This course explores the unique challenges of experiencing performance through the page.  While this course is not intended as a survey of dramatic literature or theater history, students will be introduced to a variety of drama from across the English-language tradition.  The organizing theme of the course may change slightly from year to year, but the goal will always be to explore a wide array of theoretical and methodological approaches to drama.  Of particular interest will be the relationship of play-reading to other reading practices.  What does a play demand of t

A first course in writing fiction. Emphasis will be on experimentation as well as on developing skill and craft. Workshop (discussion) format.

Limited enrollment. Please consult the Creative Writing Center website for information on admission to this course.  Fall semester:  Professor Frank and Visiting Writer Gaige.  Spring semester:  Visiting Lecturer Thompson.

A first course in writing fiction. Emphasis will be on experimentation as well as on developing skill and craft. Workshop (discussion) format.

Limited enrollment. Please consult the Creative Writing Center website for information on admission to this course.  Fall semester:  Professor Frank and Visiting Writer Gaige.  Spring semester:  Visiting Lecturer Thompson.

A first workshop in the writing of poetry. Class members will read and discuss each others’ work and will study the elements of prosody: the line, stanza forms, meter, free verse, and more. Open to anyone interested in writing poetry and learning about the rudiments of craft. Writing exercises weekly.

Limited enrollment. Please consult the Creative Writing Center website for information on admission to this course.

Fall semester: Professor Sofield. Spring semester: Writer-in-Residence Hall.

[before 1800]  What is “English Literature,” and how does one construct its history?  How do we decide what counts as “English,” and what counts as “literature”?  What is the relationship between histories of literature and political, social, religious, and intellectual histories?  What is the role of gender, race and class in the making of literature, and the making of its histories?

(Offered as ENGL 180 and FAMS 110.)  A first course in reading films and writing about them.  A varied selection of films for study and criticism, partly to illustrate the main elements of film language and partly to pose challenging texts for reading and writing.  Frequent short papers.  Two class meetings and one screening per week.

Limited to 25 students.  Fall semester:  Professor Hastie.  Spring semester:  Visiting Professor Guilford.

(Offered as ENGL 117 and EUST 117.)  [before 1800]  Knights, monsters, quests, and true love:  these are the things we associate with King Arthur and tales of his court. Why has Arthurian literature proved so enchanting to centuries of  poets, novelists, and recently, filmmakers?  In this introductory English course, we will read and watch Arthurian legends from Chaucer to Monty Python, examining the ways in which they have been represented in different eras.

(Offered as ENGL 112 and SWAG 106.)  This course will examine the phenomenon of “realism” in a variety of artistic media.

Why study literature?  In many contexts, including the contexts of most other academic disciplines, one reads in order to extract the gist of a text. By studying literature, we enable ourselves to do much more than that. Studying literature makes it possible to recover a relationship to language that we all once had, in which words and their interrelationships were new, strange, and rich with possibility.

Why study literature?  In many contexts, including the contexts of most other academic disciplines, one reads in order to extract the gist of a text. By studying literature, we enable ourselves to do much more than that. Studying literature makes it possible to recover a relationship to language that we all once had, in which words and their interrelationships were new, strange, and rich with possibility.