Department of English Language and Literature
FALL 2017 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
THESE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
While we make every effort to keep these online course descriptions as current as possible, you are advised to check with the instructor
of a particular course to verify the information below, especially if you wish to purchase texts prior to the first day of class. Contact
information for all English Department faculty is available via the English website at http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/english/.
200 LEVEL
ENGLISH 200 – INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY
001
TR
2:00-3:15p
CHARLES BERGER
DESCRIPTION: The aim of this course is to develop habits of reading, thinking, and writing that meet the expected level of English majors
and minors. In addition to helping you do well in the major (and other courses as well), learning the materials and modes of thinking
taught in this course will increase your pleasure in reading works of literature throughout your life. I believe that enthusiasm for literature
along with the acquired expertise in analyzing it should go hand-in-hand. English 200 emphasizes close reading, critical analysis, and
recognition of literary genres and terms. We will often be asking the following question: what is the role of literary form and structure in
the creation of meaning? Three 4-5 page papers, frequent in-class quizzes, no final exam.
RENTAL TEXTS:
Literature: A Portable Anthology; third edition
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in ENG 102.
Required of English majors and minors; open to prospective English majors and minors.
ENGLISH 200 – INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDY
002
MW
1-30-2:45p
HEATHER JOHNSON
DESCRIPTION: Students in English 200 will be inducted into the field of literary study; it will be a crash course in being an effective English
major or minor. We will explore strategies for reading, discussing, and analyzing works from a variety of literary genres and periods.
We will interrogate the practice of writing about and around texts, using composition as a tool for thinking. And we will think deeply about
how readers and writers use language to shape and understand their worlds. By the end of the course, students should have an
understanding of what it means to be a student of literature, how to approach a foreign text with confidence, and how to tackle the types
of assignments most frequently given in literature classes.
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in ENG 102.
Required of English majors and minors; open to prospective English majors and minors.
ENGLISH 201 – INTERMEDIATE COMPOSITION
001
TR
9:30-10:45a
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Builds upon skills developed in ENG 102. Useful for students across disciplines. Focuses on writing for the rhetorical
demands of discipline-specific academic audiences and purposes.
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in ENG 102.
ENGLISH 201 – INTERMEDIATE COMPOSITION
002
MW
1:30-2:45p
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Builds upon skills developed in ENG 102. Useful for students across disciplines. Focuses on writing for the rhetorical
demands of discipline-specific academic audiences and purposes.
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in ENG 102.
ENGLISH 203 – STUDIES IN POETRY
001
MWF
10:00-10:50a
JOHN SAVOIE
DESCRIPTION: We will learn to read poetry, classic and contemporary, for greater understanding and pleasure.
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ENGLISH 204 – STUDIES IN FICTION
001
MW
1:30-2:45p
JOHN PENDERGAST
DESCRIPTION: Reading and discussion of selected major examples of modern fiction, the short story to the novel. Attention to themes
and techniques.
ENGLISH 205 – INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN AMERICAN TEXTS
001
TR
11:00-12:15p
LIZ CALI
DESCRIPTION: This survey course is designed to introduce you to a range of African American texts and literary traditions. Course
readings will include poetry, autobiography, short fiction and essays, novels, drama, speeches, and audio and film performances. Your
primary readings will include early African American literatures (from colonial period through the US Civil War), literatures of the Civil
Rights and Black Arts Movements, contemporary African American literatures and more. Our goals will be to identify and trace
prominent traditions, themes, and debates in African American literature across vast periods of time. Further, our survey of African
American literature will challenge dominant Western definitions of literature by including visual and oral traditions of Black expression as
well. We will practice and share critical reading and analysis skills through class and group discussion, short presentations, and various
writing assignments. Expect to be actively engaged in this class by participating in class and small group discussions, oral
presentations, archival exploration, in-class annotations of readings, and brief in-class written reader responses.
ENGLISH 207 – LANGUAGE AWARENESS
001
TR
11:00-12:15p
SERAN AKTUNA
DESCRIPTION: Do you want to know how humans acquire language, how you can say something and mean something quite different,
how you can be discriminated against on the basis of your speech, or whether woman really do talk more than men? All of these topics
and more about how languages work in and across communities are discussed in this non-technical introduction to language study.
Course objectives are to develop awareness of different facets of linguistic behavior and their implications in various areas of life.
ENGLISH 208 – TOPICS IN EARLY BRITISH LITERATURE: MARRIAGE, BIRTH, AND DEATH
001
W
6:00-8:50p
JOHN PENDERGAST
DESCRIPTION: Our theme this semester is designed to allow us to focus on a cross-section of texts from the three time periods
associated with this course, the middle ages (generally, 500-1500 BCE), the Renaissance (1500 – c. 1700 BCE) and eighteenth
century. This period was fascinated by life cycles, namely the notion that a good life was a preparation for a good death (and afterlife);
for many, life was a preparation for death, and we will explore this theme through our reading of poetry, autobiography, and drama.
ENGLISH 211 – TOPICS IN EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE: CONSTRUCTING AMERICAN IDENTITIES
001
MW
12:00-1:15p
CHARLES BERGER
DESCRIPTION: This course covers crucial American literary texts from the Colonial period to the end of the Civil War. Authors to be
discussed from the Norton Anthology of American Literature include: William Bradford, Mary Rowlandson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Every one of these great selections will
offer us innumerable opportunities to discuss the evolving construction of American identities, as well as provide kaleidoscopic
examples of the rich variety of American writings. Two 4-5 page papers, frequent in-class quizzes, and a final exam.
ENGLISH 212 – TOPICS IN MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE: THE EVOLVING AMERICAN SELF
001
TR
9:30-10:45a
CATHERINE SELTZER
DESCRIPTION: This survey course looks at the broad swath of time between the Civil War and the present day, a period of multiple
political, cultural, and artistic upheavals and national reimaginings. Keeping the notion of an often troubled American identity as the
touchstone of our discussions, we will read a variety of works (poems, stories, plays and a novel) that consider what it means to be an
American, a question that addresses (and sometimes stubbornly elides) issues of race, gender, class, and region. Grades will be based
on a series of quizzes, exams, and papers, and you should expect regular reading assignments and occasional writing assignments for
each class meeting.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 214 – TOPICS IN WORLD LITERATURE, ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL: GREAT BOOKS
001
MWF 9:00-9:50a
JOHN SAVOIE
DESCRIPTION: We will survey great books from Homer and Virgil through Dante and Milton that have inspired our culture and shaped
how we think about life’s large and enduring questions.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
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ENGLISH 290 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING
001
TR
11:00-12:15p
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Provides an introduction to the basic genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction) with an
emphasis on craft and the writing process, from inspiration through revision.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 290 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING
002
MW
1:30-2:45p
GEOFF SCHMIDT
DESCRIPTION: Provides an introduction to the basic genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction) with an
emphasis on craft and the writing process.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 290 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING
003
TR
2:00-3:15p
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Provides a lively introduction to the four basic genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction) with
an emphasis on reading as writers, the elements of craft, and the writing process, from inspiration through revision.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 290 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING
004
MW
3:00-4:15p
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Provides a lively introduction to the four basic genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction) with
an emphasis on reading as writers, the elements of craft, and the writing process, from inspiration through revision.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 290 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING
005
M
6:00-8:50p
VALERIE VOGRIN
DESCRIPTION: Provides a lively introduction to the four basic genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction) with
an emphasis on reading as writers, practicing the elements of craft, and engaging energetically in the writing process, from inspiration
through revision.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
300 LEVEL
ENGLISH 301 – INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
001
TR
12:30-1:45p
HELENA GURFINKEL
DESCRIPTION: The study of theory is a truly eye-opening experience, and its reward is the acquisition of critical-thinking and writing skills
that can be used both in, and far beyond, a literature classroom. Theoretical texts, though fascinating, are often quite complex and
challenging, and the course format requires an intensive engagement with assigned readings. The course provides students with an
overview of the principal schools of modern literary theory, both earlier ones, such as Formalism, and contemporary ones, such as
Ecocriticism and Disability Studies. All students will acquire the skills to apply various theories to literary texts. Future English teachers
will learn new strategies for engaging with literary texts in the classroom. These goals will be accomplished through reading,
discussions, and the writing of critical papers.
PREREQUISITE: This course is required of and open only to English majors. C or better in 200 or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 307 – INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE
001
MW
12:00-1:15p
JOHN PENDERGAST
DESCRIPTION: Our first concern will be to understand and better appreciate the plays and the nature of Shakespeare’s drama. In
addition, as we read the plays we will also consider what they can teach us about Shakespeare’s culture and history. We will read
approximately eight plays this semester, and while we will sample tragedies, histories and romances, our primary focus will be on the
comedies.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
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ENGLISH 309 – POPULAR LITERATURE: THE ANATOMY OF HARRY POTTER FROM AUTHORIAL CELEBRITY TO FANDOM
001
MW
3:00-4:15p
JESSICA DESPAIN
DESCRIPTION: No, unfortunately, this isn’t defense against the Dark Arts, but we might expel a few boggarts during the course of the
semester. Rather, this is a course all about the phenomenon that began with Bloomsbury’s publication of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997 and continues on authorized and unauthorized fan sites today. What better subject for a popular
literature course than the book series that full-costumed tweens (and some adults) waited in line at midnight to read throughout the early
part of the twenty-first century? We will indeed read the Harry Potter books, but this class is first and foremost interested in studying HP
through the lens of book history. We will discuss how the books were altered for American publication, how they were marketed for a
variety of audiences, how J.K. Rowling nurtured an authorial persona, how the author and her agents redefined copyright in the digital
age, how the series became central to discourses on book banning, and how fans have claimed the texts as their own through fan
bands, fanfiction, and fan memes. As a result, we will be investigating a book that was at the center of the technological shift from print
to screen and learning about how Harry Potter became both a comforting talisman of the physical book and a generative source for
online remix and bricolage. Assignments will include occlumency, the use of a time turner, and the care of flobberworms.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 310 – CLASSIC MYTHOLOGY AND ITS INFLUENCE
001
M
6:00-8:50
NANCY RUFF
DESCRIPTION: This course introduces students to ancient Greek and Roman mythology and to the influences this mythology has had on
later literature and culture of the Western World.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 332 – ARGUMENT
001
TR
2:00-3:15p
ANUSHIYA RAMASWAMY
DESCRIPTION: In this course, we will critically investigate the history of argument – actual arguments, their historical contexts, and
argumentative strategies and theories as they have developed over time. We will also be analyzing arguments (our own and those
written/spoken by others) for their potential to persuade a particular audience in a specific context. While argument texts often focus on
intended audience, we will also explore what happens when unintended audiences are reached, an intended audience is reached in an
unintentional way, and how the context (time, place, speaker/writer, audience, and other circumstances) in which arguments are made
have the potential to drastically affect their degrees of persuasiveness. Given that this is a writing course, we will, of course, be
composing our own arguments. What’s more, the focus of this course will be predominantly on academic argument making, in that we
will challenge the exceedingly common binary argumentation (that is, the traditional “debate” style of argument that has only two sides)
in order to reveal the complexity of even seemingly simple issues – which tend to be multifaceted upon closer examination. Yet while we
focus on making academic arguments ourselves, to do so, we will be considering how argument works in law and in contemporary
American culture.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 341 – AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS
001
MW
1:30-2:45p
TISHA BROOKS
DESCRIPTION: In this class, we will consider the varying purposes for which black women have written in the face of tremendous
obstacles and challenges. Focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries, our exploration of black women’s literature will span
autobiography, novels, short essays, and film. Primary authors may include Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Wilson, Pauline Hopkins, Nella
Larsen, Toni Morrison, and screenwriter/producer Julie Dash.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 WITH GRADE OF C OR BETTER.
ENGLISH 344 – TOPICS IN ETHNIC LITERATURE: CARIBBEAN WRITERS WRITING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD
001
TR
12:30-1:45p
LIZ CALI
DESCRIPTION: In this course we will think about the ways that Black Caribbean authors and their texts construct space, location, and time
to visualize and revise histories of enslavement, colonization, displacement, and estrangement. More, though, we will examine the
specific elements of our course materials that demonstrate how Black authors create locations, characters, and plot lines that challenge
these histories. We will think about the various rhetorical, narrative, and stylistic methods our authors utilize to speak back to histories of
colonization and enslavement and to envision empowering futures. Authors we will read include Jamaica Kincaid, Junot Díaz, Derek
Walcott, and Edwidge Danticat, and Mary Prince. Students in this class will be expected to engage actively with digital, visual, and
traditional print texts.
PREREQUISITE: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 369 – GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS
001
MW
3:00-4:15p
JOEL HARDMAN
DESCRIPTION: This course is meant to introduce students to basic tools for the analysis and understanding of the grammatical structure
of English, with a particular focus on the relationship between grammatical structure and rhetorical effects. Objectives: 1) for students to
know grammatical terminology relevant to understanding the structure of standard academic English; 2) for students to become aware
of the differences between that grammar of English and other varieties of English, and the rhetorical effects of those differences 3) for
students to practice analyzing writing for the purpose of locating the problem areas of a writer; 4) for students to further investigate a
particular grammatical topic or develop a pedagogical project that will creatively apply course concepts.
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ENGLISH 392 – FICTION WRITING
001
MW
1:30-2:45p
VALERIE VOGRIN
DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to provide opportunities to deepen your understanding of and enrich your skills in the craft of
fiction, focusing on the short story. In addition to reading plenty of contemporary stories, students will engage deeply in the writing
process, culminating in the drafting and revising of their own stories, which will be workshopped in class.
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in ENG 290.
ENGLISH 393 – POETRY WRITING
001
TR
2:00-3:15p
JOSH KRYAH
DESCRIPTION: The dilemma of artistic creation is that in order to be “original” we must first understand the extent to which we are bound
to tradition. We must master the forms and techniques of other people’s art so as to have the resources to produce our own. In this
course we will address a variety of traditional poetic forms—sonnets, villanelles, sestinas—in order to grasp the importance of poetic
history in our own reading and writing. Once equipped with a basic understanding of these inherited poetic structures, we will come to
better appreciate, and participate in, contemporary American verse. Such liberty, however, must be first earned through the hard work
and dedication that goes into learning any craft. Through numerous prompts, readings, and exercises, we will familiarize ourselves with
traditional poetic techniques as a background to whatever mode—formal or experimental—you eventually choose to work in.
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in ENG 290.
400 LEVEL
ENGLISH 400 – PRINCIPLES OF LINGUISTICS
001
R
6:00-8:50p
LARRY LAFOND
DESCRIPTION: This course introduces the basic principles and techniques of linguistic analysis, illustrated through a survey of the major
structural components of language. Although ENG 400 focuses primarily on the structures of English, the concepts covered will be
applicable to the study of any language. We will explore the complexity of language as an instrument for human interaction and
thought. You will learn that all languages (dialects) are worthy of respect, careful study, and preservation. You will receive a conceptual
introduction to a number of areas of linguistics: The nature of language and communication systems; sound production and systems;
word formation, lexicon, and sentence structure; meaning and usage norms in the world; culture, language and society; first language
acquisition; and language change.
PREREQUISITE: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 403 – HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
001
TR
2:00-3:15p
LARRY LAFOND
DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to the history of the English language from two perspectives: first, the internal history (the
linguistic changes in the phonological, morphological, and syntactic systems of English) and, second, the external history (the political,
social, and intellectual forces that influenced the development of English at various stages). In addition to providing an overview of Old,
Middle, Early Modern, and Modern English, the course will also familiarize you with the kinds of questions, goals, and methodologies
that linguists use to investigate changes within the English language.
PREREQUISITE: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 409 – SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS
001
T
6:00-8:50p
LARRY LAFOND
DESCRIPTION: This course explores the richness, complexities, and subtleties of the system of language in the human mind related to the
structure and word order of sentences. Native speakers of any language know how words are put together to form sentences in their
language, and they are able to quickly and easily make judgments about what is or is not a legitimate sentence in their language. This
course investigates our capacity to make these kinds of judgments, and in so doing, helps us make explicit what we already know
implicitly. This is a critical first step for analyzing any language system, and is useful for those who wish to better understand the
structure of their own language, or for those who want to teach a grammatical system to nonnative learners. Syntax is a complex field,
replete with its own terminology and ways of thinking. This course will introduce you to that terminology and attempt to train you in the
rudiments of syntactic argumentation and analysis.
PREREQUISITE: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 411 – INTERNSHIP IN WRITING
001
TBA
TBA
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Involvement in developing workplace writing. Supervised by selected faculty member and cooperating site.
PREREQUISITES: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
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ENGLISH 444 – CREATIVE NONFICTION
001
MW
12:00-1:15p
GEOFF SCHMIDT
DESCRIPTION: Writing practice in and examination of a wide variety of modes and subjects, comprising the genre of creative nonfiction,
i.e. memoir, personal essay, lyric essay. Workshop format.
PREREQUISITES: Grade of C or better in ENG 290.
ENGLISH 446 – STUDIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE: SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE
001
MW
12:00-1:15p
TISHA BROOKS
DESCRIPTION: This course takes seriously the spiritual experience and legacy of black people in America, considering, through close
analysis of a range of African American texts, the ways in which that spiritual experience has been shaped by and has offered a critical
response to the realities of social difference, including race, class, gender and sexuality. Responding to the challenge of Black Feminist
scholars that we consider the diversity of spiritual perspectives at work in African American literature, this class explores the ways in
which these multiple spiritual trajectories shape African American texts in critical ways. While the study of African American literature will
be our primary method of unearthing the spiritual practices of black people, this course is interdisciplinary in scope—including literary,
historical, theological, and sociological readings. Though this course will include readings from the 19th-century, most of the required texts will
span the late 20th to the early 21st centuries and will include a mix of genres: autobiography, novels, short stories, poetry, and film.
PREREQUISITES: ENG 102 with grade of C or better; junior standing or consent of instructor.
For MA students in Literature (AEL), this course fulfills the post-1700 requirement.
ENGLISH 465 – SPECIAL TOPICS: CREATIVE WRITING CAPSTONE
001
MW
3:00-4:15p
VALERIE VOGRIN
DESCRIPTION: This is the final course required for the Creative Writing Minor in the Department of English. In it, a student will complete
an ambitious project that will include a research component. Though informed by research, the final project will take the form of one of
the genres of creative writing: fiction, poetry, drama, or creative nonfiction.
PREREQUISITE: C or better in English 492 or 493 or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 472 – ASSESSMENT AND TESTING IN ESL
001
W
6:00-8:50p
JOEL HARDMAN
DESCRIPTION: This course is designed as a broad and basic preparation for: students who are interested generally in the topics of
assessment, testing and evaluation for English language learners, and/or students who are planning on teaching in a setting where
assessment and evaluation of multilingual students will be expected. It will provide an overview of historical and current approaches to
language assessment. We will review the functions of assessment, methods of both statistical and qualitative modes of evaluation, how
to assess language proficiency in various skill areas, and the analysis and interpretation of test results. The aim is to enable teachers of
English language learners to make informed and critical choices about what they will need to assess and how to go about doing it.
PREREQUISITES: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 475 – METHODS OF TEACHING SECONDARY ENGLISH: LITERATURE AND CULTURE
001
T
6:00-8:50p
JILL ANDERSON
DESCRIPTION: One of two required methods courses for candidates preparing to teach secondary English Language Arts, English 475
focuses on approaches to working with literature and thinking about culture in high school environments. As we engage with various
methods of teaching secondary English (while also addressing curricular concerns associated with the Common Core State Standards
for English Language Arts), we will explore reading processes with the ultimate goal of developing useful strategies for teaching reading
and for including multiple perspectives. The course includes two pedagogical textbooks: Jim Burke’s The English Teacher’s Companion
(2013) and Judith Hayn and Jeffrey Kaplan’s Teaching Young Adult Literature Today (2016). In addition, students will investigate a
diverse range of coming-of-age texts as case studies for future practice, including Frederick Douglass’s seminal autobiography,
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845); Sandra Cisneros’s acclaimed series of vignettes, The House on
Mango Street (1984); Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel/biography, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (1986, 1992); Lorraine Hansberry’s Tony
Award winning drama, A Raisin in the Sun (1959; revivals 2004, 2014), and Sherman Alexie’s young-adult novel, The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). Over the course of the semester, students will contribute to collaborative teaching logs and respond
to literature in a variety of formats. Students will also create annotated bibliographies, present teaching demonstrations, prepare lesson
plans, and develop units of instruction.
PREREQUISITES: ENG 102 with grade of C or better.
ENGLISH 476 – PRACTICUM IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
001
TBA
TBA
JOEL HARDMAN
DESCRIPTION: This course is designed for students who need to gain supervised experience teaching ESL for the purposes of the state
ESL endorsement. Prerequisite: 470 or 542.
PREREQUISITES: ENG 470 or 542.
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ENGLISH 478 – STUDIES IN WOMEN, LANGUAGE, AND LITERATURE: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL
001
TR
11:00-12:15p
NANCY RUFF
DESCRIPTION: This course examines the role of women as subject, author and audience of western literature written from 750 BCE 1500 CE. It provides a broad view women's lives, thoughts and accomplishments through their own writings as well as through the
writings of others, both contemporary and modern.
PREREQUISITES: ENG 102 with grade of C or better. Junior standing or consent of instructor.
For MA students in Literature (AEL), this course fulfills the pre-1700 requirement.
ENGLISH 479 – MAJOR AUTHORS: WHITMAN & DICKINSON
001
MW
1:30-2:45p
JESSICA DESPAIN
DESCRIPTION: Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson never met, yet they have been immortalized in literary history as the father and mother
of American poetry because of their seemingly modernist leanings that, at first glance, are out of place in the mid-nineteenth century.
Yet, Dickinson, with her short riddle-like stanzas, and Whitman, with his all-encompassing long-line poetics, could not be more different.
In this course, we will be extensively exploring the poetry of these two writers, examining their interactions with nineteenth-century
American culture, and studying the influence they have continued to hold over the American poetic tradition. We will also look
extensively at the manuscripts and revisions of both writers to analyze their intense consideration of the physical appearance of their
words on the page. Course activities will include participation, one smaller essay, discussion leading, steps toward and completion of a
final researched literary analysis of ten to fifteen pages, and participation in a Whitman/Dickinson poetry reading.
PREREQUISITES: ENG 102 with grade of C or better. Junior standing or consent of instructor.
For MA students in Literature (AEL), this course fulfills the post-1700 requirement.
ENGLISH 490 – ADVANCED COMPOSITION
001
MW 3:00-4:15p
HEATHER JOHNSON
DESCRIPTION: This
is an advanced writing course designed for students to explore various rhetorical styles and techniques. In the course of the
semester, students will learn the various steps involved in writing for different audiences. We will work at understanding different kinds of
writing with an emphasis on the politics of style. We will begin with personal narratives and move onto more formalized writing, identifying the
choices we make in terms of diction, tone, organization, and even subject matter.
PREREQUISITES: Grade of C or better in ENG 102; junior standing or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 491 – TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS WRITING
501
ONLINE ONLINE
MATTHEW JOHNSON
DESCRIPTION: Technical communication, professional correspondence, reports, proposals, descriptions, and evaluations; word
processing and graphics software. For students in English, business, engineering, nursing, the sciences, and the social sciences.
Because this is an online course, students should be familiar with Blackboard and feel comfortable using it. Students who enroll in an
online course should be comfortable using computers, have reliable internet access, and be extremely self-motivated.
PREREQUISITES: Grade of C or better in ENG 102, junior standing or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 492 – ADVANCED FICTION WRITING
001
MW
4:30-5:45p
GEOFF SCHMIDT
DESCRIPTION: Advanced seminar in short story writing. Continuing the work of ENG 392, the course will delve more deeply into the basic
elements of the craft of fiction. Students will write and revise at least two stories in a workshop setting, in addition to completing various
short exercises and careful readings of contemporary short stories.
PREREQUISITE: Grade of C or better in 392 or consent of instructor.
ENGLISH 494 – LITERARY EDITING
001
TR
3:30-4:45p
JOSHUA KRYAH
DESCRIPTION: This course involves students in the production of SIUE’s only student literary magazine, River Bluff Review. Members of
the class serve as the staff of the journal, participating in all aspects of its production, including the solicitation and evaluation of
submissions, editing, design, proofreading, desktop publishing, and promotion. Another significant aspect of the course is an
introduction to literary publishing in the United States, with an emphasis on the literary journal.
PREREQUISITES: Grade of C or better in ENG 102; junior standing or consent of instructor.
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ENGLISH 497A – SENIOR SEMINAR: A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST: THE ARTIST NOVEL FROM JAMES JOYCE TO SPIKE LEE
001
TR
2:00-3:15p
HELENA GURFINKEL
DESCRIPTION: If you are a creative artist—poet, fiction writer, singer-songwriter, sculptor, or fashion designer— at some point, you may
have realized that producing works of art is something that you are compelled to do, and that your inspiration is rarely accountable to
logic. In other words, you have a calling to create and are willing to overcome obstacles to do it. An artist finding him or herself and
following his or her calling determinedly, since an early age, is what the artist novel (or, in German, the Künstlerroman) is about, in a
nutshell. In this course, we will learn about this genre and sample a variety of 20-th and 21st-century narratives, from James Joyce’s
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to the musical Passing Strange, filmed by Spike Lee.
PREREQUISITES: Must be a senior English major; C or better in 301, or consent of instructor.
Not for graduate credit; graduate students not allowed in seminar under any circumstances, including but not limited to enrollment in a
similarly themed independent study or exit-exam course.
ENGLISH 497A – SENIOR SEMINAR: JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES
002
W
6:00-8:50p
JEFFREY SKOBLOW
DESCRIPTION: This Senior Seminar will be devoted to one book: James Joyce’s great novel, a masterpiece if not the masterpiece of 20thcentury literature in English, Ulysses. (We will also be reading two critical works to help us navigate the ocean of this book: Hugh
Kenner’s slim critical volume also called Ulysses, and a book of essays by a range of eminent Joycean scholars, called James Joyce’s
Ulysses: Critical Essays, edited by Clive Hart and David Hayman.) Ulysses is a feast for the senses and the mind: on one level a simple
story of a single day in Dublin, Ireland (June 16, 1904), focused on three characters (a brilliant and depressed young writer named
Stephen Dedalus, an advertising salesman named Leopold Bloom, and his wife Molly, a semi-retired singer) along with a panoply of
other characters of every description—in effect, a portrait of a whole city and society; on another level the book is a re-telling of Homer’s
Odyssey transposed into modern times and terms; on another level still a stylistic encyclopedia that pushes the limits of English prose
beyond where anyone had previously pushed them (or, arguably, has pushed them since); and on yet another level a profound
meditation on life in all its dimensions, from the body in all its activities, including sexual and other relations, to marriage, adultery and
family, love and work, birth and death, schooling and religion, politics and art, and then some. The book is also funny as hell. And it was
banned—and burned by U.S. Customs officials—before its publishers were put on trial for obscenity, a trial they won in a landmark case
that set the precedent for later freedoms of the press, and of the arts in general, to pursue a full and unvarnished account of human
being. At once challenging and immediately rewarding, immersed in the details of everyday life with a startling realism, and committed to
framing those details in the richest dimensions imaginable, the book is an unforgettable journey—the most extraordinary reading
experience I know. It’s a steep mountain to climb, but a gas every step of the way, and when you get to the top you’ll be thrilled by what
you’ve done—the view is sublime. Requirements for the class: students will keep a reading journal to be submitted twice in the course of
the term; will write one short paper devoted to textual analysis; and will write one longer, research-based paper, to be presented (in
condensed form) at the Senior Seminar colloquium at the end of the semester. (Suggestion: if possible, read Joyce’s earlier novel, A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, before the semester begins; a shorter, more conventional work, it details the early life of Stephen
Dedalus—Ulysses is a kind of sequel, although it certainly stands on its own. Joyce’s earlier book of short stories, Dubliners, would also
make for good preparation—some of the same characters reappear in the later book. We won’t have time to read these earlier works as
a class, but having some familiarity with them ahead of time will help get you going. Still, this is totally optional; starting cold with Ulysses
is cool too.)
PREREQUISITES: Must be a senior English major; C or better in 301, or consent of instructor.
Not for graduate credit; graduate students not allowed in seminar under any circumstances, including but not limited to enrollment in a
similarly themed independent study or exit-exam course.
ENGLISH 499 – READINGS IN ENGLISH
001
TBA
TBA
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Independent study in specific area of interest. Extensive reading. For English students only; may be repeated to maximum
of 6 hours.
PREREQUISITES: Approval of advisor and instructor.
500 LEVEL
ENGLISH 501 – MODERN LITERARY THEORY
001
M
6:00-8:50p
HEATHER JOHNSON
DESCRIPTION: In this course, students will be introduced to literature as a field of study and to the cooperative, community-fueled work
undertaken by academics in the humanities. We’ll think about what it means to be literary scholar, how work in the field and in the
academy is conducted, and the fundamental questions that drive investigations into the life of language, literature, and culture. While
much of the course will focus on literary theory, we will also think about contemporary issues in academia (particularly in the
humanities). It would be impossible to cover all literary theories and academic issues in depth, but I hope we will achieve at least a
nodding familiarity with a fair number of the many languages spoken by literary scholars. The ultimate goal is to construct a foundation
of knowledge upon which later studies may be based—therefore, the course will partake in many of the qualities of a survey; we will cast
our nets wide in the teeming ocean of literary thought, catching here a wriggling handful of Marxism, there a flashing school of
Psychoanalysis, there the massive form of Structuralism, and there the colorful shoal of Postmodernism.
This course is required of all MA students in Literature (AEL).
[updated 5/11/17]
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ENGLISH 506 – TOPICS IN LITERARY PERIODS: AGE OF ELIZABETH
001
T
6:00-8:50p
JOHN SAVOIE
DESCRIPTION: We will study major writers (e.g. Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Elizabeth herself) and works (TBA) from
the lifetime of Elizabeth that somehow engage her presence or reflect her influence, explicitly or indirectly. The course will require much
reading, a brief paper, a longer paper, and an oral presentation. The seminar will proceed by some lecture, much discussion, a bit of
film, and student presentations.
For MA students in Literature (AEL), this course fulfills the pre-1700 requirement.
ENGLISH 521 – TOPICS IN LITERATURE & CULTURE: BLACK DIASPORIC FEMINISMS
001
W
6:00-8:50p
LIZ CALI
DESCRIPTION: This course focuses on Black women’s writings from North America, Europe, the Caribbean, and continental Africa. We
will consider the intersections of race, feminism, and space (geographic, textual, bodily, spiritual, intellectual) over the course of the
semester, with attention to grounding Black feminist theoretical texts. And, we will think specifically about the ways that concepts of
African diaspora and Black feminist diaspora intersect. Students are encouraged to follow their intellectual curiosity, to invest deeply in
Black theoretical texts and also in Black literary criticism, to explore what it means to be creative academic thinkers, writers, and
discussants. Whenever possible, while drawing from all that you’ve learned of social, political, cultural, and literary theory and criticism
thus far, this class asks that you push yourself to engage increasingly with the critical discourse of the specific fields of Black Diaspora
studies and Black Feminist studies as you learn. Course authors will include Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, Maryse Condé, June
Jordan, and more.
For MA students in Literature (AEL), this course fulfills the post-1700 requirement.
For MA students in Creative Writing, this course fulfills the contemporary requirement.
ENGLISH 532 – TOPICS IN CREATIVE WRITING
001
T
6:00-8:50p
JOSHUA KRYAH
DESCRIPTION: This course is the graduate writing workshop for students of poetry and prose.
This course will focus on cross-genre writing, paying particular attention to authors and works that interrupt, challenge, or otherwise
confuse conventional notions of genre. While concentrating on specific genre categories (poetry, fiction, nonfiction), we will also explore
how writing crosses over such boundaries in order to create new generic possibilities, “hybrid” work. Students will reevaluate the strict
literary taxonomies they often inhabit in order to encourage a synthesis of traditional and experimental styles.
ENGLISH 542 – METHODS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
001
M
6:00-8:50p
SERAN AKTUNA
DESCRIPTION: This course is a general introduction to the methodology of teaching second/foreign languages. It presents the principles
for designing language programs for various learning contexts and surveys historical and current teaching approaches with a focus on
analyzing their theoretical foundations and techniques used in their classroom implementation. The course also examines the variables
that impact language teaching and learning, approaches to materials evaluation, and techniques for teaching different language skills.
OBJECTIVE: To enable prospective teachers of English as a second/foreign language to make theoretically informed and socioculturally
appropriate decisions regarding language teaching methodology and materials in different language teaching situations
ENGLISH 545 – TESL PRACTICUM
001
TBA
TBA
SERAN AKTUNA
DESCRIPTION: This variable credit course is designed to provide MA TESL students an opportunity to observe and tutor a variety of
English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in real-world classrooms. Students will engage in focused observations of teachers and
students, work as volunteer teachers, and write reflective analyses of their experiences. The overall goal of the course is to help
students gain an understanding of the teaching-learning process and connect the knowledge gained in other TESL/Linguistics classes
with the practical aspects of second language teaching.
ENGLISH 552 – ACADEMIC WRITING AND RESEARCH METHODS IN COMPOSITION STUDIES
DESCRIPTION: Research methods in composition studies; practice using electronic data bases; instruction in professional research writing.
Required of students in teaching of writing MA specialization.
The Department of English will not be offering ENG 552 in Fall 2017. Please see Brian Henderson, MA-TOW Graduate Advisor,
for help with an appropriate replacement.
[updated 5/11/17]
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ENGLISH 554 – COMPOSITION PEDAGOGY
001
MTWRF 9-4p (8/7 – 8/18 and TBA)
MATTHEW S.S. JOHNSON
DESCRIPTION: This section of ENG 554 is exclusively for new Teaching Assistants in the Department of English Language & Literature
and is designed to support and enhance TAs’ teaching of college-level, first-year writing courses. The course largely consists of
training, demonstrations, and workshops (with a healthy dose of composition-rhetoric reading and discussion here and there) that focus
on composition pedagogy, in general, and more specifically: writing as a process; invention strategies; syllabus and assignment design;
class planning; collaborative learning; grammar/mechanics instruction in college writing courses; reading, writing, and critical thinking
(practices and motivations); visual and rhetorical analysis; assessment of students’ academic work; conducting student conferences;
discussion leading; university professionalism; and the teaching of writing with computers.
Plan to dedicate each day in its entirety to the course from August 7th-August 18tt; required, subsequent meetings throughout the Fall
semester will be determined.
Required texts include:
Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, 2nd
ed. (Jossey-Bass, 2011).
Dethier, Brock. First Time Up: An Insider's Guide for New Composition Teachers (Utah State UP, 2005).
Various other readings that will be made available via Blackboard.
ENGLISH 554 – COMPOSITION PEDAGOGY
002
T
6:00-8:50p
ANUSHIYA RAMASWAMY
DESCRIPTION: A foundational course in the Teaching of Writing program, this class will help you engage critically with some of the key
questions about writing pedagogy in American colleges. This particular course is organized around ideas of location and space. The
definition of bounded spaces, the ways we occupy certain marked spaces, and the need to clarify the material ways we occupy space –
where we live, how we commute, who represents our electoral district, whether we define our small town by locating the nearest
Walmart, why we want tomatoes the year-around, how we use our Smart phones, how long our public library remains open – become
crucial.
I hope to be able to connect theory, history and pragmatic questions about teaching writing in particular institutions (yours and mine) in a
manner that allows you to better understand your own views about writing pedagogy.
Required of students in teaching of writing MA specialization.
ENGLISH 578 – GENDER, LANGUAGE, AND PEDAGOGY
001
R
6:00-8:50p
ANUSHIYA RAMASWAMY
DESCRIPTION: Study of recent research into ways gender affects language: speaking, reading, and writing.
ENGLISH 596 – PREPARATORY READING/TEACHING OF WRITING
001
TBA
TBA
JESSICA DESPAIN
DESCRIPTION: Reading of relevant research and writing of three essays under supervision of committee. Restricted to MA candidates
within one semester of fulfilling requirements for teaching of writing specialization.
ENGLISH 597 – READINGS IN ENGLISH STUDIES
001
TBA
TBA
TBA
DESCRIPTION: Individual readings in creative writing, linguistics, literature, TESL, or teaching of writing. May be repeated once for a
maximum of 6 hours.
PREREQUISITES: Graduate standing; approval of adviser and instructor.
ENGLISH 598 – PREPARATORY READING: LITERATURE
001
TBA
TBA
JESSICA DESPAIN
DESCRIPTION: Reading of relevant research and writing of three essays under supervision of committee.
Restricted to MA candidates within one semester of fulfilling requirements for American and English literature specialization.
ENGLISH 599 – THESIS
001
TBA
TBA
JESSICA DESPAIN
DESCRIPTION: May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours.
PREREQUISITE: Graduate standing.
[updated 5/11/17]
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