An interdisciplinary study of ancient religions, apocalyptic writing, and modern interpretations of that writing. An investigation of the political, economic, moral, and artistic ramifications of the nuclear arms race on modern society.
165 Introduction to Literature (3)
A course designed to develop awareness of literature as being central to all of the arts, to increase levels of literacy and critical faculties, and to broaden understanding of the human condition. PREREQ: WRT 120 or permission of the department.
168 Conventions of Reading (3)
An introduction to the study of textual genres - fiction, drama, poetry, essay autobiography, and film - and to methodologies of reading. Various cognitive and cultural influences on the reading process will be analyzed.
200 American Literature I (3)
Survey of representative American writers from Colonial times to 1860, including Bradstreet, Taylor, Franklin, Poe, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Melville.
201 American Literature II (3)
A survey of representative American writers from 1860 to the present, including Whitman, Twain, James, Crane, Eliot, Frost, Hemingway, and Faulkner.
202 African-American Literature I (3)
Survey of African-American authors from the antebellum era through the first quarter of the 20th-century.
203 African-American Literature II (3)
Continuation of LIT 202. Second quarter of the 20th-century to the present.
204 Black Women Writers of America (3)
Survey of black women writers of America. Examines themes and influences on American and African-American literary contexts.
205 Harlem Renaissance (3)
Examines the historical and cultural movement of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance.
206 African-American Literature and Literary Theory (3)
Examines the relationship between Afro-American literature and the theories serving to explain it.
230 English Literature I (3)
A survey of English literature from Anglo-Saxon writing through the 18th century.
231 English Literature II (3)
A survey of English literature of the 19th- and 20th-centuries.
250 Victorian Attitudes (3)
A study of 19th-century attitudes toward social changes as expressed in art, architecture, literature, and non-fiction prose.
265 Literature and Psychology (3)
An examination of the relationships between literature and psychology, with readings from drama (Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Albee), poetry (Poe, Browning, and Eliot), and fiction (Tolstoy, Joyce, Woolf, Mann, Kafka, and Faulkner).
269 The Literature of Roguery (3)
A historical study of the rogue in fiction with emphasis on the satiric view of society. Among writers studied are Defoe, Thackeray, donleavey, and Kerouac.
271 New Drama (3)
This course offers a selective survey of American and British drama since 1970. The playwrights studied will be drawn from a wide and expanding group, including Sam Shepard, David Rabe, Lanford Wilson, Tom Stoppard, Peter Shaffer, Caryl Churchill, and others.
A study of poetry espousing the feminist cause and exploring the feminist response. Techniques and attitudes of such poets as Plath, Sexton, Rich, Morgan, Wakoski, and Kumin.
295 Historical Context (3)
A study of a representative number of literary texts and the ways they interact historically, socially, intellectually, and politically with their own cultures as well as with the culture of the 21st-century reader. Literary and nonliterary texts will be studied as indicators of cultural and discursive shifts from one historical moment to another.
An introduction to the different theoretical positions that condition the ways in which we read a text and assign meaning to it.
297 Themes in Contemporary Literature (3)
Literary topic or theme in contemporary American, English, or world literature to be announced each time the course is offered.
300 Colonial and Revolutionary American Literature (3)
Writers of Colonial and Revolutionary America.
302 Development of the American Novel (3)
Beginnings of the American novel to Frank Norris.
303 Introduction to Multiethnic American Literature (3)
American ethnic, racial, and national groups in American literature and the contributions of creative literary artists representing these cultures.
304 American Jewish Novel (3)
A study of major American Jewish novelists: Cahan, Singer, Roth, Potok, Bellow, Malamud, Wallant, and Wiesel. No knowledge of Yiddish or Hebrew necessary.
305 Modern American Drama (3)
American drama from the early 1900's to the present, with emphasis on the development of the American theater as seen in such major dramatists as O'Neill, Odets, Wilder, Miller, Williams, and Albee.
306 Modern American Novel (3)
The novel in America from Dreiser to the present.
307 Modern American Poetry (3)
Major 20th-century American poets.
308 The Sin of Success (3)
An investigation of the rise of democratic capitalism in America from Biblical influences in colonial times to the beginnings of the merchant class and the fall of modern "big business." A study of the entrepreneur and the "robber baron," the success ethic, and morality in the large corporation through history, economics and literature.
309 Martin Luther King (3)
Examines and analyzes the writings of Dr. King and their relationship to the themes he pursued and the leadership role he achieved.
328 Old English Language and Literature (3)
An introductory study of the language (450-1150 A.D.) through a reading of religious and secular peotry and prose.
329 Medieval Women's Culture (3)
This is an interdisciplinary study of writings by medieval women and their contribution to the development of medieval culture.
330 Middle English Language and Literature (3)
An introductory study of the language (1150-1450 A.D.) through a reading of selected literacy texts.
331 Chaucer (3)
An interpretation of Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde.
332 English Drama to 1642 (3)
English drama from the early liturgical tropes to 1642, exclusive of Shakespeare.
334 Milton (3)
Survey of his major poetry and prose.
335 Shakespeare I (3)
Reading, analysis, and discussion of selected histories and tragedies. Discussion of critical approaches to the plays and of the historical and intellectual climate of the times.
336 Shakespeare II (3)
Reading, analysis, and discussion of selected comedies and nondramatic poems. Discussion of critical approaches to the works and of the historical and intellectual climate of the times. Either LIT 335 or 336 may be taken first.
337 Literature of the Enlightenment (3)
A critical consideration of the 18th-century writers, exclusive of the dramatists.
338 Restoration and the 18th-Century Drama (3)
The drama from the reopening of the theaters in 1660 to 1800.
339 18th-Century British Novel (3)
The British novel from Defoe to Austen.
340 The Romantic Movement (3)
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, and their contemporaries in the light of social background and critical doctrine.
341 19th-Century British Novel (3)
The British novel from Austin to Hardy.
342 Victorian Literature (3)
Victorian thought and culture in poetry and nonfiction prose.
343 Modern British Drama (3)
British drama from Wilde to the present, with emphasis on the rebirth of the British drama and its major writers.
344 Modern British Novel (3)
The novel in England from Conrad to the present.
345 Modern British Poetry (3)
Major 20th-century British poets.
352 Literature for Young Children (3)
A critical study of the literature for young children for prospective specialists in early childhood. PREREQ: LIT 165 or equivalent.
364 Modern Irish Literature (3)
Major literary writers of Ireland from 1840 to the present: George Moore, Synge, Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, O'Casey, Beckett, Behan, and Seamus Heaney.
365 Short Fiction (3)
Analysis and interpretation of short fiction.
366 Criticism (3)
A study of theories of classical antiquity, England, and the United States, with emphasis on the relevance of these theories to English and American literature of the moment.
370 Urbanism and Modern Imagination (3)
Covers a variety of responses of contemporary writers, artists, and planners to the rise of the modern city.
395 Children's Literature (3)
A critical study of literature for children, setting standards for evaluation and appreciation. PREREQ: LIT 165 or equivalent.
398 Young Adult Literature (3)
A critical study of literature, including nonprint media, for young adults, focusing on helping prospective teachers develop familiarity with young adult literature and how it may be used in the middle school and high school classroom, stressing gender roles and multicultural issues. PREREQ: LIT 168, 295, and 296.
400 Literature Seminar (3)
Required for English majors in the junior or senior year. Topics vary from semester to semester and range from Greek epics to Native American literature, rhetoric of science, graphic novels, film, Queer theory, specific authors, and themes such as the Global 18th Century or Questioning the Renaissance. PREREQ: LIT 168, 295, and 296 (206 can be substituted for 296).
434 Early Modern Poetry and Prose (3)
Poetry and prose of the 16th and early 17th centuries.
Literature Requirements and Electives
Approved Distributive Requirement Course
Approved Interdisciplinary Course
Course may be taken again for credit
