Tentative Course Descriptions (subject to additions, deletions and revisions at a later date.)

* Check Registrar’s listing for course times

For courses listed as “300/400,” undergraduates should list only the “300” number on their registration forms; graduate students should list only the “400” number.

JANUARY SESSION

ENGL 325
Shakespeare
Comedies/Romances                                                            
January 4 through January 22                                                                                       Vinter

TuWeThFr 10:00AM – 12:30PM TuWeThFr 2:00PM – 4:30PM Sa 10:00AM – 12:00PM Sa 2:00PM – 4:00PM TuTh 6:00PM – 7:30PM

Web/Distance Learning Web/Distance Learning Web/Distance Learning To Be Scheduled (In-Person) To Be Scheduled (In-Person)

Magdalena Vinter Magdalena Vinter Magdalena Vinter Magdalena Vinter Magdalena Vinter

01/04/2022 – 01/07/2022 01/04/2022 – 01/07/2022 01/08/2022 – 01/22/2022 01/08/2022 – 01/22/2022 01/11/2022 – 01/20/2022

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 active participation, two 5-7 page papers and a final project. This class fulfills the pre-1800 distribution requirement for the English major.

ENGL 368
Topics in Film
Watching Movies
January 4 through January 22                                                                                                                        Spadoni

TuWeThFr 1:00PM – 5:00PM Tu 5:30PM – 7:30PM Th 5:30PM – 7:00PM Sa 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Web/Distance Learning To Be Scheduled (In-Person) To Be Scheduled (In-Person) To Be Scheduled (In-Person)

Robert Spadoni Robert Spadoni Robert Spadoni Robert Spadoni

01/04/2022 – 01/07/2022 01/10/2022 – 01/22/2022 01/10/2022 – 01/22/2022 01/10/2022 – 01/22/2022

What happens when we watch a film? This course examines different ways this process has been understood—from theories of spectatorship that ask how films “position” an idealized viewer; to historical studies that examine how particular films have been received by specific audiences; to films that seem self-consciously to be commenting on the act of viewing. We’ll examine these approaches as we screen and discuss films in conjunction with class readings.

Students write two short papers, 2 and 4 pages long; make 1-page study guides of assigned readings, some of which I’ll collect; do occasional in-class writing exercises that ask them to reflect on a reading or viewing. Lowest study guide/writing exercise is dropped.

This course has no prerequisites, including Introduction to Film, and welcomes first year students. Students who took “Watching Movies” previously as an ENGL 368—Topics in Film course may not repeat this course.

 

REGULAR SPRING SEMESTER

 ENGL 146
Tools, Not Rules
English Grammar for Writers
MW 3:20 to 4:35                                                                               Demeter
This course provides an introduction to English grammar 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 learn to see grammar as a tool  that can be used to produce a wide range of rhetorical effects in their own and others’ writing. In addition, 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 approval from the instructor.

 ENGL 147
Writing Across Disciplines
MW 12:45 to 2:00                                                                                         Demeter
 In this course, students will develop their genre knowledge and metacognitive skills to prepare for the advanced writing, reading, and research tasks required in upper-level writing and disciplinary courses across the university. Through individual and group inquiry, students will analyze and discuss the conventions of academic genres to understand the textual and linguistic features and disciplinary expectations of each form of writing. Then, students will apply these generic conventions through the production and revision of writing within each genre. Throughout the semester, students will engage in workshops and discussions that foster skills in the areas of seminar participation, collaboration, rhetorical awareness, and critical thinking. This course is specifically designed for non-native speakers of English, but native speakers may take the course with the approval of the instructor.

 ENGL 150-100
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 drafting and revising a substantial researched essay. Topics, readings, and writing assignments vary across individual course sections.

ENGL 180
Writing Tutorial (1 credit)                                                                                        
TBA                                                                                                    Schaffer
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 203-100
Introduction to Creative Writing   
MW 12:45 to 2:00                                                                         Dawkins            
A course exploring basic issues and techniques of writing narrative prose and verse through exercises, analysis, and experiment. For students who wish to try their abilities across a spectrum of genres.

 ENGL 203-101
Introduction to Creative Writing   
TTh 2:30 to 3:45                                                                                        Ericson                               
 A course exploring basic issues and techniques of writing narrative prose and verse through exercises, analysis, and experiment. For students who wish to try their abilities across a spectrum of genres.

ENGL 217A
Business and Professional Writing
MW 3:20 to 4:35                                                                               Robisch
An introduction to professional communication practices and theory. Focus on presentation styles and techniques, preparing for writing at work, design strategies for documents, and ethical communication.  Prereq: ENGL 150 or passing letter grade in a 100 level first year seminar in FSCC, FSNA, FSSO, FSSY, FSTS, or FSCS.

ENGL 217B
Writing for the Health Professions
TTh 11:30 to 12:45                                                                            Spieles
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
The Novel
Either/Or
TTh 4:00 to 5:15                                                                                Davydov
This class will serve as an introduction to the novel in an academic context. By examining novels in pairs united by time and/or by topic, students will look at how to put novels as texts in dialogue with one another. The course will explore how different novelists address similar issues, how novels comment on one another as parody or critique, and how one might craft meaningful arguments about multiple texts taken together.

ENGL 285
Literature and Gender
MW 5:30 to 6:45                                                                               Jewell
This course focuses on how recent American novelists, short story writers, and poets engage with gender and sexuality in their works.  There will be a strong emphasis on representations of identity and gender’s intersections and sexuality, race, and social class. Throughout the course, we will keep in mind the following questions: How is literary authorship gendered, and in what ways might different literary genres be gendered? Can literary texts be said to participate in the reproduction of gender ideologies? Can they also provide spaces of resistance for reimagining gender norms and identities?  Active participation is key in this seminar. Students will complete weekly or bi-weekly critical responses, write a midterm essay, and complete multimedia final projects.   

 ENGL 301/401
Linguistic Analysis
TTh 10:00 to 11:15                                                                            Schaffer
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. Graduate students who are interested in language studies can enroll in ENGL 401 for an opportunity to explore language and linguistic theory beyond the requirements of ENGL 301 with additional readings and a longer seminar paper or project.

ENGL 302
English Literature since 1800
MWF 9:30 to 10:20                                                                           Koenigsberger
This course follows the development of British Literature from 1800 to the present, paying particular attention to choices and contexts for the representation of literary production during these centuries. We will read selections of poetry and prose from this period and explore conversations that have developed around these pieces. We will also think about other ways to tell the story of “British literature” since 1800.

ENGL 303/303C
Intermediate Fiction Writing
Th 11:30 to 2:00                                                                                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 rooms 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.

Prerequisite: ENGL 203, ENGL 213, or permission of instructor.

ENGL 304/304C
Intermediate Poetry Writing
TTh 2:30 to 3:45                                                                                Lucas
The official purpose of this course is to develop your understanding of poetry through rigorous reading, writing, and critique.  The unofficial—but much more important—purpose of this course is to develop your understanding of yourself and of the world through the rigorous study and writing of poetry.  More specifically, this course continues the work of English 214 in the practices of close reading, the drafting of poems, and the writing workshop. We will refine our craft in the poems we write and workshop each week, through our readings in poetry and critical prose, and through two critical essays of our own.

ENGL 307
Feature/Magazine Writing
Sports Journalism
MW 7:00 to 8:15                                                                               Polverine
Develop concepts and practices in this specialized area of journalism. This will be a multimedia reporting course where social media, print, and video journalism techniques will be the focus. Fact-checking, breaking sports news, engagement, and analysis will also be emphasized. The class will have several guest appearances from local sports journalists and will cover a Cleveland Guardians game in real-time.

This will be a fast-paced, spirited class.

 ENGL 312/312C
Chaucer
MW 3:20 to 4:35                                                                               Olbricht
This course examines Chaucer’s literary works, focusing particularly on Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales. We will consider how Chaucer used his sources and how translation choices by modern editors can influence our interpretation of the texts. We will also focus on Chaucer’s own time period and consider resonances with our own; for example, Chaucer lived in the 14th century, during the Black Death, an epidemic that changed people’s perception of their mortality and their relationships with each other. Chaucer also addressed other questions that often arrest our own contemporary attention: What is love, and what do gendered roles look like in romantic relationships? What’s the role of the church in culture? How is socio-economic class culturally coded and replicated? What makes for a good story and what’s the role of the narrator therein? Works will be read in Middle English, with consistent attention in class to learning the language.    

ENGL 317/417
Tell Me a Story:
The Theory and Craft of Narrative
MW 3:20 to 4:35                                                                               Orlock
Two questions:

What do Hamlet, the Star Wars series, Green Knight, the novels of Jane Austen, and the films of Spike Lee have in common?

Why do we care about – and become enmeshed in – the lives of these characters?

One answer:

Great storytelling.

Objectives & Method:

The course will delve into the specific elements of narrative: how they function – and differ – in the genres of screenwriting, short fiction, poetry, and playwriting.

The class format will be a hybrid between a discussion-based seminar and a writers’ workshop.

Selected texts will present a historical perspective on the elements of narrative structure, ranging from Aristotle through the theories influencing story structure in contemporary literature, drama, and film.  Our discussion/ analysis will help the reader/ viewer pull into focus why a play/ film/ short story works.  Or doesn’t work.

Learning in the course will include

1. a) conversation re major works of narrative critical theory;
   b) a practicum component in which narrative theory merges with narrative craft in a progression of thematically-related creative writing assignments.

Final Project: a portfolio of three individual works – short fiction, one-act stage play, ten-page screenplay – that are in some way interrelated – e.g., share themes, characters, perspectives of an event, etc.      

ENGL 325—Shakespeare: Comedies/Romances • Vinter — See JANUARY SESSION at the top of this listing

ENGL 331/331C/431
Studies in the Nineteenth Century
Gothic and Sensation Fiction
TTh 11:30 to 12:45                                                                            Vrettos
The emergence of the gothic novel in the mid-18^th 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 fiction and gave birth to a wide variety of popular genres that continue to develop and flourish today.  This course will begin with Horace Walpole’s foundational 18th-century gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, and Jane Austen’s gothic parody Northanger Abbey. We will then turn to the second wave of gothic fiction, tracing its influence on Victorian fiction 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 Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, Mary Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret, 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 Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as well as late-Victorian ghost stories by Vernon Lee and Oscar Wilde. In addition to identifying the defining features of genres inspired by the gothic novel, we will study their relationship to popular cultural, political, and scientific issues of the period, the status of “popular” fiction in the literary marketplace, and the role of women writers in their development. Secondary readings will include selected works of literary criticism, cultural history, and narrative theory.  Course requirements will include class participation, multiple weekly informal Canvas discussion posts, the equivalent of three 5-7pp. papers, and a take-home final exam. Students taking 331C will be required to develop an independent Capstone project of approximately 20-25pp. in place of the short papers, and will discuss the project in a public presentation either on the last day of class or along with the other Capstone students in English. Capstone students are required to complete the same reading, class-participation, Canvas posts, and final exam requirements as those in 331. For ENGL 431, the graduate section of the course, there will be a minimum enrollment of three students in order for it to run. It will, in that case, require additional readings and meetings, and a 25pp. research paper presented first as a conference talk.  ENGL 331 has a prerequisite of either FSEM, ENGL 150, or an equivalent first-year writing course. ENGL 331C has a prerequisite of ENGL 380 and a major in English.  ENGL 431 is limited to MA and PhD students.

ENGL 360/460
Studies in American Literature
Disruption in the Family, the Nation, the Soul: 
The Plays of Arthur Miller, August Wilson, and Suzan-Lori Parks
TTh 5:30 to 6:45                                                                                            Orlock
The seminar will explore selected works of contemporary American dramatists Arthur Miller (1915 – 2005), August Wilson (1945 – 2005), and Suzan-Lori Parks (1963 – ).  Although each dramatist comes from a different generation than the others, their plays pull into focus the complex impact of income inequality and race upon individuals, families, and views of the American Dream.

In addition, we’ll discuss methods – both intellectual and emotional – for exploring how the worlds and words of these three Pulitzer Prize –winning playwrights help us consider – and guide us to apply – a personal sense of order and value to the social, political, and economic conflicts that surround us.

Excerpts from video productions of the plays will supplement seminar texts and discussion.

ENGL 365E/465E
The Immigrant Experience
TTh 10:00 to 11:15                                                                            Marling
Give me your tired, your poor// your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” wrote Emma Lazarus in 1883. The idea of the U.S. as a golden land of opportunity is both old and enduringly renewed. The conflict between the idea and the reality, whether in the barrio of the Southwest or the slums of New York, has provided some of the best American fiction of the last century. Together we will explore the common themes and contrasting legacies of this experience.

No special background is needed to take this course, which meets the Diversity Requirement. It is suitable for foreign students with reasonable preparation in writing papers in English, for undergraduate and graduate students in English, for engineering students and interested auditors.

Requirements include faithful attendance, regular participation, 1 oral report, 2 short papers, and a longer final paper.  We will view one film and a selection (not all) of the following novels: 

 My Antonia – Willa Cather. Pocho – Jose Antonio Villarreal. Bless Me Ultima  – Anaya. The House on Mango Street – Cisneros. Hunger of Memory – Rodriquez. Lost in Translation – Hoffman. Call it Sleep – Roth.  Angela’s Ashes – McCourt. Jasmine – Bharati Mukherjee. Woman Warrior — Hong Kingston. Joy Luck Club –Amy Tan. The Bread-Givers — Anzia Yezierska.  Paper Fish — De Rosa.  Breath, Eyes, Memory — Danticat.

ENGL 367/467
Introduction to Film
TTh 2:30 to 3:45                                                                                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 ask how filmmakers work with this element to produce effects. Most weeks, students will view a film on their own to discuss in light of the week’s focus. Films will include masterworks of the silent era, foreign films, Hollywood studio-era classics, and more recent cinema.

Undergrads (ENGL 367) take a scheduled quiz, possibly occasional unscheduled ones, and a midterm and final exam, and they write two essays (5-6 and 8-10 pages). Grad students (ENGL 467) satisfy the same requirements as the undergrads, except their final essay is an extended research project, in connection with which they submit a partial draft and other related assignments.

This course has no prerequisites. First year students are welcome in this class.