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English
The curriculum
of the Department of English is intended to introduce students
to the main literary genres, to acquaint them with representative
works in important periods of English, American, and Anglophone
literature, and to aid them in developing methods for critical
interpretation.
Further information
about the department, faculty and courses is available
at the department's home page on the web (www.oberlin.edu/~english).
Advanced
Placement. Students will receive 3 hours of Oberlin
College credit for a score of 5 on the Advanced Placement
Examination in English Literature/Composition or English
Language/ Composition, and will be eligible for entry into
intermediate (200-level) courses in English.
First-Year
Seminars.
These small, Writing-Intensive classes are for first-year
students only, and do not count as part of the English
major. They will focus on the essential skills of reading,
analysis, writing, and discussion. The successful completion
of any first-year colloquium will count as prerequisite
for intermediate work in English, as will a Writing Intensive
course in any other department, or certification of writing
proficiency in any Writing Certification course in the
Humanities division.
200-Level
Courses. English majors are expected to complete three
or more courses at the 200 level. Others interested in
study in the department are welcome in these courses as
well. These courses are designed to introduce students
to the discipline of literary study in English through
a substantial coverage of texts, instruction in the conventions
of genre, period, and region as appropriate, and attention
to fundamental issues and approaches in critical reading
and writing. Some of these courses are survey courses,
others are more closely focused in subject, but all are
intended to provide students with an understanding of
important critical issues and approaches, as well as sustained
experience in reading texts and in writing critical and
interpretive papers.
300-Level
Courses. Courses at the 300 level are intended for
students who have completed at least three courses at
the 200 level. These advanced courses are smaller in size
to facilitate more intensive study than the 200-level
courses.
400-Level
Courses. At the 400 level seniors (and occasionally
juniors) will have the opportunity to do individual work
based on focused reading of texts, criticism, literary
history, or theory, with the goal of engaging in extended
research, writing, or performance projects. Such opportunities
are available through seminars, special topics courses,
the honors program, or (in particular cases) independent
projects.
Major.
The English major is designed to meet the needs of students
with various goals, including those who desire training
in English in preparation for graduate study in the field;
those seeking a foundation for postgraduate work or study
in fields related to English (e.g., education, communications,
editing and publishing, law, theater); and those who want
a humanistic base in reading, thinking, and writing for
a liberal arts education.
Students
interested in going on for graduate work in English should
be aware that their candidacy will be strengthened by the
following: readiness to define a likely direction or area
of ongoing scholarly interest; evidence of the ability to
conduct successful independent research and extended critical
writing; reading knowledge of at least one foreign language;
and a more ample distribution of historical period courses
than that minimally required by the major. Students should
consult with their advisors about the decision to go on
for graduate work in English.
The Department
offers two types of majors, regular and concentration majors,
described in detail below. The regular major is primarily
a course of study within the discipline of English; the
concentration majors are interdisciplinary.
Students
may count toward the English major (at the 200 level) one
college course (up to 3 credit hours) in non-English-language
literature, whether read in the original or in translation.
This course will not satisfy an area distribution requirement,
but may satisfy a genre requirement as appropriate (see
below).
English majors
are strongly encouraged but not required to enroll in
at least one course at the 400 level in their senior year.
Majors should consult with their advisors in the middle
of the junior year to plan for the specific senior work,
whether a special topics course or seminar, the honors program,
or a senior project option (see below, "Senior options").
See the department's web site for further information about
the major.
The regular
major in English consists of 27 hours, including:
* at least
3 courses at the 200 level
* at least
4 courses at the 300 level or higher.
These courses
must also satisfy the following distribution requirements:
two courses in English literature before 1790 (designated
EL below), one course in British or world literature
since 1790 (WL), and two courses in American literature
(AL). They must also include at least one course
primarily in poetry (P), one in narrative fiction
(F), and one in drama (D). Checklists for
working out these requirements are available from the
department office (Rice 130).
Concentration
Majors. There are six concentration majors. Based in
the discipline of English, these concentrations allow students
to concentrate on particular aspects of literary study by
bringing work in other disciplines to bear on their major
in English -- in particular, work in African-American Studies,
American Literature and Culture, Creative Writing, Modern
Culture and Media, Theater and Drama, and Women's Studies.
These concentration majors consist of at least 21 hours
in English and 15 hours outside of English.
For all
concentration majors, courses in English must include:
* 3 courses
at the 200 level
* 3 courses
(4 for American Literature and Culture, or Modern Culture
and Media) at the 300 level or higher.
* As with
the standard major these courses must fulfill certain distribution
requirements: one course each with the designation EL,
WL, and AL, and courses in two of the three
genres (P, F, and D).
Specific
requirements for concentration majors, in addition to the
general requirements above:
* African-American
Studies: in English: 3 courses with strong focus
on African-American or Third World literature with a significant
treatment of the literature of Africa and/or the African
diaspora; Outside English: 15 hours in African-American/Third
World Studies courses, including no more than one literature
course.
* American
Literature and Culture: in English: 4 courses in American
literature and culture; Outside English: 15 hours in courses
dealing with American culture in History, Art History, African-American
Studies, etc.
* Creative
Writing: in English: 3 courses in 20th-century literature,
including one in post-1945 literature; Outside English:
15 hours in the Creative Writing Program, a minimum of 10
hours of which must be in the form of coursework offered
for Creative Writing credit by Creative Writing Program
Committee faculty.
* Modern
Culture and Media: in English: 4 courses dealing with
issues in modern culture and media; Outside English: 15
hours in courses dealing with modern culture and media.
* Theater
and Drama: in English: 3 courses in dramatic literature,
playwriting, or other drama or film topic; Outside English:
15 hours (total) in at least two other areas (dramatic literature,
theater, film) to be chosen from among courses such as these:
courses in Theater and design/technical areas; film courses;
other literature courses in translation or in the original
language of which the substance is drama.
* Women's
Studies: in English: 3 courses with a strong feminist
or Women's Studies component; Outside English: 15 hours
from courses listed in the catalog under Women's Studies;
one of these courses must be Women's Studies 100; the rest
may include up to 3 hours in courses listed as "Related
Courses" in Women's Studies; the remainder must be from
courses listed as "Program Courses" or "Cross-Listed Courses."
In consultation
with the department chairperson, majors may devise other
concentrations to meet their particular interests. Because
concentration majors require more advance planning than
the standard English major, they may not be declared after
the end of the student's junior year. Students who choose
a concentration major have no automatic entitlement to
courses outside the English Department required for that
major.
Minor.
An English minor consists of at least 15 hours in the English
Department including:
* 3 courses
at the 200 level
* 2 courses
at the 300 level or higher.
* As with
the major, these courses must fulfill certain distribution
requirements: one course each with the designation EL,
WL, and AL, and courses in two of the three
genres (P, F, and D).
Senior
Options. Senior English majors are strongly recommended
to do work at the 400 level, because of the value of intense
and extended work among peers at an advanced level of
practical and theoretical skills. There are 3 principal
options for senior work:
Seminars
and Special Topics Courses. These courses are normally
for seniors who have completed at least two courses at
the 300 level. Seminars will be available only by consent
of the instructor, through application in the preceding
semester. Whether focusing on specific authors, genres,
periods, or movements, or more broadly conceived around
theoretical or methodological approaches, these seminars
will give students the chance for extended focused study
within a specific area, culminating in a major research
project or term paper.
Senior
Projects. The senior project is a semester-long individual
research project culminating typically in a 15-20 page
essay and an oral presentation of that work to a group
of faculty. Permission to do a senior project is by application
in the semester before the project and is available to
a limited number of students.
Honors.
The Honors Program is a year-long project involving a colloquium
in the fall, as well as year-long work on a research project,
leading to a 35-page essay or creative writing project and
an oral examination on that project. Successful work in
the Honors program will render a student eligible for consideration
for honors at graduation, but it does not guarantee such
honors.
Admission
to the Honors program is by application in the spring
of the junior year; all majors are invited by mail to
apply for the program. Admission to the program is determined
on the basis of the strength of an applicant's work in
the major as evidenced by grade-point average in the major,
faculty recommendations, and personal interviews as needed.
Students are advised to have completed the majority of
their major requirements by the time they apply for honors,
including area and genre distribution requirements and
the specific requirements of a concentration major, and
to have done significant work at the advanced level.
London
Program. One semester each year, an English Department
faculty member serves as co-director of the Danenberg
Oberlin-in-London Program, thereby facilitating applications
for English majors interested in that semester's program.
For further information see the section of the catalog
entitled "London Program."
Transfer
of Credit.
No more than 14 hours of transfer credit in English literature
may be applied to the Oberlin English major. (Note: "English
Literature" generally excludes basic composition, introductory
creative writing, and more than one course in literature
not written in English.) To have transfer credit approval
toward the major and/or toward meeting prerequisites for
upper-level courses, students should consult the chair
of the English Department (or his designate), preferably
with syllabi in hand.
Winter
Term. Winter Term projects sponsored by English faculty
will be according to the interests and availability of
staff. Students also are encouraged to propose group projects
which, with an approved sponsor, they will direct.
Composition Courses
Students
interested in taking introductory-level courses in expository
writing should see the Rhetoric and Composition section
of this catalog. Descriptions of writing-oriented courses
and procedures to be followed in order to meet the college-wide
writing requirements may be found there.
First-Year Seminars
The English
Department offers a number of seminars designed especially
for first-year students. Descriptions of these classes may
be found in a separate catalog distributed to entering students,
and also on the English Department website: www.oberlin.edu/~english/.
First-year seminars do not count toward the English major,
which begins with classes at the 200 level. Students in
their second year or beyond should begin work in the English
Department at the 200 level.
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200-Level
Courses
These courses
are designed to introduce students to the discipline of
literary study in English through a substantial coverage
of texts, instruction in the conventions of genre, period,
and region as appropriate, and attention to fundamental
issues and approaches in critical reading and writing.
Prerequisites:
These courses are open to students who have completed
any Writing Intensive course, or have gained Writing Certification
in any course in the Humanities. They are also open to
those who have achieved a 5 on the AP exam in English
Language/Composition or English Literature/Composition,
or a score of 710 or better on the SAT II Writing test.
Other students may be admitted by consent of the instructor,
with the understanding that students should be able to
demonstrate the ability to handle writing, discussion,
and analysis in ways typically taught in Writing Intensive
classes.
201.
Chaucer 3 hours
3HU,
WR
First Semester.
Study of Chaucer's last great work, The Canterbury Tales,
its language, and its cultural contexts. All readings in
Middle English. P, EL. Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
204.
Selected Shakespearean Plays 16001614
3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second Semester.
Focused study of five plays from the second half of Shakespeare's
career: Hamlet, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Othello,
and The Tempest. Emphasizing how performance choices inflect
interpretation, the course will feature student scene performance
(no experience or expertise required) and video showings
of films or stage productions. Particular critical methods
and theories will be studied in connection with each play,
including feminist, folkloristic/anthropological, new historicist,
performance, and race criticism. D, EL. Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
208.
Shakespeare and Film 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
What happens when Shakespeare is produced on screen? Given
the powerful status of "the Bard" in many cultures of the
twentieth century, a Shakespeare film must be studied not
merely in itself, but also as a contribution to the ongoing
reinterpretion and appropriation of Shakespeare; so we'll
read plays, study films, and work on the theoretical and
cultural relationships between them. Monday evening film
viewings are required. D, EL.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
209.
Seventeenth-Century Poetry and the English Civil War
4 hours
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
The seventeenth century in England was notable for at least
two things: a tremendous flowering of lyric poetry and a
devastating civil war. The way in which these two facts
interpenetrate and inform each other will be the subject
of this course. Donne, Herbert, Jonson, Herrick, Vaughan,
Milton, and Marvell will be the poets most featured in this
survey. P, EL.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
211.
Milton 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. Milton's English poetry and selected prose,
with special attention to Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained,
and Samson Agonistes. Considerable time will be devoted
to the poetic texts as participants in historical and
intellectual discourses and to modern critical writing
on Milton. P, EL. Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
212.
London in Eighteenth-Century Literature 3
hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. London was the first great modern metropolis,
and came to occupy a central place in the British imagination.
By turns wondered at and reviled, London was, for the
British, a place of infinite variety and possibility,
but also a place of temptation, danger, and loneliness.
This course examines a range of representations of London
life in works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfictional
prose during the "long" eighteenth century (roughly 1660-1805).
P, EL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment
Limit: 30.
220. Romantic
Literature 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. An interdisciplinary study of "romanticism"
in England and Scotland between 1789 and 1832, treating
works by poets, essay writers, novelists, painters and
urban architects. Among works to be considered will be
poems by Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, and Byron,
essays by Burke, De Quincey, Coleridge, and Hazlitt, and
fiction by Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft. Painters
to be considered will include Girtin, Constable, Turner,
and B. R. Haydon (some of whose letters and journals we
will also read). We will investigate the Prince Regent's
attempts, working with John Nash and others, to transform
London into an imperial city. P, WL.
Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
221.
Framing the Real: Documentary Forms in Cinema 4
hours
4HU,
WR
Second
Semester. This course examines and compares various traditions
in documentary cinema by considering how each has framed
its pursuit of the "real." Using documentary films from
diverse times and places, the class introduces students
to basic questions and issues--structure, mimesis, politics,
authorship, ethics, history--central to the notion and
enterprise of documentary cinema. F, AL.
Identical to CINE 221. Prerequisite: See headnote above.
Enrollment Limit: 30.
223.
Sign, Self, & Text in 19th-Century American
Fiction 3 hours
3HU,
WR
First
Semester. This course examines questions of signification,
subjectivity, and power that are raised in fictional works
by representative figures of nineteenth-century North
America (e.g., Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rebecca
Harding Davis, Herman Melville). In order to understand
the genre and its implications, we will also compare fiction
with works by poets and essayists (Emerson, Margaret Fuller,
Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Fanny Fern, William Apess,
Whitman, Dickinson), using literature to explore different
notions of the self as represented in those texts, the
contexts that make such representations possible, and
the implications of such representations for contemporary
readers. F, AL.
Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
Mr.
McMilli
228. Modern
British and Irish Fiction 4 hours 4HU,
WR
First
and Second Semester. Novels and short fiction by such
major twentieth-century writers as Conrad, Ford, Lawrence,
Mansfield, Forster, Joyce, Woolf, and Greene. F,
WL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment
Limit:
30.
232. Traditions
of Metamorphosis 3 hours
3HU,
WR
First
Semester. This course will study the theme of metamorphosis
as it manifests itself in literature and other art forms
including the visual arts and music. The approach will
be comparative and will involve lecturers from different
departments and programs exploring works in their own
areas of expertise, along with discussion classes. F.
Identical to CMPL 232. Prerequisite: See headnote
above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
238. Contemporary
American Fiction 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second
Semester. This course will focus on recently published
American novels. We will attend to questions of style,
authorship and interpretation against the backdrop of
contemporary cultural and political history. Likely
authors to include Dorothy Allison, Paul Auster, Don
DeLillo, Louise Erdrich, Toni Morrison, E. L. Doctorow,
Charles Johnson, Jayne Anne Phillips, Richard Powers,
Sherman Alexie, Michael Chabon. F, AL. Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
239. History
and Structure of the English Language 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. The development of English from its Anglo-Saxon
beginnings to the present, focusing on lexical, morphological,
syntactic, and phonological change, with emphasis on
the intersections between language, literature, and
culture. EL.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit:
30.
255. In
Search of America: The Concept of Nature in Early American
Writing 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. An exploration of the concept of Nature in
early American literature, this course also offers students
a thorough introduction to research skills and information
technology. By connecting today's "information landscape"
with the physical landscape as it is theorized, encountered,
and represented in early American literature, students
will investigate the ways in which representations of
America then might inform our contemporary understandings
of nature and nation. Texts will include sermons, promotional
tracts, descriptions of the land and its inhabitants,
captivity narratives, American Indian responses to European
encounters, poetry, autobiography, philosophical and
political treatises, and fiction. F, AL. Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
257. The
Re-making of "America" and "Americans": 4 hours
American Literature at the Turn into the Twentieth Century
4HU,
WR
Second
Semester. Tension and change marked the nation's racial
and ethnic composition, class formations, gender arrangements,
laws, and international status. The literature of the
era not only reflected this ferment, but participated
in debates about what "America" and "Americans" were.
At the same time, the nature of "literature" and the
circumstances of its production, distribution and reception
were also in flux. These issues will frame the course.
Reading will include narratives and essays by Howells,
James, Jewett, Freeman, Chesnutt, Hopkins, Twain, Garland,
Dunbar
Nelson, Sui Sin Far, Zitkala Sa and others. F,
AL. Prerequisite: See
headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
263.
The Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age
4 hours
4HU,
CD, WR
Second
Semester. A survey of the decade of artistic production
and debate in early twentieth-century American letters
known as the "Harlem Renaissance" or the "New Negro
Renaissance," or alternatively as the "Jazz Age"--
roughly 1919-1929--that explores the controversies
of racial representation in this period of self-conscious
artistic production. We will address key interactions
on the subject of racial representation in the arts
between and among black and white artists of the period,
treating their essays and fiction. Authors may include
Gertrude Stein, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer,
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O'Neill, Langston Hughes,
Claude McKay, and Nella Larsen. F, AL. Prerequisite:
See
headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
264.
Coming to America 4 hours
4
HU, WR
First
Semester. Through literature and films, this course
will explore a variety of immigrant (Asian, Afro-Caribbean,
European) experiences, examining diverse reactions
to immigration to the U.S. It will consider the subject
formation of immigrants as well as questions of identity--individual,
group, national--that arise in the context of emigration
and immigration, taking into account the cultural
and historical differences shaping different immigrant
groups. It will also consider legal and economic issues
surrounding immigration to the U.S. F, AL.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit:
30.
265. Anglophone
Literatures of the Third World 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. Through a variety of theoretical essays
and novels, this course will examine the problems
of definition, analysis, and evaluation that attend
our interpretation of works from the "Third World."
We will consider, for instance, whether or not: 1)
"Third World" or "Post-colonial" are appropriate designations;
2) notions of "marginality," "difference," "alterity,"
so often deployed to characterize these works, are
useful interpretive tools; 3) the perception that
these works are always already enactments of resistance
against dominant ideologies and formations is effective.
F, WL.
Identical to CMPL 265. Prerequisite: See headnote
above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
271.
Form, Style, and Meaning in Cinema 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First
and Second Semester. This course considers the cinema
as a particular media form and explores issues and
methods in cinema studies. The class focuses on questions
of film form and style (narrative, editing, sound,
framing, mise-en-scène) and introduces students
to concepts in film history and theory (industry,
auteurism, spectatorship, the star system, ideology,
genre). Students develop a basic critical vocabulary
for examining the cinema as an art form, an industry,
and a system of culturally meaningful representation.
F, WL.
Identical to CINE 101. Prerequisite: See headnote
above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
272. American
Cinema: The Possibilities of Art in the Entertainment
Business 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First
Semester. This course will focus on how American cinema
functions as an entertainment industry and the ways
in which the demands of business and technology have
shaped it. At the same time, we will explore American
movies as works of art produced in a tradition of
strong genres and the star system, and efforts of
filmmakers to use these for individualized expression.
The course
will focus particularly on two great eras of American
cinema, the late 1930s-early 1940s and the 1970s. F,
AL.
Identical to CINE 272. Prerequisite: See headnote
above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
282. Drama
Survey: Shifting Scenes 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. This course will study the development of
drama from the ancient Greeks to the present with the
aim of promoting understanding and analysis of dramatic
texts. By studying the major forms of drama--tragedy,
comedy, tragicomedy--within their historical and cultural
contexts, we will explore the elements common to all
dramatic works, as well as the way in which those elements
vary and evolve from one time and place to another.
D, WL.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit:
30.
284. The
Irish Short Story 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. An exploration of the most significant twentieth-century
Irish short story writers--James Joyce, Samuel Beckett,
Mary Lavin, Frank O'Connor, Edna O'Brien, Sean O'Faolain,
John McGahern, William Trevor, Mary Dorcey, and Anne
Enright. We'll examine the tensions between tradition
and innovation, and the impact of religion and nationalism
on the writers in the North and South. F, WL.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit:
30.
Mr.
Hobbs
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300-Level
Courses
Courses at
the 300 level are designed to broaden students' experience
of literature in English while also deepening the study
of the discipline through focused reading of texts, criticism,
literary history and theory.
Prerequisite:
These courses are open to students who have completed
at least 3 courses at the 200 level, or by consent of
the instructor.
302. Medieval
Literature 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second Semester.
A survey of English literature from the eighth century through
the fifteenth--from "Caedmon's Hymn," one of the first English
poems in writing, to Malory's Morte d'Arthur, one of the
first books to come off the English printing press. Texts
will include lyrics, plays, epics, riddles, romances, prose
narratives, comic tales, complaints, allegories, and visions.
Old English and Anglo-Norman texts in translation; most
Middle English texts in the original. P, EL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
309. Shakespeare
in Dialogue 3 hours
3HU,
WR
First Semester.
A comparative study of about ten plays, half by Shakespeare
and half by other dramatists of the period, probably Marlowe,
Jonson, and Webster. The aim is to portray the Early Modern
theater as an ongoing conversation, in which plays acquire
their meaning partly in relation to one another. D, EL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
315. Eighteenth-Century
Novel 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
The emergence of prose fiction in the eighteenth century,
focusing on novelistic form, with attention to cultural
and historical contexts. Authors may include Behn, Defoe,
Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, and Austen. F, EL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
316. Early
Victorian Fiction in Context 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
A survey of British fiction written in the first half of
the nineteenth century, with special attention paid to historical
and cultural context, serial publication and changing readerships,
the emergence of a sophisticated aesthetic of fiction in
critical periodicals, and the interplay between text and
visual image in illustrated fiction. Works will include
fiction by Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, Gaskell, Emily Brontë,
Charlotte Brontë, and Trollope. F, WL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
317. Late
Nineteenth-Century British Fiction 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
Late Victorian novels such as George Eliot's Middlemarch,
Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde, George Gissing's The Odd Women and Thomas Hardy's
Jude the Obscure are considered in this course alongside
selected poems and prose of the period, as a basis for exploring
the novel's responsiveness to late Victorian debate over
such topics as feminism, aestheticism, and democratization.
F, WL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
320.
Documentary Production: Theory and Practice 4
hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
This course explores documentary form in both critical and
creative ways. The class introduces students to various
ways to think about and understand documentaries (in terms
of structure, purpose, audience, etc.) and then gives them
the opportunity to practice basic documentary production
(camera, lighting, sound, non-linear editing). After engaging
in various individual and small group exercises, students
spend the balance of the semester working together to produce
a short documentary video. F.
Identical to CINE 320. Prerequisite: Either CINE 101
or a 200-level Cinematic Traditions course, or three 200-level
ENGL classes. Enrollment Limit: 25.
328.
Modern Drama II: Brecht to Pinter 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second Semester.
This course will study the development of drama from World
War II to 1975 from both a literary and a theatrical point
of view. Playwrights will include Brecht, Beckett, Ionesco,
Genet, Churchill, Pinter, Fornes, and Adrienne Kennedy.
D, WL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
329.
Contemporary Irish Poetry 3 hours
3HU,
WR
First Semester.
An exploration of the most significant Irish poets since
1945--Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, John Montague, Paul Durcan,
Medbh McGuckian, Derek Mahon, Paul Muldoon, Paula Meehan,
and Michael Longley. We'll consider their relationship to
the earlier generation of Yeats and Kavanagh as well as
the personal and thematic impact of their various cultural
and political contexts, North and South. P, WL.
Prerequisite:
Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit: 25.
331.
Modern Poetry I: Symbolism to Imagism 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second Semester.
The development of modern poetry from 1880 to the end of
World War I. The first half of the course covers the transition
from the Symbolist movement to various forms of modernism.
The poets studied include Mallarmé, Rilke, and Yeats,
and their accomplishments are compared with the work of
various painters of the period. The second half moves to
New York and the Armory Show of 1913 as a background for
study of the American modernism of Stevens, Moore, and Williams.
P, WL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses.
Enrollment Limit: 25.
333.
Poetry Since 1945 3 hours
3HU,
WR
Second
Semester. Contemporary American poetry, selected from
such major postwar poets as Lowell, Bishop, and Jarrell;
more recent poets such as Plath, Ashbery, Merwin, James
Wright, and Rich; and such current figures as Simic, Harper,
Charles Wright, C. D. Wright, McPherson, Tate, Komunyakaa,
and Upton. P, AL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
338. Modern
Fiction and Sexual Difference 4 hours
4HU,
CD, WR
First
Semester. This course will study the representation of
gay and lesbian experience in selected British and American
fiction, both modern and contemporary. We will begin with
early 20th-century figures (Cather, James, Forster, Woolf,
Larsen, Isherwood), and proceed to short fiction and novels
written after 1960 by such writers as James Baldwin, Andrew
Holleran, Dorothy Allison, Michael Chabon, Alan Hollinghurst,
Jeanette Winterson, and Neil Bartlett. F, WL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
340.
Technology and Contemporary American Culture 4
hours
4HU,
WR
First
Semester. Contemporary innovations in technology are often
seen as promising either a starry futuristic dream (of
interactivity and globalization) or a dystopian nightmare
(of regulation and homogenization). This course seeks
to move beyond such polarized judgments by looking closely
at formal and thematic representations of technology in
various cultural objects--film, literature, visual art,
electronic resources. Along with these texts, we will
read critical and theoretical works on technology and
its relation to aesthetic and social experience. F,
AL.
Identical to CINE 340. Prerequisite: Three 200-level
courses. Enrollment Limit: 25.
355. American
Women Writers and Feminist Literary Criticism 4
hours
4HU,
WR
Second
Semester. This course will center on literary texts by
a diverse set of writers as they converge with major concerns
of feminist theory and literary criticism. Among likely
writers are Stowe, Wilson, Stoddard, Harper, Zitkala-Sa,
Sui Sin Far, Cather, Smedley, Yezierska, and Wharton.
Douglas, Wexler, Tompkins, Dobson, Higginbotham, Foreman,
and Tate are apt to be among the theorists and critics.
F, AL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
372. Contemporary
Literary Theory in American Culture 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First
Semester. This course is about developments in literary
theory in the last thirty years not as abstract systems
but in the larger context of American intellectual and
artistic culture. Our concern will be understanding literary
theories in their historical and institutional contexts
as well as considering their value as ways of thinking.
We'll pay particular attention to the impact of post-structuralism
on American critics, the relation of literary criticism
to culture criticism, and the elaboration of the idea
of post-modernity. F, AL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
373. American
Literature and Culture in the 1930s 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
This course focuses on American culture in the 1930s with
particular reference to the relation between the novel and
cinema, though other arts and media such as photography,
painting, and music will also be addressed. We will consider
not only the relation of these arts to each other but to
the social crisis of the Great Depression. F, AL.
Identical to CINE 373. Prerequisite: Three 200-level
courses, or CINE 101, or a Cinematic Traditions course.
Enrollment Limit: 25.
374. Western
Representations of the Colonized Subject 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
Through a variety of fictional and theoretical texts, this
course will examine how European (primarily English) writers
and writers from (formerly) colonized areas describe, analyze,
and evaluate, in short, represent the colonized subject.
Our discussion will not only address matters of "accuracy,"
"taste," and "judgement," but also the contemporary critical
interest in who can or cannot speak for the (formerly) colonized
and/or marginalized subject. F,
WL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
378. Literature,
Wilderness, and the Human Imagination 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
This course studies changing human attitudes toward the
wilderness, as reflected in literary texts from different
times and places. We begin with Gilgamesh and progress to
the present, shifting from Eurasian and European contexts
to American history and literature, coming on up to the
current debate about the meaning and value of wilderness.
Our texts include poems, short novels, a play, essays, and
historical and philosophical accounts of how human beings
have understood their relation to the nonhuman. P,
AL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
389.
Selected Authors: J. M. Coetzee 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
The substantive focus of this course is to read--closely,
carefully, assiduously--novels and essays/critical exegeses
by arguably one of the most important contemporary "postcolonial"
writers, J. M. Coetzee. This focus will include sustained
attention to contexts--of historical moment, location (geographical
and epistemological), ideological investments--through which
his work becomes, or is made, meaningful. The timing of
this course is tied to Coetzee's visit to Oberlin in Fall
2002. F, WL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
30.
390. Selected
Authors: William Faulkner 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
An intensive study of the major works of William Faulkner
(1897-1962). Readings include The Sound and the Fury, As
I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!, and a selection
of short stories, essays, and speeches. F, AL.
Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses. Enrollment Limit:
25.
395. Poetry
Workshop 3 hours
3HU,
WR
First and
Second Semester. Identical to CRWR 310.
Ms. Collins,
Ms. Alexander
396. Non-Fiction
Workshop 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First and
Second Semester. Identical to CRWR 340.
397. Fiction
Workshop 4 hours
4HU,
WR
First and
Second Semester. Identical to CRWR 320.
398. Playwriting
Workshop 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
Identical to CRWR 330.
399. Teaching
and Tutoring Writing Across the Disciplines 3 hours
3HU,
WRi
First and
Second Semester. Identical to RHET 481.
Ms. Trubek,
Mr. Podis
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400-Level
Courses
These courses
are designed primarily for seniors and offer opportunities
to do individual work based on focused reading of texts,
criticism, literary history, or theory, with the goal
of engaging in extended research, writing, or performance
projects. Courses at the 400 level are open by application
only in the semester preceding the course. Students enrolling
in 400-level courses should normally have completed at
least two courses at the 300 level.
413.
Seminar: Questions of Authorship in Cinema: 4
hours
Woody Allen and Spike Lee
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
What is an author in the cinema? Drawing from relevant theoretical
work, the class will fashion critical methods for exploring
questions of cinematic authorship and then apply those methods
to the work of Woody Allen and Spike Lee. For their own
seminar projects, students may consider actors, directors,
styles, or movements of their choice. F, AL.
Identical to CINE 413. Consent of instructor required.
Enrollment Limit: 12.
426. Special
Topic: Making a Place, Making a Play: 4 hours
Studies in Early Modern Theater
4HU,
WR
First Semester.
The public theater of Early Modern London (roughly 1590-1620)
created a series of remarkable plays. How did the playwrights,
acting companies, and physical theaters create the imaginary
worlds of those plays? How do the versions created by modern
techniques of acting, staging, and filming relate to what
we can infer of the plays' early performances? D,
EL.
Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15.
431. Special
Topic: Blake, Wordsworth, and the Literary Response to Crisis
4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
Almost exactly 200 years ago, two English poets articulated
the complex crisis of their nation, which, in the cataclysm
of the French Revolution, began to interrogate such established
ideas as government, empire, gender, religion, thought,
and subjectivity. William Blake and William Wordsworth,
founding artists of the English Romantic movement, envisioned
this crisis in related but often very different ways. We'll
study their wonderful poems in the context of their lives
and continuing influence. P, WL.
Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 18.
436. Seminar:
Movies and Melodrama 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
This course will explore the long history, cultural contexts,
and critical challenges associated with melodramatic narrative
cinema. We will study the origins of melodrama, the rise
and fall of its status as a form, its association with women
as subjects and audiences, its adaptation to different historical
and cultural contexts, and its relationship to contemporary
problems of cultural analysis. Expect a demanding viewing
and reading schedule, high expectations about participation
and presentations, and to develop a significant independent
project. F, AL.
Consent
of instructor required. Identical to CINE 436. Enrollment
Limit: 15.
443. Seminar:
Modern African Novel 4 hours
4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
In this seminar, we will read African novels of the postcolonial
period. We will try to situate the narrative practices of
a wide range of authors within the politics of African decolonization
and postcolonial literary studies. Authors may include Achebe,
Ngugi, Soyinka, Vassanji, Lessing, Coetzee, and Gordimer.
No previous experience with African literature or postcolonial
studies is necessary for this course. F, WL.
Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15.
449. Senior
Project 3-4 hours
3-4HU,
WR
First or
Second Semester. The senior project is an opportunity to
engage, on an individual basis under the supervision of
a faculty member in the Department of English, in a semester-long
research project. This project typically culminates in a
15-20 page essay and an oral presentation of that work at
the end of the semester. This opportunity is available to
a limited number of senior English majors, by application
only. The senior project differs from the Honors program
in being limited to one semester; it does not qualify the
student to become a candidate for Honors at graduation.
Prerequisite:
Admission to the senior project. Consent of instructor required.
453. Honors
Project 1-3 hours
1-3HU,
WR
First Semester.
Intensive work on the topic of the student's honors project,
to be organized in consultation with the honors advisor.
Consent of instructor required.
454. Honors
Colloquium 2 hours
2HU
First Semester.
A forum for group discussion of honors projects at various
stages of design and composition. The class will address
the honors project as an intellectual exploration, an analytic
enterprise, and a rhetorical entity. Prerequisite:
Admission to the Honors Program. CR/NE grading. Consent
of instructor required.
455. Honors
Project 1-4 hours
1-4HU,
WR
Second Semester.
Intensive work on the student's honors project, culminating
in either an honors paper or creative project. Consent
of instructor required.
995. Private
Reading 1-3 hours
1-3HU
Consent
of instructor required.
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London
Semester
One semester
each year an English department faculty member teaches
courses in the Danenberg Oberlin-in-London Program. For
a fuller description of the London Program in general
and next year's courses see the London Program section
of this catalog.
900. The
Danenberg Lectures on British Culture and Society 2
hours
2EX
First Semester.
For full course description see section entitled "London
Program."
Ms. Gorfain,
Mr. Richards
926. It's
About Time: Time in Literature and Physics 6 hours
3HU/3NS,
WR
First Semester.
For full course description see section entitled "London
Program." F, WL.
Ms. Gorfain,
Mr. Richards
927. Acting
Up: Theatre in London 6 hours
6HU,
WR
First Semester.
For full course description see section entitled "London
Program." D, EL,WL.
Ms. Gorfain
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