Winter 2014 Courses

At the 10 hour with Professors Garrison and Schweitzer

This course will provide an overview of British and U.S. literature during the late seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.  Course Group II. Dist: LIT; WCult: W.

At the 10 hour with Professor Travis

An introduction to the literature of the "Middle English" period (ca. 1100- ca. 1500), concentrating on the emergence of English as a literary language in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries and on some of the great masterworks of the late fourteenth century. Readings will include early texts on King Arthur, the Lais of Marie de France, the satirical poem The Owl and the Nightingale, the romance Sir Orfeo, Pearl, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Book of Margery Kempe, and The York Cycle. Most readings in modern English translation, with some explorations into the original language. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Course Group I. CA tags National Traditions and Countertraditions, Cultural Studies and Popular Culture.

At the 11 hour with Professor Halasz

English lyric and narrative poetry from the early sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century.  Poets will include Thomas Wyatt, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell, among others.  The course will attend to prosody, the evolution of verse forms, European and classical influence, and modes of circulation. Dist: LIT; WCult: W.  Course Group I.

At the 12 hour with Professor Garrison

Visit the great age of British Satire. In a time when literacy was rapidly expanding, party politics was emerging and women's rights were being advocated in print for the first time, satire ruled the literary scene. This course will explore the plays, poems, and novels of satirists from the libertine Earl of Rochester to the great satirist, Alexander Pope, not omitting the works of Aphra Behn, the first woman dramatist, and Mary Astell's sardonic comments on the role of women in marriage. May include: the comedies of Wycherey and Congreve, Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, and the novels of Daniel Defoe. There will be an opportunity to study the techniques of satire and its role in social and personal criticism. Dist: LIT; WCult. W. Course Group II. CA tag National Traditions and Countertraditions.

At the 11 hour with Professor McKee

A study of the nineteenth-century novel focusing on the Victorian novel's representation of public and private categories of experience. Readings may include Austen's Mansfield Park, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Shelley's Frankenstein, Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Dickens's Bleak House, George Eliot's Middlemarch, and Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Course Group II. CA tag Genre-narrative, National Traditions and Countertraditions.

At the 10 hour with Professor Chaney

A survey of American non-fiction narrative and other prose from the early republic to the rise of modernism. The course examines how autobiographies (Franklin, Douglass, Larcom, Thoreau, Stein) and other prose genres construct individual selves and national belonging while negotiating the pressures of transcendentalism, abolitionism, feminism, and class consciousness by means of aesthetic experimentation. Additional authors vary but often include Jefferson Apess, Fuller, Hemingway, Adams, Hurston, Kerouac, and Agee. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Course Group II. CA tags Genre-narrative, National Traditions and Countertraditions, Cultural Studies and Popular Culture.

At the 11 hour with Professor Will

Contemporary American fiction introduces the reader to the unexpected. Instead of conventionally structured stories, stereotypical heroes, traditional value systems, and familiar uses of language, the reader finds new and diverse narrative forms. Such writers as Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Silko, Norman Mailer, Don DeLillo, and Ralph Ellison, among others, have produced a body of important, innovative fiction expressive of a modern American literary sensibility. The course requires intensive class reading of this fiction and varied critical writing on postmodernism. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Course Group III. CA tags Genre-narrative, National Traditions and Countertraditions.

At the 2A hour with Professor Evens

This course introduces the basic ideas, questions, and objects of new media studies, offering accounts of the history, philosophy, and aesthetics of new media, the operation of digital technologies, and the cultural repercussions of new media. A primary emphasis on academic texts will be supplemented by fiction, films, music, journalism, computer games, and digital artworks. Class proceeds by group discussion, debate, student presentations, and peer critique. Typical readings include Alan Turing, Friedrich Kittler, Ray Kurzweil, and Henry Jenkins, plus films such as Blade Runner and eXistenZ.. Dist: ART. Course Group III. CA tags Cultural Studies and Popular Culture, Literary Theory and Criticism.

At the 10A hour with Professor Coly (crosslisted with AAAS 51 and COLT 51)

This course is designed to provide students with a specific and global view of the diversity of literatures from the African continent. We will read texts written in English or translated from French, Portuguese, Arabic and African languages. Through novels, short stories, poetry, and drama, we will explore such topics as the colonial encounter, the conflict between tradition and modernity, the negotiation of African identities, post-independence disillusion, gender issues, apartheid and post-apartheid. In discussing this variety of literatures from a comparative context, we will assess the similarities and the differences apparent in the cultures and historical contexts from which they emerge. Readings include Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Naguib Mahfouz's Midaq Alley, Calixthe Beyala's The Sun Hath Looked Upon Me, Camara Laye's The African Child, and Luandino Vieira's Luanda. Dist: LIT or INT; WCult: NW. Course Group III. CA tags Cultural Studies and Popular Culture, National Traditions and Countertraditions, Multicultural and Colonial/Postcolonial Studies.

At the 12 hour with Professor Chaney

What happens when normally separate symbol systems like pictures and words converge? This course investigates that question by examining graphic novels and the theoretical insights they have elicited. Discussions will explore issues of autobiography, counterculture, parody, and fantasy. Typical authors include Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore, Chris Ware, Marjane Satrapi, Daniel Clowes, Alison Bechdel and several others. In addition to a presentation, students will write two formal essays and several short responses.  Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Course Group III. CA tags Cultural Studies and Popular Culture, Genre-narrative, Creative Writing.

At the 2 hour with Professor Will

Cosmopolitanism has been described as a way of thinking and working outside the boundaries of the local and the national, a way of living ethically "in a world of strangers." In recent years, in the work of writers as diverse as Jacques Derrida and Anthony Appiah, "cosmopolitanism" has emerged as a way of pushing forward, or even transcending, some of the theoretical impasses of postmodernism and some of the political impasses of multiculturalism. This course will focus on the idea of cosmopolitanism as it has been used (and perhaps abused) in contemporary theory, philosophy, politics, and aesthetics. Dist: LIT., INT. Course Group IV, CA tags National Traditions and Countertraditions, Multicultural and Colonial/Postcolonial Studies.

At the 2A hour with Professor Coly (crosslisted with AAAS 67/COLT 67/WGST 52)

In this course, we will develop an understanding of masculinity as a construct which varies in time and space, and is constantly (re)shaped by such factors as race, class, and sexuality. The contexts of the colonial encounter and its postcolonial aftermath will set the stage for our examination of the ways in which social, political, economic, and cultural factors foster the production of specific masculinities. Texts include Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Lafferiere's How to Make Love to a Negro, and additional writings by Irish, Indian, and Australian authors. Our study will be organized around the questions of the production of hegemonic and subaltern masculinities, the representation of the colonial and postcolonial male body, the militarization of masculinity, and the relation between masculinity and nationalism. Theoretical material on masculinities will frame our readings. Dist: LIT. Course Group IV. CA tags Genders and Sexualities, National Traditions and Countertraditions, Multicultural and Colonial/Postcolonial Studies.

At the 2 hour with Professor Halasz (crosslisted with COLT 40)

This course examines the book as a material and cultural object. We'll consider various practical and theoretical models for understanding the book form and investigating the materials, technologies, institutions, and practices of its production, dissemination, and reception. We'll focus primarily on the printed book in Western Europe and North America, but we'll also spend time talking about the emergence of the codex (book), medieval manuscript books, twentieth and twenty-first century artist's books and the challenges posed by digitality to the book form. The readings for the course will be balanced by frequent use of exemplars drawn from Rauner Library and practical experience in the Book Arts workshop setting type. Dist: LIT, WCult: W. Course Group IV. CA tags Literary Criticism and Theory, Cultural Studies and Popular Culture.

At the 10 hour with Professor McCann

Hamlet, Paradise Lost, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Waste Land: these texts are among the cornerstones of a literary canon the still exerts enormous influence even as it is intensely contested. How does a play, a novel or a poem become a "literary classic"? In this course we will read a series of indisputably "great" texts in order to understand the complex forms of evaluation (aesthetic, political, moral and commercial) that both underpin and revise notions of canonicity. Drawing on theoretical work by Gauri Viswanathan, Pierre Bourdieu, Theodor Adorno and Pascale Casanova, we will also consider the varied institutional contexts (from the colonial civil service to the liberal arts classroom, from small presses to multinational publishers, from Masterpiece Theater to contemporary Bollywood) that govern these processes. Dist: LIT; WCult: W.Course Group IV. CA tags Literary Theory and Criticism, National Traditions and Countertraditions.

At the 12 Hour with Professor Riddell (crosslisted with Math 5)

Library digitization has made millions of books, newspapers, and other printed materials accessible to the public. In this course we will learn how to draw on computational resources to analyze a range of materials, including poetry, novels, science fiction short stories, and personal diaries. We will explore debates about the representation of literary texts as "data" and consider the challenges "machine reading" poses for research in the humanities and how we think about what it means to "read" a text. Through case studies we will reflect critically on the history of the digital humanities (formerly known as humanities computing) and will gain practical experience in text analysis. Dist: LIT;  No Course Group designation

At the 10 hour with Professor Palmer (crosslisted with NAS 34)

Native American oral literatures constitute a little-known but rich and complex dimension of the American literary heritage. This course will examine the range of oral genres in several tribes. Since scholars from around the world are studying oral literatures as sources of information about the nature of human creativity, the course will involve examining major theoretical approaches to oral texts. Dist: LIT; WCult: NW. No Course Group designation. CA tags Multicultural and Colonial/Postcolonial Studies, National Traditions and Countertraditions.

At the 2A hour with Professor Boose

The course will begin by defining the varieties of power inscribed in Shakespeare's plays, and proceed to explore the following questions. Is language gender-inflicted? Do men and women speak "different" languages? How do power and gender affect each other? How do women negotiate power among themselves? How do men? How is power exerted and controlled in sexual relationships? How do unspoken social definitions exert their power over the politics of gender? Possible works studied will be drawn from The Rape of Lucrece, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, Othello, Macbeth, Troilus and Cressida, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Winter's Tale. Prerequisite: English 24 or permission of the instructor. Dist: LIT; WCult: W. Course Group I. CA tags Genre-drama, Genders and Sexualities.

At the 10A hour with Professor Vasquez (crosslisted with AAAS 88.4)

In this course we will examine significant literary contributions of twentieth century Black women writers. While we will explore the social and historical contexts that inform the work of authors from a variety of nation states, we will also examine moments of continuity within a Black diasporic community. For example, our discussions will include analyses of the ways in which Western and non-Western influences are reflected in protagonists' use of language, their negotiation of different locales and in their construction of female communities. To this end, we will consider primary sources as well as critical responses to the poetry, plays, essays and novels of a variety of writers. Authors may include Ama Ata Aidoo, Louise Bennett, Maryse Condé, Edwidge Dandicat, Zora Neale Hurston, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor. Dist: LIT. WCult: CI. Course Group IV. CA tags National Traditions and Countertraditions, Multicultural and Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Genders and Sexualities.

7-9pm Tues/Thurs, with Professor Hebert

A beginning workshop and reading course in fiction. Open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and first-year students who have completed Writing 5 (or its equivalents WRIT 2-3 or HUM 1). Seminar-sized classes meet for discussion and include individual conferences. Topics and emphases may vary from term to term. English 80 is the prerequisite to English 83, Intermediate Workshop in Fiction. Dist: ART.

At the 10A Hour with Professor Craig

A beginning workshop and reading course in creative nonfiction— a hybrid genre of journalism, memoir, and fictional and poetic techniques, also known as the art of fact. Open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and first-year students who have completed Writing 5 . Seminar-sized classes meet for discussion and include individual conferences. Topics and emphases may vary from term to term. English 81 is the prerequisite to English 84, Intermediate Workshop in Creative Nonfiction. Dist: ART.

At the 2A hour with Professor Mathis

A beginning workshop and reading course in poetry. Open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and first-year students who have completed Writing 5. Seminar-sized classes meet for discussion, and include individual conferences. Topics and emphases may vary from term to term. English 82 is the prerequisite to English 85, Intermediate Workshop in Poetry. Dist: ART.

At the 2A hour with Professor Tudish

Continued work in the writing of fiction, focusing on short stories, although students may experiment with the novel. The class proceeds by means of group workshops on student writing, individual conferences with the instructor, and analysis of short stories by contemporary writers. Constant revision is required Prerequisite: English 80 and permission of the instructor. Please use "How To Apply to English 83, 84, or 85"  and answer all of the questions asked in a cover letter. Students should submit a five to eight page writing sample of their fiction to the instructor by the last day of classes of the term preceding the term in which they wish to enroll.  Materials should be submitted, electronically, to the instructor.  Dist: ART.

 3A Hour with Professor Huntington

These courses are offered periodically with varying content: examinations of craft and form, reading and writing in specific areas, such as the prose poem, short story, memoir, biography, hybrid forms, or approaches to creative writing not otherwise provided in the workshop format. Course requirements will typically include a mix of creative and critical work. Enrollment is limited to 18.

This Term, 14W: Beyond the Lyric: Long Forms, Prose Forms, Hybrid Beasts and Fragments

What if a poem does not look like a poem? What if a poem is prose, or borrows conventions from journalism, science, history, advertising, or religious experience? What if the poem isn't written for the page, or changes format depending on how it is read? We will read modern and contemporary writers who are exploring and blurring these boundaries, and students will be asked to submit their own poems for class workshop. By the end of the term each student will complete a substantial writing project, critical or creative, that is informed by our reading and class experiments.  No previous experience in creative writing courses is required. Dist: LIT, Course Group III, Creative Writing.