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Curriculum

English Curriculum

The major in English develops the student’s sensitivity to language and literature and enriches knowledge of the artistic imagination.

It exposes students to a broad range of literary works in their historical context and helps them develop skills in speaking, writing, and critical thinking.

Every English major, whether emphasizing creative writing or literature, should have:

  • a knowledge of literary history—its construction, traditions, periods, schools, styles, and genres;
  • some investigation of the creative process;
  • an acquaintance with various ways of reading and understanding texts; and
  • experience with both analytical and creative writing.

The English major offers excellent preparation for advanced work in graduate or professional school and for a wide array of options in business and industry. 

Students considering graduate school in English should confer with their advisors to be sure they have planned an appropriate curriculum.

Since most graduate schools require at least one modern language and some require a classical language as well, the student should be proficient in at least one foreign language at the time of graduation.

There is only one major in the department: the English major. Students may choose to emphasize either creative writing or literature, but the department is firmly committed to the mutual support and dependence of the two emphases, both of which engage the student in reading, writing, and critical and creative thinking.

Every effort is made to insure that students who elect the one emphasis will both contribute to and learn from those who elect the other.

Course Offerings

Below is a list of available courses offered by the English Department. Consult the Registrar’s Office and the College Catalog for registration information.

ENGL 1111 - Reading Gender

Literature both expresses and explores identity, of which race is an essential component. This course considers the ways that historical and cultural notions of race shape literary narratives, as well as the ways that notions of race operate to constrain and/or liberate literary creativity. Thematic topics vary. Emphasis on critical approaches and the writing of textual analysis. Credit hours: 4. (CI, HE, WI)

ENGL 1112 - Sports Literature

Walt Whitman said of baseball, it "belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly as our constitutions." This course examines sports as subject for both analytical and imaginative writing. Students read works that present an American identity through sport, the tension between being self-reliant and playing for the team; or, as Whitman would have it, "the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere." Credit hours: 4. (AE,WI)

ENGL 1113 - Introduction To Literary Studies

The topic varies by session. Credit hours: 4. May be repeated for credit when topic differs. (AE)

ENGL 1140 - Reading Race

Literature both expresses and explores identity, of which race is an essential component. This course considers the ways that historical and cultural notions of race shape literary narratives, as well as the ways that notions of race operate to constrain and/or liberate literary creativity. Thematic topics vary. Emphasis on critical approaches and the writing of textual analysis. Credit hours: 4. (CI, HE, WI)

ENGL 1142 - F. Scott And Zelda

How did a disorganized college student become a world-class novelist? This course traces the development of F. Scott Fitzgerald's art through the wide range of his writing, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Attention will be given to his collaboration and competition with Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, as well as to relevant cultural phenomena such as media celebrity and the rise of Hollywood. Credit hours: 4. (AE,WI)

ENGL 1161 - Introduction To Creative Writing

The writing of poetry, fiction, and plays, focusing upon group discussion of student work. The work of modern and contemporary authors will be used as models for discussions of theme, theory, and technique. Credit hours: 4. (AE, WI)

ENGL 1167 - Exploring Creative Writing

An introduction to creative process and the writing of poetry, short fiction, plays, or creative nonfiction. Taught by the current Randolph Writer in Residence. Credit hours: 1. First-year students have registration priority. Offered on a Pass/Fail basis only.

ENGL 1168 - Editing Practicum

The prostitute, the whore, the fallen woman, the sexually voracious woman, call her what you will, populates the literary landscape. She is a central figure in cultural debates about sexuality, about the role of women in public markets (both literal and authorial), and about the relationship between romance and fiction. Credit hours: 4

ENGL 2210 - Multicultural Children's Literature

A study of lyric, narrative, and dramatic verse. Students will discover meaning by examining the formal properties of poetry, including meter, diction, imagery, and tone. Readings will include a range of genres such as epic, elegy, pastoral, and ode. Representative authors may include Spenser, Milton, Wordsworth, Whitman, and Dickinson. Credit hours: 4. (AE)

ENGL 2231 - Topics In Literature

The work in the course varies from year to year. Credit hours: 4.

ENGL 2238 - Selling Sex: The Prostitute In Literature

The prostitute, the whore, the fallen woman, the sexually voracious woman, call her what you will, populates the literary landscape. She is a central figure in cultural debates about sexuality, about the role of women in public markets (both literal and authorial), and about the relationship between romance and fiction. Credit hours: 4

ENGL 2253 - Reading Poetry

A study of lyric, narrative, and dramatic verse. Students will discover meaning by examining the formal properties of poetry, including meter, diction, imagery, and tone. Readings will include a range of genres such as epic, elegy, pastoral, and ode. Representative authors may include Spenser, Milton, Wordsworth, Whitman, and Dickinson. Credit hours: 4. (AE)

ENGL 2255 - Reading Nonfiction

A study of non-fiction prose, including autobiography, intellectual essay, reportage, criticism, and literary theory. Students will investigate the boundaries of critical thinking and creative imagination; of fact, fiction, and truth. Representative authors may include Montaigne, Douglass, Thoreau, Woolf, and Welty. Credit hours: 4. (AE)

ENGL 2256 - Reading Fiction

In this variable credit course, a student undertakes a creative or critical project to fulfill specific, individualized learning objectives. Credit hours: 1-6. Prerequisite: permission of instructor and MFA Director.

ENGL 2263 - Writing Poetry

Hands-on experience with professional editing, including proofreading; developmental, line, and copy editing; and other skills applicable to book publishing, literary and trade publications, online content editing, and more. Through work on Hail, Muse, Etc.!, students learn the basics of producing a literary magazine, developing aesthetic judgment and the skills necessary for editorial and production responsibilities. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: any ENGL course. (WI)

ENGL 2265 - Writing Creative Nonfiction

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2266 - Writing Fiction

Credit hours: 4.0. Prerequisite: ENGL 1103, ENGL 1113, or permission of the department. One time only.

ENGL 2268 - Professional Editing

Hands-on experience with professional editing, including proofreading; developmental, line, and copy editing; and other skills applicable to book publishing, literary and trade publications, online content editing, and more. Through work on Hail, Muse, Etc.!, students learn the basics of producing a literary magazine, developing aesthetic judgment and the skills necessary for editorial and production responsibilities. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: any ENGL course. (WI)

ENGL 2273S - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2274 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4.0. Prerequisite: ENGL 1103, ENGL 1113, or permission of the department. One time only.

ENGL 2276 - Reading Drama

A study of tragedy, comedy, and other varieties of works for the theatre, with attention given to historical and social context. Students will consider the elements and structure of drama (character, plot, dialogue, setting, casting, etc,) and the material practices of theatre and theatre-going. Attendance at screenings and at live productions by the theatre department may be required. Representative authors may include Sophocles, Ibsen, Williams, Miller, and Hansberry. Identical with THTR 2276. Credit hours: 4. (AE, WI)

ENGL 2277 - Shakespeare

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2279 - Writing Plays

In this course, students learn how to structure a scene, how to structure a play, how to create, hold, and release the tension of a dramatic moment through taut and convincing dialogue, how to create characters that an audience will identify with and care about. Through the reading of modern and contemporary plays, both short and full length, students will study the ways that highly accomplished playwrights solve the problems presented by a variety of dramatic situations, and will begin to implement into their own scenes and plays the elements of the craft that they discover. Identical with THTR 2279. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: THTR 1142 or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (AE, WI)

ENGL 2280 - Sci Fi, Fantasy, And Classical Traditions

This course explores how the genres of speculative fiction draw on and departs from ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, myth, history, and art: in other words, how sci-fi and fantasy both transmit and transmute ancient materials and form deep wells of receptions of the ancient world. Students will focus on themes of perennial human significance (e.g., the uses of history, technology, fantastic voyages, metamorphosis, knowledge/wonder, and so on) in books, comics, films, television, and more. Identical with CLAS 2280. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: CLAS 1132 or permission of instructor.

ENGL 2285 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2286 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2287 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2288 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 2288S - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 3333 - Literature Of The American South

Just before the turns of the 19th and 20th centuries, the vogues of Gothicism and Naturalism, respectively, featured radical imaginations that shocked readers and redefined the terms of literature. Works by British and U.S. writers will provide a study of the phenomenon of creative extremity, as well as its influence and enduring power. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: 1100- or 2200-level literature course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (AE)

ENGL 3336 - Inspired By The Sea

A workshop in the writing of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and/or playwriting. Students may pursue the genre(s) of their choice. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: Two of the following: ENGL 1161, ENGL 2263, ENGL 2265, ENGL 2266, ENGL/THTR 2279; or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit up to a maximum of twelve hours.

ENGL 3343 - Transatlantic Bronte

The British sisters Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Bront' burst upon the Victorian literary scene with novels featuring passion and violence. Their astonishing fictions evoked outrage and admiration, and inspired responses not only from other British writers, but also from writers in the United States. This course will explore the cultural and literary contexts -- and legacies -- of the transatlantic Bront' phenomenon. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: 1100- or 2200-level literature course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (AE, CI)

ENGL 3357 - Radical Turns

Just before the turns of the 19th and 20th centuries, the vogues of Gothicism and Naturalism, respectively, featured radical imaginations that shocked readers and redefined the terms of literature. Works by British and U.S. writers will provide a study of the phenomenon of creative extremity, as well as its influence and enduring power. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: 1100- or 2200-level literature course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (AE)

ENGL 3363 - Advanced Creative Writing

A workshop in the writing of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and/or playwriting. Students may pursue the genre(s) of their choice. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: Two of the following: ENGL 1161, ENGL 2263, ENGL 2265, ENGL 2266, ENGL/THTR 2279; or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit up to a maximum of twelve hours.

ENGL 3364 - Feminist Literary Theory

This course provides an introduction to feminist literary criticism/theory. It also examines the ways that this strand of criticism overlaps, influences, and expands other fields of literary criticisms, including (among others) Marxist theory, queer theory, cultural studies, post-colonial theory, psychoanalytic theory, and new historicism. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: 1100- or 2200-level literature course or permission of instructor.

ENGL 3367 - Pearl S. Buck Workshop

An advanced creative writing workshop with varying topics and taught in conjunction with the current Pearl S. Buck Writer in Residence. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: One 2200-level creative writing course (2263, 2265, 2266, or 2279 and/or permission of the Coordinator of the Visiting Writers Series. English majors and minors have registration priority. May be repeated for credit.

ENGL 3373 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 3374 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 3378 - Power And Beauty: Gender In Renaissance Art And Literature

This course seeks to understand, analyze, and interpret representations of gender and sex within Renaissance art and literature (in both England and Italy). Using contemporary texts when possible and readings from the disciplines of literature, social history, feminist theory, and art historical texts, the course aims for a fuller assessment of gendered Renaissance life as it pertains to art and literature. Identical with ARTH 3378. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of instructor. (CI, HE)

ENGL 3386 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 3388 - Engl One Time Only

Credit hours: 4. One time only.

ENGL 3390 - Independent Study

ENGL 4490 - Independent Study

ENGL 4493 - Senior Seminar

A course designed to help develop critical perspectives in literature. The aim is to increase understanding of such key concepts as genre, period, school, and critical approach. The course will require both essays and oral presentations. Credit hours: 4. Prerequisite: permission of the Department.

ENGL 4494 - Senior Paper

In this variable credit course, a student undertakes a creative or critical project to fulfill specific, individualized learning objectives. Credit hours: 1-6. Prerequisite: permission of instructor and MFA Director.

ENGL 4497H - Honors In The Major

ENGL 4498H - Honors In The Major

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