Spring 2011 Courses: 4000-Level

ENG 4013.001: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature

Instructor: John Stoler
Class Time: MWF 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.208

Course Description
This course surveys Restoration and Eighteenth-Century literature with the aim of giving students a solid  understanding of this historical period and providing a background for the study of the English Romantic Movement.  It will define the aesthetic principles of neo-classicism and trace the development of Romantic aesthetics.  The literary works will be treated not only as artistic achievements but also as reflections of the age’s cultural attitudes.  Discussion will play an important part in the course, but background material will be presented in lecture.  Topics covered in lecture may include the roles and rights of women, the rise of sensibility, the evolution of the modern novel, the emergence of Gothicism, and religious controversy.  Some biographical information on important writers may be presented.

Course Texts

  1. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Restoration and Eighteenth Century, Vol. C, Eighth Ed.
  2. Four Great Restoration Comedies (Wycherley, The Country Wife).
  3. Defoe, Moll Flanders
  4. Fielding, Joseph Andrews and Shamela
  5. Walpole, The Castle of Otranto
  6. Sheridan, The Rivals

There will be two papers due, a mid-term, a final exam, and several quizzes.  Each will count 20% of the final grade.  The papers will be short (4-6 pages each) and the quizzes will be objective  and not interpretive.

ENG 4023.001: Romanticism

Instructor: Karen Dodwell
Class Time: TR 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Class Location: HSS 2.02.10

Course Description
The course focuses on major writers of the Romantic era in British literature (late 1700s through early 1800s). Students will read a variety of texts and learn the basic characteristics of Romantic writing as well as study contemporary critical perspectives.

The course is writing intensive, and students are required to develop a substantial research project that results in a formal paper.

Examples of topics in Romanticism students might research include the following: nature writing, imaginative excursions, fiery prophetic visions, literal journeys, the Byronic hero, journal writing, historical contexts such as the French Revolution and the abolition of slavery, the picturesque, the sublime, the dark and even pathological side of the imagination, the Gothic.

Course Texts 

  1. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period
    Eighth Edition
    Paperback
    Volume(s): D
    Stephen Greenblatt- editor
    December 2005 
    ISBN 978-0-393-92720-7 
    6 × 9.2 in / 1104 pages 
    Volume(s): D / The Romantic Period
  2. Romanticism (Introductions to British Literature and Culture)
    Sharon Ruston – author 
    Paperback: 176 pages 
    Publisher: Continuum (June 5, 2007) 
    ISBN-10: 082648882X 
    ISBN-13: 978-0826488824

Course Assignments for Grades
Three tests, including final exam; two papers, including a research project; daily participation, including class discussion, group work, quizzes, and in-class writing

ENG 4033.001: Literary Modes & Genres: Rhetoric & Oratory

Instructor: William Short
Class Time: TR 3:30 - 4:45 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.102

Course Description
This course traces the development of rhetoric and oratory throughout Greek and Roman antiquity. Examining the speeches of some of the ancient world’s most famous practitioners, we will explore the practical and theoretical aspects of what the Greeks called the techne rhetorike and the Romans ars oratoria: to gain an understanding not only of the contexts and occasions of speech-making, methods of composition, and customs of performance; but also of the beliefs and ideas about persuasion, style, character, gender, and power, and rhetoric’s relationship to grammar. Particular attention will be paid to the “literaturization” of rhetoric and rise of “declamation” as a system of education, prefiguring the organization of the medieval trivium andquadruvium and the curriculum of modern higher education.

Course Texts
Thomas Habinek, Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory, 2004.
Catherine Steel, Roman Oratory, 2006.
A. N. W. Saunders (trans), Greek Political Oratory, 1978.
Michael Grant (trans), Cicero: Selected Political Speeches, 1977.

Course Assignments for Grades
Assignments will consist of readings from primary and secondary sources, with “discussion questions”. Students will also be expected to write two short analytical papers keyed to the themes of the course, and a final research paper on a topic of their choosing.

ENG 4063.001: Medieval English Literature

Instructor: Mark Allen
Class Time: TR 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Class Location: HSS 3.04.26

Course Description
Designed for advanced English majors, this course enables students to explore the modes and genres of early English literature from its earliest roots to about 1500. Old English works (ca. 650-1066) will be read in modern translation; Middle English works (ca. 1150-1500) will be read in Middle English. The difficulties of reading Middle English make it necessary that we read only selections from some of the longer works, but one goal of the course is to make it possible for students to learn to read Middle English. Because UTSA offers a separate undergraduate course in Chaucer, his works are generally not included in the reading schedule.

Regular quizzes and occasional homework allow students to demonstrate their fundamental knowledge of the course readings, while class discussion will explore the cultural contexts of the works—literary, linguistic, historical, intellectual, and artistic. The two exams are means for students to demonstrate their analytic skills as well as their knowledge of the readings and their contexts. The semester project is an opportunity for research, analysis, and the exploration and demonstration of intellectual and creative skills.

Texts

  1. Crossley-Holland, Kevin, ed. The Anglo-Saxon World. Oxford UP. [C-H]
  2. Donoghue, Daniel, ed. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. New York: Norton.
  3. Garbáty, Thomas J., ed. Medieval English Literature. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland

ENG 4433.001: Advanced Professional Writing

Instructor: Diane Abdo
Class Time: TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Class Location: AET 0.102

Course Description
This course focuses in part on the practical aspect of professional writing through the fictional company M-Global. In addition to writing for situations involving this international organization (such as a company newsletter), students will write letters and memos based on current laws or policies, as well as grant proposals for local nonprofit agencies.  They will also write proposals and feasibility studies based on UTSA’s Vision 2016.

Course material will center on a variety of scenarios requiring responses based on purpose, knowledge of the subject, audience (usually with different technical backgrounds), format, and visual support.

Throughout the course, students will be required to demonstrate competency in grammar, usage, conciseness, clarity, and sentence structure.

ENG 4523.001: Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction

Instructor: Catherine Kasper
Class Time: R 2:00 - 4:45 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.208

NOTE: To be considered for enrollment for this course, please contact the professor by email. Students must meet the prerequisite and will be asked to submit a writing portfolio via email for consideration for approval to enroll.

Course Description
This course assumes the student has previous experience writing the short story and has taken an introductory university-level course in creative writing, such as English 2323 or 2333, 3423, or an approved equivalent. Students will have the opportunity to engage in the rigors of a serious writing workshop. We will workshop student writing, and all students will be expected to discuss and write comments demonstrating sensitive skills of critical analysis which will be given to the writer, as well as to the professor. Revision being crucial to writing improvement, students will be required to turn in substantial revisions of their work. Students must be open to traditional and experimental writing, and to learning more about the genre, and to improving their work through the workshop process.

Requirements
Class participation (which means regular attendance and informed discussion are a crucial part of your grade), in-class writing, writing prompt assignments including short stories and a significant revision of one short story, reading response papers, clearly written and typed critiques of all your classmates’ workshopped pieces, oral and written presentations, and attendance of one literary outside event. All homework assignments must be typewritten/word processed.

Texts
The following texts are required for this course (that is, you must obtain a copy of each text, and you must bring these texts to each class in which we discuss them):     

  1. Steven Millhauser, The Barnum Museum,  Dalkey Archive Press, 2007, paperback [1564781798]
  2. Joanna Scott, Various Antidotes, Picador, 2005, paperback [031242387X]

Recommended texts/suggested reading
Strunk/White/Kalman, The Elements of Style, Penguin Press, 2005, [1-59420-069-6]

ENG 4533.001: Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry

Instructor: Wendy Barker
Class Time: W 5:30 - 8:15 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.204

Course Description
This is a course for students eager to work on developing their craft in writing poetry, a genre that includes a wide range of styles. Since permission of the instructor is required, interested students should submit sample poems and a statement of interest to Wendy Barker as soon as possible at wendy.barker@utsa.edu.

We will function as a workshop, with regular but flexible assignments weekly. We will be encouraging and supportive of every student’s uniqueness, while also offering specific suggestions for growth and improvement.

Regular readings will also be required, with responses due weekly in addition to a weekly (new) poem. The final grade will be based on participation, weekly assignments, and a portfolio due at the end of the semester.

ENG 4953.002: Special Topics: Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy

Instructor: Eva Pohler
Class Time: T 2:00 - 4:45 p.m.
Class Location: HSS 3.04.14

Course Description
We will apply Joseph Campbell’s writings in The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth to our readings of five contemporary young adult fantasy novels.

Course Texts

  1. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
  2. Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief
  3. Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass
  4. Christopher Paolini’s Eragon
  5. Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight
  6. Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces
  7. Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth

Course Assignments for Grades

  • Surprise Quizzes: 10%
  • Paper I (5-7-page literary analysis): 25%
  • Paper II (5-7-page literary analysis): 25%
  • Exam I: 20%
  • Exam II: 20%

ENG 4953.003: Sp. Topics: Queer Studies (Cross listed with WS 3713.001)

Instructor: Megan Sibbett
Class Time: M 5:30 - 8:15 p.m.
Class Location: MB 0.224

Course Description
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the academic fields and debates within Queer Studies and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Studies. The central focus is to examine, theorize, challenge, critique, and destabilize normative conceptualizations and representations of gender and sexuality. We will concentrate on different aspects of queer studies including history, queer theory and scholarship, popular culture, media, and literature. Specifically we will complicate notions of queer identity through intersections of race, class, gender, and globalization.


Course Texts
TBA

Course Assignments for Grades
Multi-media project, Essays, Annotated Bibliography, Class Presentations, On-line Postings

ENG 4953.004: Sp St: Evolutionary Psychology and Literature

Instructor: Jeff Turpin
Class Time: TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Class Location: MS 2.01.06

Course Description
Modern scientific studies support the claim that story-telling is fundamental to our individual and societal survival—the stories we tell and hear can create—and sometimes save—our lives.  If these studies are accurate, literary studies are integral to our ability to think clearly and creatively, and to function well in love and in life.  This course will explore recent insights into the art of narrative from evolutionary and cognitive psychologies, focusing on how these universal habits of our species help us adapt to our various social and physical environments. 

Grading will be based on weekly response papers and two rigorous formal papers.

Required Texts

  1. Course Reader (photocopy or electronic copies)
  2. Evolution, Literature, and Film: A Reader.  Boyd et al, eds. Columbia UP.  (ISBN 9780231150194)
  3. Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies.  Zunshine, Lisa, ed. Johns Hopkins UP. (ISBN 9780801894879)

ENG 4973.001: Seminar: Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy

Instructor: Linda Woodson
Class Time: W 2:00 - 4:45 p.m.
Class Location: HSS 3.03.06

Course Description
D.H. Lawrence observes that "the essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer." Although he would recognize the "essential American soul" in the characters of both Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy, nevertheless, these two writers achieve transcendence and innocence through what has been called the "sacred violence" in their writing.

Requirements

  • Mid-term examination: 20%
  • Presentation: 20%
  • Essay (12-15 pages): 30%
  • Final examination: 30%

Texts

  1. Flannery O'Connor:
  2. Wise Blood
  3. The Complete Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor

Cormac McCarthy:

  1. Suttree
  2. Blood Meridian
  3. All the Pretty Horses
  4. Cities of the Plain
  5. The Road

ENG 4973.002: Senior Seminar: 19th C. British Novel

Instructor: David Vance
Class Time: W 5:30 - 8:15 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.208

Course Description
This course takes as its subject the novel’s rise to prominence during what is commonly termed the Victorian Era. Students will be given opportunity to critically analyze a range of novels from the period and will be asked to consider how their structure and content are informed by the historical contexts in which they were written and published. Emphasis will be given to the ways in which novelists respond to various “social problems” that arose during the period as a result of Britain’s colonialist project and the rise of industrialism, with special attention being given to the ways novelists challenge and/or reinforce the rigorous gender expectations of the day. Attendance is necessary. As is the case in all senior seminars, the capstone for this course will be a substantial critical paper.

Required Texts
The most recent Norton Critical Editions of:

  1. Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
 (1847) ISBN-13: 978-0393975420
  2. Thackeray, Willaim - Vanity Fair (1847) ISBN-13: 978-0393965957
  3. Gaskel, Elizabeth - North & South (1854) ISBN-13: 978-0393979084
  4. Dickens, Charles - Hard Times (1854) ISBN 13: 978-0393975604
  5. Eliot, George - Middlemarch
 (1871) ISBN-13: 978-0393974522
  6. Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) ISBN-13: 978-0393959031


Norton Library edition of:

  1. Gissing, George - The Odd Women (1893) ISBN-13: 978-0393006100

ENG 4973.004: From Text to Film

Instructor: Kinitra Brooks
Class Time: R 2:00 - 4:45 p.m.
Class Location: HSS 3.03.18

Course Description
How does one go about adapting a popular novel into a successful film text? In this course, we will read both novel and film as text and analyze successful representations in each given drama. We will also read excerpts of literary and film theory to inform our analyses of the parallels found in both texts.  This class is race/gender/class/sexuality intensive with an emphasis on the intersections of these identities. It is incredibly difficult to examine Hollywood adaptations of texts without paying attention to the construction of these identities. We will identify and analyze the tropes of identity found in both literature and film.  All film viewings and readings will be completed outside of class. We will only examine excerpts of the film during class meetings.

Course Texts

  1. Othello, William Shakespeare
  2. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
  3. Emma, Jane Austen
  4. Beloved, Toni Morrison
  5. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
  6. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
  7. Fight Club, Chuck Palanhuik
  8. The Shining,   Stephen King
  9. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

Course Assignments for Grades

  • Reflection Papers: 15%
  • Project: 15%
  • Quizzes: 20%
  • Participation: 10%
  • Critical Paper: 20%
  • Final Exam: 20%

ENG 4973.005: The Translingual Imagination

Instructor: Steven Kellman
Class Time: T 5:30 - 8:15 p.m.
Class Location: MB 1.208

Course Description
No man fully capable of his own language ever masters another.
--George Bernard Shaw

I speak three languages, write in
Two dream in one.
--Kamala Das

Geographical and psychological exile has been the pervasive condition of modern authors—Cortázar, Hemingway, and Kundera in Paris, Singer and García Lorca in New York, Joyce in Zurich, Pound in Italy, Solzhenitsyn in Vermont, each stubbornly scribbling in a language alien to their strange new neighbors.  However, a remarkable number of men and women have been linguistic exiles: writing, out of choice or compulsion, in a language not learned at their mothers’ knees.  It is difficult enough to write well in one’s native language; how much more extraordinary is the accomplishment of Beckett, Celan, Conrad, Dinesen, Nabokov, and Pessoa in excelling in a second, third, or even fourth language.  With a focus on both fictional and nonfictional narratives, ENGLISH 4973 will examine texts by agile linguistic chameleons. We will be attentive to what they might have in common and to whether language is itself a theme within their narratives.  In vivid, varied ways, translingual fictions confront the role of language in shaping and even determining our cultures and our selves.

Course Texts 

  1. Samuel Beckett.  Molloy. Grove.  039417027X.
  2. Louis Begley.  Wartime Lies. Ballantine.  0449001172.
  3. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.  Dictée.  University of California Press.   0520231120.
  4. Ariel Dorfman. Heading South Looking North: A Bilingual Journey.   Penguin.  014028253X.
  5. Eva Hoffman.  Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language. Penguin.  0140127739.
  6. Steven G. Kellman, ed. Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft.  University of Nebraska Press. 0803278071.
  7. Andreï Makine. Dreams of My Russian Summers. Touchstone. 0684852683.
  8. Vladimir Nabokov. Pnin.  Vintage.  0679723412.

Course Assignments for Grades
In addition to assigned readings, class attendance, and active, informed, and scintillating contributions to class discussions, students will be responsible throughout the semester for quizzes, a midterm, a  major term paper, one oral presentation, and a final exam. The final grade will be a function of: midterm (30%) + paper (30%) + class work, including quizzes, discussions, and oral presentations (15%) + final exam (25%) = 100%.

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