Course Descriptions

Undergraduate Bulletin 2006-08

(ENGL)

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.

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.

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