pause world-wide-web instagram volume-medium linkedin flickr basketball devices home pencil person-money rss slider-left-arrow slider-right-arrow slider-left-arrow slider-right-arrow star video-transcript close hamburger minus plus account arrow certificate city globe graduation-cap graph handshake info info-2 map play search snapchat twitter facebook file-text-o youtube tumblr camera file-text

English

Dr. Adam Koehler
Chair of the Department

The goals of the English major at Manhattan College are to develop in students an understanding of literary texts and issues that is coherent, informed, and broadly responsive; to develop in students the ability to articulate that understanding orally and in writing through a critical vocabulary and a variety of methodological and rhetorical structures; and to develop that understanding in a range of courses in English literature, American literature, and world literature in translation.

Requirements for the Major in English. Thirty credits at the 300 level, including three foundational courses (9 credits) and six distribution courses (18 credits).

Foundational Courses

ENGL 306Introduction to Literary Study3
ENGL 395Senior Seminar3
English 300 Elective Sophomore/Junior Seminar (one regular 300 level course will be designated as a seminar each semester3
Total Credits9

Elective Distribution Requirements

All students must take three courses in the Literary History and National Traditions category (9 credits total) as follows:

Pre-18th Century (3 credits)
18th and 19th Centuries (3 credits)
20th and 21st Centuries (3 credits)

They must also take one course each from three of the following categories (9 credits total):

Theory, Media, and Praxis

Global and Cultural Perspectives

Writing

Author and Genre

Free Elective (3 credits)

 Literary History & National Traditions

Literary History and National Traditions courses seek to foster students’ knowledge of the complex history of literature and the development of specific literary traditions across a range of cultures, emphasizing the diversity of American and British cultures and resistance to those cultures.  Analyzing continuities and changes, courses will offer a focused study of major literary periods, authors, and texts within their historical contexts.

Three courses from the following are required: one in pre-18th c. studies; one in 18th and 19th c. studies; and one in 20th and 21st c. studies. At least one course should focus on American literature.

Pre-18th Century Studies

ENGL 309British Literature: Beowulf to the Augustan Age3
ENGL 312Studies in Medieval British Literature3
ENGL 323Studies in Eighteenth-Century British Literature3
ENGL 329Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Hamlet3
ENGL 330Shakespeare II3
ENGL 331History of the English Language3
ENGL 343The Art of Dying: Studies in Renaissance Literature3
ENGL 369Chaucer3
ENGL 370Milton3

18th & 19th Century Studies

ENGL 310British Literature II: The Romantics through the 20th Century3
ENGL 334Romantic Matter(s): Subjects & Objects3
ENGL 335Victorian Media3
ENGL 372American Literature to 19143
ENGL 374Lust, Passion, and the Body: The American Novel to 19143
ENGL 375Landscape & Identity: Studies in Early & Nineteenth Century American Literature3

20th & 21st Century Studies

ENGL 305African American Literature3
ENGL 338Studies in Twentieth-and Twenty-first-Century American Literature3
ENGL 346Twentieth Century Irish Literature3
ENGL 364The Modern & Contemporary British Novel3
ENGL 373American Fiction since 19143
ENGL 378Modern American Literature3
ENGL 379Contemporary American Literature3
ENGL 381Studies in Identity: 20th Century American Drama3
ENGL 376American Poetry3
ENGL 356Latino New York: Cultural Identities and Expressions3
ENGL 357Postcolonial Caribbean Literatures: Defining a Region3
ENGL 366Modernism: Eliot, Woolf, Lawrence, and Company3
ENGL 382New York City, Modernity, and Postmodernity3
ENGL 386 Literature and Early Cinema at the Turn of the Twentieth Century3

Theory, Media, and Praxis

Theory, Media, and Praxis courses devote specific attention to the study, critique, and/or application of particular theoretical paradigms that do not merely and implicitly guide learning objectives or methods of critical reading and writing but rather form an object of explicit inquiry and engagement in course readings and assignments. These courses may also introduce and investigate new media forms or practices for the dissemination, reading, and analysis of primary and secondary works, including new digital tools and platforms while also attending to the mediated nature of all literary and artistic communication.

ENGL 333Sin and Syntax: Grammar, Identity, and the Writer3
ENGL 334Romantic Matter(s): Subjects & Objects3
ENGL 335Victorian Media3
ENGL 337Gender, Sexuality, and Literature3
ENGL 345Environmental Literature and Ecocriticism3
ENGL 348Postcolonial Literature3
ENGL 358Bibliomania, Archives, and the Afterlives of Books3
ENGL 359Technotopias & Cyborg Dreams3
ENGL 360The Little Magazine: Contemporary Literary Publishing3
ENGL 367Contemporary Literary Theory3
ENGL 382New York City, Modernity, and Postmodernity3
ENGL 384Violence & Performativity3
ENGL 385Film Narrative3
ENGL 386 Literature and Early Cinema at the Turn of the Twentieth Century3

Global and Cultural Perspectives

Global and Cultural Perspectives courses focus on poetry, short stories, dramas, novels, and films that embrace and/or interrogate the complexities of human identity, either in a historical or a contemporary context. Students can expect to examine such issues as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, and national identity, with several courses prioritizing how these various identities intersect and inform one another. Many of the courses also inquire into various historical institutions (colonialism, slavery, etc.) and practices (immigration, globalization, war, etc.) that shape both practical and theoretical understandings of identity.

ENGL 305African American Literature3
ENGL 337Gender, Sexuality, and Literature3
ENGL 339Poetics of Witness3
ENGL 346Twentieth Century Irish Literature3
ENGL 347Literature and War3
ENGL 348Postcolonial Literature3
ENGL 356Latino New York: Cultural Identities and Expressions3
ENGL 357Postcolonial Caribbean Literatures: Defining a Region3
ENGL 374Lust, Passion, and the Body: The American Novel to 19143
ENGL 380Growing Up Ethnic: The Ethnic-American Bildungsroman3
ENGL 381Studies in Identity: 20th Century American Drama3
ENGL 388Feminism & Film3

Writing

Writing courses provide an opportunity for students to practice and interrogate a range of literary genres (fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction) while examining the cultural and literary responsibilities of the writer.  Through active and close reading, as well as the rigorous practice of craft and technique, these courses invite students to see the writing of an imaginative text as a critical and cultural act that illuminates what the best literature always does: what it means to be human.  These courses will include assignments and activities for students interested in publishing, teaching, and communications.

ENGL 326Writing Studies3
ENGL 332Theories of Composition3
ENGL 333Sin and Syntax: Grammar, Identity, and the Writer3
ENGL 340Studies in Creative Writing - Poetry Workshop (Repeatable with Poetry)3
ENGL 350Studies in Creative Writing: Fiction Workshop3
ENGL 355Studies in Creative Writing: Non-Fiction Workshop3
ENGL 360The Little Magazine: Contemporary Literary Publishing3

Genre & Author Studies

Genre and Author Studies courses will interrogate and analyze the conventions, writers, and structures of literary genres (fiction, drama, poetry, and creative non-fiction) and specific subgenres, while also learning how texts both reflect and complicate their social, historical, and cultural contexts. Students will incorporate literary theory to amplify and enhance their understanding of form and content. Courses listed under author studies allow students to read deeply the works of a single author, or a select group of authors, in order to gain a rich and complex understanding of the scope and breadth of their work.

ENGL 323Studies in Eighteenth-Century British Literature3
ENGL 329Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Hamlet3
ENGL 330Shakespeare II3
ENGL 347Literature and War3
ENGL 359Technotopias & Cyborg Dreams3
ENGL 364The Modern & Contemporary British Novel3
ENGL 365Children's Literature3
ENGL 366Modernism: Eliot, Woolf, Lawrence, and Company3
ENGL 369Chaucer3
ENGL 370Milton3
ENGL 373American Fiction since 19143
ENGL 374Lust, Passion, and the Body: The American Novel to 19143
ENGL 376American Poetry3
ENGL 381Studies in Identity: 20th Century American Drama3
ENGL 400The Theater and the City3
*

Students in the School of Education with a concentration in Childhood Education must take ENGL 365 Children's Literature

Additional details about elective options for Education majors will be found in the Education section of this catalog.

A minimum grade of C is required for all major courses. ENGL 110 First Year Composition or its equivalent is a prerequisite for all 300 level courses.

Minor

Requirements for a Minor in English: Fifteen credits on the 300 level including:

ENGL 306Introduction to Literary Study3
Elective3
One 300 level class in Literary History and National Traditions3
Of the three remaining 300 level courses, at least two must be from different categories6
Total Credits15

Students from the Schools of Business, Engineering, and Education may count one 200-level Literature course toward credit for the minor. A minimum grade of C is required for courses to satisfy these requirements.

Courses

ENGL 103. Writing Lab: Introduction to Composition for Science Students. 2 Credits.

This course introduces science students in the C-Step program to college-level expository writing. Focusing on writing and research about science, it pursues an inquiry-driven approach to teach analysis and argumentation. Students will develop a range of rhetorical skills as they learn the process of writing. Open only to C-STEP students. Permission of C-STEP Advisor.

ENGL 106. Introduction to Composition. 3 Credits.

English 106 prepares students for English 110 through introductory level assignments designed to acclimate students to narrative, argumentative, and expository writing. The course employs a variety of exercises to teach students about the stages of composition: invention, revision, and reflection. Course assignments provide students with the intellectual tools to write argumentative essays.

ENGL 110. First Year Composition. 3 Credits.

English 110 pursues an inquiry-driven approach to writing and research, teaching rhetorical analysis and argumentation. The course emphasizes writing as an intellectual, social process both in terms of content and structure. Sections are thematically organized and use writing to explore that particular theme and frame writing as a process that involves stages of invention, revision, and reflection; course activities and assignments provide students with the rhetorical tools to understand how language works in defining reality, explaining positions, and persuading others. The course aims to prepare students for the responsibilities of literate adult citizenship and the rhetorical challenges of their chosen fields and careers.

ENGL 150. Roots: Literature. 3 Credits.

An intensive and critical examination of selected literary texts and developments from the medieval period to the present that contribute to an understanding of the modern world.

ENGL 151. Roots: Literature-1st Year Seminar. 3 Credits.

An intensive and critical examination of selected literary texts and developments from the medieval period to the present that contribute to an understanding of the modern world. First Year Seminar.

ENGL 205. Reading & Writing the Theater. 3 Credits.

A study of the art and craft of playwriting focused on dramatic structure, genre, and audience. The course combines analysis of significant plays from various historical periods and workshopping of students' original dramatic work.

ENGL 209. Writing Consultant Training. 1 Credit.

This course is designed to train students to be competent tutors in the Manhattan College Writing Center. By permission of instructor. Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, or Engineering.

ENGL 210. Advanced First Year Composition. 3 Credits.

An advanced alternative to English 110, the course emphasizes writing as an intellectual, social process both in terms of content and structure. An exploration of strategies for expository and argumentative writing and research techniques, English 210 pursues an inquiry-driving approach to writing and research, teaching rhetorical analysis and argumentation. Emphasizing writing as a process that involves stages of invention, revision, and reflection, course activities and assignments provide students with the rhetorical tools to understand how language works in defining reality, explaining positions, and persuading others. This course will fulfill the ENGL 110 requirement for advanced freshman students placed by the Department Chair. Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, or Engineering.

ENGL 211. Business Communication. 3 Credits.

An intermediate course focusing on the specialized communications skills required by professionals. Emphasis on research techniques and on the rhetoric and diction necessary to persuade different audiences, as demanded by a variety of case studies. (For students in the School of Business only). Does not satisfy their English literature elective.

ENGL 212. Latino/Latina Literature. 3 Credits.

The course examines key themes and narrative impulses of Latino/a literature. Students will engage the work of authors from a range of time periods. They will also study a variety of genres, such as novels, short stories, drama, poetry, and/or non-fiction essays.

ENGL 240. Introduction to Creative Writing. 3 Credits.

A study of the craft of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction writing. Exercises in form and technique and the creation of original stories and poems. Introduction to the creative writing workshop.

ENGL 245. Introduction to Shakespeare. 3 Credits.

Survey of the major histories, comedies, and tragedies.

ENGL 248. British Literature and Culture. 3 Credits.

Readings selected from the prose, poetry, and drama of the British Isles from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present.

ENGL 253. American Literature and Culture. 3 Credits.

Readings selected from the prose, poetry, and drama of America from the Colonial period to the present.

ENGL 255. Introduction to Film Studies. 3 Credits.

An introduction to the formal/aesthetic analysis of film. Through screening and discussion of representative films, students develop their ability to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the film experience. Not open to students who have taken COMM 212. Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, or Engineering.

ENGL 256. Types of Film Experience. 3 Credits.

An introduction to the cultural/ideological analysis of film. Through screening and discussion of representative films, students explore the ways in which cinema reflects and shapes contemporary society. Specific topics covered include, but are not limited to, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and class and power as they relate to film experience. (Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, or Engineering.) Repeatable with permission of the Chair.

ENGL 260. Comedy and Tragedy. 3 Credits.

An attempt to define comedy and tragedy by examining texts in each genre.

ENGL 262. Gender and Literature. 3 Credits.

An introduction to interpreting literature through the lens of gender. A specific theme (for example, women's writing, masculinity, gay and lesbian literature, the gendered body) will be explored in selected literary texts.

ENGL 265. Global Literature in English. 3 Credits.

A comparative study of selected literary texts by African, Asian, Caribbean, Australian, and Latin and North American writers responding to the impact of Western colonization and imperialism.

ENGL 270. Crime and Detection. 3 Credits.

The origin, development, and achievement of the detective story and the crime novel. Most readings will be drawn from 19th and 20th century authors, but some attention will be given to possible precursors such as Sophocles and Shakespeare.

ENGL 274. Reading Poetry. 3 Credits.

An introduction to the experience of reading, interpreting, and evaluating poetry.

ENGL 275. The Short Story. 3 Credits.

The origin, development, and theories of the genre as exemplified in short stories chosen from the major writers in this form.

ENGL 276. Introduction to Drama. 3 Credits.

A survey of world drama through selected play texts and representative dramatic styles, ranging from classical to contemporary.

ENGL 279. Literature and the Environment. 3 Credits.

The study of the important role the environment plays in literary texts. Themes may include the relationship between the urban and the wild, the role of animals in human affairs, and the question of human stewardship of this planet.

ENGL 280. Irish Literary Revival. 3 Credits.

A study of the major Irish writers of the late 19th and 20th centuries whose works constitute the modern Irish literary renaissance.

ENGL 284. Myth and Fairy Tale. 3 Credits.

An introduction to selected traditional myths and western European fairy tales, focusing on the literary rather than on the oral folk tradition and analyzing the pervasive influence of myth and fairy tale on modern western literature.

ENGL 285. Literary New York. 3 Credits.

A study of selected literary works in which New York City figures prominently as a subject, a metaphor, or a muse. Satisfies 200-level literature elective in Business, Engineering, and Education.

ENGL 287. Fantasy and Science Fiction. 3 Credits.

An introduction to speculative literature: fantasy, gothic, and science fiction; their relation to each other; the relation of the fantastic to fiction.

ENGL 292. Topic in the Study of Literature and Film. 3 Credits.

An intensive study of a genre, period, literary form, or theme not currently listed in the general literature courses (200-level). The subject to be studied will vary from semester to semester. This course may be repeated with permission of the Chair.

ENGL 293. Literature & Business. 3 Credits.

This course will focus on the representation of business in literature from the 19th century to the present. Depictions of industrial and technological production, economic systems, capitalism, globalization, and working life will be explored. Assignments will be designed to target critical thinking and writing skills valuable in a professional context.

ENGL 305. African American Literature. 3 Credits.

Examination of important texts by African-American authors, with special emphasis on recent writings.

ENGL 306. Introduction to Literary Study. 3 Credits.

Learning to think and write like an English major. Emphasis on close reading of texts, developing a heightened sense of language, making cogent literary arguments with well-integrated evidence, and developing familiarity with literary terms and different critical approaches. Should be taken during the first semester of major course-work. For English majors and minors only.

ENGL 309. British Literature: Beowulf to the Augustan Age. 3 Credits.

The development and continuity of British literature studied in significant writers, works, literary movements, social and historical backgrounds. For English majors and minors only.

ENGL 310. British Literature II: The Romantics through the 20th Century. 3 Credits.

Continuation of the study of key British writers, works, and literary movements and their social and historical backgrounds. For English majors and minors only.

ENGL 312. Studies in Medieval British Literature. 3 Credits.

An in-depth study of medieval writers, themes, genres, on literary movements through critical reading of prose, drama, and poetry of Great Britain. The subject to be studied will vary from semester to semester.

ENGL 323. Studies in Eighteenth-Century British Literature. 3 Credits.

An in-depth study of eighteenth-century writers, themes, genres, or literary movements through critical reading of prose, drama, and poetry from Great Britain. The subject to be studied will vary from semester to semester.

ENGL 326. Writing Studies. 3 Credits.

This course focuses on writing about or within a specific topic, genre, or theory to be announced in advance and will vary by semester. This course is writing intensive and offers students a practical, historical, and theoretical understanding of the art and craft of writing they may not otherwise have the opportunity to explore. Examples include, but are not limited to: Feminist and Critical Writing Pedagogies; Memoir Writing; and Multimodal Writing.

ENGL 329. Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Hamlet. 3 Credits.

Beginning with Romeo and Juliet and culminating with Hamlet, this course explores the comedies, histories, and early tragedies that earned Shakespeare his reputation as England’s leading dramatist. Class sessions will focus on close readings of the plays, the conditions under which they were originally performed, and the society and culture from which they emerged.

ENGL 330. Shakespeare II. 3 Credits.

This course explores the works that secured Shakespeare’s status as the greatest writer in any language, including Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Class sessions will focus on close readings of the plays, the conditions under which they were originally performed, and the society and culture from which they emerged.

ENGL 331. History of the English Language. 3 Credits.

The development, structure, and function of the English language. (Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, and Engineering.).

ENGL 332. Theories of Composition. 3 Credits.

An overview of contemporary composition studies, examining various movements in the field and the ways in which these movements define the act of writing. The course will focus on both theoretical principles of composition and practical concerns of writing pedagogy. Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, and Engineering.

ENGL 333. Sin and Syntax: Grammar, Identity, and the Writer. 3 Credits.

This course provides an in-depth analysis of how grammar works by contextualizing grammar usage in a variety of contexts. We examine not only standard usage, but also language use in daily life, including the impact of emerging technologies on usage. Students will be encouraged to write academically as well as personally in order to cultivate a space where we can see grammar at work and how it helps us achieve the goals of our work—whether those goals be creative, academic, or otherwise.

ENGL 334. Romantic Matter(s): Subjects & Objects. 3 Credits.

An in-depth study of writers, themes, genres, and literary movements through critical reading of prose, drama, and poetry from the British Romantic period (1789-1832).

ENGL 335. Victorian Media. 3 Credits.

This course studies one of the world’s great media revolutions. We investigate the full range of media technologies invented by British writers, artists and scientists during the reign of Queen Victorian (1837-1901): from the photograph, the telegraph, and the moving image to new forms of fiction, journalism, and advertising. We study art and literature that recount the experience of new media. Through readings in literary and media theory, we furthermore explore the social and political ramifications of those innovations.

ENGL 336. History of the Essay. 3 Credits.

An intensive study of the history and development of the essay genre. With an emphasis on historicizing the definition and function of the essay, this course investigates how issues regarding authorship and authority have evolved and contributed to how we understand the form today, including, but not limited to, its rhetorical and academic functions.

ENGL 337. Gender, Sexuality, and Literature. 3 Credits.

A study of the intersections of gender studies and literary analysis. Focusing on a specific theme (e.g. women's writing, the nature of gender, masculinity and race, queer identity), this course will study how literature shapes and is shaped by issues of gender and sexuality as they intersect with other markers of difference and power, including race, class, nation, ability, and species.

ENGL 338. Studies in Twentieth-and Twenty-first-Century American Literature. 3 Credits.

An in-depth study of twentieth and twenty-first century American writers, themes, genres, and literary movements through critical reading of prose, drama, and/or poetry.

ENGL 339. Poetics of Witness. 3 Credits.

An intensive study of poetics of witness in the creation and consumption of literature. The course will use various historical periods, geographic locations, and cultural and social movements to interrogate a poetry of witness.

ENGL 340. Studies in Creative Writing - Poetry Workshop. 3 Credits.

Advanced creative writing workshop in poetry with generative exercises, and with a focus on aspects of poetic craft such as images, figurative language, forms, rhythm, and poetic leaps. Students will develop voice, style, and technique. Each technique element will also be accompanied by an extensive study of contemporary poetic texts and poetic craft theory. Writing will culminate in small and large-scale workshops where students will read each other’s work and learn to offer constructive feedback on revision.

ENGL 343. The Art of Dying: Studies in Renaissance Literature. 3 Credits.

Working at the intersection of literary and historical analysis, this course investigates how early modern writers responded to a culture-wide preoccupation with death and its relationship to commemoration. Authors include John Donne, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare.

ENGL 345. Environmental Literature and Ecocriticism. 3 Credits.

An exploration of environmental literature, a genre whose primary focus is the natural world and the human relationship to it. Primary literary texts will be viewed through the lens of ecocriticism, an emergent critical theory that examines the representation of the natural world in literature and culture with a commitment toward environmentalism.

ENGL 346. Twentieth Century Irish Literature. 3 Credits.

An examination, through readings in various genres, of the expressive and varied literature of Ireland in the 20th century as well as the development of cultural narratives of Ireland.

ENGL 347. Literature and War. 3 Credits.

A study of the representation in fiction, poetry, drama, and film of such catastrophic human conflicts as the World Wars and the Vietnam War.

ENGL 348. Postcolonial Literature. 3 Credits.

A sampling of world fiction (in English) written since the era of decolonization. Authors employ widely divergent techniques to address the issues of colonialism, history, politics, social change, and art. Emphasis on the novel as an arena for heterogeneity of sensibilities and the clash of ideologies.

ENGL 349. Adaptation Studies. 3 Credits.

This course will study adaptation theory by examining multiple case studies, prioritizing the relationship between film and the literary arts. By reading literature, watching adaptations, and considering other modes of delivery (e.g., video games), the course will consider such issues as mise-en-scène and acting styles; shared plotting strategies; forced perspective; and narrative voice. Counts toward the English major/minor and the Film Studies minor.

ENGL 350. Studies in Creative Writing: Fiction Workshop. 3 Credits.

This course is designed for students to examine the short story form and to provide space to practice their own short story writing. By closely examining the ways in which some of the most influential short story writers have engaged with voice, style, characterization, plot, aesthetics, and experimentation, this course will help students develop a finer understanding of the elements of fiction.

ENGL 355. Studies in Creative Writing: Non-Fiction Workshop. 3 Credits.

Advanced creative writing workshop in non-fiction with generative exercises, and with a focus on developing the craft of lyrical essay techniques. Students will also develop voice and style. Each technique element will be accompanied by an extensive study of contemporary non-fiction texts. Writing will culminate in small and large-scale workshops where students will read each other’s work and learn to offer constructive feedback on revision.

ENGL 356. Latino New York: Cultural Identities and Expressions. 3 Credits.

This course examines the literature and culture of Latinos in New York City. It explores how authors of Latin American and Spanish Caribbean descent have contributed and responded to New York City as a multilingual and multicultural modern metropolis and considers recurrent topics such race/ethnicity, class, bilingualism, and immigration.

ENGL 357. Postcolonial Caribbean Literatures: Defining a Region. 3 Credits.

This course provides an overview of postcolonial fiction, poetry, drama, and essays from the Caribbean region. It explores major themes and theoretical concepts on issues such as identity, migration, race, gender, nationhood, and representation, as well as the specific cultural and historical contexts from which postcolonial Caribbean literatures emerge.

ENGL 358. Bibliomania, Archives, and the Afterlives of Books. 3 Credits.

This course studies the material lives and afterlives of books. Working in digital archives and physical archives around New York City, students have hands-on experience of rare books and literary artifacts. Through experiential learning, students investigate printing practices, publication histories and preservation techniques. We learn to tell stories in and with archives, contemplating the manifold pasts and futures of books.

ENGL 359. Technotopias & Cyborg Dreams. 3 Credits.

This course studies works of fantasy and science fiction that explore the radical potential of technology. Considering the new worlds--the technotopias--envisioned by them, we explore a range of topics: the relationship between imagination and reality; the consequences of progress; the fear of/desire for newness and “the other”; and perhaps most exciting and unsettling of all, what it means to be human.

ENGL 360. The Little Magazine: Contemporary Literary Publishing. 3 Credits.

This course is an introduction to literary magazines and to the work of editing, examining the history of “little” magazines from the mid-nineteenth-century to the present day and investigating their impact on literary culture. We will take stock of the current magazine landscape, print and digital, with a special focus on Manhattan Magazine, for which students will also engage in active editing work.

ENGL 361. Radical Stages: Modern and Contemporary British Drama. 3 Credits.

Survey of celebrated and innovative British plays from the nineteenth century through the present. Close reading of text will supplement discussions of genre and production, alongside considerations of British history and politics.

ENGL 364. The Modern & Contemporary British Novel. 3 Credits.

A study of major innovations in the British novel from the early 20th century to the present. The course will explore the formal and stylistic upheavals of modernism, in relation to radically new ideas concerning gender, psychology, and social structures, as well as the legacy of these experiments through the contemporary period.

ENGL 365. Children's Literature. 3 Credits.

A study of widely read, influential and sometimes controversial books for children, surveying major achievements and genres in children's literature, examining various approaches to the field, and commenting on social and pedagogical issues that surround it. Limited to students in the School of Education.

ENGL 366. Modernism: Eliot, Woolf, Lawrence, and Company. 3 Credits.

An exploration of literary modernism in English as a phenomenon that swept European cities in the early twentieth century, which will consider experiments with literary form that meditate on the relationship of the individual consciousness to the material reality surrounding it. We will explore the modernist scene through intellectual contexts, periodical culture, and the relationship of literature to art.

ENGL 367. Contemporary Literary Theory. 3 Credits.

This class focuses on current methodologies of interpretation—theories of reading, language, literature, and analysis—in the discipline of English. It explores a variety of answers to the questions of how, why, and what we read. A brief history of criticism since Plato will ground the work of the course: understanding and applying contemporary literary and cultural theories, including formalism, reader response, structuralism, post-structuralism, feminist analysis, psychoanalytic approaches, new historicism, postcolonialism, queer theory, critical race studies, cultural studies, eco-critical approaches, new materialism, affect theory, and thing theory approaches. This class is necessary for any graduate work in literature and writing. Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, and Engineering.

ENGL 369. Chaucer. 3 Credits.

A study of the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and the minor poems. Spring.

ENGL 370. Milton. 3 Credits.

A study of Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, and selected shorter works.

ENGL 372. American Literature to 1914. 3 Credits.

A study of major figures and significant trends in American Literature from the colonial era to 1914. For English majors and minors only.

ENGL 373. American Fiction since 1914. 3 Credits.

A study of significant trends in the novel and other forms of prose narrative written by United States-based writers in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Some emphasis will be placed on the relationship between fiction and historical events, such as world war, civil and human rights movements, and globalization.

ENGL 374. Lust, Passion, and the Body: The American Novel to 1914. 3 Credits.

This course focuses on how issues of lust, passion, and the body figure in the American novel from the late eighteenth century to 1914. Students also will examine the rise of the novel as a genre (a relatively new art form at the time) and the crisis it evoked regarding reading, readership, and morality.

ENGL 375. Landscape & Identity: Studies in Early & Nineteenth Century American Literature. 3 Credits.

This course explores the converging representations of race, ethnicity, and the environment in American literature and culture from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth, with a theoretical grounding in critical race theory and ecocriticism. Texts will include both novels and non-fiction accounts, along with art, music, and period films.

ENGL 376. American Poetry. 3 Credits.

A survey of the American poetic tradition, from its beginnings to the present, with a focus on major authors, themes, and/or movements.

ENGL 377. American Fiction Since 1914. 3 Credits.

A study of American fiction in the modern and contemporary eras, focusing on key developments in the genre.

ENGL 378. Modern American Literature. 3 Credits.

A study of major writers and significant trends in American literature from 1914 to 1945: fiction, drama, poetry.

ENGL 379. Contemporary American Literature. 3 Credits.

A study of major writers and significant trends in American literature since 1945: fiction, drama, poetry.

ENGL 380. Growing Up Ethnic: The Ethnic-American Bildungsroman. 3 Credits.

This course examines the Ethnic American Bildungsroman, broadly construed, in order to understand how America’s ethnic and racial diversity is expressed in literature and helps create a more inclusive national imaginary. We will study “coming-of-age” narratives by Native American, African American, Jewish American, Italian American, Asian American and/or Latinx writers, among others, and explore how their accounts of “growing up ethnic” broaden and challenge the boundaries of what constitutes representative U.S. literary voices.

ENGL 381. Studies in Identity: 20th Century American Drama. 3 Credits.

A study of major and transformative American dramas of the 20th and 21st century, from Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill to Sarah Ruhl and Paula Vogel. Course will consider what it is that defines these plays as “American,” and how do these plays challenge previously held assumptions about identity, race, gender, and sexuality in America. Texts will be studied as literature and well as blueprints for theatrical events. That is, we will consider not just the text on the page but its performative aspects and its production history, wherever possible.

ENGL 382. New York City, Modernity, and Postmodernity. 3 Credits.

This course explores representations of New York in 20th and 21st century literature and culture. It covers various literary genres and other cultural forms. The primary focus is on New York’s iconic presence in American literature and culture, emphasizing its status as an emblem of “modernity” and “postmodernity.”.

ENGL 384. Violence & Performativity. 3 Credits.

This course seeks to explore how select playwrights, across centuries and a variety of genres, have engaged violence as a means to represent and explore the human condition. This class will be guided by questions of what a damaged body onstage mean to an audience, how playwrights differ in their use of stage violence, and what the limits are, for scholars of theatre and performance, of understanding theatre as an efficacious form of public art and expression.

ENGL 385. Film Narrative. 3 Credits.

An intensive examination of the components and history of film narrative. Students view films and read critical essays and foundational theoretical works in order to gain an understanding of the unique mechanisms of film narrative (cinematography, sound, editing, etc.).

ENGL 386. Literature and Early Cinema at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. 3 Credits.

An examination of U.S. literature and select silent films from the turn into the twentieth century, which will study—and problematize—important categories of writing in this era such as realism, naturalism, local color, and novels of manners. Studying select silent films, students will show how authors in the era relied heavily on visual images and often borrowed strategies from early silent cinema.

ENGL 387. Queering the Text. 3 Credits.

This class will focus on the reading and interpretation of queer literary texts in the context of LGBTQ history, lives, and issues. We will situate our reading of these queer texts in their legal, medical, social, and historical contexts and look backward to precursors.

ENGL 388. Feminism & Film. 3 Credits.

An in-depth examination of feminist film theory and praxis. Students will study foundational readings as well as representative films.

ENGL 389. Gothic Fictions. 3 Credits.

With its pseudo-medieval tropes of ruined castles, dark dungeons, sadistic villains, and threatened heroines set in non-English settings, the gothic was the antithesis of Enlightenment rationalism and the locus of English cultural fears and desires. Focusing primarily on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British texts from the 1790s gothic heyday, this course will explore the historic development of gothic literature through different genres (the novel, poetry, drama, film) and forms (horror gothic, terror gothic, female gothic, queer gothic, orientalist gothic) into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including American gothic, postcolonial gothic, and horror.

ENGL 392. Topics in Literature. 3 Credits.

A major-level study of a genre, period, literary form, author, or theme not currently listed in the general literature courses. The subject to be studied will vary for each offering.

ENGL 395. Senior Seminar. 3 Credits.

A capstone course that examines 1. a literary period, genre, theme, or author(s); or 2. an issue, theme, theory or practice of composition or rhetoric through readings, class discussion, and student papers; student papers will emphasize research methodologies and will be presented and critiqued in class. The subject of the course will vary each semester. Required for senior English majors in the School of Arts and for those concentrating in adolescent or childhood English in the School of Education and Health.

ENGL 399. Independent Study. 3 Credits.

Individual study of a major writer or movement in English or American literature with a member of the department. Open only to seniors majoring in English who secure the approval of the Chair of the Department and the consent of the individual instructor. A student may elect this course once only.

ENGL 400. The Theater and the City. 3 Credits.

Taking full advantage of the spectrum of Broadway and Off-Broadway performance, this course invites students to experience theater as a multi-dimensional and collaborative art. Class discussions, on-site performances, and behind-the-scene accounts of selected theatrical events will enlighten the students' knowledge and appreciation of drama. (Special fee; permission of the chair.).

ENGL 475. Internship. 3 Credits.

Students participate in an off-campus training experience closely related to their area of study. Frequent meetings with the internship advisor and a paper are required. Internships are arranged through the Center for Career Development and must be approved in advance by the chair and the Dean of the School of Arts.