Fall 2011 Courses: 300-Level

ENG 3063.001: American Literature 1870-1945

Instructor: Debbie Lopez
Class Time: TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Class Location: MB 0.208

Course Description
One of the primary avenues explored in this course will be the connection between adventures and financial ventures.  For example, in the first text studied, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, some characters have the freedom to adventure and others are restricted severely by their inability to venture socially, much less financially. Though this course is essentially a survey of American works from 1870 to 1945, it is framed by two works slightly outside of that time frame: Horatio Alger’s (1867) paradigmatic rags to respectability story Ragged Dick and Ann Petry’s parody of that paradigm, The Street (1946), in which a young African American woman follows that formula in struggling to raise her son alone amid the poverty and racial dissonance of late 1940’s Harlem. Alger published around 130 novels promoting Benjamin Franklin’s eighteenth- century prescription for frugality, industry, and intelligence as the keys to American success.  Over 20,000,000 of Alger’s books were printed, and they were in the optimistic days preceding WWI even more popular than in his own time.  Ironically, Fitzgerald’s WWI veteran Gatsby faithfully follows the Alger formula and succeeds—in the criminal underworld.  Students will also have the opportunity to read Chopin’s “new woman” novella The Awakening  and Hurston’s classic Their Eyes Were Watching God. 

Course Texts

  1. Alger, Horatio, Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward, Penguin
  2. Chopin, Kate, The Awakening, Penguin
  3. Fitzgerald, F. Scott,  The Great Gatsby, Oxford
  4. Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper
  5. Petry, Ann, The Street,Houghton Mifflin
  6. Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Bedford

Course Assignments for Grades

  • 20% Course participation, including a short presentation and frequent quizzes covering not just the assigned readings for the day but also material discussed in the previous day’s lecture.
  • 20% 3-5 page researched paper (based on presentation and due the period following the presentation).
  • 60% Three tests (multiple choice and identification of quotes).

ENG 3073.001: Young Adult Literature

Instructor: Eva Pohler
Class Time: MWF 2:00 - 2:50 p.m.
Class Location: MS 2.02.54

Course Description
The course will present you with the history of young adult literature and criticism, with the way young adult literature has been classified, with a number of popular texts classified as young adult literature and the secondary discussions surrounding them, and with tips to improve skills in literary analysis.

Course Texts

  1. O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins.
  2. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies.
  3. Orwell, George. Animal Farm.
  4. Lowry, Lois. The Giver.
  5. Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit.
  6. Carroll, Lewis, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Course Assignments for Grades
Requirements:

  • Surprise Quizzes: 10%
  • Reading Exam I: 20%
  • Reading Exam II: 20%
  • Paper I: 25%
  • Paper II: 25%

ENG 3133.001: Women and Literature

Instructor: Roberta Hurtado
Class Time: TR 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Class Location: TBA

Course Description
In this course, we will critically examine the production of literature by women for representations of cultural, historical, legal, social, and political genderization.  We will explore how gender identity is defined within these texts, and other spheres of identity that influence subject formation such as ethnicity, race, socio-economics, and sexual orientation. As a class, we will attempt to master discourses pertinent to studying women’s literature, specifically, and literature as a whole.  We will ask questions such as: how is “woman” defined in these texts? What is the role of literature in describing the different subject positions women embody? How do these texts define the role of women’s bodies and psyches within socio-political contexts? To assist in answering these questions, students will give one ten minute oral presentation in which they present on a chosen author from the course reading list. Students will also write one mid-term paper on a topic of their choice. In addition, a unique, original full length final paper that grapples with the concepts we have discussed over the course of the semester will be due the week before finals. This course requires students to have fulfilled CORE CURRICULUM requirements for English prior to enrollment. 
 
Reading List

  • Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina
  • Trujillo, Carmen. What Night Brings
  • Kingston, Maxine Hong. Warrior Woman
  • Hurston, Zora Neal. Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Kinkaid, Jamaica. Lucy
  • Ambert, Alba. The Anarchist’s Daughter
  • Garcia, Diana. When Living was a Labor Camp
  • Malladi, Amulya. Serving Crazy with Curry
  • Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands
  • Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper

ENG 3233.001: Shakespeare: The Late Plays

Instructor: Mark Bayer
Class Time: TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.126

Course Description
English 3233 provides an introduction to Shakespearean drama through careful reading of representative plays from several different genres from the later part of his career.  There are of course many commonalities between the early and late plays suggesting that a sharp distinction between the two and the precise date of the transition is somewhat forced and imposed by scholars much later.  There are, however, several features of the later plays that make them worthy of special consideration as a unit.  We will notice, for instance, that Shakespeare during this period seemed to develop a keen and reflexive sense of his own art and the power of theatre to influence the social world in numerous ways.  In this course, we will pay special attention to the content and form of these texts but also to the original conditions under which they were performed as well as their social, economic, and political contexts, the networks of patronage, readership, and often collaborative authorship that led to their production, as well as their function in today’s literary and cultural marketplace.

Requirements
Two examinations, one 6-8 page paper, and a series of short quizes on the plays

Texts

  1. Stephen Greenblatt et. al, Eds.  The Norton Shakespeare.

ENG 3313.001: Advanced Composition

Instructor: Sue Hum
Class Time: TR 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.206

Course Description
ENG 3313 examines the principles and procedures of informational, expository, and persuasive prose in academic settings.  As Aristotle explains, rhetoric is the "power of discovering the possible means of persuasion in reference to any subject matter" (Rhetoric I ii 1355a). Drawing on readings about popular culture in the United States, we explore contemporary persuasive writing conventions and experiment with new literacy habits that both adopt and may challenge academic writing conventions.  This course examines the art of writing, and through that examination, offers ways of expanding our writing repertoire and our literacy horizons. 

ENG 3313 three goals: first, the study of ways with words in schools; second, the influence of our beliefs and cultural habits on our practices of writing; and third, the collaboration with peers and through revision strategies to improve our writing skills. 

Not only do we work towards coherence, liveliness, persuasiveness, and originality, we also engage in extensive writing practice, including the writing of arguments.  Writing, like athletic ability, can only be improved through extended daily practice.  As Erasmus reminds us, "The desire to write grows with writing."  So, we'll write frequently and a great deal.  We'll write-to-learn and learn-to-write simultaneously.  We’ll work with each other closely to improve and stretch our writing skills.  Using the writer's workshop, we'll share our writing ideas and get regular constructive criticism from each other.  We’ll also try new strategies, because it is through risk-taking (and failure) that our writing skill improves.

Course Objectives

  1. Gaining factual knowledge (terminology, classifications, methods, trends)
  2. Developing specific skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field most closely related to this course
  3. Developing skill in expressing oneself orally or in writing
  4. Learning to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view

Course Texts

  1. George, Diana, John Trimbur.  Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing.  7th ed. Pearson, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0205688074

Grading Criteria

  • 4 Essays & Portfolio: 60%
  • 8 WebCT E-Chats: 20%
  • Quizzes, In-Class Group Work, & Workshop Participation: 20%

ENG 3343.001: Introduction to Linguistics

Instructor: Sonja Lanehart
Class Time: TR 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Class Location: TBA

Course Description
We will examine several basic areas of study in Linguistics involving language structures and use as well as application of those areas. Because this course is a broad introduction to different ways in which language may be studied we will not consider any topic in great detail. You will be expected to critically think about course texts and topics to develop a meaningful understanding of language in the real world.

Course Texts

  1. Edward Finegan, Language: Its Structure and Use. 6th Edition, ISBN-13: 9780495900412
  2. Paul R. Frommer and Edward Finegan, Looking at Languages: A Workbook in Elementary Linguistics. 5th Edition, ISBN-13: 9780495912316.


Course Assignments for Grades

  • Attendance and Participation
  • Weekly Homework/Workbook
  • Weekly Quizzes
  • Comprehensive Exams (4)
  • Presentation with Short Paper (3-5 pages)
  • Concept Map and/or Comprehensive Final Exam

ENG 3813.001: Topics in Native American Literature: Women Writers

Instructor: Annette Portillo
Class Time: TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.124

Course Description
This course will examine Native American women’s literature and theoretical discourses surrounding American Indian literary practices. Our readings of novels, poetry, testimonios, identity-based anthologies and socio-historical essays will provide students with a better understanding of the diverse and complex identities of Native American women. These collective voices will provide historical and practical lenses through which students can examine their world and interactions with both the real/lived and imagined/stereotyped perceptions of and about American Indians. In addition, this interdisciplinary class (WS/AMS/ENG) asks students to complicate and challenge generic and confining disciplinary boundaries by reading these works within their appropriate historical and cultural contexts. This course does not assume that students have background in Native American Studies.

back to top