COURSE DESCRIPTION BOOKLET Undergraduate Level Courses

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH 

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 

COURSE DESCRIPTION BOOKLET 

SPRING 2014 

October 21, 2013 

Undergraduate Level Courses 

Available on the World Wide Web at http://www.english.unl.edu/courses/index.html 

Because of the long lead time, the descriptions should be 

considered to be rather tentative. Although it is assumed that 

most instructors will be offering the courses as described here, 

students should be aware that some changes are possible. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page # 

How to Use This Booklet 2 

Level of Courses 2 

Independent Study 2 

English Majors 2 

Student Appeals Committee 2 

Guide to The English Department's Curriculum 3 

Evaluation of Fall Courses for the Major 4 

Course Descriptions 5

HOW TO USE THIS BOOKLET 

This booklet should be used with the Schedule of Classes issued by the Office of Registration and Records. The 

English Department Course Description Booklet contains as many descriptions of courses as were available as of 

October 21, 2013. The Booklet may include descriptions of some courses that are not found in the official 

Schedule of Classes. If the course is described in this Booklet, but not in the Schedule of Classes, it should be 

assumed that the course will be offered as described in this Booklet. In every case the student should remember 

that in the interval between now and the start of the next semester, changes are inevitable, even though every 

effort is made to describe accurately in this Booklet what the Department intends to offer. 

LEVEL OF COURSES 

Students should not take more than six hours at the 100 level. These courses are intended for beginning students; 

upperclass students should take courses on the 200, 300, and 400 level. Course numbers with a middle digit of 5 

mark writing courses, which are required in some colleges. Consult your college bulletin. 

INDEPENDENT STUDY 

Independent Study is intended for students who want to undertake readings or similar projects not available 

through regular course offerings. Students may do up to six credit hours of Independent Study with a member of 

the professorial staff. Before registering for Independent Study, students must complete an Independent Study 

Contract form, available from the English Advising Office, 201 Andrews, which describes the reading list, written 

work, times of meeting and the basis of the grade. The Contract Form must be signed by both the student and the 

supervising professor and a copy submitted to the Chief Advisor for department records. The student may then 

obtain the class number for the appropriate Independent Study course -- 199, 299, 399, 399H, or 497. The 

registration of any student who has not filed the contract with the Chief Advisor by the end of Drop/Add period 

will be canceled. 

ENGLISH MAJORS 

All Arts & Sciences College English majors (including double majors) should see their advisors every semester. 

For further information see the Chief Advisor, in Andrews 201. 

STUDENT APPEALS COMMITTEE 

Students wishing to appeal a grade may address their grievances to the Department of English Appeals 

Committee. Under ordinary circumstances, students should discuss problems with their teachers before 

approaching the Committee. Inquire in the English department main office, Andrews 202, for the name and office 

of the Appeals Committee chair. 

Students may inform the Chair of the Department, Andrews 204A, of cases where the content of courses 

materially differs from the description printed in the Course Description Booklet. Questions or complaints 

concerning teachers or courses should also be addressed to the Chair of the Department. 

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a public university committed to providing a quality education to a diverse 

student body. It is the policy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln not to discriminate based on gender, age, 

disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran's status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. This 

policy is applicable to all University administered programs including educational programs, financial aid, 

admission policies and employment policies. 

Complaints, comments, or suggestions about these policies should be addressed to the Chair of the Department. 

2 – UNL DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, SPRING 2014

GUIDE TO THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT'S CURRICULUM 

The English Department offers a great many courses, more than are listed by title in the University Bulletin. 

These include courses in British and American literature, women's literature, other literatures in English, some 

literatures in translation, minority literatures, composition, creative writing, linguistics, film, popular literature, 

and English as a Second Language. 

Knowing something about the organization of the curriculum may help majors or non-majors who are trying to 

find courses. The numbering system provides some guidance, first by levels: 

Courses numbered from 100 to 151 are first-year composition courses. 

English 180 and 200-level courses are considered entry-level courses, for majors and non-majors alike. 

300-level courses are historical surveys of literature, advanced author courses, or advanced writing or rhetoric or 

linguistics courses. 

4/800-level courses are combined senior/graduate classes and are more professional in their approach. 

The numbering system provides additional guidance to types of courses. For example, middle-digit 5 courses, like 

150, 252, 354, are all writing courses, including creative writing. Here is a quick guide to the numbering system: 

A middle digit of "0" indicates courses in types of literature, such as short story (303), poetry (202), drama 

(4/801), or fiction (205). 

A middle digit of "1" indicates special thematic courses or courses examining literature in relation to particular 

issues (several women's literature courses, Plains Literature, Illness and Health in Literature, for example). 

A middle digit of "2" indicates language and linguistics courses. 

A middle digit of "3" indicates courses focusing on authors (Shakespeare, The Brontës, Major American 

Authors). 

A middle digit of "4" indicates ethnic minority courses, courses in translation, and courses that represent literature 

written in English in countries other than the United States and Britain (Judeo-Christian Literature, Canadian 

Literature, African-American Literature, for example). 

A middle digit of "5" indicates creative writing or composition courses. 

A middle digit of "6" indicates a historical survey of literature. 

A middle digit of "7" indicates courses in criticism, theory, rhetoric (Literary/Critical Theory, Film Theory and 

Criticism). 

A middle digit of "8" indicates interdisciplinary courses (Contemporary Culture). 

A middle digit of "9" indicates special and professional courses. 

Note: Film courses are spread throughout the numbering system, by analogy with literature courses. Thus Writing 

for Film and TV is numbered 259; Film Directors, 239; and so on. 

The practical lesson from this numbering system is that if you find one course that interests you, you may be able 

to find others by looking for similar numbers at different levels. As may be clear from these examples, there is a 

lot of repetition in the English Department curriculum. (Anyone interested in a list of English courses by 

categories can obtain one from the Chief Advisor in 201 Andrews Hall.) 

UNL DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, SPRING 2014 – 3

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS 

First-year English .................................................. 5 

Engl 100- Career Planning for English Majors ..... 7 

Engl 200 - Intro Engl Studies ................................ 7 

Engl 200H - Intro to Engl Studies ......................... 7 

Engl 202A - Intro to Poetry ................................... 8 

Engl 205 - 20th Century Fiction ............................ 8 

Engl 206 - Science Fiction .................................... 8 

Engl 208 - The Mystery & the Gothic Tradition ... 9 

Engl 212 - Intro Lesbian & Gay Lit ...................... 9 

Engl 215 - Intro Womens Lit ................................. 9 

Engl 216 - Children's Literature .......................... 10 

Engl 219 - Film Genre -- "Comic Book and Rock 

and Roll Movies" .............................................. 10 

Engl 230 - Engl Authors to 1800 ......................... 11 

Engl 230A - Shakespeare .................................... 11 

Engl 231 - Brit Authors since 1800 ..................... 12 

Engl 239 - Film Directors -- "Women Filmmakers" 

.......................................................................... 12 

Engl 243 - National Literatures -- "The invention of 

modern South Africa: Literature, Film, culture"13 

Engl 244 - African-American Lit since 1865 ...... 13 

Engl 245N - Intro to Native American Lit .......... 13 

Engl 252 - Intro Fiction Writing .......................... 14 

Engl 253 - Intro Writing Poetry ........................... 15 

Engl 254 - Writing&Communities ...................... 15 

Engl 260 - American Lit before 1865 .................. 16 

Engl 261 - American Lit since 1865 .................... 17 

Engl 270 - Literary/Critcl Thry ........................... 17 

Engl 301B - Twentieth- Century Drama ............ 17 

Engl 305A - Novel 1700-1900 ........................... 17 

Engl 315A - Survey Womens Lit ....................... 18 

Engl 315B - Women in Pop Culture ................... 18 

Engl 317 - Lit & Environment ............................ 19 

Engl 322B - Linguistics & Soc ........................... 19 

Engl 331 - British Authors since 1800 -- "Victorian 

Novelists" ......................................................... 19 

Engl 341 - The Bible as Lit................................. 19 

Engl 344 - Ethnicity & Film ............................... 20 

Engl 345N - Native American Women Writers .. 20 

Engl 349 - National Cinemas -- "World Cinema"21 

Engl 352 - Intermediate Fiction Writing ............ 22 

Engl 353 - Intermediate Poetry Writing ............. 22 

Engl 354 - Writing: Literacy............................... 22 

Engl 355 - Editing and the Publishing Industry .. 22 

Engl 376 - Rhetoric Argumnt&Soc .................... 22 

Engl 405E - Modern Fiction ............................... 23 

Engl 405N - American Novel II ......................... 24 

Engl 410 - Literary Movements .......................... 25 

Engl 440 – Classical Drama ............................... 26 

Engl 452 - Fiction Writing .................................. 26 

Engl 475 - Rhetoric ............................................. 26 

Engl 478 - Electronic Texts ................................ 26 

Engl 487 - Engl Capstone Exprnc ...................... 27 

Engl 495 – Internship in Digital Humanities -- "DH 

Practicum" ........................................................ 28 

Engl 498 - Sp Topics: English -- ........................ 28 


FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH 

NOTE: 100-level English courses will be open only to freshman and sophomore students. Students in Arts 

and Sciences who have not completed the Communication requirement and have 65 credit hours or more should 

choose English 254 or 354 (or both) to complete this requirement. (In unusual cases, exceptions to this rule may 

be granted by the Chief Advisor, English Department.) Advanced students in other colleges who want or need a 

composition course should also choose 254 or 354. 

English 101, including ethnic and honors variations, English 150, and English 151 are first-year English 

composition courses, designed to help students improve their writing by study and practice. Since reading and 

writing are closely related, several of the courses involve reading, and students can expect to do a substantial 

amount of writing — some formal, some informal, some done in class and some at home. Ordinarily students take 

100-level courses in the first year. 

Students registered in the College of Arts & Sciences are required to take any two of the following courses. 

Students in other colleges should check their college's bulletin or with an advisor, since different colleges have 

different requirements. 

NOTE: English 101, 150 and 151, including honors variations, are self-contained courses. They are not 

designed to be taken in any particular sequence. 

English 101 — Writing: Rhetoric & Reading 

This is a first-year English composition course that focuses on composing practices and critical reading strategies 

through the analysis of literature. Students can expect to produce the equivalent of 25 double-spaced pages of 

polished prose (a minimum of three writing projects) during the semester. The kinds of writing may vary from 

section to section, but all sections assume that reading and writing well are closely connected. This course is 

recommended for students who wish to improve their writing and reading skills through the study of literature. 

English 101H — Honors Writing: Rhetoric & Reading 

NOTE: This course is intended for students who have had significant prior experience and success in English 

classes. Admission is by invitation or application only. See the Department of English Chief Advisor, Andrews 

123A, for more information. This course shares the same focus and goals as English 101 and requires an 

equivalent amount of reading and writing. 

English 150 — Writing: Rhetoric as Inquiry 

This is a first-year English composition course that engages students in using writing and rhetorical concepts such 

as purpose, audience, and context to explore open questions — to pose and investigate problems that are 

meaningful in their lives and communities. Students can expect to produce the equivalent of 25 double-spaced 

pages of polished prose (a minimum of three writing projects) during the semester. This course is recommended 

for students who wish to improve their writing, reading and inquiry skills (such as learning to identify relevant 

and productive questions, learning to synthesize multiple perspectives on a topic, etc.) 

English 150H — Honors Writing: Rhetoric as Inquiry 

This course is intended for students who have had significant prior experience and success with English classes 

and/or contexts that require writing, revision and analysis. Admission is by invitation or application only. Contact 

the Department of English Chief Advisor for more information. This course shares the same focus and goals as 

English 150 and requires an equivalent amount of reading and writing. 


English 151 — Writing: Rhetoric as Argument 

This is a first-year English composition course that engages students in the study of written argument: developing 

an informed and committed stance on a topic, and using writing to share this stance with particular audiences for 

particular purposes. Students can expect to produce the equivalent of 25 double-spaced pages of polished prose (a 

minimum of three writing projects) during the semester. This course is recommended for students who wish to 

improve their writing and reading skills through the study and practice of argument. 

English 151H — Honors Rhetoric as Argument 

This course is intended for students who have had significant prior experience and success with English classes 

and/or contexts that require writing, revision and analysis. Admission is by invitation or application only. 

Contact the Department of English Chief Advisor for more information. This course shares the same focus and 

goals as English 151 and requires an equivalent amount of reading and writing. 

English 180 — Introduction to Literature 

NOTE: This course does not fulfill any part of the freshman composition requirement in the College of Arts and 

Sciences. 

This course is intended to introduce first and second-year students to examination of reading, especially the 

reading of literature. In order to examine the process of reading, students can expect to explore literary works 

(poems, stories, essays, and drama), some works not usually considered literary, and the students' own reading 

practices. The course will deal with such questions as how do we read, why do we read, and what is literature and 

what are its functions. 

English 140 — Advanced Academic Writing & Usage 

English 141 — Advanced Academic Reading 

English 142 — Advanced Academic Listening & Speaking Skills 

English 186 — English as a Second Language/Language Skills (3 credits) 

English 187 — English as a Second Language/Introduction to Writing (3 credits) 

English 188 — English as a Second Language/Advanced Communication Skills (3 credits) 

NOTE: Admission to these courses is by placement examination required of all newly admitted non-native 

speakers. See the Coordinator of ESL Program, Michael Harpending, Nebraska Hall Rm. 513E, for more 

information. 

English 188 applies to the composition requirement in Arts and Sciences, and in some other colleges. 


ENGL 100- CAREER PLANNING FOR ENGLISH MAJORS 

Time Days Sec Faculty Class# 

1100-1215 T 001 Payne, K 22557 

Course Description and Objectives: This course is an elective orientation course that serves students early on in 

the English major. It may be taken Pass/no pass only. 

In this course we will survey career options for students majoring in English and develop individualized plans for 

the undergraduate experience and beyond. Our readings will be broad and varied but all will examine the value of 

a liberal arts/humanities degree, identify employable skills, and research relevant experiences during the 

undergraduate years. Assignments will be designed to prepare students for the job search and to recognize the 

value of a liberal arts education for civic life in today’s global economy. Class sessions will involve short lectures, 

discussions, and group work. 

Assignments: 

Short and Long Term Professional Development Plan 

Degree Completion Plan 

Reading Responses 

Academic Resume 

Internship Application or Job Cover Letter 

Group Presentation 

ENGL 200 - INTRO ENGL STUDIES 


0930-1020a MWF 001 Staff 3254 

Note: Open to Engl majors and minors 

ENGL 200H - INTRO TO ENGL STUDIES 

Further information unavailable at this time 


1100-1215p TR 001 Gailey, A 9960 

NOTE: Good standing in the University Honors Program or by invitation 

Aim 

This class will introduce students to the field of English Studies, in particular how it is practiced at the University 

of Nebraska. We will study a range of texts and methods, and will complete a variety of assignments, including a 

digital project. Throughout the course, we will ask questions about what English Studies is and is not, what it 

means to be an author, a reader, and a critic, and how we deem some material literary and canonical, considering 

multiple critical perspectives, periods, and forms. 

Teaching 

Class discussion, lecture, small group discussion, visiting speakers, hands-on work 


Requirements 

Reading fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; written and digital projects; regular quizzes 

Tentative Reading 

This is *very* tentative and will almost certainly change: a play by Shakespeare, poetry by Whitman and 

Dickinson, a novel by David Miller, a film by Bergman, many critical sources distributed online 

ENGL 202A - INTRO TO POETRY 


1230-0145p TR 001 Vespa, J 4608 

Aim: This course will explore poetry in terms of a poet's idiom and sensibility, with attention to the literary 

forms, genres, and modes that poets have used over the last two millennia. In doing so, we will discuss poets 

ranging from the classical Roman poet Virgil to contemporary poets writing today. 

Teaching: Class sessions will vary in format, featuring a mix of lecture, discussion, and small group work. 

Requirements: Course work will include a mix of essays and presentations, along with active participation in 

class discussion. 

Tentative Reading: The Norton Anthology of Poetry 

ENGL 205 - 20TH CENTURY FICTION 


1230-0145p TR 001 Staff 4321 

0600-0850p W 101 Staff 4230 

ENGL 206 - SCIENCE FICTION 

Staff - 001 


Staff - 101 



0130-0220p MWF 001 Staff 4852 

0830-0920a MWF 002 Staff 4853 

ARR-ARRp ARR 900 Staff 22407 

Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 



Staff - 900 


ENGL 208 - THE MYSTERY & THE GOTHIC TRADITION 


1130-1220p MWF 001 Staff 4854 

0930-1045a TR 002 Staff 17418 

ENGL 212 - INTRO LESBIAN & GAY LIT 

Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 



0200-0315p TR 001 Staff 9981 

Aim: 

Teaching Method: 

Requirements: 

Tentative Reading List: 

ENGL 215 - INTRO WOMENS LIT 


0200-0315p TR 001 Honey, M 3255 


Honey, M - 001 

Course Description: This course will cover a variety of women writers, primarily from the early twentieth 

century up to the present day and primarily American, as a lens through which to view the field of Women’s 

Literature. The reading list is ethnically diverse and also represents women of different social/economic groups, 

geographic regions, and affectional preferences. This reflects the huge variation encompassed by the word 

“women.” One prominent theme of the course will be girls and young women coming of age. Students’ individual 

responses to the texts will be at the heart of this course. Although I will provide the class with historical and 

critical frameworks that shape our understanding of these writers, it is the students’ interaction with them that will 

form the basis of our discussions. 

Teaching Method: Discussion, small group work, student presentations, and extensive writing by students. 

Requirements: One oral presentation on a woman writer; three 4-6 page papers. Daily attendance required. 

Tentative Reading List: The Awakening Kate Chopin; O Pioneers Willa Cather; The Color Purple Alice Walker; 

Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston; The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan; American Indian Stories 

Zitkala-Sa; Paper Wings Marly Swick; A Gate at the Stairs Lorrie Moore. 


ENGL 216 - CHILDREN'S LITERATURE 

Staff - 900 



0930-1045a TR 001 Staff 4770 

0930-1020a MWF 002 Staff 4771 

Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 


ENGL 219 - FILM GENRE -- "COMIC BOOK AND ROCK AND ROLL MOVIES" 


0130-0440p T 001 Dixon, W 4137 

AIM OF THE COURSE: Comic book movies have been around since the 1920s, and rock and roll movies since 

the late 1950s, though they were once relegated to children’s matinee screenings on Saturdays as once-a-week 

serials and also feature films. But today, with the continuing rise of Comic-Con, they seem to be more a part of 

the mainstream than ever. This course will examine comic book and rock and roll movies from the past and 

present, and explore how these films shaped American culture in the post World War II era to the present, and 

how they adapted to the changing tastes and mores of succeeding generations. In addition, we’ll ask: why are 

comic book movies so popular, especially right now? 

REQUIRED TEXTS: There is no required textbook for this course. This course seeks to interrogate the limits of 

the rock and roll and comic book based film as a vehicle for social commentary, beyond the traditional limits 

ascribed the genre. Thus, since this course deals for the most part in very recent films, directed readings, sent 

weekly as links to students, is the most effective way to tackle the material presented here. These readings are a 

mandatory part of the course material, in addition to research that you will do at Love Library for the 2nd and 3rd 

papers for this course. 

REQUIREMENTS: The class requires students to produce three (3) sustained, finished papers of 5 pages 

minimum length each, in addition to detailed class discussion of the films we see each week, as well as directed 

readings on a regular basis. Attendance is mandatory for every class, and there are NO excused absences. In their 

papers, students will demonstrate their understanding and knowledge of film genre, how genre was formed, how it 

operates in terms of viewer expectations, and how genre reflects the values and aesthetics of the society in which 

it was created. 

FILM SCREENED INCLUDE: THE DARK KNIGHT, THE TAMI SHOW, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST 

AVENGER, WOODSTOCK, X MEN: FIRST CLASS, GIMME SHELTER, V FOR VENDETTA, THIS IS 

SPINAL TAP, 300, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, IT MIGHT GET LOUD, AKIRA and other films, all screened in 

class as part of the formal lecture, with running commentary throughout by the professor. 

NOTE: Special fee - $30. 


ENGL 230 - ENGL AUTHORS TO 1800 


0930-1045a TR 001 Vespa, J 4199 

Aim: This course is the first in a two-part sequence that surveys English literature from its beginnings to the 

21 st century. We will read a series of works by Old English, Medieval, Early Modern (Renaissance), Restoration, 

and 18th-century writers, ranging from the Beowulf poet to Samuel Johnson, with an eye to discovering some of 

the major themes, trends, and tensions that have shaped British literature over time. Despite its broad scope, this 

course is not intended as an exhaustive survey, but as an opportunity for you to concentrate on a select group of 

authors and texts, and explore specific formal, cultural, and historical issues. 


Requirements: Course work will include a mix of essays and presentations, along with active participation 

in class discussion. 

Tentative Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Ninth Edition, ed. by Stephen Greenblatt et al. 

Volume A: The Middle Ages 

Volume B: The Sixteenth Century/The Early Seventeenth Century 

Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century 

ENGL 230A - SHAKESPEARE 


0200-0315p TR 001 Staff 9990 

1230-0145p TR 002 Schleck, J 4246 

AIM: 

Staff - 001 


Schleck, J - 002 

This course will introduce you to a number of Shakespeare’s plays, focusing on those that thematize religious and 

“racial” difference in the early modern Mediterranean. We will spend considerable time discussing the themes, 

characters, language and construction of the plays as well as read some more unusual documents from 

Shakespeare’s time. Our goal will be to explore Shakespeare’s Mediterranean and the multicultural and 

multiethnic interactions which characterize both the region and the plays. In the course of the class, we will 

experience the tensions and the comedy of the plays through performing selected scenes, analyzing film versions 

of each one, and if possible, attending a live performance together. 

TEACHING METHOD: 

The course will be a mix of informal discussion/ lecture, formal student debate, group performance, and film 

analysis. 


REQUIREMENTS: 

One argumentative paper, one performance or film discussion/ presentation, one close reading, and a series of 

smaller writing assignments. 

TENTATIVE READING LIST: 

The Merchant of Venice 

Titus Andronicus 

The Tempest 

The Jew of Malta 

Scholarly articles related to the listed plays 

Excerpts of various Renaissance texts related to course theme 

ENGL 231 - BRIT AUTHORS SINCE 1800 


1100-1215p TR 001 Staff 4361 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 239 - FILM DIRECTORS -- "WOMEN FILMMAKERS" 


0130-0440p W 001 Foster, G 4138 

Special fee - $30. 

Aim: This course will focus on the history of women film directors from the birth of cinema in the 1890's to the 

present. Women made considerable contributions to the art of filmmaking in all periods of cinema history, 

especially in the early days of film when there were many, many female directors. The history of women in early 

cinema has been neglected until very recently. One of the most interesting aspects of the class is discovering how 

film history in being actively rewritten to include the work of women and minority film directors. This is an 

exciting class in which we study the history of women as film directors and utilize feminist approaches to their 

work. We will study films from directors such as Alice Guy Blaché, Lois Weber, Maya Deren, Ida Lupino, Claire 

Denis, Lucrecia Martel, Agnes Varda, Kasi Lemmons, Sofia Coppola and many others. The course covers an 

international spectrum of women filmmakers; therefore we discuss nationality, race, class, sexuality, and other 

identity markers. This is a very exciting and unique class that covers rare films by neglected and forgotten women 

in film history, as well as the films of contemporary women directors. 

Teaching Method: Classes typically include a brief opening lecture, a film screening (with running analytical 

commentary), and a class discussion of the film director, her work, and her place in history. We also discuss the 

reading materials after we view the film. We do a significant amount of reading about women in film history, 

analysis of films, biographical material, and interviews with women directors. Prior knowledge of film or 

women's history is not necessary. Developing analytical writing skills as a writer and class participant is crucial. 


Requirements: Formal weekly papers of 3-5 pages, weekly reading assignments, active discussion. Participation 

is key. Students should be ready to study many different types of films directed by women, from early silent films 

to documentaries, and from art-house films to mainstream cinema. 

Tentative Reading List: Anthony Slide, The Silent Feminists; and Karen Ward Mahar, Women Filmmakers in 

Early Hollywood; and additional readings in the form of online readings including interviews, biography, feminist 

theory, film analysis, etc. 

ENGL 243 - NATIONAL LITERATURES -- "THE INVENTION OF MODERN SOUTH AFRICA: LITERATURE, FILM, 

CULTURE" 


1130-1220p MWF 001 Wisnicki, A 22412 

Aim: South Africa boasts one of the most complex and dynamic histories of any modern African nation. 

Once a country split along racial lines thanks to its Apartheid government, South Africa is today one of 

the most socially progressive democracies in Africa – a country that defies international stereotypes of 

the typical, war-torn, hopelessly impoverished African nation. In this course, we'll engage South Africa's 

history head on. We'll read literature, watch films, and explore cultural discourses that capture the many 

fascinating aspects of recent South African history and lived reality. 

Teaching: Discussion, student-led textual analysis, small group work, student presentations, occasional 

background lectures. As needed, the instructor will also expand class instruction by discussion of his 

own visits to South Africa in 2003-04 and 2013. 

Requirements: Study of all course materials, participation, weekly reading responses, one presentation, 

two essays. 

Tentative Reading: Selections from political prose (Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom, Steve 

Biko's I Write What I Like, Mamphela Ramphele's Conversations with my Sons and Daughters), film 

(Tsotsi, District 9), drama (Athol Fugard's The Island), novels (Bessie Head's A Question of Power, 

Nadine Gordimer's July’s People, Diela Matthee's Fiela's Child, J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace), and short 

fiction (Njabulo Ndebele's Fools and Other Stories, Zoe Wicomb's You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town) 

ENGL 244 - AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIT SINCE 1865 


1100-1215p TR 001 Staff 3256 

ENGL 245N - INTRO TO NATIVE AMERICAN LIT 



1030-1120a MWF 001 Gannon, T 4906 

Aim: This course is a survey of Native American literatures, a body of texts of true diversity in both its great 

variety of genres and the variety of its historical & cultural contexts. The broad socio-historical scope 

notwithstanding, an appropriate emphasis will be placed upon the "Native American Renaissance" that began in 

the latter 1960's. And so representative authors will include both pre-modern shamans & "matriarchs"—AND 

postmodern "warriors" & tricksters. The selections from the Trout anthology are, at times, teasingly brief; but, 


with the Sherman Alexie collection of short stories and the James Welch novel, they all ask the same question, 

ultimately: how can one "imagine a new language when the language of the enemy" seems to inevitably render 

the indigenous Other culturally inarticulate (Alexie)? At last, I hope you'll agree that such a "new language" is 

now positively, even eloquently, articulate in contemporary Native American literature(s). 

Teaching Method: Discussion, with some lecture and group work. 

Requirements: Attendance & oral participation; approximately bi-weekly informal responses; two formal 

research papers; and an essay final. 

Required Reading List: 

• Trout, ed.: Native American Literature: An Anthology (including readings from Winnemucca, Standing Bear, 

Lame Deer, Momaday, V. Deloria, Jr., Silko, Welch, Vizenor, Hogan, Kenny, Bruchac, Erdrich, and 

Alexie) 

• Sherman Alexie: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven 

• James Welch: The Death of Jim Loney 

ENGL 252 - INTRO FICTION WRITING 


0930-1020a MWF 001 Staff 3258 

0930-1045a TR 002 Staff 4233 

1130-1220p MWF 003 Staff 10000 

1230-0145p TR 004 Staff 4930 

0630-0920p W 101 Staff 3259 


Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 


Staff - 003 


Staff - 004 


Staff - 101 


Staff - 900 



ENGL 253 - INTRO WRITING POETRY 


1230-0120p MWF 001 Staff 4200 

0200-0315p TR 002 Staff 4630 

ENGL 254 - WRITING&COMMUNITIES 

Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 



0800-0915a TR 001 Staff 3260 

0830-0920a MWF 002 Staff 4247 

0930-1020a MWF 003 Staff 4234 

0930-1045a TR 004 Staff 4235 

1030-1120a MWF 005 Staff 3261 

1100-1215p TR 006 Staff 4236 

1230-0120p MWF 007 Staff 4248 

0130-0220p MWF 009 Staff 4500 

0200-0315p TR 010 Staff 3262 

0230-0320p MWF 011 Staff 4633 

0930-1020a MWF 021 Staff 4249 

1100-1215p TR 036 Staff 4635 

0630-0745p MW 101 Staff 3263 


Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 


Staff - 003 


Staff - 004 


Staff - 005 



ENGL 260 - AMERICAN LIT BEFORE 1865 

Staff - 006 


Staff - 007 


Staff - 009 


Staff - 010 


Staff - 011 


Staff - 021 


Staff - 036 


Staff - 101 


Staff - 900 



0930-1045a TR 001 Homestead, M 3272 

Aim: This course surveys American literature from its beginning (considering various approaches to the question 

of when an American literature may be said to begin) through the Civil War. We will read a variety of works in 

poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, by diverse writers, including men and women and members of different 

races and ethnic groups and from various regions of North American that became the United States. We will pay 

attention to the evolution of forms (such as the emergence of the short story and the novel) and to aesthetic 

movements (such as Romanticism), but our primary concern will be reading literary texts in relation to their 

cultural and historical contexts. 

Teaching Method: Brief lectures, whole-class discussion, and small group work. 

Requirements: Three sets of examinations spread over the semester, with each exam consisting of an in-class 

exercise requiring the identification and explication of quotations and a take-home essay. 

Tentative Reading List: All readings will be drawn from the Bedford Anthology of American Literature, volume 

1, supplemented by two or three longer works. 


ENGL 261 - AMERICAN LIT SINCE 1865 


1230-0145p TR 001 Dreher, K 3273 

1130-1220p MWF 002 Staff 3274 

Dreher, K - 001 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 270 - LITERARY/CRITCL THRY 

Staff - 002 



1130-1220p MWF 001 Staff 3264 

ENGL 301B - TWENTIETH- CENTURY DRAMA 



0230-0345p MW 001 Ramsay, S 10015 

AIM: This course surveys modern theater from its antecedents in nineteenth-century melodrama to the rise of 

Naturalism and the avant-garde. Our concerns will include the modulations in theatrical convention during this 

period (including innovations in performance and set design), the philosophical underpinnings of modern writing 

for the theater, and the Modernist conversation with drama's rich past. 

TEACHING METHOD: Lecture/discussion. 

REQUIREMENTS: Three papers, a midterm, and a final exam. 

READINGS: Readings include works by Woods, Buchner, Scribe, Wilde, Zola, Ibsen, Stanislavski, Chekhov, 

Strindberg, Shaw, Pirandello, Brecht, O'Neill, Artaud, Jarry, and Beckett. 

ENGL 305A - NOVEL 1700-1900 


0930-1045a TR 001 Capuano, P 3267 

0200-0315p TR 002 Végsö, R 3268 

Capuano, P - 001 

Aim: To offer students a framework for understanding the development of the English novel from 1700 to 1900. 

Teaching Method: Alternating between lecture, discussion, group work, and presentations. 

Requirements: Several shorter response essays; a formal essay (7-9 pages);a presentation; final examination. 


Tentative Reading List: Daniel Defoe, Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Charles 

Dickens, George Eliot. 

Végsö, R - 002 

Aim: The primary objective of this course is to present a general survey of the early history of the novel. In the 

course of the semester, we will examine some of the fundamental modes of the genre by discussing the following 

categories: the anti-romance; satire; the epistolary novel; parody; the sentimental novel; the gothic novel; and 

realism. Although our texts will represent a wide range of subgenres, the common theme of our readings will be 

an examination of the changing cultural function of fiction. We will start the semester with some excerpts from 

Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605) in order to argue that the genre of the novel is fundamentally 

concerned with the complex and often undecidable relationships between fiction and reality. In our subsequent 

readings, we will examine different cultural and historical variations on this central theme. 

Teaching Method: A combination of lectures and group discussions; 

Requirements: Two papers; two exams; online discussions; 

Tentative Reading List: Miguel de Cervantes; Daniel Defoe; Laurence Sterne; Goethe; Jane Austen; Gustave 

Flaubert; Joseph Conrad; 

ENGL 315A - SURVEY WOMENS LIT 


1230-0145p TR 001 Deb, B 4641 

Course Description and Learning Objectives: Much of women’s literature has portrayed women within the 

space of the home and in relation to the family. However, women have also actively engaged with spaces like 

streets to protest against injustice. These kinds of spaces like the home and the streets cannot be separated out into 

private space and public space as some critics have done. During this semester, we’ll study the intersections of 

such spaces where gender injustice at home is intimately tied to political protests on the streets. We’ll think 

together about how the representations of women’s lives bring the private into intimate conversation with the 

public sphere. 

Throughout the course we will critically engage with the following questions: How does a feminist frame of 

reference offer us alternative understandings of women’s lives? What is the relationship between the historical 

tradition of women’s writings and a feminist tradition of such writing? How do we connect our explorations of 

these issues to our driving question: Why do we need to define a survey course introducing women writers 

exclusively? 

Using various genres of literature such as fiction, poetry, and essays, together we will survey the history of 

women’s literature from the medieval period to the present day. These writings by women are drawn from 

canonical British and American literature as well as more diverse ethnic and world literature. I will ask you to 

examine intersections of different types of spaces to interpret texts focusing on figures of women. We will bring a 

feminist critical lens to these texts, but this lens will also bring into dialogue critical race studies with its emphasis 

on not only class, but also race. Together we will also explore the purposes of primary and secondary research to 

help you carry out well-researched writing. I will, in the process, ask you to formulate convincing and coherent 

arguments through informal and formal critical writing, a short paper, a longer research paper, oral presentations, 

and class participation. This survey course aims to lay the intellectual foundation for more specialized courses in 

women’s literature for students who will later on pursue advanced courses in this terrain. At the same time it will 

offer a basic but comprehensive understanding of women’s literature to students. 

ENGL 315B - WOMEN IN POP CULTURE 



0930-1020a MWF 001 Staff 10016 

1130-1220p MWF 002 Staff 3269 


ENGL 317 - LIT & ENVIRONMENT 

Staff - 001 


Staff - 002 


Staff - 900 



1230-0145p TR 001 Staff 4643 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 322B - LINGUISTICS & SOC 


1230-0120p MWF 001 Hanson, J 4201 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 331 - BRITISH AUTHORS SINCE 1800 -- "VICTORIAN NOVELISTS" 


1230-0145p TR 001 Capuano, P 10018 

This course will survey the major fiction writers from the most famous literary and historical period in Britain: 

1837-1901. We will explore not only the authors themselves, but how their fiction came to dominate the leisure 

time of the entire society, from Queen Victoria herself down to the lowest scullery maid. We will read a starstudded 

line up of fiction by Jane Austen (Persuasion), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Emily Bronte (Wuthering 

Heights), Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), Charles Dickens (Hard Times), George Eliot (Silas Marner), Mary 

Elizabeth Braddon (Lady Audley’s Secret), Thomas Hardy (Tess of the D’Urbervilles), and Bram Stoker 

(Dracula). Evaluation will be based on class participation, 2 papers, and a final exam. 

ENGL 341 - THE BIBLE AS LIT 



1030-1120a MWF 001 Stock, R 4202 

Aim: to examine the Hebrew Scriptures (known to Christians as the Old Testament) and the Christian scriptures 

(the Old and the New Testament) to get a better understanding of the literary techniques, major characters, central 

themes, of this literature. The emphasis will be on literary values rather than theology or doctrine, so that students 

will be studying the Bible much as they might study Shakespeare or Milton. 

Teaching: informal lecture and class discussion; discussion will be encouraged. 

Requirements: critical term paper, midterm examination, final examination, periodic short writing exercises in 

class. 

Text: the only required text is the King James Version of the Bible. Students must have copies of this English 

translation and bring them to class. This text will be supplemented, however, by some modern translations 

and criticism. 

ENGL 344 - ETHNICITY & FILM 


0930-1045a TR 001 Dreher, K 23456 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 345N - NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS 


1230-0120p MWF 001 Gannon, T 10019 

AIM: This course is a survey of Native American literatures, a body of texts of true diversity in both its great 

variety of genres and the variety of its historical & cultural contexts. The broad socio-historical scope 

notwithstanding, an appropriate emphasis will be placed upon the "Native American Renaissance" that began in 

the latter 1960's. And so representative authors will include both pre-modern shamans & "matriarchs"—AND 

postmodern "warriors" & tricksters. The selections from the Trout anthology are, at times, teasingly brief; but, 

with the Sherman Alexie collection of short stories and the James Welch novel, they all ask the same question, 

ultimately: how can one "imagine a new language when the language of the enemy" seems to inevitably render 

the indigenous Other culturally inarticulate (Alexie)? At last, I hope you'll agree that such a "new language" is 

now positively, even eloquently, articulate in contemporary Native American literature(s). 

TEACHING METHOD: Discussion, with some lecture and group work. 

REQUIREMENTS: Attendance & oral participation; semi-weekly responses to the readings, two formal 

research papers, and a final essay exam. 

READING LIST: 


Trout, ed.: Native American Literature: An Anthology (including readings from Winnemucca, Standing Bear, 

Lame Deer, Momaday, V. Deloria, Jr., Silko, Welch, Vizenor, Hogan, Kenny, Bruchac, Erdrich, and Alexie); 

Sherman Alexie: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; James Welch: The Death of Jim Loney 

ENGL 349 - NATIONAL CINEMAS -- "WORLD CINEMA" 


0600-0845p R 101 Najafi Kianfar, N 17420 

Special fee=$30. 

Aim: This course will focus on and explore World Cinema. The influence of these international filmmakers on 

the art of cinema as well as the cultural, social, and political circumstances within their countries during various 

pivotal historical periods throughout the twentieth century will serve as our entry point into understanding the 

meanings, both theoretical and critical, as well as the craft associated with these films, and how that craft of the 

art of cinema contributes to its theoretical and critical understanding and representation. We will explore historical 

contexts that contributed, inspired, regulated, or otherwise influenced, either under censorship or protest, the 

production of these films. This is an exciting class where we will watch and learn how these filmmakers use their 

techniques to work with space, realism, symbolism, language, narration, music, and structure all in their deliberate 

framing of shots. In other words, this class will focus on the rhetoric existent and evident within shot composition 

as well as how that rhetoric contributes to their aesthetic and historical context. We will study filmmakers and 

how they utilize also political, social, and economic approaches to their work. However, what remains paramount 

to our approach to understanding the films we view is the argument the film presents—and how that film chooses 

to frame that argument through and on the screen, which means understanding the purpose of the composition of 

the image, camera placement, angle, the narrative structure of the film, as well as the music and sound throughout 

the film. This class relies on reading as well; that is, I expect students to utilize the weekly reading assignments 

within their papers, similar to the practice necessary when writing research papers. A tentative sample of the films 

we will watch include, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Daisies, Viridiana, Throne of Blood, Melancholia, Solaris, The 

Spirit of the Beehive. We look at a wide range of filmmakers from around the world; therefore we discuss politics, 

culture, race, class, sexuality, and other identity markers. As a class, this course is quite unique because it covers 

films unfamiliar to most American audiences as well as films both ignored and forgotten by majority of western 

audiences. Discovering these films again or for the first time promises to heighten our sense of understanding for 

the cultures, identities, as well as the political, social, and economic circumstances permeating the lives of peoples 

from particular places around the world, an understanding that will no doubt complement our own sense of place 

and identity within our own cultural frame. 

Teaching Method: Weekly in-class film screenings, brief lectures, group discussion. We write weekly papers of 

3-5 pages in length and we have one final project—a final reflective journal. We do a significant amount of 

reading about these films and the filmmakers, analysis of films, and circumstances surrounding the making of the 

films, among other aspects. Again, the rhetoric inherent within shot composition plays a significant role in how 

we discuss and write about the film we watch and study. No prior knowledge of film, World Cinema, and the 

countries whose films we watch is necessary. Developing analytical writing skills is very important. 

Requirements: Weekly papers of 3-5 pages, weekly reading assignments, active discussion. Participation is key. 

Openness to different types of films, from international/cultural to documentary and from art-house films to more 

mainstream cinema. Some of our films show graphic violence and sexuality. 

Additional Requirement: Everyone is required to attend a special screening of a foreign film at the Marie Ripma 

Ross Media Arts Center. This is in addition to our regular weekly in-class screenings. Details will be discussed in 

class. 


Tentative Reading List: All readings are available online, either through the world wide wed (hypertext links in 

schedule) or Blackboard. A subscription to Netflix is also required. 

ENGL 352 - INTERMEDIATE FICTION WRITING 



On-line taught via Blackboard. Not self-paced. Internet and e-mail required. 

ENGL 353 - INTERMEDIATE POETRY WRITING 

22 – UNL DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, SPRING 2014 



1230-0145p TR 001 Staff 3270 

ENGL 354 - WRITING: LITERACY 



0200-0315p TR 001 Staff 4856 

PREQ: 3 hrs English Composition at the 200-level or above or permission. 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 355 - EDITING AND THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY 


0200-0450p T 001 Kunkel, M 10021 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 376 - RHETORIC ARGUMNT&SOC 


0200-0315p TR 001 Brooke, R 3275 

Aim: 

Rhetoric: Argument and Society will explore some historical and contemporary theories of the role of rhetoric in 

social life and controversy. I plan to organize the course around two important and enduring social issues: the 

rhetoric of romantic love, and the rhetoric of public civic controversy. Both issues have been with us since the 

dawn of rhetorical theory in the dialogues of Plato. Both issues also will allow us to examine the two main 

strands of rhetorical inquiry, persuasive strategizing (or “rhetorica utens” in Aristotle’s system) and cultural 

socialization (or “rhetorica docens” for Aristotle). We will examine such questions as:

Why were rhetoric and romantic love linked for Plato, at the very beginning of rhetoric and the Western 

philosophic tradition? 

How do contemporary “self-help” relationship books rely on and extend traditional concepts of 

interpersonal rhetoric? 

How is romantic love culturally constructed by the symbol systems we inherit? 

How has the public arena for controversy and decision making, and the rhetorical strategies for influencing 

public policy, changed from the origin of rhetorical theory in 5 th century Athens? 

How might we describe contemporary public rhetoric, and strategize about it? 

In what ways can private citizens affect public policy? 


We’ll split our weekly time between lecture/whole class discussion and small group inquiry based on our 

individual writing. 

Requirements: 

Weekly: prepared daily attendance; weekly declamation writing in response to readings 

During the semester: 20 pages of polished analytical prose, on rhetorical topics of the students’ choice, in one of 

three options: 3 papers (6-7 pages) due 1/5weeks; 2 papers (10 pages) due mid-term & final; 1 paper (20 pages) 

due at final 

Tentative Reading List: (The specific items will likely change, but the texts listed below give a sense of the scope.) 

Plato, “Symposium,” “Phaedrus,” and “Gorgias” 

Some contemporary self-help relationship work, such as Campbell’s The Five Love Languages 

Linda Brodkey, Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only 

Nancy Welch, Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized World 

Barry Kroll, “Arguing Differently” 

Michel Foucault, selections from Power/Truth 

Jay Heinrichs, Thank You For Arguing 

Excerpts from Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning and Novum Organum 

ENGL 405E - MODERN FICTION 


1230-0145p TR 001 Végsö, R 4647 

0200-0315p TR 002 Deb, B 4648 

Végsö, R - 001 

Aim The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to a select number of modernist novelists. 

During the semester, we will take a literary journey around the world as we examine the way modernist writers 

recorded the global realities of the British Empire. Our readings will be in direct dialogues with one another so 

that we can examine “modernist aesthetics” in terms of a series of internal conflicts rather than just as a 

monolithic unified entity. We will start with two classics of British literature: James Joyce’s A Portrait of the 

Artist as a Young Man and Virgina Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. After this, we will examine Britain’s relation to India 

through the reading of two novels: one by a British author and one by an Indian author. These two novels are E. 


M. Forster’s A Passage to India and Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable. Finally, we will close the semester with two 

authors from the New World whose novels narrate journeys back from the colonies to the Old World: Nella 

Larsen’s Quicksand and Jean Rhys’ Voyage in the Dark. 

Teaching Mixture of lectures, in-class discussion, and group work. 

Requirement 

Two papers; Two Exams; Online Discussion Boards; 

Tentative Reading : James Joyce: The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1917); Virginia Woolf Mrs. 

Dalloway (1925); E. M. Forster: A Passage to India (1924); Mulk Raj Anand Untouchable (1935); Nella Larsen: 

Quicksand (1928); Jean Rhys Voyage in the Dark (1934);. 

Deb, B – 002 

Course Description and Learning Objectives: This course will give students a broad background in 

contemporary fiction in English, drawn from across the world. We will move through France, the United States, 

the Dominican Republic, South Africa, and Australia. During this semester, we’ll study representations of 

different types of violence. We’ll think together about how communities come to experience such violence based 

on their racial, class, gender, ethnic, religious, and age identities, and how they resist such violence. Since women 

and children are vulnerable to violence in very distinctive ways, we will devote a certain amount of time to 

explore their encounters with violence. One of the significant areas of our exploration of violence will be 

governments, also called the state or the nation-state. As we move through the course together, we will grapple 

with significant questions about the relationship between governmentality and violence: In our readings how have 

particular populations experienced violent governance by the state? What kinds of mechanisms have helped states 

to perpetuate that kind of governance? How have states justified violence against such populations in the literature 

that we are reading? What is the difference between state-sanctioned violence and violence that emerges when 

disenfranchised populations resist the state? Who has the power to control narratives of violence? How have the 

fiction that we are reading represented agents of violence who are not connected to the government and who 

facilitate violence against particular communities? In what ways have global networks of power sustained 

violence against disenfranchised communities? Do the figures of women and children in fiction on violence 

illuminate issues that would have been otherwise repressed in such accounts? What alternative readings of 

violence do we come up with when we situate narratives of violence in the context of race, class, ethnicity, 

nationality, religion, sexuality, age, etc.? 

Our work will involve considerable time for discussing our readings using the questions above, and other 

questions that we generate as a class along the way. This will enable you to develop critical thinking and 

reasoning about global modern fiction in English. I will ask you to formulate convincing and coherent arguments 

through formal critical writing, oral presentations, and class participation. This course aims to lay the intellectual 

foundation for advanced graduate work in world literature and cultural studies. At the same time it will offer a 

basic but comprehensive understanding of literature from around the world. 

ENGL 405N - AMERICAN NOVEL II 


0200-0450p M 001 Montes, A 10011 

Aim This course is a twentieth and twenty-first century study of the American novel. Students will become 

familiar with literature, theory, and craft of writers from the very early twentieth century to the contemporary 

period. Students will become familiar with novels written by writers such as Sinclair Lewis, Zora Neale Hurston, 

Gertrude Stein, Carson McCullers, Ralph Ellison, John Rechy, Toni Morrison 

Teaching 

lecture, small group, large group, and class presentations & discussions 


Requirement quizzes, journals, longer paper at end of semester, class presentations 

Tentative Reading Theodore Dreiser, An American Trajedy; Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here; Zora 

Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God; Jane Bowles, Two Serious Ladies; Christopher Isherwood, A 

Single Man; Chimamanda Adichie, Americanah 

ENGL 410 - LITERARY MOVEMENTS 


1230-0145p MW 001 Reynolds, G 10013 

0200-0315p TR 002 Vespa, J 10026 

Reynolds, G—001--- "The Contemporary Novel" 

Aim: This course will take us through what I hope will be a wide and diverse array of contemporary novels 

(‘contemporary’ meaning, roughly, the past twenty years of Anglophone literature). The aim will be to look at 

books written within a range of cultures, from the United States to South Africa and Australia. Each week we will 

focus on a particular novel, and link it to a series of provocative (I trust) questions. What happened to the postmodern 

novel? Why do contemporary novelists show such an interest in history? How has post-colonialism 

inflected and transformed the novel? What is the relationship between the novel and politics? 

Methods: mini-lectures, classroom discussion, small group work, student presentations. 

Requirements: reading journal; mid-term paper; final research paper. 

Tentative reading list: there will be around 12 novels and short story collections for the course. Texts will 

include: A.M. Holmes, Music for Torching; Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall; J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace; Arundathi Roy, 

The God of Small Things. 

Vespa, J—002-“Age of Sensibility” 

Aim: While the shift from "Sensibility" to "Romanticism" during the late 18th century is a critical commonplace 

of English literary history (typified by the seminal anthology From Sensibility to Romanticism), the shift has come 

under renewed scrutiny in recent years as scholars recognize interrelationships between the discourses of 

Sensibility, Sympathy, and Romanticism that complicate the shift. Such scrutiny is apt, for sensibility, grounded 

as it is in a capacity to feel and sympathize, owes something to the contemporary interest in the mind and human 

psychology, along with the concomitant interest in the moral import of feelings (including the belief that one 

develops moral character via sympathetic identification), much of which informs the poetry and sentimental 

novels published during the latter half of the 18 th century, the so-called “Age of Sensibility,” as well as some of 

the poetry and prose that we have come to call “Romantic.” In this course we will put literary texts into play with 

philosophical texts, with an eye to exploring how the art of poets and novelists may intersect with contemporary 

theories of moral sentiment and sympathy. Our reading will include forays into contemporary critical prose and 

correspondence too, with the hope that these texts will aid our inquiry. 


Requirements: Course work for undergraduates will include a mix of short papers, presentations, and arguments, 

including researched arguments, along with active participation in class discussion; course work for graduate 

students will include a mix of short papers, presentations, arguments, and researched arguments along with active 

participation in class discussion. (The presentations for graduate students will entail teaching a class or portion of 

a class.) 


Tentative Reading: Pamela, by Samuel Richardson; A Sentimental Journey, by Laurence Sterne; The Man of 

Feeling, by Henry Mackenzie; Elegiac Sonnets by Charlotte Smith; The Ruined Cottage, by William 

Wordsworth; Lyrical Ballads, by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

ENGL 440 – CLASSICAL DRAMA 


0200-0315p TR 001 Lippman, M 23376 


ENGL 452 - FICTION WRITING 



On-line taught via blackboard. Not self-paced. Internet and e-mail required. 

ENGL 475 - RHETORIC 



1230-0145p MW 001 Staff 10027 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


ENGL 478 - ELECTRONIC TEXTS 


0600-0850p R 101 Gailey, A 23458 

Aim 

This class will address several questions that are new to literary scholarship: How does the digital environment 

change a text and what it means as a cultural object? What is descriptive markup, and what does it allow us to do 

with a text? Just as importantly, the class will attend to some very old questions: Exactly what is text, anyway? 

What is a book? How does the medium in which a text is printed affect its meaning? How is editing a text an 

interpretive act? How do various ways of editing texts enable certain kinds of inquiry and obscure others? 

While touching on these theoretical concerns, the course will teach you the essential technical skills for creating 

digital archives and editions and will culminate with you creating your own. We will study how digital archives 

and scholarly editions handle books and other written materials. We will concentrate on the technologies and 

standards required to make a text machine-readable and manipulable for different purposes. Specifically, we will 

address XML (Extensible Markup Language), TEI (Text Encoding Initiative), and XSL (Extensible Stylesheet 

Language). The course presupposes no prior knowledge of these technologies. 


This course will involve a lot of work—you will need to quickly learn some technological skills while thinking 

about them in theoretically sophisticated ways. However, I hope you will find that the course offers unique 

payoffs in the form of practical skills and a better understanding of issues in the field of digital humanities. 

Teaching 

Lots of hands-on work; group discussion of readings; student-led presentations 

Requirements 

Readings and brief reading responses; targeted assignments and quizzes over technical material; creation of a 

digital archive. 

Tentative Reading 

This is very tentative: 

Peter Schillingsburg, From Gutenberg to Google. Cambridge University Press, 2006. 

Other readings distributed through Blackboard: essentials of editorial theory by W.W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, 

Michel Foucault, Jerome McGann, etc.; technical materials 

ENGL 487 - ENGL CAPSTONE EXPRNC 


1230-0145p TR 001 Homestead, M 4654 

0130-0245p MW 002 Buhler, S 3278 

NOTE: Engl 487 is open only to English majors who have completed 24 hours of English courses numbered 200 and above. 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


Homestead, M – 001- 

"The Public Life of Literature in the U.S." 

AIM: 

Buhler, S – 002 

“Shakespeare and his Interpreters” 

To consider how Shakespeare has been used for creative, critical, pedagogical, personal, and polemical 

purposes. We will explore what source material has been mined from Shakespeare in creative writing, 

film and other media, school curricula, public discourse, and notions of cultural identity. We will also 

explore the reasons for Shakespeare’s sometimes peculiar status in English studies, modes of 


performance, and in the global marketplace. Majors from all subfields and specializations within English 

are welcome. 

TEACHING METHOD: 

Discussion; frequent student presentations. 

REQUIREMENTS: 

Individual and group reports focusing on examples of “Living with Shakespeare” in various contexts; 

reflective journal, applying this course’s discussions and discoveries to your other work in English 

studies; major paper/project with annotated bibliography. 

TENTATIVE READING/VIEWING LIST: 

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, King Lear, and The Tempest; Matt Haig, The Dead Fathers Club; Jane 

Smiley, A Thousand Acres; Aimé Césaire, Une Tempête; Claude Chabrol, Ophelia (1963); Jocelyn 

Moorhouse, A Thousand Acres (1997); Kristian Levring, The King Is Alive (2000); Michael Almereyda, 

Hamlet (2000); Julie Taymor, The Tempest (2010); Susannah Carson, Living with Shakespeare. 

ENGL 495 – INTERNSHIP IN DIGITAL HUMANITIES -- "DH PRACTICUM" 


1200-0300p W 001 Jewel, A 

This course provides students with real, in-depth experience in collaboratively creating digital 

humanities projects. Guided by faculty with expertise in a broad range of digital humanities methods and 

resources, students work in teams to tackle challenges proposed by UNL researchers and/or local and 

regional humanities organizations. The weekly class meeting is designed as a lab for team work, for 

learning new technical and research skills, and for pursuing strategies to solve humanities problems in 

the digital age. Though some technical and research experience is useful, this challenging class 

accommodates students from a wide range of backgrounds and with varied skills. This practicum course 

is an opportunity to develop significant experience in how universities, libraries, museums, archives, 

publishers, nonprofits, and others are using digital methods to pursue their humanities missions. 

ENGL 498 - SP TOPICS: ENGLISH -- 


1100-1215p TR 002 Jockers, M 4799 

0200-0315p TR 003 Garelick, R 4665 

0930-1045 TR 005 Dooling, R 23595 

Jockers, M – 002 

"Macroanalysis" 


Aim: Digital texts and digital libraries offer us new opportunities for searching and accessing literary 

material. More interesting and exciting than the mere searching of digital texts is the ability to leverage 

computation in order to process and analyze textual data, to provide new methods for reading, analyzing, 

and understanding literature. 

Throughout this course we will investigate ways of reading, interpreting, and understanding literature at 

the macroscale, as an aggregate system. Our "text" for the class will be a corpus of several thousand 

British and American novels. We will consider theoretical issues, read and discuss landmark essays in 

the field, and develop an understanding of how digital libraries and literary corpora are inviting new 

types of literary research and challenging some of our conventional approaches. 

Much of the course will revolve around the construction and execution of a collaborative research 

project. Students will collectively form a research question and design and implement an approach to 

investigate the problem. 

Aim: 


Requirements: 


Garelick, R – 003 

“Great Collaborations of the American Stage” 

Dooling, R – 005 

“The Legal and Business Aspects of Creative Activity” 

Aim : This course will provide theoretical and practical resources for undergraduate 

and graduate students who want to build a career based on creative activity. 

The course will introduce students to the basic legal and business principles governing creative endeavors, 

including: “pitching'” and protecting ideas, securing representation (lawyers, agents, managers), basic principles 

of contract, copyright, and intellectual property laws, clearing and licensing rights, and how not to get sued or 

taken advantage of while creating, borrowing, and collaborating with other artists and entrepreneurs. 

The goal is to teach artists and entrepreneurs how to protect themselves and their projects and ideas, until success 

provides the wherewithal to secure professional representation from agents, lawyers, managers, investors, and 

business partners. As such, the course should also appeal to students who may be interested in careers as talent 

representatives, producers, or investors in the arts. 

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dooling 

Class is cross listed with THEA 398-005, THEA 898-005, Arts 4/898A-005, MUSC 4/898-005, JOUR 4/891- 

005

COURSE DESCRIPTION BOOKLET Undergraduate Level Courses

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