(Offered as ENGL 210 and AAPI 210) This survey course introduces students to foundational and recent literatures by Asian American authors. Through examination of canonical anthologies such as Aiiieeeee: An Anthology of Asian American Writers, reading lists of Asian American writers, and polemic responses to genre-bending works such as Maxine Hong Kingston’s Woman Warrior, this course will engage with the major texts and debates in Asian American literary studies. Throughout the semester, we will ask: What is the canon of Asian American literature?

In this creative writing course, we will write across genres while engaging with a wide range of creative contexts in which such writing occurs. We will study, interact with, and actively respond to real-world communities including (but not limited to) publishers and literary magazines, communities of writers with shared identities, literary organizations, and local writing circles. With the help of class visitors and our own in-class discussions, we will identify the conversations in which our writing participates and write as part of those conversations.

(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. Twelve seats reserved for first-year students. Open to first-year and sophomore students. Fall semester. Professor Guilford.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference will be given to first-year students.

(Offered as ENGL 120 and EDST 120) This Intensive Writing course functions primarily as an introduction to academic writing. It also considers from many perspectives what it means to read and write and learn and teach both for ourselves and for others. As part of the work of this course, in addition to the usual class hours, students will serve as weekly tutors and classroom assistants in adult basic education centers in nearby towns.

(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. Beginning with the historical foundations of the King Arthur legend, we will examine how it blossomed and took form in later eras.

In this introductory literature course we will weather famous storms featured in fiction from the nineteenth century through the present day. Together, we will make our way through snow, sleet, hurricanes, cyclones, tropical storms, superstorms, and some light everyday rain. This topic will provide a unifying thematic thread for a class focused on the fundamentals of close reading, writing, critical thinking, and argumentation. We will examine how various genres, narrative styles, and authorial voices engage this common topic in strikingly different ways.

This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

A double course, to be taken with permission of thesis advisor.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Independent scholarly work; assessment based on completion of substantial thesis project.

Independent work on an extended academic, creative, or pedagogical project on a topic relevant to the field. Thesis progress will be assessed by the department at the end of the first semester as a precondition for entrance to the next semester of thesis work. 

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Independent scholarly work; assessment based on completion of substantial thesis project.