Fall 2008

Queens Campus

E. 2200: Intro to English Studies (74241)
M 3:35-6:30 p.m.
Dr. Derek Owens
ENG 2200: Introduction to English Studies
This course is for all English majors and minors and best taken in the Sophomore year. We'll begin by picking up where your ENG 1000c course left off, focusing in particular on writing summaries, analyzing texts, making connections and inferences, constructing arguments, and using sources. We’ll read a small number of literary works (a novel or two, some poetry, creative nonfiction) plus a few academic essays by scholars in the field. Depending on people’s schedules I’m hoping to bring in some of your other English faculty for brief guest visits so they can give you a glimpse of the field through their eyes and also let you know what they’ll be looking for in your writing when you take them in upper level courses. If there’s time we’ll make room for looking at literary theory, but the major emphasis is on getting more practice in reading and responding to literary texts.

E. 2200: Intro to English Studies (74244)
TR 10:45-12:10 p.m.
Dr. Hannah Fischthal
What is unique about and important to the study of literature?  We will do close reading of works from the major genres.  We will engage in critical thinking and writing.  We will analyze passages and quotations from important works; and we will discuss ways of using them effectively in writing.  We will also discuss terminology and whatever else aids in understanding literature.

E. 2300: Intro to Literary Criticism & Theory (74236)
TR 3:05-4:30 p.m.
Dr. Elda Tsou
The aim of this course is to introduce the key thinkers in literary theory. We will begin with Plato and work our way through the “classical” theorists to examine how their ideas form the foundations for contemporary schools of theory and the questions that are posed about gender, identity, sexuality, writing and literature. The goal of this course is familiarization with the work of important theorists. We will not be treating theory as a set of formulae that we will “apply” to literary texts, but examining it as a set of texts and questions in its own right. Theorists to be covered: Plato, Freud, Marx, Saussure, Butler, Derrida, Spivak, Said, Lacan, Barthes, Austin, Foucault.

E. 2300: Intro to Literary Criticism & Theory (74238)
TR 9:10-10:35 a.m.
T/B/A
An introduction to the history of critical theory, with emphasis on contemporary literary theory, and its practical application.

E. 3110: Chaucer (73163)
MWF 10:10-11:05 a.m.
T/B/A
A study of the poetry of Chaucer, with an emphasis on The Canterbury Tales.

E. 3130: Shakespeare: The Elizabethan Plays (74240)
TR 1:30-2:55 p.m.
T/B/A
A close study of approximately seven plays representative of the genres of history, comedy and tragedy and expressive of Shakespeare’s early idealism.

E. 3240: Romantic Literature (74281)
Online
Dr. Gregory Maertz
A study of the major English Romantic poets and the historical and intellectual contexts of their poetry.

E. 3250: Victorian Literature (74239)
TR 10:45-12:10 p.m.
Dr. Amy King
A detailed critical reading of texts from the central literary genres— especially the novel and poetry, as well as non-fiction prose— of the Victorian age (1838-1901) in Britain.  We will learn to read these texts in context as we explore and define the sort of society out of which these texts arose: our own middle-class, economic, mobile, complex and interwoven world, increasingly urbanized and organized, was first described and mapped in this period. Topics beyond the literary will include: empire, evolution, the modern city, industrialism, social mobility, domesticity, gender.  We will explore the ways in which literary texts of the Victorian period mark the complex inauguration of our own modern consciousness:  this will be our theme, tracked through various texts, various genres, and various geographical sites (London, the suburbs, and the country).  Authors may include Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, George Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Lewis Carroll, Beatrix Potter, Oscar Wilde. 

E. 3290: Special Topics in Eighteenth Century English Literature (74809)
The Battle of the Sexes
MWF 12:20-1:15 p.m.
 Dr. Joanne Neff
In Eighteenth Century England, the animosity between men and women explodes as authors vie for influence, readership, fame, and profit.  Some men present a view of women at their exaggerated worst and ridicule them; many women are no kinder to the men.  However, no matter whether they praise or condemn women, the men generally assume that their own position is central and that they are the ultimate authorities on all aspects of women’s lives.  Women, however, refuse to be elbowed out of the way and fight to present their own agenda, which is, by and large, to fashion themselves as worthy individuals with the right to education, economic advancement, and respect—and maybe some admiration, as well.  Thus the writers compete on a paper battlefield as they reflect upon issues and interests of their day.  In this course, we will examine texts that reveal the culture clash when authors write about class, gender, and relationships and jockey for position to emphasize their own points of view.  We will consider some of the following writers: Swift; Rochester; Behn; Astell; Pope; Addison; Steele; Johnson; Boswell; Haywood; Mary, Lady Chudleigh; Richardson; Fielding; Defoe; Wollstonecraft; and Austen.  This collection of authors promises to offer us a lively semester.

E. 3330: African American Literature to 1900 (74243)
MWF 2:30-3:25 p.m.
Dr. Granville Ganter
This course will examine early African-American literature, paying particular attention the international aspects of black writing, a discursive and geographical domain currently known as Athe Black Atlantic.@ Stretching from African epic to Chesnutt=s Conjure Woman stories, we will examine epics, slave narratives, poetry, fiction, and folk literature. The course will ask if African epic helps us understand the national or racial consciousness of early African-American artists. We will also consider the consequences of joint authorship, when a text is an explicit collaboration between two or more people, or when elements of a text have been borrowed or plagiarized from other sources. What do we do with the evidence, argued recently by Vincent Carretta, that the author of a famous eighteenth-century slave narrative, Olaudah Equiano, may have actually been born in South Carolina and Amade up@ his African memories? Or Lydia Maria Child's sentimental editing of Linda Brent's Narrative? In what way is the slave narrative, often taken to be the ur-moment of African-American writing, engaged with other anglo-literary traditions? How does gender shape early African-American literature? And finally, in what way is a folktale a "literary" text?

E. 3390: Special Topics in American Literature to 1900 (74232)
Legends of the West.
MWF 9:05-10:00 a.m.
Dr. Joanne Neff.
In Nineteenth Century America, literature becomes less of an East Coast phenomenon.  From Sleepy Hollow to sagebrush to gold rush, writers as well as adventurers “head out for the Territory.”  Visions of the frontier and its heroes fill the minds of Americans; readers seem to romanticize war and violence, conquest and hardship, open spaces and free land,  plentiful employment, and wealth.  Some of the authors we will probably study will be: Washington Irving, Mark Twain, James Fenimore Cooper, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, David Crocket, Nat Love, Grace Meredith, Zane Grey, Cochise, Bret Harte, John Ridge, and Zitkala-Sà.  The texts will include novels, speeches, short stories, biographies, diaries, memoirs, and journals—and perhaps a cowboy flick, as well.  Our understanding of the West ultimately rests upon our interpretation of its legends.

E. 3430: Modern Poetry (74237)
MWF 1:25-2:20 p.m.
Dr. John Lowney
This course is an introduction to poetry in English written during the first half of the
twentieth century.  This period of explosive social tensions and extraordinary technological change featured a remarkable profusion of avant-garde movements in the arts, from cubism and futurism, to imagism and vorticism, to dada and surrealism.  Examining the relation of modern poetry to innovative developments in the other arts, especially the visual arts, the course introduces the plurality of movements and styles that constitute literary modernism.  We will concentrate most intensively on the poetry of W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, H. D., and Langston Hughes.  Video and audio recordings will supplement course readings.

E.3460 Contemporary Drama (74247)
MWF 12:20-1:15 p.m.
Dr. Angela Belli
This course explores currents in contemporary drama that reference a post-modern era through an examination of relevant, selected plays. We will consider the response of current drama to socio-political cultural contexts. Paying particular attention to the forces that have shaped the world of the twenty-first century—economic, political and scientific—we will consider how the theater assesses life in our time.  In examining representative dramas, we will consider the function of tragedy, comedy and the absurd in presenting a valid reflection of current life.  Our study will include close readings of the texts as well as a consideration of the theoretical and critical points of view that inspired their creation. 

E. 3530: The Gothic (75054)
TR 3:05-4:30 p.m.
Dr. Scott Combs
This course will focus on both literary and cinematic works in the Gothic tradition.  We will study the history and cultural significance of literary themes and styles in both longer forms (Shelley, Stoker) and shorter forms (Poe, Bierce).  Then we will turn our attention to the special place the Gothic imagination holds in horror cinema, studying important works throughout the twentieth century.  In addition to the normal class time, there will be a mandatory screening Wednesdays 1:30-3:30.

E. 3580: Postcolonial Literature (74234)
TR 1:30-2:55 p.m.
Dr. Dohra Ahmad
This class provides a general introduction to the formidably large category of Anglophone literature from Africa, South Asia, Ireland and the Caribbean.  We begin with the entanglement of politics and language, always keeping those determining factors in mind.  Why did writers from the colonized world begin to compose in English? What does it mean when they continue to do so?  Reading widely in poetry, fiction, nonfiction and drama, we will consider each text as a product of its historical circumstances, while also paying close attention to literary style.  The category of writing called “Anglophone Literature,” after all, came into being through the process of English colonialism; therefore the periods of colonialism (or imperialism), decolonization (or nationalism), and post-colonialism (or neo-colonialism, or immigration) will provide a rough guideline for situating the aesthetic choices faced by our authors.  However, a central goal of the course will be to challenge the evolutionary paradigm that such a schema may seem to imply. 

E. 3590: Literature & The Other Arts (73915)
TR 10:45-12:10 – Manhattan Campus
Prof. Elana Hornblass
On the American Road in film and literature
This course will look at the relationship between film and literature through the lens of the American road.  Throughout literature and film, the American road has often been the location for spiritual, emotional, economic and intellectual journeys.  It is the setting where characters make enlightening revelations and disastrous mistakes.  In a sense, the road is where we witness the human experience.    In addition to our discussion of film and literature, we will focus on racial, sociological, religious, historical, national/transnational, and formal issues, while always considering the diversely rendered American landscape and population.

E. 3610/CLS 3610: Classical Drama in Translation (74245)
MWF 8:00-8:55 a.m.
Dr. Robert Forman
The course includes nine tragedies (three of Aeschylus, three of Sophocles—though NOT the Oedipus plays, and three of Euripides), one comedy of Menander, one by Aristophanes, and one by Plautus.  The course examines the tragedies as historical documents relatable to the historical period in the fifth century that produced them.  The comedies differ as examples of Old and New: political reflections artfully concealed and what the modern world calls “situation comedy.”

E. 3620/CLS 1210, Classical Mythology (74736)
TR 10:45-12:10 p.m.
Dr. Robert Forman
This survey of the Greek and Roman myths should prove useful for literature majors as well as for students interested in the fine arts as well as classics and ancient studies.   All readings are from primary sources with specific references to medieval and modern applications of the classical narratives in literature, art, and music.

E. 3710: Creative Writing:NonFiction Prose (74251)
MWF 10:10-11:05 a.m.
T/B/A
An introduction to writing various forms of nonfiction.

E. 3720: Intro to Creative Writing (74231)
TR 4:40-6:05 p.m.
Prof. Gabriel Brownstein
This is an introductory course in creative writing and also an introduction to the Creative Writing Minor.  Students will practice writing essays, prose poems, poems, short plays, and short stories, and they will read and comment on each other’s work.  We will also read and discuss a variety of exemplary works—scenes by Suzan-Lori Parks and David Mamet, poems by Li-Young Lee and Charles Baudelaire—works which will help us consider the possibilities and powers of the genres we explore.  Students will finish the semester with a final project from one of their chosen genres, or with one that incorporates multiple genres.

E. 3720: Intro to Creative Writing (72235)
M. 3:35-6:20 p.m.
Prof. Tom Philipose
    This introductory creative writing workshop will focus on your writing and your thoughts (that means you will be writing a lot).  We will explore the creative aspects of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and playwriting.  We will use texts from various genres/media as guides for discovery of what your writing voice/style can be.  You will be expected to attend public readings and performances (off campus and on your own time).  We will not rely on the thoughts/styles/critiques of others (outside of this workshop) to help us become careful readers and diligent writers.  An experimental and non-traditional approach will be encouraged to help elicit fresh, unique work that reflects the individual writers in our workshop.  The majority of our classwork will entail reading and discussing your writing (you will read and write in—and outside of—every class every week). 

E. 3730:  Poetry Workshop (74242)
MWF 11:15-12:10 p.m.
Prof. Lee Ann Brown
This course is a workshop intended for undergraduates who would like to develop and deepen their poetic practice, and is a prerequisite for Advanced Poetry Workshop English 3730.  Individual attention in shaping serial or extended works of poetry will be emphasized in context of a continuing exploration of contemporary world poetry and poetics.  Students will be required to write and revise a chapbook-length manuscript or long poem.  Opportunities will be had to organize and attend poetry readings and performances on and off campus, to learn about the current state of print and web publishing, and to create our own publications and performances.  The goal is to allow students to enter the literary arena both on campus and in the larger culture.  Service learning components will be developed, and the place of “poet as citizen” will be examined and enacted.

E. 3770 Advanced Fiction Workshop (74246)
TR 1:30-2:55 p.m.
Prof Gabriel Brownstein
This new course is for undergraduates who would like to develop and deepen their work in writing fiction.  It is conceived as a continuation of English 3740, the fiction writing workshop.  In this class, students will write several independent projects—stories, sections of novels, and experiments of their own devising—and will show them to the class for discussion and critique. As we read and discuss our own fiction, we’ll read some great writers—a varied set of readings that will help us consider basic problems and difficulties that face writers of stories and novels.  At the end of the semester, students will put together a portfolio of their best, revised work. 

E. 3820: The History of Sound Film to 1975 (75083)
TR 9:10-10:35 a.m.
Dr. Scott Combs
This course is the second of a two-part introduction to world cinema history.  It covers the major national schools and styles of filmmaking from the period of sound’s innovation to the New Hollywood of the mid-1970s.  Topics include the rise of sound in the United States and Europe;  Hollywood style narration;  Italian neo-realism;  postwar Japanese cinema;  the French New Wave;  authorship and independent film production;  the New German Cinema.  We will study the history of film form as both a contribution to aesthetics and a reflection of the historical and political climate in the postwar era.  A mandatory screening will be held each week on Tuesdays 1:30-3:30.

E. 4991: The Comic Tradition in British Literature (74249)
W. 3:35-6:25 p.m.
Dr. Angela Belli
The object of this seminar is to explore the nature of comedy and its presence in selected works of fiction from Shakespeare to the present.  We will consider the classical roots and global connections of the comic tradition in England.  Selected plays, novels, and poems will be studied as we focus on form and function.  Central to our explorations will be the social ends of comedy.  We will view customary depictions of human behavior which allowed for rewards for the "good" and punishment for the "evil." We will also identify the most popular model, the celebration of human love. Also examined will be those types of comedy that differ from the traditional, including farce and satire. Last, the current view of "black" humor in the works of the Absurd will be examined. Authors selected for inclusion will include Shakespeare, Pope, Austen, G.B. Shaw, J.M. Synge, and Samuel Beckett among others.

E. 4993: Seminar in Special Authors (73168)
TR 10:45-12:10 p.m.
Dr. Stephen Sicari
The Problem of Guilt
One of the perennial themes that literary artists have addressed is the problem of guilt.  In this course we will be reading some of the great authors from the western literary tradition as they handle this difficult theme. What might be surprising, but should not be, is that guilt is not always seen as a negative emotion; on the contrary, it is often celebrated as something fundamental to our being human and as crucial to our development as human beings.  Indeed, it may take until we get to kafka to see guilt as a wholly bad thing!  We will read Aeschylus' Oresteia, St Augustine's Confessions, Dante's Purgatorio, Shakespeare's King Lear, Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, and some stories by Kafka.  We will supplement these literary texts with Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (which has the same basic attitude toward guilt as Aeschylus does) and with Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors.  As one of Kafka's characters say, “My guiding principle is this: guilt is never to be doubted.”