English 203 X: American Literature
Dr. Jayne E. Waterman
Tu 6:00-8:30 p.m. (Hybrid)
Core Humanities, Elective for Middle Childhood Education English/Language Arts
This course will examine the tropes of freedom and fear that have extended throughout American Literature. What does “the land of the free and the home of the brave” signify? How is the rhetoric of freedom and fear articulated and exploited? What are the possibilities and limitations of freedom and fear for a nation and for an individual? These and many other questions will be explored in relation to the often-intertwined literary representations of freedom and fear. The course will consider and complicate, as well as define and redefine, the differing perspectives and different understandings associated with these key terms. A diverse range of authors in a variety of literary genres will be analyzed to consider the promises, perils, and paradoxes of an America that is both free and afraid. From captivity narratives to slave narratives, Iron Jawed Angels to Freedom Riders, and the Cold War to the Age of Terror, the course texts will focus particularly on the literary works and voices of Native Americans, African Americans, and women. This is a reading-intense, writing-intense, and discussion-intense course. Assignments will likely consist of two extensive papers, short literary analysis papers, presentations, and lots of assessed in-class and online participation (short assignments, research projects, rigorous discussion and debate, and so on).
ENG210A: Bible as Literature
MWF 9:00-9:50
Core Humanities
Possible Texts (in addition to the Bible):
Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? or
Gabel, Wheeler, and York, The Bible As Literature or
Bart Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted.
This is a course in the Bible as literature, not the Bible as Revealed Truth. Students who come to the Bible with strong preconceived notions about what it "means" may find themselves frustrated with the class. For example, in Christian tradition, the serpent in the Garden of Eden story is thought to be Satan. However, the actual text of Genesis makes no reference to Satan. If we can approach the text with fresh eyes and read it on its own terms, we may find other interesting meanings in addition to the traditional Pauline doctrine of "original sin"-- it may also be an allegory for growing up and leaving the Eden of childhood! We will also read the Bible in its historical context, which means learning about the Near Eastern society, culture, and politics that produced it. We will assume that the Torah, or “Five Books of Moses,” has at least four distinct authors whom we call J, E, P, and D, each with his or her own style and socio-religious agenda. We will look at issues of translation (a little Hebrew grammar) and genre, including the appeal of apocalyptic texts (Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation). And yes, there will be some movies, from Samson and Delilah cartoons to clips from A Night With the King to the full film A Serious Man (the Coen brothers' version of the Book of Job translated to Jewish Minnesota, circa 1968).
English 301A: Writers' Workshop, Poetry
Dr. Deborah Fleming
MWF 10:00-10:50
Fulfills requirement in Creative Writing major and minor and ILA major elective
The course objective is to write and critique students' poetry. Students write every week. The class format is seminar-type discussion.
Text: The Norton Anthology of Poetry, any edition
ENG 306A: The Essay
Dr. Maura Grady
T/TH 10:50-12:05
Fulfills Genre Requirement for CREW, ENG
In this class, you will study examples of the Essay form and write your own essays, which will be developed and workshopped throughout the semester.
Probable text: The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate.
ENG 332A: Global Film
Dr. Maura Grady
TTh 9:25-10:40 AM
Core Aesthetics, Core Border Crossings
In this class you will meet the core requirements for Aesthetics and Border Crossings through an in-depth analysis of German films. Our focus this fall will be on German filmic reactions to war (WWI, WWII and the Cold War). The course requires students to learn about film techniques, aesthetic movements, and historical and cultural context.
Texts:
1. German Culture Through Film by Reimer, Zachau and Sinka. Focus Publishing, 2005
2. A Short Guide to Writing About Film, 8th edition by Timothy Corrigan, Longman, 2011, ISBN-10: 0205236391
English 338A: Themes and Topics in Literature: Dystopian Literature
Dr. Linda Joyce Brown
MWF 2:00-2:50
Core Humanities, Elective for the English major, Elective in the English and Creative Writing minors
What would your ideal world look like? What would make the world unbearable? In this course, we will explore how writers have imagined ideal and far-from-ideal worlds. A premise of this course is that by studying dystopian literature and thinking deeply about the ideas that dystopian texts pose, we can gain new insight about contemporary social problems. Thus, in addition to addressing texts within their specific historical and cultural contexts, we will also connect them to contemporary issues, such as environmental degradation, technological dependence, and debates surrounding sexuality, marriage, and family. We will also consider the recent surge in popularity of dystopian fiction among young adult readers.
Eng 365A: Greek Literature
Dr. Russell Weaver
MWF: 1:00-1:50
Core Humanities; elective for English Major and Minor, elective for Creative Writing minor
In this course we will read some of the great masterpieces of Greek Literature. This particular semester we will be reading Homer’s Iliad along with ten plays by Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus:
Sophocles–Antigone, Oedipus the King, Ajax, The Women of Trachis, and Philoctetes
Euripides–Medea, Hippolytus, Iphigenia at Aulis, and Electra
Aeschylus–Agamemnon
There will be two take-homes, one on either Antigone or Medea and one on The Iliad and one presentation on two of the other plays.
ENG410A: The Romantic Era
Dr. Russell Weaver
TTh 1:40-2:55
Elective for English major and minor, Creative Writing major and minor, and Integrated Language Arts major
We will read four poems from Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience; Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and “Intimations Ode”’; Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”; Keats’s “The Eve of St. Agnes,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale”, and “Lamia”; Jane Eyre; Byron’s Manfred and two books of Don Juan; and Frankenstein.
There will be two papers (Blake/Wordsworth and Keats) and two presentations (Coledridge and Bronte/Byron/Frankenstein).
English 417A: English Grammar and Usage
Dr. Deborah Fleming
MWF 1:00-1:50
Required for ILA, English major elective, Middle Grades Generalist Endorsement, English Language Arts Concentration major elective, English Minor elective
This course provides students with knowledge of grammar, syntax, and mechanics and fulfills NCATE requirements for teachers of English and Language Arts. We will also study ways to use the vocabulary of grammar in the teaching of writing.
Text: Koln, Understanding English Grammar, current edition
English 427A: American Literature III: Realism to Modernism
Dr. Linda Joyce Brown
MWF 12:00-12:50
Elective in the English, Creative Writing, and ILA majors, Elective in the English and Creative Writing minors
The course explores the development of American Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism in relation to the tremendous social and economic change of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with emphasis on increasing urbanization, migration and immigration, the influence of two world wars, new ideas about race and gender, the impact of modern technological innovation, and developments in science.
Dr. Jayne E. Waterman
Tu 6:00-8:30 p.m. (Hybrid)
Core Humanities, Elective for Middle Childhood Education English/Language Arts
This course will examine the tropes of freedom and fear that have extended throughout American Literature. What does “the land of the free and the home of the brave” signify? How is the rhetoric of freedom and fear articulated and exploited? What are the possibilities and limitations of freedom and fear for a nation and for an individual? These and many other questions will be explored in relation to the often-intertwined literary representations of freedom and fear. The course will consider and complicate, as well as define and redefine, the differing perspectives and different understandings associated with these key terms. A diverse range of authors in a variety of literary genres will be analyzed to consider the promises, perils, and paradoxes of an America that is both free and afraid. From captivity narratives to slave narratives, Iron Jawed Angels to Freedom Riders, and the Cold War to the Age of Terror, the course texts will focus particularly on the literary works and voices of Native Americans, African Americans, and women. This is a reading-intense, writing-intense, and discussion-intense course. Assignments will likely consist of two extensive papers, short literary analysis papers, presentations, and lots of assessed in-class and online participation (short assignments, research projects, rigorous discussion and debate, and so on).
ENG210A: Bible as Literature
MWF 9:00-9:50
Core Humanities
Possible Texts (in addition to the Bible):
Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? or
Gabel, Wheeler, and York, The Bible As Literature or
Bart Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted.
This is a course in the Bible as literature, not the Bible as Revealed Truth. Students who come to the Bible with strong preconceived notions about what it "means" may find themselves frustrated with the class. For example, in Christian tradition, the serpent in the Garden of Eden story is thought to be Satan. However, the actual text of Genesis makes no reference to Satan. If we can approach the text with fresh eyes and read it on its own terms, we may find other interesting meanings in addition to the traditional Pauline doctrine of "original sin"-- it may also be an allegory for growing up and leaving the Eden of childhood! We will also read the Bible in its historical context, which means learning about the Near Eastern society, culture, and politics that produced it. We will assume that the Torah, or “Five Books of Moses,” has at least four distinct authors whom we call J, E, P, and D, each with his or her own style and socio-religious agenda. We will look at issues of translation (a little Hebrew grammar) and genre, including the appeal of apocalyptic texts (Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation). And yes, there will be some movies, from Samson and Delilah cartoons to clips from A Night With the King to the full film A Serious Man (the Coen brothers' version of the Book of Job translated to Jewish Minnesota, circa 1968).
English 301A: Writers' Workshop, Poetry
Dr. Deborah Fleming
MWF 10:00-10:50
Fulfills requirement in Creative Writing major and minor and ILA major elective
The course objective is to write and critique students' poetry. Students write every week. The class format is seminar-type discussion.
Text: The Norton Anthology of Poetry, any edition
ENG 306A: The Essay
Dr. Maura Grady
T/TH 10:50-12:05
Fulfills Genre Requirement for CREW, ENG
In this class, you will study examples of the Essay form and write your own essays, which will be developed and workshopped throughout the semester.
Probable text: The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate.
ENG 332A: Global Film
Dr. Maura Grady
TTh 9:25-10:40 AM
Core Aesthetics, Core Border Crossings
In this class you will meet the core requirements for Aesthetics and Border Crossings through an in-depth analysis of German films. Our focus this fall will be on German filmic reactions to war (WWI, WWII and the Cold War). The course requires students to learn about film techniques, aesthetic movements, and historical and cultural context.
Texts:
1. German Culture Through Film by Reimer, Zachau and Sinka. Focus Publishing, 2005
2. A Short Guide to Writing About Film, 8th edition by Timothy Corrigan, Longman, 2011, ISBN-10: 0205236391
English 338A: Themes and Topics in Literature: Dystopian Literature
Dr. Linda Joyce Brown
MWF 2:00-2:50
Core Humanities, Elective for the English major, Elective in the English and Creative Writing minors
What would your ideal world look like? What would make the world unbearable? In this course, we will explore how writers have imagined ideal and far-from-ideal worlds. A premise of this course is that by studying dystopian literature and thinking deeply about the ideas that dystopian texts pose, we can gain new insight about contemporary social problems. Thus, in addition to addressing texts within their specific historical and cultural contexts, we will also connect them to contemporary issues, such as environmental degradation, technological dependence, and debates surrounding sexuality, marriage, and family. We will also consider the recent surge in popularity of dystopian fiction among young adult readers.
Eng 365A: Greek Literature
Dr. Russell Weaver
MWF: 1:00-1:50
Core Humanities; elective for English Major and Minor, elective for Creative Writing minor
In this course we will read some of the great masterpieces of Greek Literature. This particular semester we will be reading Homer’s Iliad along with ten plays by Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus:
Sophocles–Antigone, Oedipus the King, Ajax, The Women of Trachis, and Philoctetes
Euripides–Medea, Hippolytus, Iphigenia at Aulis, and Electra
Aeschylus–Agamemnon
There will be two take-homes, one on either Antigone or Medea and one on The Iliad and one presentation on two of the other plays.
ENG410A: The Romantic Era
Dr. Russell Weaver
TTh 1:40-2:55
Elective for English major and minor, Creative Writing major and minor, and Integrated Language Arts major
We will read four poems from Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience; Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and “Intimations Ode”’; Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”; Keats’s “The Eve of St. Agnes,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale”, and “Lamia”; Jane Eyre; Byron’s Manfred and two books of Don Juan; and Frankenstein.
There will be two papers (Blake/Wordsworth and Keats) and two presentations (Coledridge and Bronte/Byron/Frankenstein).
English 417A: English Grammar and Usage
Dr. Deborah Fleming
MWF 1:00-1:50
Required for ILA, English major elective, Middle Grades Generalist Endorsement, English Language Arts Concentration major elective, English Minor elective
This course provides students with knowledge of grammar, syntax, and mechanics and fulfills NCATE requirements for teachers of English and Language Arts. We will also study ways to use the vocabulary of grammar in the teaching of writing.
Text: Koln, Understanding English Grammar, current edition
English 427A: American Literature III: Realism to Modernism
Dr. Linda Joyce Brown
MWF 12:00-12:50
Elective in the English, Creative Writing, and ILA majors, Elective in the English and Creative Writing minors
The course explores the development of American Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism in relation to the tremendous social and economic change of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with emphasis on increasing urbanization, migration and immigration, the influence of two world wars, new ideas about race and gender, the impact of modern technological innovation, and developments in science.
