Summer 2004 Course Descriptions

• Maymester,
• Summer I, and
• Summer II.

NOTE: THE TEXTBOOK A Glossary of Literary Terms, BY M. H. ABRAMS, IS REQUIRED FOR ALL SOPHOMORE LITERATURE CLASSES (287-289).

MAYMESTER

ENGL 439M-001 LOVE BLACK AMERICAN STYLE M-F 8:00-10:45 DAWES
This course will examine the treatment of gender, sexuality, race and the politics of class and color in the works of some of the most popular African American authors today. The course will combine a study of film, television, music and fiction by writer like E. Lynn Harris, Terri McMillian, Colin Channer, Eric Jerome Dickey, Bebe Moore Campbell, Sheneska Jackson, Micheal Baisden, James Earl Hardy, and Zane.

ENGL 431M-001 CHILDREN=S LITERATURE M-F 11:00-1:45 JOHNSON
The topic of this course is contemporary American young adult literature. We will examine several issues over the course of the semester: What is the difference between adult and young adult literature? What is the history of young adult literature? How do the Apolitics of the publishing industry@ bear upon young adult literature? What does young adult literature reveal about American culture? We will explore these questions through texts awarded the Newberry Medal (for the most distinguished American Young Adult Literature) along with texts that illuminate the multi-ethnic character of this society. We will consider, too, topics including censorship, authorship, gender, racism, classism, and child psychology in the context of young adult literature. Individual meeting with professor, lead one class discussion, one 15-page paper OR project developed in consultation with professor, one short research paper, one take-home examination

ENGL 437M-001 WOMEN WRITERS M-F 11:00-1:45 DAVIS
Growing Up Female in the United States
In this course, we'll examine a series of controversial works by authors from Wheatley to Walker. Our aim will be to elucidate--with the help of close readings, historical context, contemporary reviews, and critical articles--the vexing, contested issues of literary merit and lasting literary value. Authors will include the aforementioned plus Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Gertrude Stein, and Sylvia Plath. This course will use novels, short stories, essays, magazines, film, and other sources to access and assess the benefits and costs of growing up female in the United States. 1 report, 2 papers, daily quizzes, and a final.

ENGL 436M-001 SCIENCE FICTION LITERATURE M-F 1:00-3:45 VANDERBORG
Virtually Human: The Android in Literature and Film
Androids in science fiction exist just on the verge of humanity; they are sentient creatures treated as disposable servants, submissive workers, or menacing monsters plotting against their creators. We will examine science fiction texts from Mary Shelley to Isaac Asimov and films including Terminator II and Blade Runner to determine how the authors negotiate different definitions of what it means to be human. We will investigate the cultural and familial standards that each text evokes--or challenges--in portraying its androids, and look at how android uprisings often symbolize a revolt against discrimination on the basis of gender, class, or ethnic identity. Grades will be determined by a midterm, final, reading quizzes, and class participation.

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SUMMER I

ENGL 282-001 FICTION M-TH 1:00-3:15 FOX
Fiction from several countries and historical periods, illustrating the nature of the genre. For more information, contact the instructor.

ENGL 285-001 THEMES IN AMERICAN WRIT. M-TH 8:00-10:15 STAFF
(Designed for Non-majors)
Reading a variety of American texts that exemplify persistent themes of American culture. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL 285-002 THEMES IN AMERICAN WRITING M-TH 10:30-12:45 VANDERBORG
(Designed for Non-majors)
"I, Too, Sing America": Constructing a National Identity
The United States is a nation created by founding acts of language such as the Constitution. How did American authors define and redefine their own ideas of a national identity in short stories, novels, and poems? Who gets included inCand left out ofCtheir metaphoric homelands? Is the country symbolized by a melting pot, a "Dream," a consensus, a plurality of voices, or an imagined "center" defined by the exclusion of "marginal" communities? This course looks at texts from the American Renaissance to the post-World War II period; authors include Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Arturo Islas, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Class discussions will focus on close readings of the textual language. Grades will be determined by a midterm (25%), a final (30%), a brief analytical paper (25%), and reading quizzes and class participation (20%).

ENGL E285-300 THEMES IN AMERICAN WRITING M-TH 6:00-8:15 ELLIOTT
Dystopian Themes in American Literature
In this particular section of English 285CDystopian Themes in American LiteratureCwe=ll read some classic dystopian fiction (in which writers create imaginary societies to criticize real ones), as well as literary works that incorporate dystopian themes in both realistic and surrealistic ways. After writing two critical essays on other writers= dystopian visions, you=ll write your own short story. Your first essay (completed as an essay exam) will look at the ways authors use imaginary societies to present arguments about the real world. In your second essay you=ll use a contemporary literary theory to write a theoretical analysis of one of the works on our syllabus. As you analyze the ways authors critique society with dystopian literature, I hope you=ll come up with some interesting ideas for your final creative project.

ENGL 287 Is Required for English Majors

ENGL 287-001 AMERICAN LITERATURE M-TH 10:30-12:45 HUDOCK
Questions of identity are central to the development of literature in the territory that is now the United States. We will examine a broad range of literary works--songs, personal narratives, essays, poetry and fiction- by authors from various periods of United States history and from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We will explore how our writers have participated in and reacted against the construction of an "American" mythology and literature through the stories they tell about themselves and their cultures. In particular, we will focus on the literature that explores how contact between different cultures has shaped American literature.

ENGL 406-001 SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDIES/HIST. M-TH 10:30-12:45 SHIFFLETT
A survey of representative plays including A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, HENRY IV PART 1, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, HENRY V, TWELFTH NIGHT, THE WINTER'S TALE, and THE TEMPEST. Emphasis will be placed on Shakespeare's artful use of language in revealing human character, his innovations in historical and comedic form, and the cultural contexts of his plays. Requirements will include reviews of criticism and essay exams on each play.

ENGL 427-001 SOUTHERN LITERATURE M-TH 1:00-3:15 BUTTERWORTH
A study of major Southern authors of the 19th and 20th centuries: Poe, Twain, Chopin, Ransom, Tate, Warren, Faulkner, Hurston, O=Connor, Percy. Lecture discussion. 2 critical papers (1000-1500 words). Pop tests. 2 hour examination. Texts: Poe: Poetry, Tales and Essays; Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Chopin: The Awakening; Pratt: The Fugitive Poets; Faulkner, Sanctuary; Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God; O=Connor: Wise Blood; Percy: The Moviegoer.

ENGL 428-001 AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE M-TH 8:00-10:15 DAWES
A close textual study of the works of the major African American authors of the last fifty years with close attention to recent African American writers. It will include writers like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Zora Neal Hurtson, Jean Toomer, James Baldwin and others. Evaluation: Three essays, one research paper, in class presentations and a final exam. TEXT: Norton Anthology of African American Writers, ed., Henry Louis Gates.

ENGL 450-001 ENGLISH GRAMMAR M-TH 1:00-3:15 DISTERHEFT
An intensive survey of English grammar: sentence structure, the verbal system, discourse, and transformations. Also discussed are semantics, social restrictions on grammar and usage, histories of various constructions, etc.
Please read Chapter 1 of the textbook before the first class meeting. TESTS: one midterm, one final. TEXT: Dorothy Disterheft, Advanced Grammar: a manual for students. Prentice-Hall.

ENGL 460-001 ADVANCED WRITING M-TH 10:30-12:45 GREER
An introduction to various forms of composition through the disciplined practice of writing and revision: fiction, criticism, autobiography, and exposition. The course will carefully examine the structure and intent of composition. Eight papers; two conferences. Papers to be discussed in the workshop arena. TEXTS: Cooley, The Norton Sampler; Zinsser, On Writing Well.

ENGL 462-001 TECHNICAL WRITING M-TH 8:00-10:15 STAFF
Preparation for and practice in types of writing important to scientists, engineers, and computer scientists, from brief technical letters to formal articles and reports. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL 463-001 BUSINESS WRITING M-TH 1:00-3:15 STAFF
Extensive practice in different types of business writing, from brie letters to formal articles and reports. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL E463-300 BUSINESS WRITING M-TH 6:00-8:15 STAFF
Extensive practice in different types of business writing, from brief letters to formal articles and reports. For more information, please contact the instructor.

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SUMMER II

ENGL 270/CPLT 270 WORLD LITERATURE M-TH 1:00-3:15 AL-HAMID
This course will explore World Literature masterpieces. A wide range of literatures and cultures will be represented. Specifically, the course will introduce students to World literary texts selected from the ancient writers to the contemporary ones. The cultural, historical and literary contexts in which the works were created will be discussed through lectures, films, theatre pieces, short trips, and museum visits. Students will be encouraged to use a comparative approach when analyzing literary texts. We will start our exploration with the Middle East (The Arab World, Turkey and Iran), then move on to Africa, and from there travel to Asia (India, China and Japan). Next, we will explore literature of Europe, then visit South America, ending the semester in North America.
Readings and discussions will be focused on major works in prose and verse. Here are several examples: Homer=s The Iliad and The Odyssey, Plato=s The Symposium, Aristotle=s Poetics (Greek), Li Po=s and Tu Fu=s Poems (Chinese), Dante=s The Divine Comedy, Petrarch=s Rime sparse (Scattered Lyrics) (Italian), Basho=s The Narrow Road of the Interior (Japanese), Gibran Khalil Gibran=s (Gubran Khalil Gubran) The Prophet, Nagib Mahfuz=s Zaabalawi, (Arabic), Omar Khayyam=s Rubaiyyat, Jalalodin Rumi=s Mathnawi-i- Manawi (Persian), Mirabai=s Life without Hari is no life (Indian), Baudelaire=s The Flowers of Evil (French), Goethe=s Faust (German), Nazim Hikmet=s On Victory (Turkey), Pablo Neruda=s Twenty Love Poems (South America), T. S. Eliot=s The Waste Land (North America). All readings will be in English and will be from the Norton Anthology. This course is a prerequisite for the major and minor in Comparative Literature.
Text: The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Expanded Edition, Volume 1 & 2, 1995. Norton. Requirements: Attendance and Participation, 10 %; Scheduled Quizzes, 10 %; 5-6 page Paper, 20 %; Oral Presentation, 20 %; NO Mid-term. Final Exam, 40%.

ENGL 283-001 THEMES IN BRITISH WRITING M-TH 1:00-3:15 RICE
The Subaltern Matrix--Class, Gender, Coloniality
This course will survey the relections of patriarchal power and subordination in English fiction, from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Among the works read will be H.G. Wells' The Time Machine; Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness; James Joyce's Dubliners; G. B. Shaw's Pygmalion; Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions; Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day; and stories by Katherine Mansfield. Short paper, midterm and final.

ENGL 285-001 THEMES IN AMERICAN WRITING M-TH 10:30-12:45 STEELE
(Designed for Non-majors)
This course will examine the ways that American Literature comes to terms with questions of history and memory. There will be a midterm, a final, and a short critical paper.

ENGL 285-002 THEMES IN AMERICAN WRITING M-TH 8:00-10:15 STAFF
(Designed for Non-majors)
Reading a variety of American texts that exemplify persistent themes of American culture. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL 289 Is Required for English Majors

ENGL 289-001 ENGLISH LITERATURE II M-TH 8:00-10:15 RICE
A survey of the major authors of British literature of the Romantic era, the Victorian period, and the twentieth century. Papers: 2, a diagnostic essay (c. 3pp) and a critical essay (c. 6 pp). QUIZZES: possible. EXAMS: 3 (essay, short answer, identification format). TEXTS: Norton Anthology of British Literature, volume II.

ENGL 405-001 SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDIES M-TH 10:30-12:45 GIESKES
We will read a representative selection of Shakespeare's tragedies while placing the plays into their dramatic and historical contexts. Our intent will be to read the plays closely as literature-objects of verbal art-and as playtexts-scripts for theatrical production. In addition we will attempt to situate Shakespeare's plays in the context in which they were produced: early modern London. Plays likely to include: Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and one of the Roman plays. ASSIGNMENTS: Two papers, a play review, a scene treatment, a midterm and a final. TEXTS: The Riverside Shakespeare or comparable edition and the Bedford Companion to Shakespeare.

ENGL 457-001 AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENGLISH M-TH 10:30-12:45 WELDON
This course is designed to introduce students to the structure, history, and use of the distinctive varieties of English used by and among many African Americans in the u.s. In this course, we will examine some of the linguistic features that distinguish African-American English (aae) from other varieties of American English. We will consider theories regarding the history and emergence of aae. We will look at the representation of aae in literature. We will examine the structure and function of various expressive speech events in the African-American speech community. And we will consider attitudinal issues regarding the use of aae, especially as they relate to education and the acquisition of Standard English.

ENGL 460-001 ADVANCED WRITING M-TH 1:00-3:15 STAFF
Extensive practice in different types of nonfiction writing. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL 462-001 TECHNICAL WRITING M-TH 1:00-3:15 STAFF
Extensive practice in different types of business writing, from brief letters to formal articles and reports. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL 463-001 BUSINESS WRITING M-TH 10:30-12:45 STAFF
Extensive practice in different types of business writing, from brief letters to formal articles and reports. For more information, please contact the instructor.

ENGL E463-001 BUSINESS WRITING M-TH 6:00-8:15 STAFF
Extensive practice in different types of business writing, from brief letters to formal articles and reports. For more information, please contact the instructor.

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