Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Readings in translation from a variety of cultures and authors from the Ancient World through the European Renaissance will be the focus of this class. Representative selections will be drawn from Classical Greece and Rome, China, India, and Western Europe. Readings include the major genres of epic poetry, drama, lyric verse, and prose fiction. Major themes include the warrior ideal, the relationship between the state and the citizen, and the pleasures of private life. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course will examine readings in translation selected from a variety of cultures and authors from the 17th century through the 20th century. Representative selections will be drawn from Western and Eastern Europe, India, China, Japan, Africa and the Americas. Readings include the major genres of short story, novel, drama, and lyric verse. Major themes include the changing nature of warfare, the relationship between the citizen and the state, and the pleasures of private life. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

In this course, students will study selected texts in English literature from Beowulf through the 18th century, including prose, fiction and nonfiction, drama, and poetry, with a focus on the historical and cultural contexts and issues relevant to the time. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

In this course, students will examine selected texts in English literature from the 18th century to the present, including prose, fiction and nonfiction, drama, and poetry, with a focus on the historical and cultural contexts and issues relevant to the time. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

Through early American literature, we have the unique opportunity to see and experience what the United States was like before the Civil War through the eyes of those who not only lived here, but helped create it. We will explore some of the most influential social pieces ever written and discuss why these are vital to the fabric of our nation. Think of all we can learn about the United States by studying those who write about it. Prerequisite: ENGL101.

This course examines the rapid social and technological changes that have taken place in American culture during the mid-to-late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and how these upheavals have been expressed in our nation's literature. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course will cover the major elements of some of Shakespeare's writings, including his histories, comedies, tragedies, and sonnets. The course will focus on the plays both as literature to be read and discussed as well as theatrical scripts for realization in a performance setting. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course offers a chronological survey of British poetry from the Anglo-Saxon era through the twentieth century. The poetry will be examined within the social and cultural contexts in which it was produced. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course provides an examination of American society and culture through literature, using fiction that covers different eras, personalities, and issues. Stress is placed on characterization and other literary techniques, as well as on the nature of American society itself and fiction's place in that society. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course provides a survey of the major American poets, poetic style, and poetry from colonial to contemporary times, examining in the process what a poem is and how meaning is created through the use of literary devices. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course examines the genius and influence of Ernest Hemingway and his works on world literature. Students will study works selected for the sort of quality and precision that would define Hemingway’s art of writing and earn the respect and recognition of the Nobel Committee for his “powerful, style-making mastery of the art of modern narration.”

This course will cover African-American literature from the earliest times to the present; development of prose and poetry, the novel; and the evolution of African-American political and social discourse through literature. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course provides a survey of traditional and modern King Arthur legends focusing its attention on Arthur himself as well as other prolific characters. Emphasis will be placed on analysis of Arthur and his primary companions through discussion board interaction and critical response essays that culminate in an independent research project investigated by each student that will maintain the overall theme and direction of this course.

This course is designed to expose students to literary theory. Students will read essays that cover key components of literary analysis such as Marxism, feminist theory, structuralism, and post-modernism, among others. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

Women writers have influenced thinking around the world, but this was not always recognized until recently. This course is an inclusive survey of women writers from around the globe, in both the Eastern and Western tradition, in all literary genres, through specific literary contributions from historical and modern times. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course examines modern epic fantasy literature through the novel Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The Mists of Avalon is an epic fantasy tale of love, loyalty, betrayal, kingship, and magic. Taking a different view from the legend, it is told from the perspective of the women of Avalon. Since the Arthurian Legends were some of the earliest fantasy stories, a closer examination of the elements within these legends will give students a better, deeper understanding of what all is involved in creating the modern fantasy epic. Prerequisite: ENGL101.

This course provides a survey of folk literature and storytelling. Special emphasis is placed on identifying archetypes, themes, and motifs, which are the common threads of orally transmitted literature across place and time. Assigned readings represent a sampling of folklore from around the world, from ancient to modern eras. Subjects include: magic, nature, heroism, adventure, and the nature of life and death. Students will participate in both a personal folk narrative and a research project. Prerequisite: ENGL101

A study of major Latin American writers and literary movements beginning with the Twentieth-Century. This course challenges students to think critically about issues of race, class, gender, culture and identity in order to understand contemporary Latin America through representative literary texts. Prerequisite: ENGL101.

This course provides an introduction to Russian literature, beginning with the earliest works and continuing through the mid-1800s. It focuses on short stories and explores how Russian literature affects a variety of art forms in Russia, such as dance, music, and opera. Russian Literature examines such aspects of Russian literary technique as irony, metaphor, and dualism. Students will also analyze differences between translations and how such differences may alter the interpretation of a work. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course will focus on Middle Eastern culture through an analysis of major Middle Eastern literary works including literature from ancient through modern times. The works studied represent a broad survey of the literature available from the Middle East, including works from ancient Mesopotamia, works available from classical Arabic, and works that span the ages passed down by oral tradition and only recently recorded. The novel as interpreted by eastern rather than western sensibilities is also examined. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course presents African literature from various countries across the continent with a close examination of the ways in which prose, poetry, and drama reveal the depths and beauty of the African culture and its people. Prerequisite: ENGL101.

This course is an introduction to Contemporary Asian-American Literature and will present the major themes and issues in a new and growing interdisciplinary field of scholarly research and literary texts. The primary objective of the course is to engage and introduce students to selected texts from the growing canon of works in Asian American Studies and Literature. (Prerequisite: ENGL101).

This course focuses on the dynamic cultural diversity of 20th and 21st century American Literature. The course readings will include poetry, short stories, and novels from a wide range of authors from different sociological, ethnological, or regional backgrounds and will concentrate on how these pieces help to create the current American literary identity. (Prerequisite: ENGL101)

This course will explore the literature of Medieval Europe. Students will study a wide range of texts and genres hailing from various medieval cultures – from epic poetry to chivalric romance, from crusading songs to fabliaux and satire – in order to gain an appreciation for the diversity and richness that medieval European literature has to offer. Major authors covered in this course include Chretien de Troyes, Marie de France, Chaucer, Dante, Boccaccio and Sir Thomas Malory. Secondary readings (from primary source material and from scholarly articles and books) will be supplied in order to help students gain a clearer sense of the contexts and cultures from which these texts emerged. Prerequisite ENGL 101.

This course will cover a broad selection of Chaucer's works, including The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and various Dream Visions and other shorter poems. The focus will be on both the works themselves, and the historical and literary contexts in which Chaucer was working in latter 14th-century England. (Prerequisite ENGL101.)