Literature, Language, & Culture Curriculum
In addition to the 17-hour ENGL core and ENGL electives, students who major in one of the Literature, Language, and Culture options will select coursework from the following option courses. Minors will select from the same. Prerequisites beyond freshman composition are identified in red.
To determine which courses apply toward the various majors and minors, please download the appropriate checksheet.
Please note: 1000-level introduction courses are designed specifically for non-majors.
2804 (AINS 2804): CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURES
This course offers a sampling of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction by the most influential American Indian writers since 1970, authors such as Momaday, Silko, Deloria, Welch, Harjo, and Alexie. Students will also learn about thoseaspects of cosmology and storytelling traditionally shared by all American Indian Nations, as well as about those aspects specific to the individual tribal traditions from which the authors and their characters come. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3154: LITERATURE, MEDICINE, AND CULTURE
The representation of health and illness in literature and the cultural aspects of medicine as a practice. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3C)
3204: MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
This course presents medieval British literature from ca. 700 to 1500 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including the literary influences of pagan antiquity, the native British (Celtic) tradition, Scandinavian and contemporary continental influences, the Crusades, the Byzantine Empire, and the philosophical traditions of neoplatonism and scholasticism. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry, prose, and drama. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3214: RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
This course presents Renaissance British literature from 1500-1660 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including the discovery of the Copernican universe and the new world, the rise of Protestantism, the resultant Counter-reformation, the movement from humanism to empiricism, and the institution of Parliamentary democracy. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry, prose, and drama. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3224: AUGUSTAN LITERATURE
This course presents Restoration and eighteenth-century British literature from 1660 to 1800 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including the expansion of democracy, commerce, and empire, the successes and limitations of Enlightenment philosophy, and the diversification of the literary public to include women, provincial, and laboring writers. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poems, essays, plays and novels. Pre: 1106 or 1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3234: ROMANTIC LITERATURE
This course presents Romantic literature from the late eighteenth century to 1832 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including the French, American, and Industrial Revolutions, the expansion of the British empire, the rise of the novel, Gothicism, and the intellectual influence of periodical essays. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry, fictional prose, and non-fictional prose. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3244: VICTORIAN LITERATURE
This course presents Victorian British Literature from 1832 to 1901 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including the development of modern science and the decline of traditional religion, the emergence of the mass reading public, and the glorification of the writer's role as prophet, guide, and culture critic. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poems, essays, plays, and novels. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3254: AMERICAN LITERATURE BEFORE 1900
This course presents American literature from before 1900 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including colonization, the founding of the republic, the Civil War, the settlement of the west, American Romanticism, and American Realism. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry and fictional and non-fictional prose. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3264: MODERNIST BRITISH LITERATURE
This course presents Modernist British literature from 1918-1945 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including World Wars I and II, the collapse of the British empire, the influence of Darwin, Marx, and Freud, and such literary movements as Modernism, Realism, and Stream of Consciousness. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry, prose, and drama. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3274: MODERNIST AMERICAN LITERATURE
This course presents Modernist American literature from 1918 to 1945 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, and such literary movements as Modernism and Realism. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry, prose, and drama. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3304 (AINS 3304): THE LANGUAGES OF NATIVE AMERICA
Study of the structures of the native languages of the Americas; their interrelationships; their use in individual speech communities; contact with other languages; the interrelationships of linguistic structure, culture, and thought; their future survival. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3354: LITERARY AND CULTURAL CRITICISM
This course introduces the principal critical approaches used in literary analysis and cultural studies. Major critical schools are covered, with attention to methodology, theoretical backgrounds, and practical interpretation. Pre: 2604. (3H,3C)
3364: TOPICS IN LITERATURE BY WOMEN
This rotating topics course examines literature written by women with different national and ethnic identities and from different historical periods. Specific content varies, but the common focus is on the fundamental issues surrounding women's writing, the critical methodologies commonly employed to analyze this writing, and the historical, social, and literary contexts influencing the particular writing being studied. May be repeated once with different content. Pre: 1106 or 1204H or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3524: LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN
General critical and historical survey of traditional and contemporary writing for children: picture books, folk literature, modern fantasy, poetry, drama, modern fiction, historical fiction. (3H,3C)
3534: LITERATURE AND ECOLOGY
Study of the poetry, prose and dramatic literature that tresses human cooperation with nature conceived as a dynamic, interrelated series of cyclic feedback systems. Included are ways esthetic values (literary themes, form, vision, perception, language) intersect with selected ecological concepts such as biocentrism, the food chain, energy transfer, Gaia theory, and ecofeminism; selected works by contemporary ecologists and environmentalists, and a study of the origins of ecology in the Greek oikos or home. This is a writing intensive course. Pre: 1106. (3H,3C)
3544 (COMM 3544): LITERATURE AND FILM
Works of literature and the films into which they have been transformed; emphasis on differences between media. (3H,3C)
3584: THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE
This course focuses on the Bible both as a work of literature and as a major influence on the literatures of the world. Specific books of the Bible to be covered as well as literary-critical approaches will vary. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)
3614: SOUTHERN LITERATURE
The literature of the American South from 1840 to the present with emphasis on 20th-century fiction, drama, and poetry. Concentration on such writers as Faulkner, Capote, Chopin, Langston Hughes, O'Connor, Welty, Alice Walker, and others. Exploration of such themes as importance of land, family, community; roles of industry and agrarianism; race relations. (3H,3C)
3624: APPALACHIAN LITERATURE
Appalachian writers from the 1800s to the present, including Murfree, Wolfe, and selected contemporary authors. Course will treat artistic merit and such selected themes as the mountains, Appalachia as a frontier, ambivalence about the Civil War, religion, folk ways and traditions, coal mining, and cottage industries. (3H,3C)
3634 (AFST 3634): AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
Afro-American writings from Phyllis Wheatley through the slave narratives of the nineteenth century to such modern figures as Wright, Hughes, Baldwin, and Morrison. Pre: 1106. (3H,3C)
3644: POSTCOLONIAL CULTURAL STUDIES
Correlates theoretical, literary, and historical materials from both "western" and "indigenous" sources in order to study at least two postcolonial settings (e.g. Indian, African, South American, Caribbean). Issues will include both contextual matters and literary problems. Pre: 1106. (3H,3C)
3684: LITERATURE AND THE LAW
This course introduces students to the representation of the law and lawyers in literature. Emphasis is placed on the cultural and historical contexts that shape our perception of the law and legal practice and on the use of facts, research, interpretation, and rhetoric in legal argument. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
3754: ADVANCED COMPOSITION
Advanced training in writing analytical and critical essays. Practice in addressing a range of audiences and in using varied styles and organizational patterns. Workshop and conference for students in arts and humanities, as well as for technical and extension students who wish to address non-specialized audiences and to practice forms outside their own fields. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
4024: ADVANCED TOPICS IN LITERARY AND CULTURAL CRITICISM
This rotating topics course focuses on theory-based analysis of literature and culture. Topically organized, one theoretical school, cultural practice, or literary trend is addressed. Depth is emphasized over breadth, with attention to the application of theory (practical criticism) to texts, cultural practices, or public discourses. May be repeated once for credit with a different topic. Pre: 3354. (3H,3C)
4044: LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
English language variation in the United States is considered from a current sociolinguistic perspective. Social, regional, ethnic, gender, and stylistic-related language variation are covered, along with models for collecting, describing, and applying knowledge about language variation. Students are exposed to a wide range of data on language variation, with emphasis on vernacular varieties of American English. Pre: 1106 or 1204H. (3H,3C)
4054: HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Development of English including both its internal history (sounds, vocabulary, inflections, syntax) and its external history (political, social, and intellectual forces). Indo-European origins through the present, with special emphasis on the English Language in America. (3H,3C)
4064: MODERN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
Study of language as a rule-governed system of knowledge, with special attention to the following: transformational analysis of the structure of English sounds, words, and sentences; the history of the language, the dialects of English, and the pragmatics of communication. (3H,3C)
4074: ENGLISH SYNTAX
This course introduces the grammatical structures of the English language and the processes by which we create and comprehend English sentences. Emphasis is on recent linguistic models. Topics include morphological structure, form- and structure-class taxonomy, phrase structure, transformational and generative approaches, language variation. Alternative models will be considered. Pre: 1106. (3H,3C)
4084: TOPICS IN LINGUISTICS
An advanced course in such areas of linguistics as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, language change, dialectology, etc. Emphasis will be placed on the analysis of natural language data within contemporary theoretical frameworks. Individual sections will focus upon differing areas of linguistics (to be specified in the subtitle of the course). Repeatable with different content for a maximum of nine credits. Pre: 4064 or 4074. (3H,3C)
4114: CHAUCER
This course examines the life, work, and critical reception of Geoffrey Chaucer. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
4124: INTRODUCTION TO OLD ENGLISH
Introduction to Old English grammar and reading of Old English poetry and prose. Senior standing required. (3H,3C)
4165: SHAKESPEARE
The plays of Shakespeare. 4165: Shakespeare's early career (1590-1600), including history plays from HENRY VI to HENRY V, comedies from THE COMEDY OF ERRORS to THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, and early tragedies such as ROMEO AND JULIET and JULIUS CAESAR. (3H,3C)
4166: SHAKESPEARE
The plays of Shakespeare. 4166: the later career, including "problem plays" such as MEASURE FOR MEASURE, the great tragedies (HAMLET, KING LEAR, OTHELLO, MACBETH), and the romances such as THE TEMPEST. (3H,3C)
4214: MILTON
Milton's poetry from the early works, including COMUS, LYCIDAS, and the sonnets, to his major late works PARADISE LOST, PARADISE REGAINED, and SAMSON AGONISTES; with some attention to the important prose and to the historical context in which he wrote. (3H,3C)
4405: THE ENGLISH NOVEL
Development of the English novel to 1850, including such novelists as Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Austen, the Brontes, and Thackeray. (3H,3C)
4406: THE ENGLISH NOVEL
Major novels from 1850 to World War II, including Dickens, Trollope, Eliot, Gaskell, Hardy, Woolf, Joyce, Lawrence, Huxley, and Waugh. (3H,3C)
4414: TOPICS IN SPECULATIVE FICTION
This variable content course offers an advanced exploration of deliberately anti-realistic narratives such as science fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, and fantasy. May be taken twice with differing content. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
4415: AMERICAN NARRATIVE TO 1950
The history of American narrative to 1865; genres to be addressed may include diaries, journals, letters, autobiographies, narratives of captivity, essays, sermons, folktales, short fiction, and novels. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
4416: AMERICAN NARRATIVE TO 1950
The history of American narrative from 1865 to 1950; genres to be addressed may include diaries, journals, letters, autobiographies, narratives of captivity, essays, sermons, folktales, short fiction, and novels. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
4424: DIGITAL LITERARY CULTURE
The interpretation of literary forms produced specifically for digital environments. Students will learn to analyze the design and rhetoric of hypertexts and hypermedia. Pre: 3354. (3H,3C)
4504: MODERN POETRY
British and American poetry from 1900 to World War II with emphasis on such figures as Pound, Williams, Stevens, Yeats, Sylvia Plath, Stevie Smith, and Eliot. (3H,3C)
4514: CONTEMPORARY POETRY
British and American poetry from World War II to the present, with emphasis on such figures as Bishop, Lowell, Ashbery, Heaney, and Hughes. (3H,3C)
4554: BRITISH DRAMA TO 1800
Plays from the Middle Ages through the 18th century (excluding Shakespeare). Includes works by the anonymous authors of the medieval mystery and morality plays and by such playwrights as Marlowe, Johnson, Webster, Ford, Dryden, Wycherly, and Goldsmith. (3H,3C)
4564: MODERN DRAMA
Plays by 19th and 20th century British, American, and continental dramatists, beginning with Ibsen and Shaw and culminating with Beckett and the contemporary Theatre of the Absurd. (3H,3C)
4624: STUDIES IN A BRITISH AUTHOR AFTER 1800
This course examines the life, work, and critical reception of a single major British author (or pair of closely associated authors) writing after 1800. May be taken up to 3 times with different content. Junior standing required. (3H,3C)
4634: STUDIES IN AN AMERICAN AUTHOR BEFORE 1900
This course examines the life, work, and critical reception of a single major American author (or a pair of closely associated authors) writing before 1900. May be taken up to three times with different content. Junior standing is required. (3H,3C)
4644: STUDIES IN AN AMERICAN AUTHOR AFTER 1900
This course examines the life, work, and critical reception of a single major American author (or pair of closely associated authors) writing after 1900. May be taken up to three times with different content. Junior standing is required. (3H,3C)
4664: CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Fiction since 1945 with emphasis upon the most recent two decades: the late modernist narratives of Bellow, Updike, and Percy; the new fiction of Barth, Hawkes, Barthelme; the postmodern fiction of Federman, Carter, Fowles, Katz, Sukenick. (3H,3C)
4674: STUDIES IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
Studies the emerging changes across arts media (including architecture, cyberculture, essay, fiction, film, painting, performance, photography, poetry, theatre, video) in relation to current cultural and social theory from a variety of disciplines (including architectural theory, art, history, literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and social sciences). (3H,3C)
4684: SPECIAL TOPICS IN LITERATURE
An advanced, variable-content course which explores a significant or emergent literary issue or approach, or a body of literature. May be taken twice with different content. Pre: 3204 or 3214 or 3224 or 3234 or 3244 or 3254 or 3264 or 3274. (3H, 3C)
4784: SENIOR SEMINAR
In-depth study of a particular topic in language or literature. A capstone course aimed at integrating previous work in the discipline, open to non-majors by consent of instructor only. May be repeated once for credit with different content. Pre: 1106. (3H,3C)