300-Level English Courses
Literature
Literature, Pre-1700
EN 330-001 CHAUCER AND MEDIEVAL LIT MWF 9:00-9:50 Spear
Examines works of the Old and Middle English Periods, the formative years of British literature. Works from pre-conquest England may include Beowulf, Bede’s History of the English Church, and poems from the Exeter and Vercelli manuscripts. The major works from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, William Langland’s Piers Plowman, John Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and the Canterbury Tales.
EN 333-001 SHAKESPEARE MW 4:30-5:45 Tavares
Shakespeare in Community
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.
EN 333-002 SHAKESPEARE MWF 11:00-11:50 Walters
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 9:30-10:45 Morgan
An introduction to Shakespeare’s plays and poems. Elizabethan customs, politics, history, and philosophies are examined in relation to his works.
Literature, 1700-1900
EN 340-001 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900 TR 2:00-3:15 Elliot
American Gothic
In his essay, “Invention of the American Gothic,” scholar Leslie Fiedler described the American Gothic as “a pathological symptom rather than a proper literary movement.” The Gothic is indeed is not only threaded throughout multiple genres and modes of American media, but is, in fact, deeply embedded within the American Canon, having played an integral role in the development of American literature. But if American Gothic is a symptom, then what is the condition that it belies? This course will examine the prevalence and cultural work of American Gothic fiction pre-1900 and how/why so many American authors chose the Gothic as an outlet for expressions of anxiety, outrage, and suffering in a country ostensibly built upon the ideals of optimism and equality. By reading a selection of American Gothic texts, this course will unveil and interrogate the ghosts that haunt the American consciousness from the awe and terror of the wilderness to the specter of slavery to the claustrophobic domesticity of the haunted house. Authors may include Cotton Mather, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Jacobs, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Henry James.
EN 348-001 ENGLISH ROMANTIC LITERATURE TR 12:30-1:45 Tedeschi
This course provides a survey of literature written in Britain during the Romantic period (roughly 1789-1832), a period distinguished for intense political turmoil, rapid social change, and radical literary experimentation. We will read literature in several genres, including poetry, the novel, and nonfiction prose; study many of the period’s most influential authors, including Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, and Keats; and learn about the social, political, and intellectual history of the Romantic period in Britain.
EN 349-001 VICTORIAN LITERATURE TR 9:30-10:45 Novak
Gender equality, racial justice, income inequality, religion, or the crisis in the humanities. These could be today’s top stories in your Newsfeed. But the discussion about these issues began back in the Victorian period, and in many ways we are still arguing about these questions on the very terms and values set by Victorian writers. In essays, novels, and poetry Victorian writers debated the position of women in the public sphere (“the Woman Question”), economic inequality and alienated labor (“The Condition of England Question”), English treatment of colonized subjects, evolution, religious skepticism, and the function of literature. Authors may include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Ruskin, John Stuart Mill, George Eliot, Christina Rossetti, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and Elizabeth Gaskell.
Literature, Post-1900
EN 350-001 TOPICS IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIT TR 11:00-12:15 Steverson
“Black is/Black Ain’t”: Identity, Purpose, and Audience in 20th Century African American Literature
In The Crisis’s 1926 symposium, several critics and artists responded to W.E.B. Du Bois’s question, “The Negro in Art: How Shall He Be Portrayed.” Published over seven issues, both Black and White writers such as Carl Van Vechten, H.L. Mencken, Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, among others debated the role art and literature should play in politics. That same year, The Nation published an exchange between writer George Schuyler and poet Langston Hughes over the definition of what exactly, if anything, is meant by “Negro Art.” Both debates, surrounding the purpose and audience of African American literature form the basis of this course. Many Black authors of the 1920s and 1930s embraced the idea of what Alain Locke called the “New Negro” (1925), a more self-aware, assertive, complex self that sought to contest the caricatures of the “Old Negro” as an inferior race. This quest to reconstruct a public image therefore sparked lively debates about how this new “self” should be represented in art and literature. The concept of the “New Negro,” as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Gene Jarrett (2007) assert “implies a tension between political and artistic concerns.” This course surveys African American fiction and non-fiction produced from 1920s to 1940s to explore the tensions between art and politics. Several questions will guide our journey, including: What is the role of art in the fight for political and social equality for African Americans? How does the tension between political and artistic matters affect artists’ creative freedom? What is/was African American literature? What is the duty of art and artists in relation to political and social equality? How can (if it can) art help improve the daily lives of African Americans? What forms of art are most politically effective?
EN 361-001 TOPICS IN AMERICAN LIT 1945-PRESENT MWF 10:00-10:50 Johnson
In 2017, the euphemism “alternative facts” entered the American lexicon to describe untruths, spoken by the powerful, to suit their own socio-political purposes. Though the phrase is new, the concept is not. American literary history is a history of narratives and counternarratives. It is filled with examples of narrative “alternative facts,” often meant to justify or obscure oppression and marginalization; yet this literature is also rife with counternarratives, written by marginalized people, offering their own stories, views, interpretations, and experiences, that challenge the perspectives of those with money, power, and influence. In the years after World War II, American literature has become increasingly more diverse, multicultural, and multi-genre. This, in turn, has opened the door to evermore wide-ranging counternarratives, from innumerable points of view. This course will examine these counternarratives, written by and from the perspective of those marginalized by class, culture, race, religion, and sexual orientation. We will examine works that center on countering prevailing ideas and cultural mythologies and that call attention to systemic oppression that is often embedded into the fabric of social, political, and cultural institutions. While we will read works covering the entirety of post-war America, we will pay special attention to works published in the 21st century. Readings may include James Baldwin, Joseph Heller, Ishmael Reed, Gloria Naylor, Colson Whitehead, and Louise Erdrich, among others.
EN 366-001 TWENTIETH CENTURY POETRY TR 11:00-12:15 White
In this course we will read a selection of the major American and British poets of the 20th Century. We will be learning how to read and enjoy poems as we go, and no previous experience with poetry is necessary. If you think you hate poetry this course will convince you you just haven’t been properly introduced to it yet. Learning how poetic language works will enrich all of your reading and writing–come let’s learn together.
Creative Writing
EN 301-001 FICTION WRITING MW 3:00-4:15 Ariail
Study of basic principles of writing fiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms.
EN 301-002 FICTION WRITING MW 4:30-5:45 STAFF
Study of basic principles of writing fiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms.
EN 301-003 FICTION WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Hamilton
Study of basic principles of writing fiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms.
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 301-005 FICTION WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 STAFF
Study of basic principles of writing fiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms.
EN 301-006 FICTION WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 Rawlings
Study of basic principles of writing fiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms.
EN 303-001 POETRY WRITING TR 8:00-9:15 STAFF
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 11:00-12:15 Pirkle
Study of basic principles of writing poetry. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of poetic forms.
EN 303-004 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.
EN 305-001 CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 STAFF
Study of the basic principles of writing creative nonfiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms of the genre.
EN 305-002 CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Morton
Study of the basic principles of writing creative nonfiction. Reading and assigned writing experiments in a broad range of forms of the genre.
EN 307-001 SPECIAL TOPICS APPLIED CREATIVE WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Dugat
Writing Food and Place
Together, we will explore the relationship between food, place and the written word, considering how medium influences the stories we tell about the things we eat. We will pay special attention to food production and consumption in our region and immediate surroundings. By the end of the semester, students will practice and apply the necessary skills to produce a collaborative “food atlas,” documenting recipes, oral histories, and multi-genre writing that showcases the richness of our culinary interests. No specialized experience is required.
EN 307-002 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 thirteenth 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 307-003 SPECIAL TOPICS APPLIED CREATIVE WRITING 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 308-001 FORMS OF CREATIVE WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Pandya
Writing Experiment: Non-Western Traditions of Creative Writing
This course is designed for writers who write or wish to write in experimental ways. We will read works from literary traditions situated both within and outside the “western” tradition of creative writing, and examine the historical, political and philosophical conditions which led to the rise of each tradition. We will think about what it means to experiment as writers: how does one choose which rules to break? What are the political/philosophical implications of each choice one makes? By the end of semester, we will widen our arsenal of craft techniques and come up with our own conceptions of how and why we experiment.
EN 308-002 FORMS OF CREATIVE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Shaw
The Prose Poem
What is a prose poem and what separates it from flash fiction or lyric nonfiction? The prose poem and its adherents and critics have offered varying and contradictory answers to these questions since Charles Baudelaire’s Petits Poëmes en Prose was published over 150 years ago. In this course, we will study the techniques of prose poems from late 19th, 20th, and 21st century writers, and consider theories of prose poetics. We will write, discuss, and workshop our own prose poems while considering what poetic tools remain or are reborn when poetry’s lineation and suspension of time is met with prose’s temporal rush.
EN 308-003 FORMS OF 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 308-004 FORMS OF CREATIVE WRITING MW 3:00-4:15 Parker
Nonfiction Immersion
During the emergence of “The New Journalism” in the 1960s and ‘70s, with writers such as Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, Joan Didion, and University of Alabama alumnus Gay Talese, straight nonfiction reportage began adopting the techniques of fiction—dialogue, scene-setting, intimate personal details, the use of interior monologue, metaphorical depth, etc.—and abandoned the sterile objective perspective of “newsworthy subjects” in favor of turning the lens toward less traditional subjects, even the journalists themselves, and a new genre of immersion writing evolved. We will look at the evolution of this trend from the 1960s to the contemporary explosion of immersion-project literature in books, magazines, podcasts, blogs, traditional documentaries, and DIY YouTube mini-documentaries. As writers, we will immerse ourselves in our own communities and lives to find subjects and produce essays and possibly podcasts and mini documentaries, and we will be what Gay Talese calls “nonfiction writer[s] pursuing the literature of reality.”
Linguistics
EN 320-001 INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS TR 12:30-1:45 Popova
Introduction to the study of language, including subjects such as discourse analysis, language acquisition, variation, and pragmatics. The system of sounds, syntax, and meaning are illustrated in English and other languages. Students will engage in problem solving exercises to explore comparative linguistics and sociolinguistic data analysis. Prerequisite for EN 423, EN 424, EN 425, EN 466.
EN 321-001 LINGUIS APPROACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR TR 9:30-10:45 Popova
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 2:00-3:15 Emerson
An introduction for English majors to the methods employed in the discipline of English. Students will be exposed to the fundamental issues of critical reading, interpretation, and writing, especially to the use of critical methods in the study of primary texts. Readings will include a selection of texts in the traditional categories of poetry, drama, and prose, as well as the genre of the critical essay. There may also be investigations into other genres and media.
EN 396-001 RESEARCH AND WRITING SEMINAR TR 12:30-1:45 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 TR 9:30-10:45 Dziuba
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 313-002 WRITING ACROSS MEDIA MWF 11:00-12:15 Eubanks
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 TECHNICAL WRITING MWF 12:00-12:50 Eubanks
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 319-002 TECHNICAL WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Carter
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 319-003 TECHNICAL WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Carter
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 319-004 TECHNICAL WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Boglin
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 319-005 TECHNICAL WRITING TR 12:30-1:45 Fitzsimmons
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 319-006 TECHNICAL WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 Salvatore
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 380-001 LEGAL WRITING TR 5:00-6:15 January
This course will provide an introduction to legal writing, emphasizing the structure and expectations of written legal argumentation. Students will learn the basics of the American legal system in order to spot legal issues and evaluate relevant facts, analyze different sources of law such as statutes and cases, and apply legal concepts to craft effective legal arguments. In addition to learning and applying legal concepts in their writing, students will be expected to demonstrate basic professional writing skills required of practicing attorneys. 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 crucial 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 MW 3:00-4:15 Veronie
In addition to scientific writing for academic journals, students in this course will study science writing as a subgenre of nonfiction writing that seeks to communicate challenging, complex, and nuanced facts and ideas in clear, engaging prose. Robert MacFarlane’s expeditions Underland and Gavin Francis’s Adventures in Human Being will accompany students’ journeys as they reflect on their own development as science writers. Alongside these texts, students will also read shorter pieces by renowned science writers such as Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Oliver Sacks, and Rachel Carson. Students will also learn to identify the common science and scientific writing conventions to craft data-rich articles that meet the expectations of academic scientific audiences, as well as informative science essays aimed at being accessible and enjoyable to a broad, lay public. Public-facing writing instruction will also include multi-modalities including podcasts and digital blogs. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course. This course’s written 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. Prerequisite(s): EN 101 and EN 102, or EN 103.
EN 381-002 SCIENCE WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Kidd
This course will study the practice and conventions of science writing, and the communication of challenging, complex, and nuanced scientific facts to a broader public. We’ll read and analyze both science essays for broader audiences and scientific journal articles to see how those forms of communication work. The class will also investigate multimodal forms of scientific writing. We’ll discuss the ethics of good science writing and develop effective writing processes (brainstorming, revising, collaborating) to help you construct your own science writing. English majors and non-majors welcome.
EN 381-003 SCIENCE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 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 nonmajors welcome.
EN 382-001 BUSINESS WRITING MWF 10:00-10:50 Walters
This course develops the interdisciplinary writing and rhetorical skills necessary to create compelling content and effective strategic communications useful in any type of workplace, whether corporate, nonprofit, or entrepreneurial. Students will learn best-practice and collaborative approaches to an array of situations encountered in the course of doing business—from data-rich analysis to storytelling that moves—tailored to engage both general and industry-specific audiences. Writing proficiency 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. 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 383-001 BOOK AND PRINT DESIGN TR 3:30-4:45 Smith
This course explores the history and aesthetics of print design, applied specifically to the techniques and practices of book publishing. Utilizing industry standard software, students will gain facility and experience with every step of the publishing process, from copyediting to layout to production and distribution, as well as learn about current industry challenges and trends.
EN 384-001 GRANT WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 Marker
Explore the grant writing process from researching granting agencies, through writing a grant proposal, to managing grants and grant reporting. Through hands-on, experiential learning, understand how to evaluate granting opportunities and tell meaningful stories about the needs of organizations and individuals. Acquire the skills needed to help organizations and individuals create a streamlined grant funding program for projects and programming, with emphasis on best practices.
Special Topics in Writing or Literature
EN 310-001 SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Salvatore
Critiquing the Critical
This course will emphasize the art of critique and will include an emphasis on critical engagement with media and writing thoughtful responses that address trending topics. We will question the ways that we, and others, bend bias—seeking out the exact threshold with which it breaks and becomes visible. We will study how writers and content creators construct arguments, persuade audiences, and deliver content to engage with various publics—including, but not limited to, BookTok, RottenTomatoes, The Critics (The New Yorker), and those low-down-dirty comment sections where everyone appears to be an expert on everything. We will write critiques in the essay form, but also a variety of others—which may include TikToks, Youtube videos, Instagram posts, and other online content. Now, more than ever, we are inundated with argument and reasoning in the digital spaces we inhabit – but where does this critical engagement stem from? What, exactly, separates a 2-hour Youtube video by a content creator with robust knowledge of the topic, criticizing HBO Max’s The Last Of Us, from the article hailing it, published by The New York Times? It’s not just about disagreeing or agreeing with something, but how critically you examine and engage with the material you’re looking at. This class begins from the standpoint that being able to critically engage with and create content across multiple types of media is a crucial part of participating both within academia and in the public sphere.
EN 310-002 SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING TR 3:30-4:45 Marker
Copyediting
This course covers the role and ethics of a copyeditor, the editorial process, strategies for editing, and the use of common reference books and resources to guide changes for accuracy and consistency. Students will learn to identify varying levels of editorial depth (light, medium, heavy); how to create style sheets and why they are important; and effective strategies for communicating professionally and clearly with authors via queries and comments.
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 400-001 SENIOR SEMINAR S 9am-5pm Jolly
American Literature in the Industrial Age, 1865-1945
Meets Sept. 14, Oct. 5, Oct 19 , Nov. 9, Nov. 23
EN 411-001 ADV STUDIES COMPARATIVE/MULTICULTURAL LIT TR 9:30-10:45 Wittman
Writing the Self
When French Surrealist/Ethnographer Michel Leiris, revealed, in a publication, that he often scratched his anus while at work, he was a self-writer. When Alice B. Toklas published her legendary cookbook that mingled recipes for hashish brownies and other delights with personal stories, she was a self-writer. The term “self-writing” has a broad remit. It denotes all modes and genres of telling one’s own life in nonfiction. It includes autobiography, memoir, travel writing, journals, and, in some cases, letters. The animating questions of self-writing can be thought of as three-fold: Who am I? Why am I? How am I? This is a comparatist course that looks at self-writing across temporal, national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. Because of this, we will look thoroughly at questions of self-writing from antiquity to the present and all over the globe. Readings may include (some just a few pages, reading assignments are considerate) Augustine, Montaigne, Rousseau, Goethe, Javier Zamora, Asmaa al Ghoul, Annie Ernaux, Maggie Nelson, Christina Sharpe, Margery Kempe, Roland Barthes, Elie Wiesel, Sei Shonagon, and Chike Frankie Edozien. There are four assignments in this course: a presentation, a brief self-writing exercise, and two papers: one at midterm, one at the end of the term. This is an upper-level writing course. 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 in other course.
EN 422-001 ADV STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE TR 3:30-4:45 Deutsch
Bad Romance: Queer Literature and the Subject of History
Queer literature has had a complicated relationship, perhaps even a complicated love affair with history, from the pre-Stonewall days through the emergence of LGBTQ+ lives into more popular culture. This course will examine how queer authors approach historical imaginaries and even the subject of historiography itself, ranging from allegedly objective and fact-based to more sentimental, romanticized, affective modes. We’ll examine how authors use historical approaches to understand deep abiding love affairs and passing promiscuities, as well as all the diverse varieties of queer love and queer identifications that have long been part of the American literary scene. While religious, social, medical, and legal institutions across the U.S. for years decried any such romance as inherently “bad,” this course will examine novels, poetry, plays, and actual historical subcultures that presented gay, lesbian, and trans loves in a more exuberant, rich, and complicatedly celebratory light, sometimes extravagantly and sometimes only cautiously so. Taking into account the complexity of the U.S., we’ll examine works from a variety of regions, religions, races, and cultures, though we’ll largely take into account the literature and the history of the 20th and 21st centuries. Participants in this seminar must be willing to consider critically points of view with which they might not necessarily agree, but which nonetheless engage with vital strands in American literature and history.
EN 422-001 ADV STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE MW 4:30-5:45 Trout
American Fiction of the 1920s
This course will focus on novels and short stories from an especially rich and dynamic decade in American literary history. Since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s quintessential novel of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby, will turn 100 in 2025, we will, of course start with it. However, there’s more to the 1920s than bootlegging, flappers, and a soaring stock market. This was also a decade of reactionary politics, racial violence, accelerating urbanization, and nostalgia for the vanished frontier. To provide a fuller sense of American culture at the time, and the literature written in response to a rapidly changing society, we will study a diverse set of texts, including Willa Cather’s A Lost Lady, John Dos Passos’s Manhattan Transfer, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, and Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt. Course requirements will include two papers and two examinations, as well as brief in-class writing assignments. As always, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
EN 433-001 ADV STUDIES IN BRITISH LITERATURE TR 12:30-1:45 McNaughton
20th and 21st Century British and Irish Poetry
This seminar in Irish and British poetry has three principle sections: modernist poetry, mid-century reactions to modernism, and contemporary Irish poetry. The course is guided by the idea that a little formalism takes you away from history, but that a lot brings you back to it. So we will perform detailed close readings, keeping in mind how formal developments in poetry mark political conflict, social critique, and historical change. We begin with major writers, principally among them Thomas Hardy, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith, and Seamus Heaney. Then we turn to contemporary Irish poets. Students will work individually on a complete collection of recently-published poetry, select poems for the class to read, and write a publishable book review. Previously, students have been drawn to collections by Paula Meehan, Rita Ann Higgins, Tom French, Paul Muldoon, Michael Longley, Kerry Hardie, Harry Clifton, Leontia Flynn, Dermot Healy, Sinead Morrissey, Stephen Sexton, and others. Besides reviews, the professor expects a number of essays, an exam, and a presentation. All welcome.
EN 444-001 ADV STUDIES IN LITERARY CRIT/THEORY TR 11:00-12:15 McNaughton
Clowns Incels and Neoliberal Melodrama
Joker (2019) by Todd Phillips is a film about social and personal disintegration. It charts the descent of one individual, Arthur Fleck, into madness, using his fate to reflect on broader patterns of discontent under neoliberalism. We frame this course by reading Joker as an allegory of the sociopathy of capital: of the ways unregulated capitalism drives us crazy. Then, we broaden and deepen this critique. How do democracy and capitalism conflict? When capitalism disempowers the demos, why does the backlash so often appear as conspiracy theory, violence, and authoritarian attraction? We will examine psychosexual dimensions of late capital, including incel culture and mother blaming. And we will explore how Joker’s critique of Batman, of superhero melodrama, helps to decode other melodramas in policy, media, and economic theory. We draw theoretical readings from cultural studies and film studies; from politics and economics (Adam Smith, Karl Polanyi, Noberto Bobbio, Wendy Brown, Thomas Piketty, Sheldon Wolin); from feminism (Carol Patemen, Nancy Fraser, Amia Srinivasan) and legal theory (Katharina Pistor); from incarceration sociology (Danielle Sered, Loïc Wacquant) and from media studies (Neil Postman). Everyone will write sophisticated essays on these topics, and take a final exam. All are welcome.
EN 444-002/WS 430-001 ADV STUDIES IN LITERARY CRIT/THEORY TR 2-3:15 Purvis
Heteronormativity asserts that there is only one way to be, which is straight; and there is only one way to be straight. Whether we identify as straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, pan-/poly-/bi-/asexual, or otherwise (queer), we have something to gain from an interrogation of the workings of heteronormativity, where all people are assigned a sex at birth (from a set of two choices) and are expected to perform one of two established sets of “complementary” gender roles, which are thought to be based on their presumed “nature.” The perfect alignment of sex, gender, and sexuality is impossible for anyone; and sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism circulate widely and compromise and threaten everyone, though some more than others. Through the study of classic and contemporary contributions by feminist, queer, QOC, trans, and intersex theorists, this course examines the hetero-/homo- binary and the workings of hetero-/homonormativity, the “surprisingly short history of heterosexuality” (Hanne Blank), “straight sex” and the “many heterosexualities” of which Lynne Segal and Christine Overall speak, the “tragedy of heterosexuality” (Jane Ward), and the utopian potential of queer futures. The authors in this interdisciplinary course analyze both the fear of queer and the need for queer politics in a time where many ignore and reify their privilege through entrenched practices and politics. They highlight the ways in which sexual regimes intersect with those of gender, race, and class oppression and expose the workings of normative sexual discourses, which reward straight, white, cis-, and middle- and upper-class persons with disproportionate levels of privilege and power. Students develop advanced undergraduate research skills and gain a substantial foundation for further study, including graduate work in this area. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course.(Prerequisites: Women’s Studies: WS 200: “Introduction to Women’s Studies” or equivalent; English: 18 hours of English study, including 6 credits at the 200-level & 6 credits at the 300-level)
EN 477-001 ADV STUDIES IN LITERARY GENRES MW 3:00-4:15 Weiss
Frightful Transitions: The British Gothic Novel
The horror genre as we know it today has its roots in British Gothic, a literary and artistic mode known for Medieval castles, underground passageways, supernatural occurrences, victimized women, and the heightened emotions of terror and awe. Beneath the frightful trappings of the genre, indeed motivating them, are the repressed fears and fantasies of the culture in which both the authors and their stories are inextricably embedded. For the British in the long heyday of the genre—from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries—the Gothic novel served as a form of storytelling through which the frightful but unstoppable transition to modernity was processed and explored. This transition encompassed dramatic changes such as the development of a secular and scientific worldview, the rapid progress of technology and industrialization, shifts in attitudes toward sexuality and gender, the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the middle class, the growth of cities and the expansion of the urban poor, and the spread of empire. With its emphasis on the fear and fascination of such transitions, the Gothic novel stands as a genre of tremendous revelatory power, offering readers insights into the deep-seated anxieties and repressed desires that remain a fundamental part of modern society. Texts may include The Castle of Otranto, The Romance of the Forest, Northanger Abbey, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, and Dracula. Students can expect frequent reading quizzes, response papers, a short paper early in the semester, and a 10-12 page, research-based seminar paper due during finals week.
EN 488-001 ADV STUDIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LIT TR 2:00-3:15 Steverson
Alabama in the African American Literary Imagination
How have Black authors experienced and/or portrayed Alabama in African American Literature? Why does Alabama have such a push and pull effect—a place where some folks are continuously drawn to whereas others seek to avoid or leave? This course examines 20th and 21st century fiction and nonfiction by Alabama writers and authors who use Alabama as subject matter to explore the state’s rich history and culture. Writers may include Albert Murray, Sonia Sanchez, Margaret Walker, Trudier Harris, Bryan Stevenson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Anthony Hinton among others. We will also screen films such as Just Mercy (2019), Selma (2014), and 4 Little Girls (1997). A generous portion of the semester will be dedicated to improving and creating Wikipedia articles related to Alabama writers, events, and history to understand the importance of free and accessible sources of knowledge.
Advanced Studies in Writing
EN 455-001 ADV STUDIES IN WRITING TR 9:30-10:45 Presnall
Posthuman Rhetoric and Postapocalyptic Visions
Using Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven as a central text, this course explores posthuman perspectives on nostalgia, kinship, trauma, survival, and art in the Anthropocene. We will consider the novel’s use of Shakespeare and Star Trek and the novel’s conversation with speculative stories by Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, and Annalee Newitz. Throughout the semester, the course will introduce posthuman theoretical concepts, with a focus on the perspectives of Karen Barad and Rosi Braidotti. Students will use these concepts as entry points for their analyses of fictional and theoretical speculations, ultimately developing their own research and writing projects.
EN 455-002 ADV STUDIES IN WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Presnall
Posthuman Rhetoric and Postapocalyptic Visions
Using Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven as a central text, this course explores posthuman perspectives on nostalgia, kinship, trauma, survival, and art in the Anthropocene. We will consider the novel’s use of Shakespeare and Star Trek and the novel’s conversation with speculative stories by Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, and Annalee Newitz. Throughout the semester, the course will introduce posthuman theoretical concepts, with a focus on the perspectives of Karen Barad and Rosi Braidotti. Students will use these concepts as entry points for their analyses of fictional and theoretical speculations, ultimately developing their own research and writing projects.
EN 455-003 ADV STUDIES IN WRITING TR 12:30-1:45 Buck
Writing with Robots
This section of EN455 considers the relationship between AI and writing. Since the release of ChatGPT, assistive writing technologies have been a topic of interest and concern within universities and beyond. We will take a longer historical view of AI and writing, exploring academic scholarship on the topic as well as fiction written about and sometimes by AI tools. How do we write about – or with – robots? What role do predictive language tools have in our future personal and professional lives? How might they affect how we write and think of ourselves as writers? In this class, students will create both written essays and digital projects to explore the role of AI in our writing lives.
Creative Writing
EN 408-001 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING W 2:00-4:30 Wells
The Case Against Linear Time
EN 408-002 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING MW 11:00-12:15 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 2:00-3:15 Brorby
In this class, we’ll be studying various texts for how sentences are used–how they build tension, momentum, and suspense. Or, how they break momentum, how they create a “singing” quality, how they work and the work that they do as they build a piece. This course is ideal for writers of prose.
EN 408-004 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Cheshire
The Writer in the World: Collaborative Forms
How do we, as writers, function as members of larger creative communities? In what ways can creative writing interact with other art forms, such as music, movement, and visual art? In this class, we will expand our writerly voices by putting ourselves in creative conversation with other artistic voices and forms. Topics of focus will include epistolary forms, ekphrasis (writing in response to visual art), documentary poetics, “after” poems, and multi-modal collaboration. We will meet with various local artists, musicians, and creators for inspiration, and use campus spaces— such as the Sarah Moody Art Gallery, Hoole Special Collections, and an assortment of intriguing sites around campus– to guide us as we venture out of the classroom and into broader creative worlds.
EN 408-005 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 11:00-12:15 Kidd
Paranormal Romance
Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies! Oh my! This course will explore conventions of the paranormal romance genre. We’ll build our skills in immersive worldbuilding, compelling character invention, and plot development. We’ll look at sample texts from authors like Sarah J. Maas, Ilona Andrews, and Robin McKinley to see how a page turner is built and how authors get readers so involved in their romantic and fantastic storylines. Students will try their hand at both short stories and pieces of longer works. Please note: This class will require reading and discussing frank portrayals of physical intimacy. Students need to be comfortable engaging with this content in a mature way.
EN 408-006 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 12:30-1:45 Beatty
Novel Workshop (Two-Semester Sequence)
The first in a two-semester sequence dedicated to drafting a novel (any genre, any length, any subject matter). We will brainstorm, generate lots of pages, look at a diverse set of examples, discuss craft, revise, hold each other accountable, commiserate, and talk shop. We’ll also briefly explore the evolution of the form, from Cervantes to Sally Rooney, and where we want our own work to go. The heart of the class will be workshopping material from works-in-progress and responding to peers. Expect to generate a partial draft by the end of the first semester and with a complete rough first draft by the end of the second.
EN 408-007 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 2:00-3:15 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 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.
EN 408-008 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING TR 3:30-4:45 Ariail
Reimagining the Medieval
Writers and artists love to reimagine the medieval in several genres, from high fantasy to gritty realist films set in the Middle Ages. In this course, we will examine selections from Old English heroic epics, Norse sagas, Arthurian legends, and more; we will think about creative and counterintuitive ways to transform these primary texts into vibrant stories of our own.
EN 408-009/JCM 442-001 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING T 2:00-4:30 Bragg
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Linguistics
EN 424-001 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 but will focus primarily on corpus and functional approaches. 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 466-001/500-001 ADVANCED STUDIES IN LINGUISTICS W 2:00-4:35 Selvi
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 532/432-001 COMP-RHET: APPROACHES & METHODSTR 9:30-10:45 Dayton
English 432/532 is an introduction to composition-rhetoric, designed for students who would like to pursue research in written communication, plan to teach writing someday, or simply want to know more about the field. We will explore questions such as: how do people learn to write in particular genres for specific purposes? How do our identities, linguistic influences, and cognitive processes all influence our writing? How can we help students (and ourselves) develop and improve writing skills over time? How does rhetoric inform the teaching of writing? This is a cross-listed course for undergraduate and graduate students.
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 ENGLISH INTERNSHIP Blount
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 Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of English. Please see the departmental website for the application form and further details.
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.
EN 499 HONORS THESIS STAFF
The Senior Thesis is an individualized, directed readings class that culminates in a thesis. The thesis is a research-based work making an original analytical claim in the fields of literary studies, linguistics, or rhetoric and composition. Students enrolled will work individually with a faculty mentor. A student who completes this course with a grade of A or A- and who meets GPA requirements will be awarded Departmental Honors. To enroll students must submit a research proposal to the Departmental Honors Coordinator before the end of the previous semester, and that proposal must be approved by the Honors Committee. 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. Prerequisite: EN 399.