SPRING 2007

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

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

 1362-001+ (3352).  [1362] CRAFTY WORLDS: NOVELS IN OUR TIME.  1 MWF.  116 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Holahan.

An introductory study of selected twentieth-century novels emphasizing both ideas of modernity and the historical or cultural contexts of catastrophe that generated these ideas.  Topics include traditions of family and wealth, representations of world war, new effects of capital and society, war and sensibility, race and the novel, Big D.  Writing assignments: quizzes, one short essay, mid-term, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 45.

   Texts: James, The Spoils of Poynton; Hemingway, In Our Time; Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Porter, Pale Horse, Pale Rider; Ellison, Invisible Man; Orwell, Animal Farm; Heller, Catch 22; Mailer, Why Are We in Vietnam?

 1365-001+# (3257) [1365]. LITERATURE OF MINORITIES. 2 TTH.  115 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Levy. 

A study of representative works of American minority literatures from the nineteenth century to the present.  Literatures covered include Jewish, Italian, Irish, African American, Chicana/Chicano, Asian, and Gay and Lesbian literature.  The course provides historical and literary perspectives on the predicament of immigration, assimilation, and cultural continuity for immigrant groups.  It also examines minority cultures in relation to White America.  Such issues as self-perception, alienation, generational conflicts, clashes of world view, and the social construction of whiteness will serve as unifying themes.  Writing assignments: two short essays, mid-term, final examination. Enrollment limit: 46.

   Texts:  Ayala, American Chica; Cisneros, House on Mango Street; Cacerces, Brownsville Stories; Puzo, The Godfather; Roth, Goodbye, Columbus; Farrell, Young Lonegan; Morrison, The Bluest Eye; Jen, Typical American; Mukherjee, The Middleman and Other Stories.

2302-001 (3639) [2302]. BUSINESS WRITING.  12:30 TTh.  G16 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 (3640) [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: 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.

2311-001 (5417) [2305].  POETRY.  11 MWF.  337 Dallas Hall.  Ms. Schwartz.

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 quizzes and written exercises; four short essays; two one-hour tests.  Enrollment limit: 20.

   Texts:  An Introduction To Poetry, Kennedy and Gioia.

 2311-002 (3508) [2305].  POETRY.  1 MWF.  101 Dallas Hall.   Mr. Daniels.

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.

   Texts: TBA.

 2311-003 (5416) [2305].  POETRY.  3 MW.  343 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Lewis.
What is poetry, and what do we need to know in order to understand and enjoy it?  We'll take a "fast and dirty" approach to answering these questions, starting with individual poems, reading them aloud, committing (some of) them to memory, and analyzing their content, form, and purpose in increasingly large "families" of texts. Finally, we'll consider our anthology as a whole: it claims to be "representative" of "the voice of English poetry," so what is the nature of English poetry as represented here? As a final project, students will construct a "supplement" in the form of an anthology of ten poems not found in our anthology prefaced by an extended rationale for including them. Writing assignments: out-of-class and in-class exercises, recitations, four short explications, two mid-terms, final examination. Enrollment limit: 20.
   Text: Keegan, The New Penguin Book of English Verse.

 2312-001H+   (3074)    [2306H] FICTION.   12:30 TTh.    137 Dallas Hall.    Ms. Sudan.

 An introduction to the genre of fiction, with an emphasis on the Gothic novel.  The course will combine primary texts with short secondary texts.  Writers include Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Mary Shelley, Thomas DeQuincey, Emily Bronte, and Wilkie Collins.  Writing assignments:  weekly quizzes, two short essays, one longer essay.  Enrollment limit:  20.

     Texts:  TBA.

 2312-002+ (3762) [2306] FICTION.  12:30 TTH.  138 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Zeigler.

In this course, we will do our best not to misunderestimate the significance of stupidity in a survey of narrative fiction from the 18^th century to the present.  We are likely to derive shameful amusement from the antics and mishaps of several of the unwitting characters who populate our required readings.  Think Homer Simpson.  But we will also learn from these texts to relinquish our presuppositions about who or what is stupid.  In fact, it will be sobering to realize in these novels and stories that what we often identify as smart is not, and that what we deem stupid has smarts our perspectives fail to discern.  For this introductory course in narrative fictions, our reading technique will concentrate on the oversights and idiocies that accompany intelligence, or maybe the reverse?  I forget.  With the example of Gulliver’s Travels, we will begin with the all too obvious premise that stupidity contributes to the organization of society.  It may surprise us, however, to be persuaded by our readings that stupidity is frequently both a property and an instrument of the powerful. Writing assignments: Several short response papers and two essays of four and six pages, respectively.  Comprehensive final exam. Enrollment limit: 20.

    Texts: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels; Herman Melville, “Benito Cereno”; Gustave Flaubert, “A Simple Heart”; Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson; Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady; Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man; Alice Walker, The Color Purple; Jerzy Kosinski, Being There.

 2315-001 (5418).  INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY.  12 MWF.  137 Dallas 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, selected short stories; Austen, Emma; Heckerling, Clueless; Auster, City of Glass; Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Shakespeare, As You Like It; selected poetry and short stories available online and in handouts. 

 2315-002 (5419) INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY.  9:30 TTH.  120 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.  Enrollment limit:  20.

    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. 

 2315-003 (5420).  INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY.  11:00 TTH.  120 Dallas Hall.  Dr. Dickson-Carr.

Introduction to the discipline for beginning English majors, covering methods of literary analysis in selected texts spanning a range of genres and historical periods. Enrollment limit: 20

Writing assignments:  Four short papers, midterm and final exams, in-class exercises, and weekly homework. 

    Texts: TBA.

2391-001 (3555) [2391]. INTRODUCTORY POETRY WRITING.  11 TTh.  137 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 and Weingarten, New American Poets of the 90s; Myers, The Portable Poetry Workshop.

 2391-701 (5421) [2391]. INTRODUCTORY POETRY WRITING.  6:30 W.  337 Dallas Hall.  STAFF.    

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: TBA

2392-001 (3043) [2392].  INTRODUCTORY FICTION WRITING.  3:00 MW.  106 Dallas Hall.  STAFF.

A beginning workshop in theory and technique, and writing of fiction.  Writing assignments:  various class exercises, writing and rewriting short stories.  Enrollment limit:  15.

   Texts: TBA

2392-002 (5422) [2392].  INTRODUCTORY FICTION WRITING.  12:30 TTh.  120 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.  Enrollment limit:  15.

   Texts: TBA

2392-003 (5423) [2392]  INTRODUCTORY FICTION WRITING.  2 TTH.  102 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.  Enrollment limit:  15.
  Texts: TBA.

3189 (3653) [3199]. DIRECTED STUDIES.  ARR.

Directed readings in a coherent area of a student’s choice to be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the instructor.  Writing will be assigned appropriate to the focus of the course.  Permission of the instructor required.

3305-001 (5424) [3342]. WRITING AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL.  11 MWF  106 Dallas Hall. Mr. Crusius.

Study of the men and women whose essays and books shape our understanding of current events.  Key questions: Why are we persuaded by some writers more than others?  How should we assess what we read?  How can we write more forcefully ourselves?  The course will focus on consumer society. Some lecture, but the course will be organized around small-group collaborative research and issue-oriented class discussion.  Writing assignments: three short essays; one longer essay; final examination.  Enrollment limit:  24.

    Texts: Selections from Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox; James Twitchell, Living It Up; Peter Whybrow, American Mania; Roger Rosenblatt, ed., Consuming Desires 

3308-P23 (2680) [3398].  ENGLISH STUDIES INTERNSHIP.  ARR.  Mr. Crusius.

Work experience related to English studies, with instruction in professional communication and one-on-one consultation with the instructor.  Open by permission to a limited number of junior and senior English majors.

3310-001 (2675) [3304].  CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO LITERATURE, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE. 
1 MWF.  152 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Crusius.

An introduction to contemporary methods of interpreting literature and to the theoretical assumptions—about language, culture, gender, politics, sexuality, and psychology—informing these methods.  Writing assignments: four short essays, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 25.

   Texts:  Stephen Lynn, Texts and Contexts; Annie Proulx, Accordion Crimes; course packet of readings.

3310-002 (2676) [3304]. CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO LITERATURE, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE.    3:30 TTH.  106 Hyer.  Ms.  Bost. 

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.  Enrollment limit: 25. 

    Texts:  Tyson, Critical Theory Today; Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby ; Shakespeare, The Tempest; plus additional essays and poems.  

3331-001 (5582) [3305].  BRITISH LITERARY HISTORY I:  CHAUCER TO POPE.  2 TTh.  FS 155.  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.  Enrollment limit: 30.

   Texts:  Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I (8^th edition).

3340-001+ (5583). TOPICS IN BRITISH LITERATURE IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION: FICTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT.  12 MWF.  153 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Daniels.

A study of major Victorian novels (and one Modernist novel), focusing on the tradition of the bildungsroman, that is, the story of how, through acceding to and resisting family and social influences, one becomes who one ultimately comes to be.  Writing assignments: quizzes, commentaries, three short essays, mid-term, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 22.

   Texts: Austen, Emma; Bronte, Jane Eyre; George Eliot, Mill on the Floss; Dickens, Great Expectations; Butler, The Way of All Flesh; Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

3341-001 (2677) [3306].  BRITISH LITERARY HISTORY II. .12 MWF.  115 Dallas Hall.  Ms. Newman, Mr. Murfin.

Introduction to the later periods of English literature from the end of the eighteenth century, with practice in close reading and in the analysis of texts.  Study of major authors along with consideration of historical contexts, critical problems, and themes.  One third of the meetings are lectures, the rest small group discussions.  Writing assignments:  three or four short essays, two hour tests, frequent one-page writing assignments or quizzes, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 40.

   Texts:  The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. II (7th edition); Brontë, Wuthering Heights; Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; Lunsford, EasyWriter.

3344-001+# (5584) [3341].  VICTORIAN GENDER.  3 MW.  101 Dallas Hall.  Ms. Newman.

An exploration of gender in nineteenth-century society that examines the way writers of both sexes assumed, articulated, resisted, and rejected the dominant cultural ideas about gender -- sometimes all at once.  Consideration of the role of race and class in the formation of these ideas.  Writing assignments: three papers (4-5 pages); mid-term and final examinations; reading quizzes; possible short, informal postings to discussion board or group discussion-planning. Enrollment limit: 25.

   Texts: C. Brontë, Jane Eyre; Dickens, Great Expectations, Hardy, Jude the Obscure; Ibsen, A Doll’s House; Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray; selected nineteenth-century poems and cultural documents.

3346-001 (2678) [3307].  AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY I.   9:30 TTH.  134 Clements Hall.  Mr. Greenspan, Mr. Householder.

This course will explore the literary responses of major American writers from 1775-1900 to questions and problems of individual, group, and national identity emerging in the wake of American political and cultural independence. Central issues will include slavery, the Civil War, immigration, women’s rights, and economic exploitation. Writing assignments:  three short essays, various short assignments, midterm and final examination.  Enrollment limit: 46.

    Texts: Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Edition (6th edition); Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave; Dreiser, Sister Carrie.

 3360-001 (5607)  TOPICS IN MODERN/CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE:  THE SUBJECT OF VIOLENCE.  12:30 TTH. Mr. Weisenburger

Casting back over a violent century, this course takes up violence as All-American literary subject matter.  Discussions will focus on representations of violent human subjects as well as those subjected to violence; on violence both in and as Art; on violence repressed and violence sublimated; on relations of violence to the Modern; and on violence as blood rite, as gateway to the Sacred.  In what ways, we need to ask, do our writers sketch a kind of American Violence?  Writing assignments:  several short essays, a mid-term, research paper, and a final examination.Enrollment limit: 30.        

   Texts: Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises; Faulkner, Light in August; West, Miss Lonelyhearts/Day of the Locust; Plath, Ariel; Capote, In Cold Blood; Mailer, Why Are We in Vietnam?; Wilson, Fences; McCarthy, No Country for Old Men.

3366-701 (5664) [3307].  AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY II.   6:30 MW.  101 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Lewis.
From transcendentalists to American exiles in Paris, the shape of American literature reflects the tensions and conflicts that define the nation and continue to influence our idea of what "America" is.  Readings, lectures, and section discussions explore many of the significant writers, texts, and issues from 1820-1920.  Writing assignments:  four short essays, two hour tests, various short assignments, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 28                                                                                                                                                                         

   Texts: Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Edition (6th edition); Chopin, The Awakening; Stein, Three Lives; Hemingway, In our Time; Lunsford and Connors, EasyWriter.

3367-001H (3351) [3349] (Cross-listed as CF 3364).  ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE.   9 MWF.  156 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, mid-term, final examination. Enrollment limit: 30.

    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; Morrison, The Bluest Eye.

3378-001 (5665) [3377/8].  STUDIES IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 1 MWF.  105 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Lewis.
A linguistic introduction to present-day American English, spoken and written.  Topics include theory and description, basic grammatical structures and their application to writing, and regional and stylistic variation.  Intended for students who seek a deeper understanding of how English works as a communicative system and as a medium of thought.  In addition to theory, the course stresses sentence construction and analysis, so that by the end of the course students should be able to direct their own further development as careful, conscious users of English. Writing assignments: frequent out-of-class and in-class exercises; three short essays; three hour tests; final examination. Enrollment limit: 30.
    Texts:  Harris, The Linguistics Wars; Gucker, Essential English Grammar

3379-001# (Cross-listed as CFA 3379). LITERARY AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS OF DISABLILITY: GENDER, CARE, AND JUSTICE.  11 MWF.  101 Dallas Hall.  Ms. Satz.

This course deals with the literary and cultural portrayals of those with disability and the knotty philosophical and ethical issues that permeate current debates in the disability rights movement. The course also considers the ways issues of disability intersect with issues of gender, race, class, and culture. A wide variety of issues, ranging from prenatal testing and gene therapy through legal equity for the disabled in society, will be approached through a variety of readings, both literary and non-literary, by those with disabilities and those currently without them.  Writing assignments:  two short essays, one 10-15 page essay; mid-term, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 24.  

    Texts: Grealy, Lucy, Autobiography of a Face; Jamison, An Unquiet Mind:  A Memoir of Moods and Madness; Lord, Cancer Journal; Fadiman, The Spirit  Catches You and You Fall Down; Medoff, Children of a Lesser God; Haddon, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night; Lessing, The Fifth Child; Sarton, As We Are Now; Pomerance, Elephant Man; Mairs, selected essays; O’Connor, selected stories.

3389 (3509) [3399].  DIRECTED STUDIES.  ARR.

Directed readings in a coherent area of the student's choice, to be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the instructor.  Writing will be assigned appropriate to the focus of the course.  Permission of the instructor required.

3392-001 (2679) [3392].  INTERMEDIATE FICTION WRITING.  11 TTH.  138 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Haynes.

An intermediate workshop in writing fiction, building on craft techniques taught in ENGL 2392.  Writing assignments: class exercises, writing and rewriting short stories.  Enrollment limit: 15.  Prerequisite: ENGL 2392.  
    Texts:  TBA.

4310-001 (5666) [4373].  STUDIES IN LITERARY IN THEORY AND CRITICISM—INHUMAN FICTION: POSTMODERNISM, DECONSTRUCTION, ANIMALS, AND OTHER BEASTS.  9:30 TTh DH 156 Mr. Zeigler.

This course in the reading tactics of deconstruction takes it inspiration from the sundry ways we relate to animals: as friends, enemies, food, co-workers, competitors, and curiosities.  For the people in this class, “deconstruction” will refer primarily to the work of Jacques Derrida, whose death in 2004 has been cited frequently and uncharitably as marking the end of literary theory.  This course will defy such verdicts by demonstrating the virtue and the fun of reading literature with the assistance of his work.  In several of his final essays, Derrida speculates about how Western philosophy has justified its recurring insistence on a fundamental difference between humans and animals.  By studying how this concern can contribute to literary interpretation and ethical thought, we will prepare to read well modernist fictions of animals by Franz Kafka and Virginia Woolf as well as a selection of postmodern novels from the 1990s about apes and dogs.  Treating these recent novels, we will ask why in the New Economy of the late 1990s both experimental fiction and critical theory addressed inhuman subjects with such zeal.  You need not be a vegetarian to enroll; the instructor isn’t. Enrollment limit: 18

    Texts: Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories; Deleuze & Guattari, Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature; Virginia Woolf, Flush; J.M. Coetzee, The Lives of Animals; Will Self, Great Apes; Kirsten Bakis, The Lives of the Monster Dogs; Cris Mazza, Dog People; Peter Hoeg, The Woman and the Ape; Donna Haraway “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” & A Companion Species Manifesto; and select essays by Jacques Derrida including "Différance," "And Say the Animal Responded?" & "The Animal That Therefore I am (More to Follow)."  Assignments include: two short essays (4-6 pages), a longer essay involving research (8-10 pages), an annotated bibliography, and a final exam.

4323-701^ (5667) [4324]).  CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES   6 T. 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.  Enrollment limit: 18.

    Text: Benson, ed., The Riverside Chaucer.

4330-001^ (5668) [4361].  RENAISSANCE WRITERS: Donne and Herbert.  11 TTH.  357 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Rosendale.

John Donne and George Herbert were two seventeenth-century Anglican clergymen—the latter a quiet country parson, the former a brilliantly urbane (and often scandalous) social climber and eroticist—who also happened to be remarkable poets, the best-known writers of what has retrospectively become known as “metaphysical poetry.”  Donne in particular is a fascinating figure, a writer of both magnificent devotional works and astoundingly dirty poems, and a famous preacher who both loved and resented God deeply.  This course will intensively study the writings of these two figures, attending primarily to their knotty, challenging, conflicted, and deeply rewarding poetry.  Grading: participation, presentations, two mid-length writing assignments, final exam.  Enrollment limit: 18

      Texts: Many and various poems and prose works; selected criticism

4332-001^     (5672)    [4371]        STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN BRITISH LITERATURE: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE.    9:30 TTh.    137 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 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, one longer essay. Enrollment limit:18.

     Texts: TBA.

4333-001 (5672) [4332].  SHAKESPEARE. 10 MWF.  138 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Holahan.

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.  Enrollment limit:  18.

   Text:  Greenblatt, ed., The Norton Shakespeare.

4339-001^ (5673) [4371].  TRANSATLANTIC STUDIES I.  12:30 TTH.  105 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Householder.

This course surveys literary responses to the social, political, cultural, economic, and intellectual changes wrought on both sides of the Atlantic as a result of Great Britain’s colonization of North America.  Topics include the impact of travel on national and cultural identity, justifications for empire (and rebellion), the changing roles of women in society, depictions of Native Americans and Africans, and the rise of the novel as a distinct literary genre.  Writing assignments: two short papers, 12-15 page research essay, mid-term, final examination.  Enrollment limit: 18

    Texts: Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress; Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God; Behn, Oroonoko; Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; Winkfield, The Female American; Richardson, Pamela; Franklin, Autobiography; Walpole, The Castle of Otranto; Rowson, Charlotte Temple; Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer; Brown, Edgar Huntly; Equiano, The Interesting Narrative; Tyler, The Algerine Captive.

 4350-001 (5674) [4363]. MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY BRITISH WRITERS: HARDY AND LAWRENCE.  10 MWF.  137 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Murfin.

In 1914 D. H. Lawrence wrote that his Study of Thomas Hardy “is the story of my heart.”  This course will look in depth at the poetry, fiction, and nonfiction prose of one writer—Hardy—whose life and works spanned the Victorian, Edwardian, and Modern Periods of English literature and a later, modernist writer—Lawrence—who acknowledged and resisted his precursor’s powerful influence.  Beginning with Hardy’s poetry (1865-1928), we will subsequently examine two or three of his novels:  Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure (1895).  We will proceed by way of Lawrence’s Hardy Study and his essay “Poetry of the Present” (1918) to his poetry (1905-1932) and two or three of his novels:  Sons and Lovers (1913), Women in Love (1920), and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928).  Writing assignments:  several short essays, one longer essay, final examination.

    Texts: TBA

 4370-001 (5675) [4372].  SPECIAL STUDIES: SIX POEMS. 3:30 TTH.  102 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Spiegelman.

This is a course designed for people who like to read poems carefully and slowly. Very slowly. The subject will be six poems of medium length: Milton’s “Lycidas,” Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, Wordsworth’s Immortality Ode, Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” Eliot’s The Waste Land, and Ashbery’s “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.” We shall spend at least two weeks on each poem and investigate it through various lenses, and employing a range of historical, textual, and critical materials. Students are expected to be familiar with the genre of poetry; some exposure to some of the works above will be helpful, although not mandatory. The class will function like a seminar, that is, students will be expected to contribute critical responses, e-mail postings, and scholarly evaluations every week. Each student will write a short paper on each of the six poems. A longer final paper may also be assigned, depending on how the shorter papers turn out. No exams.  Enrollment limit: 18

 4391-001 (5676) [4391].  ADVANCED POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP  2 TTh.  137 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Myers.

A practical workshop for those seriously engaged in writing poetry.  Class meetings organized around selections of the students' poems.  Writing assignments:  12-15 poems.  Enrollment limit: 10.  Prerequisites: ENGL 3391 and permission of the instructor.

    Texts:  TBA.  Others to be selected from books of poetry available at the SMU Book Store.

 4392-001 (2681) [4392].  ADVANCED FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP.  3:30 TTh.  137 Dallas Hall. Mr. Smith.

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 the first class meeting. Writing assignments: TBA.  Enrollment limit: 10.  Prerequisites: English 3392 and permission of the instructor.

    Texts: Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction.

 4393/4395 (6062/6064) [4393/4395].  DIRECTED STUDIES IN POETRY WRITING.

Admission by permission only.  For students who have completed the 12 hour sequence in Poetry Writing.

 4394/4396 (6063/6065) [4394/4396].  DIRECTED STUDIES IN FICTION WRITING.

Admission by permission only.  For students who have completed the 12 hour sequence in Fiction Writing.

 5381, 5382, 5383, 5834 (6066, 6067, 6072, 6073) [5301/5302/5303/5304].  INDEPENDENT STUDIES FOR DISTINCTION CANDIDATES. 

Directed readings in an area of the student's choice, to be approved by the instructor who has agreed to work with the student and by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.  Weekly meetings with the instructor.  Writing assignments:  at least 5000 words of writing in a form to be determined by student and instructor.

 6393-001 (3624).  SEMINAR:  AMERICAN MODERNISM: THE POEM AND THE POETICS OF ART.  2 M.  156 Dallas Hall.  Ms. Siraganian.

What counts as a work of art -- and specifically, as a poem -- in Modernism?  Does a poem need to do more or less than capture a view of the world or a piece of reality?  Course considers these questions in relation to major American poets (Eliot to Olson) of first half of 20^th-c.  Close attention paid to poets whose poetics, or theories of poetry and reading, substantially shaped theories of art.  Course also examines these poets in relation to artists (Picasso, Duchamp, Rauschenberg) they befriended and discussed.  Writing assignments: one presentation, several short essays, one seminar essay.  Enrollment limit: 12. 

    Texts: Selections from Eliot, Waste Land; Stein, Tender Buttons; Williams, Spring and All; Zukofsky, A; Olson, Maximus; selections from the Collected Works of Pound, Moore, Stevens, Hughes, Bishop, Oppen.

 6394-001 (5703).  SEMINAR:  CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE.  2 W.  137 Dallas Hall.  Mr. Dickson-Carr.

A critical overview of the most outstanding works of the contemporary period in African American literature, with careful attention paid to cultural and historical contexts surrounding those works. One of the seminar’s goals is to read and revisit texts and authors that have either gone out of print, lapsed into obscurity, or received little to no critical notice for the purpose of questioning and possibly rebuilding current literary canons. Writing assignments: Detailed weekly comments; one or two oral presentations accompanied by written texts; an extensive, publishable seminar paper. Enrollment limit: 12.

    Texts (subject to change): Captain Blackman, John A. Williams;Mumbo Jumbo, Ishmael Reed; Corregidora, Gayl Jones; Beloved, Toni Morrison; The Great Negro Plot, Mat Johnson; The Color Purple, Alice Walker; Philadelphia Fire, John Edgar Wideman; Gorilla, My Love, Toni Cade Bambara; Abeng, Michelle Cliff; Linden Hills, Gloria Naylor; The White Boy Shuffle, Paul Beatty; John Henry Days, Colson Whitehead; Erasure, Percival Everett; critical essays and chapters.