English (ENGL)
Chair: Professor Constance H. Walker
Emeriti Professors: Vern D. Bailey, George Soule
Professors: Susan Jaret McKinstry, James McDonnell, Frank R. Morral, John F. Schott, Robert G. Tisdale, Constance H. Walker, Ruth Weiner
Visiting Professor: Carol Oliver
Associate Professors: Chiara Briganti, Michael J. Kowalewski, David McCandless, Kofi Owusu, Timothy J. Raylor, Gregory Blake Smith
Assistant Professors: Nancy J. Cho, Iona Italia
Visiting Assistant Professor: Gregory Hewett
Adjunct Lecturer: Carol A. Rutz
Visiting Instructors: Thomas Herron, Candace Lines
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, 271, Crafts of Writing: Poetry and 275, Crafts of Writing: Essay, 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. Beginning with the Class of 2000, English 112 is required for the major.
2. English 200, for which any two of the following - English 110, 111, 112 are 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; 302, Anglo-Saxon; 303, Dante; 304, Medieval Literature Drama; 308, English Renaissance Verse; 310, Shakespeare Histories and Comedies; 311, Shakespeare Tragedies and Romances; 312, Renaissance Drama
Group II: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature
313, The Faerie Queene; 314, Paradise Lost; 319, Eighteenth-Century Fiction; 322, Jane Austen.
Group III: Nineteenth-Century British and American Literature
323, English Romantic Poets; 324, Representatons of Scotland and the Scot in Literature; 327, Nineteenth-Century Fiction; 328, Victorian Poetry; 335, American Realism; 336 Major American Authors: 1850-1920
Group IV: Modernist and Contemporary Literature
117, African American Literature; 230, African American Autobiography; 233, Contemporary American Short Stories; 235, Asian American Literature; 237, American Indian Literature; 242, Twentieth-Century American Drama; 248, Fiction of India and Pakistan; 249, Irish Literature; 330, Literature of the American West; 331, Studies in American Literature; 337, African American Novelists in Context; 338, Rereading the African American Novel; 339, Contemporary American Playwrights of Color; 340, Major Modernist Poets; 341, Contemporary Poetry; 342, Early Modern Drama; 343, Contemporary European and American Drama; 344, Twentieth-Century Fiction;
4. An advanced seminar (English 362 or 395) to be taken during the senior year or the third term of the junior year.
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 playwright Lee Blessing, memoirists Carol Bly and Patricia Hampl, poets Robert Creeley, Michael Harper and Donald Justice, and fiction-writers Paule Marshall, Jane Hamilton, Ann Beattie, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Toni Cade Bambara.
The Writing Requirement:
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, Summer—D. Appleman
ENGL 100. Reading, Interpreting, and Writing We will read, interpret, and write about a selection of short stories, poems, and plays from The Norton Introduction to Literature. We will, for example, read short stories by Atwood, Baldwin, Bambara, Cortazar, Chekhov, Hawthorne, Joyce, Gabriel Marquez, and Poe; poems by Brooks, Barrett Browning, Coleridge, Dickinson, Lorde, Pound, and Rich; and plays by Sophocles, Wilde, Tennessee Williams and August Wilson. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—K. Owusu
ENGL 100. Growing Up Ironic Reading and discussion of a number of fictive narratives about coming of age in the United States. Among authors included will be Zora Neale Hurston, Paule Marshall, James Alan McPherson, Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Tim O'Brien. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—R. Tisdale
ENGL 100. Spirit of Place We will consider a range of texts--fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction--in exploring the intangible and multifaceted nature of "place" in literary works. We will attempt to determine what influence place has on human perception and behavior. Our particular focus will be on agriculture in literature, from ancient times to the present. Authors read will include Virgil, Hardy, Heaney, Garland, Cather, Steinbeck, and Wendell Berry. Students enrolled in this course will be part of a fall-term "dyad" on "Agriculture and the Midwest" and will be required to enroll in Geology 120. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—M. Kowalewski
ENGL 100. Harpies, Shrews and Whores: Advocates of Women's Rights from Mary Astell to Virginia Woolf In this course we will examine the fierce debates surrounding the position of women from the late seventeenth until the early twentieth century. Mary Astell, Sarah Scott and Alfred Tennyson envisaged separatist communities of chaste learned women. Radicals like Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller, on the other hand, advocated a redistribution of power in society based on the ideals of the American and French revolutions, whilst J.S. Mill advocated a society of untrammeled competition in which women would be able to find their natural social niche. Finally, we will look at Virginia Woolf's work which will set the terms for most modern debates about feminism. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, AL, Fall—I. Italia
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. 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 2000-2001: Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 109. Writing Seminar I A course in expository and persuasive writing. May be repeated once for additional credit. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Fall,Winter,Spring—T. Herron, G. Hewett, C. Lines, Jm. McDonnell, C. Oliver, C. Rutz, G. Soule, C. Walker
ENGL 110. English Literature, I Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton and lyric poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Required of English majors. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—T. Herron, I. Italia, C. Lines, Jm McDonnell, F. Morral
ENGL 111. English Literature, II Neo-classic, Romantic, and Victorian literature. Required of English majors. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—I. Italia, S. Jaret McKinstry, F. Morral, C. Walker
ENGL 112. Introduction to American Literature Cross-listed with AMST 112. American literature to 1914 with an emphasis on the periods of Romanticism and Realism. Required of English majors beginning with the Class of 2000. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall,Winter,Spring—N. Cho, G. Hewett, M. Kowalewski, G. Smith, R. Tisdale
ENGL 117. African American Literature Cross-listed with AFAM 117,AMST 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, Fall—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 Chaucer to the present; vigorous participation in discussion is mandatory; paper assignments will challenge you to formalize your understanding of particular works. And you'll be asked to write a poem or two, to give you a practitioner's understanding of this ancient and living art. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
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—T. Herron
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, Winter—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, Spring—N. Cho, S. Jaret McKinstry
ENGL 210. Chivalry in Medieval Literature Knights in shining armor, battling the wicked, defending the helpless. This course will explore the idea of chivalry in European medieval literature. How did the knight's military, political, and religious roles develop during the middle ages? How did chivalry relate to gender roles and to ideals of love and friendship? And why did knighthood remain a powerful concept long after it ceased to be a meaningful social reality? Our texts will include the Song of Roland, the romances of Chretien de Troyes, and Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Most readings will be in modern English translation, and a few will be in Middle English. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—C. Lines
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,AMST 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 twentieth-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 twentieth-century autobiography by Washington, Hurston, Wright, Malcolm X, Angelou, Brooks, and Njeri. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 231. Witness Narratives: Memoirs of Survival Cross-listed with WMST 340. This class will be focused on recent memoirs primarily written by women, and on personal narratives which students will be asked to write during the course of the term. Such writing actually crosses genre boundaries and can be anything from documentary and reportage, to autobiography and fiction. What these works have in common, however, is a passionate commitment to telling the truth, the public "witnessing" to some personal experience which has larger public dimensions. Classes will feature visits from published writers, practical writing exercises, informal workshops and discussions about this new and important genre. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—Jn. McDonnell
ENGL 235. Asian American Literature Cross-listed with AMST 235. This course is an introduction to major works and authors of fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry from about 1900 to the present. Though contemporary writers such as Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston have brought Asian American literature to popular attention, these accomplishments are part of a rich tradition of Asian American writing that dates back to the turn of the century. In this course we will pay particular attention to the historical, social, and political contexts of the works we read, in order to explore how diverse Asian American literary traditions have developed. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Spring—N. Cho
ENGL 236. American Nature Writing Cross-listed with AMST 237,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 Emerson, Thoreau, Muir, Mary Austin, Jeffers, Abbey, Merwin, Silko, Snyder, and Terry Tempest Williams. Students will write a creative Natural History essay as part of the course requirements. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 237. American Indian Literature Cross-listed with AMST 238,ENTS 237. We will begin by examining what one critic has called the Image and Anti-Image of Indians in American literature. Then, by studying both ancient oral traditions, nineteenth-century oratory, early autobiographies, and more recent Indian fiction and poetry, we will seek to understand the complexities of Indian tribal identity and ecological perception, intercultural communication, and the bicultural inheritance modern Native American writers bring to their work. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 240. Directing Cross-listed with THEA 240. An introduction to the process of directing plays. 6 credits cr., ND, Fall—R. Weiner
ENGL 242. Twentieth-Century American Drama Cross-listed with AMST 242,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, Fall—R. Weiner
ENGL 243. Classic Theater: Aeschylus to Shakespeare Cross-listed with THEA 243. 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 the ancient Greeks to Shakespeare. The class will also examine contemporary attempts to restage these works. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 244. Classic Theater: Shakespeare to Modernism Cross-listed with THEA 244. 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 2000-2001.
ENGL 246. Playwriting Cross-listed with THEA 246. A writing workshop focusing on the structure, craft, and elements of language vital to the making of new theatre. Students will work on scenes, monologues, writing exercises, and problem solving as they move toward the completion of an entire scene or short play. Permission of the instructor is required. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 248. Twentieth-Century Fiction of India and Pakistan This course will chart the fascination of the novelists of the last century with the Indian subcontinent, an area deeply influenced by the West and yet whose own cultures have had profound effects on Western thought. E.M. Forster and Sara Jeannette Duncan explore the ironies of life in colonial India. Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth give accounts of life in India in the early days of independence, while Ruth Prawer Jhabvala explores the connections between Westerners seeking self-enlightenment in India and older Indian societies. Finally, writers like Sulari, Arundhati Roy and Divakaruni portray life in contemporary India and Pakistan. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Winter—I. Italia
ENGL 249. Irish Literature After a brief introduction to earlier literary texts, the course will concentrate on twentieth 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, Spring—Jm. McDonnell
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?" 6 credits cr., SS, Not offered in 2000-2001.
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, ND, Fall,Spring—T. Herron, 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: writing requirement. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, 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, ND, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 275. The Crafts of Writing: The Essay This course is designed for students who wish to write better papers and want to extend their range of forms, styles, and techniques. It will be particularly valuable for those thinking about writing comps papers. We will examine and attempt essays of various kinds, focusing on style, structure, and argument. Prerequisite: writing requirement. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 290. London Program: Reading in London Students and the faculty directors will design a reading program to supplement the courses and topics of the London program. 3 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, Fall—C. Briganti
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: Canterbury Tales We will read a selection of the poetic texts of theCanterbury Tales in Middle English (no previous knowledge assumed), paying particular attention to the interaction between pilgrims and genres. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—C. Lines
ENGL 302. Studies in Medieval Literature: Anglo-Saxon Out of the mead hall, tribal feuds, the clash between Christianity and paganism, came Anglo-Saxon, the earliest European vernacular literature. Before chivalry and courtly love, there was another, fiercer, code of conduct; wyrd (fate) was thought to shape one's life. Out of this life, the early English created their stories. The works we will read with some attention to Old English, include Beowulf, The Seafarer, The Wife's Lament, and The Dream of the Rood. This course will fulfill the English departments literature in translation requirement or Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 303. Studies in Medieval Literature: Dante The Divine Comedy is perhaps the supreme literary masterpiece of the Middle Ages, and it is one of the most influential poems for literature in English from Chaucer right through to the present day. We will read all three books of the Divine Comedy considering it in its historical context and examining some recent criticism of the poem. We will also spend some time looking at how various authors incorporate Dante into their own work. All texts are in translation. This course will fulfill the English departments literature in translation requirement or Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 308. English Renaissance Verse A study of the remarkable range of verses written by men and women of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in response to their turbulent times. We will trace the development of different genres and will attend to some of the major debates in which this verse is engagedódebates over the nature and purpose of poetry, the relationship between man and woman, and that between humanity and God. Our emphasis will be on lyric poetry, including the love sonnets of the 1590's, and the so-called "metaphysical" poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Marvell. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 310. Shakespeare: The Histories and Comedies A study of Shakespeare's Lancastrien Tetralogy and of his comedies of the 1590's. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—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—Jm. McDonnell
ENGL 312. Renaissance Drama A study of theatrical conventions and dramatic form in representative Elizabethan and Jacobean plays, exclusive of Shakespeare. The course will focus on the rise of professional theater in London after 1576. Group I. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
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. Herron
ENGL 314. Major Works of the English Renaissance: Paradise Lost An examination of Milton's masterwork. Group II. 3 credits cr., AL, Winter—T. Herron
ENGL 319. Eighteenth-Century Fiction The first great English novelists--Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, Burney, and Austen. Group II. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—I. Italia
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 & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. Group II. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—C. Walker
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 324. Representations of Scotland and the Scot in Literature Texts will include Robert Burns's poetry, Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality, Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Stevenson's Kidnapped, Hugh MacDiarmids's poetry, Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Trainspotting. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 327. Nineteenth-Century Fiction This course will study some of the major novels of the nineteenth 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—S. Jaret McKinstry
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 2000-2001.
ENGL 330. Literature of the American West Cross-listed with AMST 330,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 2000-2001.
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 and moral iconoclasm of these "modernists." 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, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 334. Studies in American Literature: The Postmodern American Novel Cross-listed with AMST 334. 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 twentieth 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 335. Studies in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: American Realism Cross-listed with AMST 335,AMST 337. Between the American Renaissance and the flowering of modernism lies a period of literature that has alternately frustrated and fascinated scholars. This course will explore American literary production between the Civil War and the early twentieth century, with a focus on the rich variety of writing often lumped together under the genre of "realism." Questions concerning the construction of American "culture" will be central to the course, and authors include Mark Twain, Henry James, Theodore Dreiser, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charles Chestnutt, Edith Wharton, and others. Group III. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 336. Studies in American Literature: Major American Authors: 1850-1920 Cross-listed with AMST 336. Reading and discussion of works by major American authors of the nineteenth 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, Winter—R. Tisdale
ENGL 337. African American Novelists in Context Cross-listed with AFAM 337,AMST 333. This course will discuss Baldwin, Hurston, Ellison, Charles Johnson, Paule Marshall, Morrison, Naylor, Wideman, and Wright as formal technicians and wordsmiths, and assess these writers' contributionóindividually and collectivelyóto the novelistic tradition in the twentieth century. We will read and discuss novels from the 1930s (Their Eyes were Watching God), 1940s (Native Son), 1950s (Invisible Man and Go Tell It On the Mountain), 1960s (The Chosen Place, The Timeless People), 1970s (Song of Solomon), 1980s (Mama Day), and the 1990s (Middle Passage and Philadelphia Fire). Prerequisite: One of the following courses: ENGL/AFAM/AMST 117; ENGL/AMST 112, or with instructor's permission. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 338. Rereading the African American Novel Cross-listed with AFAM 339,AMST 339,WMST 338. Commenting on the scant attention accorded Brooks' Maud Martha and the overwhelming response of the academic community to Ellison's Invisible Man, Mary Helen Washington notes that "the real 'invisible man'...[is] the black woman." By granting high visibility to Nella Larsen, Zora Hurston, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor and Alice Walker, this course contributes to ongoing efforts to address and redress an imbalance in the criticism of the African-American novel.It will be suggested that Hurston, Morrison and Walker, in particular, extend the boundaries of African-American literary expression through their daring experimentation with the language and form of fiction.Prerequisite: One of the following courses: English 112, 117, 230 or with instructor's permission. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL,RAD, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 339. Contemporary American Playwrights of Color Cross-listed with AMST 340,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, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 340. Major Modernist Poets Study of the work of the most influential poets of the Modern period (1910-1950), including W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, and W.C. Williams. Their poems will be studied in the context of World War I, the Great Depression, and the rise of fascism, as well as in relation to Romantic and Georgian poetry, the influence of cinema and jazz, and the so-called confessional, suburban, and Beat poetry that follows modernist poetry. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—-- R. Tisdale
ENGL 341. Contemporary Poetry Studies in poetry written in English since 1945. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—G. Hewett
ENGL 342. Early Modern Drama Cross-listed with THEA 342. We will begin with a study of realism, as diversely practiced by such pioneering dramatists as Ibsen, Stringberg, Checkhov and Shaw, and trace its anti-realist dimension in Symbolism and Expressionism, then reactions against Realism represented by Pirendello and Brecht. We will examine plays not simply as objects of literary scrutiny but also as historical artifacts and scripts for contemporary performance. There will be occasional video screenings and possible "field trips" to professional productions. Group IV or literature in translation. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
ENGL 343. Contemporary European and American Drama Cross-listed with THEA 343. 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 2000-2001.
ENGL 344. Twentieth-Century Fiction This course offers intensive study of modernist novels written before World War II. Authors include: Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Djuna Barnes, William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—G. Hewett
ENGL 351. Women Playwrights/Women's Roles Cross-listed with THEA 351,WMST 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 Ntozahe Shange. 6 credits cr., AL, Not offered in 2000-2001.
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, Winter—S. Jaret McKinstry
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 spring term registration. Final enrollment is based on the quality of the submitted work. May be repeated for credit. 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, ND, 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, Winter—G. Hewett
ENGL 375. Advanced Rhetoric: Classical Rhetoric and Modern Rhetoricians Explores the reasons why the work of some writers is better than that of others. Prerequisite: Writing requirement. 6 cr., AL, Spring—O. Jenkins
ENGL 379. Methods of Secondary Literacy Instruction Cross-listed with EDUC 379. This course introduces students to a variety of approaches and perspective in teaching English language arts in the secondary schools. We will explore methodologies and issues surrounding the teaching of 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 high school 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 We 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, directors, and directors from the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, and the wider theatrical community of London. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—Non-Carleton Faculty
ENGL 381. London Program: Novels of Place . This course will study six or seven novels that make strong use of the natural and/or social setting of England and London in particular. We will examine the novels as works written at particular times in the history of the novel and as evocative of particular physical, cultural, and social worlds. Novels for the course will include Jane Austen's Persuasion, Charles Dickens's Bleak House, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, and Storm Jameson's Company Parade. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—C. Briganti
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 metaphor-whether of promise or disintegration-for 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. Group IV. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—M. Kowalewski
ENGL 395. America in Transition: 1880-1920 Cross-listed with AFAM 395. This class will explore American literature and culture at the turn of the 20th century. In the midst of profound changes in everyday life--such as newly defined gender roles, the reorganization of urban and rural spaces, the rise of mass culture, and rapidly changing demographics due to immigration--American writers struggled to articulate their sense of a new social order. We'll study fiction, poetry, drama, and film, as well as selections of literary and/or cultural criticism. Authors may include Henry James, Kate Chopin, Theodore Dreiser, Charles Chesnutt, Abraham Cahan, Edith Wharton, Eugene O'Neill, and Gertrude Stein. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—N. Cho
ENGL 395. James Joyce's Ulysses: Myths, Style, Genre Cross-listed with AFAM 395. This is a seminar focused on Ulysses but seeing that novel in its development from Dubliners through Portrait of the Artist and in the context of Homer's Odyssey, Joyce's uses of myth, and his experiments with style and the novel as a form. 6 credits cr., AL, Fall—F. Morral
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,RAD, Spring—K. Owusu
ENGL 395. Vladimir Nabokov Cross-listed with AFAM 395. We will put on our explorer's gear, make sure our dues are paid up to the Society for the Propagation of the Irreal, and venture into the magical worlds of Vladimir Nabokov, the greatest novelist of the second half of the 20th century (the chair will entertain objections only from SeÒor Garcia Marquez). We will lovingly pet the fauna of the Russian novels, inhale the exotic flora of the American novels, and fly from Terra to Antiterra where accommodations for fifteen intrepid souls have been booked at The Enchanted Hunters. 6 credits cr., AL, Winter—-- G. Smith
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—N. Cho