This course examines various strategies of literary representation through a variety of genres, including such traditional literary forms as the novel, lyric poetry, drama, and autobiography, as well as other cultural forms, such as film. Particular attention is given to student writing; students are expected to write a variety of short essays on selected topics. Though the themes of specific sections may vary, all sections seek to introduce students to the terminology of literary and cultural discourse.

This course examines various strategies of literary representation through a variety of genres, including such traditional literary forms as the novel, lyric poetry, drama, and autobiography, as well as other cultural forms, such as film. Particular attention is given to student writing; students are expected to write a variety of short essays on selected topics. Though the themes of specific sections may vary, all sections seek to introduce students to the terminology of literary and cultural discourse.

This course offers an introduction to the composition of multiple genres and modes of creative writing, which may include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms, graphic novels, and digital texts. Students will learn strategies for generating ideas, drafting, giving and receiving feedback, revising creative work, and building literary community.

This course offers an introduction to the composition of multiple genres and modes of creative writing, which may include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms, graphic novels, and digital texts. Students will learn strategies for generating ideas, drafting, giving and receiving feedback, revising creative work, and building literary community.

This course offers an introduction to the composition of multiple genres and modes of creative writing, which may include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms, graphic novels, and digital texts. Students will learn strategies for generating ideas, drafting, giving and receiving feedback, revising creative work, and building literary community.

This course offers an introduction to the composition of multiple genres and modes of creative writing, which may include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms, graphic novels, and digital texts. Students will learn strategies for generating ideas, drafting, giving and receiving feedback, revising creative work, and building literary community.

This course offers practice in the fundamentals of dramatic structure and technique. Weekly reading assignments will examine the unique nature of writing for the theatre, nuts and bolts of format, tools of the craft, and the playwright's process from formulating a dramatic idea to rewriting. Weekly writing assignments will include scene work, adaptation, and journaling. The course will culminate in a significant writing project. Each class meeting will incorporate reading student work aloud with feedback from the instructor and the class.

Amidst the social and political upheavals of the late fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his well-known work, The Canterbury Tales. This advanced 200-level course will explore Chaucer's social satire, the innovative characterization of his motley pilgrims, and the array of contemporary interpretive approaches this work invites.

This course will examine the films of Alfred Hitchcock and the afterlife of Hitchcock in contemporary U.S. culture. We will analyze Hitchcock films in a variety of interpretive frames, including feminist and queer theories, and in shifting historical contexts including the Cold War. We will also devote substantial attention to the legacy of Hitchcock in remakes, imitations, and parodies. Hitchcock films may include The Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, North by Northwest, Psycho, Rear Window, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, Strangers on a Train, and Vertigo.

While women have written plays since the seventeenth century, the twentieth and twenty-first century has witnessed a boom in women playwrights. This course will familiarize students with some of the major female playwrights of our era, such as Wendy Wasserstein, Caryl Churchill, Suzan Lori-Parks, and Nzotke Shange, as well as newer playwrights (Amy Hertzog, Katori Hall, and Young Jean-Lee).