ALL COURSES

100W COMPOSITION AND LITERATURE  Staff

Introductory instruction in analyzing and writing about literature. Includes a research paper. Not available to students who are in Humanities or who have otherwise fulfilled the composition requirement, except by permission of the chair during Drop/Add. Open only to first-year students.

101W ENGLISH COMPOSITION I  Staff

Instruction in expository writing and the research paper. Not available to students who are in Humanities or who have otherwise fulfilled the composition requirement, except by permission of the chair during Drop/Add. Open only to first-year students.

101IS INTERCULTURAL ENGLISH COMMUNICATION Ms. Alvarez

Instruction in English for non-native speakers with an emphasis on the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary requisite for communicating at the college level. Not available for students who are eligible to enroll in a W course or in the Humanities sequence.

110 INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE  Ms. Gibson

Designed for non-majors. Emphasizes close reading and informed appreciation of literary texts. Topics and readings vary by section. Does not count toward the major.

201 INTERMEDIATE COMPOSITION  Staff

For students who wish a more advanced instruction in writing than English 100W or 101W. The focus of the course may vary from semester to semester.

202 INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING  Mr. Parker

Practice in the writing of poetry and short fiction with some reading of contemporary American poets and fiction writers. Limited to first-year students and sophomores.

203 INTRODUCTION TO WRITING POETRY  Mr. Parker

Practice in the writing of poetry with some reading of contemporary poets in English. Not open to first year students..

204 INTRODUCTION TO WRITING FICTION Ms. Flanagan

Practice in the writing of short fiction with some reading of contemporary fiction writers in English.

211 GREEK LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION  Mr. Cheshire

(Cross-listed.  See Classics 211/311.) (Spring)

220 LITERARY ANALYSIS  Staff

Designed for majors. Emphasizes theoretical approaches and critical strategies for the written analysis of poetry, fiction, and drama. Writing intensive. Required for the major. Students who wish to declare a major in English must complete 220 by the end of the sophomore year. Those who do not meet this deadline must make special arrangements with the chair.

231  YOUNG ADULT FICTION  Ms. Campbell
Explores Young adult fiction from 1860 to the present from various critical perspectives and within varied educational contexts.
 

240 BRITISH LITERATURE FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO 1800  Staff

Introductory survey of the British literary tradition in poetry, drama, and narrative during the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Eighteenth Century, with special emphasis on Chaucer,  Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton.  Students who major in English should complete 240 by the end of the sophomore year.  Those who cannot meet this deadline must make special arrangements with the Chair.   Open to seniors by permission of the chair during Drop/Add.

260 BRITISH LITERATURE SINCE 1800  Staff

British literature of the Romantic and Victorian periods and the twentieth century.  Students who major in English should complete 260 by the end of the junior year.  Those who cannot meet this deadline must make special arrangements with the Chair.  Open to seniors by permission of the chair during Drop/Add.

261 MODERN DRAMA  Ms. Fox

European, American, and British drama from Ibsen to Pinter with emphasis on the major movements within Western theater: realism, naturalism, expressionism, Epic Theater, and Theater of the Absurd.

280 AMERICAN LITERATURE THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY  Staff

Historical survey treating the development of American letters from the beginnings through the twentieth century.  Students who major in English should complete 280 by the end of the junior year. Those who cannot meet this deadline must make special arrangements with the Chair. Open to seniors by permission of the chair during Drop/Add.

281 LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH  Ms. Mills

Regional survey from literary beginnings to the present, with particular attention to literature from the New and the Contemporary South. 

282 AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE  Ms. Flanagan

Readings in poetry, drama, and prose by African-American writers from the early 20th century to the present.

283 SHORT PROSE FICTION  Mr. Nelson

Theory and development of the short story with emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century authors. Lecture, discussion, and workshops. Some attention given to writing for publication.

284 ETHNIC AMERICAN LITERATURES  Ms. Fox

Readings in poetry, drama, and prose by selected ethnic American writers. Course topics vary from year to year.

290 WORLD LITERATURES  Staff

A historical survey of selected texts outside the British and American literary traditions.  Satisfies the Core Requirement in Literature, the Cultural Diversity Requirement, and Provides Major Credit in English.  Students who major in English should complete 290 by the end of the junior year. Those who cannot meet this deadline must make special arrangements with the Chair

291 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND RELIGION Ms. Gibson

Special topics considering relationships between literature and religion. 

293 FILM AS NARRATIVE ART  Mr. Miller

Relationship between prose narrative and film, with emphasis on literary origins and backgrounds of selected films, verbal and visual languages, and problems of adaptation from novel and short story to film.

294 STUDIES IN MODERNISM  Ms. Churchill

An examination of modernist literature and arts, with emphasis on formal experimentation within historical, political, and social contexts. Specific themes and texts may vary. 

295 WOMEN WRITERS  Ms. Mills

Selected 19th- and 20th-century British and American women authors. Explores how culture influences the writing, reading, and interpretation of literature and how women writers articulate their experience.

Courses numbered 300–399 are open to sophomores, juniors and seniors. Not open to first-year students without permission of the instructor.

301 WRITING NONFICTION PROSE  Staff      

Advanced study of contemporary nonfiction prose, approaches to expository writing across the curriculum and editing; students may pursue special interests. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

303 WRITING POETRY II  Mr. Parker

Advanced work in writing poetry. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

304 WRITING FICTION II  Staff

Advanced work in writing fiction. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

305 WRITING PLAYS  Staff

Offered in years when a professor in residence or a visiting professor of writing or theater focuses on playwriting. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

310 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE  Ms. Ingram

Introduction to theories of modern linguistics as they illuminate the historical development of English phonology, morphology, and syntax from Old and Middle English to Modern English. Attends to both written and spoken English; examines definitions and theories of grammar, as well as attitudes toward language change in England and the U.S. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

340 STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE LITERATURE  Ms. Lewis

Historical and critical study of one or more themes in a selection of medieval and Renaissance texts (to 1660). Includes readings from various genres and attention to critical approaches. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

343 CHAUCER  Ms. Gibson

Critical study of The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde in Middle English with attention to their historical and cultural context. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

352 SHAKESPEARE  Ms. Lewis

Critical reading, discussion, and performance of selected plays. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

353 STUDIES IN ENGLISH RENAISSANCE LITERATURE  Ms. Lewis

Topics in Renaissance literature such as Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, Renaissance schools of poetry, and Northern humanist culture. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

355 MILTON  Mr. Ingram

Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, selected minor poems, selected prose. First-year students require permission of the instructor. 

360 STUDIES IN BRITISH LITERATURE, 1660–1900  Staff

Historical and critical study of one or more themes in a selection of British literary texts from 1660-1900. Includes readings from various genres and attention to critical approaches. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

361 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY  Staff

Historical and critical study of British literature from 1660 to 1800. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

362 BRITISH ROMANTICISM  Ms. Gazzaniga

Poetry and prose of early 19th-century Britain. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

363 THE BRITISH NOVEL TO DICKENS  Staff

Selected authors including Richardson, Defoe, Swift, Radcliffe, Fielding, Sterne, and Austen with an emphasis on critical and theoretical approaches. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

370 DAVIDSON SUMMER PROGRAM AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

Limited to thirty students, the Davidson Summer Program at Cambridge focuses on the history and literature of late 18th- and 19th-century Britain. Students may receive credit for either English 370 or History 390.

371 VICTORIAN LITERATURE  Ms. Gazzaniga

Readings in the prose and poetry of the period. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

372 BRITISH FICTION FROM DICKENS TO THE PRESENT  Ms. Churchill

Selected works of British and Commonwealth fiction from the Victorian period to the present. First-year students require permission of the instructor. 

373 MODERN BRITISH AND IRISH POETRY  Ms. Churchill

Development of poetry in England and Ireland from Hopkins and Hardy to the present. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

380 STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE

Mr. Kuzmanovich

Historical and critical study of one or more themes in a selection of American literary texts. Includes readings from various genres and attention to critical approaches.  First-year students require permission of instructor.

381 AMERICAN FICTION: 19TH CENTURY  Mr. Nelson

Historical and theoretical understanding of romanticism, realism, and naturalism, with attention to Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, James, Crane, and others. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

382  NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN POETRY  Staff

Historical and theoretical understanding of major trends in American poetry of the nineteenth century with special attention to Romanticism, Sentimentalism, and Realism.  Major authors include Emerson, Whitman, Poe, Longfellow, Melville, Dickinson, Dunbar, among others. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

383 CARIBBEAN LITERATURE  Ms. Flanagan

An exploration of major themes and tropes in fiction, poetry and drama by writers of African, Asian, and European descent in the English, French, and Spanish speaking islands. Writers include figures such as V.S. Naipul, Kamau Brathwaite, Maryse Conde, Paule Marshall, Derek Walcott, Jean Rhys, and Edouard Glissant. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

384 NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE  Ms. Ingram

Literatures of the native peoples of North America, including myths and oral traditions, autobiography, poetry, drama, and fiction; emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century works. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

385 PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE  Mr. Miller, Mr. Robb

(Cross-listed Philosophy 345) Philosophical issues as they arise in literature and literary theory. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

386 AMERICAN FICTION: 20TH CENTURY  Mr. Nelson

Historical and theoretical understanding of modernism, postmodernism, and contemporary literature, with attention to Dreiser, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Ellison, O’Connor, Welty, Bellow and others. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

387 MODERN AMERICAN POETRY  Ms. Churchill

Development of poetry in America from Whitman and Dickinson to the present. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

388 CONTEMPORARY THEATRE  Ms. Fox

Alternative and mainstream American and British theatre after 1950, from Pinter to Kushner, with emphasis on developments arising in political theatre, postmodern theatre, and solo performance. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

389 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT  Ms. Ingram

Special topics in environmental literature, such as American nature writing, the Thoreauvian narrative, ecocriticism, and ecoliterature. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

391 LITERARY CRITICISM  Mr. Kuzmanovich

Analytic and comparative reading of major critical texts. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

392 STUDIES IN LITERATURE BY WOMEN  Ms. Mills

Special topics in women’s writing such as Inflections of the Self, Poetry and Female Identity, the Woman Hero, Gender and Text. First-year students require permission of the instructor.

393 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND THE VISUAL ARTS  Mr. Miller

Special topics considering relationships between literature and the visual arts. Designed especially for students who wish to pursue the study of film beyond the level of English 293 and for students interested in relationships among painting, sculpture, and literature. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

394 STUDIES IN MODERN LITERATURE  Ms. Flanagan

Special topics in modern literature, such as Modern International Fiction, Contemporary Poetry, Literature and Medicine, and Contemporary Drama.   First-year students require permission of the instructor.

395 INDEPENDENT STUDY IN LITERATURE  Staff

Independent study under the direction of a faculty member who approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation. Permission of the instructor required.

396 INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WRITING  Staff

Independent study under the direction of a faculty member who approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation. Permission of the instructor required.

397 INDEPENDENT STUDY  Staff

Independent study under the direction of a faculty member who approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation. Permission of the instructor required.

400–494 SEMINARS

Seminars, numbered 400 through 494, are limited to ten juniors and seniors with preference to English majors.  English 495, 498, and 499 are limited to seniors.

495 SENIOR COLLOQUIUM  Ms. Gibson, Ms. Ingram, Mr. Ingram

Approaches a wide range of literature through specific topics, themes, or problems chosen by the course instructors. Topics may include a genre, a specific historical issue, or some other broad organizing principle. Emphasizes synthesis and analysis of material from disparate cultures and periods by reading, discussing, and writing about works that exemplify the course’s topics.  Limited to senior English majors.

498 SENIOR HONORS RESEARCH   Ms. Churchill

Reading and research for the honors thesis and field examination taught by the student’s thesis director and the departmental honors advisor. Culminates in an oral presentation to the student’s honors committee. Final evaluation conducted by the student’s thesis director. Ordinarily, taken in the fall of the senior year. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

499 SENIOR HONORS THESIS  Ms. Churchill

Writing of the honors thesis begun in English 498, directed by the student’s thesis director and supported through instruction of the departmental honors advisor. Concludes with an oral defense of the thesis and a field examination administered by the student’s honors committee. Final evaluation conducted by the student’s thesis director in consultation with the student’s honors committee. Ordinarily, taken in the spring of the senior year. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

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