Spring, 2002
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Students interested in taking introductory-level courses in writing should also see the Rhetoric and Composition section of the catalog. Descriptions of writing-oriented courses and procedures to be followed in order to meet the college-wide writing requirements may be found there. These courses do not count towards an English major.
Colloquia will focus on critical writing and analysis through the study of texts. These colloquia are for first-year students only, and do not count for the English major, which begins with foundation courses at the 200 level. All colloquia are Writing Intensive courses. Students in their second year or beyond should begin work in the English Department at the 200 level.
Beyond offering different sorts of content and engagement for their audiences, various artistic forms and techniques can be understood to provide alternative models for individuals and groups to filter and process experience in general. This course will look at multiple artistic forms (e.g., painting, photography, film, literature), in light of their own technical developments and contrasts with each other across time, in order to develop a greater sense of the many ways medium matters. Enrollment limit: 16 first-year students only.
An exploration of the concept of memory through the art and figure of Shakespeare. We will balance our reading of the sonnets, Henry V, Hamlet, and The Winter's Tale with more theoretical accounts of memory by thinkers from Plato to Freud. We'll also keep in mind the remembrance of Shakespeare's own works, whether in celebratory poems by Jonson and Milton, or in suggestive narratives by Borges, James, Joyce, and Wilde. The course is designed as a seminar-style discussion, with frequent writing assignments due in advance of our meetings. Enrollment limit: 16 first-year students only.
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.
"Sir," said Samuel Johnson to James Boswell in 1777, "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." 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). In addition to careful reading and discussion of the texts, students will work in groups to develop an understanding of key eighteenth-century cultural contexts such as crime, chocolate, nightlife, prostitution, coffee, and gin. P, EL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
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.
In this course we'll use poetry-writing to sharpen your critical insight and a close analytical reading of collections by Yeats, Plath, and Merwin to develop and extend your own poetic skills. Additional readings on poetic theory and the creative process. Written work will be two critical essays and a portfolio of poems. (No previous poetry-writing experience necessary.) P. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
The development of English from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings to the present, concentrating on changes in the meanings of words, in grammatical forms, in pronunciation, and in usage. EL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
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.
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.
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 and WOST 265. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
This course examines the cinema as a particular media form and considers a variety of issues and methods in cinema studies, including questions of film form and style (narrative, editing, sound, framing, mise-en-scene, etc.), and questions in film history and theory (industry, auteurism, spectatorship, the star system, ideology, genre, etc.). In our inquiry we will look at examples from both Hollywood and alternative film traditions. Through readings, screenings, and class discussions, we will develop a critical vocabulary for examining the cinema as an art form, as an industry, and as a system of politically and culturally meaningful representation and communication. F, WL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
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 the two great eras of American cinema, the late 1930s and early 1940s and the 1970s. (Not open to students who have already taken ENGL 373.) F, AL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
A study of contemporary American fiction from the perspective of postmodernism and postmodernity. We will read work by Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, E. L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo, Leslie Marmon Silko, Marilynne Robinson, Paul Auster, Octavia Butler, and Art Spiegelman. In addition, we'll watch several films frequently described as postmodern, such as Blade Runner, Blue Velvet, and The House of Yes. F, AL. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
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.
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.
Prerequisites: These courses are open to students who have completed at least 3 courses at the new 200-level, or (for students who have taken courses prior to 1998) at least 3 courses in English at the 150 level or above, or by consent of the instructor.
Although we cannot really speak of a "female literary tradition" in the Middle Ages, the period is not quite the "long silence" for women's writing that scholars once thought. We will study those women who, remarkably, managed to make themselves heard, including Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, Marie de France, Heloise, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Christine de Pisan, the Paston women, and Anonymous. F, EL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Shakespeare repeatedly took up the form of tragedy during his career. This course will explore the varied potentialities of tragedy, including the different traditions available to him, and we will consider what theoretical approaches to tragedy shed light on his different approaches to the genre in the dozen or so tragedies. D, EL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
This course explores the different ways in which "reality" was staged by playwrights including Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Shaw, and Pirandello. We will consider how modern theatrical movements such as realism, naturalism, expressionism, and metadrama sought to represent "reality," focusing on evolving stagecraft. Emphasis will also be placed on the historical and cultural contexts surrounding the early stages of modern drama. D, WL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, both born in 1564, were each widely regarded as exceptionally gifted playwrights during their lifetimes, yet Marlowe's early death (he was killed in 1593) has contributed to a somewhat diminished sense of his achievement. In this course we will attempt to bring Marlowe and Shakespeare back into dialogue with each other, by reading most of Marlowe's plays in conjunction with selected plays by Shakespeare. Possible groupings could focus on generic categories, such as English histories (Henry VI, Edward II, Richard II) or classical love tragedies (Dido, Queen of Carthage, Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra); topical issues, such as militarism (Tamburlaine, Henry IV, Henry V) or near-contemporary political events (The Massacre at Paris and Henry VIII); or character "types," such as the magician (Dr. Faustus, Macbeth, The Tempest) or the Jew (The Jew of Malta and The Merchant of Venice). Students familiar with Shakespeare are especially encouraged to take the course, as it should serve to estrange him from the image, held by so many today, of the genius working in isolation. D, EL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Paranoia and conspiracy have been prominent themes in the history of the second half of the twentieth century, from the Red Scare of the 1950s to the rise of right-wing militias in the 1990s. After the traumatic events of 11 September 2001, paranoia and conspiracy theory have been revitalized in the popular imagination as an inherent part of our social reality. This course will examine what is contentiously called "the paranoid school of American fiction" in an effort to understand the cultural work performed by conspiratorial narratives. By examining a range of texts--political essays, novels, films, and television shows--we will explore the ways in which conspiratorial narratives function ambivalently within American society, both as a reassuring source of meaning and as a reactionary response to a presumed external threat. In this way, conspiratorial narratives reassure the existence of American society as a harmonious whole, while projecting its own social negativity onto the figure of the Other--communist, Jew, African-American, or Arab Muslim--through the work of social fantasy. Fiction by Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Ishmael Reed, Diane Johnson, Leslie Marmon Silko, James Ellroy, Margaret Atwood, and William Gibson. F, AL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Slavery and abolition; Native Americans' traditions, status and rights; white women's lives within and beyond the constraints of propriety and domesticity; possibilities for transcendent experience; the nature and ramifications of sexuality within the era's varied social circumstances; the geographic, political and cultural expansion of the U. S. as a nation; the nature of literature itself: these are among the key issues which fueled American writing of this period. That writing, likewise, was instrumental in shaping Americans' understanding of their nation's conflicts and its potential. This course will examine some of the period's major writing within this framework. We'll concentrate on work by Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Jacobs, Stoddard, Douglass, Whitman, and Dickinson. Magazines and newspapers as well as books were staples of Americans' reading, and we'll spend some time examining antebellum magazines and periodicals in Mudd Library's Special Collections. F, AL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
In this survey of postwar British fiction, we will examine the ways in which novels and short stories both problematize and rely upon their status as minority literature. We will explore the trope of marginality as a narrative strategy in contemporary fiction, and we will discuss how very different kinds of texts--working class, feminist, gaelic, postcolonial, and queer--understand and cultivate a sense of difference. Writers may include Sam Selvon, Alan Sillitoe, Penelope Fitzgerald, Salman Rushdie, Doris Lessing, and Irvine Welsh. F, WL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
What exactly do we mean by "documentary?" As a mode of representation, is documentary truly able to capture the real world in ways that fictional forms cannot? In this course we will explore some of the practical and theoretical issues surrounding documentary representation in various media, especially in the cinema. We will examine a variety of visual and written documentary texts and ask how each frames "the real." We will consider documentary practices from a variety of standpoints--in terms of narrative structure, mimetic capacity, political meaning, ethical power, and historical significance. Juniors and seniors only. F, AL. Prerequisite: A previous film studies course, or three 200-level English courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
An exploration of trials, justice, and natural law in literature. We consider how narratives create systems of justice, how they advance claims to narrative authority, and how readers form judgments based on narrative. We will focus on theories of race, responses to racial injustice, and the creation of codes of justice in narrative forms. Works include Melville's Benito Cereno, Chesnutt's "Po' Sandy," Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Wright's Native Son, Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner. Secondary readings include Toni Morrison, Derrick Bell, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Patricia Williams. F, AL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Selected works of major American playwrights. Emphasis will be placed on close reading, as well as on the significance of each play in regard to political and social movements of the time and the evolution of the American theater. Among the playwrights to be considered: Odets, O'Neill, Williams, Hellman, Albee, Shepard, Baraka, Bullins, Fornes, Kushner. D, AL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Since its inception, cinema has maintained a perennial concern with problems of representing experiences of the miraculous or transcendental. Despite the customary linkage of film to secular modernization, then, filmmakers and critics have returned repeatedly to the form's profound evocation of a sense of reality to explore the limits and consequences of this tendency. Across historical and national divisions, we will investigate cinematic treatments of spirituality in light of the challenges they present to critical theory and practice. F, AL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level courses (see headnote above) or consent of instructor. Enrollment limit: 25.
The development of Joyce's fiction from Dubliners to Finnegans Wake, emphasizing Ulysses, in the contexts of biography and post-colonial Irish culture and history. F, WL. Prerequisite: Three 200-level English courses (see headnote above). Enrollment limit: 25.
Identical to CRWR 310.
Identical to CRWR 340.
Identical to CRWR 320.
A workshop focused on discussion of student work and on selected examples from modern and contemporary drama, working towards a staged reading of an original one-act play. The course presupposes considerable knowledge of drama. Admission based on a completed application form and writing sample (due in Creative Writing Program office by January 17, 2002). Application forms available outside Rice 13. Identical to CRWR 330. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment limit: 12.
Identical to RHET 481.
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.
The course will examine two kinds of issues. First, we will look at ways in which the plays make use of philosophical concerns, in particular drawing on classical and later traditions of skepticism, cynicism, and stoicism. Second, we will consider ethical and epistemological issues of interpreting the plays. Some previous study of Shakespeare or philosophy helpful. D, EL. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment limit: 15.
In this seminar we will read essays by a variety of post-colonial critics from and/or writing about the Third World. We will focus not only on the subjects of their analysis, but also on the rhetoric of their arguments -- how they say what they say, to what ends, etc. -- as too we will consider how they locate themselves (explicitly or implicitly) vis-a-vis their subjects and what are the bases for their authority. WL. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment limit: 15.
This course will explore the ways history is defined and represented in film. The emphasis will be primarily, but not exclusively, on American cinema. We will be equally concerned with what films do with history and what focusing on subject of history reveals about film as art. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment limit: 18.
This course involves an investigation of the problematic that arises from the interaction between the terms of the course title: what happens when nature, writing, and American come together? We will work our way through philosophical and historical studies of American nature writing; we will study representative texts; but we will also cultivate our own ability to understand and write about nature. F, AL. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment limit: 15.
A survey of the work of Toni Morrison in light of the relation of history and fiction in American literature. We will focus on representations of African American women's narratives and on the related depictions of individual and communal identity, migration and belonging. We'll also explore New Historicism and cultural studies, Black feminist literary criticism, and psychoanalysis as they apply to Morrison's writing. Work will include creative writing assignments as well as exercises in close reading and a final research paper. F, AL. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment limit: 15.
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 project 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.
Intensive work on student's honors project, culminating in either an honors paper or creative project. Consent of instructor required.
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