2014-15-Undergraduate-Catalog

Course Descriptions • 397ENG 310 American AutobiographyThis is a history of the American Self as redefined by commentators from John Woolman to Annie Dillard.Selected autobiographies will be examined in their historical contexts and with reference to race and gender asimportant formative factors in self identity. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 313 Literature in Critical PerspectivesThis course provides instruction in modern critical approaches to literature. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 315 Nature Writing in AmericaNature writing in America enjoys a long and rich tradition; it ranges from essays that are purely descriptive tothose that become autobiographical and even metaphysical. Most of the readings are contemporary, althoughclassical 19th century examples and perspectives will be examined initially. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 316 Diseases in LiteratureThis course is an examination of the human responses to disease throughout history in order to understand thesocial, religious and medical reactions to epidemic diseases of people in past ages as presented in literature.Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 321-340 Studies in Short FictionThis course involves studies in short fiction (short story, novella, novelette) in which wide reading of exemplaryworks is the basis of critical analysis and discussion. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 321 The NovellaThe major objectives of this course are to define the nature of the novella, or short novel, as a type of prosefiction; to read critically some of the finest American and European modern novellas by such authors as Tolstoi,Mann, Kafka, James, Chopin, Conrad, Wharton, Joyce, Lawrence, Porter, Lessing, Roth and Munro. At least 10 workswill be addressed. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 325 The American Short StoryThe American short story surveys the genre from its beginnings in the early 19th century up to the present day.Students will study the genesis of the short story form and the alterations of the form through time, by individualauthors. Among the authors who will be examined are Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Jewett, Crane,Cather, Anderson, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Porter, Welty, O’Connor, Baldwin, Cheever, Updike, Oates andWalker. Representative stories will be read closely and in their literary, historical and cultural contexts. Bysemester’s end, students will understand the vital tradition of the American short story and each author’s place inthat tradition. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 328 Contemporary World Fiction in EnglishThis course involves a comparative study of major contemporary works of world fiction in English from Africa,Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, the Caribbean and the British Commonwealth by a variety of authors. Crossculturalsimilarities such as theme and technique will be identified with simultaneous attention to historical andcultural specificities. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 341-360 Studies in Long FictionThis course involves studies in long prose fiction (novel or other extended prose narrative) in which wide readingof exemplary works is the basis of critical analysis and discussion. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 344 18th Century British NovelIn the last decades of the 17th century, social and economic changes in England led to the growth of a new groupof readers. These readers were attracted to romance and adventure, and to realism and humor as well. They wereoften not among the best-educated people, and this caused their preference for reading prose rather than verse.This was the climate that led to the emergence of the modern novel. Works by Aphra Behn, Daniel Defoe, HenryFielding, Samuel Richardson and Laurence Sterne will be studied. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.ENG 346 19th Century American NovelSelected novels by James Fennimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, William DeanHowells and Stephen Crane are examined for their literary accomplishments and in relation to their historical,sociological and psychological contexts. Prerequisite: ENG 102. Three credits.