Department of English
Undergraduate Course Descriptions
Spring 2017
English 2070:
CRN: 14625
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00—11:40
This course will explore the emergence of detective fiction as a genre, beginning with its
foundations laid by Edgar Allan Poe through present day, including works by Agatha Christie,
Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Stephen King. Our objectives
will include making connections between history and today as well as representations of women
and men and the dynamics which exist between them. In addition, we will discuss themes of
science and scientific method and chart the development of detective fiction into what we now
understand it to be: an inescapable genre in theater, cinema, television, and the written word. By
carefully studying the works and using supplemental texts to offer a diversity of perspectives, we
will seek to discover all there is to know about the gritty world of the private eye.
English 2100: Film Interpretation
CRN: 11208
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30—4:45
CRN: 13499
Mondays, 6:30—9:00
CRN: 13500
Tuesdays, 6:30—9:00
Dr. Casey McKittrick
Film Interpretation is a course designed to acclimate students to thinking critically about the medium
of cinema. In watching films of various genres, time periods, and nationalities, and learning critical
vocabularies for assessing the cinematic experience, students will learn to discuss how narrative,
sound, mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing work together to produce meaning for the film
spectator. Students will confront aesthetic, social, and ideological questions surrounding the
production and reception of movies. Films may include, but are not limited to: Citizen Kane,
Election, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Boogie Nights, Grand Illusion, Nosferatu,
The Hours, Mildred Pierce, Rear Window, Vertigo, Higher Learning, and Rebel Without a Cause.
English 2110: Folklore and Mythology
CRN: 13012
Mondays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Mustafa Mirzeler
In this course students will explore the folklore and mythology of people who live in disparate
parts of the world, in Africa, Central Asia, Mesopotamia, the ancient shores of Mediterranean
Sea and Western Europe. Drawing from the contemporary folklore and mythology, this course
historicizes and conceptualizes cultural and social contexts that produce folklore and myths
around the world.
English 2220: Literatures and Cultures of the United States
CRN: 13013
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Katherine Joslin
This course looks closely at the idea of a national literature, specifically a literature of the United
States, and reflects on the relationship between literature and the culture that creates it. As we read
essays, stories, novels, and nonfiction narratives this semester, we will think about how the United
States produces a variety of literatures, distinctive from each other in significant ways, and consider
the nature of our collective identity as a country. We will spend class time in conversation and
writing. You will need to keep up with the reading and participate actively in discussions, as well as
work together on a group project.
Texts will include Sherman Alexie, Reservation Blues; Bonnie Jo Campbell , American Salvage; TaNehisi Coates, Between the World and Me; Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs
of a Girlhood Among Ghosts; and Richard Rodriguez, Brown: The Last Discovery of America.
English 2230: African-American Literature
CRN: 11330
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. John Saillant
This course surveys African-American literature from the era of the slave trade to the present.
Written work includes three essays.
English 2520: Shakespeare
CRN: 11331
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00—11:40
Dr. Grace Tiffany
[email protected]
www.shakespearefiction.blogspot.com
This class is an introduction to the college-level study of Shakespeare, and is classified as a
general education class. In it we will discuss and see portions, on video, of six of Shakespeare’s
best-known plays. While we will treat these plays as works designed for performance, careful
reading of their dialogue will be necessary in order for them to be understood, and so we will go
slowly. Some historical background of the age of Shakespeare will be provided throughout to
enhance understanding of the plays.
Assignments: In addition to the reading, assignments include six in class short-essay tests (onehour, worth 10% each of final grade), a final exam (worth 20% of final grade), and class
participation in the form of attendance, attentive listening, and discussion (20%).
The final exam is optional and, if taken, guaranteed either to raise or, at worst, not to hurt
your grade. (If it threatens to lower your grade the final exam grade will be dropped.) If students
want their grades to be averaged from their class participation and six earlier test grades and to
skip the final, that is permissible.
Extra credit (one project) is possible in exchange for a presentation, a memorized speech
from Shakespeare, attendance and a short written review of a Renaissance drama performance –
there will probably be an opportunity for us to go to Chicago to see a production of Love’s
Labor’s Lost -- or a dramatic performance done for the class. Students are responsible for
designing and proposing such extra-credit projects.
Readings: some sonnets, Love’s Labor’s Lost; Measure for Measure; Henry IV, part 1;
Henry V; Macbeth; King Lear. Texts: Folger editions.
English 2660: Writing Fiction and Poetry
CRN: Various
Schedule: Various
Instructors: Various
This is an introductory creative writing course that covers both fiction and poetry. It is a reading
as well as a writing course; students will learn the basic elements of fiction and poetry, read
selections of work in each genre, complete critical and creative writing exercises and
assignments, and participate in workshop sessions that focus on discussion of their own work
and the work of their peers.
English 2790: Introduction to English Education
CRN: 14626
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30—4:45
Dr. Allen Webb
Catalog states: An introduction to the responsibilities, aspirations, and professional knowledge of
secondary English language arts teachers.
English 2790 will introduce you to the creative, exciting, and challenging world of teaching high
school and middle school English by:
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Meeting and talking with public school English teachers and students;
Reading narratives and viewing films about teaching;
Learning and presenting about issues in the field;
Sharing about your own interests and experiences studying English;
Discovering ways to use the Internet and new technologies for teaching;
Finding out about the job market for teachers;
Learning about requirements, courses, tests, etc. to earn certification.
Decide if you want to earn a teaching certificate!
Open to students at all levels and in all majors and minors!
Required of all students earning teaching certificates in English as of catalog year 2016-17.
English 3050: Introduction to Professional Writing
CRN: 11334
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00—1:40
Dr. Brian Gogan
Recently, 97% of over 300 Fortune 1000 executives rated the “ability to write clearly and
persuasively” as “absolutely necessary” or “very important” for individuals embarking on
careers. The message of these high-powered executives is clear: Writing effectively positions
you for professional success.
As such, “English 3050: Introduction to Professional Writing” is a course designed to position
you for success by developing your confidence and competency in the written communication
that occurs in professional settings.
During this course you will:
 Write in a variety of workplace genres including resumes, letters, emails, memos, reports,
and proposals
 Practice strategies for anticipating, identifying, and addressing the situated needs of
audiences
 Craft polished documents that demonstrate the fundamentals of reader-centered
communication
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Research the habits of writers in your discipline
This course is held in a computer lab with plenty of opportunity for personalized help with
course projects. No textbooks are required for this course.
English 3050: Introduction to Professional Writing
CRN: 11335
Mondays, 6:30—9:50
Dr. Charlotte Thralls
English 3050 is a course designed to develop your confidence and competency in written
communication. Whatever your future career plans or your current, favorite media for
communicating (print, digital, twitter, Facebook or other social media), you are likely to need strong
writing skills. Numerous studies, for example, show that in many professions, communication skills
are ranked at the top (first or second place) of the most valued qualities for success. Many of you
might be surprised at how central writing is in the day-to-day life of most professionals. To help
prepare you for the challenges ahead, this class will expand your writing repertoires beyond the
academic essay or research paper. Through various class projects, you will
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Become familiar with the formats and rhetorical challenges of various practical genres and
document formats (memos, reports, manuals, web text, visual displays and designs, etc.)
Develop skill for anticipating (and addressing) the needs and reactions of audiences to
communications in different contexts
Learn the fundamentals of reader-centered communication, including the fundamentals of
document design and readability used to create well-crafted documents
Learn about some documents and communication habits typical for professionals in your
discipline
The course is held in a computer lab with plenty of opportunity for personalized help with course
projects.
English 3060: Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture
CRN: 13014
Thursdays, 6:30—9:40
Dr. Jonathan Bush
See course catalog or contact instructor.
English 3070: Literature in Our Lives
CRN: 15652
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:15
Dr. Elizabeth Bradburn
We will begin the course with this year’s University common read: Station Eleven, by Emily St.
John Mandel. For those of us living in Michigan, this novel has special significance and invites
us to look at a familiar place in new ways. The book also draws on many disciplines and media
beyond literature; students studying all subjects will find ways to connect with it. The other
course readings will be inspired by Station Eleven in various ways; we’ll read Shakespeare’s
Tempest, Thomas More’s Utopia, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, poetry responding to the AIDS
pandemic, and a graphic novel, probably Sarnath Banerjee’s All Quiet in Vikaspuri. In class,
we’ll also view a television episode from the Star Trek franchise and selections from films based
on the readings. All reading assignments will be available at the reserve desk, and some are
available in free online versions, reducing textbook costs.
Class time will consist of structured discussion and some lecture. Reading quizzes will constitute
15% of the course grade (to ensure that all students complete reading assignments before class
time). Other graded assignments will include several short response papers and a final project.
Students will design their own final projects and are encouraged to draw on their study and
training in any discipline, including (but not limited to) visual art, performance, the sciences,
engineering, medicine, business, and education. There will be a strict attendance policy: students
who miss more than 4 class meetings will fail the course.
English 3080: Quest for Self
CRN: 15653
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30—10:45
Dr. Jil Larson
In this course we will study subjectivity, introspection, and all that goes into the shaping of a
self. We will read a variety of literature—poetry, memoir, fiction—in which protagonists explore
selfhood, and each student will write reflectively about the course reading, personal reading, and
his or her own quest for self through literature. Course work will include one paper in addition to
a number of shorter assignments, a midterm, and a final exam.
English 3110: Our Place in Nature
CRN: 13689
Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:00—6:15
Ms. Lindsay Jeffers
In a 2015 issue, TIME magazine published a piece about the “superwicked” problem of climate
change. The author described why climate change is an incredibly complex problem with, “the
potential to irrevocably alter the environment on which every living thing on the earth depends.”
This class attempts to address our place in nature in an era of change.
In the first half of the course, students will read the novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and Bill
McKibben’s Eaarth, as well as a selection of readings in other genres. Class time will be spent
in discussion of literature, and students will respond in writing via blogs. In the second half of
the semester, students will read in focus groups and research a topic of their own choosing. They
will present an annotated bibliography of critical sources and create a multimedia persuasive
piece as a way to inform the public about an issue of concern.
Required texts: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Eaarth by Bill McKibben, and an additional text to be
chosen in small groups.
English 3120: Western World Literature
CRN: 14881
Wednesdays, 5:30—8:00
Professor Judith Rypma
This course will focus on engaged reading and critical discussion of translated literature from
non-English speaking Western cultures, with an emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century texts. In
addition to reading works as part of the literary canon, we will examine how some of this
literature helped formulate, react to, and alter social, political, and intellectual movements and
how it interacts with other world literary and philosophical movements. Sessions will consist of
lecture, all-class discussions, and small team exercises. Emphasis is on critical thinking, engaged
discussion, and application of key scholarly theories. Texts will include Bulgakov’s Master and
Margarita, Camus’ The Stranger, and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, as well as short stories and poems
by Rilke, Baudelaire, Neruda, Chekhov, Borges, Kafka, Marquez, Achebe, and De Maupassant.
English 3140: African Literature
CRN: 12693
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:15
Dr. Allen Webb
Today there are 1 billion people living in Africa,
speaking perhaps 2000 languages. The continent
comprises 20% of the land of the planet, is enormously
rich in resources, yet much of Africa is desperately poor
with vast populations attempting to live on less than $2
per day.
This course seeks to use African literature, memoir, film,
biography, autobiography, history, library and on-line
sources to begin to understand the enormous complexity
of Africa and the challenges facing the continent. A
cornerstone of this course is the idea that knowledge
creates responsibility. Students will be expected to address what they are learning by research,
collaboration, and action.
We begin our study of the current crisis in Africa by looking at the colonial and early national
period. Turning to literature from the present we will encounter issues such as economic and
political corruption and collapse, resource exploitation, poverty, education, the condition of
women, the environment, warfare and child soldiers, AIDS, immigration, etc.
As we learn about challenges in Africa we will also explore solutions. Africa is young; in some
countries half of the population is under 25. Most of our reading will be about young people,
many college age, their life experience and how they are making a positive difference. After
extensive reading and study as a class, students will form groups focused on specific issues to
engage in additional reading, research, action, and work with African and international
organizations dedicated to a brighter future for the continent.
For further information consult allenwebb.net.
English 3160: Storytellers
CRN: 14123
Mondays, 5:00—6:15
Dr. Mustafa Mirzeler
Relying on oral tradition and the written word, the storytellers work imaginatively within the
realms of fantasy and reality. The fantasy element of their oral tradition and written literature is
the link to a fabulous and grandly mythicized past created in oral epic tales, stories, and novels.
In the world of the storytellers, what assuage the pain and suffering of people are the stories, the
myths, and the imaginary worlds of the ancient past. In every age, human societies have
produced their master storytellers who have moved tradition into new dispensations through the
magic of words. In reading the accounts of these storytellers, the students will enter into their
magical worlds and experience the magical truth of storytelling as well as the magic of the
words.
English 3200: American Literature I
CRN: 11336
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00—3:15
Dr. Daneen Wardrop
In English 3200, we will encounter a variety of American literatures, including the Native
American story, Puritan poem, slave narrative, gothic tale, Transcendentalist essay, frontier
humor, sentimental fiction, and others. Some of the authors whose works we investigate will be
the following: Cabeza de Vaca, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Harriet Jacobs, and
Emily Dickinson. Our objective will be to read American literature from beginnings up to the
Civil War, aiming for both coverage and acute comprehension. Requirements include spirited
class participation, group presentation, engaged reading, essay writing, mid-term and final
examinations.
English 3210: American Literature II
CRN: 12351
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00—12:15
Mr. Michael Marberry
See course catalog or contact instructor.
English 3310: British Literature I
CRN: 11337
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30—1:45
Dr. Eve Salisbury
This course offers a wide variety of texts written in English over a number of centuries during
which time England experienced profound ideological and linguistic change. Beginning with
“Caedmon’s Hymn” and Old English poetry, continuing through the Middle English period of
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales into the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries of premodern
English, our study of this literary corpus allows us to see the dynamics of linguistic transformation
and to understand how a distinctively British literary tradition is made.
English 3310: British Literature II
CRN: 12422
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:15
Dr. Jil Larson
This course offers a survey of British literature in the Romantic Period (late 18th and early 19th
century), the Victorian Era (1837-1903), and the Modern Period (20th century to the present).
This is quite a bit to cover in one semester, but we will read selectively, hitting many of the
highlights and exploring both continuities and discontinuities as we make comparison among
literary texts published throughout this rich period of literary history. The course work will
include a midterm and final exam, one paper, and a series of short writing assignments.
English 3690: Writing in the Elementary School
CRN: 11267
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00—1:40
CRN: 14652
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Esther Gray
This course focuses on the writing development of learners from preschool through middle school
and on the role that students’ writing can play in learning required content across the curriculum.
Analyzing samples of children’s writing will enable participants to develop a knowledge base about
the ways that young students acquire their early understandings of how writing works, and also about
how their writing progresses as they advance through school. Participants’ close examination of
instructional processes of exemplary writing teachers with
beginning and advanced students will reveal both how and why their techniques can foster learners’
meaningful progress as writers. In ENGL 3690, a significant key to developing a theoretical
understanding of the writing process grows out of participants’ experiences writing in varied genres
and forms. The course will incorporate key shifts in language arts instruction that have arisen through
the Common Core Curriculum.
English 3700: Writing Creative Nonfiction
CRN: 12094
Tuesdays, 6:30—9:00
Professor Richard Katrovas
This course will be a standard "Iowa"-style writing workshop in which we will explore the range
of possibilities for creative nonfiction. Each student will be expected to generate at least three
nonfiction texts, and to participate in the critiquing of his or her colleagues' texts. We will also
read and discuss masterpieces of the genre. Assuming that few students will have a store of
personal essays and nonfiction narratives, the professor will give assignments.
English 3710: Structures of Modern English
CRN: 15654
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Paul Johnston
The course introduces students to the idea of English (and language in general) as a multileveled, patterned, structured system, a vehicle for speakers to produce utterances and to
communicate in a social context. Participants learn the terms and concepts needed to study each
level of this structure: phonetics/phonology (sounds), the morphology (meaningful word parts),
lexical studies and semantics (words and meanings), syntax (sentences), and pragmatics (texts
and whole utterances). Students will also study how writers of literature use these levels of
language to create effects and patterns that guide readers toward certain interpretations of their
texts.
English 3720: Development of Modern English
CRN: 11277
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00—11:40
Dr. Paul Johnston
English 3720 traces the development of modern English from its beginnings to the present,
examining historic and linguistic influences on change in spoken and written English. It explores
theories of language development, with emphasis on their practical implications.
Students who complete the course successfully will acquire the following:
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Language description skills, including proficiency in the International Phonetic
Alphabet.
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Working knowledge of precise terminology used in the discipline of linguistics.
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Understanding of the external (social, political, intellectual) influences on language
change the internal (linguistic) mechanisms of language change, and the interplay
between the two.
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Ability to use an etymological/historical dictionary such as the Oxford English
Dictionary (OED) as an aid to deciphering unfamiliar words or unfamiliar meanings of
common words.
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Enough knowledge of the English of different periods to work with and translate
short texts from those periods.
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Awareness of how standard varieties are authorized and institutionalized.
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Understanding of English as a global lingua franca and the implications of its
influence.
English 3770: Language and Learning in Multilanguage Classrooms
CRN: 14625
Tuesdays, 6:00—8:30
Dr. Karen Vocke
Second language acquisition theory and pedagogy form the foundation for ENGL 3770,
Language in the Multilingual Classroom. Educators today face increasing numbers of students
for whom English is a second language. This course provides a foundation in second language
acquisition theory, sociocultural approaches to language diversity, teaching strategies for
linguistically diverse students, and current issues in the field. For additional information, contact
Dr. Karen Vocke, [email protected].
English 3830: Literature for the Intermediate Reader
CRN: 11290
Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00—11:40
CRN: 12235
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:40
Professor Judith Rypma
English 3830 focuses on criticism of works for children in grades 4 through 8, with a focus on
critical thinking and close literary analysis. Works read include a variety of novels, epics, myths,
poems, biographies, etc. This a lecture and discussion class, and serves as a content course for
both education and non-education majors. It also fits Distribution Area 2.
Texts will include Percy Jackson's Lightning Thief, Nikki Grimes' Bronx Masquerade, The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Devil's Arithmetic, Tuck Everlasting, A Long Walk to Water and
Flora and Ulysses. A variety of handouts of myths, hero tales, and poems will also be provided.
English 3830: Literature for the Intermediate Reader
CRN: 12025
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00—11:40
CRN: 12423
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00-5:40
Dr. Meghann Meeusen
English 3830, Literature for the Intermediate Reader, examines literature written for young
people from a variety of critical and culturally diverse perspectives, paying particular attention to
social, cultural, and ideological messages presented in novels, nonfiction, illustrated texts,
graphic novels, film, and other media. Building knowledge of foundational literary concepts,
theories, and approaches, students will consider children’s literature in terms of its social context
and give special attention to intertextuality, historical basing, and positionality within
contemporary culture. Additionally, students will engage in critical thinking and consider their
own analytical practices through in-class assignments and activities, essay-style analytical
writing, a multimodal research project, and a final exam.
English 3830: Literature for the Intermediate Reader
CRN: 12236
HYBRID Online/In Person Course
Dr. Gwen Tarbox
Class Meeting Days:
12:00 pm - 1:40 pm in 4540 Sangren Hall
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Thursday, April 20, 2017
English 3830, Literature for the Intermediate Reader, is a survey course that will focus on these
questions: 1) What are the distinguishing features of contemporary texts written for children,
aged 9-12? 2) How has the representation of childhood altered over the last two hundred years in
texts written for children and what do these changes in representation tell us about adults’
anxieties regarding children and their behavior? 3) What forms of critical analysis have been
brought to bear upon children's literature and how can they enrich our understanding of the
genre?
This section of ENGL 3830 is a hybrid course; the majority of instruction and interaction will
take place in an online eLearning environment beginning during the first week of classes.
To supplement this online instruction, the class will meet 5 times during the semester to discuss
books or ideas in person. This course is ideal for a student who would like to avoid a long
commute during the winter semester or who has a complicated work/course schedule.
Here is a copy of the tentative text list. Students are expected to rent or to buy all of their texts
and to bring them to class:
Alexander, Booked
DiCamillo, Flora and Ulysses
Federle, Better Nate Than Ever
Hale, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood
Lendler and Giallongo, The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Romeo and Juliet
Pennypacker, Pax
Telgemeier, Ghosts
Wicks, Human Body Theater
Yang, Secret Coders, Book 1
Assignments for ENGL 3830 will include course posts, a mid-term, a final, and weekly
homework assignments.
English 3840: Adolescent Literature
CRN: 11813
HYBRID Online/In Person Course
Dr. Gwen Tarbox
Class Meeting Days:
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm in 4017 Sangren Hall
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Thursday, April 20, 2017
English 3840, Adolescent Literautre, is a survey course that focuses on an analysis of literature
for teenagers from a variety of critical and culturally diverse perspectives. It emphasizes the
adolescent experience as reflected in literature, the history of adolescent literature and media,
and the distinguishing features of classical and contemporary texts.
This section of ENGL 3840 is a hybrid course; the majority of instruction and interaction will
take place in an online eLearning environment beginning during the first week of classes.
To supplement this online instruction, the class will meet 5 times during the semester to discuss
books or ideas in person. This course is ideal for a student who would like to avoid a long
commute during the winter semester or who has a complicated work/course schedule.
Here is a copy of the tentative text list. Students are expected to rent or to buy all of their texts
and to bring them to class:
Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Collins, The Hunger Games
Green and Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Lewis, Aydin, and Powell, March: Book One
Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys
Standiford, How to Say Goodbye in Robot
Tamaki, Super Mutant Magic Academy
Wilson and Alphona, Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Vol. 1
Assignments for ENGL 3840 will include course posts, a mid-term, a final, and weekly
homework assignments.
English 4060: Style, Identity, and Persona
CRN: 13026
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00—3:15
Dr. Brian Gogan
Impact—the rhetorical effectiveness of a given text—depends upon decisions both large and small. This
course considers the decisions that accompany the production of texts in terms of the rhetorical concepts
of style, identification, and persona. We will develop our own understandings of these three rhetorical
concepts by reading across rhetorical studies scholarship, trade handbooks, and corporate manuals. We
will also conduct empirical research on style, identification, and persona in professional settings.
Finally, we will address a situated need (either your own need or a community partner’s need) by
composing a persona profile, an identity package, and a style guide. During this course you will:
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Apply theories of rhetoric, writing, and design to professional communication
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Compose a professional persona profile, identity package, and style guide to meet a
situated need
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Assess the effectiveness of your compositions through user research
English 4060: Writing for Social Media
CRN: 15655
Mondays, 4:00—6:20
Dr. Maria Gigante
Issues that are central to this course include how identity and ethos are negotiated in social media
networks, and how knowledge is made, accepted, and distributed. In this class, you will
participate in different online social media platforms and critically examine them to explore the
available means of persuasion in digital forums. Readings, research, class discussion, and lab
work will help you create multimodal projects for this course. Through completing these
projects, you will learn about the continuously evolving tools required for participation in online
communities, society, and public discourse.
English 4100: Hitchcock
CRN: 15656
Wednesdays, 6:30—9:50
Dr. Casey McKittrick
A survey of some of the masterworks of film director Alfred Hitchcock spanning his 50-year
career, from England to America, with an introduction to various schools of film theory and
criticism as tools and frameworks for interpretation.
Films: Blackmail (1929); The 39 Steps (1935); Rebecca (1940); Shadow of a Doubt (1943);
Notorious (1946); Strangers on a Train (1951); Rear Window (1954); The Man Who Knew Too
Much (1956); Vertigo (1958); Psycho/ The Birds (1960, 63); Marnie (1964); Frenzy (1972).
Texts: A Short Guide to Writing About Film, T. Corrigan; The Art of Alfred Hitchcock, D. Spoto.
Excerpts from The Hitchcock Romance, Lesley Brill; Hitchcock’s Appetites: The Corpulent Plots
of Desire and Dread, Casey McKittrick; The Murderous Gaze, William Rothman; The Women
Who Knew Too Much, Tania Modleski; Hitchcock/ Truffaut; essays by Francois Truffaut,
Alexandre Astruc, and Jean-Luc Godard.
English 4160: Women in Literature
CRN: 14883
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00—5:40
Dr. Eve Salisbury
This course offers a study of women both in literature and as writers of literature. Provisional
readings include the Breton lais of Marie de France, stories of famous women by Christine de Pisan
(The Book of the City of Ladies), the life and times of Joan of Arc, the poetry of Shakespeare’s “dark
lady,” Brontё’s Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys’s The Wide Sargasso Sea, select contemporary poetry, and
Harper Lee’s most recent novel, Go Set a Watchman, the long-awaited sequel to the American
classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. By expanding the purview of women’s writing into the premodern
past and focusing on the distinctive perspectives offered in these works, we will begin to recognize
not only the presence of a literary canon but a tradition of writing that women, to paraphrase Virginia
Woolf, can now call their own.
English 4420: Studies in Drama
CRN: 15657
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Grace Tiffany
[email protected]
www.shakespearefiction.blogspot.com
The focus of this class will be on foundational traditions which continue to shape drama in the
Western world. We will read and discuss nine plays or play-cycles, beginning with Aeschylus’
Oresteia and ending with Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. We will also watch, and do some spoken
readings of, scenes from these plays. We will explore theater history in the fourth century B.C. in
Ancient Greece and in the late-medieval period and early seventeenth century in England, and
make a brief foray into mid- and later-twentieth century theater, ending with the famous
absurdist play Endgame. Plays: Aeschylus, The Oresteia; Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle;
Euripides, The Bacchae; Aristophanes, Lysistrata; Anon., Everyman; Marlowe, Doctor Faustus;
Shakespeare, Hamlet, The Tempest; Miller, Death of a Salesman; Beckett, Endgame, Reza, God
of Carnage.
Text: The Bedford Introduction to Drama, 7th edition
Assignments: three one-page papers (10% each), one 8-10-page research paper (25%), final
exam The focus of this class will be on foundational traditions which continue to shape drama in
the (25%), class participation (20%).
This is a baccalaureate writing class and completes that requirement for English majors.
English 4440: Studies in the Novel
CRN: 11299
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Christopher Nagle
This section of Studies in the Novel will focus on Gothic fiction, one of the most popular
traditions in the history of the novel since the 18th century. The course will draw most heavily
from the British tradition, tracing the early development of the gothic in writers such as Horace
Walpole, Sophia Lee, William Beckford, Ann Radcliffe, and Matthew Lewis, through the
stranger variations on gothic themes found in later works of the nineteenth century (Maria
Edgeworth, Percy and Mary Shelley, James Hogg, Charles Maturin, Emily Bronte,
R.L.Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Joseph Conrad) and draw to a close in the early 20th century.
We will explore a wide variety of themes and issues within the gothic tradition--representations
of doubling and the Doppelganger, religious persecution, the terrors of family, the politics of
violence, history and its traumas, discourses of colonialism, degeneration and perversion, as well
as the development of psychology and pathological cultural typing--while examining the
experimentation in narrative form that emerges in this fiction. The works we read will always be
strange and challenging, and not infrequently disturbing. Be forewarned!
Students should expect and come prepared for: a heavy reading load each week; a substantial
writing component (shorter, exploratory writing as well as longer, formal essays); class
presentations; active participation by all members of the class; and reading quizzes if deemed
necessary.
Course readings are likely to be selected from among the following possibilities: Walpole's
Castle of Otranto, Lee's The Recess, Beckford's Vathek, Radcliffe's Castles of Athlin and
Dunbayne or The Veiled Picture, Lewis' The Monk, Austen's Northanger Abbey, Edgeworth's
Castle Rackrent, P. Shelley's Zastrozzi, M. Shelley's Transformation, Polidori's Vampyre, Hogg's
Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer, E. Bronte's
Wuthering Heights, Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stoker's Dracula, Conrad's Secret
Sharer.
English 4720: Language Variation in American English
CRN: 11311
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00—11:40
Dr. Lisa Minnick
From the Catalogue: English 4720 is the study of regional and social varieties of American
English from sociolinguistic perspectives, focusing on the forces that influence different types of
language variation. It examines issues of linguistic bias and offers a multi-cultural perspective on
the role of language in daily life.
Course description, purpose, and objectives: In this course, we will discuss the theories and
practices of language variation research, particularly as applied to American English. In doing
so, we will consider approaches to the study of language variation, with attention to key figures,
studies, and methodologies. We will discuss the functions and effects of dialectal variation, and
how factors such as geography, ethnicity, gender, social status and other extralinguistic variables
interact with language and contribute to variation. We will also explore how popular perceptions
and attitudes contribute to the differential valuation of American English varieties and the effects
of these valuations. Finally, students will learn the skills and practices of linguistic research and
language description and apply these skills to original research projects.
English 4800: Teaching Literature in the Secondary Schools
CRN: 11313
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00—1:40
Dr. Karen Vocke
English 4800 is a capstone course that considers fundamental questions of why and how to teach
literature; we will also focus on recent waves of reform, reader response, cultural studies, and the
impact of the Internet. Using both reader response and cultural studies approaches, we will
examine the ways that culture and literature intersect to inform--and transform--our practice. We
will use a thematic approach to explore a variety of themes in a problem-posing, student-led
format.
Of special emphasis in this section of 4800 are the following: examining the reading process-how effective readers engage texts and use strategies to make the most of their reading
experiences; understanding the history, current state, and influence of the English literary canon;
examining issues of censorship, and designing curriculum and lessons sensitive to students of
diverse abilities and backgrounds.
A variety of technologies are examined in this class: digital storytelling, website creation, wikis,
webquests, and podcasting, to name a few. Guest speakers will include area teachers and
administrators.
For additional information, contact Dr. Karen Vocke at [email protected]
Honors 4900: Writing in the Sciences
CRN: 15682
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00—3:15
Dr. Maria Gigante
This is a writing-intensive course designed specifically for science majors who want to learn how
scientists construct arguments for their peers and for non-expert publics. You will learn to
critically analyze scholarship in your fields and to create your own projects through various
media.
English 5390: Postcolonial Literature
CRN: 15658
Thursdays, 4:00—6:20
Dr. Todd Kuchta
At the start of the twentieth century, a handful of western powers controlled nearly 85% of the
earth’s surface as colonies or other imperial possessions. By the end of the century, scores of
new nations had gained their independence and the colonial era was over. Postcolonial literature
broadly refers to writing from these newly independent states. In this course, we’ll read novels
from Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, focusing on how the works relate to their unique
historical and cultural contexts, illustrate prominent postcolonial themes, and engage with
postcolonial theory—among the most influential forms of scholarship over the past two decades.
The thematic and theoretical issues we’ll investigate include the power dynamic between
colonizer and colonized, the relationship between European and non-European cultures,
depictions of racial/ethnic difference, and the challenge of shaping new nations in the aftermath
of colonial rule.
As this description might suggest, the very term “postcolonial” can cause some confusion, since
it applies to a historical period, a body of literary works, a set of thematic concerns, and a
theoretical approach. The term has also been criticized for implying that the “postcolonial”
relegates colonization and its effects to the past. I have organized our course to combat this
implication. We’ll proceed through a number of “moments” in colonial and postcolonial
relations (readings below are still tentative).
We’ll start by considering the colonizer’s perspective of empire in E. M. Forster’s A Passage to
India (1924), then focus on the colonized perspective in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous
Conditions (Zimbabwe, 1988) and Sahar Khalifeh’s Wild Thorns (Palestine, 1976). Nadine
Gordimer’s July’s People (South Africa, 1981) will allow us to examine the end of colonial rule,
while Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s A Grain of Wheat (Kenya, 1967) and Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India
(Pakistan, 1991) take on the difficult transition from colony to independent nation. From there,
we’ll consider the long-lasting legacy of colonialism in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones
Are Not Yet Born (Ghana, 1968), Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness (South Africa, 2000), and
Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (Pakistan, 2013). Alongside the fiction,
we’ll also read some important pieces of postcolonial theory by Edward Said, Homi Bhabha,
Gayatri Spivak, Fredric Jameson, Partha Chatterjee, and, in particular, Frantz Fanon.
Course requirements will likely include consistent participation, a 5-page essay, a 10-15-page
research paper, and a presentation. For questions please contact [email protected].
English 5550: Oates and Munro
CRN: 14653
Mondays, 6:30—9:00
Dr. Philip Egan
Joyce Carol Oates and Alice Munro have consistently expressed themes in their work on the
possibilities for North American women in the second half of the twentieth century. Both authors
have won major awards and both show the complexities of growing up and living with the issues
of gender and social class in their societies. This course will consider selected novels of Joyce
Carol Oates and the short stories of both Oates and Alice Munro, the genre in which these
authors have produced some of their finest narrative art. Students can expect to do research,
present oral reports, and do a lot of writing both in and out of class.
English 5660: Creative Writing Workshop—Fiction
CRN: 11938
Fridays, 2:00—5:30
Professor Richard Katrovas
This course will center on the close reading of short-story masterpieces and the close reading of
peers’ short stories. Each student will produce two “finished” short stories over the duration of the
semester. Student work will be judged 1. on originality (relative to other undergraduate writing), 2.
structural integrity (narrative pacing, consistency of tone, character development, dialogue, point of
view), and 3. technical proficiency (the quality of the writing from sentence to sentence in terms of
grammar, syntax, and phrasing). We will follow the “Iowa workshop model,” as well Robert Frost’s
formulation that creative writing (he said “poetry” for obvious reasons) should be “play for mortal
stakes.” There will be snacks.
English 5670: Creative Writing Workshop—Poetry
CRN: 12695
Tuesdays, 4:00—7:30
Dr. William Olsen
This class involves extensive criticism of student poems, in a traditional workshop environment.
The workshop will also serve as a forum for discussions of aesthetics. Students may be
encouraged to work with models, and the class will involve the reading and discussion of at least
three books of contemporary poetry.
English 5820: Children’s Literature: Image and Theory
CRN: 15659
Mondays, 4:00—6:20
Dr. Meghann Meeusen
Advanced study of children’s literature acknowledges the complexity of the field by applying
critical and theoretical approaches to books and other media for young people. To facilitate this
study, ENGL 5820 utilizes both works of fiction and critical readings from WMU’s Children’s
Literature Comprehensive Examination Reading List to offer the opportunity for an in-depth
study at children’s and young adult literature.
Because of the wide range of both the comprehensive exam list and field of children’s literature,
ENGL 5820 also offers students a more specific topic of study that acts as an anchor for class
discussion. Of the forty core texts on WMU’s Children’s Literature Comprehensive Examination
Reading List, thirty of these include either a visual component or have inspired an adaptation in a
visual medium. Thus, the Spring 2017 section of ENGL 5820: Studies in Children’s Literature
will focus on “Theory & Visual Transformation.” After reading selections from critical texts,
students will apply this theoretical foundation to examples of children’s fiction as well as their
visual adaptations. By examining how the same theories can be interpreted differently when
interrogating the new visual meaning, students will not only engage a wide variety of critical
approaches, but also develop a richly analytical foundation in critical thinking.
In addition to weekly critical readings, primary texts for the Spring 2017 Semester will include a
selection of picture books and:
The Classic Fairy Tales (1999), Maria Tartar
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Frank L Baum
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Roald Dahl
Coraline (2002), Neil Gaiman
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997), J.K. Rowling
The Giver (1993), Lois Lowry
The Hunger Games (2008), Suzanne Collins
Monster (1999), Walter Dean Myers
The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 (1995), Christopher Paul Curtis
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Brian Selznick
English 5970: Careers for English Majors
CRN: 13489
Wednesdays, 2:00—3:40
Dr. Margaret Dupuis
This course is especially aimed at undergraduate English majors who wonder what comes after
graduation. It is also open to graduate students (particularly those at the M.A. level) and
undergraduate English minors.
Students will be introduced to a number of career possibilities for English majors, including
work in the fields of publication, advertising/public relations, non-profit fundraising, teaching,
freelance writing, technical writing, and others. You’ll do some reading and research, and meet
some former English majors who have interesting and challenging jobs in the “real world.”
You’ll also make connections with one or more professionals who work in a field that interests
you.
This course can count as an elective for the undergraduate English major or minor.