ENGL 146
English Grammar
MW 3:20—4:35 Demeter
This course provides an introduction to English grammar in context for academic writers. It focuses on the study of language in use, including parts of speech, sentence grammar, paragraph structure, and text cohesion. Students will also learn grammar as an important toolkit to use in writing. By understanding the tools that are available, students will understand how they can be used to produce a wide range of rhetorical effects. In addition to learning the toolkit, students will learn how to search a corpus (a large collection of authentic language) to increase their skills in observing the grammar of English in context. This course is specifically designed for multilingual students, but native speakers of English may take the course with the instructor’s approval.
ENGL 150
Expository Writing
MWF 9:30 to 10:20 Staff
English 150 is a three-credit course designed to help students build on basic academic writing skills by further developing the sophistication of their claims, the strategies of argumentation, and the practices of research and source integration. Students will develop strategies for developing compelling and sophisticated claims, reading texts critically, and effectively communicating their views in writing. Students will learn techniques for research, source evaluation, and the development of sophisticated claims through the process of a drafting and revising a substantial researched essay. Topics, readings, and writing assignments vary across individual course sections.
ENGL 180
Writing Tutorial (1 credit)
TBA Jewell
English 180 is a one-credit writing tutorial class designed to develop students’ expository writing skills through weekly scheduled conferences with a Writing Resource Center Instructor. Goals are to produce clear, well-organized, and mechanically acceptable prose, and to demonstrate learned writing skills throughout the term. Course content is highly individualized based on both the instructor’s initial assessment of the student’s writing and the student’s particular concerns. All students must produce a minimum of 12 pages of finished writing for each credit for which they are enrolled, and complete other assignments as designed by the instructor to assist in meeting course goals.
ENGL 183
Academic Writing Studio
F 11:40—12:30 Assad
This course provides practice and training in formal academic writing in a small-group, workshop environment. Weekly class sessions are supplemented by individual consultations with the instructor to provide targeted support based on each student’s needs and goals. This class has been developed particularly for international students who have successfully completed FSCC 100 and would like additional writing training as they advance through University Seminars and other writing-intensive classes.
ENGL 203
Introduction to Creative Writing
MW 12:45—2:00 Ring
TTh 10:00—11:15 Weber
This course acquaints students with opportunities for creative expression across genres. The course primarily focuses on poetry and short fiction – though playwriting, screenwriting, and genres of creative nonfiction will also be explored. We will attend to those elements that make for vivid, effective writing, including relevant detail, lyrical language, and memorable images; inventive metaphor and simile; and authentic voice, setting, and characterization. Taking this course will help to further develop an understanding and practice of creativity in the medium of language and to distinguish among the creative opportunities and constraints of different literary genres.
ENGL 217B
Writing for the Health Professions
MW 4:50—6:05 Verdi
This course offers practice and training in the professional and technical writing skills common to health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing, dentistry). Attention will be paid to the writing processes of drafting, revising, and editing. Typical assignments include: letters, resumes, personal essays, professional communication genres (e.g., email, reports, patient charts, and histories), and scholarly genres (e.g., abstracts, articles, and reviews). Prereq: ENGL 150 or passing letter grade in a 100 level first year seminar in FSCC, FSNA, FSSO, FSSY, FSTS, or FSCS.
ENGL 257A
Fiction
TTh 4:00—5:15 Derbesy
This class will serve as an academic introduction to the novel. It will be set up as a survey of various “isms,” literary movements and genres that have shaped the history of the novel. For instance, you will learn the textual features that tend to be associated with realism, and how they differ from romanticism or modernism. You will also learn terminology that helps you to describe and understand these differences. In the process, you will not only learn how the novel has changed over time, but also how to make insightful arguments about them both in writing and in conversation.
ENGL 270/WGST 201
Introduction to Gender Studies
MWF 10:35—11:25 Jewell
This course introduces students to major concepts of and current issues in Gender Studies. We will begin with an overview of academic approaches to the study of gender, focusing on gender as a social construction and gendered institutions. We will then read historical and contemporary texts from a variety of disciplinary perspectives to explore a range of topics, including gender activism in the United States, representations of identity in popular culture, health and reproductive justice, the division of labor in the home and in the workplace, and sexuality, among others. Students will write short critical responses, have a midterm and final exam, take one reading quiz before midterms, and participate in a group project. Note: This course is the required introductory course for students taking the Women’s Studies major, and is cross-listed as WGST 201, SOCI 201, HSTY 270, PHIL 270, and RLGN 270. It fulfills the global and cultural diversity breadth requirement.
ENGL 290/WLIT 290
Masterpieces of Continental Fiction
TTh 11:30—12:45 Lathers
People sometimes say that translation ruins literature—not true! Good translations can open doors and eyes for those who don’t have time to learn dozens of languages. In this course, we read a selection of the most significant continental novels of the nineteenth century, including works in English translation by French, Russian, German, Italian, and Norwegian female and male writers. We read and closely examine Ourika (Claire de Duras), Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert), Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), On Tangled Paths (Theodor Fontane), After the Divorce (Grazia Deledda), and Pan (Knut Hamsun). Since these novels are directly engaged with the social, political, and artistic currents of their time, we focus not only on the texts themselves but also on the contexts in which they were conceived and written and with which they are in more or less constant dialogue. Of major interest in these novels is the representation of gender roles, race and social class, marriage/adultery/divorce, nature, and death. Students will also come away with a good idea of the differences between Romanticism/Idealism and Realism/Naturalism as literary movements. Requirements include two short essays (3 pages each), a midterm, and a final exam. The essays will not involve outside research. For each, you will have a choice of specific topics focusing on an issue concerning a particular text or a comparative study of two texts. The exams will involve short answer and essay questions.
ENGL 301
Linguistic Analysis
TTh 10:00—11:15 Schaeffer
This course offers introductory analysis of modern English from various theoretical perspectives (e.g., structural, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and cognitive linguistic). In particular, the course provides an introduction to theoretical concepts and methods of linguistics, such as morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, and dialects, as well as writing systems and the nature and form of grammar. It is designed for any student with interest in language or its use; no prior linguistic background is assumed. This course provides humanities and social science students with training in the description and explanation of important technical aspects of language. This course also provides students of communication disorders with a basic foundation in language science, crucial information to understanding language acquisition.
ENGL 303/303C
Intermediate Fiction Workshop
W 2:15—4:45 Grimm
“A story is not like a road to follow . . . it’s more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while, wandering back and forth and settling where you like and discovering how the room and corridors relate to each other, how the world outside is altered by being viewed from these windows. And you… are altered as well by being in this enclosed space, whether it is ample and easy or full of crooked turns, or sparsely or opulently furnished.” —Alice Munro
In this class we’ll be building these stories that are like houses, with much reading, much writing along the way. I am assuming that you have a knowledge of the basics of writing fiction, i.e., that you have taken other creative writing courses or have done extensive writing on your own. This is a workshop class, with extensive discussion of your own and each other’s work: participation is important, attendance essential.
No exams.
Prerequisite: ENGL 203, ENGL 213, or permission of instructor.
ENGL 304/304C
Intermediate Poetry Workshop
TTh 11:30—12:45 Gridley
This course continues developing poetic techniques introduced in English 203 or 214, with increased emphasis on the following: self-direction (in reading and writing); critical awareness of movements and counter-movements in poetry; facility with traditional and experimental forms; building repertoire of writing strategies; responding to others’ poems in constructive and precise terms; opening one’s own work to rigorous revision practices. Class time will integrate discussions of readings and poetic models with in-class writing exercises and workshop response sessions. Recitations of memorized poems required at midterm and final meeting. End of term portfolio with 5-6 pp critical introduction and revised poems. Pre-requisite: ENGL 203, ENGL 214, or permission of the instructor.
ENGL 307
Feature/Magazine Writing: Sports Journalism
TTh 7:00—8:15 Polverine
ENGL 309
Immersion Journalism
M 4:25—6:55 Sheeler
This course has two classrooms: the primary lecture hall on campus and the wider classroom of a local nonprofit or government agency housing people whose stories are rarely heard (past venues include a local nursing home and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center). There, students will immerse themselves in the stories and lives of residents and staff. Students will learn the skills to capture and edit audio and video, and will examine a variety of story structures in an attempt to find the most compelling methods to bring untold stories to light.
ENGL 325/325C/THTR355
Shakespeare
Comedies and Romances
TTh 2:30—3:45 Vinter
In this course we’ll read a selection of Shakespeare’s comedies and romances. These texts span the entirety of Shakespeare’s career, and in part we’ll be using them to understand the development of his drama and his shifting place within the renaissance theater and wider social sphere. What made Shakespeare so successful in his own time? What differences emerge as we move from early comedies such as The Taming of the Shrew to middle period problem plays such as Measure for Measure and late romances such as The Winter’s Tale? How do the plays respond to changing artistic fashions and performance conventions, as well as to different social, political and economic conditions? In particular, how is Shakespeare reflecting, commenting on or contesting common renaissance understandings of drama and language; gender roles and sexual identities; ethnic and religious differences; and trade and financial speculation? But we’ll also be thinking about what it means to be reading and watching Shakespeare today, in part by looking at more recent reception and adaptations of some of his plays. What explains the continued attraction of Shakespeare? What is gained and what is lost when we treat him as our contemporary?
Requirements for 325 include regular participation in the classroom and on blackboard, two 5-7 page papers and a final project. This class fulfills pre-1800 distribution requirement for the English major.
Students registering for ENGL 325C—the Capstone version of this class—will be required to develop and complete a Capstone research project in the wider field of study covered by the course. This Capstone project will have an approximate length of 25pp. and will also include a public presentation of the project. This Capstone research project will fulfill the formal writing requirements for 325. All other reading, class participation, and final exam requirements will be identical for 325 and 325C. Completion of the major’s pre-1800 requirement is a prerequisite for 325.
ENGL 343/443/WGST 343
Language and Gender
MW 3:20—4:35 Marling, Raili
Do women and men really speak differently? How well does language allow us to express our gender experience? What role do race, class and sexuality play? How does our language use affect how we are perceived? In this course, we will discuss how sex, gender and sexuality are represented in and performed through language in the public and private spheres of life.
The course will begin by introducing early debates in language and gender research about the extent to which language is male-centered and whether men and women use language differently. It will cover theories of difference, dominance and performativity. Finally, we will consider how language resources can be used to enact different gender and sexual identities.
Course Goals
- To introduce some of the main concepts and debates in language and gender research in the broader context of gender and sexuality studies.
- To sensitize students to the gendered nature of language they consume and use.
- To develop the skill of analyzing spoken, written and visual texts for representations of gender and sexuality.
Required Texts
Eckert, Penelope and Sally McConnell-Ginet. Language and Gender. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Recommended Texts
Cameron, Deborah. The Myth of Mars and Venus. New York: Oxford University, 2008.
Cameron, Deborah; Kulick, Don. Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
ENGL 356
American Literature before 1865
Ignorance and Insight in Early American Literature.
MWF 11:40—12:30 Staff
ENGL 360/460
Studies in American Literature
Money Troubles in American Fiction
TTh 1:00—2:15 Marling, William
Why are Americans obsessed by money? Is it okay not to be? These questions have troubled American writers since the Gilded Age, and still do. We will unearth the creed of greed: Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick, then read three different responses—Henry James’ The American, William Dean Howells’ The Rise of Silas Lapham, and Frank Norris’ McTeague . Changing the gender lens, we read Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, Nela Larson’s Passing, and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Finally you choose two of these four maniacal treatments, to complete a thematic trajectory: William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Ishmael Reed’s The Freelance Pallbears, or Marilyn Robinson’s Housekeeping.
Requirements: beyond attendance and participation, there are three short papers (4 pages), each about a thematic/genre approach, a group presentation on one of the four final books, and then a long paper of 12-15 pages.
Please note: this course uses real, paper books. You must buy them and bring them to class on appropriate days.
ENGL 365N/365NC/ ETHS 365N/ WLIT 365N/ENGL 465N/ WLIT 465N.
African-American Literature
Morrison, Baldwin, and Coates on Race
MW 4:50—6:05 Mobley
ENGL 365Q/465Q
Writing Black Britain
TTh 4:00—5:15 Koenigsberger
This course explores writing by and about “Black Britain,” a contested phrase that draws into its ambit British subjects of African, Caribbean and – at the broadest compass – South Asian descent. In the post-War period, the diverse cultures of Black Britain have redefined what it means to be British, and what can be understood to characterize British literature. Over the course of the semester, we will read a series of narratives by writers such as David Dabydeen, Sam Selvon, Jackie Kay, Monica Ali, Meera Syal, Andrea Levy, and Caryl Phillips, along with selections of poetry and nonfiction from other key writers from the past 70 years. Two critical papers, a book review, and classroom presentations are required; no exams.
ENGL 367/467
Introduction to Film
TTh 1:00—2:15 Spadoni
An introduction to the art of film. Each week we’ll take an element of film form (editing, cinematography, sound, and so on) and examine how filmmakers work with this element to produce effects. Most weeks we’ll also screen a whole film and discuss it in light of the week’s focus. Films screened will include masterworks of the silent era, foreign films, Hollywood studio-era classics, and more recent cinema. Students write two essays (5-6 and 8-10 pages) and take a scheduled quiz, midterm, and final exam. Grad students write a longer second essay and, in connection with it, submit a proposal and annotated bibliography.
ENGL 368/368C/468 and WLIT 290
Topics in Film
Science Fiction Films
TTh 10:00—11:15 Spadoni
This course explores the iconography and major themes of science fiction cinema—from alien creatures to space and time travel to futuristic cities and robots. We’ll ask how the genre occasions meditations on the nature of the human subject and its encounters with science and society. In what ways is the film medium well suited to bring alive narratives in a science fiction vein? How do films, even ones set far in the future and on distant planets, reflect the values and concerns of the times and places in which they are made? We’ll screen films ranging from the silent masterwork Metropolis to genre classics including The Thing from Another World to such science fiction milestones as 2001: A Space Odyssey to more recent films. Students write two essays (5-6 and 8-10 pages), take part in a group presentation, and take occasional brief quizzes (lowest is dropped). Grad students (registered for ENGL 468) satisfy the same requirements as the undergrads but their final essay will be an extended research project, in connection with which they’ll submit a proposal and annotated bibliography
Students intending to take this course as their capstone (ENGL 368C) will have met the prerequisites described at case.edu/film and will do the same work as students registered for ENGL 368, only their final essay will be an extended project, in connection with which they’ll submit a proposal, annotated bibliography, and partial draft, and give an oral presentation.
ENGL 369
Children’s Literature
Part One: Nineteenth-Century (1860-1930)
MW 12:45—2:00 Vrettos
This course examines early classics of British and American children’s literature from the mid-nineteenth century through the first decades of the twentieth. We will focus on narrative and thematic developments in the genre during this period, the historical contexts in which these stories were written (including 19th-century developmental psychology), the interpretations of some of these stories through film, and their influence on later writers. Texts will include Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; Barrie’s Peter Pan; Kipling’s The Jungle Books; Nesbit’s Five Children and It; Alcott’s Little Women; Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables; Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and one of its many sequels; Burnett’s The Secret Garden; Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows; and Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Requirements include active participation in class discussion, weekly informal Canvas posts, a choice of paper assignment plans (the equivalent of three 5pp. papers), and a take-home final exam. Pre-requisite: either ENGL 150 or USFS 100.
ENGL 380
Department Seminar
The Detective in Fiction and Film
TTh 4:00—5:15 Marling, William
This capstone course surveys the rich tradition of detective fiction, as well as some films adapted from classics. After establishing the tradition with Francoise Vidocq and Edgar Allan Poe, we will read work by Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dashiell Hammett, and Agatha Christie. Then you will choose a path for your final paper: The hard-boiled tradition of Hammett, Cain, Chandler, and Michael Connelly? The feminist tradition of Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Sue Grafton, and Sara Paretsky? The European outlook of Vidocq, George Simeon, Sjöwall and Wahlöö, and Patrick Modiano? The African-American detectives of Rudolph Fisher, Chester Himes, and Walter Mosely? Or a focus on works adapted to film (a good capstone for film major/minors).
Requirements: beyond attendance and participation, there are two short papers early, about the genre, and a quiz on The Moonstone. When you branch off into your area, you will have 1) a serious required conference with me, 2) first draft, 3) class presentation, and 4) final research paper of 15-20 pages.
Please note: this course uses real, paper books. You must buy them and bring them to class on appropriate days. You will be responsible for viewing most required films outside of class.
ENGL 390
Independent Study and Creative Projects: Literature, Printing, and Book Arts
TBD Koenigsberger
This independent study provides students the opportunity to engage in creative projects surrounding literature and the book arts. Beginning with reading and exercises around the history of the book and modern literary experiments with book design, it moves on to hands-on training in typesetting and printing, and culminates in independent projects at the intersection of the material page and literature. Contact Professor Koenigsberger for more information. Requirements include at least one critical paper and a project writeup, in addition to regular reading and exercises. Regular lab time will be scheduled on an individual basis.
ENGL 398
Professional Communication for Engineers
TBA Staff
English 398 introduces principles and strategies for effective communication in both academic and workplace engineering settings. Through analysis of case studies and of academic and professional genres, this course develops the oral and written communication skills that characterize successful engineers. Students will prepare professional documents that focus specifically on communicating academic and technical knowledge to diverse audiences. Because such documents are always situated within professional, social, and rhetorical contexts, this course also requires students to explain and justify their communicative choices in order to become adept in navigating the rhetorical environments they will encounter as professional engineers. As a SAGES Departmental Seminar, English 398 also prepares students for the writing they will do in Capstone projects.
Note: ENGL 398 complements ENGR 398, a 1-credit co-requisite lecture course, which introduces major practical, theoretical, and ethical issues that shape the environment for communication among professional engineers. For details of the ENGR 398 objectives, work commitments, grade breakdown, and assignments, please see the separate syllabus for that course.
Additional Note: ENGL 398 is a departmental seminar, and as such, the workload and time commitment outside of class time will be demanding. Be prepared and plan ahead. Beginning assignments early, particularly near the end of the semester as things get busier, will allow you to finish on time and submit your best work. This course asks you to develop your writing skills while also honing your professional skills, including time management, organization, and punctuality. By the end of English 398, students should be able to:
- Produce written texts in a variety of professional genres – texts that communicate effectively and adhere to professional ethical standards.
- Deliver clear and professional oral presentations on a range of engineering topics.
- Reflect on and justify the rhetorical choices involved in planning, writing, revising, and presenting academic and professional engineering documents.
- Summarize the research writing of an academic engineer for a non-technical audience.
- Demonstrate the ability to work as part of a research team, coordinating workflow and collaboratively presenting outcomes.
- Synthesize the academic research and professional best practices related to an engineering project in the student’s field.
- Produce and refine an array of personal professional documents.
- Demonstrate the capacity for life-long learning through sustained reflection, revision, and research.
ENGL 406
Advanced Creative Writing
TTh 2:30—3:45 Gridley
This course continues developing poetic techniques introduced in English 304 or 373. It is open to graduate students who write poetry, and to undergraduates who have taken a poetry workshop at the intermediate level (ENGL 304 or ENGL 373). The course follows a hybrid seminar-workshop model. Class time will integrate discussions of readings and poetic models with in-class writing exercises and workshop response sessions. Recitations of memorized poems required at midterm and final meeting. End of term portfolio with 8-10 pp critical introduction, revised poems, and revision process notes. In addition to final portfolio requirements, graduate students will pursue an independent project derived in consultation with professor. Pre-requisite: ENGL 203, 214, or permission of the instructor.
ENGL 517
American Literature Seminar
19th Century American Literature
W 4:25—6:55 Clune
We will explore this period through intensive analysis of six key writers. Written work will consist of several short response papers, and two longer papers.
ENGL 519
English Lit Seminar 1800-1900
The Gothic Novel’s 19th-Century Progeny
M 4:25—6:55 Vrettos
The emergence of the gothic novel in the mid-18th century sparked widespread critical condemnation and debate, and within just a few decades its thrilling subject matter and widespread popularity had become the subject of parody. Yet over the course of the next century, the gothic genre infiltrated Victorian fiction and gave birth to a wide variety of popular genres that continue to develop and flourish today. This course will examine two foundational gothic novels from the first few decades of the genre: Horace Walpole’s 1764 The Castle of Otranto and Anne Radcliffe’s 1794 The Mysteries of Udolpho, as well as Jane Austen’s 1803 gothic parody Northanger Abbey (published 1817). We will then turn to the second wave of gothic fiction, tracing its influence on the Victorian novel and its transfiguration into popular genres such the sensation novel, detective fiction, ghost stories, psychological thrillers, science fiction, and horror. Readings for this section of the course will include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (comparing the 1818 and 1831 editions), Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, and late-Victorian ghost stories by Vernon Lee, Oscar Wilde, and others. Students will choose the final book for the course from a range of popular late-Victorian texts and genres. Contenders may include Bram Stoker’s Dracula, H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, H. Rider Haggard’s She, etc.
Secondary readings for the course will focus on a broad range of critical, theoretical and historical approaches to the gothic genre, offering students different angles of vision for developing their seminar papers. While the primary texts focus exclusively on British literature, students interested in the influence of the gothic genre on 19th-century American literature are welcome to develop a research project in that area. Requirements for the course include attendance and active participation in seminar discussions, weekly discussion posts on Canvas, brief oral reports on the critical readings, one short paper circulated to the class, and one research paper submitted in two forms—as a 10pp. conference paper presented to the class toward the end of the semester, and as a 20pp. seminar paper due during finals week. While the seminar will be taught primarily by Professor Vrettos, Professor Flint will join our discussions and provide historical and literary context on 18th century gothic fiction in the first few weeks of the semester.