The program's small class sizes allow faculty to give students the individualized attention they need, and there are wonderful opportunities for student-faculty collaboration.

Kory Wein, PhD
MA, Spring 2000

Graduate Courses

Graduate courses emphasize texts viewed from a variety of theoretical perspectives and provide practical training in literary and cultural research and criticism. Some specialized courses focus on theories of pedagogy, writing, and language.

Course offerings include a variety of graduate seminars each fall and spring, as well as a select number of undergraduate courses offered for graduate credit. Summer courses are also an option. At least one seminar is offered each summer session.

Below is a list upcoming seminars and double-numbered course; a printable course list (Adobe PDF) is also available.

Spring 2010 Seminars | Spring 2010 Mixed Courses

Spring 2010 Graduate Only Seminars
January 25 - May 21, 2010

715: Critical Theory & English Studies (3 cr)	6-8:45 p.m. T
HHH 226; Call #: 4673	Bob Nowlan

English 715 inquires into how significant and influential theorists and critics have engaged with literature, culture, and everyday life. We will focus in particular on theorists and critics who have exerted considerable direct and indirect impact upon work in English Studies. In 715, our discussions of how this impact has happened will help students enter a diverse array of ongoing conversations and contestations in English Studies. We will engage with major figures, positions, concepts, and arguments in critical theory from modernism through postmodernism, and beyond postmodernism as well, beginning with the 'Ages of Reason and Enlightenment' along with the emergence of capitalism, all the way through the present. We will relate these readings and discussions of work in critical theory to a variety of cultural texts and to a variety of everyday as well as topical concerns, with a particular emphasis on literature, including literature itself as locus of theory and criticism. Although we will, in part, study theory and criticism by situating this work in historical context, we will, of necessity, also have to be highly selective, focusing on working with concepts that maintain prospectively broad applicability, across large expanses of time (and space), as well as on major lines of thought.

721: Studies in Writing, Language, or Pedagogy (3 cr) Science and Literature	6-8:45p.m. M
HHH 212; Call #: 4752	JoAnne Juett

In this course we examine the language of science and technology as it informs linguistic, conceptual, and technological negotiations between science and contemporary literature. We will utilize the lens of contemporary science and technology to examine 20th and 21st century works of fiction and poetry, such as Brave New World, The Intuitionist, and the poetry of Robert Crawford and Sarah Maguire. We will investigate questions about how scientific thinking and communication have redefined text, author, and reader; we will examine ways the that changes in science and technology are reflected in literature and literary theory; and we will explore how the language of science can be opened out fictionally within a broader context of human experience, including how this intersection addresses experiences of cultural biases. Students will have the opportunity to connect the languages of science and literature through course readings, class discussions, research projects, and a final original communication product.

753: Studies in British & Irish Lit (3 cr) Imagining the Tudor-Stuart Domestic	6-8:45p.m. R
HHH 222: Call #: 4753	Theresa Kemp

This course explores the idea of the “domestic” in Tudor-Stuart British literary, cultural, and political writings. Our critical context will draw upon the work of modern historians and scholars who discuss the structure of early modern families, and early modern treatises on marriage that are themselves involved in theoretical discussions of conduct, politics, and practices in the household. We will examine the idealized domestic in such literary genres as epithalamia, country house poems, and utopian visions. We will also consider the tawdry deeds of murderous husbands, wives, and servants as depicted in domestic tragedy and popular pamphlets of the period. By examining the use of familial tropes in political speeches and discussions of domestic and foreign policies such as the schemes to “domesticate” the Irish and others, we will see how models of the domestic are inextricably caught up in the public and political discourses of British government.

Spring 2010 Mixed Graduate and Undergraduate Courses
January 25 - May 21, 2010

305/505.002: Communicating Scientific Subjects to General Audiences (3 cr)	2-3:15p.m. MW
HHH 307; Call #: 4593	Stephanie Turner

Principles and strategies for communicating scientific subjects to non-expert readers. Students explore science’s persuasive, ethical role in society, and produce documents that reflect an understanding of the benefits of a scientifically knowledgeable public.

Course objectives:
•Identify the public spheres in which scientific and technical knowledge is routinely communicated
•Understand the ethical and rhetorical principles underlying the communication of scientific and technical knowledge to non-expert audiences
•Learn strategies for “translating” scientific and technical writing for non-expert audiences

Graduate Students will be required to complete an additional research and writing project of 12-15 pages tailored to their subject matter interest in scientific and technical communication, e.g., a critical review of the literature or extended application of a rhetorical theory to a current problem in the field.

307/507: Editing and Publications Mgmt (3 cr)	7:30-8:45 am TR
HHH 307; Call #: 4596	Ruth Cronje

Students will learn principles of editing, including the special problems encountered with technical and scientific material. Both copyediting and substantive editing concerns will be covered, including punctuation, usage, syntax, text formatting, integration of visuals, and indexing. Students will also consider the rhetorical implications of their editorial decisions. Ethics and editorial/authorial rapport will be considered. Students will become familiar with both a general (Chicago) and specialized (CSE or AMA) style guide. In addition to all other course work, graduate students will meet individually with instructor to plan an additional project

325/525: History of the English Language (3 cr)	2-3:15 pm TR
HHH 221; Call #: 4600	Lynsey Wolter

How did English become one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world after starting as the language of one little island in Europe? Why is there a silent 'k' in know? Why is children the plural of child? In this course, we outline not only the fascinating cultural history of the English language, highlighting key events and figures from the 5th century to the present day, but also the intriguing linguistic history of the English language, highlighting changes in the sound system, the morphology, the syntax, and the vocabulary from Old English to Modern English. In addition to all other class assignments, graduate students are expected to do significant extra work, which may include one or more of the following: preparing individual research projects; writing longer, more scholarly projects; giving class presentations; teaching units. The specific graduate requirements will be determined through individual consultation with the instructor.

395/595: Directed Studies (1-3 cr)

411/611: Creative Writing Workshop–Fiction (3 cr)	3-5:45 pm M
HHH 212; Call#: 4649	Allyson Loomis

Advanced fiction workshop which will require students to write, workshop and revise two short stories of length and quality. Although the focus of the class will be on the workshop itself, students will also have to respond thoughtfully to assigned readings (short stories by Anton Chekhov, Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, Peter Ho Davies, Delmore Schwarz, Isaac Bachevis Singer, and Eudora Welty) and will be required to hand in a series of challenging writing exercises. Graduate students will be required to produce a thirty-page portfolio of their revised fiction by the end of the semester.

412/612: Seminar in Nonfiction Writing (3 cr)	7-9:45 pm W
HHH 212; Call #: 4650	John Hildebrand

Course combines the field work of journalism – interviewing, library research, observation – with the literary techniques of narrative fiction. Such writing contains not only factual information but also character, setting, and theme – all those elements that make fiction compelling. To become familiar with the genre, students will read essays, articles, and nonfiction books by such writers as Orwell, Capote, McPhee, Didion, Kidder, and Wolfe. Students will also be responsible for writing a profile, query letters, a historical piece, an essay, and two full-length articles. There will be some opportunities to discuss student work in a workshop setting during the second half of the semester. The final written examination will require students to demonstrate knowledge of the readings and techniques discussed in class. In addition, graduate students will be required to prepare a research paper and make an oral presentation on a writer or work of nonfiction chosen in consultation with the instructor.

430/630: Seminar in World/Postcolonial Literature: (3 cr)Postcolonial Novel	6-8:45 pm T
HHH 221; Call #: 4654	Asha Sen

This course examines novels by authors such as Leila Ahmed, Pico Iyer, and Amitav Ghosh. Students will also engage with issues pertinent to postcolonial theory. Course requirements include a short paper, a presentation, and a research paper. Graduate students will be responsible for an additional presentation, an annotated bibliography, and a longer research paper.

440/640: Seminar in Am Literature Before 1865: The Black Atlantic	4:30-7:15pm W
HHH 221; Call #: 4655	Joel Pace

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with writers of the black Atlantic: eighteenth- and nineteenth-century African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-British writers. We will be focusing primarily on African American writers of the “black Atlantic.” This rich tradition of writing is now, thanks to scholars, being recovered and given the attention it deserves as powerful literature of social change and liberation theology. We will begin with the poems and prose of authors who were kidnapped from Africa, enslaved, and brought to America and several other countries on the Atlantic rim. We will also use Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic, which originated its own field of studies, to place these authors on a continuum with later circum-Atlantic authors, African American literature, music, and culture, culminating in an examination of hip hop. Throughout the course, we will focus on notions of race, gender, hybridity, nationality, civil liberties, slavery, liberty, equality, and we will constantly be theorizing the Atlantic as a political, poetical, liminal, transnational, transitional, and authorial space. NB: In addition to all other class assignments, graduate students are expected to do significant extra work. This may include, for example, one of more of the following: preparing individual research projects; writing longer, more scholarly research papers; giving class presentations; supervising undergraduate projects.

448/648: Seminar in Am Literature Since 1865: (3 cr) Black Lit 1900s	3-4:15 pm MW
HHH 206; Call #: 4750	David Jones

This course examines texts of African American literature in conversation with common understandings of American collective identity. The course aims to identify major texts of African American literature across the 20th century, including particular texts whose influence may be greater than the breadth of their readership. Readings may include Home to Harlem by Claude McKay, Blues People by Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones, Technical Difficulties by June Jordan, Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, Paradise by Toni Morrison, and several works of drama and poetry collected in the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. The course will also highlight major shifts and controversies as African American writers as well as wider publics have sought to articulate “what it means to be black,” to use a familiar but disputed phrase in American cultural politics. Student activities for the course will emphasize ties between American history and African American identity, strategies for reading and theorizing about race, collaboration and presentation skills, and effective completion of a seminar paper.

452/652: Seminar in Early British Literature: Age of Revolution (3 cr)	3:30-4:45 pm TR
HHH 206; Call#: 4656	Erna Kelly

The seventeenth century, or early modern period, saw profound changes that continue to affect the way we see the world today. The period’s literature questions hierarchy in family, government, and gender; challenges old ways of dealing with nature; and predicts American and Irish struggles for independence. Together we will read selections from figures such as John Milton, John Donne, Anne Bradstreet, Francis Bacon, Margaret Cavendish, and Aphra Behn to explore the century’s revolutionary ideas about people and nature. We will also trace revolutions in literary form, e.g., the move from epic to novel. Students will research one of the areas above, focusing on a single author (suggestions will be made) and share their findings with the class via a seminar paper. In consultation with the instructor, graduate students will be assigned additional work such as writing a longer, more scholarly paper and leading class discussions of pertinent theoretical works.

455/655: Seminar in Scientific& Technical Communication: Critical Animal Studies in Science & Technology (3 cr)	5-7:45pm T
HHH 206; Call #: 4657	Stephanie Turner

Course explores how science and technology are not neutral, but function within political, historical, and cultural contexts or “narratives”; how scientific and technical communications therefore help create those narratives; and why understanding this dynamic matters.

Through a variety of critical lenses, such as actor-network theory, cultural studies, and feminist perspectives, students will investigate the ways that animals serve as unrecognized, but primary, actors in scientific and technological narratives. These significant non-human others include laboratory animals, agricultural animals, service animals, urban wildlife, feral pets, and cryptic species.

In addition to the undergraduate reading and writing assignments, graduate students will be expected to carry out a more extensive research project (e.g., publishable scholarly paper, researched course syllabus with rationale, critical review of selected literature) on a current issue in critical animal studies and present their work to the rest of the class.

496/696: Seminar in Women's Literature (3 cr) 'New Woman' Fiction of the 1880s and 1890s	2-3:15 pm TR
HHH 212; Call#: 4751	Audrey Fessler

This seminar will explore 'New Woman' fiction that not only radically challenged conventional Victorian beliefs, behaviors, and institutions, but also envisioned and depicted potential alternatives to them. We will focus primarily on fin-de-siècle novels such as Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm, Sarah Grand’s The Heavenly Twins, and/or Mona Caird’s The Daughters of Danaeus, but will also consider short stories by Netta Syrett, George Egerton, Mona Caird, and/or others. At term's end, we will consider Bram Stoker's Dracula or Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure specifically as a 'backlash' novel. The primary goal of the course is to give you a keen sense of fin-de-siècle cultural dynamics and especially of first-wave feminists' literary contributions to the debates of the day over a broad range of topics (contestation over constructs of masculinity and femininity, colonization, prostitution, mental and bodily disease, evolution and eugenics, etc.). The readings and discussions should also stimulate lots of good thinking about sexual politics in our own day. In addition to all other class assignments, graduate students will be expected to do significant extra work. This may include, for example, one or more of the following: preparing individual research projects; producing more or longer creative works; writing longer, more scholarly research papers; giving additional class presentations; and mentoring undergraduate projects.

Summer 2010 -- May 24 – June 11, 2010

459/659: Seminar in British Literature After 1790: Jane Austen (3 cr)	9:15 – 12:15 pm M-F
May 24-June 11, 2010	Jennifer Shaddock

The British novelist Jane Austen is beloved by both the lay reader and the professional critic. She is arguably the most sophisticated ironist in the English language, she was the master of the “organic” novel, and her novels have the merit of being both compelling reads and highly instructive. This seminar will use recent Austen scholarship to explore the development of Jane Austen’s literary career through a focus on her life and its relation to her three classic novels, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion as well as through film versions of Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. We will try to understand why these novels have achieved the literary and popular status they now enjoy, two hundred years after they were written.

In addition to all other class assignments, graduate students are expected to do significant extra work. This may include class facilitations, responding to undergraduate journals, and writing a conference-ready research essay.