Current Courses
Plan your Spring 2026 semester
Explore everything the English Department has to offer 鈥 from engaging courses to dedicated faculty ready to support your academic journey. Whether you鈥檙e planning your next semester or thinking about where English can take you, we鈥檙e here to help you chart your path through the program.
EN 103 鈥 Writing Seminar I
EN 103 01 鈥 Writing Seminar I
Wednesdays and Fridays, 8:40 鈥 10:00 a.m.
Instructor: A. Suresh
EN 103 02 鈥 Writing Seminar I
Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:10 鈥 11:30 a.m.
Instructor: A. Suresha
EN 103 03 鈥 Writing Seminar I
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:40 鈥 11:00 a.m.
Instructor: T. Niles
Designed to be accessible to a wide range of students, this course uses a variety of real-world topics and text types as students build audience-based writing skills for effective communication and persuasion. Students will learn reliable strategies to gain confidence and develop an academic voice in a supportive community of writers, with special emphasis on making effective grammatical and stylistic choices. Along with writing skills, the course supports critical thinking, critical reading, and organizational skills that translate to other courses.
4 credits
EN 105 鈥 Writing Seminar II
This course, like EN 110, fulfills the all-college Foundation Requirement in expository writing. Each section of 105 focusses on a particular theme and helps students develop effective writing skills and practices.
EN 105 01 鈥 The Makings of the Human
Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:40 鈥 10 a.m.
Instructor: B. Diaby
鈥淭he human鈥 is a fairly recent concept, and a highly contentious one. Why can someone be human but not a person? Why can corporations be persons but not human? What makes us an 鈥渦s鈥 at all? Is the notion of a universal humanity even a good thing? This class looks at the historical foundations and the philosophical underpinnings of the concept of humanity. We will explore topics like the Anthropocene, humanitarianism, intersectionality, rights, vulnerability, and other subjects as they help us define and complicate what it means to be human. Along with short writing assignments, students will compose two short papers, an annotated bibliography, and one final research paper with proposal.
4 credits
EN 105 02 鈥 Addition and Hope
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10:10 鈥 11:05 a.m.
Instructor: E. Greeniaus
EN 105 03 鈥 Addition and Hope
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 12:20 鈥 1:15 p.m.
Instructor: E. Greeniaus
In the United States, 8-10% of people over 12 have a substance use disorder. Many
more suffer from process addictions, such as compulsive gambling. But perhaps addiction
is only the most destructive manifestation of a shared human frailty. Haven鈥檛 we all
sincerely wanted to cut back on something (junk food, screen time, whatever it may
be) and failed? In this writing course we ask what addiction experts can teach us
all about living better lives. We will discover that much of their advice (e.g., sit
with your thoughts instead of trying to escape them, avoid black-and-white thinking,
seek community support) also makes us better writers. Students will put artistic,
medical, political, philosophical, and spiritual accounts of addiction in conversation
with each other in writing projects that cover research-based argument, personal essay,
and textual analysis. Each writing assignment will present an opportunity for students
to refine their answers to the big questions raised by addiction: What is the difference
between distraction and peace? Pleasure and joy? Dependence and love?
4 credits
EN 105 04 鈥 Work!
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 8 鈥 8:55 a.m.
Instructor: R. McAdams
EN 105 05 鈥 Work!
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 9:05 鈥 10 a.m.
Instructor: R. McAdams
What do you want to be when you grow up? Do your parents want you to think harder
about how you will Get a Job after graduation? What even is an internship? In this
writing seminar, we will analyze theories and representations of work. We will read
and write about debates over what work is, the idea of work-life balance in a post-COVID
economy, the resurgence of organized labor, 鈥済ig鈥 work, and the death of the full-time
job. We will pay particular attention to how constructions of race, gender, class,
sexuality, and ability intersect with ideas about work and workplaces. Above all,
we will write and talk about writing鈥攊n essays, short assignments, and peer review
sessions鈥攁nd we will explore how writing can itself be a form of work and a way of
understanding what work is.
4 credits
EN 105 06 鈥 Happy?
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 鈥 5 p.m.
Instructor: M. Melito
From the Declaration of Independence to the #100daysofhappiness project, one could argue that Americans are obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. But what are we really seeking? What lengths are we willing to go to find happiness? How do factors like income, education, relationship status, and technology inform our perceptions? Can we bottle happiness? Buy happiness? Be coached into happiness? What does it mean to be truly happy? And what happens when you are not?
In this writing seminar we will examine these questions and our own cultural and personal
biases through reading, writing, and discussion. We will examine texts from philosophers,
poets, psychologists, film-makers, and essayists as we consider the question of what
it means to be happy. Students will prepare weekly responses, formal essays, and a
research project. In addition, students will participate in peer workshops and teacher
conferences.
4 credits
EN 105 07 鈥 Imaging Future Americas
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:40 鈥 2 p.m.
Instructor: N. Junkerman
People living in the United States think a lot about the future. We worry about a
coming decline, about crises both natural and social. We also dream of technological
possibilities, political reforms, and new ways of loving and understanding each other.
Across the semester, we鈥檒l look at visions of possible American futures from the seventeenth
century through the present. We鈥檒l read political documents, novels, short stories,
and journalism. Above all, we will write and talk about writing鈥攊n essays, short assignments,
peer review sessions鈥攁nd we will explore how writing both reflects and shapes our
vision of the future. Possible assigned works include novels by Octavia Butler, Jeff
VanderMeer and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and films like Blade Runner and Minority
Report.
4 credits
EN 105 08 鈥 Backstories
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 a.m. 鈥 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: L. Soderlind
EN 105 09 鈥 Backstories
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:40 鈥 2 p.m.
Instructor: L. Soderlind
EN 105 10 鈥 Backstories
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 鈥 5 p.m.
Instructor: L. Soderlind
How do you suppose your lights come on so reliably? It starts long before the switch
is flipped. Many of the simple functions and customs of our world are greatly more
complicated than we realize. This course in expository and analytical writing invites
students to think about the structures, objects, or ideas in our lives that we take
as givens, and to unravel their webbed backstories. The same tangle of environmental,
political, social and economic controversies that precedes power to bulb underlies
many critical functions we rely on in the physical world, and also precedes many 鈥渘orms鈥
in our culture. The two-day weekend workers enjoy today, for example, was not preordained;
it exists because the labor movement fought for it. By examining cause-effect chains
and critical choices made along the way, we鈥檒l learn more about how the world works鈥攁nd
sometimes doesn鈥檛. Students will develop arguments for ways to improve these systems
and, because a curious mind is essential to good writing, will foster their own interest
in discovering how all kinds of things work.
4 credits
EN 105 11 鈥 Adulting for Beginners
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 鈥 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: T.C. Matthews
鈥楥oming of age鈥 stories are everywhere: in fiction and non-fiction, in music and movies, in art and in the news. As a genre, it uniquely manages to be both intensely personal and inarguably universal, which is perhaps why 鈥榗oming of age鈥 tales can be found in every form of narrative storytelling. Consequently, this course will explore this genre鈥檚 impact across literature, film, music, and narrative non-fiction by moving across multiple mediums; exploring works that range from The Diary of Anne Frank and excerpts from Ismael Beah鈥檚 A Long Way Gone, the 2012 film adaptation of The Hunger Games, studies of acclaimed musical albums, and one novel of choice. Throughout this course, we will produce two academic papers, one narrative non-fiction essay, one group presentation, and one formal review/critique of a coming-of-age tale depicted in either music or visual art as we explore why the move from child to adult is so often marked with elements of social critique.
Possible texts include: non-fiction excerpts from Anne Frank, Mayukh Sen, and Ismael
Beah, The Hunger Games film, visual art from the Tang, and a choice of the following
novels: Pride and Prejudice/A Swiftly Tilting Planet/Aristotle and Dante Discover
the Secrets of Universe/The Hunger Games.
4 credits
EN 105 12 鈥 Capitalist Aesthetics
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:10 鈥 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: A. Bozio
EN 105 13 鈥 Capitalist Aesthetics
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 鈥 5 p.m.
Instructor: A. Bozio
Much, if not all, of the world is dominated by capitalism. But even as it shapes our
lives, capitalism itself often feels impossibly abstract. Terms like 鈥渋nflation,鈥
鈥渟upply and demand,鈥 and 鈥渢he market鈥 are incredibly vague, and they often appear
to have little (or no) relationship to the tangible realities of our lives. This course
examines that paradox through a series of questions. What is capitalism? How does
it shape culture, in general, and art, in particular? What can aesthetics (taken from
the Greek word for 鈥渇eeling鈥) tell us about what it means to live and work within
capitalism? To answer those questions, we鈥檒l first consider what defines capitalism
as a political and economic system and how capitalism shapes both our conception and
our experience of the world. We鈥檒l then consider how capitalism influences the realm
of aesthetics, drawing upon literature and film to guide our inquiry.
4 credits
EN 105 15 鈥 Fantasy and Worldmaking
Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:40 鈥 10 a.m.
Instructor: K. O鈥橠ell
EN 105 16 鈥 Fantasy and Worldmaking
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:40 鈥 11 a.m.
Instructor: K. O鈥橠ell
Reading fantasy can feel like falling down a rabbit hole鈥攖he imagination delights
in the excitement, escape, and joy of discovering new worlds. This writing seminar
explores the allure of fantasy and its place in our society. We will begin by reading
a short selection of medieval texts to understand how early literature informed the
fantasy worlds we know and love today. As we move to modern day, we will examine a
range of media, including books, video games, visual arts, fanfiction, and big-budget
films. Our primary questions will be: Why has fantasy captured both the literary market
and the hearts of its fans? How do authors create worlds to think through binaries
like good and evil? And how are issues of gender, race, and class explored through
crafting fantasy and other worlds? Writing is central to these questions as we seek
to untangle the art of storytelling, or what makes good fantasy so good. Through lively
discussion and multi-draft essays, we will practice critical analysis and develop
our individual voices as writers and storytellers.
4 credits
EN 105 17 鈥 The Art of Persuasion
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:10 鈥 9:30 a.m.
Instructor: K. O鈥橠ell
We鈥檝e all heard the clich茅 that the pen is mightier than the sword. This saying, where
communication trumps combat, establishes language as a powerful force for change.
Simple words鈥攊n all their mundane glory鈥攃an stoke the fires of revolution, topple
regimes, and bring sweeping change to society. The ability to communicate persuasively
is one of the most-valued skills in our world today. Rhetoric (or the art of persuasion)
is thus located at the very center of politics, culture, memory, and literary production.
In this course, we will develop and refine our personal writing styles while examining
the power of language in our daily lives. Our primary questions will be: How is language
revolutionary? How can we wield rhetoric successfully? And how do media and technology
affect the way we engage with language and memory? We will study a range of genres
from pre-modern to modern day: these include op-eds, essays, poetry, satire, advertisements,
music, memes, and more.
4 credits
EN 105 鈥 Writing Seminar II: Honors Sections
This course, like EN 110, fulfills the all-college Foundation Requirement in expository writing. Fulfills Honors Forum Requirement. Each section of 105H focusses on a particular theme and helps highly-motivated students develop effective writing skills and practices. Students must have an EW placement of EN105H to enroll.
EN 105H 01 鈥 Writing On Demand
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 鈥 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: L. Hall
EN 105H 02 鈥 Writing On Demand
Tuedays and Thursdays, 2:10 鈥 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: L. Hall
When the essayist Joan Didion was in her twenties, she wrote editorial copy for Vogue
magazine on a wide range of subjects. In her forties, she noted that it is 鈥渆asy to
make light of this kind of 鈥榳riting,鈥 [but] I do not make light of it at all: it was
at Vogue that I learned a kind of ease with words... a way of regarding words not
as mirrors of my own inadequacy but as tools, toys, weapons to be deployed strategically
on a page.鈥 Inspired by Didion鈥檚 on-the-job apprenticeship, this course will ask
you to undertake the work of a professional copywriter or ghostwriter. What might
you be asked to compose? The introduction to the documentary 鈥渆xtras鈥 for a television
series. The 鈥淥ur Story鈥 blurb for the website of a local restaurant. A capsule biography
for a mayoral candidate. A C.E.O.鈥檚 response to a request from Forbes: 鈥淭ell us about
the biggest mistake you ever made as a leader.鈥 The instructor will furnish you with
material; with her guidance, you will shape it into publishable or, as the case may
be, presentable prose. Expect frequent short assignments, most of them graded.
4 credits
EN 105H 03 鈥 Experience
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 鈥 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: H. Hussaini
What is experience? How does the passivity of 鈥渟omething is happening to me鈥 turn
into the active realization of 鈥淚 have gained experience鈥? And what is the relationship
of individual experience to our understanding of the world? Picasso thought, 鈥渁 painter
should create that which he experiences,鈥 and many experienced writers advise young
writers to 鈥渨rite what you know.鈥 There seems to be a consensus, then, that much of
the art we see and books we read has somehow emerged from someone鈥檚 experience. Let鈥檚
read and look at some of these works together, especially ones owing their existence
to direct experience or that have something to say about the whole ordeal of creating
out of experience. One goal of this class is to understand the relationship between
writing and experience, but more importantly, we鈥檒l experiment with critical and expository
writing derived from our own experience, because bringing one鈥檚 subjectivity to writing
greatly enriches the experience of writing itself.
4 credits
EN 110 鈥 Introduction to Literary Studies
This course, like EN 105, fulfills the all-college Foundation Requirement in expository writing, but it is geared toward students interested in the English major. This course introduces students to literary studies, with a particular emphasis on the skills involved in reading and writing about literature. (Prospective English majors are encouraged to take EN 110 prior to enrolling in 200-level courses.)
EN 110 01 鈥 The Self and Other Fictions
Mondays and Wednesdays, 4 鈥 5:20 p.m.
Instructor: J. Parra
This course will introduce you to the study of literature through a focus on the idea
of the 鈥渟elf.鈥 The speaking 鈥淚鈥 in a poem, the narrator who tells a short story, the
characters we meet in the world of a novel鈥攖hese are all ways that literary texts
create the sense that readers are encountering not just words printed on a page, but
other selves. Together, we will investigate how specific texts do this imaginative
work. As we practice careful critical reading, we will ask what the concept of the
鈥渟elf鈥 has to do with thinking and speaking; with having a body; and with being seen,
heard and recognized by others. How much can a self change before it is no longer鈥tself?
In foregrounding these questions, the readings in this course also have a tendency
to reveal just how tenuous a belief in the self is. Throughout the semester, we will
discuss and experiment with various stages of the writing process, including developing
an argument, drafting, and revision. Students will complete three short essays.
4 credits
EN 110 02 鈥 Deformed
Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:20 鈥 1:40 p.m.
Instructor: E. Sperry
This introduction to literary studies will focus on the way literature represents
and responds to disability. Looking at works across genres and periods, we will explore
the many ways that literary forms come to represent bodies and minds marked by their
difference. These texts wrestle with questions of beauty, normalcy, ability, and deviance;
above all, they ask readers to think about the aesthetics of disability in literature.
What is the ideal form of a text or body? What might it mean for a novel or poem to
become deformed? How does the form of a text respond to the matter of disability?
The course will pay special attention to the practice of close reading, developing
students鈥 ability to understand the relationship between form and content. This will
be paired with a focus on analytical writing and revision, honing the fundamental
skills of literary analysis at the college level.
4 credits
EN 111 01 鈥 Fiction
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:40 鈥 2 p.m.
Instructor: B. Black
An introduction to the art and craft of fiction, this course will cover an exciting
and diverse range of fiction writers including Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, H.
G. Wells, Jhumpa Lahiri, Charlotte Bront毛, Jennifer Egan, Roxane Gay, Anton Chekhov,
and Kazuo Ishiguro. Reading both novels and short stories, we鈥檒l study such elements
of technique as point of view, setting, voice, characterization, and symbol. Our topics
of discussion will be varied: love, friendship, the individual and community, home,
journeys, justice. Regular 鈥淐onnections鈥 papers will have us writing and thinking
throughout the semester, building our facility with form, language, and technical
vocabulary. These 鈥淐onnections鈥 will serve as thought experiments that invite you
to connect works from our syllabus, to connect our course work to other courses you
are taking, to connect your life with our readings. We鈥檒l think about fiction as a
space in which writers can experiment, testing out possible responses to problems
that are compelling for them. And we鈥檒l join those writers in that rich space of hypothesis
and meaningful exploration; at times, we鈥檒l examine how and why we get hooked to a
character, a writer, a plotline鈥攈ow and why our imaginations work as we read. After
all, fiction is about 鈥渋magining otherwise,鈥 for both author and reader.
4 credits
EN 113 01 鈥 Poetry
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 鈥 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: E. Sperry
The root of the word "poetry" comes from the Greek poein, meaning "to make." So, if
a poem is a thing that we make, what kind of thing is it? How does someone make a
poem, and who or what is it made for? This class will help students begin to answer
these questions and more. Looking at examples from throughout British, American, and
Anglophone traditions, we鈥檒l explore what defines poetry as a literary category. What
are the formal dimensions of poetry, its lines, meters, lengths, shapes? How does
a poem imagine its relationship with its audience? With the world around itself? Class
will center around detailed discussion of the texts; assignments may include several
short writing responses, critical projects, and in-class presentations.
4 credits
EN 117 01 鈥 Film
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 鈥 5 p.m.
Instructor: B. Boyles
What makes a movie great, even unforgettable? How do we assess the role of the director, and differentiate it from the contribution of the screenwriter? Why is it that, for more than a hundred years, the best films have seemed irresistible to millions of movie-goers and stirred innumerable controversies? Would most of us know how to think about who we are and to make sense of our lives in society without having spent many hours in front of a screen, following the conflicts, love affairs and disappointments of characters whose fate seems somehow important to us?
The course is an introduction to the art of film which asks students to think about
the difference between films and other forms of narrative and to consider the essential,
distinctive features of film art. Over the length of the semester students will study
more than a dozen feature films by leading directors--English, American, Italian,
German, Indian, French and Japanese-- and learn how to talk about what makes these
films great and compelling. The films will include movies by Federico Fellini, Ingmar
Bergman, Spike Lee, Erich Rohmer, Margarethe von Trotta, Francis Ford Coppola and
others.
4 credits
Counts toward the Media and Film Studies minor
EN 129 01 鈥 Graphic Narratives and Comic Books
Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:10 鈥 11:30 a.m.
Instructor: P. Benzon
In recent years, the genre of the graphic narrative has seen an explosion in creative, provocative literary work. What has in the past been both feared as a threat to 鈥渓egitimate鈥 culture and dismissed as a cheap diversion for kids is now widely considered a serious art form鈥攁 place for literary innovation and political critique. Both scholars and casual readers alike have gravitated towards this burgeoning field as an increasingly important form of literature in our increasingly visual culture.
In this course, we will explore a range of major graphic narratives from the past
thirty years, studying how authors intertwine text and image on the page in ways that
create new approaches to storytelling, new perspectives on social and cultural issues,
and new ways of reading. Paying close attention to relations between the visual and
the textual, we鈥檒l consider how authors explore questions of power and politics, memory
and trauma, identity and embodiment, and time and space in unique ways through this
form. Readings may include texts by Scott McCloud, Alan Moore, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Gene
Luen Yang, Alison Bechdel, Kate Beaton, Ebony Flowers, Carmen Maria Machado, Mat Johnson,
and others.
4 credits
Counts toward the Media and Film Studies minor
EN 205 01 鈥 English Seminar
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 鈥 5 p.m.
Instructor: J. Parra
Introduction to the practice of literary studies as a scholarly discipline, with a
particular emphasis on skills related to critical reading and research. Readings and
discussions will focus on a range of literary texts and genres, as well as theoretical
concerns and methodological approaches to the study of literature. Students will ask
questions about what it means to synthesize and contribute to a critical conversation
on a literary text. This course introduces students to the intellectual and artistic
life of the English department beyond the classroom experience.
3 credits
EN 223 01 鈥 Women and Literature: Global Women's Literature
Wednesdays and Fridays, 12:20 鈥 1:40 p.m.
Instructor: S. Ranwalage
Feminist scholar Chandra Talpade Mohanty warns us that assuming 鈥渨omen as an already
constituted, coherent group with identical interests and desires, regardless of class,
ethnic or racial location or contradictions, implies a notion of gender or sexual
difference or even patriarchy 鈥 which can be applied universally and cross-culturally.鈥
With transnational feminist thinking in mind, we turn to insurgent literary voices
beyond Euro-American contexts to help us examine gender, sexuality, and patriarchy
situated within the specific socio-cultural and historical intricacies. We will read
literature spanning the last fifty years by writers who challenge established religious
and cultural norms, the state, and authoritarianism, to offer counter-narratives even
at the risk of great censure. With the help of intersectional feminist and cultural
theory, we examine how these resistant literary voices foreground the lived realities
of the multiply marginalized subject as they navigate issues of state suppression,
reproductive rights, education, marriage, desire, motherhood, among others. Texts
may include influential works such as, 2024 Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang鈥檚 Human
Acts, Banu Mushtaq鈥檚 short stories from Heart Lamp, Jamaica Kincaid鈥檚 Annie John,
and works by authors like Shani Mootoo, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Arundhati Roy,
to name a few. Via reflective posts, analytical essays, and collaborative projects,
this class will prompt you to think critically about women鈥檚 literature beyond the
West.
3 credits
Counts as a Late Period History requirement
Fulfills the Global Cultural Perspective requirement
Counts toward the Gender Studies minor
EN 229 01 鈥 Introduction to Disability Studies
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 鈥 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: S. Mintz
An introduction to the academic field of Disability Studies, from its origins in disability
rights activist movements to its current manifestation as a robust scholarly discipline.
Students will learn to articulate various models and theories that have shaped the
understanding and experience of disability over time, and to examine the social, historical,
and political meanings of disability through a variety of texts and cultural examples.
Readings, viewings, and class discussions will emphasize disability in different 鈥渓ocations鈥:
education; built and natural environments; race and ethnic specificity; family and
kinship; literature, art, and media; sexuality and gender expression; the study of
aging; citizenship; and world religions鈥攁nd of course the many intersections and permutations
of these and more. Students will be invited to apply what they learn in a final practicum.
3 credits
EN 229 01 鈥 Queer Fictions
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 鈥 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: M. Stokes
This course will explore approximately one hundred years of queer literature. Resisting normative notions of sexuality and time, we鈥檒l avoid linear chronology, pairing earlier works with more recent works. In the process we鈥檒l discover both continuities and discontinuities, and we鈥檒l ask what this tells us not only about queer literary history, but about queer lives and cultures. Possible topics might include the following: What strategies have queer writers used to express taboo subject matter, and how have these strategies interacted with and challenged more traditional narrative techniques? How does the writing of queer sexuality recycle and revise notions of gender? What kind of threat does bisexuality pose to the telling of coherent stories? How do trans identities queer our thinking about gender and sexuality? In what ways do race, class, and gender trouble easy assumptions about sexual identity and community? How have political and cultural moments (McCarthyism, Stonewall, the AIDS crisis) as well as medical and scientific discourses (sexology, psychoanalysis) affected literary representations, and vice versa? Assignments will include participation in an online discussion forum; two shorter essays; and a longer synthetic essay.
3 credits
Counts as a Late Period History requirement
Counts toward the Gender Studies minor
EN 203 01 鈥 The Bible as Literature
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:10 鈥 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: E. Sperry
Few texts have had as much influence over English literature as the Bible. From the
medieval period to the present day, the themes, forms, styles, and characters of Judeo-Christian
scripture have shaped works from across periods and genres鈥攕ometimes through direct
adaptation, and sometimes through indirect influence. This course will introduce students
to the Bible as part of this long literary tradition. Students will become familiar
with key genres and modes of scriptural literature, focusing on select readings from
the Hebrew bible and Christian testament. The course will also explore the reception
history of these texts in their adaptation and influence on the English literary tradition.
3 credits
Counts as an Early Period History requirement
EN 237 01 鈥 Postcolonial Literature and Culture
Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:10 鈥 11:30 a.m.
Instructor: S. Ranwalage
Centering on literature from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent, this
course will study how postcolonial writers represent, negotiate, and counter colonial
and postcolonial conditions. We will pay particular attention to how literature from
these diverse postcolonial contexts represents topics like anti-colonial nationalist
movements, caste, class, ethnic and religious conflicts of the postcolony, and gender
and sexuality against the backdrop of the male-authored postcolonial nation. We will
also explore colonial legacies and issues of hybridity, especially as they feature
in postcolonial migrant narratives. In addition to the analysis of postcolonial literary
work by authors such as Mahasweta Devi, Chinua Achebe, and Shani Mootoo, the interpretation
and discussion of the literary and cultural theory by scholars like Frantz Fanon,
Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak will challenge you to think critically about the broader
applications of postcolonial modes of study and inquiry.
3 credits
Counts as a Late Period History requirement
Fulfills the Global Cultural Perspective requirement
Counts toward the Gender Studies minor
Counts toward the Asian Studies minor
EN 248 01 鈥 The Bront毛s
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 a.m. 鈥 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: C. Golden
A madwoman in the attic, impassioned love, and a mysterious/abusive past. Such sensational
themes seem ripped from today鈥檚 social media, but, in fact, they are defining elements
of the novels of the Bront毛 sisters. In this class, we will adopt new historicist
and gender studies approaches to study arguably the greatest English literary family
of the nineteenth century. Readings include Charlotte Bront毛鈥檚 Jane Eyre (1847), Emily
Bront毛鈥檚 Wuthering Heights (1847), and Anne Bront毛鈥檚, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
(1848) as well as biographies and poetry by the three sisters and their brother, Branwell.
We will distinguish between Bront毛an myths and biographical truths and question why
their works are read as a unified collection and their lives retold as one. Assignments
prepare students to read critically, research deeply, write analytically, think visually,
and participate actively. Course work includes substantial textual annotation of the
sisters鈥 novels on COVE (the Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education), an
oral presentation, a PowerPoint, and 2 papers (the longer, second paper incorporating
secondary sources) to illuminate and contextualize the lives and writing of the Bront毛
sisters.
3 credits
Counts as a Middle Period History requirement
Counts toward the Gender Studies minor
EN 249 01 鈥 Chekhov: Plays, Stories, Letters and Life
Mondays and Wednesdays, 4 鈥 5:20 p.m.
Instructor: A. Bernard
How to live a meaningful life? In the turmoil of late 19th century Russia. Anton Chekhov
was at the cultural center of his world but never wholly comfortable in it. His short
stories (鈥淕usev,鈥 鈥淚n the Ravine,鈥 鈥淲ard No. 6,鈥 鈥淭he Lady with the Little Dog,鈥 and
many others) and his plays (Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry
Orchard) explore spiritual and ethical dilemmas through tragicomic depictions of that
world of the gentry and peasants in decline, on the brink of what would be the Russian
Revolution. The questions that these works pose, about how and why to live, are also
addressed in Chekhov's fascinating and inspiring letters鈥攃ontemplating his full life
as a doctor, public health crusader, early environmentalist, and tirelessly generous
man of letters. Deep aesthetic questions鈥擶hat is art for? What is the responsibility
of the writer? How does structure make meaning?鈥攚ill also be prominent. Students will
be expected to keep up with the substantial reading, engage in lively discussion,
and do in-class writing, and take a summary test.
3 credits
Counts as a Middle Period History requirement
EN 250H 01 鈥 Honors: Peer Tutoring Project
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 9:05 鈥 10 a.m.
Instructor: E. Jorgensen
鈥. . .it is not the English language that hurts me,鈥 bell hooks says, 鈥渂ut what the oppressors do with it, how they shape it to become a territory that limits and defines, how they make it a weapon that can shame, humiliate, colonize鈥 (鈥淭eaching New Worlds / New Words鈥). hooks then quotes Adrienne Rich: 鈥淭his is the oppressor鈥檚 language yet I need it to talk to you.鈥 Justice-focused teaching and tutoring of English requires thoughtfulness. In EN 303H, Peer Tutoring Project, we learn a toolbox of strategies for tutoring, including ways to structure sessions and respond to tutees鈥 expressed concerns. We learn Standard Academic English, even as we acknowledge its racist and ableist foundations, and consider ways to negotiate the meanings and demands of 鈥渁cademic writing.鈥
Much of the course is devoted to experiential learning, first through shadowing experienced
tutors and then through independently tutoring in the Writing Center. In our class
meetings, we will consider the roles of Writing Centers; strategies for effective
tutoring sessions, including techniques for supporting student writers whose first
language is not English; the problematic position of Standard Written English; approaches
to papers from various disciplines; and methods for explaining grammatical and punctuation
guidelines. Some class sessions will be small-group meetings to assess progress, to
debrief, and to plan. Coursework involves reading and discussion in Writing Center
theory and practice, short reflective papers, a research paper, and four hours a week
in the Writing Center.
3 credits
Counts as the General Education Bridge Course requirement
EN 251 01 鈥 The Art of Criticism
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:40 鈥 2 p.m.
Instructor: J. Cermatori
In this course, students will write critical essays in response to new books and arts
events (e.g., exhibits, plays, dance, and musical performances, both at 91爆料 and
elsewhere) and we will discuss and workshop those essays together in class. We will
also read and analyze select works of professional, long-form criticism to understand
how critical writing has worked historically and how it functions in our present day.
Along the way, we will ask: What distinguishes a review from a critical essay? What
are the criteria of aesthetic judgment, and how can we identify, articulate, and refine
our aesthetic responses? What responsibilities do critics have to artistic works and
readers? How do we understand the relationships of 鈥渃riticism鈥 to other related terms,
like 鈥渟cholarship鈥 and 鈥渞esearch鈥? And what qualities make a piece of critical writing
especially 鈥渓iterary鈥 or 鈥渁rtistic鈥 in its own right?
3 credits
Fulfills the Artistic Inquiry requirement
EN 251 02 鈥 Haunted Fictions
Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:10 鈥 11:30 a.m.
Instructor: M. Wolff
In this creative writing workshop and seminar, we explore fictions of haunted (and haunting) circumstance: stories of absence, loss, obsession, tangled memory, uncanny incident, political erasure, psychological aberration, labyrinthine dream, sinister or karmic shadow, spiritual vision, dystopian nightmares, and鈥攜es鈥攐f ghosts, all sorts. Beware before you enter: this is not a Horror Fiction course. We consider the many meanings of the word 鈥渉aunted鈥 in short fiction. We鈥檒l give particular attention to stories that imagine characters inhabiting documented events of history. How do we fluently, and meaningfully, combine indelible historical realities with our own invented characters? Assigned readings may include some theory of the Uncanny, and creative works by Edgar Allan Poe, Anton Chekhov, Yvette Lisa Ndovolu, Seamus Deane, Mieko Kawakami, Bruno Schulz, Grey Wolfe Lajoie, Jenny Erpenbeck, Jim Shepard, Alasdair MacLeod, Carmen Maria Machado, Maylis De Kerengal, Janice Obuchowski, Samantha Hunt, and others.
Requirements: Written editorial responses; 2 short stories, drafts and revisions;
short craft exercises and flash fictions; daily attendance; manuscript presentations;
close-reading discussion; one creative quiz.
3 credits
Fulfills the Artistic Inquiry requirement
GN 251 01 鈥 The Making of Modern Ireland
Mondays, 6:30 鈥 8:30 p.m.
Instructor: B. Black
This colloquium seeks to immerse the student in the literature, history, and culture
of Ireland through a range of media and methods. The primary focus of the course is
on Irish history and literature, from the pre-historic period to the modern day, with
a particular emphasis on the modern Irish world and how it has been shaped and defined.
Through literary readings (both primary and secondary), texts of cultural history,
memoir, and folklore, and through film (an increasingly potent form of expression
in Ireland), we seek to understand the major movements in Ireland that led to its
great cultural achievements in the 20th century. The colloquium also functions as
the pre-requisite to the Travel Seminar in Ireland program, 鈥淓xploring the West of
Ireland: The Mystic Island鈥 (May 17-May 30, 2026). Thus, this course is the orientation
and preparation for that program, enabling students to be extremely well prepared
when they arrive in Ireland.
3 credits
Introductory Creative Writing Workshops
All introductory workshops count as pre-requisites for upper-level workshops in the same genre and count toward the Creative Writing Minor.
EN 280 01 鈥 Introduction to Nonfiction Writing
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:10 鈥 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: S. Mintz
What is 鈥渃reative nonfiction鈥? How is it different from other forms of nonfiction, as well as from other forms of creative writing? How do we know when we鈥檙e doing it, and how do we learn to do it well? In this introduction to the so-called 鈥渇ourth genre,鈥 we will explore the boundaries of essay writing, with an emphasis on personal and meditative essay, science and nature writing, travel writing, portraiture, and other less conventional forms, including the many varieties of lyric and hybrid essay. Guided by exercises, prompts, workshop discussion, and published examples, students will discover the forms, style, subject matter, and sound that best suit their writerly intentions.
4 credits
Prerequisite: EN 111, 113, or 119
Fulfills the Artistic Inquiry requirement
EN 281 01 鈥 Introduction to Fiction Writing
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:40 鈥 11 a.m.
Instructor: G. Hrbek
A course focusing on fundamental elements of fiction craft (point-of-view, dialogue, etc.). The first half of the semester will be spent reading/analyzing literature and doing short directed writing exercises; in the second half, we will work on a story of 10-12 pages. Roughly half of class time will be devoted to the workshopping of student work. Grade is based on writing, class participation, and attendance.
4 credits
Prerequisite: EN 111, 113, or 119
Fulfills the Artistic Inquiry requirement
EN 281 02 鈥 Introduction to Fiction Writing
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:10 鈥 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: M. Mayer
A collaborative exploration of fiction writing and rewriting. No prior experience with fiction writing presumed, only interest and eagerness to experiment. Class sessions will be devoted to analyzing short stories and exploring fiction as an art, craft, and practice. Central to our work will be the workshop, a collaborative discussion and critique of fellow students鈥 fiction. Outside of class, students will read, write creative exercises, and complete original short stories. Use this class to write and revise the fiction you most want to write, whatever its form or genre.
4 credits
Prerequisite: EN 111, 113, or 119
Fulfills the Artistic Inquiry requirement
EN 282 01 鈥 Introduction to Poetry Writing
Mondays and Wednesdays, 4 鈥 5:20 p.m.
Instructor: H. Hussaini
Each week, we will read a couple of poems that rest heavily on a singular literary impulse to help us realize how poetry utilizes repetition. Repetition is indeed in meter, assonance, and consonance, but it goes far beyond traceable items. The primary object of this course is twofold: to show how the rhythm of a poem relies as much on visual cues and parallel imagery as it does on sonic resonance and to help you pose questions about other invisible forms of repetition. For instance, is style a form of repetition? Throughout the course, we will also read several statements on poetic craft and theory, and there will be short quizzes on each of them. These readings give you an understanding of how poets think about composition and how writing modern and postmodern poetry differs from traditional poetry. You must write one poem weekly, read your peers' work, and comment on it. What's working? What's not? That sort of thing. We will workshop them as a class and talk about revision. You will gather your best works for the final project to make a chapbook. You'll print and bind them together for display.
4 credits
Prerequisite: EN 111, 113, or 119
Fulfills the Artistic Inquiry requirement
EN 311 01 鈥 Recent Fiction
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:40 鈥 2 p.m.
Instructor: B. Boyers
Each year thousands of novels and books of short fiction appear from publishers all
around the world. A very small number of these attract substantial attention when
they appear, and a tiny proportion of these remain in print and continue to attract
readers long after their initial publication date. The course in Recent Fiction asks
students to read, from the thousands of available titles, a small number of books
which seem likely to remain compelling. Some of the books selected deal with charged
and controversial subjects--race relations, gender issues, political turmoil. Others
are apt to seem important principally because they are original and challenging in
unexpected ways, or introduce us to unfamiliar perspectives on contemporary life.
The fiction to be studied include both novels and short fiction by such writers as
Garth Greenwell, Claire Messud, Mary Gaitskill, Ian McEwan, George Saunders, Sigrid
Nunez and Jamaica Kincaid.
3 credits
Counts as the Late Period History requirement
EN 322P 01 鈥 Bad Melville
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 鈥 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: J. Parra
What does it mean to evaluate something as 鈥済ood鈥 or 鈥渂ad鈥? How and why do we use
these categories to describe persons, actions, and aesthetic objects? Should we always
strive to succeed鈥攖o be good, live a good life, and read good books? Why? This course
will explore the virtues of badness through the work of an artist who died a failure:
Herman Melville. Over the course of the semester, we will discuss the emergence of
his masterpiece, Moby-Dick, from relative obscurity at the time of its author鈥檚 death
into the pantheon of great American literature, investigating what forces made this
shift possible. We will also look at a novel that some critics still consider to be
Melville鈥檚 worst, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities, which, when it was first published,
was referred to as 鈥渁 dead failure鈥 and 鈥渢his crazy rigamarole.鈥 Others consider Pierre
to be the author鈥檚 best, most psychologically astute鈥攁nd disturbing鈥攚ork. If we put
aside the question of success or failure, how else might we productively read a work
like this? What, in other words, do we want from our literature? And how should we
read for it? The class will read other examples of Melville's fiction, including 鈥淏artleby,
the Scrivener鈥 and Benito Cereno, as meditations on the ethical, political, and social
problems that follow from apparently 鈥済ood鈥 behavior as well as the potential for
radical change that sometimes inheres in behaving badly.
4 credits
Counts as the Middle Period History requirement
EN 326W 01 鈥 Remix Culture
Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:20 鈥 1:40 p.m.
Instructor: P. Benzon
What are the aesthetics and politics of appropriation? What does this practice have to tell us about authorship, ownership, artistry, identity, and power? Appropriation has a long history across literary, cultural, and social domains, and has served as a tool of liberation, creation, and resistance as well as one of constraint and exploitation. In this course, we鈥檒l consider a wide range of appropriation-based texts and practices across different media, turning our attention from an approach that privileges originality towards one that considers the artistic and social value of literature and art made of pre-existing material. These deliberately derivative works raise far-reaching questions about authorship and artistry: how do practices like copying, collage, sampling, and remixing alter our conception of what it means to create literature and art? What new aesthetic, cultural, and political possibilities and problems emerge through these approaches?
To engage with these and other questions, we鈥檒l consider a wide range of modern and
contemporary literature, art, and media that relies on practices of appropriation.
We鈥檒l study novels, poems, and essays that are copied and stolen from other sources,
art made from found objects, and music and film collaged from past histories. Our
ultimate goal will be to come to a richer, more complex understanding of what appropriation
means鈥攁rtistically, socially, and politically. Texts to be considered may include
works by Jorge Luis Borges, William S. Burroughs, Ryan Coogler, J Dilla, Marcel Duchamp,
Michel Gondry, Arthur Jafa, Beyonc茅 Knowles, Hari Kunzru, Robin Coste Lewis, Glenn
Ligon, Wangechi Mutu, Nicole Sealey, Andy Warhol, and others.
4 credits
Counts as the Late Period History requirement
Counts toward the Media and Film Studies minor
EN 327 01 鈥 Toni Morrison
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:10 鈥 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: M. Stokes
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Nobel Prize for Literature, Toni Morrison surely ranks as one of America鈥檚 greatest novelists. Her work, located in the lived experience of African American culture, explores contradictions that lie at the heart of American identity: the love of freedom in a country founded on slavery; the fact of racial bigotry in a country allegedly dedicated to equality; the role of community in a country that worships the individual; and the insistence of desire in a world imagined by Puritans. Ranging across geographies and demographics, Morrison maps an American experience lived in pool halls and churches, cotton fields and urban neighborhoods, and most of all in families鈥攆amilies, like America, torn apart and put back together again.
In this seminar, we鈥檒l focus on Morrison鈥檚 first six novels (The Bluest Eye, Sula,
Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved, and Jazz), as well as her last (God Help the Child).
We鈥檒l also read a selection of scholarly criticism. Assignments include four 2-page
essays and one longer essay (12 pages).
3 credits
Counts as a Late Period History requirement
Counts toward the Black Studies minor
Counts toward the Gender Studies minor
EN 341W 01 鈥 Robot Chaucer
Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:10 鈥 11:30 a.m.
Instructor: T.C. Matthews
Modernity鈥檚 digital and Europe鈥檚 medieval ages may seem to have little in common鈥ut
as moments of major transition from one type of technology to the next, our present
and our past share more similarities than we may initially think. By mapping the move
from manuscript to printing press and putting that revolution in conversation with
today鈥檚 evolutions in generative AI, this course asks if it鈥檚 possible for the interdisciplinary
use of generative AI methods to enrich our close readings of medieval texts and enhance
our analytical writing about these texts. Using Chaucer (perhaps the most famous of
medieval Europe鈥檚 authors), in addition to excerpts from the 鈥楰ing Arthur鈥 canon by
writers Thomas Malory and Marie de France, this course will tackle old texts using
new and unorthodox theoretical lenses: culminating with a final project in which students
will select (at minimum) one original work that they have created throughout the semester
to revise and submit for publication to the undergraduate journal and/or literary
magazine of their choice. In finding the appropriate journal/magazine, presenting
in-class about the submission process, and (re)shaping that work to be submitted for
publication, upper-level students will both gain exposure to the publication process
and contribute to their own academic CVs after walking through this course-long process.
4 credits
Counts as the Early Period History requirement
EN 351R 01 鈥 Romanticism and Human/Nature
Thursdays, 6:30 鈥 9:30 p.m.
Instructor: B. Diaby
The aesthetic movement known as 鈥淩omanticism鈥 swept across Europe and the Americas
in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, bringing with it new and still-present
conceptions of literature, music, and the arts. But its reach extended well beyond
that: present day thoughts on 鈥淗umanity鈥 and 鈥淣ature鈥 are indebted to Romantic thinkers
and artists, for better and for worse. In this class, we will explore these two concepts
as they take shape throughout the Romantic period while grappling with their continued
influence on our contemporary moment. Our main questions are: what does it mean to
be 鈥渉uman鈥 and what, exactly, is 鈥渘ature鈥 and the 鈥渘atural?鈥 We will discuss key texts
and events from the Romantic period, with topics including slavery and dehumanization,
the Anthropocene, gender and sexual politics, human rights and more. We will read
work by Mary and Percy Shelley, Phillis Wheatley Peters, Mary Wollstonecraft, William
Wordsworth and many others. Students will compose a significant final research paper
along with a proposal and annotated bibliography.
4 credits
Counts as the Middle Period History requirement
EN 362R 01 鈥 Racial Capitalism on the Early Modern English Stage
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 鈥 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: A. Bozio
Calls to defund the police rightly stress a relationship between racism and capitalism.
In this course, we will study the origins of that relationship in the early modern
period and the role that literature played in its development. First, we will read
competing accounts of when, where, and why capitalism came into being, focusing on
the importance of race and racism to its emergence. We鈥檒l then use those insights
as a framework for analyzing early modern drama, juxtaposing canonical works (Titus
Andronicus, As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice) with less familiar but equally
compelling texts (The Battle of Alcazar, The Fair Maid of the West, and The City Madam)
in order to understand how literature engaged, furthered, and at times contested the
rise of racial capitalism. In the last days of the course, we will consider the legacy
of these ideas in twenty-first century, asking what the study of racial capitalism
means for us today.
4 credits
Counts as the Early Period History requirement
EN 364P 01 鈥 Home and Away: Migration Literature
Mondays, 6 鈥 9 p.m.
Instructor: S. Ranwalage
What can contemporary literature reveal to us about the migratory, exilic, and diasporic experience in an era marked by divisive (mis)representations of migrant (dis)belonging? How do writers and artists create agential sites of resistance and connection when their 鈥渉omeland鈥 is variously defined and mobilized with and through political, cultural, and economic practices? How do they access and embody loss and fragmentation in relation to their bodies, communities, memories, and forms of expression? And how do they use literary and cultural production, not only to represent forms of belonging, but to create them, to give language(s) to nostalgia, deterritorialization, hybridity, and subjectivity striated by race, class, caste, gender, sexuality, ability, and religion?
To seek answers, we will examine poetry, fiction, drama, film, and new media texts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that map various 鈥淲estward鈥 trajectories. More specifically, the works will represent migrations from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central, and South America towards Western Europe and North America. Our reading of these texts will be paired with a range of theoretical perspectives from the humanities to social sciences, including, but not limited to, literary studies, migration and diaspora studies, globalization studies, philosophy, postcolonial studies, gender and sexuality studies, and theater and performance studies. Such pairings will allow us to develop and deploy interdisciplinary methodological approaches to examine shifting patterns of migration in the twenty-first century, assumptions about migration to the Global North, assimilation, intergenerational strife, and, most importantly, the heterogeneity of the migrant experience.
Over the course of the semester, students will write two essays, write and present
a final 鈥渃onference paper,鈥 lead and engage in discussion, and workshop their writing
throughout the semester via drafting processes, library research, and peer-review
sessions."
4 credits
Counts as a Late Period History requirement
Fulfills the Global Cultural Perspective requirement
Counts toward the Asian Studies minor
EN 377 01 鈥 The Art of Nonfiction: Writing for Publication
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30 鈥 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: L. Hall
"An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.鈥 So claimed E. B. White, whose wife, Katharine, edited fiction at The New Yorker for decades. What can writers learn from editors? To tackle that question, we will read (memoirs, manuscripts, letters, profiles, interviews). We will also edit鈥攎ainly the writing of others, not our own. Students who enroll in this class should have a genuine interest in editorial standards and squabbles. Expect weekly in-class exercises, frequent quizzes, and a final exam.
4 credits
Note: this course is not about getting published. It is about getting publishable.
EN 377 02 鈥 The Art of Fiction: Process Aesthetics
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 鈥 5 p.m.
Instructor: M. Mayer
How does a busy artist sanctify creative time? Through discipline? Ritual? Mindfulness?
Magic? How do fiction writers in particular 鈥渂ecome鈥 their characters, 鈥渆nter鈥 their
built worlds, 鈥渟ee鈥 imagery, 鈥渉ear鈥 voices, and so on? Through what searching and
trial does a short story discover its epiphany? How does a fiction writer develop
a meaningful and ethical commerce between their imaginative life and their real life?
In this seminar鈥搘orkshop intended for writers of fiction and literature students game
to write a little fiction, we鈥檒l experiment broadly with the process aesthetics of
fiction writing. We鈥檒l borrow writing rituals from Toni Morrison, Wallace Stevens,
Anthony Trollope, and Haruki Murakami. We鈥檒l adapt method actors鈥 techniques for inhabiting
character. Following Fernando Pessoa, we鈥檒l develop heteronyms鈥攁lternate authorial
selves. We鈥檒l use meditation to 鈥渄reamstorm.鈥 We鈥檒l consider analogies between the
kinetics of the sentence and the movements of dance. We鈥檒l dabble in divinatory poetics.
We鈥檒l build worlds in consultation with Earth scientists. Readings will include novels鈥擨f
on a winter鈥檚 night a traveller; So Long, See You Tomorrow鈥攁nd theory, broadly conceived:
Abraham Joshua Heschel, Brunella Antomarini, C. Thi Nguyen. While pursuing a semester-length
fiction project, students will develop and host original process 鈥渟alons鈥 to guide
their drafts from concept to completion.
4 credits
Advanced Creative Writing Workshops
Students hoping to enroll in 300 level creative writing workshops need permission of the instructor. To receive permission, students should email the professor in advance of registration.
EN 379 01 鈥 Poetry Workshop
Wednesdays, 6:30 鈥 9:30 p.m.
Instructor: P. Boyers
This is a course for advanced student poets. Writing and reading assignments are geared to the advanced student but the structure of the class is essentially the same as that of a less advanced workshop: weekly prompts will provoke student poems to be discussed in class as well as in private meetings with the professor. By the end of the term students will be expected to have completed and revised twelve new poems.
4 credits
Prerequisite: 282 and permission of the instructor
This course is a prerequisite for the Coda in Poetry Writing (EN 381P)
EN 380 01 鈥 Fiction Workshop
Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:20 鈥 1:40 p.m.
Instructor: G. Hrbek
An intensive workshop for committed writers. Though there will be informal discussion of published writing, our primary task will be the critiquing of student work. Attendance, class participation, and thoughtful written response to student writing are of paramount importance. Main creative requirement: two short stories of 10-12 pages each, both of which will be revised after being workshopped.
4 credits
Prerequisite: 281 and permission of the instructor
This course is a prerequisite for the Coda in Fiction Writing (EN 381F)
GN 351 01 鈥 The English Major and Beyond
Wednesdays, 4 鈥5 p.m.
Instructor: L. Soderlind
Designed for senior English majors, but open to juniors as well, this one-credit course will provide students with dedicated time and space to consider their post-graduation paths. Whether you have clear plans for life after 91爆料 or absolutely no idea what to do, this course will offer opportunities to explore and reflect on the work and school options for which the English major is good preparation. The course will take the widest possible view of the range of professional activities that have appealed and might appeal to graduates of our department, allowing for a theoretical and practical exploration of possible careers. With the help of alumni speakers and other guests, we will discuss practical questions about finding and applying for jobs, workshop resumes and cover letters, and consider what we want from our post-91爆料 professional and personal lives.
1 credit
NOTE: The Senior Coda is satisfied in most cases by a Senior Seminar (EN 375) or Advanced Projects in Writing (EN 381). Students with appropriate preparation and faculty permission may instead choose the senior thesis or project options: EN 376, 389, 390.
EN 375 01 鈥 Senior Seminar in Literary Studies
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:40 鈥 11 a.m.
Instructor: J. Cermatori
In this advanced research seminar, students will have the opportunity to develop an
extended scholarly paper on a literary topic of their own choosing. At the start of
the semester, you鈥檒l reflect on your work as an English major up to that point, imagining
potential topics and pathways for further research and writing, and we鈥檒l explore
several short texts together in order to practice research methods as a group. From
there, you鈥檒l develop an individualized research project, moving from brainstorming
to a proposal and bibliography and then to a series of scaffolded drafts. While our
group鈥檚 research projects may be spread over a diverse range of texts, genres, periods,
and concerns, our work will be collaborative and communal, emphasizing frequent workshopping,
conferences, and an approach to research as a process of shared inquiry.
4 credits
Qualifying work will earn honors
EN 376 01 鈥 Senior Projects
This offering allows seniors the opportunity to develop a particular facet of English study that they are interested in and have already explored to some extent. It could include projects such as teaching, creative writing, journalism, and film production, as well as specialized reading and writing on literary topics. Outstanding work may qualify the senior for departmental honors. All requirements for a regular Independent Study apply. To register, fill out a 鈥淪enior Thesis or Senior Project Registration鈥 form, available in the English department and on the English department鈥檚 website. Students who wish to be considered for Honors for a senior project must complete at least two preparatory courses in the appropriate genre.
EN 389 01 鈥 Preparation for Senior Thesis
Advisor: The Department
Required of all second-semester junior or first-semester senior English majors who
intend to write a thesis (EN 390). Under the direction of a thesis advisor, the student
reads extensively in primary and secondary sources related to the proposed thesis
topic, develops their research skills, and brings the thesis topic to focus by writing
an outline and series of brief papers which will contribute to the thesis.
3 credits
EN 390 01 鈥 Senior Thesis
Advisor: The Department
Intensive writing and revising of senior thesis under the close guidance of the student鈥檚
thesis committee. The thesis provides an opportunity for English Majors to develop
sophisticated research and writing skills, read extensively on the topic of special
interest, and produce a major critical paper of forty to eighty pages. Not required
of the English major, but strongly recommended as a valuable conclusion to the major
and as preparation for graduate study. Distinguished work will qualify eligible students
for departmental honors. To register, fill out a 鈥淪enior Thesis or Senior Project
Registration鈥 form, available in the English department and on the English department鈥檚
website.
3 credits
Prerequisites: EN 389 and approval in advance by the Department
Advanced Projects
EN 381F 01 鈥 Advanced Project in Writing: Fiction
Mondays and Wednesdays, 4 鈥 5:20 p.m.
Instructor: G. Hrbek
This is a course in advanced fiction writing for students serious about writing. There will be regular meetings in a workshop format and individual meetings as needed. All work will be discussed in detail. Students will be expected to complete a definite project of about fifty pages (three short stories or a novella). This is an advanced course that assumes a high degree of commitment; students who wish to enroll should have a clear idea of what it is they hope to do. If you plan to write a novella, please bring to the first class an informal but detailed plan so that I can discuss it with you during the first week.
4 credits
Qualifying work will earn honors
Prerequisite: One section of EN 380
EN 381N 01 鈥 Advanced Projects in Writing: Nonfiction
Wednesdays and Fridays, 12:20 鈥 1:40 p.m.
Instructor. M. Wolff
A seminar and workshop for Senior nonfiction writers. In this course, each student develops a nonfiction manuscript of their own design. Nonfiction writers share drafts of their work, discuss manuscripts, and discuss relevant assigned chapters, essays, and books that enhance and inform each writer鈥檚 process. Writers experience the benefits of group work, and of regular one-to-one writing conferences with the instructor. Students revise frequently, to develop a final polished work. Forms may include: a collection of essays; a sustained memoir; cultural criticisms; travel essays, etc. Topics are selected by each student. Students with an interest in this course may submit a general, informal proposal of topic or form to the instructor, by the last day of Fall semester.
4 credits
Required: Attendance; presentations; conferences; discussion; drafts and revisions.
Final Projects must be 30 pages, minimum.
Qualifying work will earn honors
Prerequisite: One section of EN 378
EN 381P 01 鈥 Advanced Projects in Writing: Poetry
Tuesdays, 5:30 鈥 8:30 p.m
Instructor: A. Bernard
Students will prepare a significant portfolio of revised poems (approximately 20 pages) and will participate in a rigorous but generous workshop. In addition to the final portfolio, students will maintain an annotated reading log, documenting influences and enthusiasms in poetry new and old.
4 credits
Qualifying work will earn honors
Prerequisite: One section of EN 379