Course Descriptions, Fall 2007

Class Numbers are included in parentheses following the course number and are followed, when applicable, by the previous course catalogue number.

1330-001+ (2688) [1320]. THE WORLD OF SHAKESPEARE. 10 MWF. Hyer Hall 100. Mr. Neel.
Introductory study of nine major plays, including comedies, histories, tragedies, and occasionally romances, with background material on biographical, cultural, historical, and literary topics. Lectures include taped professional performances of scenes; required or recommended viewing of selected performances on stage, film, and television. Writing assignments: frequent quizzes, two one-hour essay tests, final examination. Enrollment limit: 95.

Texts: Bevington’s Complete Works of Shakespeare & Arp’s Synopses of the Plays

1365-001+# (5639) [1365]. LITERATURE OF MINORITIES. 9 MWF. 115 Dallas Hall. Ms. Satz.
A study of outstanding and representative works of African American, Chicano, Asian American, Disability, and Gay and Lesbian literature, both in their immediate cultural context and against the background of the larger American culture. Such issues as self-perception, alienation, clashes of world-view, and the social construction of whiteness will serve as unifying themes. Writing assignments: one essay, a series of one-page journal entries, mid-term, final examination.
Enrollment limit: 55.

Texts: Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying; Kuusisto, The Planet of the Blind; Lahiri, The Namesake; Mora, Communion; selected short stories and essays.

2302-001 (5641) [2302]. BUSINESS WRITING. 12:30 TTh. G18 Clements. Ms. Tongate.

This course introduces students to business and professional communication, including a variety of writing and speaking tasks, and the observation and practice of rhetorical strategies, discourse conventions, and ethical standards associated with workplace culture. The course includes much active learning, which means students will attend events on campus and off and will conduct a detailed field research project at a worksite. The course meets in a computer lab, and may not be counted toward requirements for the English major. Writing assignments: summaries, analyses, evaluations, letters, reports, memoranda, and individual and collaborative research reports, both oral and written.
Enrollment limit: 15.

Texts: Van Rys, Meyer, Sebranek, The Business Writer; Trimmer, A Guide to MLA Documentation; Pelton & True, Business Ethics: Perspectives on Corporate Responsibility. (All three texts are shrink-packed.) Additional texts to be placed on reserve or distributed in class.

2302-002 (5644) [2302]. BUSINESS WRITING. 2 TTh. G16 Clements. Ms. Jackman.
This course introduces students to business and professional communication, including a variety of writing and speaking tasks, and the observation and practice of rhetorical strategies, discourse conventions, and ethical standards associated with workplace culture. The course includes much active learning, which means students will attend events on campus and off and will conduct a detailed field research project at a worksite. The course meets in a computer lab, and may not be counted toward requirements for the English major. Writing assignments: summaries, analyses, evaluations, letters, reports, memoranda, and individual and collaborative research reports, both oral and written.
Enrollment limit: 15.

Texts: Kolin, Philip C. Successful Writing at Work. 8^th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Additional texts to be placed on Blackboard, on reserve at Fondren Library, or distributed in class.

2311-001 (3353) [2305]. POETRY. 10 MWF. 120 Dallas Hall. Ms. Key.
Introduction to the study of poetry and how it works, examining a wide range of poems by English and American writers. Special attention to writing about literature. Writing assignments: occasional exercises; three essays; two hour tests.
Enrollment limit: 20.

2311-701 (5645) [2305]. INTRODUCTION TO POETRY. 6:30 MW. 105 Dallas Hall. Mr. Bozorth.

Introduction to the study of poetry and how it works, examining a wide range of poems by English and American writers. Special attention to writing about literature. Writing assignments: shorter and longer analytical assignments, totaling twenty pages; midterm; final examination.
Enrollment limit: 20.

Texts: Poems, Poets, Poetry, 2d edition, ed. Helen Vendler; Easy Writer, ed. Andrea Lunsford.

2312-001+ (2691) [2306]. FICTION: FROM SHORT STORY TO NOVEL. 9:30 TTh. 137 Dallas Hall. Mr. Murfin.

This course will introduce narrative fiction by looking at three of its sub-genres: the short story, the novella, and the novel. Because many great fiction writers have written in two or even all three of these forms—and because they have adapted the same themes and strategies to fit the constraints or exploit the opportunities characteristic of the sub-genre in which they were working--we will study Nathaniel Hawthorne’s best-known stories (collected in The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories) and novel (The Scarlet Letter), followed by Joseph Conrad’s most famous story (”The Secret Sharer”) and novella (Heart of Darkness), concluding with Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , a novelistic compilation of narratives that involves the rearrangement of story (defined in The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms as “a narrative of events ordered chronologically”) into a complex, a chronological plot. Theories regarding narrative fiction--including elements such as story and plot, first and third person point of view, direct and indirect discourse, and the overlap between sub-genres (including between story, tale, fable, and allegory)--will be introduced and applied along the way. Three 4-6 page papers four to six in-class quizzes, one cumulative final exam.
Enrollment limit: 22.

Texts: The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne; The Secret Sharer, Heart of Darkness, Conrad; Wuthering Heights, Brontë; and other texts TBA.

A survey of major modes and period styles of prose fiction from about the beginning of the century before last to the present. We shall begin with a contemporary dark fantasy and end with a postmodern quest novel. In between, we shall focus on stories in the Gothic vein. Writing assignments: four short essays, mid-term, final examination.
Enrollment limit: 20.

Texts: Gaiman, American Gods; Pynchon, Vineland; Oates, ed., American Gothic Tales.

2314-001H+ (3105). DOING THINGS WITH POEMS. 11 TTh. 138 Dallas Hall. Ms. Newman.
Introduction to the study of poems, poets, and how poetry works, focusing on a wide range of English and American writers. Writing assignments: several short essays totaling about 15 pages, distributed evenly across the semester; frequent short exercises; two short in-class presentations, mid-term, final examination.

Texts: Vendler, Poems, Poets, Poetry; Hollander, Rhyme’s Reason; M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms (optional).

2315-001 (3836). INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY. 11 TTh. 107 Hyer Hall. Ms. Siraganian.

Introduction to the discipline for beginning English majors, covering methods of literary analysis in selected texts spanning a range of genres and historical periods. Writing assignments: brief weekly exercises, four essays, mid-term, final examination.
Enrollment limit: 20.

Texts: Baldick, Oxford Book of Literary Terms; Poe, “Murders in the Rue Morgue”; Austen, Emma; Heckerling, Clueless; Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Shakespeare, As You Like It; selected poetry and short stories available online and in handouts.

2315-002 (3837). INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY. 12:30 TTh. 337 Dallas Hall. Mr. Foster.
Introduction to the discipline for beginning English majors, covering methods of literary analysis in selected texts spanning a range of genres and historical periods. Writing assignments: brief weekly exercises, four essays, mid-term, final examination.

2315-003 (3969) INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY. 2 TTH. 337 Dallas Hall. Mr. Weisenburger.

Introduction to the discipline for English majors, covering methods of literary analysis in selected texts spanning a range of genres and historical periods. Writing assignments: brief weekly exercises, four essays, mid-term, final examination.

Texts: Holman & Harmon, A Handbook to Literature; William Shakespeare, The Tempest; Nathanael Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter; James Joyce, Dubliners; Robert Lowell, Life Studies & For the Union Dead; Toni Morrison, Beloved.

2361-701+ (5651) [2328]. FORTUNE, FAME AND SCANDAL: THE LITERATURE OF SUCCESS IN AMERICA. 6:30 T. 106 Dallas Hall. Mr. Lewis.

As a "self-made nation," America has generated a variety of myths about the relation of work, luck, and character to one another and to the attainment of desired ends such as wealth, power, prominence or celebrity, inner satisfaction and peace. This course looks chronologically at American texts on success and its sometimes more interesting counterpart failure, starting from the "self-help" advice of Benjamin Franklin and continuing through a series of novels, memoirs, and films exploring these themes in business, politics, sports, and show business. Lecture-discussion format with graded group student presentations. Writing assignments: three short essays; mid-term; final examination.
Enrollment limit: 25.

Texts: Franklin, The Autobiography and other writings; Melville, Israel Potter; Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham; Washington, Up From Slavery; Asinof, Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series; Malamud, The Natural; Leaming, Marilyn Monroe; Hamilton, JFK: Reckless Youth.

2391-001 (2983) [2391]. INTRODUCTORY POETRY WRITING. 11 TTh. 120 Dallas Hall. Mr. Myers.

A workshop in which student poetry and directed exercises in basic techniques form the content of the course. Open to everyone, regardless of background and experience in poetry. Emphasis on contemporary poetry. Writing assignments: 12-15 poems, along with journaling and annotations on books read.
Enrollment limit: 15.

Texts: Myers & Weingarten, New American Poets of the 90s; Myers, The Portable Poetry Workshop.

2391-002 (5657) [2391]. INTRODUCTORY POETRY WRITING. 1 MWF. 137 Dallas Hall. Ms. Key.

2392-001 (3478) [2392]. INTRODUCTORY FICTION WRITING. 3 MW. 106 Hyer Hall. Ms. Key.

2392-002 (3479) [2392]. INTRODUCTORY FICTION WRITING. 3 MW. 351 Dallas Hall. Mr. Haynes.
A beginning workshop in theory and technique, and the writing of fiction. Writing assignments: class exercises, writing and rewriting short stories.

2392-003 (4064) [2392]. INTRODUCTORY FICTION WRITING. 12:30 TTh. 138 Dallas Hall. Mr. Smith.
A beginning workshop in theory and technique, and writing of fiction. Writing assignments: various class exercises, writing and rewriting short stories.

Texts: Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, ed. by Cassill and Oates; Letters From the Horse Latitudes, C.W. Smith

3310-001 (2692) [3304]. CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO LITERATURE, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE. 3 MW. 337 Dallas Hall. Ms. Schwartz.

What is literature? How do we read it, and why? What counts as "literature"? How can students make sense of and make use of literary criticism? This course addresses these questions by introducing the linguistic, cultural, and theoretical issues informing contemporary literary discourse, as well as by studying some literary texts and contemporary interpretations of them. Lecture and discussion. Writing assignments: three short papers (3-5 pages); slightly longer final paper; occasional informal writing assignments; final examination.

Texts: Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction; selected works of poetry and criticism.

3310-002 (2693) [3304]. CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO LITERATURE, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE. 9:30 TTh. 351 Dallas Hall. Mr. Householder.

What is literature? How do we read it, and why? How can students make sense of and use literary criticism? This course introduces linguistic, cultural, and theoretical issues informing contemporary literary discourse and applies a variety of contemporary critical approaches to a few literary texts. Writing assignments: three essays, weekly exercises, final examination.

Texts: Richter, The Critical Tradition; Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby ; Joyce, The Dead; Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians; plus additional essays and poems.

3320-701+^ (5660) [3321]. TOPICS IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. 5-6:20 TTh. 156 Dallas Hall.

Ms. Wheeler.
English literature from its beginnings to the advent of printing. Study of epic, romance, drama, lyric poetry, and visionary writings. Among the subjects: warriors, dragons, knights, students, madmen and madwomen, God, true lovers, fools. Among the authors: the same, except for the dragons. Writing assignments: short essays, mid-term, final examination.

Texts: Beowulf and shorter Old English poems (in translation); selected Middle English Lyrics; selected plays; The Romance of Havelock, Sir Orfeo, Julian of Norwich; selections from The Book of Margery Kempe; selections from Le Morte d'Arthur.

3331-001+ (3470) [3305]. BRITISH LITERARY HISTORY I: CHAUCER TO POPE. 11 MWF. 343 Dallas Hall. Mr. Rosendale.

Introduction to the major works, writers, issues, and periods of earlier English literature (c. 800-1750), with careful attention to close reading and analysis of texts. We will also attend to the political, religious, and social history in which these texts were written, and to which they responded in complex ways. Authors covered include Chaucer, Langland, Kempe, More, Spenser, Sidney, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Lanyer, Donne, Herbert, Milton, Dryden, Swift, and Pope. Writing assignments: three or four short essays, mid-term, final examination.

3340-001+ (3945). TOPICS IN BRITISH LITERATURE: AGE OF REVOLUTIONS. 12:30 TTh. 101 Dallas Hall. Mr. Murfin.

As a way of considering British Literature in the Age of Revolutions, we will focus on a diverse set of novels whose atypical heroes hail from the working class or even the "under" class (consisting of the nonworking poor). Beginning with Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist and proceeding to Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, we will go on to discuss George Eliot's Adam Bede and two works by Thomas Hardy: Far from the Madding Crowd and Jude the Obscure. Additionally, we may read a sixth novel, either by Benjamin Disraeli or Elizabeth Gaskell. Two papers plus a cumulative final exam.

Texts: Oliver Twist, Dickens; Wuthering Heights, Brontë; Adam Bede, Eliot; Far from the Madding Crowd, Jude the Obscure, Hardy; and other texts TBA.

3360-001+ (5661). TOPICS IN MODERN/CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE: AMERICAN POETRY FROM 1900-1945. 2 TTh. 351 Dallas Hall. Ms. Siraganian.

Do modern poems have meaning, and if so, how do we value them? How do readers relate to a poem, and how do poems relate to other objects or pieces of art in the world? This intensive study of American poetry from the first half of the twentieth century examines these questions, paying special attention to the concept of modernism and its relation to cultural and philosophical movements during this period. Although our focus will be on poets such as Eliot, Pound, Frost, Stein, Williams, Stevens, Moore, and Hughes, we also will think about their work in relation to art (Picasso's paintings, Duchamp's found objects, photographs) and other sorts of "things" (waste paper, insurance tables, historical artifacts). Writing assignments: three essays, weekly exercises, final examination.
Enrollment limit: 24.

3362-001+# (4060) [3367]. AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE. 3 MW. 101 Dallas Hall. Ms. Ards.

This course traces the evolution of African American literature from the moment of cultural encounter in the eighteenth century to contemporary “post-Soul” aesthetics. Through a range of genres (novels, short stories, poetry, essays, plays, and criticism), we will explore works by leading cultural figures, as well as lesser-known pioneers, paying close attention to the way authors build on, or depart from, earlier styles and conventions. We will move constantly between identifying the significance of these texts within the literary history and interpreting writers’ narrative choices as they engage in critical debates about the nature and role of African American literature, as well as cultural ones about identity and community, citizenship and nation. Requirements: Weekly and in-class writing; two short papers (5-7pp and 6-8pp), and a final essay exam.

Texts: The Norton Anthology, 2^nd Edition, ed. Nellie Y. McKay; Toni Morrison, Beloved; Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist.

3363-701+# (3946) [3371]. CHICANA/CHICANO LITERATURE. 6:30 W. 142 Dallas Hall. Ms. Bost.

This course will introduce a variety of perspectives by Chicana and Chicano writers, emphasizing diversity rather than some presumably shared “Chicano experience.” We will compare and contrast different representations of Chicana/o identity, paying particular attention to language, literary form, race, gender, nation, sexuality, landscape, and (im)migration. Some knowledge of Spanish will be helpful to students but is not required. Writing assignments: brief weekly exercises, three essays, final examination.

Texts: González, Dew on the Thorn; Paredes, With His Pistol in His Hand; Villarreal, Pocho; Acosta, Revolt of the Cockroach People; Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera; Valdéz, Zoot Suit; Hinojosa, Klail City; Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek; Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus; selected poems and essays.

3367-001C (5662) [3349] (Cross-listed as CF 3364). ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. 11 MWF. 116 Dallas Hall. Ms. Satz.
An opportunity to revisit childhood favorites and to make new acquaintances, armed with the techniques of cultural and literary criticism. Examination of children's literature from an ethical perspective, particularly notions of morality and evil, with emphasis upon issues of colonialism, race, ethnicity, gender, and class. Writing assignments: four essays, final examination.

Texts: “Snow White,” accompanied by critical essays; picture books such as Where the Wild Things Are, The Giving Tree, Amazing Grace, Curious George, Babar; chapter books for young children such as Wilder, Little House on the Prairie; White, Charlotte’s Web; Erdrich, Game of Silence; books for young adults such as L’Engle, Wrinkle in Time; Johnson, Toning the Sweep; Kadohata, Kira-Kira;and one adult book, Morrison, The Bluest Eye.

3377-701+# (5663) [3358]. LITERATURE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOMOSEXUALITY.
6:30 T. 111 Hyer Hall. Mr. Bozorth.

Normal, perverted, evil, spiritual, unhealthy, beautiful, backward, revolutionary: all are words that have been applied to same-sex desire and love for thousands of years. The course will focus on some of the most important literature by and about lesbian and gay people since the modern "invention" of homosexuality. It will also set this writing in historical context, considering the ongoing influence of ancient Greek and biblical views of sexuality. Finally, it will examine how AIDS has shaped contemporary writings about homosexuality. Writing assignments: weekly response papers and longer essays, totaling twenty pages; final examination.
Enrollment limit: 30.

Texts: Plato, Symposium; selections from the Bible and the writings of St. Augustine; Shakespeare, Sonnets; Freud, selected essays; Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Portrait of Mr. W.H., Salome; Hall, The Well of Loneliness; Merlis, An Arrow's Flight; Vogel, Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays; selected poems by Auden, Owen, Whitman, Rich, Stein, Ginsberg, and others.

3382-001 (5678) [3325]. HEROIC VISIONS: THE EPIC POETRY OF HOMER AND VERGIL. 2 TTh. 204 Hyer Hall. Mr. Holahan.

3383-001C (3949) [3348]. LITERARY EXECUTIONS: IMAGINATION AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 3:30 TTh. 106 Dallas Hall. Mr. Holahan.

A study of the literary treatment of capital punishment. The aim is to locate a social issue of continuing importance within literary traditions that permit a different kind of analysis from that given in moral, social, and legal discourse. The literary forms include drama, lyric, novel, and biography; the periods of history represented range from the English Reformation and the Elizabethan Renaissance to the English Civil War, the French Revolution, and contemporary America. Writing assignments: three short essays, final examination.

Texts: Bolt, A Man for All Seasons; Sir Thomas Wyatt, "Tower" Lyrics; Shakespeare, Othello and Macbeth; Andrew Marvell, "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland"; Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities; Capote, In Cold Blood.

3391-001 (5679) [3391]. INTERMEDIATE POETRY WRITING. 2 TTh. 137 Dallas Hall. Mr. Myers.
A workshop in which student poetry and directed exercises in basic techniques form the content of the course. Writing assignments: 12-15 poems. Prerequisite: ENGL 2391.

Texts: Myers, The Portable Poetry Workshop; Myers, The Dictionary of Poetic Terms.

4323-001^ (5680) [4323]. CHAUCER: EARLIER POETRY. 3:30 TTh. 156 Dallas Hall. Ms. Wheeler.

Readings of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales from perspectives of medieval thought and contemporary criticism. Open to majors and non-majors. Writing assignments: short essays, commentaries, final examination.

4332-001^ (4061) [4336]. STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN BRITISH LITERATURE. 11 MWF. 337 Dallas Hall. Ms. Sudan.

In September of 1666, a few short years after the restoration of Charles II to the throne in England, the Great Fire destroyed four-fifths of the commercial and topographical center of London in three days, and, in the process, destroyed everything that had represented London to Londoners. The social, historical, commercial, cultural, and physical city that had been in place for them was simply gone, and the task of rebuilding, re-imagining, and re-conceptualizing the “city” became the major project of Restoration London. Among the many tasks of social reconstruction Londoners faced was the changing face of sexual identity: building the modern city on the ruins of the medieval one worked in tandem with building a modern sense of self, including a sexualized and gendered self, on older forms of social and national identity. This course examines the ways in which concepts of sexual identities developed as ideologies alongside the architectural and topographical concept of urban life in England. Urbanity, in both senses of the word, is an idea that we will explore in various representations stretching from the late seventeenth-century Restoration drama to the Gothic novel of the late eighteenth century. Readings include poems, plays, novels, and prose by Wycherly, Pope, Swift, Defoe, Cleland, Burney, and Lewis. Writing assignments: weekly quizzes, two short essays, and one longer essay.

Close reading of the major tragedies along with representative later comedies, problem plays, and romances. Reading will be supplemented by the viewing of videotaped performances. Writing assignments: three essays, quizzes, mid-term, final examination.

4346-001 (5683). AMERICAN LITERATURE IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: FREEDOM AND SLAVERY IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1776-1900. 2 MWF. 157 Dallas Hall. Mr. Greenspan.

One of the most significant political terms in Enlightenment England and its colonies was “liberty.” Jefferson used the term centrally in the Declaration of Independence; Americans have debated the term ever since. This course will explore multiple meanings of two related terms, “freedom” and “slavery,” in the American literary vernacular and their manifestations in American culture during the period ranging from the American Revolution to the end of the nineteenth century. Written Assignments: several short papers, midterm exam, research paper, and final exam.

Texts: Declaration of Independence; Federal Constitution; Rowson, Charlotte Temple; Apess, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man”; Emerson, selected essays; Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter; Whitman, 1855 Preface, “Song of Myself,” “There Was a Child Went Forth”; Dickinson, selected poems; Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”; Thoreau, Walden; Bibb, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave; Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; Lincoln, major speeches; James, Portrait of a Lady; Crane, The Red Badge of Courage; Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson; Chesnutt, short stories.

4346-002 (5684) [4371]. AMERICAN LITERATURE IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: STUPIDITY. 12:30 TTh. 102 Dallas Hall. Mr. Householder.
A no-nonsense examination of literary representations of America's idiots, dummies, dopes, dupes, dunces, dullards, fools, bumpkins, hayseeds, hicks, rubes, yokels, halfwits, dimwits, nitwits, airheads, ingénues, simpletons, fops, sops, saps, suckers, nincompoops, blockheads, chuckleheads, jackasses, fumblers, bumblers, and oafs, from the colonial period to Reconstruction. Writing assignments: two shorter papers, mid-term, final examination, 12-15 page research essay.

Texts: Heath Anthology of American Literature (5^th edition); Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer; Rowson, Charlotte Temple; James, Daisy Miller.

4356-001 (5689) [4363]. WRITERS: HURSTON, WALKER, AND MORRISON. 1 MWF. 143 Dallas Hall. Ms. Satz.
The study of three important figures in twentieth century literature—Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison--with attention to the interrelationships among the writers and their works as well as to the relation of the works to important events and movements in American history, such as slavery, segregation, and the Civil Rights movement. Various critical approaches to the works. GEC Diversity credit by petition. Writing assignments: four essays, mid-term, final examination.

Texts: Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, selected short stories; Walker, Meridian, The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy; Morrison, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Beloved, Jazz; essays by Hurston and Walker.

4370-001 (6484). SPECIAL STUDIES: VICTORIAN WOMEN WRITERS. 3:30 TTh. 351 Dallas Hall. Ms. Newman.

A study of women writers of the Victorian period: some long included in the canon of English literature (most notably, George Eliot and the Brontës); others widely read in the nineteenth-century but then largely neglected, until feminist critics began studying them in the nineteen-seventies and eighties (e.g., Elizabeth Gaskell and Elizabeth Barrett Browning); and others still (largely poets) who have attracted more recent critical attention. As we read their work we will consider the recurrent theme of vocation, whether the sanctioned one of married, domestic woman or the more problematic ones of business woman or woman of letters. We will also consider the fate of the category of the “woman writer,” which emerged as a site of major intellectual ferment in the nineteen-seventies and eighties but has since been replaced, even in feminist criticism, by other paradigms and issues. In the process we will sketch a brief narrative of feminist criticism from the late nineteen-seventies to the early twenty-first century in order to chart its changing concerns. Required work: One short analytical paper, one critical or bibliographical project, a short in-class presentation, a longer paper (approximately 10-12 pages), quizzes, blue-book midterm and final.

Texts: Brontë, Wuthering Heights; Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford; George Eliot, Middlemarch; Margaret

Oliphant, Miss Marjoribanks; Levy, The Romance of a Shop; Leighton and Reynolds, eds.,

Victorian Women Poets; various critical essays.

4392-001C (3113) [4392]. ADVANCED FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP. 12:30 TTh. 137 Dallas Hall. Mr. Haynes.

Advanced workshop for students seriously interested in writing the short story or novel. Each student is required to have a story ready for reading to the class for discussion by first class meeting. Writing assignments: At least three works of original fiction created during the semester. Prerequisites: ENGL 3392 and permission of the instructor.

4398-001 (5688) [4302]. CRAFT OF FICTION. 3:30 TTh. 137 Dallas Hall. Mr. Smith.

A course designed for all students interested in contemporary literature, whether they be writers, budding scholars, or hobbyists. We shall explore how contemporary fiction writers deliberately go against the grain of older, traditional conventions of realistic story-telling by flouting conventional expectations in readers for chronological or linear narration, formulaic plot devices, and the singular point of view. The course will not fulfill English major and minor requirements for 4000-level literature courses, but will fulfill specialization hours for Creative Writing and elective hours for all others. Writing assignments: several creative exercises, two short stories, 15 one-page response papers, two brief analytical essays. Prerequisite: ENGL 2392.

Texts: The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Literature; Martin Amis, Time’s Arrow; Toni Morrison, Jazz; short stories by Angela Carter, A.S. Byatt, John Barth, Donald Barthelme, Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, and others.

5310-001 (2695) [5349]. SEMINAR IN LITERARY THEORY. 9:30 TTh. 156 Dallas Hall. Mr. Foster.

An introduction to some of the philosophical and theoretical writings necessary to understand current critical practice. We shall examine assumptions underlying traditional critical methods and then work toward some of the interpretive practices that have more recently come into prominence, including discussions of "deconstructive," psychoanalytic, feminist, New Historical, and cultural approaches to literature. The texts we shall read include essays by Eliot, Foucault, Saussure, Derrida, Barthes, Benjamin, Baudrillard, and Badiou. Writing assignments: several short essays, one seminar essay. Permission of instructor required.
Enrollment limit: 15.

Texts: Books may include: Don DeLillo, The Names; Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle; Michele Foucault, Discipline and Punish; Martin Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought; Henry James, Eight Tales from the Major Phase; Plato, Phaedrus; Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things; Bram Stoker, Dracula (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism).

6310-001 (6216) [6391]. ADVANCED LITERARY STUDIES. 11 TTh. 137 Dallas Hall.
Mr. Weisenburger.

6330-001 (6224) [6392]. SEMINAR: MILTON. 2 W. 137 Dallas Hall. Mr. Rosendale.

6360-001 (6284) [6393]. PROSEMINAR: THE SOUTHWEST UNBOUND. 2 T. 138 Dallas Hall.
Ms. Bost.

6392-001C (2995) [6382]. GRADUATE FICTION WORKSHOP. 12:30 TTh. 137 Dallas Hall.
Mr. Haynes.

7376-001 (6226) [6394]. SEMINAR: SPECIAL TOPICS: TECHNOLOGIES OF EMPIRE. 2 M. 138 Dallas Hall. Ms. Sudan.