300-level courses
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303 - Critical Approaches to the Study of Literature
303-01 MWF 900- C. Moraru
The course provides an advanced introduction to literary-cultural study, interpretation, and research. This class will familiarize you with the fundamentals of contemporary literary and cultural criticism and theory: their basic notions, methods, research tools, and resources. It revolves around certain approaches to literature and culture, from the traditional to the more innovative ones, which came about in the wake of the "linguistic revolution" and its focus on language and textuality. We will use both primary and secondary materials to see how critics and theorists from late 19th-century historism to the most recent trends in identity studies view and interpret literature and its relations to society. Our "supersection" combines opening lectures by the instructor and discussion, also requiring group work and research of various kinds. Midterm and final exam (in-class).
303-02WI TR 1530- D. Hutchins
The main goal of English 303 is to introduce you to a variety of critical approaches and methods that have been used over time to aid people in the study of literature as well as to get you familiar and comfortable enough with these different approaches so that you can, whether in future English classes here at UNCG or in graduate school or in the world at large, draw upon them at will and speak and write about them intelligently. To this end, we will survey certain important forms of literary and cultural theory and consider some techniques for achieving a critical appreciation of literary art. "Critical appreciation" means having smart, sophisticated reasons for liking whatever literature you like, and being able to articulate those reasons for other people, especially in writing. Vital for critical appreciation is the ability to ‘interpret' a piece of literature, which basically means coming up with a cogent, interesting account of what a piece of lit might mean, what it's trying to do to/for the reader, what technical choices the author's made in order to try to achieve the effects she wants, and so on.
305 - Introduction to Rhetoric: Rhetorical Power
305-01 TR 1230- S. Yarbrough
321 - Linguistics for Teachers
321-01 MWF 1100- W. Beale
321-02 TR 1100- N. Myers
This course is about language, language use, and theories and applications of language study in the classroom. Across the semester we explore the interrelationships of language and contexts, examining such issues related to language and language learning as dialects, multilingualism, gender, language standards and conventions (correctness/error), language variations/varieties, technology and language, oral/literate traditions, direct/indirect speech acts, etc. We talk about the history of the English language and methods of teaching language and grammar. We investigate language structures and systems, including an understanding and application of phonology, morphology, and syntax as well as a review of school grammar.
322 - The Teaching of Writing
322-01WI TR 1230- J. Reynolds
This course focuses on how to teach writing to secondary school students by introducing future English teachers to the theories and practices of using writing and reading in language arts classrooms. The overall course goal is for participants to develop a coherent philosophy of literacy instruction based on the range of course readings, researched topics, fieldwork experiences, and self- reflections about writing, reading, learning, and working with secondary school students.
322-02WI TR 1400- E. Chiseri-Strater
Prerequisite: University Reasoning and Discourse requirements must already have been met and it is recommended that the student already have taken English 321. This course will focus on theories and practices of teaching writing at the secondary level. Participants will write in a range of genres within the frame of a writing workshop. Instruction given in composing, editing, and critiquing writing. This course is designed for prospective high school English teachers and is required for "A" licensure and closed to students who are not seeking teaching certification.
325 - Writing Fiction: Intermediate
325-01 T 1400- C. Nova
326 - Writing Poetry: Intermediate
Pr. 221 or permission of instructor.
326-01 MW 1530- R. Bowman
327 - Writing in the Professions
327-01WI T 1730- B. Yarbrough
327-02WI R 1730- B. Yarbrough
336 - Introduction to Chaucer
336-01 TR 1400- A. Vines
This course is devoted to Chaucer's best known work: The Canterbury Tales. Special attention will be paid to the tensions between the various cultural practices represented in the pilgrims' Tales and their interactions with one another in the context of late fourteenth-century England. In addition, we will also examine The Canterbury Tales as an innovative anthology of medieval literary genres and consider how our modern ways of dealing with these cultural and social struggles and modern textual praxis can help us to read and understand this medieval masterpiece. We will read this text in the original Middle English, carefully working our way through the tales. No prior knowledge of Middle English is required for this course; however, by the end of the semester, you will be able to read Chaucer's language with fluency.
337 - English Literature to 1500
337-01 TR 1530- A. Vines
This course surveys the literary representations of the physical, social and religious outcasts of the Middle Ages, roughly 500AD-1500AD. Please remember, these categories of "otherness" and even the term "outcast" itself are arbitrary concepts that were just as troubled and contested in the medieval period as they are today. During the thousand or so years that the course readings span, one thing remains constant: the definition of any outcast is primarily a matter of perception. Throughout this course, we will keep these questions in mind as we read and discuss these texts: who is defining the individual as an outsider? What criteria are being applied? Who benefits from these assumptions and in what way? How do medieval perceptions of outcasts speak to contemporary debates about race, class, religion and sexuality? By the end of the class, students will have an excellent knowledge of the major historical events in the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods; they will be able to read and translate later Middle English; they will be able to recognize and analyze major literary genres, such as drama, dream vision, romance, and heroic epic.
338 - The Sixteenth Century 1500-1610
338-01SI MWF 900- J. Feather
From shows such as "America's Next Top Model" and "The Doctors" to fashion magazines and commercials, 21st Century American culture shows an obsession with the human body, making the body a source of both meaning and consternation in contemporary popular culture. Similarly, the rising importance of human dissection as a medical practice, the proliferation of conduct books focused on self-governance, and the early modern analogy between the individual body and the body politic make the body a contested site in the 16th century. How does your understanding of the body influence how you see the world? How were ideas about the body different in the 16th century than they are now? Through literary, medical, and philosophical texts, this course will explore how early modern writers understand the body and how conceptions of the body both then and now influence attitudes toward gender, status, race, and sexuality. We will focus especially on authors of the sixteenth-century including Marlowe, Nashe, and Spenser. Requirements include participation and careful reading, short written exercises, oral presentations, and several exams.
341 - Themes in Literature
341-01 TR 1100- J. Reynolds
21st Century Literacies
This course will explore the emerging genres and literacy practices of the multimodal and interactive forms of 21st Century communications. For purposes of this course, we will focus on various forms of content creation, which we will call digital writing. Throughout the course, we will use various social software such as blogs, wikis, and social networks (Ning). Depending on your final digital writing project, you may also use a variety of other software tools such as Comic Life, VoiceThread, iMovie, etc.
Through viewing, analyzing and producing various forms of digital writing, we will discuss the digital writing process, its related multimodal literacies, and the benefits and challenges related to this form of communication. This course is geared for educators from various disciplines, ranging from grades K-12 with or without technological skills.
342 - The Seventeenth Century
Major Requirement: Pre-1800 Literature
342-01 TR 930- C. Hodgkins
A survey of major authors and works from 1600 through Milton and Bunyan. The course will emphasize the often competing schools of "metaphysical" and "cavalier" poetry—Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Vaughan, and Traherne, on the one hand; Jonson, Herrick, Carew, Suckling, Lovelace, Waller, and Cowley, on the other. Substantial attention also will be paid to Marvell and Milton. Important excursions into prose developments (Bacon, Milton, Hobbes, Brown, Bunyan), and a side trip into Jacobean drama (Webster), as well. Classes will combine discussion and lecture, with an emphasis on textual explication. One 2-3 page paper will be required, explicating a lyric poem by John Donne. Exams will consist of a midterm and final, each covering one half of the course. Occasional reading quizzes. Text: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th edition, volume 1.
343 - Topics in Pre-1800 Literature
343-01SI MWF 1000- W. Beale
Our general subject will be the development of English lyric poetry over a very long period, from the late middle ages to the late eighteenth century. In addition to the pure happiness of reading all this wonderful poetry, the course will focus on developments in two important areas: the changing psychological intermix of love, sexuality, and spirituality; and poetry's participation in major intellectual, social, religious, and political movements. We'll pay particular attention to the changing social functions of poetry. Who's writing it and for whom? For private or for public audiences? For purely personal or for social and political purposes? Since this course is speaking-intensive, there will be lots of opportunities to read the poetry aloud. There will also be a few (ungraded) opportunities for singing.
346 - English Literature from Victorian to Modern
346-01 MW 1400- R. Langenfeld
English 346 studies British literature covered by the scholarly journal English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, the formative era between the High Victorians and the Moderns.
We begin by analyzing works of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, their rebellion against the Victorian Age: "Revolt Against the Victorians: Aestheticism and Decadence." Other critical reactions to the nineteenth century are examined in the second section of the course, "The New Woman." "The Coming of Science Fiction" followed by "Edwardian Tradition and Early Modernism" look into early-twentieth-century British literature.
The course format will include a mixture of lecture, class discussion, group work, movies, and use of the course website.
348 - Contemporary British Literature and Culture
348-01 MW 1400- B. Clarke
In this course students will study a variety of novels, poems, and plays written after the end of the Second World War. Locating texts within their historical contexts, we will explore some of the ways in which they intervene in debates on class, gender, race, and national identity. In particular, we will consider changes in ideas of Britain and ‘Britishness' that followed social and economic developments such as the ‘end of empire,' the decline in traditional manufacturing industry and shifts in patterns of immigration. This will involve exploring, amongst other things, multiculturalism, regional identity, and nostalgia for an imagined lost unity.
350 - The Twentieth-Century English Novel
350-01 TR 930- K. Cushman
This course will cluster around the giants of British modernism: Conrad, Joyce, Lawrence, Woolf, Forster. The syllabus will also feature such 30s figures as Green, Waugh, and Orwell. We will focus on such ideas as the novelists' engagement with cultural crisis and on issues of stylistic innovation. Midterm, eight-to-ten-page term paper, final.
351 - The American Novel through World War I
351-01 MWF 1100- K. Weyler
In this course, we will study eighteenth and nineteenth-century American novels. Our readings will include The Coquette, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Moby-Dick, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and more. While some of these novels will be unfamiliar to you, others will be instantly recognizable by virtue of their current canonical status. Yet you might be surprised to learn that none of the works that we will read has always been held in high critical esteem. All of these writers and their works have risen and fallen and risen again in both critical and popular esteem. What makes a novel popular with readers? What makes a novel esteemed by critics? Do popular and critical evaluations ever converge? How have the aesthetics of fiction evolved since Americans began writing novels? We'll explore these and many other questions.
This course is designed for students who like to read novels and who enjoy engaging in challenging discussions about their reading. While the assigned novels will richly repay you for your investment of time, please keep in mind that some of these novels are quite lengthy. You will probably need to do some reading for this course every day. Course requirements will include a midterm and a final exam, two essays, and regular reading quizzes.
360 - The Eighteenth Century
360-01SI TR 1100- J. Evans
We will explore two fairly distinct bodies of literature – the Restoration, an era of wit and satire, of male and female libertines, and the early eighteenth century, a time of reform and new types of literature, including novels. We will read comic plays by William Wycherley, Aphra Behn, and John Gay, fiction by Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, and Eliza Heywood, poems by the Earl of Rochester, Alexander Pope, and Anne Finch, and non-fiction by Mary Astell, Lady Mary Montagu, Joseph Addison, and Richard Steele. Our emphasis will be close reading of these works in their cultural contexts. Students will take three exams and write two critical essays. Speaking assignments will include both individual presentations and reports in pairs.
372 - Early American Literature
372-01 MWF 900- D. Hutchins
This course is a survey of American literature from the colonial period through the Civil War. It begins with early narratives of discovery and settlement, and stretches to the fiction and poetry of the early national period. We will consider a wide range of American writings, from the journals of Pilgrim settlers to the autobiographies of freed slaves. Our texts will also represent numerous genres, including diaries, lyric poetry, novels, political tracts, and films. The chief objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the history and major writers of this period and to learn the critical terminology necessary to read and discuss the varied literature of these periods. While we will focus on printed and written materials, we will also consider other forms of media including sermons, songs, performances, and popular ballads. As we will see, the American literary tradition does not simply exist in the past but continues to shape the present we share. Throughout the course we will engage with recent films, public controversies, and legal decisions that reflect the continuing relevance of colonial literary history.
376 - African American Writers after the 1920s
376-01WI MW 1400- S. Ferguson
A survey of African American writers from the late-Harlem Renaissance to the present, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Jean Toomer, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. Students will read one novel, write two critical essays, take midterm and final exams, and keep a notebook of selected responses to ongoing course readings. Pr. Either 251, 252 or consent of the instructor.
380 - Literature and the Environment
380-01WI MW 1530- R. Applegarth
This course surveys the rich tradition in American nature writing, including texts by Mary Austin, Annie Dillard, Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams, Rick Bass, Aldo Leopold, Gary Lopez, and others. Assignments include active participation in seminar-style discussion, extensive writing and revision of both analytical and creative essays, and research-based oral presentations. Throughout the course, students will examine the connections and tensions that animate writing about nature, including links between self-representation and portrayals of place, between art and activism, and between gender, embodiment, and location.
382 - Modern British and American Drama
382-01 TR 1230- K. Cushman
A study of the major figures of 20th-century drama, British and American, from Bernard Shaw to Caryl Churchill, from Eugene O'Neill to August Wilson. The course will consider issues of production as well as literary interpretation and will feature plays that we see in performance: Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play at UNC School of the Arts and Tennessee Williams's Orpheus Descending at UNCG. Term paper. Midterm and final examination.
383 - Topics in Queer Studies
383-01 TR 1400- M. Rifkin
What is "sexuality"? How does it intersect with other forms of identity and privilege, including gender, race, class, and nationality? How is it related to the production, maintenance, and negotiation of various kinds of social norms? How is "queer" investigation and critique related to "lesbian and gay" analysis and feminist theory? This course introduces students to some of the important figures, ideas, and debates within the interdisciplinary field of queer studies. It will address the ways sexuality, sexual identity, and normality have been conceptualized within recent scholarship, the connections between such work and earlier academic and activist formulations, and the complex intersection of sexuality with other social dynamics. Students will explore the internal logic and implications of different kinds of arguments and intellectual work often grouped together as queer while also considering the possibilities and limits of "queer" as an intellectual category. Readings may include work by Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Ann Laura Stoler, Martin Manalansan, David Valentine, Susan Stryker, Cathy Cohen, Roderick Fergusion, Jasbir Puar, Adrienne Rich, Lisa Duggan, Audre Lorde, and Gayle Rubin. Requirements will include consistent participation, several electronic postings, and two critical essays. The course does not presume previous familiarity with queer studies. This class is cross-listed with Women's and Gender Studies.
390 - Writing Center Theory & Practice
390-01WI MWF 1000- S. Littlejohn