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University of San Diego
English
Founders Hall 174
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110
Phone: (619) 260-4783
Fax: (619) 260-4227
carlap@sandiego.edu
Department Chair
Mary Hotz
mhotz@sandiego.edu
Media Contact
Melissa Wagoner
mwagoner@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4659
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Course Descriptions
For more details on the focus and materials
of courses, see offerings for the upcoming semester.
For more information on the English major and minor, see the Majors and Minors page.
100 Introduction to College Writing (3)
A writing workshop
to prepare students to take English 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)
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)
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) 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)
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) Readings in a
particular body of literature B which may be defined formally, topically, ethnically,
or otherwise B as it develops over a period of time. (Every semester)
225 Studies in U.S. Literature
(3) Readings in some
period or aspect of the literature of the United States. (Every semester)
228 Studies in World Literature (3)
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)
Literary and popular texts produced for children.
Emphasis on analysis B 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 )
Studies in the plays
and poems of William Shakespeare, including the major genres (tragedies, comedies,
histories, and romances). (Every semester)
298 Internship (1-3)
Practical experience tutoring students
in low-income schools, grades K B 8. Open to all USD students, regardless
of major. Offered for one to three units of upper- or lower-division
credit. (Every semester)
300 British Literature to 1800 (3)
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 eighteenth 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)
A workshop course in the
writing of expository, descriptive, and critical prose. This course is designed
to fulfil 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)
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)
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)
This course considers
literary texts composed from late antiquity through to the fifteenth 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)
The life and work of Geoffrey Chaucer, set
in the historical and cultural context of late fourteenth-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)
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)
Studies in the drama of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, focusing on such contemporaries of Shakespeare as
Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, and others.
326 Renaissance Studies (3)
Studies in the literature
and culture of early-modern England. Readings may include poetry, drama,
and prose, fiction and non-fiction.
328 Milton (3)
Studies in the poetry and prose of John
Milton, with emphasis on Paradise Lost.
332 Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Studies (3)
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, Swift. Readings
are grounded in the social, intellectual, and cultural history of the period.
334 Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama (3)
Studies
in the drama written between 1660 and 1800. Playwrights may include Behn,
Centlivre, Congreve, Etheredge, Farquhar, Sheridan, Wycherly. Readings are
grounded in the social, intellectual, and cultural history of the period.
336 Development of the Novel (3)
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)
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)
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)
Readings in Austen,
Dickens, the Brontes, George Eliot, Hardy, Conrad, and others. May also include
letters, essays, and verse of the period.
352 U.S. Literature to 1900 (3)
Reading will include
works by Bradstreet, Hawthorne, Cooper, Poe, Twain, Dickinson, James, Whitman,
Melville and others.
355 Early U. S. Nonfiction (3)
Essays, autobiographies,
journals, manifestos, travel writings, 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)
Readings
will include works by Crane, Robinson, Dreiser, Wharton, James, Cather,
Frost, Fitzgerald, Hemingway and others.
357 Modern U.S. Nonfiction (3)
Essays, autobiographies,
and miscellaneous 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)
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)
Major works in relation
to issues in twentieth-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)
A selection of poets from early
modernists to the present. May include works by Yeats, Stein, Eliot,
Stevens, Hughes, Brooks, Rukeyser, Sexton, Yau, and others.
362 Modern Drama (3)
A study of selected plays from
the past 125 years. Playwrights may include Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw, Brecht,
O'Neill, Churchill, Mamet, August Wilson, and others.
364 Postcolonial Studies (3)
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)
Readings may include
works (in translation) by Dostoevsky, Kafka, Colette, Tsvetayeva, Camus, Levi,
Duras, Handke, Bernhard, and others.
368 Modern British Literature (3)
Major works in relation
to issues in twentieth-century British literature and culture. Writers may
include Conrad, Lawrence, Joyce, Forster, Woolf, Shaw, Auden, Lessing, and
others.
370 Contemporary Fiction (3)
Studies in selected works
of recent fiction from around the world.
372 Film Studies (3)
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,
the history of film. Restricted to English majors.
374 Gender and Literature (3)
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)
A workshop
on imaginative writing, with examples drawn from literature.
376 Topics in Creative Writing (3)
Workshop discussion
and analysis of student poetry, fiction, or drama (including screen-writing).
Prerequisite: English 375 or consent of instructor.
378 Methods of Teaching Writing (3)
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)
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)
Further study
of some aspect of Shakespeare=s work: particular plays, genres, themes, etc.
Topic varies. Prerequisite: English 280 or consent of instructor. (Spring)
493 Writing Center Tutors (1-3)
Theory and practice
for Writing Center tutors. Consent of Writing Center director required. (Every
semester)
494 Special Topics (3)
Courses that treat a special
topic or genre or author. See departmental list of course offerings each semester.
495 Senior Project (3)
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)
Practical experience tutoring students
in low-income schools, grades K B 8. Open to all USD students, regardless
of major. Offered every semester for one to three 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)
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.
