300-Level English Courses
Literature
Literature, Pre-1700
EN 330-001 CHAUCER AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE TR 11:00-12:15 Cook
In this course we will read Chaucer’s two greatest poems, Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales, in the original Middle English (for The Canterbury Tales we will use a “facing translation” which gives both the original language and a modern translation). In the first half of the semester, we will historicize love itself, reading selections from a medieval love handbook called The Art of Love, a selection of Marie de France’s short romances or “lais,” and finally, the Troilus. In the second half of the semester, we will read The Canterbury Tales, and we will ponder what it means to tell a story about storytelling. What are the arts, powers, and responsibilities of those who tell stories and those who listen? What do the competing storytellers reveal about themselves—intentionally or unintentionally—in the tales they tell? Course requirements include weekly reading quizzes, three short papers, and a final project for which you can choose to write a critical essay or, if a more creative option appeals to you, compose your own original Canterbury tale in rhyming couplets.
EN 333-001 SHAKESPEARE MW 3:00-4:15 Reaves
This course will survey the poetry and plays of William Shakespeare. Our study will engage with representative works of Shakespeare as they give us a window into early modern culture and literature. Mostly, we will focus on the texts themselves. This means we will hone our analytical skills and refine our understanding of the literary devices at work on the page and stage. We will also examine the literature as performative texts and consider the challenges of production in Shakespeare’s time and ours.
EN 333-002 SHAKESPEARE TR 2:00-3:15 Staff
An introduction to Shakespeare’s plays and poems. Elizabethan customs, politics, history, and philosophies are examined in relation to his works.
EN 333-003 SHAKESPEARE TR 12:30-1:45 Tavares
Shakespeare in Community
Designed for intermediate majors in English, Theatre, and Secondary Education, this course offers an introduction to the study of English Renaissance theatre, including its print, performance, and after-lives. Particular attention will be paid to scansion, the printed book, and playhouses. Reading across genres, the course closely attends to issues of community in terms of nation, identity (gender, race, class), and the work of performance. Through three scaffolded essays, students explore how the plays define community, interrogate what is held in common, and index the ways in which we divide and withhold, share and collaborate.
Literature, 1700-1900
EN 340-001 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900 MWF 10:00-10:50 Blount
A cross-genre survey of American literature from its beginnings to 1900, this course will emphasize American poetry through the mid-19th century, through a mixture of readings that include verse, essays, and short stories. Beginning with Puritan compositions in verse, we will progress to the Romantic period and the radical shifts away from conventional prosody, as theorized by Poe and most associated with Whitman.
EN 348-001 ROMANTIC LITERATURE TR 12:30-1:45 Tedeschi
This course provides a survey of literature written during the British Romantic period (roughly 1789-1832), a period marked by intense political turmoil, rapid social change, and an evolving literary field. The course considers literature in several genres, including poetry, the novel, and nonfiction prose; examines many of the period’s most influential authors, including Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, and Keats; and introduces the social, political, and intellectual history of the Romantic period.
EN 349-001 VICTORIAN LITERATURE MWF 11:00-11:50 Martel
We are Victorians. The very air we breathe bears the residue of coal first burned during the industrial revolution. The democratic institutions now seen as under duress were constituted in the nineteenth century. Our lives depend on global networks first laid down during the “Age of Empire.” The racial-, class-, and gender-hierarchies shaping everyone’s existence solidified throughout the nineteenth century. Yet, we remain Victorians in other, less despairing ways. Like the Victorians, we eagerly consume fictional media week-by-week. Our most popular genres — realism, domestic romance, gothic, science fiction, fantasy — developed their now-recognizable forms across the nineteenth century. Our confidence in writing’s ability to change the world, for better or worse, echoes the Victorians’ faith in the power of the printed word. This class surveys the intersections between these two modes of being Victorian. Studying a wide range of genres and authors from across the Anglophone world, we will ask how literature provides ways of living in and changing a world marked by global processes whose spatial and temporal scales exceed our individual perspectives. Readings will include works by Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Mary Seacole, Toru Dutt, E Pauline Johnson, and others.
Literature, Post-1900
EN 350-001 / AAST 350-001 TOPICS IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIT MW 3:00-4:15 Manora
Something Else To Be: 20th/21st Century African American Women’s Literature, Film, and Expressive Art
“Because each had discovered years before that they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had to set about creating something else to be.” ~Toni Morrison’s Sula
This course is a multi-genre study of works by African American women writers in the 20th and 21st Centuries. As we move through the century, from Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance through the Black Arts Movement to the Contemporary and Postmodern periods, we will focus on issues related to narrative, identity, and subjectivity, while also considering these works within the context of critical discourses in social, cultural, and literary history. Works my include literary fiction by Larsen, Hurston, Morrison, Walker and creative nonfiction by Rankine and Beyonce Requirements include active and engaged presence and participation, regular critical responses, one 4-5 page paper, and a final paper.
EN 361-001 TOPICS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE 1945-PRESENT TR 11:00-12:45 Cardon
Before it was even established as a nation, the U.S. has evolved from the meeting and intersecting of different cultural groups – encounters often characterized by hostility and oppression. And yet, sometimes these cultural clashes have generated empowering coalition building and creativity in the arts and other fields. Since World War II, American literature has grown increasingly multicultural, giving voice to various participants in these crosscultural encounters. In this special topics course, we will read novels by authors including Amy Tan, Alice Walker, and Sherman Alexie, among others. These novels explore the tensions, injustices, and occasional triumphs arising from historical moments that brought different ethnic, racial, national, and LGBT groups together over the past 80 years.
EN 366-001 TWENTIETH-CENTURY POETRY TR 11:00-12:15 White
This course will survey some of the major British and American poets of the Twentieth century. No previous experience with poetry is necessary. We will learn together who the major poets were, what made them important and interesting, and how to read a poem in general.
Creative Writing
EN 301-001 through 007 FICTION WRITING STAFF
Close study of the basic principles for composing creative prose. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of prose strategies. Required of all creative writing minors.
EN 301-003 FICTION WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Bingham
Study of basic principles of writing fiction in prose. Students will produce new stories or novel chapters to be workshopped by the class. To enliven and sharpen your own writing, we will also maintain a steady practice of reading, analyzing, and discussing fictions and craft essays by writers both classic and contemporary.
EN 301-004 FICTION WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Nkweti
Study of basic principles of writing fiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms.
EN 303-001 and 004 POETRY WRITING STAFF
Close study of basic principles for composing poetry. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of poetic styles. Required of all creative writing minors.
EN 303-002 POETRY WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Kidd
Study of basic principles of writing poetry. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of poetic forms.
EN 303-003 POETRY WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 Brouwer
Study of basic principles of writing poetry. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of poetic forms. This is a poetry writing course, and the majority of our time will be spent discussing the poems you write. However, on the theory that lively reading may aid and abet the production of lively writing, we will also read and discuss poetry and criticism by others. In summary, it’s going to be fun.
EN 305-001 CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING MW 2:00-3:15 Brorby
In this class we’ll cover the far-reaching genre of creative nonfiction, exploring its many forms, its limits, and its possibilities, paying particular attention to the role of research, personal narrative, how to create a “voice” on the page, and the role of experimentation.
EN 305-002 CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING MW 3:00-4:45 Davis-Abel
How do we define reality? What is true for one person may not be true for another, and science shows that the way we perceive and remember things is as individualized as our fingerprints. How then do we as writers distinguish what is real – and thus nonfiction – and what is invented? This fine arts, seminar course will aim to answer this question by establishing an understanding of what is and isn’t nonfiction writing. In order to achieve this, we will read works by successful nonfiction authors, we will practice craft through writing prompts and guided discussions, and each student will pursue individual research into one avenue of nonfiction writing that excites them.
EN 305-003 CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Staff
Close study of basic principles for composing poetry. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of poetic styles. Required of all creative writing minors.
EN 307-001 SPECIAL TOPICS APPLIED CREATIVE WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Champagne
Study of various practical applications for creative-writing-related skills and techniques, including arts programming, teaching, and literary publishing.
EN 307-002 SPECIAL TOPICS APPLIED CREATIVE WRITING MW 4:30-5:45 Marker
In this course, we will focus on making physical and digital copies of zines. We will make use of InDesign to lay out our projects, and we will spend time discussing design techniques. We will also spend time discussing and practicing different experimental writing techniques.
EN 307-003 SPECIAL TOPICS APPLIED CREATIVE WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 Albano
Literary Editing and Publishing
This course will examine the origins, evolution, and the present-day landscape of literary journals and small presses, with a special emphasis on print culture, and learning the fundamentals of the editing process, from the acquisition and revision of work through its proofreading and publishing. As part of this process, we will discuss and implement strategies for publishing our own work covering the entire submission process, from identifying suitable journals to writing professional cover letters. As a culminating project we will produce an online edition of the tenth issue of Call Me [Brackets]—the literary journal started in Fall 2018. This will involve selecting a new theme and aesthetic, and introduce, in addition to the aforementioned skills, the basics of layout and web design, while considering essential post-publishing efforts such as distribution and marketing.
EN 308-001 FORMS OF CREATIVE WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Pirkle
Thinking Outside the Box
This multi-genre course will explore eclectic and unusual forms of writing such as hybrid forms, found poetry, and any other type of creative writing that transcends or breaks traditional barriers. Students will shape their writing through non-traditional forms of storytelling, like menus, emails, Twitter posts, recipes, predictive text poems, footnotes, and other unexpected styles of written expression.
EN 308-002 FORMS OF CREATIVE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Cheshire
Creative Writing: Hybrid Forms
Do you struggle to tell stories in a linear fashion? To classify your creative voice as one specific “genre”? To write poetry that doesn’t meander into prose, or prose that isn’t preoccupied with the subtleties of language? In this class, we will expand the possibilities of creative voice by exploring narrative forms that subvert, defy, and integrate genre categories. Topics of focus will include non-linear prose, ekphrasis (writing in conversation with visual art), multimodal writing, “found text,” lyrical verse, and documentary poetics. We will use local spaces– such as the Sarah Moody Art Gallery, Hoole Special Collections, and a variety of haunted and historic buildings on campus– to guide us as we search for lyricism within the mundane and cultivate our own unique writerly voices.
EN 308-004 FORMS OF CREATIVE WRITING TR 3:30-4:45 Whalen
This course will focus on micro and flash creative nonfiction.
Linguistics
EN 320-001 INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS TR 12:30-1:45 Popova
Introduction to the study of language, including subjects such as language acquisition, variation, and origins. The system of sounds, syntax, and meaning are illustrated in English and other languages
EN 321-001 LINGUISTIC APPROACHES TO GRAMMAR TR 9:30-10:45 Poole
A study of English grammar integrating principles from linguistic theory with structural approaches to grammar. The course includes a focus on the expectations of grammatical usage in different contexts and an understanding of how to apply this knowledge in a pedagogical setting. This course is a prerequisite for EN 423, EN 424, EN 425, EN 466.
Methodology
EN 300-001 INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH STUDIES TR 12:30-1:45 Trout
This course will introduce students to the art of literary analysis, which they may be surprised to learn is actually a lot of fun. To write effectively about works of literature, we need a shared vocabulary of literary terms, as well as a general understanding of literary time periods and movements. Thus, each student will give three-to-four five-minute presentations during the course of the semester. To hone our skills as readers and critics (a word that is NOT pejorative), we will tackle some intentionally difficult texts, in multiple genres, including Joseph Conrad’s forbidding but rewarding novel Lord Jim. Writing assignments will include weekly two-page responses, a paper devoted entirely to close reading, and a paper that utilizes critical sources. Having been some days in preparation, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
EN 396-001 RESEARCH AND WRITING SEMINAR TR 9:30-10:45 White
This course teaches research skills and methods and research-based writing in literary studies. This course is required for any student who wishes be eligible for departmental honors through subsequent enrollment in EN 499. The course is, however, open to all students who meet the pre-requisites and will be useful for those wishing to develop their skills in research-based writing. The course covers locating, evaluating, and integrating research materials into literary critical writing, as well as the entire process of writing a research-based paper. A grade of B or higher in this course is required for students who wish to apply for admission into EN 499.
Rhetoric and Composition
EN 309-001 ADVANCED EXPOSITORY WRITING MWF 2:00-2:50 TBA
Study and practice in methods of exposition, explanation and explication, logic and persuasion, definition and analogy, analysis and evaluation. Enrollment is limited to 15. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course. A student who does not write with the skill normally required of an upper-division student will not earn a passing grade, no matter how well the student performs in other areas of the course.
EN 313-001 WRITING ACROSS MEDIA TR 11:00-12:15 Alalem
Advanced writing course exploring composition with images, sound, video, and other media while considering theoretical perspectives on rhetorical concepts such as authorship, audience, process, revision, and design.
EN 319-001 through 006 TECHNICAL WRITING STAFF
Focuses on principles and practices of technical writing, including audience analysis, organization and planning, information design and style, usability testing, and collaborative writing. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course. A student who does not write with the skill normally required of an upper-division student will not earn a passing grade, no matter how well the student performs in other areas of the course.
EN 380-320 LEGAL WRITING TR 5:00-6:15 Milsaps
This course will examine the various ways writing is involved in the legal profession. Subjects may include but are not limited to written legal claims, written materials required during stages of litigation, and how to construct other forms of legal argumentation in writing. The course will include significant writing analysis, grammar reviews, and legal writing exercises. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course. This course’s written assignments require coherent, logical, and carefully edited prose. These assignments will require students to demonstrate higher-level critical thinking skills, such as analysis and synthesis. Student writing will be graded and commented upon and become part of the assigned grade. A student who does not write with the skill normally required of an upper division student in the discipline will not be given a passing grade, no matter how well the student performs other course requirements.
EN 381-001 SCIENCE WRITING MWF 12:00-12:50 Riesen
Study the practice and conventions of science writing, and communicating challenging, complex, and nuanced scientific facts to a broader public. We’ll read and analyze some of the best and most influential science writing of our era. Science writing involves ethics, and students should therefore aim to represent scientific data conscientiously. Data regarding race, ethnicity, sexuality, sex, gender, language, and culture often complicate science. Therefore our rigorous discussion of these topics—and more—will benefit student writing. In order to further improve your writing, this class will focus on assessing, revising, and editing your writing. In other words, this course emphasizes the importance of the scientific writing process—not just the final product. We will often spend half of our class time discussing scientific articles and essays, and the other half in small groups, giving feedback on each other’s writing. English majors and non-majors welcome.
EN 382-001 BUSINESS WRITING MWF 10:00-10:50 Walters
EN 382 introduces students to advanced forms of business writing, including the writing, rhetorical, and collaboration skills needed for effective communication in business to business and business to client communications. Students will gain experience writing documents in the genres that circulate in professional environments, including persuasive correspondence, case studies, pitches, analyses of business trends, internal and client-oriented communications strategies. Students will also develop an understanding of the rhetoric of business writing as a form of communication that is 1) Information-based; 2) Audience-centered; and 3) Action-oriented. That is, business writing is defined by its focus on persuading audiences to take actions in response to information conveyed through one or more of the common genres.
EN 383-001 BOOK AND PRINT DESIGN TR 3:30-4:45 Smith
An aesthetic and technical course on layout design principles and Adobe Creative Suite software emphasizing computer software and processes for copy-editing, layouts, book design, and the mechanics of book publishing and distribution.
Special Topics in Writing or Literature
EN 310-001, 002, 321 SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING Staff
Topics vary from semester to semester; examples are legal writing, writing about the social sciences and reading and writing in cyberspace. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours.
EN 311-001 SPECIAL TOPICS IN LITERATURE TR 2:00-3:15 Staff
Topics vary from semester to semester and may include courses offered by other departments. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 hours.
Directed Courses
EN 329-001 through 002 DIRECTED STUDIES STAFF
Prerequisite: Enrollment only by previous arrangement with a specific instructor and with the permission of the director of undergraduate English studies.
400-Level English Courses
Advanced Studies in Literature
EN 400-300 SENIOR SEMINAR S 9:00-5:00; 8/26, 9/16, 9/30, 10/7, 11/11 Jolly
The Development of American Literature to 1660
This course is a survey of the major literary figures and their works prominent in the development of literature in America from its beginnings to 1860 including the oral tradition of Native Americans. Emphasis will be placed on the development of nationalism in literature of this period. Attention will be given to literary, social, economic, religious, and political influences that lead to literature that is distinctively and definitively American.
EN 411-001 ADV STUDIES COMPARATIVE/MULTICULTURAL LIT TR 9:30-10:45 Wittman
World Literature
In this course, we will read six critically acclaimed novels from around the world and investigate how literature arrives on the global stage. This course is run as a literary prize-granting committee loosely based on the Nobel Prize committee. Every student is a committee member. In this course, it is the students themselves who come up with their own evaluative criteria. Throughout the semester we will then debate—in class and anonymously—the merits of the six novels. On the first day of class, students discuss what foreign language books they have read; on the last day, they debate and decide which of the novels should win the prize. This year we have the unique opportunity to spend classroom time with one of the award-winning writers.
EN 422-001 ADV STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE TR 11:00-12:15 Trout
Transatlantic Modernism
This course will consider several major works of American modernist fiction alongside texts by British novelists who were engaged in literary experimentation during the same time period (or shortly before their American counterparts). We will pay particular attention to historical context on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the many themes that these works share. These include changing gender roles, race, urbanization, social-class dynamics, technology, empire, and the impact of the First World War. Texts will include Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House, and William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Some of these works are long and difficult; however, I will make sure that everyone has time to read. Assignments will include weekly quizzes, a short paper devoted entirely to close reading, and a critical essay that utilizes sources. So roll up for the mystery tour. . . .
EN 433-001 ADV STUDIES IN BRITISH LITERATURE TR 12:30-1:45 Cook
The Romance, Medieval and Modern
This course focuses on the origins and development of the romance genre. We will begin with medieval romances and then turn to novels of the nineteenth and twentieth century. The aim of the course is to offer a historical perspective on this form of popular fiction. Medieval course readings will include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and selections from Marie de France’s Lais and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (in modern English translation). Novels and short stories will include John Polidori’s “The Vampyre,” Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, and Charles Chesnutt’s The House Behind the Cedars.
EN 433-002 ADV STUDIES IN BRITISH LITERATURE MW 3:00-4:15 McNaughton
20th-Century Ireland: Literature, Culture, History, and Politics
Ireland’s tumultuous history inspired a collection of world-renowned literature that grapples with some of the most pressing questions of the twentieth century. Many of the writers’ names you will recognize: WB Yeats, James Joyce, Sean O’Casey, Lady Augusta Gregory, and Samuel Beckett. In this course we will also consider contemporary Irish poets and playwrights such as Seamus Heaney, Ciaran Carson, Paula Meehan, and Sinead Morrissey, among others. The works of these writers compel readers with their tremendous aesthetic power. Yet they offer more than dark humor, interesting characters, and verbal mastery. Set against the backdrop of civil-war and international conflict, the works help us to think through the ethical and political implications of imperialism and resistance, military engagement and terrorism, nationalist delimiting of identity and broader understandings. By bearing down on the political history and culture of Ireland—and by reading political cartoons, poetry, stories, novels, and plays—we will contemplate the function of aesthetic culture in a foundational postcolonial moment.
EN 433-003 ADV STUDIES IN BRITISH LITERATURE MW 3:00-4:14 Weiss
This course covers Jane Austen’s publishing career from beginning to end. Combining breadth and depth, the course will explore and track Austen’s formal innovations, her intellectual and moral commitments, and her social critiques. Very short secondary articles will be assigned to provide an understanding of the social, economic, and literary context of Austen’s career. Discussion in this course will be based on careful, close reading of Austen’s six published novels. Students will be evaluated on participation, daily reading quizzes, weekly short writing responses, one short essay and a longer, research-based seminar paper. Pre-requisites: 18 hours in English, including 6 hours at the 200-level, and 6 hours at the 300-level.
EN 477-001 ADV STUDIES IN LITERARY GENRES TR 2:00-3:15 Cardon
In times of political and social turbulence, we dream of ideal worlds or utopias. “Utopia,” etymologically, means “no place,” in itself a statement about the feasibility of a perfect world. In contrast, authors have long been dreaming up dystopias, worlds in which people suffer because of governments, economies, religions, technologies, and environmental catastrophes gone haywire. Many students are familiar with classic dystopias like Brave New World and young adult dystopias like Hunger Games. These novels offer a glimpse of collective anxieties about the future––about a time when people become too desensitized, too autocratic, or too dependent on technology. In this class, we will begin with a couple of the classic dystopias but quickly move into less familiar dystopian territory: Harlem Renaissance satire, Afrofuturism, and Cyberpunk, to name a few. Select authors include George Orwell, George Schuyler, Octavia Butler, and N.K. Jemisin, among others.
EN 488-001 ADV STUDIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LIT MW 4:30-5:45 Manora
Metaphysical Dilemmas & Black Girl Magic: 20th/21st Century African American Women’s Fiction & Film
“bein alive & bein a woman & bein colored is a metaphysical dilemma/i haven’t conquered yet” ~Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf
“ Just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.” ~ Jesse Williams
This seminar turns upon the examination of 20th/21st century African American women’s metaphysical fiction and film, including postmodern, philosophical, and speculative fiction, as well as works of magical realism. We will spend the majority of our time examining literary and filmic works “made” by and/or centering on African American women, as well as the social, cultural, and critical discourses that inform them. Using literary and cultural studies approaches, we will interrogate the manner in which selected works of literature and film treat black female subjectivity, both as personal experience and as relational/communal construct and, too, how these works portray issues related to race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as the critical intersections of the same, in ways that curate and/or challenge various representations and images of African American women held in the cultural imagination. Texts may include the following novels and filmic adaptations: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Passing, Kindred, and The Color Purple, as well as other literary works by Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, and Toni Cade Bambara and the films Daughters of the Dust, Eve’s Bayou, The Secret Life of Bees. REQUIREMENTS: Active and engaged participation; short critical responses, a short paper, and a final seminar paper.
EN 488-002 ADV STUDIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LIT TR 2:00-3:15 Steverson
21st Century Black Southern Literature
As authors Kiese Laymon (2020) and Imani Perry (2022) have expressed, the south is the region where the U.S. projects its sins, a “convenient shield against [the Nation’s] trespasses.” Yet, to dismiss the south as the cultural wastebin of the U.S. misrepresents its power as crucial to the nation’s past, present, and futures. This course examines how 21st century Black writers—in and of the south—wrestle with the south’s complexities as region, culture, identity, and even idea. We will critically engage the following questions: How are Black writers locating or dis-locating (the) south(s)? How do contemporary Black authors remember, recover, and reshape conceptions of southern cultures, histories, and identities? What is the role of literature in southern activism, particularly amid national and global crises from ecological devastation to antiblackness? Primary texts may include Delores Phillips’s The Darkest Child (2004), Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half (2020), Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017), Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage (2018), Kiese Laymon’s Heavy (2018), Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom (2020), and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (2016).
Advanced Studies in Writing
EN 432-001 COMPOSITION-RHETORIC: APPROACHES AND METHODS TR 9:30-10:45 Staff
Provides an overview of the field of composition studies: teaching writing, history of the discipline, and discussion of professional issues in rhetoric and composition.
EN 455-001 ADV STUDIES IN WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Presnall
Posthuman Rhetoric and Postapocalyptic Visions
This course uses Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven as a central text to explore posthuman perspectives on nostalgia, kinship, trauma, survival, and art in the Anthropocene. We will read the novel along with critical essays to discuss possibilities for reimagining current contexts—revision as a mode of disruption rather than continuation. We will consider the novel’s conversation with recent postapocalyptic fiction by women, use of Shakespeare and Star Trek, and its adaptation to the screen. Students will create research and writing projects according to their own interests.
EN 455-002 ADV STUDIES IN WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Presnall
Posthuman Rhetoric and Postapocalyptic Visions
This course uses Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven as a central text to explore posthuman perspectives on nostalgia, kinship, trauma, survival, and art in the Anthropocene. We will read the novel along with critical essays to discuss possibilities for reimagining current contexts—revision as a mode of disruption rather than continuation. We will consider the novel’s conversation with recent postapocalyptic fiction by women, use of Shakespeare and Star Trek, and its adaptation to the screen. Students will create research and writing projects according to their own interests.
EN 455-003 ADV STUDIES IN WRITING TR 12:30-1:45 Dziuba
Rhetoric and Un/Belonging
This course will consider the question, “What does it mean to belong?” We will approach possible answers via the discursive productions of rhetors who have been historically marginalized in the U.S. We will analyze primary sources (e.g., speeches, newspaper articles, manifestoes, letters, legal decisions, government records) from the 19th century through the present alongside scholarly works in composition/rhetoric in order to investigate how race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, etc. are mutually informing. Assignments may include a literature review, a zine, and a proposal for a digital community archive.
Creative Writing
EN 408-004 through 013 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING Staff
Special topics in Creative Writing. Focus may be on poetry, fiction, nonfiction or a combination. Students produce imaginative writing and read related texts. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 hours.
EN 408-001 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING W 2:00-4:30 Bingham
Fantastical Fictions offers a guided workshop for writers interested in exploring the tropes, textures, and storytelling possibilities of science fiction, fantasy, fabulism, horror, and other genres beyond the realm of literary realism. Aside from the works of your peers, you’ll read and study writings (often stories or short excerpts) by authors such as Patrick Rothfuss, Gillian Flynn, Haruki Murakami, China Mieville, Ken Liu, Octavia Butler, Stephen Graham Jones, Alissa Nutting, J.R.R. Tolkien, and more.
EN 408-002 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING MW 2:00-3:15 Maples
Special topics in Creative Writing. Focus may be on poetry, fiction, nonfiction or a combination. Students produce imaginative writing and read related texts. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 hours.
EN 408-003 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING MW 4:30-5:45 Davis-Abel
To create a world destroyed: Writing for the End of the World is a three-hour creative writing course that tackles the topic of writing dystopias. We’ll cover the intricacies of world building, character development, and tension across dystopian settings in poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Students will write their own dystopian works in any genre of their choosing and will create a collaborative classroom that unpacks how each of us imagines a world made undone.
EN 408-005 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Guthrie
Essential Maneuvers: The Art of Poetic Turns
The kinds of poems we can write are infinite, but there’s one thing all good poems share: at some point in running their course, they turn. Often multiple times. Turning is essential in creating surprise, something else all good poems share. In this class, students will learn how to recognize common and not-so-common turns in great published poetry, focusing on several enduring structures like The Mid-course Turn, The Dialectical Argument, The Emblem Structure, and so on. (For instance, when Charles Bernstein in his tiny poem “Shaker Show” writes “Now that is a chair / I wouldn’t want to sit in” he is enacting the complete Ironic Structure in two short lines!) Students will try their hands at these various turns, writing brand-new surprising poems and, through structural revision, rejuvenating older, “abandoned” pieces.
EN 408-006 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Pirkle
The Ode Less Traveled
This poetry-writing course will offer a contemporary approach to writing in traditional poetic forms, including odes, ballads, sonnets, and elegies. In “The Ode Less Traveled” the students and professor will slow down and study why certain forms have persisted even as cultures have shifted, as well as how these forms differ from each other. Students will read numerous examples of each form, and discuss how they work, then students will write their own formal poems and workshop them. This course could be considered the companion course to Dr. Pirkle’s “Obsessive Forms” though students are not expected to have taken that themed 408 class.
EN 408-007 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Weiland
Magic in the Mundane: Advanced Poetry Workshop
In American culture, it is easy to find flashy narratives of superheroes, dramatic heartbreak, and a general “bigger is better” mindset. However, in focusing solely on glitz, writers can miss the beauty and magic in common details of environment, people, and our daily lives. This class will focus on developing observational skills, detailed imagery, and evoking meaning from everyday objects and situations. In addition to exploring the work of established poets, students will participate in several workshops of their own poetry. At the end of the semester, students will produce a portfolio of their poems, revised to their own liking, as well as a reflection on the revision process and their revision choices.
EN 408-008 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 12:30-1:45 Dugat
Environmental Writing in the Anthropocene: How does writing shape our understanding of the world around us, and of humans’ place within in it? In this course we will read and write across genres, exploring and expanding the relationship between word and world. Importantly, we will consider how we, as writers, wield the potential for powerful change in the face of our current environmental reality. We’ll also aim to become better acquainted with our more-than-human neighbors, and to delight in the wonders of the “natural world” along the way.
EN 408-009 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING W 2:00-4:30 Wells
Advanced Fiction Workshop: Short Story Workshop
This class is devoted to the reading, craft analysis, and writing of short stories. Some things we’ll likely mull over together in the course of our readings and conversations: point of view—the virtues and challenges and myriad variations of omniscience, first person, second person (more elastic than you might at first think), first person plural collective, and third person narration; psychic distance—what is it, how do you calibrate it, and why do I care?; when to scene vs. when to exposit; the magical symbiosis of form and content; flashback, sure, been there done that, but what about flash forward?; going vertical—building deeply imagined characters, but also the difference between a reductive shorthand that relies on and perpetuates dully facile stereotypes vs. purposeful flatness; high-style maximalism, minimalist plainspeak, and the many points in between; worldbuilding—how much is enough to vividly bring the world to life without seeding curiosities you have no interest in satisfying?; and and and, you tell me. Writers will produce original short fictions of their own invention and design, and, building on the workshopping skills they’ve developed in previous creative writing courses, will read the work of their peers and provide oral and written feedback. The course will help equip writers with the critical chops necessary to anatomize stories with rigorous generosity. The published fiction we’ll discuss will be in a variety of modes, from the realist to the fabulist to the speculative, and a variety of aesthetics, from the dressed-down everyvoice to idiosyncratically bespoke impersonations. But it is the stories the writers in the class produce that will make up the course’s primary text.
EN 408-010 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING R 2:00-4:30 Riesen
Horror
EN 408-012 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 3:30-4:45 Albano
Crime Fiction
Crime writing is one of the most popular, widely read genres in fiction. In this course, we will explore crime fiction in its many guises—suspense, detective fiction (both Golden Age and postmodern), and psychological thrillers. We will examine the “rules” for crafting mysteries, how to apply them in our own writing, and how to subvert them. We will read work from Walter Mosley, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, P.D. James, among many others, and workshop stories of our own invention. Join us, as we wind our way down dark alleys, past London flats, and to stately country manors where seemingly nothing could go wrong.
EN 498-001 SENIOR THESIS: CREATIVE M 2:00-4:30 Champagne
The Creative Writing Honors Thesis is an individualized class that culminates in a complete, long-form piece of creative writing such as a poetry chapbook, novella, essay collection, short story collection, or extended creative non-fiction piece of publishable quality, approximately 30-60 pages. A student who completes this course with a grade of A or A- and who meets GPA requirements will be awarded Departmental Honors with a creative emphasis. Each student enrolled will work individually with a faculty mentor. Students must submit a proposal to the Director of Undergraduate Creative Writing by a designated date and have that proposal be approved by the Undergraduate Creative Writing committee.
Linguistics
EN 423-001/ HY 523 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TR 11:00-12:15 Popova
An introduction to the external history of the English language along with the study of the accompanying internal changes in structure.
EN 424-001 / EN 524 MODERN ENGLISH GRAMMAR TR 12:30-1:45 Poole
This advanced grammar course examines the structure and usage of English, including morphology (word formation/structure), syntax (the patterns of sentences), and discourse (the context in which utterances are patterned and made meaningful). We will review both traditional and contemporary approaches to English grammar, such as cognitive grammar, construction grammar, lexico-grammar, pattern grammar, and functional grammar. Through readings, research projects, and discussion, students will attain a solid understanding of the English language’s structure and usage. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.
EN 466-001 ADVANCED STUDIES IN LINGUISTICS W 2:00-4:30 Selvi
Global Englishes
This course introduces students to the varieties of English and the implications of these varieties for using, learning, and teaching English in various socio-educational contexts. The course also examines the linguistic, social, and political impact of the global spread of English around the world, and where, when, why, and how new forms of English have emerged. It places specific emphasis on the set of implications for English teachers and learners in a superdiverse world.
Composition and Rhetoric
EN 432-001 COMP/RHET: APPROACHES & METHODS TR 9:30-10:45 TBA
Provides an overview of the field of composition studies: teaching writing, history of the discipline, and discussion of professional issues in rhetoric and composition.
Directed Courses
EN 429-001 / 002 DIRECTED READINGS STAFF
Prerequisite: Enrollment only by previous arrangement with a specific instructor and with the permission of the director of undergraduate English studies.
EN 430-001 / 002 ENGLISH INTERNSHIP STAFF
An on- or off-campus training position in which students use the skills they have gained as English majors and enhance their employment opportunities after graduation. Interns work approximately 10 hours a week, holding responsible positions with, among others, Alabama Heritage, Alabama Alumni Magazine, and the Tuscaloosa Public Defender’s Office. Apply to the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of English. Please see the departmental website for the application form and further details.
EN 499 HONORS THESIS STAFF
The Honors Thesis in English course is an individualized, directed readings class that culminates in a 30-50 pp. thesis. It is the final required course for the Honors in English program. Each student enrolled will work individually with a faculty mentor.
Prerequisite: EN 399.