Fall 2014 UNDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Note: Courses designated as meeting core area requirements may also count as electives in the English major and minor. *Please note prerequisites for upper-level courses (3000-4000) as stated in the Undergraduate Course Catalog and University Timetable.

*Students should be aware that some courses are offered in alternating semesters or years. Please take note of the comments associated with these rotating courses.* English 1614: Introduction to Short Fiction (Meets an Area 2 or Area 6 Core Requirement) Chandler-Smith th

This course introduces students to the art of short fiction (short stories and novellas) from the 19 century to the present. We will specifically examine the short story form in American literature and consider some of the diverse ways in which the American experience has been expressed in short form at pivotal moments of conflict and change. Readings may include foundational works by global writers who helped to define the form, e.g. Anton Chekhov and Guy de Maupassant. The course will then examine some American writers who helped to shape the form in response to the American cultural experience. Writers may include Herman Melville, Charles Chesnutt, Kate Chopin, Eudora Welty, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Philip Roth, James Baldwin, Raymond Carver, Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, Mary Gateskill, ZZ Packer, Junot Diaz and others. Neilan Introduction to Short Fiction looks at various types of short literature throughout history: fables, fairy tales, Biblical parables, traditional short stories, novellas, flash fiction, comic books, and more. We look at the structure of these stories and see what distinguishes them from longer forms, such as the novel, and look at the strengths and the weaknesses inherent in the form. Grading is based on short reading quizzes, class participation, a mid-term, and a final. English 1624: Introduction to Detective Fiction Kinder (online) English 1624 introduces students to the genre of Detective Fiction. We begin with Edgar Allan Poe and the conventions he established and then move to the Gaslight Era, featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. Then we spend time in the Golden Age and Agatha Christie followed by the Hard Boiled private eyes of Dashiell Hammett and Walter Mosley. We end with the rich and diverse field of contemporary Detective Fiction with students choosing their final two texts from an instructor-provided list. English 1624 is a reading intensive course with students reading 12 short stories, 8 novels, and a number of online essays and lectures. Students will complete a quiz for each reading assignment and post written responses to over half of the readings assignments. This course requires self-discipline and active learning. One former student said, “The class was more work than I expected, but the good reading made up for it.” English 1634: Introduction to Shakespeare (Meets an Area 2 and Area 6 Core Requirement) Harvill In this introductory course, we will study a group of plays that represent the major concerns and tones of Shakespeare. While we will discuss the conventional breakdown of Shakespeare’s work into histories, comedies, tragedies, romances, and problem plays, I’d like us to not be restricted by labels. We will read together A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, and The Winter’s Tale. Time allowing, we will also sample some of the sonnets. My goal is depth rather than breadth, so while the number of readings is modest, our scope should prepare students to successfully read and appreciate the Bard’s other writings, even the demanding ecstasy of King Lear. We could not pretend to undertake an introduction without examining the historical context of this paradoxical age, its intellectual, political, and religious crosscurrents. I want us to appreciate Shakespeare as an individual, to define his interests and passions as a man, rather than to kneel in Bardolotry—‘though we’ll do some of that, too. Requirements and their rough percentages are Class Participation 10% Project 10% Quizzes 20% Mid Term 30% Final 30% While these numbers and stipulations necessarily anchor the course, my ardent wish Is that we fall prey to the intelligence, delight, and fascination that are the heart’s core of Shakespeare’s muse.

English 1654: Introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy (Meets an Area 2 Core Requirement) Hagedorn (on-line) This is an on-line reading intensive course which will examine different historical periods and forms of science fiction to focus on the importance of science fiction as a literary/cultural genre. The texts include short stories, novels, critical essays, and film. They include two anthologies of short stories and works by Butler, LeGuin, Asimov, Crichton, and Goonan, as well as frequent film viewings. Evaluation will be based on a weekly quizzes and regular postings/responses in the class Scholar discussion forums and contributions towards building the VT Speculative Fiction Wiki. Patton (on-Line) This course provides a survey of the topics, themes, history, and trends of speculative and fantastic fiction. We will focus particularly on the evolution of the modern form of the genres, with stops along the way for folklore, children's fantasy, the popular pro-science adventure fiction of the mid-20th century, the counterculture sci-fi of the 1960s, feminist and queer speculative fiction, and more. We'll be reading novels and short works by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, Greg Bear, Joanna Russ, Neil Gaiman, Ursula LeGuin, and William Gibson. We may find time for some current popular works as well. English 1664: Introduction to Women’s Literature Hausman This course will survey women writers in the English language, examining how they have represented the trials and tribulations of feminine experience since the Enlightenment. We will begin with Jane Austen (Emma), and turn to Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman ("The Yellow Wallpaper") in the 19th century, and then look at works by Edith Wharton (Summer), Nella Larsen (Passing), Sherley Ann Williams (Dessa Rose), Tsitsi Dangarembga (Nervous Conditions), and Margaret Atwood in the 20th century. Each of these works represents the writer's attempt to articulate how women respond to their unique experiences as women in maledominated societies. Most of these texts also focus on women's relationships with each other. Our main aim is to read what women have to say about themselves and the world, looking specifically for observations about women's lives and experiences. One theme of the course concerns the function of romance and sexuality in the lives of women. Another concerns how women think about themselves as writers and artists. All of these fictional texts are also political treatises about women's situation and ongoing aspirations. We will find that women writers write with bitterness, insight, desperation, and humor about their lives, and we will cry, laugh, and wonder along with them. English 2515: Survey of British Literature I (Meets an Area 2 Core Requirement) Eska, C. This course provides students with an introduction to some of the most important literary works and authors in British literature. Beginning with the Medieval Period, we will read such foundational works as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Continuing through to the Renaissance, we will read works by authors including Spenser and Milton. Finally, we will reach the Restoration and the earlier part of the eighteenth century, where we will read works by authors such as Behn and Pope. By the end of the course, students will be able to situate individual works within their literary, historical, and social contexts and to identify basic literary concepts, genres, and terminology. To this end, there will be frequent class discussions, small-group work, two short papers, a mid-term examination, and a comprehensive final examination. Mooney, J. Ugh. OLD British literature. All of that unlocking of word-hoards and bathing of “every veyne in swich licour.” All of those whereofs, ne’ers, and prithees! Is it even possible to understand this stuff, let alone . . . LIKE it? Absolutely! In fact, if you take this course, you’ll discover that in the th th lengthy period it covers—roughly the 5 through the 18 centuries—can be found some of the most transformative and even controversial developments in the history of the Western World. And the literature that sprang from the exciting, evolving British culture is far from boring. Instead, it is a swirling blend of styles and traditions: worshipful, bawdy, passionate, romantic, argumentative, dramatic. Come find out for yourself that the literature of the past is just as vibrant and vital as the literature of the modern era. Two shorter papers, a mid-term and final, and a final multimedia project. Swenson We will read and discuss significant works from the first eight centuries of English literature (“Beowulf through Pope”). We will consider both literary and cultural history as we move through these centuries, discussing texts within their larger contexts. Students will take quizzes and three exams as well as write a paper. This course is an opportunity to talk about big ideas (god, fate, evil, ambition, love) while considering the ways they are shaped and articulated by cultural and literary forces. English 2516: Survey of British Literature II LeCorre This course provides the literary, historical, and social contexts necessary to comprehend significant developments in Poetry, drama, prose fiction and criticism.(catalog description).

English 2525: Survey of American Literature I (Meets an Area 2 Core Requirement) Canter (on-line) As the first of the Department's two-part American Literature survey, this course surveys the American Literary Tradition from its beginnings to 1865. We will work with our materials both as literary texts with their own aesthetic value and integrity, and as often-coded responses to cultural, historical, social, and ideological facts and forces. We will approach our texts, then, as parts of an evolving cultural conversation and debate, involving traditions and counter-traditions, "major" voices and "minor" visions. Students will thus be expected to familiarize themselves with historical as well as literary facts, ideas, methods, and controversies. Hence, we will work very carefully to generalize but not over-generalize; to question in ways that alert us to and question our own definitions of “American,” “Literary,” and “Tradition”; and to arrive at definitions of these terms that are both solidly grounded and eager for critique. Frequent quizzes, two four-page papers (one of which will argue for defining a chosen author’s “American”-ness as “major” or “minor”), mid-term and final exams. Reisinger The first in a two-semester sequence, this course is an introduction to major American writers from the seventeenth century through the Civil War. Readings will include poetry by Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Phillis Wheatley, and Walt Whitman; nonfiction by Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs; and fiction by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Herman Melville. We will situate the works in their social and historical contexts, and consider them as influencing and reflecting the changing American consciousness. Short and longer papers; quizzes; exam. Skinner English 2525 covers diverse voices of the American past: Native American, Puritan, British, African-American. When does an American become an American? Our foremothers and forefathers have shaped our access to the concepts of democracy: we are indebted to the speechifiers, the poets, the shamans, the journalists, and the men and women in contention for truth. We have inherited all the tensions of the past, and our future rests on how we understand the language of expansion, spirit, commerce, and justice. Our Texts: The Bedford Anthology of American Literature, Volume One: Beginnings to 1865, Editors: Belasco and Johnson, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014, Second Edition Films (Daniel - Day Lewis in Lincoln) Other applicable visual art Requirements: • Two essay exams: one at mid-term, one at the end of term • One oral presentation as part of a group project • Ten Pump Primers (a series of informal writings in response to course texts) • Class discussion and directed group work Sorrentino This course covers American literature from its beginning to the end of the Nineteenth Century and will consider a wide variety of writers, with a focus on how literary, historical, social, political, and biographical contexts shaped their writings. Starting with Spanish and Native American narratives of contact between cultures, the first part of the course will also consider such early American writers as Bradford, Bradstreet, Franklin, and Irving, then explore African-American texts by Jacobs and Douglass as well as the major American Romantics: Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, and Thoreau. We will also study poetry by Whitman and Dickinson. Among the authors in the latter half of the nineteenth century to be considered are Chesnutt, Chopin, Crane, Freeman, Gilman, James, Jewett, and Twain. There will be a midterm, final, quizzes, and short writing assignments. Students with questions about the course are urged to contact Dr. Sorrentino at [email protected]. English 2604: Introduction to Critical Reading (Meets a Writing Intensive Course Requirement and an Area 2 Core Requirement) LeCorre Students must take at the same time English 2614, which is co-requisite to 2604. The semester will consist of four projects that engage different genres of literature as well as non-fiction in order to craft diverse pieces of writing. Students will begin by closely examining poems by well-known poets from various literary periods. The resulting line-by-line interpretations will engage definitions from the OED, form, syntax, meter, rhythm, tropes, and schemes. In view of constructing a literary analysis, students will next read and gloss a play, The Cherry Orchard by Antonin Chekhov. Following that, they will carefully study The Fall by Albert Camus as well as two scholarly essays that interpret one aspect of the novel. Only then will students advance their own analyses while addressing points made by the academics. And finally, in the waning days of the semester, students will read and gloss selected letters written by John Keats in order to discover and elucidate, via mini-analyses, the rhetorical strategies this young man used when writing to fellow writers/poets, members of his family, and Fanny Brawne. Students will thus read closely in order to write so as to acquire and practice skills useful for upper-level English courses. Mooney, S. ENGLISH 2604 constitutes a writing intensive introduction to the techniques and theoretical implications of close reading and to the literary genres of poetry, drama, fiction, and in some sections, non-fiction. Or, as one of my colleagues has put it, the course familiarizes you with how literature works, how we discuss it, and how we write about it. The focus is on four primary texts, at least one of which was written before the eighteenth century and one after it, and on criticism of at least one of these. Texts likely up for consideration in this section are: the novel Siege by Russell Schneider, the play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, the 1855 edition of the collection of poems Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, and the non-fiction memoir The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. The course emphasizes the analytical skills, basic critical terminology, and conventions of literary criticism essential to advanced English studies. The course is intended primarily for English majors and minors. Requirements include careful reading of all assigned texts, possible & frequent reading quizzes, 3-4

papers of about 6-8 pages, and a final exam. English 2614: Introduction to the English Studies E-Portfolio Gibbs, Lautenschlager (This is a co-requisite of English 2604.) A lecture/lab course in which students are introduced to the concept of the required English Studies ePortfolio, and in which they practice and develop the critical writing practices common to English Studies. English 2744: Introduction to Creative Writing (Meets an Area 6 Core Requirement) Mann This course will introduce students to the basics of writing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We'll examine a wide variety of topics: how does imagery add depth to poetry, how do sound and rhythm work, what effects does setting have on plot, how does one increase the tension in a short story, and how can a writer create consistent, believable characters? We'll study the works of widely published writers as well as class participants' writing, focusing on the latter in workshops. The textbooks will be Stephen Minot's Three Genres: The Writing of Literary Prose, Poems and Plays (Ninth Edition), plus The Seagull Reader: Stories (Second Edition) and The Seagull Reader: Poems (Second Edition), both edited by Joseph Kelly. Students will be evaluated on the basis of a journal, a mid-semester portfolio, and a final portfolio, as well as class participation. Several of Virginia Tech’s creative writers will be visiting the class and discussing their work. Allnutt This is a creative writing workshop. You will read, write, and critique prose and poetry. The instructor is open to other genres with permission (e.g. plays/screenplays, graphic novel). Throughout the semester, you will also write many exercises and pastiches. Class discussions and exercises will focus on effective uses of the writer's tools, such as setting, voice, characterization, metaphor, point of view, etc. Students will read masters of prose and poetry and must also attend at least two live literary performances. A final portfolio, including all homework and revisions of your stories and poems, is the major project for the semester. Class participation (especially written critiques of workshop pieces) is a close second. Bloomer This course introduces students to the joys of both expressing themselves in writing and making works of verbal art. Students in this course will practice the writing of poetry and short fiction. They will read and discuss each others' work as well as the work of published poets and fiction writers. Through the combined practices of writing, reading, discussing and revising, students will develop their writing skills as well as a keen appreciation for the pleasures, pains and possibilities of the written word. Students will learn to generate ideas for writing; to draft and revise poems (for a portfolio of 5) and short fiction (for a portfolio of two) with critical emphasis on craft; to analyze and critique the work of professional writers and classmates' work; and to learn the basic vocabulary of the crafts of poetry and fiction. Our text is Janet Burroway’s Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft. Bean In this introduction to creative writing, we will experiment with our imaginations and creativity, gain valuable discipline in our individual writing and have fun. We will examine various art forms, including poetry, drama, creative non-fiction and fiction. You will choose your primary focus. In the area of poetry, we will review the basics of rhyme, meter, voice, style, etc. We will compose two sonnets. Within fiction, we will study basics such as plot, character, setting and voice. We will build one short story from the ground up. We will also discuss the principles of the novel. Most importantly, we will explore what you have to offer! Course Materials: 1. Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd edition. Giovanni We all have a voice. We may not all want to write but we all want, need, and deserve to be heard. First, there is pride in what you have achieved; then there is understanding of what your people whether community or biological parents, had to do to get you here (wherever “here” is); and then there is that breakthrough that you see how other people had choices, some good, others not so good, that will take them one place or another. The main thing is your voice, and how we capture it on a page. Hopefully you will meet yourself. And that’s our introduction. Harvill This course for beginning writers will follow the workshop method as we begin exploring poetry and short fiction. Our texts will include student writing, as well as examples of accomplished authors. In addition, we will examine essays on craft in both genres. Ultimately fifteen pages of revised writing are required to complete the course. Active engagement in discussions and critiques, as well as a final portfolio, will determine grades, though talent will not be punished. Voros This course introduces students to the joys of expressing themselves in writing and making works of verbal art. Students will practice the writing of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. Students read each other’s work and the work of published writers with an eye toward learning the tricks of the trade and broadening their sense of imaginative possibility. They learn to generate ideas for writing; to draft and revise literary creations with a critical emphasis on craft; to analyze and critique the work of professional writers and classmates’ work, and to use the basic vocabulary of the craft. Through the combined practices of writing, reading, discussing and revising, students will develop their writing skills as well as a keen appreciation for the pleasures, pains and possibilities of the written word. Requirements: weekly writing

exercises, critiques of student work, commentaries on two public fiction/poetry readings, a short story, a short short story, a work of creative nonfiction, and five finished poems. Murphy This course introduces students to the joys of both expressing themselves in writing and making works of verbal art. Students in this course will practice the writing of poetry and prose. They will read and discuss each others' work as well as the work of published poets and prose writers. Through the combined practices of writing, reading, discussing and revising, students will develop their writing skills as well as an appreciation for the pleasures, pains and possibilities of the written word. Students will learn to generate ideas for writing; to draft and revise poems and short stories with critical emphasis on craft; to analyze and critique the work of professional writers and classmates' work; and to learn the basic vocabulary of the crafts of fiction and poetry. Required work will include one finished short story or creative essay; 3 poems; a reflective paragraph for each portfolio piece on your revision process; attendance at three public fiction and poetry readings and a written response to each; written responses to textbook reading assignments; written responses to collections of poetry and prose; and written critiques of other students' works in preparation for workshops. Scallorns English 2744 is designed for beginning creative writers to experience the creative process firsthand, from conception through revision. We will learn the basic elements of creative writing, while also reading and analyzing works by numerous accomplished writers. You’ll produce your own creative works, which you will share with others in workshops designed for you to give and receive constructive criticism. The whole process will provide us with an appreciation for the artist and his or her craft, and help you to develop the skill and technique that creative writing requires. English 2984: SS: Introduction to the English Degree Graham, K. English 3104: Introduction to Professional Writing Barton English 3104 introduces you to the richly varied field of professional writing. Professional writers write, edit, manage projects, liaison with clients, give presentations, work on creative teams, and conduct research. They create proposals, reports, white papers, websites, presentations, newsletters, ad copy, photo captions, catalogue descriptions, narratives, letters, invitations, user documentation, contracts, and more. Professional writers are able to do all of these things because they know how to analyze and adapt to any rhetorical situation. In this course we will focus on the foundational skills of professional writing: adaptability, analysis, and concise writing; upper-level courses in the Professional Writing track will teach you the intricacies of specific genres. English 3154: Literature, Medicine, and Culture Hausman English 3154 examines representations of health and illness in literature and medicine as a cultural practice. Students will read literature that includes images and themes concerning medicine, health, and illness, as well as personal narratives of doctors and patients; engage in cultural analyses of public health campaigns; and analyze discourses about health and illness in the media. Literature, Medicine, and Culture offers students experience in working critically with literary texts and the cultural analysis of social practices. The skills that students learn in this course—identifying and understanding medicine and medical practice as socially constituted, identifying ethical dilemmas in relation to illness and treatment, articulating the linkages between culture and health, and examining literature in depth and with sophistication—are critical to informed citizenship. English 3214: Renaissance Literature NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Cleland War. Sex. Empire. Intrigue. Poetry. In this course, we will study major works from one of the most fascinating periods in English literary history: the Renaissance. During the Renaissance, England experienced the rise and fall of the Tudor dynasty and witnessed significant intellectual developments, artistic achievements, colonial expansion, religious turmoil, and political conflict. As England competed with its continental neighbors for wealth and power, authors sought to make sense of their rapidly changing world by writing what continues to be some of their country’s most celebrated literature. We will read works by authors such as Thomas More, Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, and Aphra Behn, becoming acquainted with a range of literary genres, including the epic, romance, and sonnet. We will situate works within their historical, religious, and philosophical contexts, while also considering how the works continue to speak to us today. Indeed, the Renaissance marks the beginning of modernity. Class will include discussion and general enjoyment of the texts. Formal course requirements will include reading quizzes, three short papers, a midterm and a final exam. English 3264: British Modernism NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Graham, P. In this course we’ll center on poetic and prose masterpieces of British modernism, from before World War I to the aftermath of World War II. Besides understanding the literary works in and of themselves we’ll locate them in their social and historical contexts. Authors to be studied

may include World War I poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, W. B.Yeats, E. M. Forster, T. S. Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, and Kingsley Amis. Course requirements include reading quizzes, three short papers, two tests, and a take-home final exam. English 3315: Playwriting I Falco A workshop course in the craft and art of playwriting which emphasizes the development of craft and the nurturing of vision and art. Primary focus is on the writing of original scripts with additional attention paid to the work of influential playwrites and critics.(catalog description) English 3414: German Literature in English Layne A variable content course devoted to the study of major German Literary works in English Translation. May be repeated with different content. May not be taken for credit toward a major or minor in a foreign language. No knowledge of German required. In English. One 2000 Level English Literature course required. (catalog description). English 3524: Literature for Children Wemhoener This course is designed to introduce you to the variety and range of literature for children. We will see how literature reflects the period when it was written and how it mirrors the psychological approach to childhood at that time. Students will be invited to ponder more recent societal attitudes about childhood and whether modern educational methods and children's literature reflect a shift in thinking. A second purpose of the course includes the study of various genres — we will include folk and fairy tales, novels, poetry, and picture books in class. A third purpose will revolve around issues of conformity and individuality. When do authors and texts encourage one quality over the other? Two examinations; two short analysis papers (or one longer research paper); active class participation and homework submissions; group presentations and occasional readings accompanied by tea make up the assessment for the course. Saffle English 3524, Literature for Children, is designed to introduce students to the variety and range of “classic” literature for children in the Western world. The course aims to provide an overview of the historical development of children’s literature and to introduce its genres, including admonitory and didactic literature, fairy tales and folk tales, poetry, novels, and picture books. We will examine the historical and social contexts in which such celebrated authors as H. C. Andersen, R. L. Stevenson, Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll, and Beatrix Potter wrote; and we will consider cultural attitudes toward children from ancient to modern times. Various critical approaches to children’s literature will be compared and instruction in the criticism of children’s literature given. The course will require significant preparation: there will be two essays, a midterm and final examination, and at least two individual oral presentations (on an ethnic children’s picture book, and on a passage from Alice in Wonderland), as well as impromptu small-group presentations. Plan to keep up with the reading and to come to class prepared! English 3534: Literature and Ecology (Meets a Writing Intensive, Area 2, or Area 7 Core Requirement) Moore What does the study of literature contribute to the human understanding of people and their relationship to the land? How do ecological values inform that discussion? In this course we will study literature that explores the interconnectedness between people and the natural world. We will examine how threats to the global environment are threats to our individual lives as well as how a focus on ecological thinking challenges the authorities of our culture. We will also seek to understand how adopting sustainable values and practices restores our individual health and insures our world’s future. Towards that end, we will focus on fiction, non-fiction, and poetry that emerge from the global environmental concerns of the last four decades. Possible authors include Leslie Marmon Silko, Terry Tempest Williams, Eric Reece, Margaret Atwood, Karen Tei Yamashita, Luis Sepulveda, and Jamaica Kincaid. Writing Intensive. Smith As civilization slouches toward a seemingly inevitable global eco-catastrophe of perhaps unimaginable scope, it is imperative that we develop what Aldo Leopold calls an “ecological conscience,” one that will allow us to see our situation clearly—to see how things came to be the way they are and to see what we might do, individually and communally, to put civilization on a sustainable course. This course, which explores many of the facets of what I call the “ecological imagination,” focuses on those two questions: How things came to be the way they are and what we might do to ensure a livable future for all of Earth’s children. We will examine what some of our most interesting (and passionate) writers, thinkers, prophets, and visionaries have had to say about humankind’s place in the "natural world" and about the likely consequences of not knowing or not remaining in our place. Our readings will comprise a lively blend of ecology, cosmology, spirituality, anthropology, history, politics, philosophy, economics, and of course literature. In other words, we will be all over the map. Our focus will always be double: global and local, though as we now know, on spaceship Earth global is local and local is global. Among the writers we will be reading: Chellis Glendinning, Mary Oliver, Paul Shepard, Thomas Berry, Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Ernest Callenbach, Sarah Orne Jewett, Brian Swimme, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Flannery O’Connor, Eugene O’Neill, Don DeLillo, Norman Mailer, Aldous Huxley, and Jeremy Narby. Requirements include numerous essays, an oral presentation, and a longer final essay.

English/Communications 3544: Literature and Film Bliss Course title: Invasions USA: 1950s American Science Fiction Films “They’re here already! You’re next!” So says Kevin McCarthy’s Dr. Miles Bennell in director Don Siegel’s 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It’s clear from both Jack Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers and Siegel’s film that the aliens are after a lot more than just bodies. They intend to take over an entire lifestyle. In this course, we’ll read books and watch films about alien invasions (both literal and figurative) with the goal of understanding and appreciating these highly sophisticated stories. Aside from Body Snatchers, film and book pairings will include War of the Worlds, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and The Thing from Another World. For added perspective, we’ll also watch director Gene Fowler’s extraordinary film I Married a Monster from Outer Space, the most scathing critique of marriage in the history of motion pictures. Classwork will include quizzes, presentations, and a final essay. Oakey- (online) In this online version of Literature and Cinema, our aim is to examine the interesting relationship between films and their literary sources. To achieve this goal, we’ll get familiar with literary and film techniques, such as the four cinematic codes (cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, and sound), understand the conventions and limitations of various genres, and possess a willingness to explore and appreciate the text/film pairings in multiple ways. By the end of the course, we’ll have developed tools to critically evaluate the thematic and representational differences between the book and film versions of the examined texts. Because it is an online course, you should expect to work at a fast pace and to have the allocated reading/viewing completed and assignments submitted regularly. Course work will be based on weekly reading quizzes, journal responses, exams, and a longer, extended course paper. English 3584: The Bible as Literature NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Knapp Why and how has the Bible inspired and haunted Western literature? Why does Robert Alter, quoting Jeremiah, maintain that the King James translation was written with a “pen of iron” that has never lost its power? What makes this book different from all other books—and yet also a river that runs, like an underground current, through countless novels, plays, and poems? In our course, we will explore the Bible as a literary text. Our selections, drawn from both the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Scriptures, will include a variety of genres: the Torah, the historical books, the prophets, the wisdom literature, the Gospels, and the Epistles. We will investigate both the substance of Biblical stories and the powerful style of the King James Bible. We will seek to understand the Bible as a foundation of Western culture, and to relish the power and subtlety of its narratives and poetry. There are two medium-length papers. One paper calls for insightful comparative analysis of the method and message of two Biblical scenes. The other paper provides the opportunity to join the tradition of Biblical narrative, either by writing a fictional response (a prequel, sequel, or alternative version) of a Biblical story, or by re-imagining a familiar story as if it took place within the Bible (e.g. Macbeth in the Book of Kings). Other requirements include quizzes, active and regular class engagement, and a final exam. English 3614: Southern Literature NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Mooney, S. Southern Literature serves as an introduction to that diverse body of writing that reflects the historical and cultural experience of the American South. After some initial forays into 19th century Southern literature and the historical and cultural legacy of the pre-20th century South, the course focuses on 20th century Southern fiction, poetry, and drama, by writers such as Ransom, Tate, Warren, Faulkner, Hurston, Still, Roberts, Wolfe, Hughes, Williams, O'Connor, Welty, Arnow, Dickey, Gaines, Walker, Chappell, Norman, Berry, McCarthy, and several others. By course's end, students will be able to identify and discuss the many common themes (e.g. people, place, time) that resonate outward from this body of writing and that continue to influence and shape American culture. Students will also be possessed of a good general knowledge of Southern literary and cultural history. Course requirements include up to three 5-7 page papers and a comprehensive final examination that takes the form of a 5-7 page take home essay. Regular reading quizzes and other daily work are also a possibility. English 3644: Postcolonial Studies NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Chandler, G. This course incorporates literary, historical, and theoretical materials to explore the postcolonial condition in several postcolonial settings: Europe, South Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, and the Caribbean. The course will review the theoretical development of postcolonialism through a selection of theorists who helped to define the movement. Those writers include: Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Wole Soyinka, Gaytri Chakravorty Spivak, Sara Suleri, Aijaz Ahmad, and Homi Bhabha. The course will then contextualize those theoretical discussions within the larger framework of specific literary works which have sought to engage with the salient issues of postcolonialism: colonizer versus colonized, resistance and colonial control, violence and decolonization, and colonial language versus native language. The literary works for the course will include writers such as Chinua Achebe, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, Edwidge Danticat, and Derek Walcott. Course requirements: 1 short paper (6-8 pages), response papers, midterm and final examination.

English 3704: Creative Writing: Fiction D’Aguiar Short stories present an ideal platform for the apprentice writer to practice the art and craft of writing. A short story’s open-ended and inclusive form invites invention and innovation even as it showcases the fundamentals of art and craft. Each student writes three stories during the semester and the class reads and discusses the merits of the stories. The student revises the three stories as a result of this reading and discussion process and presents the revised stories in a final portfolio due at the end of semester. In addition, students read, hear, and discuss a selection of published short stories for models of best practice in the genre. A final grade arises from a combination of full attendance, participation in classroom discussion, completion of short story assignments and submission of a final portfolio. Students are required to attend a minimum of two Visiting Writers events. I plan to have at least one visiting writer attend class to meet students and discuss successful writing, reading and publishing strategies. Please refer to the university’s Principles of Community and Honor Code for guides to classroom and academic conduct. Sanders This class asks the student to write, read, and think deeply about fiction—and to consider and explore the various elements of story (character, plot, setting, dialogue, point of view, etc.). It requires each student to dedicate themselves to the writing process: i.e., reading, brainstorming, experimenting, drafting, re-drafting, and work-shopping. Because of the workshop/discussion-based classroom environment, this course demands dedication to the practice of reading, writing, and expressing oneself verbally. By the end of the semester, the student will have written two polished works of fiction (either short story or novel excerpt) and also one fully edited final piece. In addition, through in-class exercises and prompts, the student will have numerous partial pieces of writing at their disposal for future endeavors. Falco This course is designed for students who want to focus in some depth on the writing of various forms of fiction such as the short story and novella. Emphasis is on the writing the critiquing of original fiction in a workshop/studio environment, and the analysis of exemplary texts which serve as models. Students produce a body of original fiction in draft and revised forms. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credit hours. Prerequisite: 2744.(catalog description). English 3714: Creative Writing: Poetry Meitner This course is intended for students who have previously taken ENGL 2744, have a specific interest in writing poetry, and are open to receiving feedback on their writing. While the crux of this class will be workshop—analyzing the original poems of class members—students will also be required to read a significant amount of contemporary American poetry in order to gain exposure to a wide variety of forms, styles, and subject material. Students will be required to write and revise a collection of poems for their final portfolio. Other requirements include: regular class participation, written reading responses to selected assigned texts, attendance at public poetry readings, and a short final paper where students will analyze their own poems from the semester. Hicok This is a mid-level poetry workshop. It is for the experienced and novice poet alike. Primary emphasis is on analyzing original work by class members, with some reading and discussion of established poets. Students will get feedback in a number of ways, including workshops, smaller group conversations, and one-on-one meetings with the instructor. There will be no assigned books for this class: the published poems and texts covering the nature of writing will be passed out in class or made available through Scholar. Grades will be determined by the quality of the writing, the effort students put into their work, and participation in class discussions. Students will be required to write 6 to 8 poems and a paper of approximately 1,500 words. English 3724: Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction Roy This course is designed for students who want to focus in some depth on the writing of creative nonfiction in its various forms, including memoir, the personal essay, the narrative essay, place writing, profile pieces, and nature writing. Emphasis is on the writing and critiquing of original creative nonfiction in a workshop environment, and the analysis of exemplary texts which serve as models. Students produce a body of original nonfiction in draft and revised forms. Creative nonfiction is a relatively new and increasingly popular genre that allows writers draw from personal experience and write truthfully about what they know and believe. We will read short pieces by acclaimed writers and try to discover how they have drawn upon their experiences, beliefs, and observations in effective ways. We’ll discuss a fundamental question asked by those who employ this genre: What constitutes “fact” and “truth” in CNF? The majority of the course, however, will be devoted to offering critiques of your original submissions in what I hope will be a supportive workshop environment. Requirements include submitting a final portfolio of revised work, participating actively in class discussions, providing constructive written feedback to your peers, and providing written responses to the readings.

English 3744: Writing Center Theory and Practice Lawrence This course focuses on the teaching and coaching of writing across the disciplines. In order to develop as writing coaches, students study the process of writing and the issues surrounding writing center instruction, as well as undergo an apprenticeship in the writing center. By the end of the semester, students have a clearer and deeper understanding of collaborative learning theories, as well as hands-on tutoring experience. It is an excellent course for real-world experience working with student writers as they compose in a variety of genres. Students must apply to be in this course before or during course request; contact Jennifer Lawrence ([email protected]) for application details.

English 3754: Advanced Composition Gibbs This course offers advanced training in academic discourse, with a focus on the journal paper across disciplines. Study and practice in civic discourse from a rhetorical perspective, collecting and analyzing writing composed for a range of audiences, purposes, and media. Culminates in original student contribution to the civic discourse on a chosen topic. Junior standing is required. English 3764: Technical Writing (Meets a Writing Intensive Core Requirement) Mooney, J. This course is designed to introduce you to the principles of communicating effectively about technical or specialized topics. Stressing a usercentered approach, as well as the principles of plain language, this section will teach you to produce – individually and collaboratively – a variety of technical documents common to the fields of engineering and science. Creation of short, “everyday” documents (letters, memos, emails) will pave the way for the research and writing of more complex ones, such as lab and advanced technical reports, user documents, usability studies, and group and solo presentations. Students enrolled in this section will also learn essential editing techniques and develop the ability to design documents for improved usability and efficiency. Heilker, P. This course will enable you to understand and produce several types of written communication you will encounter as a professional in the workplace, including letters, instructions, proposals, and reports. More importantly, this course can help you to become a critical reader and writer, someone who is able to enter into new discourse situations, independently learn the conventions at work, and effectively contribute to the conversations at hand. Special attention will be paid to matters of rhetoric, genre theory, and visual communication. Combiths Get ready for writing in the workplace through the technical writing course. Students will use a reader-centered approach in evaluating the needs and demands of the audience. We will work on grammar and mechanics of writing as we work on documents that include proposals, letters and memos, instructions, and reports. This is a writing intensive course with a strong emphasis on professional presentations. Armstrong (online) Technical Writing Online is a writing intensive course that provides instruction in adapting the various genres (proposals, summaries, progress reports, recommendation reports, letters, and memoranda) for one’s particular audience and best method of delivery to achieve one’s communicative aim. The informal and formal writing sequence mirrors the document cycle of a typical project in the workplace. The informal writing exercises, which amount to about 30 pages over the term, target specific writing strategies that help the writer achieve the communication’s aim. The formal writing assignments, which total about 25 pages over several writing assignments over the term, are submitted in rough draft for editing comments before the final revised version is handed in. Students who can manage weekly deadlines, like task-oriented assignments, can work independently, and are willing to revise their writing with the teacher acting as editor find this course particularly helpful. Kinder English 3764: Technical Writing will enable you to gain an understanding of the numerous types of written communication you might encounter as a professional in the technical workplace, from the simple memo to the formal report, from a set of instructions to a targeted resume. By the end of this course, you should understand these documents and produce them with ease and confidence. You will identify an audience, assess its needs, and plan how to best satisfy those needs. We achieve this by completing the following: determining purpose, identifying audience, gathering evidence, organizing our evidence, choosing a format, and using a professional, pleasant tone. Bean Please join us as a part-time employee of Legal, Inc., a mock corporation. At Legal, Inc., we prepare a variety of documents that inform the legal profession about highly technical topics that have made their way into the courts. We prepare lawyers and judges to discuss intelligently and intelligibly any subject matter that confronts them. No matter how highly technical the topic or document, we make it accessible to people outside the specialty areas of our employees. As a Subject Matter Expert (SME), you will enlighten us about your chosen career field. In addition to a resume and letter of application to develop your “soft” skills or portable skills, you will prepare a progress report memorandum (1,000-1,500 words), an APA References sheet that demonstrates triangulation in your research, and a formal analytical report (2,000-3,000

words). You will give one 3-5 minute formal oral presentation and work on two collaborative projects, a principles of ethics document and a principles of color and design document. Our text will be Richard Johnson-Sheehan’s Technical Communication Today 4th ed. Mengert Technical Writing Online is a writing-intensive course that will demand a great deal of writing and attention to detail (including grammar and mechanics). Because it is an online course, you should expect to work at a fast pace and to have assignments submitted regularly. In this course, we will have both formal writing grades and informal writing grades. Our formal assignments will include a job application unit (with a resume and cover letter) and a report document cycle (with a proposal, progress report, formal report, and a PowerPoint presentation on a topic in your major written for a non-technical audience). Our informal assignments will include textbook activities and quizzes, revisions of documents (for example, poorly written emails, letters, and memos), and Scholar online postings. For every major assignment, you will submit drafts and have those drafts peer work shopped before the final assignment is due. Morrison,R., Schiewer,T., Lautenschlager, E., Principals of technical writing; attention to analyzing audience and purpose, organizing information, designing graphic aids, and writing such specialized forms as abstracts, instructions, and proposals. (catalog description). Hayek, P This course will impart to students the principles and procedure of Technical Writing. Students will learn to pay attention to analyzing audience and purpose, organizing information, designing graphic aids, and writing such specialized forms as instructions, proposals, and reports. Gardner, Traci In this writing-intensive course, you will explore how to communicate technical information to a variety of audiences, ranging from those new to a topic to those who have experience with technical subjects. Assignments will include job application materials, technical descriptions, instructions and documentation, formal reports, and oral presentations. All work for the course will be submitted and graded electronically. You will write during every class session, so please be prepared to bring your laptop or tablet. English 3774: Business Writing (Meets a Writing Intensive Core Requirement) Martin, S. (on-line) English 3774 provides extensive practice in forms of persuasive and informative writing such as memos, case analyses, reports, abstracts, and letters. Designed for students in all curricula. Junior standing required. (catalog description). Frost Students will learn how to effectively communicate through written, visual, and oral channels. Specific lessons cover adapting a message to a particular audience and purpose as well as internal and external communication methods. Students will compose a variety of documents including routine messages, negative messages, and persuasive messages. Intercultural and nonverbal communication skills are taught as well as oral presentation skills. Students will apply these communication techniques to the broader course assignments which include traditional business communication (letters, memos, emails, proposals, and reports) as well as newer forms of communication (instant messages, blogs, microblogs, and user generated content). Students will also be trained to create and identify a successful job application packet. Crickenberger Regardless of your chosen profession, you will be more successful at attaining the position you desire and advancing in your career if you are able to communicate effectively. Employers across every business and industry are looking for professionals who can think creatively, analyze information, and develop answers that meet the needs of their target audiences. In short, they are looking for people who can solve problems and communicate solutions. In this class we will practice the skills that will make you a better professional communicator – and a better problem solver. You will analyze specific communication situations and develop solutions to meet those needs. You also will practice working as part of a team, collaborating with other team members to complete communication projects. English 3804: Technical Editing and Style Barton, J. Technical Editing and Style explores the art of editing from the initial writing task to the final delivery of the document. In addition to learning document management, student study and practice the roles, responsibilities, and tasks that editors perform. The course also covers the rules that govern the fundamentals of style (correctness, clarity, and propriety) and the principles needed to match the tone and formality to the aim, audience, and occasion of the work. Must have pre-requisite or the consent of the Director of Professional Writing. Pre: 3104.(catalog description). English 3814: Creating User Documentation Evia, C. English 3814, Creating User Documentation, introduces students to skills and knowledge necessary in the profession of technical communication. The course presents a variety of genres that, delivered through print or electronic channels, have the shared purpose of communicating technical information to a diverse audience. We will concentrate on the genre of instructions and its variants with assignments aimed at paper-based and online collections. The first part of the course will look at the process of invention and audience analysis that

generates context for any technical document. The second part will be grounded in technologies and standards used by technical communicators, including structured authoring and development of content strategies. We will work with Extensible Markup Language (XML), transformed through Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) and also as Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). The final project will combine the skills of English students with principles of good documentation and Entertainment-Education to create a technical comic book and video tutorial with a narrative component. This combination of computational thinking and rhetorical analysis is rewarding but challenging. The course will have an intense technological component, and students will need to work daily to master its concepts. English 3824: Designing Documents for Print Mooney, J. Words, noted Henry Ward Beecher, “are pegs to hang ideas on.” In fact, as students of literature, you have most likely learned by now to privilege, in particular, the written word above all else, to recognize its ability to, as Lord Byron put it, “make thousands, perhaps millions, think.” And rightly so. But what happens when you find yourself working in a field in which words often share the field with or give way to visuals, in which design can often help make or break a point? As a professional writer, you will likely produce documents that rely for their impact on a balance of verbal and visual. Designing Documents for Print will provide you with a foundational understanding of how and why such document features as graphics, text elements, color, and overall design function to engage and influence an audience. In addition, you will gain hands-on experience with Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator as you work through a variety of individual and collaborative design projects and as you learn to critique and edit your work and that of your fellow designers. Be prepared to work hard, but also to have fun! English 3844: Writing and Digital Media Gardner, Traci This course provides both a theoretical and a practical introduction to writing with and for digital media, including content management systems and social media platforms. The course will cover information organization, search engines, and basic HTML and CSS. You will learn to identify, analyze, and respond to the theoretical assumptions underpinning the development and use of digital media. You will also learn how to navigate, set up, and optimize social media sites for developing and distributing digital content, including digital images, video, and audio. English 4004: Linguistic Discourse Analysis NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Carmichael Discourse is often defined as the unit of language “beyond the sentence.” That is, discourse represents longer units of speech, such as a paragraph in written discourse, or a turn in a conversation. In this course, you will learn how to apply tools of linguistic analysis to texts and spoken interactions. You will be exposed to multiple approaches to studying spoken and written discourse, including conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, ethnography of communication, and interactional sociolinguistics. Through the lens of these various methodologies, you will gain a broader understanding of how speakers organize discourse and create meaning through interaction. You will be trained in broad and close transcription methods, identifying linguistic categories that apply at the discourse level, and recognizing the stylistic and linguistic differences between genres of talk. You will apply these skills to analyzing textual and spoken examples of discourse, using real world data, which you will collect and transcribe yourself. Topics covered will include politeness, turn-taking, discourse and power, openings and closings, cross-cultural (mis)communication, discourse markers, and genres of discourse including jokes, compliments, political discourse, and discourse in popular/social media. English 4044: Language and Society Carmichael Language is tool for communication, but you may be communicating more than you realize in how you say the things you say. Language practices vary along numerous social axes: by region, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and across different contexts. Language use is also affected by the overall linguistic environment, whether there is a situation stable multilingualism, language shift, strong ideologies favoring a given language or dialect, and of course the political policies regarding the role of certain languages or dialect in government, schools, and media. We will discuss a variety of linguistic situations and how the social role of language use affects linguistic practices. We will also approach new issues stemming from the development of greater technologies, such as computer-mediated communication and experimental methods of examining sociolinguistic variation. This course will expose you to the methods that linguists use to analyze sociolinguistic variation and language in interaction. You will be pushed to examine your own sociolinguistic presuppositions and biases, reflecting in assignments and in class about the function of language in society and in your own lives. You will also develop your expressive abilities to discuss an issue from all sides and build an argument based on evidence. You will work with real data, advancing your skills at systematic inquiry. Finally, you will gain some experience in sociolinguistic fieldwork, learning about how to collect linguistic data and analyze it. English 4065: Contemporary Approaches to Linguistics Walker This class serves as a thorough introduction to the field of linguistics, which is the scientific study of natural language. Over the semester we will cover the following core subfields: articulatory phonetics (how we make sounds), phonology (the sound inventories and sound patterns of languages), syntax (how we organize words to make meaning), morphology (how we use word endings to make meaning), semantics (word meaning), and language change. A common theme throughout the class will be variation (within and across dialects), and the search for universals, which are features shared by all human languages.

English 4114: Chaucer NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Colaianne If you love satire and comedy, broad portraiture, stability, authority, learning, earnestness and soulfulness, you will develop a ready rapport with Geoffrey Chaucer. His sense of humor is unusual and distinctive, and it he makes himself accessible to readers in a way that is all his own. I have never met anyone who did not enjoy his or her studies in Chaucer—if you are a serious student of literature, you will encounter his influence again and again. More casual readers can take great delight in his stories and his turning of a phrase, finding “goddes foyson [God’s abundance] there.” Chaucer’s times were much like our own, an era of unprecedented change, unfolding at a bewildering pace: a scary time too, fraught with plague, famine, and riot in the cities and towns. But it was also an age of great innovation, as the invention of movable type made possible an explosive growth in readership, which in turn has fostered predominantly positive developments for humankind. Chaucer and his contemporaries had made it through what looked like the end of the world. Estimates of the toll the Black Death had taken range from one-third to two-thirds of entire populations. Little wonder Chaucer seldom even mentions the plague. When he looks back, most likely he is looking to the glory that was Rome. The course is reading intensive and richly so. This material highly distilled and concentrated. We will set out to examine, as fully as we can, the whole of Chaucer’s literary output—not solely selections from his best known and most influential work, The Canterbury Tales, but works in both poetry and prose, and belonging to the discourses of art as well as science. We will begin with Chaucer’s early lyric poetry, which includes the earliest uses of Petrarchan sonnet conventions in English poetry; then we will move to the early dream visions—some of the most fascinating examples of that literary genre. We will work on the romance Troilus and Criseyde as a group project, and study The Canterbury Tales to finish out the course. Students will conduct a research project on a topic of their own choice (approximately 15 pages). If you have questions about the course please email me. English 4124: Old English Swenson We will study the language and literature in England between 500 and 1066 - roughly five centuries of a culture both like and unlike ours. We will be working in three directions simultaneously: learning the basics of the language, reading the literature both in translation and in the original, and thinking about cultural issues (such as colonization, warfare, religion, and cross-cultural exchange) as they present themselves in this literature. We will be working with the language itself throughout the semester, so the student can expect some quizzes and translation exercises to facilitate this type of learning. We will also begin reading the literature itself right away, however, working with translations, footnotes, glossaries, and dual-language texts, so that we can actually discuss some of the fascinating texts from the period. Each student will do a presentation on one text of interest to her or him. We will read a variety of genres significant to the period, including elegies, laments, epics, religious lyrics, charms, and riddles. English 4165: Shakespeare (Meets an Area 2 Core Requirement) Anderson Students will have an opportunity to explore plays written during the earlier part of Shakespeare’s career, including selections from the histories (such as Henry V and Richard III), tragedies (such as Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet) and comedies (such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado about Nothing). Students will study Shakespeare’s works from multiple perspectives, including, but not limited to, cultural traditions, historical contexts, and theatrical performance. The course will examine various aspects of and approaches to the plays, such as close reading, analysis of historical context, thematic development, character presentation, imagery, dramatic dialogue, and staging. The emphasis will be on discussion, rather than lecture. Grading will be based on papers, exams, inclass quizzes, and class participation. At least 12 pages of writing, exclusive of exams, will be expected. Graduate students taking the course for credit will be required to complete additional work. Swenson We will read and discuss plays from the first half of Shakespeare's career, including comedies (Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It), histories (Henry IV, Julius Caesar) as well as other early plays such as Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet. Students will become familiar and even comfortable with these plays as we work with the complexities of plot, structure, genre, language, and character. We will consider questions of interpretation opened up by Shakespeare's language and consider some of the interpretations that have been offered in film and on the stage. Students should expect to look closely at Shakespeare's actual language and to read aloud as well as to view films and talk about them. Two key issues -- self-knowledge (really, lack of self-knowledge) and the use or abuse of power -- will help guide our discussion of these plays. Quizzes, a midterm and a final (partly objective) will be required. Students will either write two analytical essays or write one such paper and do one project in which they offer insight using a medium other than analytical prose. Radcliffe In this course we will consider Shakespeare's early career as a playwright and his after-career as literary icon. Both involved history and fantasy: the history plays contain much fiction and the comedies not a little history, while Shakespeare's reception, quite as much as the plays, was colored by the imaginative imperatives of the hour. If Shakespeare's characters come across as larger-than-life, so does the Bard himself. The plays and criticism alike involve rhetorical display, leading us to pay particular attention to wordplay and audiences.

English 4405: English Novel I NB: This course will next be offered in Fall 2016. Graham, P. In this reading-intensive course, we’ll study the English novel from its inception through the mid-Victorian era. Texts read may include Austen’s Mansfield Park, Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Burney’s Evelina, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Fielding’s Tom Jones, Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, and Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. In addition, we’ll watch film adaptations of some of the novels. Course requirements include reading journals, reading quizzes, two 8-page papers, and a take-home final exam. English 4504: Modern Poetry Gardner, Tom Simply put, we’ll be learning a series of new languages—ways of describing inner and outer worlds that are both strikingly original and deeply consistent. We will attempt to grasp the essential characteristics and theoretical underpinnings of these language experiments, and we will read with an eye for the complications that disturb the apparently confident surface of the poems of this period. In that way, we will see in what senses this rich heritage is available and of use to writers today. Writers will include: Frost, Yeats, Pound, Eliot, H.D., Stein, Williams, Moore, Hughes, and Stevens. Two 6-8 page papers, four in-class writing exercises, final exam. English 4634: American Author before 1900- Stephen Crane NB: This course, with a different focus, will next be offered in Fall 2016. Sorrentino Stephen Crane is arguably the most exciting and controversial American author in the late nineteenth century. During his brief literary career, he published five novels; two novellas; two collections of poetry; more than two hundred stories, tales, and sketches; and scores of news dispatches. His contemporaries recognized such works as Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage as groundbreaking fiction; another masterpiece, “The Monster,” candidly treats racial prejudice in small-town America; and The Third Violet is a self-reflexive novel that foreshadows Postmodernism. As with his narrative techniques, Crane’s poetry was innovative, and shortly after his death, critics began viewing his poetry as a forerunner to the Imagist movement in the early part of the twentieth century. As rich and exciting as was his writing, so too was Crane’s life. As much as any writer in American literature, Crane immersed himself into the vagaries of life and wrote about them. Whether he was experiencing the bohemian life of New York City, surviving a near-death experience in an open boat in the ocean, or covering the historic charge up the San Juan hills during the Spanish-American War, his life was as exciting as any romantic Hollywood adventure. Today, he still captures the public’s attention, as seen in Bruce Springsteen’s donation of $35,000 to renovate Crane’s home in New Jersey, the use of the expression “red badge of courage” by current war correspondents to describe combat troops, and the appearance of his face on the cover of one of the most famous albums in rock music, the Beatles’s Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. We will read a representative portion of his writings; discuss their literary, historical, and social contexts; and explore new, unpublished information about his life and work that is part of a biography I have written about him. There will be a midterm, final, reading quizzes, and a formal paper. Students with questions about the course are urged to contact Dr. Sorrentino at [email protected]. English 4684: Special Topics in Literature: The Beats NB: Because this is a special topics course, there is no guarantee that the particular topic it treats will be offered again. Siegle In the decade after World War 2, while mainstream culture tolerated McCarthy and fell in love with sitcoms and soaps on the new-fangled medium of broadcast TV, a loose alliance of ex-Chicago anarchists and escapees from the 9-to-5 briefcase mills rode a tide of experimentation (jazz, drugs, sex, and writing outside the margins) to a body of work the mainstream still struggles to contain. Meanwhile, you can find their influence diffused throughout films, music, performance art, and the visual arts, not to mention many recent writers all along the continuum from the thoroughly established to those unwelcome at the literary party. The Beats are both huge and hugely misunderstood. Our job in this special studies course is to see why a disparate selection of writers from the fifties and early sixties were lumped together, why their appeal is both perennial and suddenly peaking over the last decade, and what they lead younger writers to consider as the latter begin to reshape literary culture to their own ends. It was a very male bunch—we mostly hear about Burroughs and Ginsberg, Kerouac and Snyder, Ferlinghetti and Kaufman, Rexroth and Corso, Jones and Cassady, but we'll also pay attention to the marginalized women whose work refuses to go away. Expect biweekly reflective notes, intense discussion, an extended semester writing project, and a final written manifesto along with side excursions into preoccupations with Buddhism, politics, assaults upon convention, and mind-altering techniques. English 4704: Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction Sanders Designed for senior English majors who have selected the Creative Writing option, this is an intensive, advanced workshop. This capstone course builds on skills students have acquired in creative writing workshops. Primary focus is on the writing and critiquing of original fiction, while paying close attention to the work of established writers who are acknowledged masters of their genres. Students hone their skills as peer reviewers and constructive critics. In the process, they produce a portfolio of their own fiction. Pre: 3704. (catalog description).

English 4714: Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry Hicok This capstone course is an advanced workshop for experienced poets. Primary emphasis is on analyzing original work by class members, with some reading and discussion of established poets. Students will get feedback in a number of ways, including workshops, smaller group conversations, and one-on-one meetings with the instructor. There will be no assigned books for this class: the published poems and texts covering the nature of writing will be passed out in class or made available through Scholar. Grades will be determined by the quality of the writing, the effort students put into their work, and participation in class discussions. Students will be required to write 10 to 12 poems and a paper of approximately 2,000 words. English 4724: Fiction for Young People Giovanni This course is conducted in a workshop setting in which students compose original stories for oung people. Elementary techniques of fiction are emphasized, such as plot structure, point of view, setting, characterization, and audience. Must have prerequisites or permission of the instructor. (catalog description). English 4734: Senior Portfolio for Creative Writing Scallorns A course focused on the development of the senior portfolio and on making an effective and well-informed transition from undergraduate study to careers or graduate /professional school. English majors in the Creative Writing option only.(catalog description). English 4774: Senior Portfolio for LLC Gibbs A course focused on the development of the senior portfolio and on making an effective and well-informed transition from undergraduate study to careers or graduate/professional school. English majors in the Literature, Language, and Culture option only. English 4784: Senior Seminar: Literature and the Civil Rights Movement (Meets a Writing Intensive Core Requirement) Fowler The modern civil rights movement gave rise to a range of aesthetic responses in music, art, and literature. This course will focus primarily on the literary responses, but we will bring in music and art when we can. For the first half of the course, we will read short stories, poems, letters, and essays written from many different perspectives—black, white, southern, northern, female, male—about the historical events of the period. This breadth of reading will allow us to discover the very different meanings found in historical events by different writers; we will be able to see the ways in which meaning and interpretation are inflected by gender, race, and class. In the second half of the course, we will focus more narrowly on several novels, a short play, and a handful of poetry. This course aims to challenge you to look at literature in relation to the historical contexts out of which it is written and to consider the role that literature may play in helping us understand and think through the implications of the political events occurring all around us every day. Requirements include frequent short, informal response papers, one or two oral presentations, a seminar essay, and a final exam. English 4784: Senior Seminar: Virginia Woolf and Marilynne Robinson (Meets a Writing Intensive Core Requirement) Gardner, Tom We will be looking at novels by two extraordinary writers—Woolf writing in the first half of the twentieth century and Robinson in the second (plus a few years). Novels will include: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and The Waves (Woolf); and Housekeeping, Gilead, and Home (Robinson). All six novels are dense, lyric, and filled with echoes. They should draw out and, one hopes, draw together, everything you’ve learned about wrestling with and inhabiting a charged, difficult text. Four in-class writing exercises, 15-page seminar paper, class presentation, final exam. English 4814: Writing for the Web: Developing Online Content Warnick, Q. The primary objective of Developing Online Content is to help students apply the principles of successful writing and design in online environments. Practically speaking, this means that students will learn to build effective professional websites using standards-compliant HTML and CSS code. In addition, they will spend a significant amount of time writing, both for the web and about the web. The course will also consider the ways in which writing on the web has changed in the last ten years, giving students the opportunity to decide what type of online identities they want to craft for themselves. Although students will spend considerable time working with various software programs, this is not merely a "tools" or "skills" course; rather, the course is designed to engage students in a critical discussion about what it means to write and design in online environments, prompt them to consider how these environments are changing before their eyes, and prepare them to be active participants in online communities.

English 4864: Senior Portfolio Development in Professional Writing Dubinsky This course will help you complete your required ePortfolio with an eye toward graduate school or employment. You will learn to select, categorize, and document your achievements and accomplishments as you make your ePortfolio both attractive and persuasive. English majors in the Professional Writing option only. English 4874: Issues in Professional and Public Discourse Sano-Franchini In this course designed for English majors in the Professional Writing Option, students will focus on the ways in which scientific, technical, and professional communication influence, and are influenced by, public discourse. Drawing on strategies of rhetorical criticism, students will gain an understanding of the persuasive value of style, arrangement, and delivery by investigating their professional roles in helping to structure public debate. Pre: 3804. (catalog description). English 4984: Language and Gender Walter In this class we will explore differences—real and imagined—in the speech of men and women (gay and straight), and we will examine how language can reinforce gender inequality. Linguistic phenomena covered will include pitch, standard language, vocabulary, sound change, childdirected speech, discourse strategies (i.e., politeness, indirectness), discourse types (i.e., gossip), accommodation, speech processing, slurs, and androcentrism in language. We will discuss traditional theories behind the differences between men and women's speech (essentialization/difference/dominance), while also critiquing the evidence for and scope of these differences. We will consider the moves individuals make with personal stylistic choices, and how language in the explicit performance of gender (drag), and by speakers transitioning from male to female / female to male. English 4984: There and Back: Incorporating Study Abroad Into Undergraduate Writing and Research Wemhoener Open to ALL MAJORS, this course lets students study and write in areas that will bring together different dimensions of their study abroad experience. The course is taught once weekly during the evening, to permit more in-depth discussion and exploration of the academic experience abroad and its application to a student’s on-campus academic work and research areas. This course is taught on a seminar model, with small group discussions, individual research writing and discussion, and in-depth examination of a single topic, as well as collaborative writing and research projects. Common texts, as well as texts chosen based on students’ countries of study and subjects of research, will make up the bibliography for the course. Participants in this course typically produce research that is selected for presentation at other Virginia Tech conferences and at symposia at other campuses. Completed study abroad is a pre-requisite for this course. OPEN TO ALL MAJORS. English 4984: Special Study- Creative Nonfiction Vollmer

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