Featured Courses
As a service to students, some English faculty members write descriptions that show the specific ways in which they will focus their courses. For example, Category I in the General Education program offers literature courses that fall into several types, including Literary Genre (English 202), Historical Approaches to Literature (English 203), and Thematic Approaches to Literature (English 204). However, given the specializations of various faculty members, these courses vary.
Fall 2011
English 201.04: Intro: Lit Studies
English 204.10: Fantasy: Tolkien / Lewis / Williams
English 205.02 / MFL 205.02: Central European Literature
English 212.07: Bodies and Brains: Writing about (Un)Living
English 212.9: Comics and Culture
English 311.01: Literature of Great Britain to 1660
English 338: Modern Drama
English 415.01: Chaucer
English 441: Topics in 19th Century American Literature: American Renaissances
English 490: Special Topics: The Large Scope: Creating Sequenced/ Continued Work
Winter 2012
English 307: African American Literature
Fall 2011
English 201.04: Intro: Lit Studies
SE 120 Lec TR 2:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Basil Clark
Required books:
Booth, Allison and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 10th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010.
Cuddon, J. A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Rev. C. E. Preston. New York: Penguin, 1999.
This is a required course for English majors (including those working toward teaching certification) and minors and a prerequisite for all upper-division English and American literature classes. It is also required by the English minor in the Elementary Education program.
During fall 2011 semester, we will read carefully and critically selected works of literature in English and write three critical literary papers. Though our study will include introductory attention to contemporary literary theory, primary emphasis will be placed on active engagement with the texts themselves to understand what they say. In addition to the papers, two midterm exams and a final will be required.
English 204*10: Fantasy: Tolkien / Lewis / Williams
ES 213 Lec MW 2:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Basil Clark
Required books:
Lewis, C. S. That Hideous Strength. New York: Scribner, 2003.
Lewis, C. S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. New York: Harper Collins, 2005.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (boxed set). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Williams, Charles. All Hallows’ Eve. Vancouver: Regent College, 2002.
Williams, Charles. War in Heaven. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004.
In this course, we will read, discuss, and write about the mid-twentieth-century fantasies of three British writers: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. All three are associated with Oxford University, Tolkien and Lewis as professors and Williams as editor of the Oxford University Press. As members of the informal literary group “The Inklings,” they shared theological, philosophical and literary interests and read and critiqued one-another’s work. Two class papers and one oral project will be required, in addition to two midterm exams and a final.
Engl 205.02 / MFL 205.02 Central European Literature
T 4:00-6:50 P231
Instructor: Gary Thompson
Office: SW 313
Prerequisites: All basic skills reading and writing classes
There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.
--Walter Benjamin
In the United States we tend to study our own literature or that of our linguistic forebears from the British Isles. Other cultures, however, have their own literatures and histories, and we measure our own culture in part by comparison with theirs. One of the purposes of SVSU’s general education program is that of coming to better understand the culture of a region outside our own, and this semester’s class in Central European Literature will offer a contribution to that end. Present-day countries in this region include Austria, Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Poland.
For our purposes, we will consider Central Europe to be bounded by France to the west, Italy and the Balkans to the south (though we will poach a bit on these boundaries), Scandinavia to the north, and the former Soviet Union to the east. Chronologically we’ll focus on the twentieth century and after, drawing when needed on deeper historical context. In terms of genre, we will read mostly fiction, with two plays brought into the mix. This has been a period of political and cultural upheaval during this period, with the rise of modernism, furthering of nationalism resulting in WWI and the end of the centuries-old Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rise of fascism and Nazism, WWII and the Holocaust, the Cold War annexation of half of the region by the USSR, the dissolution of the Soviet Empire in 1989 and its aftermath. One theme to be given prominence in all this is emigration: what does it mean to be a stranger in a new land, or to have your own land declare you a stranger?
Because no convenient anthology exists for our purposes, we will draw from a number of works translated from these cultures. Note: these readings are on “mature” themes, including fictional representations of real events including violence, death, and sexuality. Some of these readings are about disturbing events, and include disturbing language. This is part of the necessary content of the course. If you find four-letter words objectionable, please select another section of this general education course.
English 212.07: Bodies and Brains: Writing about (Un)Living
Instructor: Jason Kahler
Who are you? What makes us who we are? Our focus this semester will be on issues of identity formation, humanness, personality, and personhood.
To that end, we'll be investigating a lot of material taken from the fields of philosophy and psychology, as well work about one of our lasting themes this semester: zombies. Zombies look like people and act a lot like people, but zombies lack identity and personality. Or do they? And what can we learn from zombies? We'll be watching two films that “star” zombies this semester: “Night of the Living Dead” and “Zombieland.” We'll also be reading a book about the great zombie war, World War Z by Max Brooks.
Plan on reading a lot this semester, and generating a lot of your own texts. You'll be responsible for weekly discussion board posts, five short summary/response essays, an eight-page research paper, and other writing. Our writing will focus on the development of arguments.
Emphasizes processes of critical reading and writing, as applied to several modes of communication. Frequent writing assignments for different audiences, with attention to disciplinary conventions and rhetorical strategies for argument in academic discourse. Workshop approaches. Includes work in developing research questions and using library and electronic resources. Refines abilities to analyze both student and professional texts. Specific content for reading may be organized by theme.
(Cross-listed with ENGL 285.) Prerequisite: All reading and writing Basic Skills requirements must be completed before enrolling in this course.
English 212.9: Comics and Culture
T/R 1:00 - 2:20
Instructor: Tim Kenyon
Comics can be defined as images and words arranged sequentially for the purpose of telling a story. By this definition, comics have been around quite literally since the dawn of humankind. Early humans used cave drawings to record their history, to educate their young, and to tell stories. These drawings share many of the same functions as today’s comics and graphic novels. While popular culture has morphed the concept of the “comic” into an art form that must be either humorous, pithy, childish, or replete with superheroes, true comics are anything but. This class will introduce you to and reinforce the idea that comics, particularly those in the graphic novel form, can enlighten, inspire, educate, and break the boundaries and stereotypes that hold our culture from ultimately understanding and coming to terms with the world in which we live.
ENGL 311.01: Literature of Great Britain to 1660
T 4:00-6:50
Instructor: Dr. Daniel Gates
This course introduces conventional genres of medieval and early modern literature, such as pastoral, epic, and tragedy, and some important representative works from Beowulf to the late seventeenth century. Among the texts included in the course readings will be selections from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Gawain and the Green Knight, Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Jonson’s Volpone, and poems by Donne, Herbert, and Milton.
Engl 338: Modern Drama
TTh 2:30-3:50 ES115
Instructor: Gary Thompson
Office: SW 313
Prerequisites: All basic skills reading and writing classes
Engl 338 is an upper-division literature class focusing on drama, ranging from Henrik Ibsen up to the present. Texts are still to be determined, but will be drawn from Ibsen, Shaw, Chekhov, O’Neill, Beckett, Brecht, Sartre, Pirandello, Pinter, Havel, Williams, Churchill, Wilson, Mamet, Jelinek, Stoppard, Mro?ek, . . . somewhere around 10 plays in total.
As part of the course requirements, students will be required to attend at least three plays (drawing on campus and area productions).
English 415.01: Chaucer
SE 126 Lec T 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Basil Clark
Required book:
Benson, Larry D., ed. The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
Objectives of this course:
1. To acquire a working knowledge of Chaucer’s Middle English (East Midland / London, 14th century): its phonology, grammar, and vocabulary.
2. To read The Canterbury Tales in its entirety, following a brief study of earlier works by Chaucer and to respond critically to this reading.
Approach and course requirements:
Class time will be spent on reading aloud in Middle English and “translating” Chaucer into modern English, and in discussing the various tales and earlier works as we encounter them.
There will be two midterm exams, one course paper, one group report, and a final exam.
English 441 Topics in 19th Century American Literature: American Renaissances
M 4:00-6:50pm in SE 139
gardner@svsu.edu
Scholars have long recognized the decades just before the Civil War as a period of unprecedented growth and change in American letters. While much criticism and literary history has focused on writers tied to or reacting against Transcendentalism, other literary renaissances circled around questions of gender, race, slavery, location, and the newly-possible “popular.” This course will examine examples of a wide range of period “renaissances” with an eye toward interrogating how they can be conceived of as such, how they are implicitly and explicitly “American,” and how they “talk” to each other and to broader aesthetic and social phenomena during the period. Students will write a range of documents (including researched essays) and will participate actively in class discussions.
This course is cross-listed with English 511 (Seminar in American Literature).
English 490: Special Topics: The Large Scope: Creating Sequenced/ Continued Work.
Instructor: Arra Ross
This class if for students who want to work on longer creative projects. We will look at different ways to approach arrangement in poetry sequences/books, short-story collections, novels, plays, etc. Along with this, we will work on creating new work, and we will give and receive feedback on our on-going large projects. Prereq: English 305 or 306, or instructor's permission.
Winter 2012
English 307: African American Literature
W 4:00-6:50pm
B 317 / 964.4037 / gardner@svsu.edu
Adequately studying all of the wondrous texts, authors, and issues embodied in the phrase “African American Literature” in a single semester would be impossible. Thus, this course offers a kind of high-powered introduction to both some crucial periods and some key figures and texts. We’ll pay significant attention to current developments in the field, with some emphasis on questions of canonicity, context, and change. Students will be responsible for close and careful reading of assigned texts, active participation in discussion, and completion of a series of projects that include intensive writing and research.