English 1310: Intro to American LiteratureFrances Dickey
Section 8
TR 12:30-1:45
This course offers a basic introduction to literary study through a brief survey of American literature. You will learn
to identify literary genres, poetic forms, point of view, types of figurative language, tone and diction, and
other techniques of literary composition. As well, you will learn about the characteristics of the major periods of
literary history from the Puritans through postmodernism. The goal of the course is not to cover American literature comprehensively,
but rather to introduce the terms and concepts of literary analysis in a historical framework. Coursework will include short
writing assignments, class participation, and tests.
2000-Level Courses
English 2009: Introduction to Film AnalysisJoanna Hearne
Section
MWF 11:00-12:00, screenings Monday 5:00-8:30
This course introduces students to the basics of film aesthetics, including units on mise-en-scène, cinematography,
editing, narrative, sound, color, and genre. Balancing our focus on technical elements with broader frameworks, we will
also consider various critical, theoretical, ideological, and historical approaches to film studies and to the practice of
writing about film. Course requirements will include presentations, short papers, and exams. Cross listed as Film Studies 2810.
English 2309: Studies in English, 1890 to Present: The Cold War in American Literature and CultureSam Cohen
Section 1
TR 2:00-3:15
In this course we will read American writing from the Cold War and after in the context of the social, political, and historical
developments of the Cold War. These developments include the development of youth culture; the impact of American use of the atomic
bomb in World War II and subsequent fear of nuclear apocalypse; connections between race and sexuality and the ideology of the Cold War;
the effects of Cold War foreign and domestic policy on public and private life. Readings will include J.D. Salinger,
Catcher in the Rye; Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man; Allen Ginsberg, Howl; Joan Didion, Democracy;
Don DeLillo, Underworld.
English 2400: Introduction to African Diaspora LiteratureSheri-Marie Harrison
Section
TR 11:00-12:15
This course is designed to introduce students to literature of the African Diaspora. We will examine prose, poetry, and drama
by black writers in Africa, the Americas, and Europe to focus on their engagements with Western literary traditions, traditional oral
literatures, folklore, and music. We will explore commonalities in style and themes such as race, gender, nationality and
trans-nationalism. Course work will be divided into five modules: African American Literature, Afro-Caribbean Literature,
African Literatures in English, Afro-British Literature, and Folklore of the African Diaspora. Graded work will also include
regular short answer quizzes, a mid term, and a final exam. Cross listed as BL-STU 2400-02.
English 2400: Introduction to Anglophone Africana LiteratureClenora Hudson-Weems
Section
TR 12:30-1:45
"Theorizing Africana Literature," is an undergraduate course designed to introduce students to 20th and 21st Centuries Africana
Literature and Theory. The turn of the 20th century in the Africana literary world is marked by the DuBois-Washington controversy
that, along with Marcus Garvey (explicated in Tony Martin's Literary Garveyism), ushered in the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s.
Major Harlem Renaissance poets of that era include James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.
Next was the DuBois-Locke Debate of the 30s, followed by such noted poets as Hayden, Randall, M. Walker and Brooks. The Harlem
Renaissance/Post Renaissance was a precursor to the cultural and literary debates of the searing 60s, following the inception of the
Civil Rights Movement of the 50s, which was ignited by the 1955 Brutal lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till. The searing 70s,
with prominent orators, Malcolm, King and Carmichael (Kwame Ture), continued the Civil Rights, Black Power, Black Arts and Black
Aesthetic Movements. Focus on the latter part of the 20th and early 21st centuries will highlight the Africana literary and theoretical
works of several renowned Africana theorists, including Baraka and Neal, prime movers of the Black Arts Movement; Gayle, early chief
proponent of Black Aesthetics; and Barksdale, Black Aesthetician. Major Black Arts poets of the 60s and 70s include Madhubuti, Sanchez,
Evans and Angelou. The 80s brought forth Asante's African centered concept, Afrocenticity, and Lorde, an Africana poet and critic on
racism and lesbianism issue respectively. During that decade, Africana Womanism also emerged, a family centered, race empowerment
construct for all women of African descent, rather than a Eurocentric female-centered, female empowerment paradigm. Chief Black
feminists include Barbara Smith and bell hooks; Africana womanists include Clenora Hudson-Weems, Delores Aldridge, Betty Taylor Thompson
and Adele S. Newson-Horst. Literary works augmenting the authentic theoretical constructs include also two novels--Toni Morrison's
Beloved and Gloria Naylor's Mama Day. While the main objective of the course is to introduce students to Africana literature and
Africana theoretical constructs as an authentic way of interpreting those texts, I will also be addressing a critical issue both
inside and outside the Academy, confronting all races, etc.--Plagiarism. To that end, students will be required to do a short
research paper (approximately five to six typed pages), possibly addressing this crime, as they explore literary and/or theoretical
Africana issues.
3000-Level Courses
English 3110: Special Themes in LiteratureRichard Schwartz
Section 1
TR 11:00-12:15
"The Rise and Triumph of the Novel." The novel has become the predominant literary form for several reasons. Among these are its
faithfulness to classic principles and its ability to sustain those principles in a vast variety of ways. It is, simultaneously,
both predictable and malleable. We will discuss the origins of the novel in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and examine
multiple examples (from the eighteenth century to the present) of the ways in which it can adhere to principle in fresh and varied ways.
Approximately ten novels will be read.
English 3200: Survey of British Literature, Beginning to 1784David Read
Section 1
TR 9:00-10:15
This course is a chronological introduction to the important movements in British literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end
of the eighteenth century. Because we have such a limited time to cover such a broad period, we will not be studying drama in this
course, but will concentrate on poetry and short- to medium-length prose texts. We will try to combine close readings of the works
on the syllabus with attention to historical and cultural developments during a millenium of literary activity in England.
English 3210: British Literature, Romanticism to the PresentNoah Heringman
Section 1
MWF 1:00-1:50
This survey of Romantic, Victorian, and Modern literature will be loosely organized around the theme of war. Historically,
the course begins in the Age of Revolution, and we will study some of the poetry and prose inspired by the American and (especially)
the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars. In addition to narrative poems on this subject by William Blake and Anna Letitia Barbauld
and some political prose, we will read A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Charles Dickens's historical novel set during the French Revolution.
In the second half we will read Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway (1925), which responds to World War I. The bulk of the reading,
apart from these two novels and one or two plays, will be poetry: we will engage closely with John Keats, Christina Rossetti, and
Gerard Manley Hopkins, among other poets, and touch briefly on many others. A formal emphasis on the close reading of poetry will run
parallel to the historical emphasis on social conflict, on the basis that close reading and historical context are essential to each other.
In this way, the course attempts to create a coherent but detailed picture of large-scale literary and cultural developments. The last
two weeks of the course will be devoted to recent developments in British and postcolonial literature.
English 3300: Survey of American Literature to 1865Maureen Konkle
Section 1
MWF 2:00-2:50
This course provides a historical overview of the emergence of Anglophone writing in North America and the U.S. from European colonization
to the Civil War through the study of representative writers, including Mary Rowlandson, Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin,
Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, William Apess, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson.
Course requirements include weekly quizzes and writing assignments, midterm and final, and a course project that includes both group
and individual components.
English 3310: Survey of American Literature, 1865 to PresentSam Cohen
Section 3
TR 9:30-10:45
This course will cover American literature from 1865 to today. We will read short stories, novels, poems, and essays by
writers working across a century-and-a-half of American history and dealing with the changes through which American culture has gone.
These include changes in industry, technology, demographics, in what America means and what it means to be an American,
in America's position in the world, in our understanding of the nature of the individual, society, and matter, and in our
ideas about the nature and purpose of literature.
English 3310: Survey of American Literature, 1865 to PresentJohn Evelev
Section 1
MWF 11-11:50
This survey seeks to help generate clear and substantial understandings of the major literary movements of the period,
from Realism (with subsets Regionalism and Naturalism) through to Modernism and Postmodernism. Texts include: The Norton Anthology of
American Literature (C,D,and E), DeLillo, White Noise, and Tomine, Shortcomings. This course will be designated WI and will
require informal and formal writing assignments as well as a revision. There will be 3 exams.
English 3400: Survey of African American Litertaure, Beginning to 1900April Langley
Section
TR 11-12:15
This writing intensive course introduces students to the major developments, themes, and works of African American literature-from
its eighteenth-century beginnings to 1900, the post-Civil War and Reconstruction Era. The course has three objectives: a) to explore
African American literature's continuing response to the call of African, American, and Afro-British American oral and written
traditions-in the form of folktales, songs, sermons, prose, and poetry; b) to examine the social, political, and cultural influences
of early African-American literature; and, c) to analyze the implications of this literature through class discussions and the
following assignments: meaningful reading responses, one short essay, one oral presentation, one group presentation, and one final essay.
(Writing Intensive) (Same as Black Studies 3400, 1)
English 3410: African American Literature, 1900-PresentChristopher Okonkwo
Section 1
TR 8:00-9:15
African American literature offers a fascinating body of works, unique in their history, diverse in their concerns, and engaging in their
sometimes "call-and-response" conversation. Since the literature's inception centuries ago, African American writers and artists have
through their works-folk/oral tradition, poetry, autobiographies, pamphlets, fiction, drama, non-fiction prose, speeches, paintings,
songs and other cultural productions-contemplated the various issues integral to the complex experience of people of African descent
in the United States. This course surveys important twentieth-century historical moments, writers, and works, as well as some of the
intellectual debates and theories that have helped define the African American literary tradition. We will examine the tradition mainly
from a historical, theoretical and critical standpoint and also supplement our readings and discussions with photographs, documentaries
and audio recordings of significant, African American historical and literary figures and sociopolitical events.
English 3700: Urban Legends and FilmLuAnne Roth
Section 1
MW 2:00-3:15, T 6:30-9:30
This course offers a folkloristic examination of contemporary legends (aka urban legends) in American film. We will explore such
questions as: What and why do people believe? How and why are legends transmitted? What are the roles of fear and disgust in a legend's
transmission? How are legends embodied? The films, assignments, and in-class activities are geared toward providing practical
information and skills necessary to identify contemporary legends in film, to analyze these legend scenes, and to write/speak thoughtfully
about them. Each week we will view films and read current scholarship on topics ranging from AIDS, fast food, and serial killers to
aliens, zombies, and ghosts. By the end of the course, we will better understand not only how "American" values and beliefs are
represented in these stories but also the role these narratives play in shaping belief and behavior. Required texts include:
Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends (Koven 2008), Bodies: Sex, Violence, Disease and Death in Contemporary Legend (Bennett 2005),
Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live (Ellis 2001), and a course packet.
4000- / 7000-Level Courses
English 4040: Topics in WritingPat Okker
Section 1
TR 11:00-12:15
English 4040: Career Exploration Through Writing with Dr. Okker and Dr. Kinnison. This is a writing workshop focusing on career exploration
for English majors, particularly juniors and seniors who are uncertain of their career path. Part of the course will have students use
their writing and researching skills to investigate possible career paths for them individually. During this portion of the course
students will write a reflective essay, a resume, and a cover letter, and they will also conduct a mock interview. The course will also
include a significant, semester-long group project. Each group will be responsible for planning and completing a major project that
will assist other English majors here at MU with their own career decisions. Possible topics include "Careers in Publishing" or "Careers
in Nonprofit Organizations." Regardless of the topics, the projects will include extensive research, interviews with alumni, and a public
presentation open to all English majors. We believe that the group project will provide an important opportunity for our majors to write
in a collaborative environment. Our goal for the course is to collect these projects into an anthology, available to other English majors.
Sole Prerequisite: English Majors.
English 4100: History of Literary JournalismMaureen Stanton
Section 1
MWF 10:00-10:50
This is an advanced topic survey course that looks at the development of Literary Journalism, a largely American innovation in literature
that developed in the late 19th through the 20th centuries. Students will closely read and discuss books and articles by historical and
contemporary practitioners of literary journalism (including, for example, Mark Twain, Nellie Bly, Jack London, Stephen Crane, Theodore
Dreiser, Lillian Ross, James Agee, Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, John McPhee, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Ted Conover, Barbara
Ehrenreich, and others.) The goal is to understand the genesis and shifts of this somewhat hybridized form ("novelistic," "narrative"
or "literary" techniques applied to true or fact-based stories), and the contributions that literary journalism has made and is making to
literature, to documentary and witness narratives, to historical records, and to the notions of truth and reportage.
English 4109/7109 Genres, 1890 to PresentAlbert Devlin
Section
TBA
REQUIRED TEXTS: Lillian Hellman, The Children's Hour (Dramatists Play Service) Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (DPS) Clifford Odets,
Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays (Grove Press) Eugene O'Neill, The Emperor Jones Eugene O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms (Vintage)
Eugene O'Neill, The Iceman Cometh (Vintage) William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life (Samuel French) Tennessee Williams,
The Glass Menagerie (New Directions) Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (DPS) Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Signet)
Organization: To read intensively selected major works of prominent modern American dramatists. Emphasis will be placed upon dramaturgy,
staging and production, and pertinent historical context.
Course Requirements: Five writings (ca. 750-1500 words each). Each undergraduate will also participate in one small group presentation
of a selected topic--to be arranged in the opening weeks of the semester. Each graduate student will be required to deliver a class
report in addition to completing the assigned reading and writing.
Attendance Policy: with two unexcused absences, the course grade will be lowered by one letter; with three, the student may be
dismissed from class. E-mail is the best way to keep me informed of classes that you must miss for legitimate, documented reasons.
Don't plan any vacation travel that is in conflict with course meetings.
English 4109/7109, Film Studies 4005: Film TheoryJoanna Hearne
Section
MW 3:00-4:15, screenings Wednesday 5:00-8:30
This course will explore historical and contemporary trends in film theory, with a strong emphasis on issues of gender, race and
ethnicity in film representations. We will also discuss film authorship, spectatorship, reception studies, the cultural work of
film genres, stars and performance, realism, Third Cinema and alternative cinema aesthetics, and other topics. Screenings may include
The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915), Within Our Gates (Micheaux, 1920), Borderline (Macpherson, 1930), Stella Dallas (Vidor, 1937),
The Searchers (Ford, 1956), Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966), My Beautiful Laundrette (Frears, 1985),
and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Obomsawin, 1992). Readings will be drawn from Robert Stam and Toby Miller's Film and Theory:
An Anthology (Blackwell Publishers, 2000), Susan Hayward's Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (Routledge 2006), and Robert Stam and
Ella Shohat's Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media (Routledge, 1994), among other texts. Students will
write weekly short papers and a final paper, and will have the opportunity to participate in the Citizen Jane Film Festival as part
of their coursework.
English 4166/7166: Major Authors, Beginning to 1603David Read
Section 1
TR 12:30-1:45
This course is the first part of a year-long survey of Shakespeare's plays, and covers the comedies and historical dramas written
mainly during the first half of his career. We will read and discuss the plays in close detail but also consider their relation to
the society and culture in which they were written and performed. Course requirements: two 5-7 page papers, a midterm examination,
and a final examination.
MWF 11:00-11:50
"Milton." The objective of this class is to introduce students to some of the major works of John Milton. John Milton, in turn,
will introduce students to some important political and religious contexts of seventeenth-century England. Milton is in many ways
the best possible guide to the seventeenth century, because he understands-and can make modern readers understand-what is at stake
in even the minutest points of political and religious controversy, on both an intellectual and an emotional level. Intensive study
of Paradise Lost will form the centerpiece of this course, supplemented by Samson Agonistes, some of the shorter poems, and excerpts
from the major prose works. We will also examine Milton in relation to contemporary and subsequent artworks which interpret Milton's
own text or the Biblical subjects at the root of his literary work.
English 4169/7169: WI Major Authors: Eliot and FrostFrances Dickey
Section 1
TR 12:30-1:45
In this writing-intensive course on T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost, students will learn through their own writing and rewriting how
Eliot and Frost transformed themselves from belated Romantic poets to the first American Modernists. The theme of the course will
be revision, as a feature both of poetic composition and of the students' own writing. By examining sources, drafts, and groups of
related poems, we will develop an understanding of the literary, historical, and personal obstacles each poet faced when attempting to
launch his career, and how each surmounted these obstacles through rewriting the work of older poets as well as rewriting his own poems.
Our goal is to understand the emergence of modernist writing as a consequence of revision. Coursework will include two revised papers,
peer review, regular short writing assignments, and tests.
English 4179/7179: Comparative Approaches to Literature,1890-PresentElisa Glick
Section 1
TR 9:30-10:45
"Decadence." "The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible," declared Oscar Wilde. "What the second duty is no
one has as yet discovered." Our task in this course will be to investigate the cult of artificiality and aestheticism celebrated
by the decadent movement of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in London, Paris, and New York. Breaking
from the Victorian literary culture that preceded it and setting the stage for the modernist era that followed it,
decadence was avant-garde, bohemian, morbid, and unapologetically perverse. Topics will include critiques of "the natural," dandyism,
prostitution, commodity culture and consumerism, modernity, feminism, the city, gay/lesbian identity and eroticism,
degeneration, death, gender performance, fetishism, embodiment, sexology, and monstrosity. Readings may include works by
Baudelaire, Edgar Allen Poe, Rachilde, J.K Huysmans, Renée Vivien, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Walter Pater, Bram Stoker, Wilde,
Thomas Mann, Carl Van Vetchen, and Djuna Barnes.
English 4189/7189: Major Women Writers, 1890 to presentGabriel Fried
Section 1
MWF 1:00-2:00
In this course, we will devote ourselves to the work of six essential American women poets-Rita Dove, Caroyln Forché, Louise Glück,
Jorie Graham, Heather McHugh, and Sharon Olds-who began their careers in the 1970s and then rose to poetry superstardom.
Through close examination of both their earliest and subsequent publications, we will investigate the dynamic evolution of their poetics,
as well as the ways in which, as women, they both embrace and subvert poetry's formal traditions.
English 4200/7200: Introduction to Old EnglishJohanna Kramer
Section 1
MWF 11:00-11:50
This course is an intensive introduction to Old English, the earliest form of English recorded in writing and the language spoken
in Anglo-Saxon England from about the 5th to the later 11th century. While the focus of this class is the acquisition and practice of
the Old English language, the course also introduces students to the fascinating literature and culture of Anglo-Saxon England
(including its art, archaeology, manuscript culture, and religious practices). As we gain knowledge of the language, we will
first read prose texts and then move on to more complex verse texts, among them such famous and brilliant poems like "The Wanderer"
and "The Dream of the Rood." This course is intended to give students a solid grounding in Old English grammar, enabling them to read
a wide range of Old English texts in the original with the help of a dictionary and to proceed to more advanced studies in early
English language and literature. Another purpose of this course is to become acquainted with the rich culture of Anglo-Saxon England,
which combines an oral and written, pagan and Christian-Latin traditions. For those students not typically too intrigued by things
medieval, this course may hold some interest nonetheless in that studying Old English teaches us much about modern English, the
history of poetry and prose, and about the influences of Old English literature on subsequent literary periods and writers (Milton,
Auden, Pound, Borges, etc.). Assignments include (but are probably not limited to) daily translations, regular quizzes, oral presentations,
a recitation, and exams. No prior knowledge of Old English or other languages is necessary to take this course.
Cross listed as Linguistics 4200/7200.
English 4240/7240: Restoration and 18th-Century English LiteratureDevoney Looser
Section 1
MWF 10:00-10:50
In this course, we will consider British literature of "the long eighteenth century" (1660-1830). The period is often discussed in terms of
"rises" (of the middle class, women writers, print culture, and novels) and revolutions (French, American, and Industrial). It is the
era that saw struggles for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. We will read and discuss texts from this dynamic time, looking at
literature in its historical, national, aesthetic, and gendered contexts. Works by authors such as Aphra Behn, Samuel Johnson,
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and Alexander Pope will be assigned. Requirements: research proposal and project (draft and final),
presentation, mid-term exam, final exam, and online & in-class participation.
English 4250/7250: The Nineteenth-Century Novel and Film AdaptationNancy West
Section 2
TR 12:30-1:45
Students in this course will study seven nineteenth-century novels--Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Dracula, Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and The Hound of the Baskervilles-with a particular eye toward what makes them adaptable-and
difficult to adapt--for the screen. Subjects will include their pictorial qualities and visualizing strategies; treatment of landscape
and atmosphere; characterization; and narrative structure. As we study each novel, we'll watch one film version in its entirety and
scenes/shots from other film versions, considering carefully their successful as well as unsuccessful elements. Just as importantly,
we will address the issue of how and why "classic" novels have been enlisted at specific moments in history: around 1911, when the move
from single-reel to feature-length films in Hollywood required "respectable" subject matter for the screen; after 1934, when the
establishment of the Production Code demanded that Hollywood produce "morally upright" films; during and immediately after World War II
when the devastation wrought in England propelled the British film industry to produce films that would stir national pride; and, finally,
in our current climate, where a strong nostalgia for the nineteenth century pervades both British and American culture. The course will
conclude with students presenting their own research on a film adaptation/s of any nineteenth-century novel of their choosing.
Please note: screening of films will be scheduled outside of class.
English 4310/7310: 19th Century American LiteratureCharles Marvin
Section 4
MWF 2:00-2:50
"Antebellum American Narratives." This course has been designed to provide opportunities for an intensive study of texts written
during the first significant "wave" of American literary production in the years immediately preceding the Civil War (1845-1860).
In it we will take an expansive look at the various kinds of narratives which contributed to the literary culture of this period.
To accomplish this goal we will concentrate on shorter fiction (the novella, the short story, the essay, and the occasional chapter)
as well as related narrative genres of equal or greater importance to readers of the time (the narrative poem, personal memoir, historical
account, and journalistic expose). In particular, we will range widely through Hawthorne's tales, reconsider two of Longfellow's popular
narrative poems (Evangeline and The Courtship of Miles Standish), survey Melville's novellas and stories (including "The Town-Ho Story"
excerpt from Moby Dick, Benito Cereno, and a short "historical" novel, Israel Potter), and read an eclectic assortment of Thoreau's
political and natural history essays. Other works under consideration for the course are Lydia Maria Child's Letters from New York,
Robert Montgomery Bird's Nick of the Woods, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Minister's Wooing. Several short research assignments,
participation in two in-class "panel" discussions, and the writing of a 12-15 page final essay will be required.
English 4310/7310: American Realism and NaturalismTom Quirk
Section
TBA
"American Realism and Naturalism." This is a period course devoted to the study of the American literature produced between the Civil War
and World War I. The perspective will largely be historical and the emphasis will be upon prose fiction, though we will look at a few poets
as well. David R. Shi's Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture, 1850-1920 (FF) ought to supply clarifying cultural and
historical contexts. We will be reading Henry James's The American, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Kate Chopin's
The Awakening, Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Frank Norris's McTeague and several
short stories from the The Portable American Realism Reader (RR). Course work: reading quizzes, a mid-term, and a take home final exam.
English 4320/7320: 20th Century American Literature: The Graphic Novel and/as Contemporary FictionAndrew Hoberek
Section 2
MWF 1:00-1:50
"Graphic Narrative and/as Contemporary Fiction." In this course we will read recent graphic novels and works of graphic non-fiction
alongside traditional fiction with an eye to how the new seriousness accorded to graphic narrative is changing-or reflects prior changes
in-contemporary writing more generally. What sorts of stylistic innovations in traditional writing does graphic narrative make possible?
Does the new prominence of graphic narrative portend a decline in the institutional power of creative writing programs? How is graphic
non-fiction related to the parallel rise of non-fiction in contemporary publishing? The course will be roughly divided into three thematic
units-the superhero, memoir and fictionalized memoir, and history and reportage-that in practice bleed into each other in various ways.
In addition to graphic narratives by writers including Alan Moore, Alison Bechdel, and Joe Sacco we will also read some picture-free
books and stories by Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz, and others, as well as a few short critical essays.
English 4320/7320: 20th Century American Literature: Contemporary Native American FictionMaureen Konkle
Section 3
MWF 3:00-3:50
This course examines works by Native writers and filmmakers that have appeared since 2000 in light of the history of Native writing in
North America and current Native critical discourse on aesthetics and politics. We'll examine works in a range of styles and genres,
including historical and postmodern literary fiction, mysteries, fantasy fiction, graphic novels, and film by artists from Indian nations
across North America. Writers/filmmakers include Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene), Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe);
Robert Conley (Cherokee); Thomas King (Cherokee); James Welch (Blackfeet/Gros Ventre); Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho); and LeAnne Howe
(Choctaw), among others. Issues to be considered include the relation of traditional tribal knowledge to works of fiction; how fictional
works counter and reveal the complexity of histories of misrepresentation; Native artists' thinking on the universality-or not-of their work;
and their thinking on the utility of their fictional works, i.e., in light of all the things you could be doing, what are fictional works
good for anyway? Course requirements include weekly quizzes and writing assignments, midterm and final, and a course project that
includes both group and individual components. This course is applicable toward the twentieth-century requirement for English majors
and can be used to fulfill the requirements for the College of Arts and Science multicultural certificate.
TR 11:00-12:15
"Africana Womanism," is an undergraduate course specifically designed to broaden one's scope in the area of issues, recurring themes
and/or trends in modern Africana women fiction. An in depth study of the lives and selected works by five (5) leading Africana women
writers, Zora Neale Hurston, Mariama Bâ, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, and Sister Souljah will be enhanced by critical readings of
scholarly articles by and about the various authors. Thus, students will be introduced to an authentic theoretical concept and
methodology, Africana Womanism, and will be applying Africana Womanist theory to these Africana womanist novels. Meshed together,
the primary and secondary reading materials will aid students in refining their own individual concepts about not only the writings
of the individual authors, but about critical current issues, particularly as they relate to Africana women and their families and
communities. The ultimate objective of the course is to enhance one's knowledge and appreciation of Africana women in particular and
Africana life and culture in general. A final research paper is required using Africana Womanism as a viable tool of analysis.
TR 12:30-1:45
This course explores the ways selected West Indian women writers have voiced themselves within literary discourse. We will
examine novels, poetry, oraliterature and short stories to consider the location of West Indian Women's writing within larger
discourses of gender, sexuality, postcolonial cultural studies, identity, language, politics, and subaltern feminism.
This course will include writing by Elizabeth Nunez, Edwidge Danticat, Shani Mootoo, Margaret Cesaire-Thompson, and The
Sistren Collective. Cross listed as BL-STU 4480/ 7480-01 and WGST 4480-01.
English 4510/7510: Chamber of HorrorsTrudy Lewis
Section 4
R 2:00-4:30
"Chamber of Horrors." Our focus this semester will be the horror story in its various guises, from classic works by Edgar Allan Poe
to contemporary literary fictions such as The Black Book by A.S. Byatt and The Devil's Larder by Jim Crace. We will also look at several
works of genre fiction: Carrie by Stephen King, Fledgling by Octavia Butler, and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaimon. By investigating the horror plot,
I hope to a) give us a canon for discussion and imitation; b) indicate that fiction, like terror, is based on a common body of techniques
but can take many forms; and c) emphasize the imaginative and transformative elements of the craft. However, the generic focus should not
prevent students from producing work on any subject or in any style. We will move from a series of exercises based on the readings to a
full-length story on a topic of the student's choice, and from small-group workshops to a more traditional full-class critique. Students
will also produce a number of collaborative scenes and stories, in order to balance peer review with co-creation.
English 4510/7510: Creative Writing: Advanced FictionRichard Schwartz
Section
R 2:00-4:30
"Crime Fiction." We will block out plans for a novel, writing a short treatment, the first and last chapters and an outline of the
major plot arcs. Particular attention will be paid to the complexities of the planning process and the writing techniques employed by
noteworthy practitioners. We will look at exemplary works by Carl Hiaasen, James Ellroy, James Lee Burke, Thomas Harris and
Raymond Chandler, paying attention to the elasticity of the genre as well as its central elements.
English 4520/7520: Creative Writing: Advanced Nonfiction ProseScott Cairns
Section 1
W 2:00-4:30
Reading through Philip Lopate's The Art of the Personal Essay, we will begin the course with a study of the personal essay,
its tradition and a good number of recent examples. During this study, students wil select three such essays to emulate in their
own production of works. Thereafter, students will prepare these personal essays for peer workshop others in the class.
English 4530/7530: Creative Writing: Advanced PoetryScott Cairns
Section 1
M 2:00-4:30
We will begin the course with a study of several poems from Bow by Penelope Austin, from Blind Rain by Bruce Bond,
and from The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (as translated by Stephen Mitchell), as well as a selection of poems p
repared for a course pack. We will use those poems, and the several (7-10) original poems submitted to peer workshop, as springboards
into more general discussions of contemporary poetry. Ideally, each student will be able to characterize how certain operations of
language are unique to poetic texts and to poetic passages in other texts.
English 4600/7600: Structure of American EnglishMatthew Gordon
Section 1
TR 9:30-10:45
This course examines various aspects of the English language from the sound system to the grammatical structure in order to better
understand how English works. While our focus is on English, this course is also about language in general and the ways in which
language is studied in the field of linguistics. You will gain not only knowledge about the English language but also an appreciation
of the approach linguists take in analyzing their subject matter. The overarching goal is to promote greater linguistic awareness and
to provide students with the tools needed to think about language from new perspectives. Course requirements include exams and daily
homework and quizzes. Also useful will be critical thinking skills and a willingness to recognize the relative insignificance of commas.
English 4610/7610: History of the English LanguageMatthew Gordon
Section 1
TR 11-12:15
This course examines the history of English from the prehistoric roots that bind it to other languages of Europe and Asia,
through the period of its earliest attestation, and into the modern era. We will see that English has undergone dramatic alterations
throughout its life, and we will look at changes in sounds, grammar, meaning, and vocabulary. To understand these changes and why
they occur, we will look for explanations in both the structure of the language and in the social history of its speakers. We will
approach the subject from the perspective of modern linguistics and will, therefore, also develop familiarity with the theory and
analytical methods of this field. (Same as Linguistics 4610/7610)
MWF 11:00-11:50
The course provides an in-depth study of the universal properties of phrase-and sentence-level grammar, based on comparison of English and other
languages. Prerequisite: English/Ling 4600 or another comparable linguistics course. The approach will be that of Noam Chomsky's Minimalist
program. Required text: Adger, David. 2003. Core Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
English 4970: The Capstone ExperienceRebecca Dingo
Section
TBD
In their essay, "The Locations of Transnationalism" Luis Eduardo Guarnizo and Michael Peter Smith aptly state: "transnationalism is
clearly in the air." And they are right. The term "transnational" has become a common buzzword-an all encompassing term that describes
post-coloniality, globalization, terrorism, immigration, the far reaches of the internet, changes to the nation-state, the availability
of "exotic" products, and the general global-cultural changes that have occurred in the last twenty years or so. But transnationalism
is not a fleeting concept or happening. In the last ten years disciplines throughout the humanities and social sciences have recognized
that increasing globalization and the rise of transnationalism has impacted people, places, and texts. Indeed, six years ago,
the PMLA offered a special issue on "Globalizing Literary Studies" and then followed in May 2006 with a discussion about how
transnationalism is changing the field of English Studies. Transnationalism, while defined in a number of ways, generally refers to the
ways in which globalization has influenced the movement of people and the production texts, culture, and knowledge across borders.
These movements have had uneven material consequences throughout different regions of the world. Given the pervasive effects of
transnationalism, English-Studies scholars have a vested interest in studying how transnationalism affects how we write, read, and are
persuaded across the borders of the nation-state. This capstone asks students to bring a transnational lens to their study of English.
Although you will be free to design (and execute) your own research project, you will learn how view your topic through a transnational
lens. Please note, the professor sees writing not only as alphabetic text on paper but also digital media composition. Because
transnationalism asks that we consider multiple factors at once, students will be encouraged to think about representing their
projects' arguments in alternative forms.
English 4970 Capstone Senior Seminar: Sisters and Brothers of the SpiritApril Langley
Section
TR 12:30-1:45
This course in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century African-American spiritual autobiography explores the race, class, and gendered
perspectives from which early black spiritual autobiographers wrote. We will examine the significant differences and similarities
between nineteenth-century spiritual autobiographers and their eighteen-century predecessors. Authors covered will include: James Albert
Gronniosaw, John Marrant, Olaudah Equiano, Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, Julia A. Foote, and Maria Stewart.
English 4970: The Capstone ExperienceElaine Lawless
Section 2
TR 2:00-3:15
This capstone course will focus on traditional(folk) narrative and belief as utilized in the literary works of a variety of American
writers--from Zora Neal Hurston to Maxine Hong Kingston and Lee Smith. Students will read several novels during the semester as well
as critical/scholarly articles on folk elements in these literary texts. Students will will be required to write one research paper on
how one of these writers uses traditional (folk) narrative and belief in their literary creations.
English 4970: The Capstone ExperienceNancy West
Section 4
R 9:30-10:45
How do we talk about a film adaptation of a novel? The most common approach is to measure the success of the movie by how closely it
comes to capturing the "essence" of the original text. Typically, viewers grumble when a director changes the ending, adds a plot twist,
cuts a character. But such complaints are hardly fair, for they're based on the problematic assumption that cinema, while a different
medium altogether, must nevertheless do just what a novel does. In recent years, film scholars like Robert Stam and Brian McFarlane have
developed new means of approaching film adaptation, encouraging students to think about literature and film as two different mediums
each trying to tell a story in their own way. They also emphasize the importance of studying film adaptations within their historical
and cultural contexts. In keeping with these approaches, this course looks at a range of film adaptations (each ranked by the AFI as one
of the "fifty best adaptations in film history") from different time periods, studios, and directors. As we watch these films, we'll
consider carefully how they alter, comment on, and critique the novels they adapt. Novels include Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
(film version, dir. Joe Wright, 2005); Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist (film version, dir. David Lean, 1948); E.M. Forster's Howard's
End (film version, dir. James Ivory, 1992); Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (film version, John Huston, 1941); Daphne DuMaurier's
Rebecca (film version, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1940); E. Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain (film version, dir. Ang Lee, 2005); and
Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (film version, dir. Blake Edwards, 1961). As a senior capstone, this course will also instruct
students on how to conduct advanced research in film studies by using film websites, periodicals, databases, and a range of
other resources. Screenings of each film will be scheduled outside of class.
TR 9:30-10:45
As the first part of the two-semester Honors sequence in the English Department, the Honors Seminar is intended to lead into the
second part, the writing of the Honors senior thesis. So the overall aim of the course is improve your sense of options for and comfort
with the research and writing techniques you can use within the discipline, working toward how to carve out a proper question for a
thesis and become more practiced in research methods. We will ask some basic questions: What makes a good question for a research paper?
What does research have to do, in this discipline, with that amorphous beast known as "theory"? Where does one go to do research in the
field of literary studies? What tools are available, either of the "old school," pre-digital variety, or of the digital age? Fortunately,
all of those questions open up in different directions, as there are numerous ways to engage in research, an array of theoretical
directions that one can follow, and a wide range of research tools. We will read three works of literature, using each to explore
varieties of literary theory and research methods. Short papers on each of those works will precede a proposal, rough draft, and final
15-20pp. final research paper.
8000-Level Courses
English 8001: Medieval HagiographyJohanna Kramer
Section 1
W 12:30-3:00
This course traces the history of hagiography-arguably the most important literary/historical genre of the Middle Ages-from its
beginnings in late antiquity to its heyday in the later medieval period. We will begin with the Christian martyr acts, historical
documents that describe the trials and deaths of Christians persecuted in the Roman Empire, and then follow the development of
the genre with the spread of Christianity and its adaptation into the vernacular areas of Western Europe. The main focus of this
course will be on Anglo-Saxon England but will also cover later medieval texts. While we will mostly concern ourselves with written
texts, our investigation will include some non-verbal hagiographic forms (manuscript illuminations, architecture, cult objects, etc.).
Students will study the chronological and thematic development of saints' lives with an eye towards learning how to gain historical,
social, religious, political, and general cultural knowledge from reading these texts. Additional course aims are to introduce students
to some theoretical approaches to saints' lives and to the major research resources and tools available for the study of hagiography.
Texts: We will read such foundational texts as The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, Athanasius' Life of St. Antony,
Jerome's Life of Paul, the First Hermit, The Life of St. Martin of Tours by Sulpicius Severus, and others.
We will then examine the adaptation of hagiographic conventions in later texts, such as Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica,
the Old English Juliana, the Guthlac texts, the lives of Cuthbert and Wilfrid, selections from Aelfrics Lives of the Saints,
selections from the Legenda Aurea and the South English Legendary, and Osbern Bokenham's Legend of Holy Women.
Topics: Possible discussion topics include: the development of the cult of saints; martyrdom versus bloodless ways to sainthood;
royal and secular saints; holy spouses; unholy saints; virgin martyrs and virgin saints; gender, sexuality, and virginity;
transvestite saints; relics and miracles; the politics of hagiography; hagiography as historiography; a diachronic case study of a
saint. Requirements: Course requirements include regular reading responses, leading discussion, presentations, and a final paper
that aspires to be publishable. No (dead) language preparation is required, although knowledge of Latin and Old English will be helpful.
All readings are in translation; there will be opportunity for reading in the original.
English 8001: Job Market Boot CampAnne Myers
Section 1
TR 2:00-3:15
This seminar is intended to provide rigorous preparation and intensive coaching for those students who are on the job market.
Requirements will include revision of the job letter, abstract, C.V. and writing sample, the preparation and delivery of a job talk,
and regular drilling with a range of common interview questions. Students should have drafts of their letter, abstract and writing
sample prepared before the seminar begins in August; therefore, those students who plan to go on the market in fall 2009 should consult
with the seminar instructor by this May so that they can receive preliminary instructions.
English 8010: Theory and Practice of CompositionDonna Strickland
Section 1
M 11:30-2:00
English 8010 emphasizes the intellectual, critical, material, and historical practices of writing pedagogy. In this course, students
explore various expressive modes and media in which writing happens. Readings and projects highlight theoretical lenses of textual
analysis and production, including feminist and identity theories, critical and cultural theories, and rhetorical theories. Topics in
8010 also address how to teach writing as both an act of creative discovery and an act of communication. Students enrolled in English
8010 are encouraged to see connections among their identities as writers, teachers, and scholars. This course draws upon shared values
from a number of English disciplines, including Literature, Creative Writing, Rhetoric, and Folklore. This course will help prepare
students to design courses in their professional field, as well as their own version of English 1000 at The University of Missouri.
English 8040: Seminar in Rhetoric & Composition: Theory and Practice of Writing across the Curriculum / Writing in the DisciplinesMartha Townsend
Section 1
R 12:30-3:00
Writing across the curriculum (WAC) and writing in the disciplines (WID) are closely related, well established educational movements
in higher education in the U.S., with strands of the former situated in the U.K. and elements of both taking hold internationally.
University of Texas professor of rhetoric James Kinneavy believed that WAC "may be the best academic response to the literacy
crisis in English-speaking countries" (Teaching Composition: Twelve Bibliographic Essays, 377).
This course investigates the history of WAC / WID, the theories which undergird them, the politics which affect them, and the approaches
taken by various practitioners. Students of rhetoric and composition will apply knowledge about WAC / WID in their academic careers in
higher ed at any type of institution. The types of questions we will undertake include:
What are the relationships between thinking, writing, reading, and learning?
Is there a "literacy crisis"?
How does writing contribute to and reinforce learning?
How does the modern university encourage (or discourage) students' literacy development?
What shape do various WAC / WID programs, including MU's Campus Writing Program, take?
How might WAC / WID be considered politically and educationally subversive?
What does research in WAC / WID look like?
What is the role of new media in WAC / WID?
Students will post weekly reading responses via Blackboard; lead two class discussions; and undertake a research project, chosen in
consultation with the professor, related to the student's individual interests.
W 6:00-8:30
This course focuses on current trends in literary theory. Our overall goal is to explore both the philosophical as well as the
socio-political dimension of theoretical paradigms such as structuralism, postmodernism, deconstruction, post-colonialism,
psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism, reader response, etc. Two critical premises will guide our discussion: first, the belief that there
is no "meta-theory" able to account for all the insights fashioned by the different approaches to literary and cultural production.
The second premise holds that theories do not just emerge out of a socio-historical vacuum, but always carry within themselves traces
of the particular context in which they are "born." Examining that context, then, is an essential part for "understanding"
literary and aesthetic theory in general. Rather than dismissing a particular critical approach as "unrealistic" or "outdated,"
it is far more productive to assess its strength and weaknesses within and beyond the historical context during which it emerged.
This approach should also help students to become more familiar with whatever theory they might find most useful for their own work.
The course begins with a brief discussion of the "linguistic turn" in 20th century theory and the fundamental importance of
Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics from 1916. Thereafter, we shall read different sections of the central text for
this course.
English 8060: Studies in Criticism and Theory Engelstein
Section 1
MW 3:30-4:45
During the late eighteenth century beauty achieved a hitherto unknown philosophical importance. The word "aesthetic" was coined,
and the experience or creation of beauty was divided from that of sublimity, and linked to theories of individuality, sociability,
religion, morality, biology, and the history of human development. The course will address aesthetic theories of the Enlightenment
and Romantic periods through an examination of philosophical and literary works. In addition, we will look at visual art which often
formed the reference point for these theories. Focus will be on British and German texts--no knowledge of German necessary.
English 8060: Seminar in Criticism and Theory: The Relation of Feminine Sexuation to KnowledgeEllie Ragland
Section
T 7:00-9:30
This course will be on the relationship of the feminine to knowledge. It will be based on Jacques Lacan's Seminar XX and will take up
discourse theory, the sexuation graphs, the graph of desire, and the concepts of "enjoyment," the subject in relation to the
object, and many other such ideas as rethought by Lacan. It will be made clear in this course that there is no essential Woman for
Lacan, that woman, as is man, are signifiers that take their position in reference to culture, not in reference to anything biologically
are psychologically innate. Insofar as Lacan makes a distinction between the masculine and the feminine-not based on gender-the
distinction concerns epistemology. There is, then, no sociological component to Lacan's picture of the masculine and feminine,
but a rethinking of identity and gender via sexuation.
English 8060:Seminar in Criticism and TheoryJeff Rice
Section
M 7:00-9:30
"New Media Theory." This seminar begins from Marshall McLuhan's claim that "the age of writing has passed; we need a new metaphor." In
the age of new media, theoretical frameworks shift as we discover new metaphors that describe the ways we produce meaning in
Humanities based scholarship. This seminar will focus on theorists who either implicitly or explicitly address a specific theoretical
shift attributed to new media. In particular, we will read writers whose own writing is shaped by questions relevant to new media.
Thus, some of our texts will be performative, and some will challenge the organizational and rhetorical models print culture supports.
The purpose of course readings will not to be to create an exhaustive reading list or to offer a complete overview of new media theory.
Instead, we will treat course readings as part of a larger heuristic that will allow us not only to examine but produce a (or several)
new media theory for our own research needs. Such work will address concerns relevant to rhetorical, literary, film, and cultural
studies. Course requirements include weekly response papers, presentations on readings, and a major project that may be done in print
or in new media. Tentative readings: Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan Heuretics, or the Logic of Invention - Gregory Ulmer Writings
- Vilem Flusser Aramis, or the Love of Technology - Bruno Latour Camera Lucida - Roland Barthes, The Time of the Tribes - Michael
Maffessoli, Convergence Culture - Henry Jenkins, The Art of the Motor - Paul Virilio, The Postmodern Condition - Jean François Lyotard.
English 8220: City, Stage, and Screen: Shakespeare and Performance HistoryWilliam Kerwin
Section 1
T 5:00-7:30
This seminar will examine the reception of Shakespeare's plays in different media, with attention to the cultural uses made of his
works by theater groups, directors, visual artists, and film-makers in different historical settings. Students will be asked to consider
theories of performance history in both stage and screen traditions; this includes debates about form as well as about political uses of
Shakespeare. Topics covered will include the development of so-called "Big Time Shakespeare," the deployment of Shakespeare for
nationalist or post-colonial ventures, nationalist and racial stereotypes in Shakespeare films, and the shifts involved in the move
from play-script to screenplay. After an introduction to these theoretical concerns, we will read four plays--The Merchant of Venice,
Othello, Richard III, and The Tempest--spending three weeks on each. First, we will consider the play in its original London and
English context. Second, we will study the stage history of the play, with especial attention paid to divergent interpretations.
Third, we will examine the history of that particular play on film, asking how much film works with Shakespeare and how much it
creates entirely new works of art. Students will write a seminar paper that explores a different play in terms of a focused part of
its adaptation on stage, on screen, or in the visual arts.
English 8240: From Classic to RomanticNoah Heringman
Section 1
T 12:45-3:00
Classic and romantic are the seemingly stable poles of one of modern culture's favorite dichotomies. From Friedrich Nietzsche to
Robert Pirsig, philosophical authors have spun these two aesthetic categories into ontological fact. Yet neoclassicism promotes
a romantic view of the past. And literary romanticism, whether it presents itself as rebellion or revival, depends on classical
antiquity. Focusing on the second half of the eighteenth century, this course re-examines the Augustan classicism of poets and
critics including Samuel Johnson, who consigned all English poetry predating Shakespeare to a barbaric past. By emphasizing competing
accounts of literary history produced at the same time-such as Thomas Warton's recuperation of the barbarians Chaucer and Spenser-instead
of later Romantic correctives, we will try to think about classicism and romanticism as a dialectic rather than successive "movements."
We will study some major authors who are primarily classic-such as Pope and Johnson-or romantic-such as Keats and Hemans. But we
will spend the bulk of our time on hard-to-classify late eighteenth-century writers who are somehow both, including Rousseau,
Winckelmann, Blake, and others. In tracing this series of claims and counterclaims about antiquity, we will consider both classicism
and romanticism in their European context and pay close attention as well to the forms of antiquity that began to compete with
classical Greece and Rome: medieval Gothic, widely dismissed as an aberration from classical aesthetics since the Renaissance;
and modern-day South Pacific/Oceanic culture, framed by explorers and philosophers as a living antiquity. The course will conclude
with one or two nineteenth-century romantic classics, including Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii and
possibly Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy.
TBA
This seminar will chart Mark Twain's development as a writer from the early journalistic pieces to the polemical writings of his late
years; in this sense it will be a comprehensive but far from exhaustive examination of a major American writer. Next year marks the
centennial of Twain's death, and preparations are under way for commemorative events throughout the country. In November 2009,
there will be a series of lectures by Ron Powers, a panel discussion with five Twain scholars, and other events planned on this campus.
In short the students should benefit from events outside the seminar itself. The readings will include much of his early humorous
sketches as well as some of the late philosophical pieces, but the emphasis will be on Twain's major books. The texts: The Portable Mark
Twain (which includes Huckleberry Finn), Roughing It, Mark Twain: Mississippi Writings; Tom Sawyer; Life on the Mississippi; Pudd'nhead
Wilson (Library of America) and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
English 8400: Studies in African Diaspora Literature: "Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Literature of Anglophone, (Post)colonial Africa."Christopher Okonkwo
Section 1
TR 11:00-12:15
The explicit and insinuated (high) modernity of the literature of Anglophone, (post)colonial Africa is not disputed. What has remained
contested, if not scandalous and yet intellectually stimulating, however, is African literature's relation to the project of
Postmodernism. As Michael North, in The Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language and Twentieth-Century Literature, and Simon Gikandi,
in "Preface: Modernism in the World," have persuasively argued, not only has African mask's/art's imprint on (high) modernism been
substantiated in the illustrative works of Stein and Picasso, but also postcolonial African writers from Malawian poet David Rubadiri,
Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo, and even the legendary Chinua Achebe and other post-World War II African artists imitated and also
signified on Eliot, Yeats and other modernists. It has also been noted that the genius of pioneer Nigerian modernist Amos Tutuola's
experimental "pidgin" English in such works as The Palmwine Drinkard and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, for instance, is its inflection
and implicit subversion of the dominant language of Empire from the "other's" periphery. But the 1960s-present transcontinental
migrations and influence of postmodernism-just as African nations were emerging from colonization and more intensely "modernizing,"
(re)constructing, and "consolidating" their lives and identities in the era of Jamesonian "late capitalism"-have rendered rather
ambiguous the encounter between Africa and PoMo. It is all this, in part, that led Ghanaian philosopher Anthony Kwame Appiah to
famously wonder whether the "posts" in Postmodernism and Postcolonialism/Postcolonization are identical. Even with the trans-nationality
of modernism, and African literature's pre-1960s, conscious engagement with many of the thematic issues and formal conventions commonly
ascribed to European and American postmodern writing, some African-born critics continue to insist that Postmodernism should stay far
away from African lit. To such "Afrocentric" critics, regardless of Postmodernism's inherent radicalism and explicative potential
which even bell hooks has noted in "Postmodern blackness," the idea is Western, the white man's thing, a covert prolongation of
imperialism which could only be disastrous to Africa, its art and literature, and their theoretical and critical reception.
This seminar is conceived simply as a space for students to enter the above debate head-on, even with minimal, prior familiarity with
African literature and/or postcolonial theory. While drawing upon an extensive sampling of secondary material, we will focus primarily
on the representative poetry, fiction, and polemics of various twentieth-century Anglophone African writers. Requirements will include
short, written reactions to the readings, two presentations, and a publishable seminar paper.
English 8510: Out of CharacterTrudy Lewis
Section 1
M 2:00-4:30
"Out of Character." In the workshop this semester, we will consider the concept of character and its significance for modern and
contemporary fiction. What is the status of character in a "post-human" era? Is character the cornerstone of fiction or merely an
outmoded relic of bourgeois identity? We will discuss naturalism, parody, serial genre novels, stock characters and collective narrators.
Possible texts will include: Blood & Guts in High School by Kathy Acker, Malloy by Samuel Beckett, The Jiri Chronicles by Debra Di Blasi,
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall, The Girl with the Brown Fur by Stacey Levine,
Blonde Faith by Walter Mosley, All the Names by Jose Saramago, and a literary symposium in the house literary magazine Center.
Students will be responsible for two workshop manuscripts, an oral report, and a literary experiment.
English 8520: Advanced Writing of Nonfiction ProseScott Cairns
Section 1
W 6:00-8:30
We will engage our current works-in-progress, becoming intimately familiar with those works, doing our best to engage each other's
projects, and actively interrogating and challenging the premises of those projects. Along the way, we will cultivate a useful
vocabulary for discussing the theoretical implications of our own works and of those of our peers. In every case, our chore will
be to assist one another in offering the best version of our works, employing the most effective structures, the most compelling
voice.
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