We’re so proud of our Fall 2019 lineup of courses! Students, ready to dive into literature? To plunge into creative writing? Trust our English faculty to lead the way. Here are some highlights to look for when registering:
Shakespeare’s Plays – ENGL 373-02
MWF 12:00-12:50 with Dr. Lunderberg
Many of Shakespeare’s plays explore what it means to be treated as an outsider. Studying these plays can guide us in questioning the justice of societies where women are treated as possessions, Jewish merchants are ridiculed, and military commanders are questioned because of the color of their skin. In this course, we will work our way together through several plays, reading and watching and studying and arguing about the meaning we find in them. We will examine both the historical and literary contexts of the plays, studying the plays as literature and as performance pieces, and assessing insights into the plays from various critical approaches.
Note: Students are welcome to take multiple seminars with the same number (e.g. 373) if the title is different.
Introduction to Literary Theory – ENGL 480
TR 9:30-10:50 with Dr. Gruenler
Literary theory equips you to think better 
about how to read and why, and maybe to enjoy it more too. Tour major schools of thought from Plato to the twenty-first century, such as formalism, structuralism, deconstruction, psychoanalytic criticism, gender and sexuality studies, postcolonial criticism, ecocriticism, and disability theory. Meet theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, René Girard, Adrienne Rich, Judith Butler, Edward Said, Chinua Achebe, and Wendell Berry. Connect literature to other disciplines such as philosophy, theology, and the social sciences. You’ll have a chance to write and talk critically about whatever texts you like—stories, poems, films, TV, games, etc.
Intermediate Creative Nonfiction Writing – ENGL 358-01
TR 1:30-2:50 with Dr. Burton
Make art from experience.
Memoir is the literary craft of understanding where we’ve been.
Prerequisite: Multi-Genre Creative Writing 253.
Crime and 19th C. Fiction – ENGL 373-01
MFW 1:00-1:50 with Dr. Salah
Have you ever sympathized with a 
clever criminal? Rooted for a vigilante seeking justice outside the law? This course will take you back to where our cultural fascination with true crime, detective stories, and forensic investigation began: the nineteenth century. Slink down the foggy streets of London with Charles Dickens and his suspense-writing friends. Meet charming thieves and peek into the tormented minds of killers. Learn how Poe’s great detective, Dupin, was surpassed by Conan Doyle’s masterful catcher of criminals, Sherlock Holmes. And get ready to discuss along the way: why do we humans like this stuff so much?
Advanced Fiction Writing – ENGL 454
TR 3:00-4:20 with Dr. Childress
Have you written a short story or 
a novel? Do you want to? How could you work towards writing both—at the same time? In Advanced Fiction Writing, we’ll focus on linked stories, also called story cycles, and how they work as a kind of Super Novel. We’ll read Pulitzer- and other award-winners like Love Medicine and Olive Kitteridge. We’ll be writing—slowly, steadily—and workshopping roughly 40 pages of your linked shorts. Be ready to read and write—a lot of both! Be ready to kick it with linked-story lovers and fall in love with the story cycle.
Children’s and Young Adult Literature – ENGL 375
MWF 2:00-2:50 with Dr. Postma-Montaño
Welcome to a discussion on the importance and popularity of children’s and young adult literature. The recent flowering of kid lit has meant for a tremendous growth in the genre, 
with many texts moving into film, as the recent Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse phenomenon testifies. At the same time the importance of the field to literary studies, to literacy, and to teaching has never been greater. Scholars and educators are looking at classics like The Cat in the Hat with new eyes, asking questions like: is this picture book racist? Together, we will consider this and other critical questions. We will think about race, ethnicity, language, gender, and disability in children’s lit and what is at stake for readers, parents, and educators. This course is perfect for anyone interested in reading kid lit, teaching, and scholarship.
Modern English Grammar – ENGL 360-01
TR 12:00-1:20 with Dr. Burton
Want to know the difference between lay and lie? Between who and whom?
Modern English Grammar.
Sixteen weeks of diagramming.
Grammar competence forever.