Courses

What does it mean to be a "good" reader or a "good" writer in college? In each section of this course, students receive extensive guidance from their instructors in the discovery and practice of helpful methods for fully exploring and appreciating what they read as well as guidance in planning, drafting, and writing essays about what is read and discussed in class. Each section of the course focuses on a particular topic drawn from a range of fields (e.g., literature, history, film, music). Reading assignments are limited in order to allow ample time for discussion and for personal attention to student writing.

Full details for ENGL 1131 - FWS: Mastering College Reading and Writing

An introductory course in the theory, practice, and reading of fiction, poetry, and allied forms. Both narrative and verse readings are assigned. Students will learn to savor and practice the craft of poetry and narrative writing, developing techniques that inform both. Some class meetings may feature peer review of student work, and instructors may assign writing exercises or prompts.

Full details for ENGL 2800 - Creative Writing

This course is designed to explore the relationship between ethics, politics, and aesthetics through careful attention to literary explorations of the complex problem of evil in a range of literary and visual texts including genres from myth through poetry and drama to painting and film. We will read and study excerpts of works from Aristotle, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, through Shakespeare, Cervantes, María de Zayas, Leibniz, Milton, Hieronymous Bosch, and Krzysztof Kieślowski. The recurring questions for us along the way will be about the role of reading and interpretation in relation to the problem of evil and what the philosopher Paul Ricoeur calls the "richness of the real." This class may be used toward the pre-1800 requirement for English majors.

Full details for ENGL 3245 - Evil: The Literary Question of the Human