Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Known as a storyteller par excellence, Chaucer was also a famous reader of classical epic, romance, and philosophy. This research seminar will give students the opportunity to read the Canterbury Tales in light of the work's cultural, historical, and literary contexts. Throughout the semester, students will engage with Chaucer's tales and his favorite sources to examine and discuss his representations of gender and class, his perspectives on religious authority, his use of the English vernacular, and his commitment to poetry.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

This course is designed for students already at work on a longer project (a novel or novella, a short story collection, a collection of poems, longform creative nonfiction, a graphic novel, or a hybrid form). Students will build on the skills and insights gained in previous creative writing courses to draft, workshop, and revise a full-length creative manuscript. Workshop and revision will comprise much of our time, along with readings on craft by authors such as Lynda Barry, Italo Calvino, and Samuel R. Delany. Students will also have an opportunity to meet literary publishing professionals.

This workshop is for students seriously engaged in writing short stories. Students will refine their technical skills and work on the subtleties of style. Extensive readings are required.

A survey of philosophical, scientific, and theoretical approaches to the relation between cognition and representation. For as long as we have told stories, we have thought about how they work in conjunction with the mind. This course charts the many ways in which cognitive theory has shaped literary studies over the ages. How does fiction reflect the way we think? How in turn does it shape how we behave? What happens in the brain and body when we read?

This course provides the opportunity to develop speaking skills in a range of academic and professional situations. Through speaking, revision, and reflection, students identify their strengths as speakers, evaluate their improvement, and develop strategies for formal and informal speaking contexts.

This course provides the opportunity to develop speaking skills in a range of academic and professional situations. Through speaking, revision, and reflection, students identify their strengths as speakers, evaluate their improvement, and develop strategies for formal and informal speaking contexts.

A survey of American literature from the Civil War to the present, with special attention to literary redefinitions of race, gender, sexuality, and class and to changes in literary form.

What do we mean when we say "queer writing" or "trans writing"? Are we talking about writing by queer and/or trans authors? Writing about queer or trans practices, identities, experience? Writing that subverts conventional forms? All of the above? In this course, we will engage these questions not theoretically but through praxis. We will read fiction, poetry, comics, creative nonfiction, and hybrid forms. Expect to encounter work that challenges you in terms of form and content. Some writers we may read include Ryka Aoki, James Baldwin, Tom Cho, Samuel R.