English
Sister Mary Hotz, R.S.C.J., Ph.D., Chair
Eren Branch, Ph.D.
Jericho Brown, Ph.D.
Cynthia Caywood, Ph.D.
Dennis M. Clausen, Ph.D.
Carlton D. Floyd, Ph.D.
Joseph Jonghyun Jeon, Ph.D.
Peter Kanelos, Ph.D.
Joseph McGowan, Ph.D.
Gail Perez, Ph.D.
Atreyee Phukan, Ph.D.
Mary A. Quinn, Ph.D.
Fred Miller Robinson, Ph.D.
Abraham Stoll, Ph.D.
Barton Thurber, Ph.D.
Stefan Vander Elst, Ph.D.
Irene Williams, Ph.D.
The English Major
The English major affords students a rich educational experience in the history, theory, and appreciation of literature and in the craft of writing. Courses encourage students to develop skills in textual analysis and critical thinking, as well as expertise in understanding the vital role of artistic expression in society and culture.
In lower-division courses, students improve essential skills needed to understand and interpret literature and to express their ideas in writing. Emphasizing poetry as well as prose, these courses invite students to read literature within a variety of social, cultural, and ethnic contexts.
Upper-division courses encourage a sense of literary history and tradition as well as an understanding of adaptation and change in cultural and literary conventions, from the early medieval origins of English to the present diversity of expression by users of this global language. With the freedom afforded by upper-division electives, the student is invited, for example, to explore U.S. ethnic and world literatures, to undertake the study of non-canonical works, to examine different genres and historical periods, or to nurture a specific interest through a series of related classes. The Senior Project option provides a further opportunity for in-depth study in the student’s chosen area.
As one of the core disciplines of university education, the English major values both the pleasures we derive from literature and the challenges it brings to the ways we think about our cultural, political, and personal lives. This grounding in written expression, literary analysis, and cultural criticism provides excellent preparation for careers in fields such as law, business, government, education, or communications, as well as for graduate study in literature or writing.
Major Requirements (39 units)
Students majoring in English must satisfy the core curriculum requirements as set forth in this bulletin and complete all major requirements as presented in the following schedule:
Lower Division – 12 units
ENGL 222 Poetry / 3 units
ENGL 280 Introduction to Shakespeare / 3 units
Two lower-division elective courses (6 units) chosen from:
ENGL 223 Studies in Genre / 3 units
ENGL 224 Studies in Literary Traditions / 3 units
ENGL 225 Studies in U.S. Literature / 3 units
ENGL 228 Studies in World Literature / 3 units
Upper Division – 27 units
ENGL 300 British Literature to 1800 / 3 units
24 upper-division units that must include the following distribution requirements:
Literature before 1660 / 3 units
Literature from 1660 to 1900 / 3 units
Literature from 1900 to the present / 3 units
An English “W” course / 3 units
The English Minor
Minor Requirements (18 units)
Lower Division – 9 units
ENGL 222 – Poetry / 3 Units
ENGL 280 – Introduction to Shakespeare / 3 Units
One lower-division elective course (3 units) chosen from:
ENGL 223 – Studies in Genre
ENGL 224 – Studies in Literary Traditions
ENGL 225 – Studies in U.S. Literature
ENGL 228 – Studies in World Literature
Upper Division – 9 units
ENGL 300 – British Literature to 1800 / 3 Units
Two upper-division elective courses / 6 Units
English Courses (ENGL)
Students should consult the list provided by the English department each semester during the class reservation period for more details concerning the focus and materials of particular course offerings.
100 Introduction to College Writing / 3 UNITS
A writing workshop to prepare students to take ENGL 121. Instruction in the fundamentals of various modes of written expression, including sentence work, understanding the importance of audience, editing, and revision. Readings selected from non-fictional prose works. Students are encouraged to use the Writing Center, staffed by trained peer-tutors. (every semester)
121 Composition and Literature / 3 UNITS
Fulfills the core curriculum requirement in lower-division written literacy. Practice in developing skills of close observation, investigation, critical analysis, and informed judgment in response to literary texts. Students are encouraged to use the Writing Center, staffed by trained peer-tutors. (every semester)
122 Composition and Literature for Educators / 3 UNITS
Fulfills the core curriculum requirement in lower-division written literacy for students planning to complete the liberal studies major. Practice in developing skills of close observation, investigation, critical analysis, and informed judgment in response to literary texts. Students are encouraged to use the Writing Center, staffed by trained peer-tutors. (every semester)
222 Poetry / 3 UNITS
An introduction to the study of poetry. Readings include a variety of poetic forms and range across literary periods and nationalities. (every semester)
223 Studies in Genre / 3 UNITS
Readings in a type of literature, ranging through periods and nationalities. May include drama, narrative, epic, tragedy, comedy, biography, autobiography, or others. (every semester)
224 Studies in Literary Traditions / 3 UNITS
Readings in a particular body of literature, which may be defined formally, topically, ethnically, or otherwise, as it develops over a period of time. (every semester)
225 Studies in U.S. Literature / 3 UNITS
Readings in some period or aspect of the literature of the United States. (every semester)
228 Studies in World Literature / 3 UNITS
Readings in some period or aspect of literature outside England and the United States. Works not originally in English will be read in translation. (every semester)
231 Children’s Literature / 3 UNITS
Literary and popular texts produced for children. Emphasis on analysis of how children’s texts construct gender, sex, race, class, family structure, power relations, and violence, for example. Includes phonemic awareness, word analysis, and field experience. Reserved for students in credential programs.
280 Introduction to Shakespeare / 3 UNITS
Studies in the plays and poems of William Shakespeare, including the major genres (tragedies, comedies, histories, and romances). (every semester)
298 Internship / 1-3 UNITS
Practical experience tutoring students in low-income schools, grades K-8. Open to all USD students, regardless of major. Offered for 1 to 3 units of upper- or lower-division credit. (every semester)
300 British Literature to 1800 / 3 UNITS
This course presents a survey of English literature from the seventh century (Caedmon) to 1800, including texts representative of the Old English and Medieval periods, the Renaissance, and the 18th century. Topics will include the evolution of the language and the development of literary/poetic form as well as historical and cultural contexts. Texts and writers usually include Beowulf, Chaucer, the Pearl Poet, Langland, Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Pope, Swift, and others. (every semester)
304W Advanced Composition / 3 UNITS
A workshop course in the writing of expository, descriptive, and critical prose. This course is designed to fulfill the upper-division written literacy requirement for non-English majors; it will fulfill an upper-division elective for English majors. (every semester)
306W Advanced Composition for Educators / 3 UNITS
For liberal studies majors only. A workshop course in the writing of reflective, academic, and professional prose. Reading, writing, and research across the curriculum of the public elementary school classroom. Includes completion of the Content Portfolio for the liberal studies major. (every semester)
310 Dante / 3 UNITS
Dante’s Divine Comedy, Vita Nuova, and selected other works in their literary and historical contexts. Texts will be read in English translation.
312 Studies in Medieval Literature / 3 UNITS
This course considers literary texts composed from late antiquity through to the 15th century that may be drawn from European and other traditions of the period (Persian, Arabic, Indian, Slavic, Chinese, others). The course may include such topics as: the Heroic age; the Arthurian cycle; the age of chivalry; the Crusades. Texts are generally read in translation.
314 Chaucer / 3 UNITS
The life and work of Geoffrey Chaucer, set in the historical and cultural context of late 14th-century England. The course gives particular attention to The Canterbury Tales, as well as to some of Chaucer’s shorter poems. Readings will be in Middle English.
318 Development of the English Language / 3 UNITS
Studies in the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the English language; synchronic and diachronic variation; current theories of the grammar of English; theories of language acquisition and contact. Required of teacher credential candidates.
324 Renaissance Drama / 3 UNITS
Studies in the English drama of the 16th and 17th centuries, focusing on such contemporaries of Shakespeare as Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, and others.
326 Renaissance Studies / 3 UNITS
Studies in the literature and culture of early-modern England. Readings may include poetry, drama, and prose, fiction and non-fiction.
328 Milton / 3 UNITS
Studies in the poetry and prose of John Milton, with emphasis on Paradise Lost.
332 Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Studies / 3 UNITS
Studies in the prose and poetry of men and women writing between 1660 and 1800. Writers may include Behn, Burney, Dryden, Finch, Johnson, Montagu, Pope, and Swift. Readings are grounded in the social, intellectual, and cultural history of the period.
334 Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama / 3 UNITS
Studies in the drama written between 1660 and 1800. Playwrights may include Behn, Centlivre, Congreve, Etheredge, Farquhar, Sheridan, and Wycherly. Readings are grounded in the social, intellectual, and cultural history of the period.
336 Development of the Novel / 3 UNITS
This course studies the emergence and development of the novel in England as a distinct literary genre in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Authors may include Defoe, Richardson, Swift, Fielding, Sterne, Smollett, Lewis, and Austen.
342 Romanticism / 3 UNITS
Poetry and prose of first- and second-generation Romantic writers. May include Blake, the Wordsworths, Coleridge, Byron, the Shelleys, and Keats, as well as Continental and American Romantic writers.
344 Victorian Studies / 3 UNITS
Poetry and prose of the Victorian period. May include works by Carlyle, Tennyson, the Brownings, the Pre-Raphaelites, Arnold, Wilde, Ruskin, Newman, Mill, and letters, journals, and diaries of the period.
348 Nineteenth-Century Novel / 3 UNITS
Readings in Austen, Dickens, the Brontës, George Eliot, Hardy, Conrad, and others. May also include letters, essays, and verse of the period.
352 U.S. Literature to 1900 / 3 UNITS
Readings will include works by Bradstreet, Hawthorne, Cooper, Poe, Twain, Dickinson, James, Whitman, Melville, and others.
355 Early U. S. Nonfiction / 3 UNITS
Essays, autobiographies, journals, manifestos, travel writings, and reviews. May include works by Edwards, Franklin, Poe, Fuller, Douglass, Emerson, Peabody, Thoreau, Whitman, or others.
356 U.S. Literature from 1900 to 1940 / 3 UNITS
Readings will include works by Crane, Robinson, Dreiser, Wharton, James, Cather, Frost, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and others.
357 Modern U.S. Nonfiction / 3 UNITS
Essays, autobiographies, and miscellaneous U.S. prose since 1850. May include works by James, Adams, Gilman, DuBois, Stein, Wright, W.C. Williams, Baldwin, Lorde, Rich, or others.
358 U.S. Ethnic Literature / 3 UNITS
Studies in African-American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Chicano/Latino, and Native American literatures. May be taught from a comparatist perspective and include other U.S. ethnic groups. Historical, political, and cultural material may be provided as context.
359 Modern U.S. Fiction / 3 UNITS
Major works in relation to issues in 20th-century U.S. literature and culture. May include novels or short stories by Wharton, Stein, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Wright, Morrison, or others.
360 Modern Poetry / 3 UNITS
A selection of poets from early modernists to the present. May include works by Yeats, Stein, Eliot, Stevens, Hughes, Brooks, Rukeyser, Sexton, Yau, or others.
362 Modern Drama / 3 UNITS
A study of selected plays from the past 125 years. Playwrights may include Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw, Brecht, O’Neill, Churchill, Mamet, August Wilson, or others.
364 Postcolonial Studies / 3 UNITS
Studies in the literature that has arisen from European empires around the globe and the struggles of colonized peoples. Emphasis on the British Empire and the new nations of South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. May include historical contexts and non-literary works.
366 Modern European Literature / 3 UNITS
Readings may include works (in translation) by Dostoevsky, Kafka, Colette, Tsvetayeva, Camus, Levi, Duras, Handke, Bernhard, or others.
368 Modern British Literature / 3 UNITS
Major works in relation to issues in 20th-century British literature and culture. Writers may include Conrad, Lawrence, Joyce, Forster, Woolf, Shaw, Auden, Lessing, or others.
370 Contemporary Fiction / 3 UNITS
Studies in selected works of recent fiction from around the world.
372 Film Studies / 3 UNITS
Aspects of film as narrative are considered. Topics may include film genres (the silents and early talkies, historical dramas, film noir, cinéma vérité), cinematic adaptation of literary texts, film theory, and the history of film. Restricted to English majors.
374 Gender and Literature / 3 UNITS
Studies in the social and cultural construction of gender in literature and literary theory, as well as the impact of gender on the formation of literary canons.
375 Introduction to Creative Writing / 3 UNITS
A workshop on imaginative writing, with examples drawn from literature.
376 Topics in Creative Writing / 3 UNITS
Workshop discussion and analysis of student poetry, fiction, or drama (including screen-writing). Prerequisite: ENGL 375, or consent of instructor.
378 Methods of Teaching Writing / 3 UNITS
Workshop in the teaching of expository, descriptive, and critical prose. Prerequisite: Fulfillment of the core curriculum requirement in upper-division written literacy (any “W” course).
380 Literary Theory / 3 UNITS
Investigation of the values and assumptions that inform literature and literary criticism through readings in important theorists. Recommended for students planning on graduate work.
420 Advanced Studies in Shakespeare / 3 UNITS
Further study of some aspect of Shakespeare’s work: particular plays, genres, themes, etc. Topic varies. Prerequisite:
ENGL 280 or consent of instructor. (spring semester)
493 Writing Center Tutors / 1-3 UNITS
Theory and practice for Writing Center tutors. Consent of Writing Center director required. (every semester)
494 Special Topics / 3 UNITS
Courses that treat a special topic, genre, or author. See departmental list of course offerings each semester.
495 Senior Project / 3 UNITS
A capstone course designed to help seniors produce an original research project. Addresses research methods, critical thinking, and writing process. Recommended for students planning on graduate work.
498 Internship / 1-3 UNITS
Practical experience tutoring students in low-income schools, grades K-8. Open to all USD students, regardless of major. Offered every semester for 1 to 3 units of upper- or lower-division credit. Other internship opportunities in the workplace or community involving writing or reading may be arranged by students with the consent of a faculty advisor and the department chair.
499 Independent Study / 1-3 UNITS
Arranged with the consent of a faculty advisor and the department chair. Restricted to upper-division English majors or students who have completed at least one upper-division literature course.
