Course Catalog

3 Unit(s)

Introduces students to strategies and vocabularies of literary analysis and to formal/structural and stylistic techniques and elements of literature, including prose, poetry, and/or drama. Course focuses on the relationship between content and form in literature and helps students to establish a critical toolset for the analysis of texts. Corequisite(s): ENGL 50.

View Course Sections: Fall 2023

3 Unit(s)

Examines works of modern and contemporary American literature by authors across genres and forms. Texts studied in this class represent the diversity of contemporary American society and this course will provide students with an opportunity to engage with the challenging themes they tackle. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 50 or ENGL 60.

View Course Sections: Summer 2024 , Spring 2024 , Fall 2023

3 Unit(s)

This course examines the relationship between literature and the environment. The course includes a focus on themes such as place-based education, human-nature relationships, sense of place, and the construction of the natural world through discourse. The course explores political and literary movements found in or related to environmental literature (e.g., romanticism, individualism, postcolonialism, ecocriticism, climate fiction). The course discusses examples of environmental literature and media in history while also engaging with the literary dimensions of the current climate crisis. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 50 or ENGL 60.

View Course Sections: Spring 2024 , Fall 2023

3 Unit(s)

Explores the psychosocial quest for community, broadly conceived, by reflecting on selected group narratives and their impact on individuals, using classics from modern literature. This course uses a systems theory orientation to elaborate ways certain individuals and groups psychologically affect and are psychologically affected by particular economic conditions, including relative personal/familial wealth, perceived status, and relative perceptions of "work". The course implements psychological techniques from three popular schools of psychotherapy (Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Cognitive-Behavioral) to aid our character/group analyses, in an effort to understand more deeply why and how psychological distress arises in the characters, and how economic forces help shape such anxieties, malaise, and a relative sense of hopefulness.

3 Unit(s)

In this course, students will examine the concepts of citizenship and belonging through a number of fiction and nonfiction literature and film texts. The course will cover issues of displacement, resettlement, statelessness, global citizenship, immigration, sovereignty, freedom and imprisonment, the conditions of civic and social belonging, social and governmental support, social justice, and community formation both within and outside of the legal institution(s) of citizenship. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 50 or ENGL 60.

View Course Sections: Spring 2024 , Fall 2023

3 Unit(s)

This course introduces students to a range of modern and contemporary literature in conversation with theories of the law and of the state. Students will examine how relationships are drawn in literature between citizens and states in the contemporary world, and how studying the separate disciplines of law and literature can help us to understand them both more clearly. The course addresses human rights, nationalisms, and state formation and failure in literature from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Prerequisite: ENGL 50 or ENGL 60.

3 Unit(s)

Students in this course will explore the genre of science fiction across several different media, including literature, film, television, and games. This course will require students to study science fiction aesthetics as well as narratives. The course will examine the relationship between science fictional narratives and worlds and their real-life counterparts, and what these genres can teach us about contemporary politics, economies, and environments. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 50 or ENGL 60.

View Course Sections: Spring 2024 , Fall 2023

3 Unit(s)

Looks at business in American life as reflected in movies, from slapstick comedy to Wall Street drama.

13 Unit(s)

Examines specific topics, authors or genres in English, American or world literature. This may taken more than once, provided the topic is not repeated. Prerequisite: Consent of the department.

3 Unit(s)

Introduces students to strategies and vocabularies of literary analysis and formal/structural and stylistic techniques and elements of literature, including prose, poetry, and drama. The course focuses on the relationship between content and form in literature and helps students to establish a critical toolset for the analysis of texts.

13 Unit(s)

Provides individual study of selected topics under supervision of a faculty member. Students are limited to one directed study course per trimester. Prerequisite: Consent of the department.