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Spring 2025 Undergrad Courses

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EH 300 - Introduction to Literary Study | Raczkowski
TR 2:00-3:15

city, n. 1. A place to live, usually with corrupt mayors and lots of pollution. The real world is only in the city, not on Ole McD's Farm. – Urban Dictionary

This simultaneous repulsion and attraction to the City (it's corrupt / it's the real world) animates a lot of twentieth-century literature and film. Think of this class as a semester long study of literature's strange, conflicted fascination with the modern city that aims to instruct students in the fundamental practices of literary study: close reading, literary analysis, research, and ironic eye-rolling.

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EH 315 - Chaucer | Halbrooks
TR 11:00-12:15

Chaucer is at the same time the most welcoming and the most unknowable of poets. His personable narrative voice and his self-deprecating poetic personality seem so simple, and yet they mask dazzling complexity, poetic subtlety, and political ambivalence. This course will survey the major works of this essential poet, especially The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. No prior knowledge of Middle English is required. Our course will focus specifically on Chaucerian "soundscapes" in keeping with the English Department's "Spring Series on Sound"—beginning with the birdsong and the west wind in the opening lines of the Tales.

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EH 324 - Seventeenth-Century Literature | Hillyer
MWF 1:25-2:15

We will be studying the work not only of the major seventeenth-century poets (Ben Jonson and Johns Donne, Milton, and Dryden) but also of such minor ones as Martha Moulsworth and Lady Mary Wroth. Most of these figures believed that poetry could cover any topic conceivable, collectively producing an encyclopedic variety of subject-matter. Thus, we will mainly be looking at poems associated by shared themes (such as descriptions of places or conceptions of "the good life"). Assignments will include two short papers, a midterm, and a final.

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EH 335 - Native American Literature | Cesarini
MWF 2:30-3:20

Students will study fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by Native American writers active from about 1900 until the present, such as Charles Alexander Eastman, Zitkala-Sa, N. Scott Momoday, Leslie Marmon Silko, David Treuer, and Joy Harjo. Our study will be to understand as much of each writer's Native/national culture and history as needed to understand and appreciate their writings. Graded work will consist of weekly quizzes and two essays.

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EH 351 - British Romanticism | Hillyer
MWF 12:20-1:10

The Romantic poets whose work we will be studying (mainly Williams Blake and Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats) wrote deeply about their personal lives but also responded imaginatively to the major historical events occurring during a period of profound change (the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars, fought throughout Europe and beyond). Assignments will include two short papers, a midterm, and a final.

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EH 363 - American Novel since 1945 | St. Clair
MWF 12:20-1:10

As part of the English Department's "Spring Series on Sound," this iteration of EH 363 will investigate the influence of popular music, sound technology, and audible culture on the postwar American novel. Readings will include several contemporary classics (Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, and Don DeLillo's White Noise) as well as a novel or two that may be new to you.

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EH 371 - Approaches to English Grammar (W) | Beason
MWF 11:15-12:05

So what is a dangling participle anyway? EH 371 offers students a valuable intellectual and practical skill: the ability to analyze and describe in technical terms how a given sentence is structured (beyond just saying it does or doesn't "flow"). While the course was originally developed for students planning to teach English courses at the secondary level, EH 371 is useful for just about anyone wanting to edit, write, analyze literary texts, teach non-native speakers of English, practice law, or learn more about the English language. EH 371 is also a W-course and can help fulfill the W-course requirement for English majors and many other students

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EH 372 - Technical Writing (W) | Amare
Online

The course is designed to help you to accomplish the following:

• Understand and analyze writing situations and technologies and invoke the roles and strategies necessary to produce effective writing in localized and globalized contexts.
  
  
• Improve your understanding of how writing practices and genres (memos, email, proposals, reports, and websites) function within and across organizations, including how various readers read, where readers look for information, and what multiple purposes documents serve inside and outside particular organizations.
  
  
• Produce more effective visual, textual, and multimedia documents.

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EH 372 - Technical Writing (W) | Beason
MWF 1:25-2:15 or 2:30-3:20

How can you effectively convey specialized or technical information in the workplace—to readers whose expertise with this information can vary greatly? Whether your field of study deals with health care, the sciences, the computer industry, the liberal arts, or almost any field of study, this course can assist you with varied types of workplace writing and editing. EH 372 can also help satisfy the W-requirement and count as an English elective for most English majors and minors.

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EH 372 - Technical Writing (W) | Guzy
MWF 9:05-9:55 or 11:15-12:05

The purpose of this course is to train students in the kinds of written reports required of practicing professionals, aiming to improve mastery of the whole process of report writing from conceptual stage through editing stage. This course will introduce you to types of written and oral communication used in workplace settings, with a focus on technical reporting and editing. Through several document cycles, you will develop skills in managing the organization, development, style, and visual format of various documents.

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EH 390 - The Hero's Journey | Guzy
MWF 1:25-2:15

In this course, we will study the Hero's Journey in its various iterations around the world. We will explore cultural and generational commonalities among ancient and modern religions, philosophies, mythologies, and fairy tales, demonstrating how they build a universal foundation for the journey to adulthood and/or enlightenment. Selected canonical and contemporary texts will help us to delineate the chronological development of a western tradition of road trip and coming-of-age stories. As part of the English Department's "Spring Series on Sound," we will also examine the importance of musical scores in film and television adaptations of popular hero tales.

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EH 391 - Fiction Writing | Johnson
TR 2:00-3:15

This course will be part of the English Department's "Spring Series on Sound." It introduces students to the elements required to make strong short fiction—observation, plot, setting, characterization, point of view, and so on. By reading examples of contemporary short fiction, students will begin organizing their own craft toolboxes, which they'll use to build original stories they workshop with their peers.

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EH 402 - Rhetoric: Ancient and Modern (W) | Shaw
TR 11:00-12:15

Beginning with the early sophists of Periclean Athens and ending in the twenty-first century, this course examines and compares various movements in the history of rhetoric, with particular emphasis on the relationship between rhetorical strategy and one's image of human beings. The course aims to increase the scope of students' understanding of rhetoric and help them apply this knowledge to their own communication and to their evaluation of the communications of others.

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EH 475 - Nineteenth-Century Literature | Harrington
TR 12:30-1:45

The prolific periodical culture of the nineteenth century and the increasing literacy rate produced a boom in British fiction that resulted in a rich array of novels, at turns realist, domestic, Gothic, sentimental, and naturalist. In this class, we will consider issues of gender and sexuality in Austen's Emma, Brontë's Jane Eyre, Dickens's Great Expectations, Doyle's "The Sign of Four," Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Hardy's Tess. Topics will also include childhood and development, rights and reform, class, race, and empire.

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EH 478 - Studies in Film: Haptic Aurality | McLaughlin
MW 5-6:15, M 6:30-9

In keeping with the "Spring Series on Sound," our focus in EH 478 will be on haptic aurality, that is, the aural as it intersects with corporeality in cinematic space. What we will be especially interested in exploring are the moments when we might be said to "feel sound," the moments—such as Joan Crawford's greedy gobbling of chocolates in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?—when sound reaches out and touches us, affecting our bodies in powerfully visceral ways. For this exploration, active listening will be a pedagogical imperative.

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EH 481 - Composition and Rhetoric (W) | Shaw
TR 2:00-3:15

This course examines the many manifestations of Cold War rhetoric, from the struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, to the conflicts in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements, to the burgeoning rhetoric of science. We will learn how to engage in the act of rhetorical criticism, which requires the close reading of texts/objects and an analysis of the various social, political, economic, cultural, and religious factors that enable, motivate, and constrain one's ability to speak, write, and act.

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EH 483 - Advanced Fiction Writing | Johnson
TR 3:30-4:45

This workshop-style course is devoted to understanding literary short fiction—and what that term means today. In attempting to do so, students will produce and revise a significant piece of fiction, as well as participate in seminar-style discussions. Guiding them will be a number of essays on craft and stories written by authors working in various styles to illuminate how fiction works.

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EH 485 - Advanced Poetry Writing | Pence
MWF 3:35-4:25

This advanced poetry writing course continues the practices and studies in poetic craft began in earlier creative writing courses. Specifically, this course examines the multiple styles of the contemporary lyric and asks what are its craft elements that create what Auden defines poetry to be: "memorable speech." We will study a range of contemporary poets to understand not only how to shape our own experiences into poetry, but also how to understand our role within the lyrical tradition.

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EH 488 - Screenwriting for Television (W) | Prince
T 6:00-8:30

This class focuses on the fundamentals of screenwriting for television. We will study character development, conflict, structure, formatting, and so on as we explore how to write screenplays. Our focus will be as expansive as possible, covering drama, comedy, and action genres. Students will write one research paper and work on both an hour and a half-hour TV pilot.

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Spring 2025 Graduate Courses

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EH 501 - Introduction to Critical Theory | Vrana
R 6:00-8:30

EH 501 provides an introduction to some of the most essential debates within and approaches to critical theory and literary criticism. We will read excerpts by important theorists grouped topically and focus on effective methods of bringing these wide-ranging lenses to two primary texts of contemporary African American literature. Discussion, written responses, presentations and two papers will develop students' facility and comfort with engaging theory going forward, regardless of the particular object of analysis.

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EH 507 - Topics in Rhetoric / Composition | Shaw
TR 2:00-3:15

This course examines the many manifestations of Cold War rhetoric, from the struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, to the conflicts in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements, to the burgeoning rhetoric of science. We will learn how to engage in the act of rhetorical criticism, which requires the close reading of texts/objects and an analysis of the various social, political, economic, cultural, and religious factors that enable, motivate, and constrain one's ability to speak, write, and act.

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EH 513 - Studies in Chaucer | Halbrooks
T 6:00-8:30

This course will survey the major works of the most important writer of the English Middle Ages, as well as the vast history of Chaucerian scholarship and criticism. Our study of Chaucer will include an exploration of his "soundscapes," in keeping with the English Department's "Spring Series on Sound"—beginning with the birdsong and the west wind in the opening lines of The Canterbury Tales. Major texts will include the Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and a selection of the Dream Visions.

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EH 538 - Victorian and Edwardian Prose | Harrington
TR 12:30-1:45

The prolific periodical culture of the nineteenth century and the increasing literacy rate produced a boom in British fiction that resulted in a rich array of novels, at turns realist, domestic, Gothic, sentimental, and naturalist. In this class, we will consider issues of gender and sexuality in Austen's Emma, Brontë's Jane Eyre, Dickens's Great Expectations, Doyle's "The Sign of Four," Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Hardy's Tess. Topics will also include childhood and development, rights and reform, class, race, and empire.

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EH 548 - Native American Fiction  | Cesarini
R 2:30-5:00

Students will read novels and short stories by Native American writers active from about 1940 until the present, such as Darcy McNickle, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and LeAnne Howe. Our study will be to understand as much of each writer's Native/national culture and history as needed to understand and appreciate their works of fiction. Graded work will consist of weekly quizzes and two essays.

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EH 577- Sound in Literature | St. Clair
W 6:00-8:30

Nothing essential happens in the absence of sound. As part of the English Department's "Spring Series on Sound," we'll listen to a handful of contemporary novels and discuss the ways in which music, sound technology, and audible culture increasingly shape literary fiction of the contemporary era. In addition to the readings, coursework in this graduate seminar will include presentations and final project.

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EH 581 - Screenwriting Workshop | Prince
T 6:00-8:30

This class focuses on the fundamentals of screenwriting for television. We will study character development, conflict, structure, formatting, and so on as we explore how to write screenplays. Our focus will be as expansive as possible, covering drama, comedy, and action genres. Students will write one research paper and work on both an hour and a half-hour TV pilot.

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EH 583 - Grad Fiction Writing Workshop I | Johnson
TR 3:30-4:45

This graduate-level workshop is devoted to writing literary short fiction—and what that term means today. Stories students write in this course can be set anywhere, during any time period, but should demonstrate a deep engagement with respect to craft and technique. Or as the writer Audre Lord said, "There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt, of examining what our ideas really mean."

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EH 585/6- Grad Poetry Writing Workshop I/II | Pence
M 6:00-8:30

This graduate writing course explores different styles that currently define the American contemporary poem and engages with how these styles are responses to Romantic and modern literature. We will analyze political, narrative, surreal and other types of poems from some of the best poets writing today in order to create our own poem.

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