English (ENGL)
Chair: Professor Gregory Blake Smith
Professors: Chiara Briganti, Susan Jaret McKinstry, Michael J. Kowalewski, James McDonnell, Elizabeth McKinsey, Frank R. Morral, Kofi Owusu, John F. Schott, Gregory Blake Smith, Robert G. Tisdale, Constance H. Walker, Ruth Weiner
Visiting Professor: Carol Oliver
Associate Professors: Nancy J. Cho, Timothy J. Raylor
Assistant Professors: Peter Balaam, Adriana Estill, Gregory G. Hewett, Jessica L. Leiman, George G. Shuffelton
Visiting Instructor: Allison L.E. Wee
Lecturer: Carol A. Rutz
General Information:
Courses numbered from 100 to 290 (introductory courses) are designed for non-majors and prospective majors alike. With the exception of English 200, Methods of Interpretation, and 260, Introduction to Creative Writing, 270, Crafts of Writing: The Short Story, and 271, Crafts of Writing: Poetry, they have no prerequisites. Literature courses numbered 300 and above (upper-level courses) normally require as a prerequisite ONE course numbered 110-175 or the written permission of the instructor. Prerequisites for upper-level courses in writing (English 370, 371 and 375) are as noted below. Courses that fulfill the "advanced seminar requirement" have as a prerequisite English 200. First year students normally do not enroll in courses numbered 300 or above.
Students wishing to prepare for public school teaching should consult with the chair of the department and the Department of Educational Studies as soon as possible.
Students considering graduate study in English should be aware that most graduate schools require one or two ancient or modern languages.
Requirements for a Major:
A. Sixty-six credits in English (not including English 100, 109, 290) distributed as follows:
1. English 110 and 111 preferably taken in this sequence before entering upper-level courses. English 112.
2. English 200, for which any two of the followingEnglish 110, 111, 112are prerequisites, preferably taken in the Sophomore year. Not open to first-year students.
3. At least 36 credits in courses numbered 300-395 taken at Carleton, including six credits in each of the following four groups. One course (6 credits) may be the 200 level (excluding English 200).
Group I: Medieval and Renaissance Literature
300, Chaucer I: The Canterbury Tales; 301, The Courtly Chaucer; 310, Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies; 311, Shakespeare: Problem Plays, Tragedies and Romances
Group II: Restoration and 18th Century Literature
209, The Country Wife: A Project Course; 313, The Faerie Queene; 314, Paradise Lost; 315, Restoration Literature; 319, 18th-Century Fiction; 322, Jane Austen.
Group III: 19th Century British and American Literature
323, English Romantic Poets; 327, 19th Century Fiction; 328, Victorian Poetry; 329, Six and the City: Late Victorian London; 336, Studies in American Literature: Major American Authors: 1850-1920
Group IV: Modernist and Contemporary Literature
117, African American Literature; 230, African American Autobiography; 234, Southern Literature, 235, Asian American Literature; 236, American Nature Writing; 237, American Indian Literature; 238, African Literature in English; 242, 20th Century American Drama; 249, Irish Literature; 330, Literature of the American West; 332, Studies in American Literature: Faulkner, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald; 334, Postmodern American Novel; 339, Contemporary American Playwrights of Color; 340, Major Modernist Poets; 341, Contemporary Poetry; 342, Contemporary Latino/a Poetry; 343, Contemporary European and American Drama; 344, 20th Century Literature 348, Women, Men, and War
4. An advanced seminar (English 362 or 395) to be taken during the senior year or the second or third term of the junior year, after at least two 300-level coures.
5. An integrative exercise. A senior may choose:
a. Essay Option: An extended essay on an approved topic. Open only to students who enroll in English 400 winter term.
b. Examination Option: A written examination given early in spring term.
B. Six credits in literature other than English, read either in translation or, preferably, in the original language.
Double-majors considering completing the integrative exercise during the junior year will need written approval from the departmental chair.
The Two-Credit Essay:
The department encourages students to write a long essay (about 20 to 25 pages) on a subject growing out of an upper-level course. Such essays will normally require additional reading and will be written either while taking the upper-level course or within two terms of completing it. Students wishing to write a two-credit essay must obtain the consent of the instructor before enrolling.
Workshops in Writing:
The Department of English offers workshop courses in the writing of fiction, poetry, memoir, and the essay for those students who wish to gain experience in writing. The writing requirement is a prerequisite for all such courses. Students are encouraged to submit their work to college publications such as The Observer, manuscript, and Breaking Ground.
Writers on the Carleton faculty include poet Gregory Hewett and novelist Gregory Blake Smith. In addition to those courses offered by regular faculty members, the department brings visiting writers to campus to read and to conduct workshops in their specialties. Visitors in recent years have included playwrights Lee Blessing and Tony Kushner, memoirists Carol Bly and Patricia Hampl, poets Robert Creeley, Michael Harper, Donald Justice, and Czeslaw Milosz, and fiction-writers Paule Marshall, Jane Hamilton, Ann Beattie, Bobbie Ann Mason, Alison McGhee, and John Updike.
The Writing Requirement:
Part I of the College's Writing Requirement may be fulfilled in English 100 (Literature Seminar) or in English 109 (Writing Seminar).
English Courses
ENGL 099. Summer Writing Program Emphasizing a writing process approach, the Summer Writing Program helps high school juniors and seniors learn to compose academic papers that are similar to those they will write in college. Students read both contemporary and traditional literature from classic texts by writers such as Plato and Shakespeare to a variety of modern short stories, essays, and poems by authors such as August Wilson, Margaret Atwood, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Adrienne Rich. This literature then becomes the focus of their papers. Students write every day, and although occasional creative writing exercises are included, the main emphasis of the course will be on expository prose. Cannot be used for the Writing Requirement. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 100. Spirit of Place We will consider a range of textsfiction, poetry, drama, nonfictionthat explore the intangible and multifaceted nature of "place" in literary works. We will attempt to determine what influence place has on human perception and behavior and study the variety of ways in which writers have attempted to evoke a "spirit of place." Authors read will include Shakespeare, Hardy, Steinbeck and Heaney. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—M. Kowalewski
ENGL 100. Ways of Seeing What does it mean to "see" the world in a particular way? What are the factors that create, shape and limit our visions? This class will explore how works of poetry, fiction and drama represent the visions of authors and characters, and we will practice the skills of close critical reading and writing in order to articulate our own "ways of seeing." The texts we study will engage different historical periods, national contexts, and racial and gendered identities, and we will discover our own interpretations of the world through a careful examination of literary craft and technique. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—N. Cho
ENGL 100. American Autobiography: The Narrative Creation of Self What is an American? This class explores American autobiography, considering such matters as the narrative creation of self, the role of culture in self-definition, and the importance of audience in shaping narrative. Through close reading discussion of such writers as Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Monica Itoi Sone, and Mary McCarthy, students will develop skills in literary analysis. Short papers will focus on thematic and historical relationships. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—C. Oliver
ENGL 100. Literature Seminar A writing seminar designed to teach college students to be successful readers and writers, each section includes a variety of readings in poetry, fiction, prose and drama in order to teach the skills of essay writing, editing and revision, collaborative work and oral presentations. Because of the focus on critical reading and writing, the course also serves as an excellent foundation to the English major. The following sections will be offered in 2003-2004: Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 109. Writing Seminar I Writing is the medium for academic inquiry. In this class, you will choose a topic related to the Japanese internment of American citizens, perform your own research, and write about that topic in several genres: personal reflection, exploration, and persuasion. With the aid of additional selected readings, you will study and practice rhetorical forms designed to serve you as you encounter writing tasks in other courses. 6 credits cr., ND, Fall—C. Rutz
ENGL 109. Writing Seminar I A course in expository and persuasive writing. May be repeated once for additional credit. The following sections will be offered in 2003-2004: Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 109. Writing Seminar I Instruction and practice in writing clear and persuasive prose. 6 credits cr., ND, Fall,Winter,Spring—Staff
ENGL 110. English Literature, I Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton and lyric poets of the 16th and 17th centuries. Required of English majors. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—Jm. McDonnell, T. Raylor, G. Shuffelton, C. Walker
ENGL 111. English Literature, II Neoclassic, Romantic, and Victorian literature. Required of English majors. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—C. Briganti, J. Leiman, C. Walker, A. Wee
ENGL 112. Introduction to American Literature American literature to 1914 with an emphasis on the periods of Romanticism and Realism. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—P. Balaam, N. Cho, G. Hewett, E. McKinsey, R. Tisdale
ENGL 117. African American Literature Cross-listed with AFAM 117. . This course provides an overview of African American literature. We will pay particular attention to the tradition of African American literary expression and the individual talent that brings depth and diversity to that tradition. Authors to be read include Baldwin, Baraka, Brooks, Ed Bullins, Douglass, Du Bois, Dunbar, Nikki Giovanni, Hayden, Hughes, Weldon Johnson, Locke, McKay, Morrison, Toomer, Wheatley, and Wilson. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—K. Owusu
ENGL 118. Introduction to Poetry We will look at the whole kingdom of poetry, exploring how poets use form, tone, sound, imagery, rhythm, and subject matter to create what Wallace Stevens called the "supreme fiction." Examples will be drawn from around the world, from Sappho to spoken word. Participation in discussion is mandatory; essay assignments will ask you to provide close readings of particular works; a couple of assignments will focus on the writing of poems so as to give you a full understanding of this ancient and living art. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—A. Estill
ENGL 119. Introduction to U.S. Latino/a Literature We will begin by examining the forefathers and mothers of Latino/a literature: the 19th century texts of exile, struggles for Latin American independence, and southwestern resistance and accommodation. The early 20th century offers new genres: immigrant novels and popular poetry that reveal the nascent Latino identities rooted in (or formed in opposition to) U.S. ethics and ideals. Finally we will read a sampling of the many excellent contemporary authors who are transforming the face of American literature. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—A. Estill
ENGL 120. Modern Literature: British and American Selected poems and prose narratives written since 1910. Senior English majors may take this course only with the consent of the instructor. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—R. Tisdale
ENGL 130. Shakespeare I About ten plays. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—Jm. McDonnell
ENGL 175. Drama/Theatre/Text Cross-listed with THEA 175. . We will study a selection of 10-15 plays as literary texts and as the foundations of performance. These plays are selected both for their literary stature and for their association with specific art and/or critical movements. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—R. Weiner
ENGL 200. Methods of Interpretation This course is required of students majoring in English. It will deal with practical and theoretical issues in literary analysis and contemporary criticism. Prerequisites: English 110 and 111. Not open to first year students. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter,Spring—N. Cho, G. Hewett
ENGL 209. The Country Wife Cross-listed with THEA 209. We will study William Wycherley's Winter—R. Weiner, T. Raylor
ENGL 220. Arts of Oral Presentation Instruction and practice in being a speaker and an audience in formal and informal settings. 3 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Winter,Spring—F. Morral
ENGL 230. African American Autobiography Cross-listed with AFAM 230. . The African American slave narrative chronicles remarkable transformations: how a (wo)man was made a slave and how a slave was made a (wo)man. The ex-slave's affirmation of selfhood found expression in first-person narratives that launched a literary tradition. We will place this emerging tradition in its historical context, discuss its defining characteristics, and trace its development in 20th century African American autobiography. Our definition of "the literary" will not be divorced from relevant cultural codes and historical context. We will read classic slave narratives by Equiano, Douglass, and Jacobs; and 20th century autobiography by Washington, Hurston, Wright, Malcolm X, Angelou, Brooks, and Njeri. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Spring—K. Owusu
ENGL 231. From Memory to Memoir: The Art of the Personal Narrative Cross-listed with WGST 340. . This is a writing class, designed to help students transform personal experience into finished narrative. Classes will feature visits from published writers, practical writing exercises, informal workshops and discussions about this new and important genre. This is the perfect place to ponder and reshape personal, family and cross-cultural experiences. Prerequisite: Part 1 of the writing requirement. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—Jn. McDonnell
ENGL 234. Southern Literature Cross-listed with ENTS 233. A study of the southern literary imagination from the Civil War to the present, with particular emphasis on the Southern Literary Renaissance in the early 20th century. We will examine the cultural iconography of the South, reading poetry, fiction, and drama that explores southern writers' engagement with race, history, gender and "place." Authors read will include Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Robert Penn Warren, Zora Neale Hurston, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, and Cormac McCarthy. We will also watch a few films in connection with the course, including Gone with the Wind. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—E. McKinsey
ENGL 235. Asian American Literature This course is an introduction to major works and authors of fiction, drama, and poetry from about 1900 to the present. We will trace the development of Asian American literary traditions while exploring the rich diversity of recent voices in the field. Authors to be read include Carlos Bulosan, Sui Sin Far, Philip Kan Gotanda, Maxine Hong Kingston, Jhumpa Lahiri, Milton Murayama, Chang-rae Lee, Li-young Lee, and John Okada. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Winter—N. Cho
ENGL 236. American Nature Writing Cross-listed with ENTS 236. . A study of the environmental imagination in American literature. We will explore the relationship between literature and the natural sciences and examine questions of style, narrative, and representation in the light of larger social, ethical, and political concerns about the environment. Authors read will include Thoreau, Muir, Mary Austin, Jeffers, Abbey, Snyder, and Terry Tempest Williams. Students will write a creative Natural History essay as part of the course requirements. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—M. Kowalewski
ENGL 237. American Indian Literature Cross-listed with ENTS 237. Study and discussion of Native American literature from its graphic and oral roots to contemporary memoir, fiction, and poetry. 20th century authors read will include Charles Eastman, James Welch, N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Susan Power, LeAnne Howe, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Sherman Alexie. Topics to be discussed will include the importance of place, spiritual life, nature and the "supernatural," and diverse representations of historical events, community, and individual and tribal identity. The course will also critique the depiction of Native Americans by Euro-Americans in popular media. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 238. African Literature in English Cross-listed with AFAM 238. We will read and discuss classic texts of African literary expression drawn from English-speaking Africa. Authors to be read include Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ayi Kwei Armah, Buchi Emecheta, Bessie Head, Ben Okri, Ngugiwa Thiong'o, and Wole Soyinka. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Fall—K. Owusu
ENGL 242. 20th Century American Drama Cross-listed with THEA 242. . A study of a selection of important American plays from Eugene O'Neill's Hairy Ape (1920) to Tony Kushner's Angels in America (1992) in the context of larger American themes and cultural preoccupations. The premise of this course is that these plays define the American theatre for most of this century. By studying them we will gain understanding of our own culture and the links that connect this culture to the transformative events of the century. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 244. Classic Theater: Shakespeare to Modernism The study of dramatic literature in historical context, focusing not only on the plays but on the spaces, conditions, and conventions of theatrical performance from Shakespeare through the beginnings of modernism. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 246. Playwriting Cross-listed with THEA 246. A laboratory to explore the craft of playwriting, concentrating on structure, action and character. The class uses games, exercises, scenes, with the goal of producing a short play by the end of the term. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Winter—B. Field
ENGL 249. Irish Literature After a brief introduction to earlier literary texts, the course will concentrate on 20th century fiction, poetry and drama by W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, J. M. Synge, Brian Friel, Frank O'Connor, Sean O'Faolain, Edna O'Brien, William Trevor, Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and many others. We will pay particular attention to the recurrent themes of national and cultural identity, the plight of women in a repressive society, the perspectives of children, the power of religion and the prevalence of violence. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 250. Linguistics and the Literary Art Cross-listed with LING 250. . This course examines approaches to the question: "How do artists who use language as a medium manipulate that medium, and to what effect?". Prerequisite: Linguistics 110 or permission of instructor. 6 credits cr., SS, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 260. Introduction to Creative Writing This course offers blocks of intensive training in poetry, prose fiction, and what has recently been termed "creative non-fiction." The primary objective is to come to an understanding of the varying and at times overlapping capabilities of these three genres and to produce works in each. Discussion of each participant's writing is the central mode of instruction. This will be supplemented by examples from published writers and some theoretical essays on the creative process. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Winter—G. Hewett
ENGL 270. The Crafts of Writing: The Short Story An introduction to the writing of the short story. Each student will write and have discussed in class three stories (from 1,500 to 4,000 words in length) and give constructive suggestions about the stories written by other members of the class. Students are expected to write brief critiques of each story written by their classmates. Prerequisite: Part I writing requirement. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall,Winter—G. Smith
ENGL 271. The Crafts of Writing: Poetry This course concerns itself with the development of poetic vision as much as craft. Through intensive writing and revision of poetry, supplemented by reading and discussion of contemporary poetry and poetics, each member of the group will form a body of work and a statement that stakes a poetic claim. The objective is to begin to discover how each of us fits or does not fit into the modern poetical tradition and the diverse contemporary poetry scene, so as to free us from solipsism and vague notions of the powers of poetry. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 273. Ireland Program: Ireland in Context: Writing in Place This course will involve both readings about contemporary Ireland and extensive writing on the part of students. The class will read material that ranges from documentary and journalism, to poetic evocations of the meaning of landscape, travel writing, and pieces about the political situation in Northern Ireland. Because it often seems that one learns best by writing, students will be asked to do extensive journal writing covering their own experiences of place, people, history, legend, contemporary events and conflicts, etc.-out of which they are to produce two finished papers 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Summer—Jn. McDonnell
ENGL 275. Crafts of Writing: The Essay, From Imitation to Invention Practice in various styles and structures of expository and argumentation prose through imitation of models, ancient and modern, from Francis Bacon and Sir Thomas Browne through Twain and Orwell to Tom Wolfe and Molly Ivins. This course embodies the conviction that we learn to use language through imitation and fashion our own styles by response to the best we have read and heard. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Spring—R. Tisdale
ENGL 290. London Program: Directed Reading in London Students will design an independent project (research and/or writing) to supplement the courses and their own interests. They will meet in workshop groups and present their project at the end of the term. 4 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Spring—S. Jaret McKinstry
Upper-level Courses:
The following courses are not open to first-year students except with the written permission of the instructor, and most have as a prerequisite one related introductory course in English or American Literature. See "General Information" above.
ENGL 300. Chaucer I: The Canterbury Tales A study of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English (no previous knowledge assumed), concentrating on the pilgrims as narrating subjects, and Chaucer's legendary status as the "Father" of English literature. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—G. Shuffelton
ENGL 301. The Courtly Chaucer None of the 493 documents in the Chaucer Life Records mention his poetry; most describe his activities as a courtier and royal administrator. This course seeks to reconcile this courtly Chaucer with his writing prior to the Canterbury Tales. As we read his early dream visions, we will immerse ourselves in the courtly cultures Chaucer learned by reading French and Italian works in translation, and by examining the art and manners of the English court. The final weeks will be spent reading his finished masterpiece, Troilus and Criseyde, sometimes called "the first novel in English." Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—G. Shuffelton
ENGL 310. Shakespeare: The Histories and Comedies Cross-listed with THEA 310. A study of Shakespeare's Lancastrien Tetralogy and of his comedies of the 1590s. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—F. Morral
ENGL 311. Shakespeare: Problem Plays, Tragedies and Romances Cross-listed with THEA 311. A study of plays chosen from the second half of Shakespeare's career as a playwright. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—F. Morral
ENGL 313. Major Works of the English Renaissance: The Faerie Queene A study of Spenser's romance epic. Group II. 3 credits cr., AL, Winter—T. Raylor
ENGL 314. Major Works of the English Renaissance: Paradise Lost An examination of Milton's masterwork. Group II. 3 credits cr., AL, Winter—T. Raylor
ENGL 315. Restoration Literature Frequently disparaged on account of its immorality and profanity, or compressed into a prologue for the 18th century, the literature of the later 17th century has only recently emerged as a subject worthy of study in its own right. We will examine the preferred forms of the agedrama (comedy) and poetry (lyric and satire)in their social, political, and ideological contexts (e.g. city, court, and country; manuscript vs. print culture; the institutionalization of science; skepticism and libertinism; moral objections to literature). Authors will include Dryden, Rochester, and Aphra Behn. Group II. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 319. 18th Century Fiction Cross-listed with WGST 319. A study of the origin and development of the English novel throughout the long 18th century. We will situate the early novel within its historical and cultural context, paying particular attention to its concern with courtship and marriage, writing and reading, the real and the fantastic. We will also consider 18th century debates about the social function of novels and the dangers of reading fiction. Authors will include Behn, Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne and Radcliffe. Group II. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—J. Leiman
ENGL 322. The Art of Jane Austen All of Jane Austen's fiction will be read; the works she did not complete or choose to publish during her lifetime will be studied in an attempt to understand the art of her mature comic masterpieces, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. Group II. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—S. Jaret McKinstry
ENGL 323. English Romantic Poets "It is impossible to read the compositions of the most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled with the electric life which burns within their words"P. B. Shelley. Readings in Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, and their contemporaries. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—C. Walker
ENGL 327. 19th Century Fiction This course will study some of the major novels of the 19th century, examining their concern with social debates over the public and the private, crime and the law, the collective and the individual, and the masculine and the feminine. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—A. Wee
ENGL 328. Victorian Poetry A study of Victorian poetry with particular emphasis on Pre-Raphaelite poetry and paintings. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 329. Sex and the City: Late Victorian London Cross-listed with WGST 329. Of the many social issues debated in the Victorian era, none was more prominent or contentious than the "Woman Question." Women's roles, rights, natures, and possibilities were explored not only in the poetry and fiction of the day, but also in newspapers, law courts, and social/scientific treatises. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to study Victorian sex and gender, this seminar reads works by Christina Rossetti, George Gissing, and Olive Schriner alongside W.T. Stead's journalism on prostitution and Max Nordau's articles on degeneration, and includes secondary materials such as Foucault's History of Sexuality and historian Judith Walkowitz's City of Dreadful Delight. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—A. Wee
ENGL 330. Literature of the American West Cross-listed with ENTS 330. . Wallace Stegner once described the West as "the geography of hope" in the American imagination. Despite various dystopian urban pressures, the region still conjures up images of wide vistas and sunburned optimism. We will explore this paradox by examining both popular mythic conceptions of the West (primarily in film) and more searching literary treatments of the same area. We will explore how writers such as Twain, Cather, Stegner, Castillo, and Cormac McCarthy have dealt with the geographical diversity and multiethnic history of the West. Films will include The Searchers, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Unforgiven, and Lone Star. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 332. Studies in American Literature: Faulkner, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald An intensive study of the novels and short fiction of William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The course will focus on the experimentation ethos and "homemade" quality of these innovative stylists who shaped the course of American modernism. Works read will be primarily from the twenties and thirties and will include The Sound and the Fury, In Our Time, Light in August, The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, and Go Down, Moses. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—M. Kowalewski
ENGL 334. Studies in American Literature: The Postmodern American Novel Is there such a thing as Postmodernism? And if there is, how do we define it? What sets Postmodern literature apart from the literature of the first half of the 20th century? Or is Postmodernism merely a deviant branch of Modernism? We will try to answer these questions, first by using a classic Modernist text (let's say, Hemingway), to define Modernism, and then by reading a number of authors frequently referred to as Postmodern (Nabokov, Barth, Pynchon, Morrison, and others). Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—G. Smith
ENGL 336. Studies in American Literature: Major American Authors: 1850-1920 Reading and discussion of works by major American authors of the 19th century: Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, Melville's Moby-Dick, Twain's Huckleberry Finn, James's Portrait of a Lady, Wharton's House of Mirth, and the poetry of Dickinson and Frost. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 339. Contemporary American Playwrights of Color Cross-listed with THEA 339. . This course will examine a diverse selection of plays from the 1970s to the present with an attempt to understand how different theatrical venues frame our understanding of ethnic identity. Playwrights and performers to be studied include Ntozake Shange, George C. Wolfe, Luis Valdez, David Henry Hwang, August Wilson, Philip Gotanda, Wakako Yamauchi, Maria Irene Fornes, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Ann Deavere Smith. There will be occasional video screenings and we will attend live theatrical performances when possible. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Winter—N. Cho
ENGL 340. Major Modernist Poets Study of the work of modernist poets writing in English, including W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore. Their poems will be studied in context of both World Wars, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Depression, as well as in relation to Romantic and Georgian poetry, the confessional poets, Beat poetry, the Black Mountain School. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 341. Contemporary Poetry Studies in poetry written in English since 1945. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—R. Tisdale
ENGL 342. Contemporary Latino/a Poetry In-depth examination of the major Latino/a poets from the 1960s to the present, including Julia Alvarez, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Sandra Cisneros, Sandra Marìa Esteves, Carolina Hospital, Tato Laviera, Pedro Pietri, Alberto Rios, and Gary Soto. We will examine the particular historical moments that enabled their voices to emerge and situate their styles and themes within the broader contexts of American literature and Latino studies. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—A. Estill
ENGL 343. Contemporary European and American Drama We will begin with a study of the key developments in post-WWII drama: Theater of the Absurd, and the development of hard-hitting political drama in Britain. We will also see how elements of the absurd and political intermingle in the more distinctly American social commentary of Shepard and Mamet. Finally, we will focus on recent works that interrogate, parody, or de-familiarize differences of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Our analysis of these works will be historical and performative as well as literary, and may be aided by occasional video screenings and field trips to professional productions. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 344. 20th Century Literature This course spans the Atlantic and two genres in search of definitions of Modernism. We will focus on works by Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Butler Yeats. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 347. Women, Men, Modernism and Modernity Cross-listed with WGST 347. This course seeks to intervene in the current lively debate over the definitions and meanings of Modernity and Modernism. We will examine a selection of literature, social investigation, and criticism concerning Modernist and Modern experimentation, against the background of historical events such as the General Strike of 1926, World War I, World War II and the role of magazines and of housing policies in the revalidation of domesticity and the construction of gender. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 348. Women, Men and War Cross-listed with WGST 348. The literary response to World War I and World War II, in both poetry and fiction, tracks the oblique and invasive effects that endure beyond war's specific spatial and temporal confines to enter into the most intimate recesses of private and domestic life. Accordingly, this course will examine the psychic, domestic, and discursive battles engendered by war-its effects on gender relationships, on narrative theories and practices, on the idea of home, femininity and masculinity. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Winter—C. Briganti
ENGL 349. Modern Irish Poetry, Fiction, and Drama Students will discuss poetry, fiction, and drama by writers such as Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, J.M.Synge, Sean O'Casey, Brian Friel, Frank O'Connor, Edna O'Brien, William Trevor, Bernard MacLaverty and others. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Summer—Jm. McDonnell
ENGL 351. Women Playwrights/Women's Roles Cross-listed with THEA 351,WGST 351. . A study of images of women in plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Strindberg, Tennessee Williams, and a number of women playwrights from Hellman and Clare Booth Luce to Caryl Churchill to Ntozaue Shange. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 362. Narrative Theory Cross-listed with MEDA 362. . "Does the world really present itself to perception in the form of well-made stories?" asks Hayden White (historiographer). To try to answer that question, we will read contemporary narrative theory and analyze various literary texts and films. This course fulfills the advanced seminar requirement. Prerequisite: English 200. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 365. British Comedy A study of the elements of comedyplot, character, dialogue, wit, and humorin British comic plays, poems, novels, and films. Authors will include Shakespeare, Sheridan, Austen, Peacock, Wilde, and Stoppard. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—C. Walker
ENGL 370. Advanced Crafts of Writing: The Short Story An advanced course in the writing of fiction. Students are expected to write brief critiques of each story written by their classmates. Prerequisite: writing requirement. Students must submit a story to the English Department Office prior to registration. Final enrollment is based on the quality of the submitted work. May be repeated for credit. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Spring—G. Smith
ENGL 371. Advanced Crafts of Writing: Poetry For students with some experience in writing poetry. We will take a workshop approach that develops the individual poet's craft and vision. Readings and exercises will be used to explore the poet's individual range and expand ideas about what poetic language can do. The goal of this course is for each poet to create a sequence of eight poems unified by technique, subject matter, form, or sensibility as well as eight experimental poems. A group public reading will be scheduled. Prerequisite: writing requirement. Students must submit three poems to the English Department Office prior to registration. Final enrollment is based on the quality of the submitted work. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Spring—G. Hewett
ENGL 375. Advanced Rhetoric Theory and practice, oral and written. Open to juniors and seniors only. Prerequisite: writing requirement. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 379. Methods of Literacy Instruction Cross-listed with EDUC 379. . This course introduces students to a variety of approaches and perspective in teaching English language arts in grades 5-12. We will explore methodologies and issues surrounding the teaching of reading, literature, language and composition in middle and high schools. In addition to the usual course components of reading, writing, and discussion approximately one day per week outside of class time will be devoted to observation and mini-teaching in 5-12 grade English classes in the Twin Cities. Prerequisites: Senior English major, permission of the instructor and Educational Studies 234. 6 credits cr., ND, Winter—D. Appleman
ENGL 380. London Program: The London Theatre Students will attend productions of classical and contemporary plays in London and Stratford-on-Avon. Class discussions and papers will compare and contrast dramatic genres, acting styles, and production design. The class will meet with actors, critics, and directors from the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, and the wider theatrical community of London. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—Non-Carleton faculty
ENGL 381. London Program: The Pre-Raphaelites in London Students will study the poetry, painting, and design of the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers in and around London in order to explore the Victorian arts. In reading poetry and fiction by these rebellious artists and others who have influenced them and by visiting museums, churches, and historic houses, students will learn of the artists' contributions to poetics and aesthetics, house design, furniture, textiles, stained glass, and books. Writers and artists include Dante Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, and A.S. Byatt. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—S. Jaret McKinstry
ENGL 384. Ireland Program: James Joyce Reading and discussion of James Joyce's Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses. 6 credits cr., AL, Summer—Jm. McDonnell
ENGL 386. California Program: The Literature of California Cross-listed with AMST 386,ENTS 386. An intensive study of writing and film that explores California both as a place (or rather, a mosaic of places) and as a continuing metaphorwhether of promise or disintegrationfor the rest of the country. Authors read will include Jack London, John Muir, Raymond Chandler, Nathanael West, Robinson Jeffers, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, Joan Didion, Gary Snyder, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Films will include Sunset Boulevard, Chinatown, The Grapes of Wrath, Zoot Suit, L.A. Confidential, and Blade Runner. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2003-2004.
ENGL 395. Toni Morrison: Nobel Laureate Cross-listed with AFAM 395. We will read Morrison's nonfictional collection, Playing in the Dark, and her fiction (The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise) and discuss the impact of this writer, critic, and professor on African American and American literature and letters. This course is not open to first- and second-year students. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—K. Owusu
ENGL 395. Gender, Authorship, and Audience in the Long 18th Century Cross-listed with AFAM 395. This seminar examines how male and female writers of the long 18th century defined themselves as authors, cultivated their readers, and respondedoften acrimoniouslyto one another. We will read drama, verse, fiction, autobiography, and reviews by men and women writers from roughly 1660 to 1765. In juxtaposing these works, we will consider how gender mediated authorial self-presentation, generic predilections, social and political commitments, and literary reception throughout this period. Authors will include Rochester, Behn, Wycherley, Pope, Finch, Swift, Montagu, Haywood, Richardson, Charke, and Boswell. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—J. Leiman
ENGL 395. Moby-Dick and its Contexts Cross-listed with AFAM 395. We will read Melville's sublime and shaggy novel in conjunction with texts that convey the ideas in the water in 1850race, labor, domesticity, patriarchy, democracy, scientific discourse, Biblical tradition and theology. Along the way we will consider shifts in U.S. literary culture as we chart a history of the book's popular and critical reception from 1850 to our era. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—P. Balaam
ENGL 395. Dissenting Americans: Literature Authority, and Social Change Cross-listed with AFAM 395. This course will examine the rich tradition of cultural critique that has helped to define the field of American literature. Authors to be read will likely include Henry David Thoreau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Kate Chopin, Charles Chesnutt, John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller, Toni Morrison, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Tony Kushner. Students are expected to be careful readers of criticism as well as literature, and will do a major research paper at the end of the course. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—N. Cho
ENGL 400. Integrative Exercise Senior English majors may fulfill the integrative exercise either by taking a comprehensive examination based on a departmental reading list, or by writing a senior thesis on a topic approved by the department. The topic must be convincingly defined before the end of fall term, a substantial portion must be written by the middle of winter term, and the final draft must be submitted by the due date early in spring term. Those who choose the exam option should form groups to discuss the texts on the reading list. The six-hour exam will be given early in the spring term. No student may change from the paper to the exam option later than the deadline established by the department (one week after the winter term portion is due). Students may register for the integrative exercise according to their individual requirements, the grade will be registered at the end of spring term. 6 credits cr., S/NC, ND, Winter,Spring—K. Owusu, C. Walker