Lower-Division Elective
Lower-division Elective courses allow students to choose (or “elect”) courses or faculty specific to their own developing interests, enabling them thereby to shape their own educational experience. Major II students can also use one lower-division elective to fulfill the Writing Requirement with ENG 209 The Craft of the Sentence.
22039
Theme: Disability in Modern Fiction
ENG 104 introduces you to prose narrative and its formal elements by reading, discussing, and writing about works of modern literature. To help us better recognize these formal elements, we will pay specific attention to the competing ways disability is... (read more)
22042
ENG 105 is an introduction to drama—literature written for performance or with the conventions of performance in mind. In this course you will read, discuss, and analyze a diverse selection of influential plays by English and American writers, in addition to works in translation. The texts we... (read more)
22043
People respond to movies in different ways, and there are many reasons for this. We have all stood in the lobby of a theater and heard conflicting opinions from people who have just seen the same film. Some loved it, some hated it, some found it just OK. Perhaps we've thought, "What do they know... (read more)
22044
In this course, you will review and explore important concepts in rhetoric and argumentation theory, and you will gain skill in discovering the questions that drive controversies and the arguments that can be made on all the different sides of an issue. You will also practice speaking, writing,... (read more)
22048
The goal of this course is to learn how to analyze the structure, or syntax, of English sentences. Our method will be sentence diagramming, a technique for identifying and separating the elements of a sentence--such as the subject, object, verb, prepositions, phrases and clauses--in a graphic... (read more)
22050
This course is a survey of writings by African American authors from the 18th century through the Harlem Renaissance. Studying fiction, essays, and poetry, we’ll close read representative texts to identify formal and thematic elements that characterize the African American literary tradition. We... (read more)
22053
ENG 250 is the gateway to the English Department’s Digital Humanities Minor. The interdisciplinary field of digital humanities (DH) is concerned with the relationship between digital technology and the humanities (academic disciplines that study language, literature, history, philosophy,... (read more)
22054
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. By learning how to analyze film and utilize proper cinematic language, students will begin to critically understand film as an art form and a product of... (read more)
22055
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. By learning how to analyze film and utilize proper cinematic language, students will begin to critically understand film as an art form and a product of... (read more)
22056
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
26359
This course is an introductory survey where we will identify and define the field of Chicanx and Latinx literatures and cultural studies through a critical engagement. In addition to considering how history, politics, and literary periods shape these robust fields, we will also examine the ways... (read more)
26360
What is the Age of King Arthur? Legends of King Arthur, Excalibur, Merlin, the Holy Grail, and Camelot have persisted from their medieval origins into our contemporary culture. In this introductory English course, we will read Arthurian literature in translation from French, German, Welsh, Latin... (read more)
26397
Poetry is often regarded as the most demanding of all literary genres — the loftiest and most profound, the hardest to write, the most difficult to study. Thanks to this challenging reputation, even English Majors are unlikely to read poetry for their own entertainment. In fact, many people... (read more)
26403
ENG 240 introduces students to central concepts and essential texts in disability studies and applies them to literary and cultural texts, with a focus on racial diversity and learning directly from writers and scholars who experience a wide spectrum of body/mind variabilities. The texts in this... (read more)
26428
St. Augustine once wrote, “I have become a question to myself.” What does it mean to turn my self into a question? And how could I possibly capture this self in words? Students in this section of 108 World Literature will look at three Renaissance authors—Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Petrarch—who... (read more)
26845
An introduction to contemporary folklore studies, with emphasis on the meanings of stories, rituals, festivals, body art, subcultures, the supernatural, street art, Internet folklore, and other forms of vernacular expression as these relate to a diversity of social identities and cultural... (read more)
12459
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12461
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12468
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12470
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12472
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12473
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12475
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16882
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17084
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17907
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18254
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41830
This course offers a broad introduction to literature via examination of the American short story. We will begin in the 19th century with several of Poe’s short stories and examine samples of his work to appreciate his innovations in genre and form, and then trace these developments to his 20th ... (read more)
41831
People respond to movies in different ways, and there are many reasons for this. We have all stood in the lobby of a theater and heard conflicting opinions from people who have just seen the same film. Some loved it, some hated it, some found it just OK. Disagreements, however, can reveal a... (read more)
41832
People respond to movies in different ways, and there are many reasons for this. We have all stood in the lobby of a theater and heard conflicting opinions from people who have just seen the same film. Some loved it, some hated it, some found it just OK. Disagreements, however, can reveal a... (read more)
41833
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41835
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43552
This course investigates how contemporary female writers of color represent diaspora, immigration, and inequality in transnational contexts. Through reading Michelle Cliff, “White Chocolate,” and Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A Real Durwan,” we will explore how contemporary short stories reconsider ethical... (read more)
43569
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43660
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of form and style in cinema and related media, focusing on narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. This course aims to develop your media literacy by providing you with a precise set of critical tools for analyzing moving... (read more)
32130
In this class, we will read short stories by African American women writers. These texts will be our common ground as we learn to think deeply and... (read more)
32134
The intention of this course is to provide students with the skills necessary to understand and appreciate poetry as a unique form of linguistic... (read more)
32138
Madness, truth, honor, pity—these are a few of the concepts Shakespeare explores in his earliest plays. In this online course, we will scrutinize... (read more)
32139
Grammar is the language we use to talk about language. It’s a tool for describing how written sentences work and figuring out and explaining why... (read more)
32140
What is the Age of King Arthur? Legends of King Arthur, Excalibur, Merlin, the Holy Grail, and Camelot have persisted long beyond their... (read more)
32141
ENG 240 introduces students to central concepts and essential texts in disability studies and applies them to literary and cultural texts, with a... (read more)
32142
This course is a survey of writings by African American authors. We will study fiction, essays, and poetry in their historical, political, and... (read more)
32144
In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. Momaday's award signaled... (read more)
32145
In this course, we will explore the basic elements of media aesthetics through the very contemporary issue of global pandemics. For our purposes, we will take the word “pandemic” loosely, following its association with pandemonium, as “a place or state of utter confusion and uproar.” Deriving... (read more)
32147
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the... (read more)
36154
Introduces the study of beliefs about the supernatural by examining diverse approaches to the description and analysis of belief traditions and religious cultures. Topics... (read more)
36258
An introduction to contemporary folklore studies, with emphasis on the meanings of stories, rituals, festivals, body art, subcultures, street art,... (read more)
36471
In this course, you will explore important concepts in rhetoric and argumentation theory, and you will gain skill in discovering the questions that... (read more)
36474
Early in his career, Shakespeare was fascinated by intoxication: the kind brought on by drugs and potions, yes, but also the thrills of poetic... (read more)
36475
To solve planetary environmental crises, from climate change and ocean acification to biodiversity loss, we need to consider scientific,... (read more)
36476
Latinxs have lived, worked, and thrived in what is now considered the United States for a long time. This course is an introductory survey of U.S. Latinx literature that will give students a glimpse of the wide range of formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of... (read more)
21718
This course will introduce you to the historical, aesthetic, and theoretical study of film. More than watching movies, we will move to reading movies, that is, gradually acquiring language, skills, methods, and frameworks to produce the textuality of the films. We will develop arguments for... (read more)
22216
This course considers, as its point of departure, bell hooks’ evocative quote that “to be in the margin is to be part of the whole but outside the main body.” This term,we’ll consider the peoples, places,and ideas that often exist in the margins of American literature. In this... (read more)
22217
This term, we will examine texts that feature hauntings, broadly defined, to consider the echoes of history, memory, and culture in literature. We will work to consider how these... (read more)
22218
Why do stories matter? In this class we will read novels of childhood and adolescence, both fantasy and realistic, and compare them to... (read more)
22221
This course will introduce you to the historical, aesthetic, and theoretical study of film. More ... (read more)
22221
This course is an introduction to film and media studies and various methods of critical analysis. In this course, we will see that... (read more)
22222
This course is designed to provide students with the equipment they need to understand the theory and practice of public speaking as a... (read more)
22226
Students’ Rights to their Own Sentences
... (read more)
22228
Do we read literature differently when we read for the environment? How are environmental issues connected to colonialism, gender,... (read more)
22229
This course surveys African American literature from its origins to the present. We will read a wide... (read more)
22230
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and... (read more)
22231
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and... (read more)
26303
An introduction to contemporary folklore studies, with emphasis on the meanings of stories, rituals, festivals, body art, subcultures,... (read more)
26542
This course is an introduction to one of the major genres in literary studies. Students will read, discuss, analyze, and attend plays... (read more)
26543
Fantasy and Violence will examine the role of violence in literature of the fantastic with special attention to the problems violence... (read more)
26545
Shakespeare’s Extremities... (read more)
26546
This course introduces students to some of the major works, authors, and themes of Asian American literature, a diverse body of writing... (read more)
26547
The prolific White Earth Ojibwe writer Gerald Vizenor conceptualizes the cultural work of Indigenous literatures as “survivance,”... (read more)
26548
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history... (read more)
26664
What happens when digital tools and literature meet? What can the “digital turn” in literary studies help us to understand about... (read more)
12097
This course investigates how three contemporary female writers, Michelle Cliff, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Helena María Vitamontes, represent contemporary issues alienation, racism, immigration, (in)hospitality, environmental justice in diasporic contexts. Through reading Cliff, “The Dissolution of Mrs... (read more)
12098
Through this course, students develop analytical skills that will allow them to think, write, and speak intelligently about fiction.... (read more)
12099
Why do stories matter? In this class we will read novels of childhood and adolescence, both fantasy and realistic, and compare them to... (read more)
12101
War, Peace, and Hospitality in Ancient Poetry and Prose
... (read more)
12102
This course is an introduction to film and media studies and various methods of critical analysis. In this course, we will see that... (read more)
12103
This course is an introduction to film and media studies and various methods of critical analysis. In this course, we will see that... (read more)
12105
Listening rigorously and deeply, inquiring into issues and topics of importance to our communities, and speaking effectively are key elements that assist our... (read more)
12111
This course is a survey of literature by African American authors from the 19th century into the present. We will read texts from a range of genres... (read more)
12112
As an introductory survey, this course emphasizes the formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of Latinx literature. We will read novels, poetry, short stories... (read more)
12113
In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. The award signaled for many the “... (read more)
12114
This course introduces students to the Digital Humanities (DH) — broadly defined as the use of digital tools, platforms, and critical perspectives to address... (read more)
12115
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of form and style in cinema and related media, focusing on narrative, mise-en-... (read more)
12116
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of form and style in cinema and related media, focusing on narrative, mise-en-... (read more)
12117
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic... (read more)
16424
This class explores depictions of the environment in literature with a particular emphasis on contemporary U.S. fiction and non-fiction. By attending to the... (read more)
16933
This course is an introduction to drama, one of the major genres in literary studies. Students will read, discuss, and analyze plays... (read more)
16934
This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the formal properties of poetry in English. Through careful analysis of poems by... (read more)
16935
The goal of this course is to learn to analyze the structure of English sentences, or syntax. The method is sentence diagramming, a... (read more)
16980
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history... (read more)
41028
This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the formal properties of poetry in English. Through careful analysis of poems by major... (read more)
41030
In this class, we will carefully read sonnets and plays in order to develop the skills of close reading and analysis in order to support various interpretations of Shakespeare’s texts. These and other activities will prepare you for the course’s written work, including close readings, group ... (read more)
41032
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and... (read more)
41033
Comics are suddenly everywhere. Sure, they’re in comic books and the funny pages, but now they’re on movie screens and TV screens and... (read more)
42453
Modern Short Stories in (Trans)national Contexts
... (read more)
42463
This course will introduce students to the genre of testimonial literary discourse, or testimonio: an authentic narrative, told... (read more)
42468
This course is a survey of literature by African American authors from the 19th century into the present. We will read texts... (read more)
42475
As an introductory survey, this course emphasizes the formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of Latinx literature. We will read novels, poetry, short stories, and comics, among other media, by authors from a range of identities—including Mexican American, Guatemalan American, Cuban American,... (read more)
42486
This course explores the “age” in which the legends of Arthur—and a good many other legends—came into being. In other words, this... (read more)
42488
Literature and Digital Culture offers a guided introduction to some of the new technologies that scholars use to study and make... (read more)
42523
This course is an introduction to film and media studies and various methods of critical analysis. In this course, we will see that... (read more)
42525
This course is an introduction to film and media studies and various methods of critical analysis. In this course, we will see that... (read more)
42599
Through this course, students develop analytical skills that will allow them to think, write, and speak intelligently about fiction.... (read more)
42600
Public Speaking as a Liberal Art gives students a foundation in the classical principles of Rhetoric and teaches the application of... (read more)
42601
Many of Shakespeare's early plays are romantic comedies, a genre that was and remains easy to dismiss as simplistic and idealized.... (read more)
31961
Students in ENG 104 will read and discuss a series of short story cycles by some of the America’s greatest writers of prose fiction. The short story cycle is a unique form of fiction. ... (read more)
31962
This course explores how American short stories portray the grotesque and why the grotesque is a signature element in American literature. A plethora of... (read more)
31963
This course is an introduction to one of the major genres in literary studies. Students will read, discuss, and analyze, plays from a racially and ethnically... (read more)
31964
ENG 106 is an introduction to poetry suited to all undergraduate students, with or without a background in poetry. Through analysis and discussion of poems by... (read more)
31967
This genre course revolves around key figures of fantasy literature such as magic, mythical beasts, supernatural powers, bodily transformation, portals,... (read more)
31968
Though the slave narrative genre reached its peak in the mid-19th century, this mode of autobiography has a history that stretches from the 1700s to the... (read more)
31970
This course surveys African American literature from its origins to the present. We will read a wide variety of authors and genres, including fiction, essays,... (read more)
31971
This course introduces students to some of the major works, authors, and themes of Asian American literature, a diverse body of writing broadly defined as... (read more)
31972
As an introductory survey, this course emphasizes the formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of Native American literatures. Recognizing that Native textual... (read more)
36095
This course offers a broad introduction to literature via examination of the American short story. We will begin in the 19th century with several of Poe’s short stories and... (read more)
36098
This course will introduce students to the study of basic sentence mechanics, conventions, and grammatical terminology. Additionally, the course covers various... (read more)
36100
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic... (read more)
36137
Madness, truth, honor, pity—these are a few of the concepts Shakespeare explores in his earliest plays. In this online course, we will scrutinize the... (read more)
36138
This class is an introduction to the literature of the Age of King Arthur — the Middle Ages. We will read poetry, quests and adventures, Christian and pagan... (read more)
36139
This course is an introduction to literature that foregrounds and examines the relationship of humans with their surroundings, particularly the “natural,” non-... (read more)
36203
ENG 240 introduces students to central concepts and essential texts in disability studies and applies them to literary and cultural texts, with a focus on... (read more)
36316
People respond to movies in different ways, and there are many reasons for this. We have all stood in the lobby of a theater and heard conflicting opinions... (read more)
36317
Introduction to the analysis of form and style in cinema and related media, focusing on narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. Multilisted with CINE 260M.
(read more)
36343
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic... (read more)
36433
Introduces students to the theories and methods used in the study of folklore and popular culture; examines a diversity of approaches to the description and analysis of “common culture,” including popular narratives, legends, rituals, carnivalesque events, subcultures, and the commodification of... (read more)
22768
In this course, you will learn how to identify, interpret, and form arguments about the elements of literary fiction. We will focus on the literary representations of black girlhood in texts that span the 20th and 21st centuries. In ENG 104: Introduction to Fiction we will read the stories of... (read more)
22772
Through this course, students develop analytical skills that will allow them to think, write, and speak intelligently about fiction. The course addresses basic questions about the nature of prose narrative and the interrelated activities of reading, writing, and interpretation. What is a story,... (read more)
22773
This course offers a thorough introduction to the art of poetry, from Shakespeare to Kendrick Lamar, and considers the aesthetic and cultural investments we... (read more)
22778
Public Speaking as a Liberal Art gives students a foundation in the classical principles of Rhetoric and teaches application of these arts to contemporary... (read more)
22782
Grammar is the language we use to talk about language. It’s a tool for describing how written sentences work and figuring out and explaining why they don’t... (read more)
22783
This class introduces students to the study of literature and the environment,... (read more)
22934
This course introduces students to the fields of Chicanx and Latinx Studies. Drawing from historical, literary, philosophical, cartographic, ethnographic, and visual texts, it can serve as a foundation for students wanting to pursue more advanced courses in Chicanx, Latinx, and Ethnic Studies.... (read more)
26648
What are the meanings of and responses to human suffering in an increasingly globalized world? How are those meanings and responses... (read more)
26950
Introduces the study of beliefs about the supernatural by examining diverse approaches to the description and analysis of belief traditions and religious... (read more)
27044
Many of Shakespeare's early plays are romantic comedies, a genre that was and remains easy to dismiss as simplistic and idealized. However, under the... (read more)
27045
This course will introduce students to the study of basic sentence mechanics, conventions, and grammatical terminology. Additionally, The course covers various... (read more)
27046
This course provides students an exposure to English and French literature important for the English literary tradition, in modern translations, from the very... (read more)
27047
This course is a survey of writings by African American authors of the 19th and 20th centuries. Studying fiction, essays, and poetry, we’ll close read representative texts to identify formal and thematic elements that characterize the African American literary tradition. We will consider how... (read more)
27134
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and... (read more)
27136
This course will introduce you to the formal and narrative study of film. We will focus on film history, the technology of film production, and the methodology... (read more)
27574
This course explores the fundamentals of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and... (read more)
27691
This is an introductory class to literature. As such, it emphasizes the double meanings inherent in literature’s etymological origin, “literacy.” We shall develop the competency to “read” and “write” about the kind of texts that are considered “literary,” and more specifically about a type of... (read more)
27790
A survey course is, by its very nature, an incomplete project which must be
selective. Instead of worrying about a 'complete picture' of world
literature, let us instead think of ourselves as explorers or 'surveyors,'
using literary texts as fixed points with which we might... (read more)
12150
Actual reading lists vary significantly depending on the expertise and teaching philosophy of the instructor, but all sections of the course offer students a broad introduction to the study of literary fiction. Whether readings focus on the stories and novels of major writers or on works from a... (read more)
12151
Actual reading lists vary significantly depending on the expertise and teaching philosophy of the instructor, but all sections of the course offer students a broad introduction to the study of literary fiction. Whether readings focus on the stories and novels of major writers or on works from a... (read more)
12152
Actual reading lists vary significantly depending on the expertise and teaching philosophy of the instructor, but all sections of the course offer students a broad introduction to the study of literary fiction. Whether readings focus on the stories and novels of major writers or on works from a... (read more)
12153
Poetry ENG 106 is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the formal properties of poetry in English. Through careful analysis poems by major writers, such as Plath, Whitman, Dickinson, McKay, Lee, Bishop, Brooks and many others, students will be challenged to explain not only... (read more)
12154
We will read foundational works from three different ancient cultures: China, Greece, and Israel. We will pay particular attention to the question of the kinds of values that these foundational works were meant to instill in their ancient audiences. What does each culture have to say about... (read more)
12158
Listening rigorously and deeply, inquiring into issues and topics of importance to our communities, and speaking effectively are key elements that assist our lives in any relationship, team-task, and group. They are also crucial for a democracy to function and to improve. Course readings,... (read more)
12160
Students read, discuss, and critique Shakespeare's early comedies and tragedies. Plays covered generally include (but are not limited to) A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV (Part One), Richard II, Henry V, Julius Caesar... (read more)
12163
The goal of this course is to learn to analyze the structure of English sentences, or syntax. The method is sentence diagramming, a technique for identifying and separating the elements of a sentence, the subject, object, verb, conjunctions and clauses, in a graphic arrangement. We will only... (read more)
12164
... (read more)
12165
This course is a survey of writings by African American authors. Studying fiction, essays, and poetry, we'll close read representative texts to identify formal and thematic elements that characterize the African American literary tradition. We will consider how these works exemplify and... (read more)
12176
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
12497
An introduction to contemporary folklore studies, with emphasis on the meanings of stories, rituals, festivals, body art, subcultures, the supernatural, street art, Internet folklore, and other forms of vernacular expression as these relate to a diversity of social identities and cultural... (read more)
16078
What does it mean to be at home? How does it feel to lose one's home?
And how do ideas of home and homelessness shape our sense of self or security? This course builds on these questions to look at a collection of literary works that focus explicitly on the idea of home in American culture... (read more)
16455
In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. Momaday's award signaled for many the “arrival” of Native authors to the American literary scene, and ushered in an unprecedented era of Native literary production widely... (read more)
16456
Shakespeare’s later plays seem to be keenly aware of the power and influence of theatre. In selfreflexive characters we might categorize as lovers, fools, and madmen, his plays confront the political and social concerns of his original audiences, concerns that continue to challenge us today,... (read more)
16778
This course is an introduction to film and media studies and various methods of critical analysis. In this course, we will see that there are many productive ways of thinking about movies and many approaches we can use to analyze them. These approaches include the study of narrative structure,... (read more)
16947
Time travel through the history of the science fiction genre from the early modern era to the current moment as we learn about how Sci Fi came to be what is arguably the most socially engaged form of fiction. We'll consider Sci Fi that draws on the hard sciences, on the social sciences, and... (read more)
16950
As an introductory survey, this course emphasizes the formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of Latinx literature. We will read novels, poetry, short stories, and comics, among other media, by authors from a range of identities—including Mexican American, Central American, Cuban American, and... (read more)
17074
This course will build on our abilities to watch, analyze and write about media objects, particularly film. We will learn to recognize, define and elaborate on various kinds of cinema (fiction, documentary etc), genres (musical, western, horror etc), elements of narrative (script, plot, point of... (read more)
17076
This course examines the fundamental elements of film and media aesthetics, including narrative, mise-en- scène, cinematography, genre, editing, and sound. By learning how to analyze and interpret film form by utilizing proper cinematic language, students will develop critical understanding of... (read more)
40801
Madness, truth, honor, pity—these are a few of the concepts Shakespeare explores in his earliest plays. We will scrutinize the representations of these ideas and others that emerge in plots of political intrigue, tyranny, rebellion, and vengeance. Working within this frame, we will attempt to... (read more)
40890
This course is an examination of the period often considered the most “magical,” the Middle Ages. Looking at the practices of medieval western Europe, particularly Britain, we will examine how medieval culture defined magic, what they hoped to achieve by practicing (or forbidding) magic, and how... (read more)
42073
Introduces students to the theories and methods used in the study of folklore and popular culture; examines a diversity of approaches to the description and analysis of “common culture,” including popular narratives, legends, rituals, ethnic and gender stereotypes, carnivalesque events, fan... (read more)
42250
... (read more)
42421
This course will build on our abilities to watch, analyze and write about media objects, particularly film. We will learn to recognize, define and elaborate on various kinds of cinema (fiction, documentary etc.), genres (musical, western, horror etc.), elements of narrative (script, plot, point... (read more)
42422
“Survey of U.S. Cinema": We will screen a sampling of films associated with U.S./American cinema through its relatively short history since the sound era—-beginning with important “genres,” progressing into cinematic “modes,” and ultimately examining how movies in our national context reflect... (read more)
42454
In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. Momaday's award signaled for many the “arrival” of Native authors to the American literary scene, and ushered in an unprecedented era of Native literary production widely... (read more)
42457
This class is conceived as an introduction to the art of comics, and to the methodologies of the new academic discipline of Comics Studies. Course content will vary from term to term, according to the specialist interests of the individual instructor, within the following parameters. Students... (read more)
32001
This course will focus on the literary representations of black girlhood. In ENG 104: Introduction to Fiction we will read the stories of young black women as they move through the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. We will read novels and short stories that show a diversity of... (read more)
32002
In English 104, “Archetypes and Anarchy,” we will explore the basic elements of fiction via one of its most enduring forms: the fairy tale. As the course title indicates, we will begin by considering the archetype, a concept derived from Jungian psychology which refers to “a pervasive idea,... (read more)
32005
Today it’s easier than ever to access media through streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, yet their selection of films made before 1980 is surprisingly sparse. Where are these classic films and why should we care? This course will introduce you to cinema studies, including... (read more)
32007
While the primary emphasis of this course will be students’ frequent practice and evaluation of their own public speaking, we will also discuss theories of rhetoric; the identity, characteristics, and relationship of speaker (self) and audience (other); the importance of listening as an aspect... (read more)
32010
Late Shakespeare
In self-reflexive characters we might categorize as lovers, fools, and madmen, the later plays of Shakespeare confront the political and social concerns of his original audiences, concerns that continue to challenge us today, including issues of gender, race, class, and... (read more)
32013
This course is a survey of writings by African American authors. Studying fiction, essays, and poetry, we will read representative texts to consider whether there are specific formal and thematic elements that characterize an African American literary tradition. We will consider how these texts... (read more)
32015
Media Aesthetics (ENG 260) teaches the vocabulary required to formally analyze cinema and related media, with an emphasis on narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. Students will learn to identify, define, and apply key vocabulary used to describe and analyze the aesthetics... (read more)
32016
ENG 267, the third of three courses that study the historical evolution of cinema as an institution and as an art form from its origin, covers the time period from the “end” of the studio system in the 1960s to the present day. It may be taken individually or as part of a series (with ENG 265... (read more)
35961
This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the formal properties of poetry in English. Through careful analysis of poems by major writers, students will be challenged to explain not only what a given poem might mean to its readers, but also how a poem communicates... (read more)
35962
In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. Momaday’s award signaled for many the “arrival” of Native authors to the American literary scene, and ushered in an unprecedented era of Native literary production widely... (read more)
36014
This course is an introduction to drama, one of the major genres in literary studies. Students will read, discuss, and analyze plays from a variety of periods and national traditions in order to become familiar with the major styles, techniques, and conventions that characterize dramatic... (read more)
36784
Reading Asian American texts as a form of cultural representation, the class will be concerned with the following:
- Where is Asian America? What are its geographical, social, and epistemological boundaries?
- What is Asian American? Is it a racial concept, cultural construct,... (read more)
22712
Why do stories matter? In this class we will read novels of childhood and adolescence, both fantasy and realistic, and compare them to the stories that matter in our own lives and families. The novels come from India, England, South Korea, and the United States. By the end of the course you... (read more)
22713
This course will address a theme within contemporary U.S. experimental literature. Course readings may include graphic novels, novels in verse, micro fiction, or narrative video games. We will address foundational questions about the nature of prose narrative by reading texts that push the... (read more)
22714
This course will focus on the literary representations of black girlhood. In ENG 104: Introduction to Fiction we will read the stories of young black women as they move through the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. We will read novels and short stories that show a diversity of... (read more)
22717
This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the formal properties of poetry in English. Through careful analysis of poems by major writers, students will be challenged to explain not only what a given poem might mean to its readers, but also how a poem communicates... (read more)
22719
This course will introduce you to cinema studies, including history, culture, analysis, theory, aesthetics, and production, through the lens of genre. Why are there certain genres of film and what do they say about our culture? By examining classic and contemporary films within the western,... (read more)
22723
This course explores the art of public speaking as grounded in theories of rhetoric, especially those pertaining to the relationship of a speaker to an audience, the importance of listening as an aspect of speaking, and the socioethical contexts of public discourse. Assignments and activities... (read more)
22726
This course, which focuses on four of the later plays of Shakespeare’s career, is designed as an introduction to the language, themes, contexts, and implications of Shakespeare’s most mature work. Though our close reading of these plays will lead us to consider any number of the many topics... (read more)
22727
This course will introduce students to literature that depicts ‘the environment’ in various ways: as resplendent landscape, as increasingly industrialized space, as ecologically compromised animal habitat, and as chemically altered agricultural swath. This course will read fiction, nonfiction,... (read more)
22729
This course develops critical reading and research skills. It introduces technical vocabulary for analyzing the form of moving image texts in the study of media aesthetics. We address material objects and cultural history related to media technology, looking at print culture, audiobook, still... (read more)
22730
This course aims to develop your media literacy by providing you with a precise set of critical tools for analyzing moving image texts. Although our primary focus will be on the formal analysis of image and sound rather than media history or social issues, we will study the interplay between... (read more)
22731
This is the second course in a three-term sequence that studies the evolution of cinema as an art form and economic and cultural institution. English 266 continues from the end of the silent film era early 1960s. The aim of the course is to develop interpretive skills relevant to the study of... (read more)
26577
We will explore issues related to food production and consumption through fictional and non-fictional representations of farmers and farmworkers in contemporary U.S. literature and culture. We will look at food production, food distribution, and food access through the lens of agriculture,... (read more)
26808
English 108 is the second quarter of a year-long survey of World Literature, between antiquity and the modern period. In European literature, this period includes the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Rather than sample a smattering of various texts from this period, we will read a single great... (read more)
26825
The goal of this course is to learn to analyze the structure of English sentences, or syntax. The method is sentence diagramming, a technique for identifying and separating the elements of a sentence, the subject, object, verb, conjunctions and clauses, in a graphic arrangement. We will only... (read more)
26826
What story does your body tell? Beyond the assumptions others may make based on physical appearance, or what you might convey through adornment, what narrative does your body perpetuate? The Proto Polynesian word “tatau” (tattoo) is both a noun, the physical mark inscribed on the body, and a... (read more)
26827
This class is a sampling of American writing by its ethnic and racial minority writers. Generically speaking, we shall devote ourselves to prose fiction and non-fiction.
(read more)
27672
What does it mean to be at home? How does it feel to lose one's home? And how do ideas of home and homelessness shape our sense of self or security? This course builds on these questions to look at a collection of literary works that focus explicitly on the idea of home in American culture. We'... (read more)
12126
Movies are often dismissed as mere popular entertainment. But the very pervasiveness of audio-visual media in our lives demands that we look more carefully at these cultural products. In fact, an entire field of study has developed to investigate the history and significance of moving picture... (read more)
0
Course Description: This course will build on our abilities to watch, analyze and write about media objects, particularly film. We will learn to recognize, define and elaborate on various kinds of cinema (fiction, documentary, etc), genres (musical, western, crime, etc), and elements of... (read more)
0
As indicated by the title, this class is an introduction to the literary production by American authors of Asian descent. We shall read classic texts from this ethnic American literary tradition to understand the unique histories that shape it and to appreciate the people’s struggles and... (read more)
0
Course Description:
This course is a survey of writings by African American authors of the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. We will study a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, and nonfiction, from the earliest published work by African Americans through to... (read more)
0
Description This course, which focuses on four of the later plays of Shakespeare’s career, is designed as an introduction to the language, themes, contexts, and implications of Shakespeare’s most mature work. Though our close reading of these plays will lead us to consider any number of the many... (read more)
0
Ever since The Blair Witch Project (1999) was marketed as “found footage” documenting the last few days of missing—and presumably dead—film students, the horror genre has been dominated by an endless barrage of films pretending to be discovered footage of actual events. These films have been so... (read more)
0
English 110 is a lower-division elective that satisfies the Arts & Letters group
requirement by critically examining film and media objects. This incarnation of the
course is titled, “Survey of US Cinema.” We will screen a sampling of films associated
with US/American cinema... (read more)
0
English 109 is the third quarter of a year-long survey of World Literature. In the third quarter we read works from the modern period. What does it mean to be a modern? The word “modern” is commonly used to mean “new,” and most often it refers to our own era. It is a well-established practice... (read more)
0
Reading two novels, including John Crowley’s classic post-apocalyptic fantasy novel Engine Summer, and a variety of short stories, ENG 104 addresses basic questions about the nature of prose narrative and the interrelated activities of reading, writing, and interpretation. Most of the course... (read more)
32037
Course Description: This course offers students a broad introduction to the study of literary fiction. Focusing on
the works of major writers, students develop analytical skills that will allow them to think, write, and speak
intelligently about fiction. The course addresses basic... (read more)
32056
This is the final segment of a three-term sequence that studies how cinema evolved as an institution and and an industrial art form. English 267 covers the period 1950s to the present. The aim of the course is explore the recent history of global cinema and develop the critical and analytic... (read more)
36586
This genre course revolves around key figures of fantasy literature such as mythical
beasts, bodily transformation, portals, talking animals, wizards, magical objects,
quests, and world-building. Each one of these figures is a motif: “a unit within literature
that proves so useful... (read more)
36587
This course will examine the development of autobiography as a literary genre from the spiritual narratives of medieval women mystics to the graphic memoirs of twenty-first century writers. Along the way we will consider a range of autobiographical forms, including slave narrative, immigrant... (read more)
36657
This course provides an introduction to the academic discipline of Comics Studies, which focuses on
comics as a form of literary production and asks questions about how and why comics are written and
read. You will be exposed to a variety of comic-art forms (the newspaper strip, the... (read more)
22202
Why do stories matter? In this class we will read novels of childhood and adolescence, both
fantasy and realistic, and compare them to the stories that matter in our own lives and
families. The novels come from India, England, South Korea, and the United States. By the
end of the... (read more)
22230
This course will introduce students to changing depictions of the environment in 19th, 20th, and 21st century literature. Represented as resplendent landscape, increasingly industrialized space, ecologically compromised habitat, and as chemically altered agricultural swath, the environment and... (read more)
22233
This course will build on our abilities to watch, analyze and write about media objects, particularly film. We will learn to recognize, define and elaborate on various kinds of cinema (fiction, documentary etc), genres (musical, western, horror etc), elements of narrative (script, plot, point of... (read more)
26050
What happens when digital tools meet literature? What can the “digital turn” in literary studies help us to understand about stories, history, language, aesthetics, form, cultural networks, adaptation, rhetoric, and the transmission of the written word?
(read more)
26987
Genre courses focus on particular genres and forms crucial for the study of English, American, and Anglophone literature and culture and are aimed primarily at English majors. So structured, these courses explicitly align with the first three of the English Department’s core competencies in ... (read more)
26991
The goal of this course is to learn how to analyze the structure of English sentences, or syntax. The method is sentence diagramming, a technique for identifying and separating the elements of a sentence, the subject, object, verb, conjunctions and clauses, in a graphic arrangement. We will only... (read more)
❄️ Winter Term
The University of Oregon is providing remote education for the entire winter term: https://remote.uoregon.edu/students
For questions about Winter 2021 courses, please contact your instructor. Contact information can be found on our website https://english.uoregon.edu/people/faculty
Our staff is currently working remotely and available by email.
For University mental health support resources, please visit the Counseling Center website (https://counseling.uoregon.edu/) or call the health center crisis hot line 541-346-3227.
For all other matters, please email engl@uoregon.edu or call 541-346-3911
Thank you for your flexibility and understanding.
For University mental health support resources, please visit the Counseling Center website (https://counseling.uoregon.edu/) or call the health center crisis hot line 541-346-3227.
For all other matters, please email engl@uoregon.edu or call 541-346-3911
Thank you for your flexibility and understanding.
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