genre.
Required Text:
Hitchcock and Kouidis, eds. American Short Stories. 8th edition, 2008.ISBN 978-0-321-48489-5.
We will also need to secure copies of stories (not included in the purchased text) from a variety of sources—borrowing, xeroxing, etc. These additional requirements will be announced in class.
English 423/523 (CRN#: 10798/10807): Saints and Sinners in Medieval Literature, Stephanie Batkie, Tuesday nights, 5:00-7:30 p.m., Comer 208.
What did it mean to be a “good person” in Middle Ages? What happened if you were? If you weren’t? How can we understand how people wrote about religion, politics, and family when they lived so long ago? And is it even possible? This class will introduce these questions, and others, as we try to reconstruct an idea of what it was like to read some of the very first texts written in English. Together we will examine the good, the bad, and the ugly characters that populate medieval English poems and stories. Beginning in Anglo-Saxon England, we will progress up through the 14th century, noting how the passage of time and changes of genre effect what is virtuous and what is not. In addition to literary analysis, this course will also serve as an introduction to the language of texts we read so that, by the end of the semester, students will have a solid working knowledge of Middle English.
English 439/539 (CRN#: 10799/10808): Special Topics in the Literature of a Region, Culture, or Period: Seditious Literature of the 1790s, Samantha Webb, TR 12:30-1:45 p.m., Comer 302.
The 1790s was one of the most turbulent decades in English history. With the French Revolution spreading “rights of man” rhetoric over the channel, the English government hunkered down to arrest traitorous writers and censor seditious books. In such a repressive, paranoid atmosphere, literature can’t help but flourish -- and it did. The decade saw the stirrings of the radical literary movement known as Romanticism, and arguably gave birth to our own modern notions of liberty, individualism and political action. This class will look at the “seditious” literature written in response to this government repression—poems, novels, essays and some political ephemera. We’ll divide our readings into broad controversy categories: the French Revolution and the Rights of Man (and Woman); the abolition of the slave trade; working-class literacy; gothic pornography. Our readings will likely include: William Godwin’s Caleb Williams; Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman; Amelia Opie’s Adeline Mowbray; various poems on the slave trade; Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads; Charlotte Dacre’s deliciously subversive gothic thriller, Zofloya.
English 452/552 (CRN#: 10800/10809): Studies in Critical Theory, Steve Forrester, TR 9:30-10:45 a.m., Comer 309.
This course weaves together two realms of theorizing about the nature of literary art. The first realm is traditional literary theory which endeavors to explain the many facets of what it is to ‘read’ a text. This realm poses questions like: how do texts mean what they mean? How is meaning constructed? How do authors communicate meaning to an audience? The range of literary theorists covered in the course is vast, from ancient and medieval figures such as Aristotle, Longinus and Dante to 19th century theorists like Freud, Marx and Nietzsche to more contemporary thinkers such as Foucault, Barthes and De Man. The second realm of thought is the philosophy of literature. Philosophers working in this area do not focus solely on meaning and texts but also consider more generalized questions about the nature of fiction. For instance, can a fiction communicate truth (given that, by definition, a fiction is pretense)? Is there a sense in which fictional characters can be said to exist in reality? Why, and how, do we emotionally engage with fictions and fictional characters when we know full well that they do not exist? The philosophers covered in this part of the course are all contemporary, such as Kendall Walton, Amie Thomasson, Peter Van Inwagen, and Peter Lamarque. Cross-listed with Phil 300.
English 461/561 (CRN#: 10801/10810): Advanced Creative Writing (Poetry), Jim Murphy, TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Comer 307.
This course is the second installment in a two-part sequence available in creative writing at UM. The focus for this term’s 461/561 course will be poetry writing and the study of poetics. Close attention will be paid to the complementary processes of writing and reading poems. From idea generation and development, to drafting, critiquing, and revising, then finally to sharing finished work with the community at a public class reading, we’ll explore several sides of the creative process. And though writing and workshopping original poems will be the top priorities in this course, we’ll also increase our practical understanding of the traditions of poetry in English through exploring John Hollander’s Rhyme’s Reason, and through an in-depth engagement with the efforts of a recent American master: Charles Simic. We’ll also consider what we find in the most recent edition of The Best American Poetry anthology, edited by David Wagoner. Graduate students will be held to a higher standard of performance in every phase of the course, and will be responsible for leading a class discussion on the work of a contemporary literary poet of their choice. PREREQUISITE: English 361 or consent of instructor. This course may be repeated for credit.Shared texts for the class will include: John Hollander's Rhyme's Reason, The Best American Poetry 2009 edited by David Wagoner, Charles Simic's The Voice at 3:00 a.m.: Selected Late and New Poems, and Simic's The Renegade: Writings on Poetry and a Few Other Things.
English 472/572 (CRN#: 10802/10811): Literature of Plural America: Contemporary Latino/a Literature, Bryn Chancellor, TR 3:30-4:45 p.m., Comer 204.
This course begins with the understanding that Latino/a literature is American literature produced by writers inculcated with the U.S. experience, self-identifying as Latino/as and writing in English. We will read, discuss, present, and write about prose and poetry by authors primarily of Mexican, Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent writing in the United States, exploring the dynamism of a literature that crosses and re-crosses borders constructed by geography, linguistics, class, race, and gender. The course is designed to accommodate a range of voices that reveal the diversity within the diversity of Latino/a literature, histories, and experiences. Texts will include Julia Alvarez’s How the García Girls Lost their Accents, Oscar Casares’ Brownsville, Joy Castro’s The Truth Book, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Judith Ortiz Cofer’s The Latin Deli, Junot Díaz’s The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, and Lorraine López’s The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters, as well as critical perspectives from Gloria Anzaldúa, Richard Rodriguez, Gustav Pérez Firmat, and Juan Flores, among others. In addition to quizzes, exams, response papers, and a presentation on a text, students will be required to write an intertextual analysis and a research paper. Graduate students will be held to more rigorous standards in every phase of the course.
English 485 (CRN#: 10803): Senior Seminar: Shakespeare and the Question of Literary Value, Nick Crawford, TR 2:00-3:15 p.m., Comer 307.
What’s so great about Shakespeare? Or for that matter, what’s so great about any literary figure or work? How and why do we confer value on a piece of literature or author? What do we mean when we say a work has “value”? That it is aesthetically pleasing? Emotionally compelling? That we think it serves some sort of ameliorative function in the world? That it reaffirms our sense of the world and makes us feel good? Or, conversely, that it serves “as an axe for the frozen sea within us,” as Kafka would have it? In what measure is our determination of value tied to economics? Politics? Simply a function of received ideas? To what extent is our notion of literary worth tied up with the values the work seems to represent and the degree to which those values are consonant with, or contrary to, our own? This seminar will use the most lauded writer in the language to ask these basic (and endless) questions about literature and our relationship to it. By pursuing this line of inquiry we can start to understand a.) what is so special (or not) about what Shakespeare does; b.) the factors involved in shaping and changing tastes and canons; c.) how we ourselves go about evaluating a piece of writing, including our own. These questions should prove worthwhile—dare I say, valuable?—for all students, teachers, and future teachers of literature and writing. Requirements include a short paper, presentations, quizzes, seminar paper, and the MFAT exam (note: MFAT results are independent of course grade).
English 489 (CRN#: 10840): Selected Topics in Literature and Language: Creativity: Actions, Artefacts & Them Apples, Graeme Harper, MW 3:30-4:45 p.m., Hill House.
This course will actively consider what happens when we create things, and how we’ve placed in context (historically and culturally) the acts and actions of human creation. The aim of the course is to explore creative knowledge and critical understanding. There will be both creative and critical work involved in doing the course – in fact, the relationship between creative endeavour and critical understanding will be the core here. The creative work will involve Creative Writing; the critical work will involve thinking, discussing, investigating, and writing about the nature of critical understanding. Two primary papers will be required for assessment, combining creative and critical knowledge. Cross-listed with Honors 300 and Phil 465. This course is a 3 credit hour course; please Tonja to register for it.
English 590 (CRN#: 10804): Graduate Seminar: Twentieth-Century Irish Poetry, Betsy Inglesby, Wednesday nights, 5:00-7:30 p.m., New Residence Hall room 100.
“Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.” -- W.B. Yeats
This graduate-level course considers the voices of Irish poets, both major and minor, from the modern period to the present, against the backdrop of political and cultural forces that have helped to shape Ireland’s particular poetic contributions in the twentieth century. We will explore poems by William Butler Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Louis MacNeice, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Derek Mahon, and Paul Muldoon, among others, and examine in detail the critical response to their works.
Humanities 400 Internship, Nick Crawford.
Humanities 400 is a for-credit Internship Program available to students majoring in humanities disciplines, who wish to have a work world experience that draws upon their training in their major field. Typically, interns will have completed their junior year of studies. The amount of credit awarded will depend upon the number of hours worked and the kind of responsibility entailed by the internship. Typically, one hour’s academic credit will be awarded for a minimum of thirty hours of work at the work-site, up to a maximum of six hours of elective credit. The Internship Director in consultation with the Chair of the English Department will determine the amount of credit and the appropriateness of the work-site assignment.You will need Dr. Crawford’s permission to do this internship.