Instructor: Sheila Boland Chira Senior Lecturer in English More . . .
Stories of how the West was won are embedded deep in our collective American consciousness. Tales of gunslingers and lawmen, cowboys and Indians, dance hall girls and ranchers' wives captivate us while raising enduring questions about American identity. We will saddle up and ride through the evolution of the American literary Western, from Owen Wister's 1902 classic novel, The Virginian, to genre-bending stories like Annie Proulx's 1997 Brokeback Mountain. We will make stops along the way for fiction by Zitkala Sa, Jack Schaffer, Dorothy Johnson, Charles Portis, Cormac McCarthy, and Thomas King. We will explore the ways literary representations of the frontier have contributed to shifting notions of national and individual American identity. Tracking changes in cultural attitudes toward the western American landscape and its inhabitants will involve plenty of reading, discussion, and exploration of writing as a means of both discovering and expressing ideas. We will take a few side trips to the movies and may meet John Wayne, Ang Lee, and the Coen brothers along the way.
Requirements Satisfied: one Literature course
Meets: TR 10:00am-11:15am
Instructor: Anthony Magistrale Professor of English More . . .
Few people appreciate sufficiently the fact that American literature, cinema, and our country's pictorial arts have for many generations been influenced by elements of horror art. What is there about American culture that has encouraged the tale of terror to flourish? Perhaps the genre represents the "other side" of the American dream, of our faith in material prosperity and capitalism's irrefutable optimism towards the future. Perhaps it is a simple reminder that the new American Adam is really not so different from his European ancestors: we are all fallen beings. This TAP seminar will examine some of the social and historical contexts for understanding the American tale of terror as it has appeared in a variety of forms, beginning with early Puritan narratives, and then extending into the nineteenth century: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, and Edgar Allan Poe. The seminar will also take up work by contemporary American horror writers, Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King, among some others. In addition, the class will view at least two or three films that are representative of American horror film. Requirements will include oral reports and summary write-ups, in-class writing, participation in class discussion, and two formal papers.
Requirements Satisfied:
Meets: MWF 3:00pm-3:50pm
Instructor: Sarah Turner Senior Lecturer in English More . . .
Toni Morrison's canon thus far spans close to 40 years and contains ten novels, six children's books, a short story, three works of non-fiction, plus numerous pieces of scholarly and social criticism. This TAP course will consider a selection of her works and will explore her impact upon the American literary canon through a variety of written responses both traditional and non-traditional. As a class we will take advantage of the Writers' Workshop offerings this fall and attend lectures and readings by a number of writers and poets both on campus and in the community. Each week there will be a writing assignment due in class on Tuesdays; in small groups or as a class, we will workshop those pieces and talk about the choices writers make. These pieces are works in progress and will be responded to as such.
Requirements Satisfied: one Literature course
Meets: TR 8:30am-9:45am
Instructor: Jamie Williamson Senior Lecturer in English More . . .
From a (probably) Romano-Celtic war leader who fought against invading Saxons at c. 500 C.E. somehow sprang the legends of a courtly king and emperor, the subject of some of the greatest literature of the later Middle Ages. After fading during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Arthur was reborn during the Romantic period and has since returned as a popular subject in poetry, fiction, and film. In this course we will explore how medieval writers used the legends to alternately reinforce and challenge accepted notions of chivalry and love, and how modern writers have used the legends to raise questions on gender, war, and the individual. Readings will include work by Chretien de Troyes, Sir Thomas Malory, T. H. White, and others. And yes, we will watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Requirements Satisfied: one Literature course
Meets: MWF 8:30am-9:20am
Instructor: Daniel Fogel Professor of English More . . .
How do works of fiction function in all of their many dimensions-as entertainments, as representations of actual or imagined worlds, and as vehicles for understanding ourselves and others? The best contemporary graphic novels achieve the sustained narratives and the psychological and thematic complexity of traditional novels. In this seminar, we will read such graphic novels as Art Spiegelman's Maus, Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis - both for their own sake and for the clear lens they provide for examining narrative theory, whose lessons we will also apply to select masterpieces of modern short fiction.
Requirements Satisfied: one Literature course
Meets: TR 1:00pm-2:15pm
Instructor: Jinny Huh Assistant Professor of English More . . .
Who is the detective figure and what are the various categories of detective fiction (classic, hard-boiled, feminist, gender/sexuality, race, etc.)? How does the detective detect and what are his/her limitations? How do these detectives comment upon and critique social and political concerns as well as ethical and moral problems? This course is an introduction to the figure of the detective since its emergence in 1841 with Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin. We will begin by exploring some of the most popular figures of the genre, from Dupin and Sherlock Holmes to Philip Marlowe to Easy Rawlins and African detective Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe from Botswana, among others. These detectives represent a diversity of perspectives in detection, including gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and nations and cultures. In addition to literary representations, we will also examine the detective figure in film and popular culture.
Requirements Satisfied: one Literature course
Meets: TR 2:30pm-3:45pm
Instructor: Susanmarie Harrington Professor of English More . . .
Writers are often told, "Put in your own words!" when they are working with sources. But what does it really mean to take someone else's ideas and use your own words to express them? What does it mean to own ideas, and how is our notion of ownership related to our sense of personal writing style? And how do concerns about writing ethics and plagiarism affect you as you write? Through assignments that ask you to try on different voices - some academic, some not - as well as assignments that ask you to engage with different sources in new and surprising ways, we will learn about writing voice and writing ethics, and also learn about college writing culture.
Requirements Satisfied: one Humanities course
Meets: TR 10:00am-11:15am