ENG102: Writing on Film and Literature
Dr. Maura Grady
TTh 12:15-1:30, TTh 1:40-2:55, TTh 3:05-4:20
Composition II Core Requirement
In this class you will meet the ENG 102 course objectives as you learn
the basics of film language, read engaging and challenging texts on film and
study 3 literature-to-film adaptations in depth, with the goal of producing
several inquiry-driven research projects.
Our primary films will be The Shawshank Redemption, It Happened One
Night, and The Lost Honor of
Katharina Blum
Most readings will be available on Angel for download, but you are
required to purchase the following texts:
1. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum,
by Heinrich Böll, translated by Leila Vennewitz. Penguin Classics,
1994. ISBN-10: 0140187286 (make sure you
purchase this specific translation)
2. A Short Guide to Writing About
Film, 8th edition by Timothy Corrigan, Longman, 2011, ISBN-10:
0205236391
ENG217A:
(Postmodern) British Literature
Dr. Gary Levine
MWF 11:00-11:50
Core Humanities
Likely Texts:
Martin Amis, Money: A Suicide
Note. Viking.
Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine.
Theatre Communications Group Press.
Peter Fallon, ed. Penguin Book of
Contemporary Irish Poetry. Penguin USA.
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting.
W.W. Norton.
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are
Not the Only Fruit. Grove Press.
Course preview: This course will focus on more contemporary British and
Irish literature, a period that has sometimes been described using the term
"postmodernism." Postmodernism
by its very nature has multiple definitions, but perhaps the best way to think
about it for our purposes is as the literary response to the conditions of
late-modern capitalism. Postmodern
literature does not always obey the conventions of traditional and modern
literature, which means it can be both exciting and frustrating. This course satisfies the Tier II
Humanities requirement for the Core.
Just be warned that this is literature for grownups and has mature
themes- the film version of Trainspotting
is "rated R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong
language, sex, nudity and some violence."
ENG 303A: Writers’ Workshop in Screenwriting
Dr. Maura Grady
TTh 9:25-10:40 a.m.
Required for Creative Writing majors, elective
credit for English and Integrated Language Arts majors
Have you ever wanted to write your own movie or television show? Well, now you can do it and earn
college credit at the same time!
In this course, you will develop and write your own original screenplay
and workshop it over the semester with others in this intimate and supportive
workshop setting (enrollment is capped at 14).
You will learn about formatting, structure, character, and
dialogue.
Required text:
Duncan, Genre Screenwriting: How
to Write Popular Screenplays that Sell
English
304X: Short Story
Dr.
Jayne E. Waterman
Tu
6:00-8:30 p.m. (Hybrid)
Core
Humanities, Elective for the English and Creative Writing majors
Who reads short stories and why? From the canonical to the experimental, this
course will analyze a wide-range of short stories included in Dana Gioia and
R.S. Gwynn’s comprehensive anthology, The
Art of the Short Story, as we debate the purpose, function, and merits of
this genre. We will explore the cultural, historical, and political
implications and contexts of key stories alongside issues of craft, style, and
form. The elements of this short fiction, authorial insights into the creative
process, and critical approaches to this literature will broaden, enhance, and
complicate our understanding of the short story. This is a reading-intense,
writing-intense, and discussion-intense course. Assignments will
likely consist of two extensive papers, short literary analysis papers,
class presentations, and lots of assessed, active in-class and online
participation (short assignments, research projects, rigorous discussion and
debate, and so on)
ENG 314A:
Literature and Gender
Dr.
Sharleen Mondal
MWF
1:00-1:50
Core
Humanities, Elective for English and Integrated Language Arts majors
Global Narratives of Gender
Recently a debate has raged, in
social media and in our broader popular discourse, around gender issues (see,
for instance, #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen, as well as #WhyINeedFeminism and
#WhyIDontNeedFeminism). Young
people in particular are locked in a passionate debate about the need for and
direction of gender-focused social justice movements. At the same time, we have witnessed #BringBackOurGirls, a
campaign addressing the kidnapping of female students from their school by religious
extremists in Nigeria, and #IAmMalala, developed to show support for the
Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban while on her way
to school. This course seeks to
explore the deeper, more nuanced stories behind the 140-character tweets and
television sound bites that often occupy our attention, and through careful
analysis of literary texts—supported by their social, historical, cultural, and
religious context—we will come to a better understanding of gender-based
struggles around the globe. Likely
texts and contexts include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (Nigeria), Adichie’s now viral speech on “Why We Need
Feminism,” Malala Yousafzai’s I Am Malala
(Pakistan), Helen Benedict’s Sand Queen
(U.S./Iraq), Shaila Abdullah’s Saffron
Dreams (U.S. and Pakistan), and Jackson Katz’s documentary Tough Guise (U.S.). In addition to active and consistent
participation in class discussion, class presentations on historical and social
context, and several short close reading exams and response papers, students
will be required to produce one long (8-10 page) literary analysis paper.
English
317A: Studies in Shakespeare
Dr. Hilary
Donatini
9:00-9:50
Requirement
for the English and Integrated Language Arts majors, elective in the English
and Creative Writing minors
We will immerse
ourselves not only in Shakespeare’s language but also in historical and
intellectual contexts for the plays. Performing scenes and studying film adaptations of the
plays will bring the Bard to life. Two essays, two exams, and additional smaller assignments will
make up the writing component of the course. Be ready for frequent and
extensive class discussion.
Required Texts:
We will read one each of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, tragedies,
and romances, spending significant time comparing two film versions of Henry V: the 1944 version directed by
and starring Laurence Olivier, and the 1989 version directed by and starring Kenneth
Branagh. One of the writing assignments will concern these adaptations.
As You Like It (Signet, Newly Revised) ISBN: 9780451526786
Henry V (Signet,
Newly Revised) ISBN: 9780451526908
King Lear (Signet,
Newly Revised) ISBN: 9780451526939
The Tempest (Signet,
Newly Revised) ISBN: 9780451527127
English
324A: Modern Novel
Dr.
Jayne E. Waterman
TTh
1:40-2:55
Core
Humanities, Elective for the English and Creative Writing majors
This course will explore the idea of the very
modern novel by examining the texts and contexts of key American novels
published in the last five years (2010-2014). Framed by the notions of selfhood
and nationhood, we will ask how the modern novel reflects, shapes, and
contradicts the concepts and constructions of identity. We will also interrogate
the tensions of historical narratives and postmodern discourse, self and
society, and the individual and family. Close analytical attention will be
given to issues of gender, class, race, sexuality, justice, language, and form.
Approximately four to five novels will be selected from the following: Jeannette Walls’ Half-Broke Horses, Amy Waldman’s The Submission, Teju Cole’s Open
City, Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon
A River, Toni Morrison’s Home,
Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You,
and Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All
Completely Beside Ourselves. This is a reading-intense,
writing-intense, and discussion-intense course. Assignments will
likely consist of two extensive papers, short literary analysis papers,
class presentations, and lots of assessed, active class participation (short
assignments, in-class projects, rigorous discussion and debate, and so on)
Eng 325A: Major
Writers Seminar: Hemingway
Dr. Weaver
MWF: 1:00-1:50
Requirement for the English
major and English minor; elective for the Creative Writing minor
In this first–time offering, we will read Hemingway’s
greatest novel and his four greatest short stories: The Sun Also Rises and “Soldier’s Home,” “Hills Like White
Elephants,” “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” and “The Snows of
Kilimanjaro.” All these works show how Hemingway is able to present the moral
complexity of life in his deceptively simple prose. Two papers and one
presentation.
ENG 330A:
African Literature
Dr.
Sharleen Mondal
MWF
2:00-2:50
Nigerian Literature
Nigeria recently gained notoriety with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign,
an online movement to address the kidnapping of female students from their
school by religious extremists in the town of Chibok in April 2014. The campaign gave rise to a series of
debates regarding the efficacy of so-called hashtag activism, and more
interestingly, what it means to respond intensely to a singular event in
another part of the world, and then, when the frenzy of tweets has passed, to
forget promptly about what is happening there. In this course, we will discuss the recent hashtag activism,
but we will also engage in its opposite: a sustained, serious study of Nigerian
literature with thoughtful consideration of the social, historical, religious,
and cultural contexts that shaped colonial Nigeria and that continue to shape
it today. Likely texts include
Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God, Buchi
Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen,
Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel,
and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. In addition to active and consistent
participation in class discussion, class presentations on historical and social
context, and several short close reading exams and response papers, students
will be required to produce one long (8-10 page) literary analysis paper
Eng 370A: Russian
Novel
Dr. Russell Weaver
MWF: 2:00-3:00
Core Humanities; elective
for English Major and Minor, elective for Creative Writing minor
This course allows the student to read the two of the
greatest novels ever written: Tolstoy’s War
and Peace and Dostoevsky’s The
Brothers Karamazov. They present not only psychological analyses of
unparalleled depth but also discussions of history, theology, and philosophy
that serve to deepen the portraits of the men and women inhabiting their pages.
The grades will be based on two papers and two presentations.
ENG413A:
Twentieth-Century Anglophone Literature
Dr. Deborah Fleming
TTh
1:40-2:55
Elective
for English
major and minor, Creative Writing major and minor, and Integrated Language Arts
major
Readings
may include
Yeats,
W. B. Selected Poems and Four Plays.
Synge,
J. M. The Playboy of the
Western World; O’ Casey, Juno and the Paycock; or Shaw, Saint
Joan
Woolf,
Virginia. To the Lighthouse or Mrs. Dalloway
Joyce,
James. Ulysses, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or Dubliners
Upadhyay,
Samrat. The Guru of Love or
Arresting God in Kathmandu
Wolcott,
Derek. Poems.
Instructional
Format
Regular
class format will be seminar-type discussion.
Course
Objectives
The
course objective is to give students knowledge of English and Anglophone
literature of the Twentieth Century through reading, writing, and discussing.
Assignments
and Grades
–Two
literary-critical papers on our readings for this semester, 10-12 pages each
–Final
examination given at our scheduled final exam time
–Quizzes,
position papers, or journal entries on our readings
–Class
participation
English 426A: American
Literature II: 1830-1870
Dr. Stephen Haven
TTh 12:15-1:30
Elective
for English
major and minor, Creative Writing major and minor, and Integrated Language Arts
major
This is a course on the nineteenth century flowering in American
literature called the American Renaissance. We will read a selection of
such American Renaissance authors as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville,
Dickinson, Whitman, and Poe.
