English Department Course Descriptions

Complete OU Course Catalog

0113 Introduction to College Writing. Course prepares students, who are judged at risk by secondary assessment, for "Principles of English Composition" (ENGL 1113). Course addresses issues of focus, development, expression, sentence structure, and editing skills. This course does not count for college credit at the University of Oklahoma. (F, Sp)

1013 English for Exchange Students. Designed to meet the needs of international students who are studying at OU for a semester or a year. Review all English skills including pronunciation, vocabulary, listening, writing, and grammar as well as expand students' knowledge of American cultures. (F, Sp)

1113 Principles of English Composition. Systematic analysis of the components of effective writing, with regular practice and close individual assistance. Study of expository prose models. (F, Sp, Su) [I-ENGL]

1213 Principles of English Composition. Prerequisite: 1113. Systematic analysis of effective argumentative discourse with regular practice and close individual assistance. Study of argumentative prose models. Library research paper required. (F, Sp, Su) [I-ENGL]

1913 Writing for the Health Professions. Prerequisite: 1213. Prepares pre-professionals in the health professions for writing they will do in later coursework and in practice. (F, Sp)

2003 Introduction to World Literature. Prerequisite: 1113. Introduction to idea and practice of comparative literature study. Focus will be on a particular body of literature (e.g., Italian post-WWII fiction, French-Canadian poetry of the nineteenth century, etc.) as shaped by other cultures and literature. Texts will be in original language and translation. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

2023 Thematic Approaches to Literature I. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Examination of a selected theme in important literary works from classical times to our own. Close attention to the cultural context of each work and to the degree of constancy and change in the treatment of the theme from age to age. (Irreg.)

2033 Special Topics in Women in Literature. Prerequisite: 1113, 1213. May be repeated with change of topic; maximum credit six hours. The study of a particular aspect of women in literature; topics to be examined include: women writing on women's condition; portraits of women artists; women's private experience and public statements in literature; social, intellectual and sexual restrictions experienced by women. (Irreg.)

2113 Intermediate Writing. Prerequisite: 1213, application and departmental permission. Writing of non-fiction prose in a workshop setting. Reading and analysis of prose models for analysis. (Irreg.)

2123 Creative Writing. Prerequisite: 1213, application and departmental permission. Introduction to imaginative writing, especially short stories and poems; some analysis of literary models, but major emphasis on student writing. (F, Sp)

2133 Autobiographical Writing. Prerequisite: 1213, application and departmental permission. Writing essays from personal experience. Reading and analysis of journals, diaries, letters and autobiographies as models for writing. (Irreg.)

2213 Fiction. Introduces fiction as a historical genre in literature. Covered will be sub-genres such as the novel, short story, memoir, travel sketch, etc. Discussion will cover such topics as character, plot and myth in narrative. The emphasis will be on close reading in light of the possibilities of fiction as a genre. (Irreg.) [IV-AF]

2223 Poetry. Gives an introduction to the elements and rhetoric of verse. The focus will be on the canon of American and British verse. (Irreg.) [IV-AF]

2233 Drama. A study of major Western plays (from Aeschylus to contemporary playwrights) with emphasis on literary dimensions: design, language, characterization, individual forms (such as tragedy, comedy and pastoral). May include consideration of social and literary contexts as well as acting and theatrical conventions. (Irreg.) [IV-AF]

2243 Film Narrative. Introduction to basic visual terminology, filmmaking concerns, film theory and aesthetics. Survey of different approaches to narrative filmmaking (for example, genre or auteur). Also discussion of film and society in regards to how one influences the other. (Irreg.) [IV-AF]

2313 Introduction to Critical Reading and Writing. Prerequisite: 1213. Focuses on close reading of literary texts using key literary terms and involving some introduction to larger issues such as authorship, textuality, and reception. (F, Sp)

2413 Introduction to Literature. Concentrates on close readings of masterpieces in fiction, drama and poetry. The readings are drawn from periods ancient to modern and may be American, British or Continental. (Irreg.) [IV-AF]

2433 World Literature to 1700. A reading of literary works, by types, from classical antiquity to 1700. (F) [IV-WC]

2443 World Literature, 1700 to Present. Masterpieces of world literature from 1700 to the modern period. (Sp) [IV-WC]

2513 Introduction to Shakespeare. Study of the best-known plays, with emphasis upon the sources of their modern appeal. (Irreg.)

2543 English Literature from 1375 to 1700. A survey of major writers and literary movements from Chaucer through Dryden. (F) [IV-WC]

2653 English Literature from 1700 to the Present. A survey of major writers and literary movements from Pope to the present. (Sp) [IV-WC]

2713 Introduction to Black Literature in the United States. Prerequisite: 1213 or equivalent. An introduction to Black writing produced in the United States. Introduces students to important texts and their major concerns. Attention is given to the struggle between literature that criticizes racial injustice and literature that celebrates Black cultural identity. (Irreg.)

2733 American Indian Literature: Early and Traditional. Prerequisite: 1113,1213 and one course in American literature, history or anthropology. A study of earliest forms of American Indian expression in the oral tradition and beginnings of its literature as written in English up to 1945. Special emphasis on understanding particular tribal world-views in order to appreciate the literature and problems inherent in translating from native languages. (Irreg.)

2743 American Indian Literature: Modern and Contemporary. Prerequisite: 1113,1213 and one course in American literature or history. Features the literature of American Indians written since 1945. Attention is directed to early writers such as Will Rogers and D'Arcy McNickle and to the recent renaissance of contemporary Indian writings by N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, James Welch and others. (Irreg.)

2773 American Literature. A survey of major American writers and literary movements from the colonial period to the Civil War. (F) [IV-WC]

2883 American Literature. A survey of major American writers and literary movements from the Civil War to present. (Sp) [IV-WC]

Unless otherwise noted, the prerequisite for courses in English numbered 3000-4999 is 1213 or the equivalent.

3013 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Literature. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. The study of two or more disciplines, focusing on a narrow historical period, a single major author and other discipline, or a circumscribed topic. (Irreg.)

3023 Thematic Approaches to Literature II. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Close study of a major theme or preoccupation of a literary period in important works of the period. Attention to the relationship of the theme to relevant philosophical, sociological, political, religious and/or scientific thought. (Irreg.)

3033 British Women Writers. A study of themes, literary traditions, and reception of works by British women writers from one or several periods. Considers relevant issues of female authorship, socio-historical contexts, generic conventions and feminist theory. (Irreg.)

3043 Twentieth Century British Women Novelists. Prerequisite: 1213. Introduces students to some of the major Twentieth century English and Scottish women novelists, and to the regional, social and cultural contexts of their work. (Irreg .)

3103 Topics in Advanced Composition. Prerequisite: twelve hours of English, application and departmental permission. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Practice in writing with emphasis on style and strategies of composition. Focus varies: practice in various literary genres; study of rhetoric, practice in various modes; argumentative writing; advanced expository writing. (Irreg.) [I-ENGL]

3113 Theory of English Grammar (Crosslisted with EDEN 3113). Reviews traditional English grammar briefly and then introduces theoretical models for studying language, especially transformational grammar. (F)

3123 Fiction Writing. Prerequisite: 2123, application and departmental permission. Intensive writing of short stories, with class attention to writing process, style, technique, revision and contemporary developments in the genre. (Irreg.)

3143 Studies in Literacy and Rhetoric. Prerequisite: 1213. Introduces students to current and historical knowledge about literacy and rhetoric and their places in modern society. Students also explore the forces (political, economic, racial, cultural) that shape the way literacy and rhetoric function in society. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3153 Technical Writing. Prerequisite: 1213 and Engineering or hard science majors only. For students of the pure and applied sciences. Focuses on the forms of report writing most frequently encountered in research and industry. (F, Sp, Su)

3163 Writing, Rhetoric and Histories of Technology. Prerequisite: twelve hours of English, application and departmental permission. An advanced writing course for any major that focuses on the relationship between current and historical technological change and students' writing practices. Workshop format privileges student writing and redrafting while concurrently studying selected histories of Western rhetoric. (Irreg.)

3173 Histories of Writing, Rhetoric and Technology. Prerequisite: twelve hours of English, application and departmental permission. Investigates how computers and other digital technologies have changed the ways we write and think. How video and television have changes the ways we write and think; and how aspects of the history of written communication, visual rhetoric, and other forces change the ways we write and think. (Irreg.)

3183 Authoring in the Information Age. Prerequisite: 1213, application and departmental permission. Covers authoring information in traditional paper documents, Power Point presentations, and web sites with emphasis on delivery, arrangement/architecture, and design for communicating through language and graphics. Topics include the impact of rhetoric contexts, accessibility and retrieval of information, and usability testing. (Irreg.)

3213 Special Topics in Fiction. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Presents a fictional type or problem in fiction for extensive study within a specified historical period: works by a single author in a special genre (e.g., Henry James' fantastic stories), works by several authors in a genre (e.g., violence in post-World War II novels), topics such as myth in a period of fiction and the consideration of recent developments in novel writing. (Irreg.)

3223 Oklahoma Writers/Writing Oklahoma. Prerequisite: 1213. An introduction to regional writing about Oklahoma. Focus on Oklahoma culture as a source of literature, and the creative work of course participants. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3233 Special Topics in Drama. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. A study of a particular literary aspect of drama. This may include the pursuit of a particular theme through several periods, or concentrate on a particular age or focus on the dramatic works of single or related playwrights. (Irreg.)

3243 Special Topics in Film. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Sophisticated concerns involving film: the works of specific directors (Bergmann, Fellini, Kubrick, etc.); the relationship of film to literature; the writings of notable film theorists (Bazin, Eisenstein, etc.) or critics (Mast, Kael, Sarris). (Irreg.)

3253 Special Topics in American Indian Literature. May be repeated twice with change in subject matter. Explores a major literary or cultural aspect of American Indian literature such as the Five Civilized Tribes, Eastern Tribes, the Literature of Massacre, autobiographical writing, fiction and poetry. (Irreg.)

3263 Women and Film. Prerequisite: 1213. Focus on the representation of women on screen and the role of women behind the camera from the late 19^th century through the present day. Readings will include major essays in feminist theory including sociological, psychoanalytic, semiological, and cultural approaches. (Irreg.)

3273 Comic Theory and Practice Through Film. Prerequisite: 1213. Through readings in comic theory and film, an examination of the comic response to life, celebrating our capacity to endure rather than to aspire and suffer. Forms of comedy to be examined include satire, black humor, farce, romantic comedy, festive comedy, comedy of manners, burlesque, the carnivalesque, and women's laughter. (Irreg.)

3283 Tribally Specific Approaches to Native American Literatures. Prerequisite: 1213. May be repeated once with change of content; maximum credit six hours. Literary oeuvre of a single American Indian tribe or examines the aesthetics of tribal nationalism as they apply to native-authored literary works. (Irreg.)

3313 Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies. Prerequisite: 2313. Focuses on relationships among different genres and media and between different forms and "levels" of culture, and on issues of cultural and multicultural interpretation. (F, Sp)

3323 Gender and Culture Texts. Considers gender to be a critical term in the study of culture. Readings consists of two groups of texts: theoretical and critical writings about gender and other texts (literary, cinematic, popular/mass cultural) in which, or by means of which, gender plays a role. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3333 Literature and Psychological Criticism. Using the methods of discursive analysis, examines the cultural situation in which particular psychological perspectives emerge in relation to experience and understanding, with an emphasis on the psychological schools appearing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Explore the assumptions central to a psychological theory and the characteristic language in which it is set forth. Content may include the application of one or more psychological perspectives (theories) to the understanding of both literary works and or cultural phenomena in general. (Irreg.)

3343 Literature of Empire. Survey of literary and nonliterary discourse about and relating to European colonies since the Renaissance. Study of colonial and postcolonial fiction, poetry, drama and criticism from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australasia and Europe, concentrating on English-language sources. (Irreg.)

3353 American Indian Nonfiction Writing. Examines the various forms of recorded oratory, nonfiction writing by American Indians. Includes autobiography, political and social writing, newspaper reportage, philosophy, anthropological and historical writings, humor and other kinds of writings by early and present-day American Indians. (Irreg.)

3363 Films and Context. Explores film within a particular period or milieu. Attention is given to production styles, prominent actors and studio influence within a definable setting such as American films in the 1930s. (Irreg.)

3373 Television: A Critical Approach. A critical investigation of commercial television as a medium of popular culture. Explores various genres of TV, the history of the medium and the forces that shape its techniques and direction. (Irreg.)

3383 Politics and Literature. Explore political theories of literature as well as political contexts and functions of literary works. May focus on a politically well-defined period, one or more specifically political genres, politics of particular literary movements, or on individual authors. (Irreg.)

3403 The Graphic Novel. Study of the works of Spiegelman, Pekar, Moore/Gibbons, Gaiman/McKean, Crumb and other graphic novel authors. Comparison with prose fictions having a strong visual element and possibly with films. (Irreg.) [IV-AF]

3413 Science and Culture Texts. Using the methods of discursive analysis, examine the interrelationship between scientific disciplines and cultural texts and contexts with emphasis on the dynamic interplay between literary and scientific texts. (Irreg.)

3423 Film and Other Expressive Forms. Examines from practical and theoretical perspectives the relationship between film and another area of creative expression such as the novel, theatre, painting and photography. (Irreg.)

3433 Foundations of Indic Culture and Civilization. Introduction to central religious, philosophical and literary writings of India from the Rg Veda through Bhagavad Gita. (Irreg.) [IV-NW]

3453 Afro-Caribbean Literature and Cultural Consciousness: From Alienation to Voice. Prerequisite: 1213. Explores select Afro-Caribbean writings by male and female writers through the historical and cultural influences that have shaped the production of this literature. Attention will be given to the literary style of the writers who represent various aspects of Caribbean experience. (Irreg.)

3463 American Fiction. Prerequisite: 1213. Historical survey of major American fiction, both novels and shorter fictional forms, from the Federal period to the present. Special attention is given to the uniqueness and diversity of themes and forms during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when fiction came to dominate American literary production and consumption. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3473 American Nonfiction. Prerequisite: 1213. Historical survey of many modes of literary nonfiction writing in the U.S., including autobiography, letters, journalism, political essays, speeches, and other forms, from the Colonial period to the present. Questions in rhetoric, form and audience in nonfiction writing will be addressed. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3483 Native American Writers. Prerequisite: 1213. May be repeated once with change of content; maximum credit six hours. Investigates the ways native American writers reflect their cultural histories and thought systems through their writing. By focusing on the emergence of native literature over the past three decades or on native writers of Oklahoma, students will learn how native traditions have been translated into literature. (Irreg.) [IV-NW]

3513 Medieval English Literature. Intensive study of some of the major literary works of medieval England with attention to the relation between the literature and its social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Readings in various genres will include such works as Gawain and the Green Knight, Everyman, Piers Plowman, Mort‚e d'Arthur, and The Canterbury Tales. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3523 Sixteenth-Century English Literature. Intensive study of some of the major literary works of sixteenth-century England with attention to the relation between the literature and its social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Readings will include works in various genres by such writers as Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Marlowe, More. (Irreg.)

3533 Seventeenth-Century English Literature. Intensive study of some of the major literary works of seventeenth-century England with attention to the relation between the literature and its social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Readings will include works in various genres by such writers as Donne, Herbert, Milton, Marvell, Bacon, Jonson and Webster. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3543 Eighteenth-Century English Literature. Traces the literary history of English literature from the end of the Renaissance to the rise of romanticism, showing in diverse genres the appeal of a return to classical standards at the start of the period and a disintegration of this impulse at its end. Through major selected texts, it will investigate the problems and processes of literary change. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3553 Transatlantic Literature. Prerequisite: 1213 and 2313. Explores links between British and American Literature and culture from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Themes include migration and the sea, issues of servitude, letter writing, interlocking uses of print, pen and voice to fashion local and transatlantic family, social, economics and political identities. (Irreg.)

3573 Arthurian Legend and Literature (Crosslisted with Modern Languages and Literatures 3573). Examination of the legend of King Arthur in European literature. Concentrate on the historical Arthur, followed by major portion of semester on medieval and modern literary texts concerning Arthur and the Round Table. All texts read in English. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3613 Nineteenth-Century English Literature. Intensive study of the major literary works of nineteenth-century English-the Romantic and Victorian periods-with attention to the relation between literature and its social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Readings will include work in various genres by such writers as Wordsworth, Austen, Dickens, Browning, Eliot, Carlyle and others. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3623 Twentieth-Century English Literature. Intensive study of some of the major literary works of twentieth-century England with attention to the relation between the literature and its social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Readings will include works in various genres by such writers as Conrad, Yeats, Eliot, Joyce, Woolf, Synge, Shaw, Auden, Waugh, Ford, etc. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3643 Special Topics in Non-Western Literature and Culture. Prerequisite: 1213. Examines a broad range of potential topics, including particular practices in the context of global cultures and/or minority groups in the West. Course readings draw on a variety of critical or theoretical work regarding culture, discourse, history, or institutions. (Irreg.)

3653 The Bible as Literature. Interpreting the Bible as literature. Although much class time will be spent developing readings of individual books, a number of critical issues that affect the ways to approach the project of understanding the Bible will also be considered. (Irreg.)

3713 Introduction to American Studies. An introduction to the main currents in American thought as exemplified by literary and nonliterary works (emphasis on the latter). Readings may include works from history, philosophy, art, science and other areas. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3723 Mysteries and Case Histories. Through a discussion of detective fiction and Freudian case histories, the rise of secular interpretations of the universe and human nature in the 19th century will be investigated. How detective fiction teaches us to read the universe in an age after Darwin will be explored. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3813 Science Fiction. Prerequisite: 1213. An introduction to a major genre of popular culture. Focuses on the philosophical, social, and creative values of science as a central constituent of modern life. Students explore the social, moral, and political issues at stake in science fiction's critique and occasional celebration of scientific culture. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3833 Introduction to American Drama. Prerequisite: 1213. A survey of major American plays and playwrights, dramatic theory and the theatrical institutions that supported and disseminated them from the Federal period to the present. Special emphasis on the changing social context of the theater. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

3960 Honors Reading. 1 to 3 hours. Prerequisite: admission to Honors Program. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Will consist of topics designated by the instructor in keeping with the student's major program. The topics will cover materials not usually presented in the regular classes. (Irreg.)

3970 Honors Seminar. 1 to 3 hours. Prerequisite: admission to Honors Program. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. The projects covered will vary. The content will deal with concepts not usually presented in regular coursework. (Irreg.)

3980 Honors Research. 1 to 3 hours. Prerequisite: admission to Honors Program. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Will provide an opportunity for the gifted honors candidate to work at a special project in the student's field. (Irreg.)

4003 Movements in World Literature (Crosslisted with Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics 4003). Prerequisite: junior standing. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit nine hours. Focuses on texts within a literary movement (literature other than canonical American or British). Also attention to critical and theoretical questions about concepts such as genre, nation, national building, national identity, etc. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4013 Major Figure (with subtitle). May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. The major figure designated in the subtitle is studied in depth: a major portion of his/her works are covered; significant critical approaches will be presented. (Irreg.)

G4023 Literary Movements. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. A course on literary movements or groups of authors who are related through their particular interests in certain distinct or philosophical ideas: the Metaphysical Poets, the Fugitive Writers, etc. (Irreg.)

4033 Indigenous Political Writing. Prerequisite: 2733 or 2743 or permission of the instructor. Examines key issues of American Indian politics and literature, exploring how they continue to shape the American Indian world in the present. Also considers how North American Indian politics relate to broader discussions of indigenous peoples and literatures around the world. (Irreg.)

G4133 History of the English Language. Traces the development of the English language from its Indo-European origins through its present state. Special attention will be paid to changes in grammar and vocabulary. (Irreg.)

G4203 Special Topics in Literary Forms. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Generic approach to literary forms; exact subject material (eighteenth-century satire, Western novel, gothic fiction) will vary from course to course. (Irreg.)

G4233 Major Figures in Theory. Intensive exploration of the work and influence of one or a small number of literary or cultural theorists. Texts typically will encompass primary reading in a theorist or group of theorists and ancillary readings in the work of writers or other theorists who show the theorist(s). (Irreg.)

G4243 Issues in Cultural Studies. Isolate significant issues in the theoretical working out and practice of cultural studies, using the methods of discursive analysis. focus on recent attempts in the humanities to define culture, formulate post-colonial critiques of culture, and other such issues in feminism and cultural theory that are part of the working out of discourses about culture and society. (Irreg.)

G4253 Introduction to Film Theory. Introduction to basic issues of film theory as seen by classical and contemporary film theorists. (Irreg.)

G4273 Women Writers. Prerequisite: 1213. May be repeated twice with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. A study of women's writings from one or several periods. Approach may be thematic, generic, regional, historical, etc., and will incorporate critical approaches including feminist theory and criticism. (Irreg.)

G4303 Special Topics in Criticism. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Selected studies in literary criticism, including the criticism of film. The exact subject matter will vary from instructor to instructor. (Irreg.)

4323 The Harlem Renaissance. Prerequisite: 1213. Examines the literature, culture, and politics of the Harlem renaissance. In addition to texts of the 1920s, the course considers the contexts out of which the movement emerged, as well as its effects in the U.S. and abroad. (Irreg.)

G4343 The Indian in American Popular Culture. Prerequisite: 1213 or equivalent. Explores the various appearances and roles, stereotyped or otherwise, American Indians have traditionally been pigeon-holed into throughout America's five centuries of recorded history. Covers Captain John Smith, Colonial era, Romantic period of Cooper and Longfellow, and modern writers Waters and Berger. (Irreg.) [IV-NW]

4373 Black Literary Form and Cultural Expression. Prerequisite: 1213. Compare and contrast the relationship between literary form and cultural expression by analyzing Black literature produced in two different contexts: the United States and the Caribbean. Examine writing from the literary movements knows as the "Harlem Renaissance," "Negritude," and the "Black Arts." (Irreg.)

4383 Civilization and Diaspora. Prerequisite: 1213. Examines literary and cultural forms from the African Diaspora (the Black population outside of continental Africa) offering alternative definitions of civilization, literary and progress. Define and explore what is called Diaspora literacy: linguistic, philosophical and cultural ways of knowing that come out of African Diaspora experience. (Irreg.) [IV-NW]

G4403 Special Topics in Comparative Literature. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit six hours. Topics will vary. Literature studied may include combinations of foreign (in translation) and English and/or American literature. Instructor's approach may be thematic, regional, historical, generic, etc., but the course will include intensive cross-cultural explorations of literature. (Irreg.)

G4423 Modern European Novel. Consideration of the works of five major European novelists of the last one hundred years. Course will be comparative and founded upon such themes as loss of self, alienation and the artist's search for new techniques and structure. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4433 Modern British and European Drama. A survey of British and European drama from Ibsen and Shaw to the present day. (Irreg.)

G4443 Contemporary Literature. Intensive study of major literary works since World War II in English, American and outside the Anglo-American tradition. Readings will include works in various genres by such writers as Barthelme, Fowles, Marquez, Larkin, Merrill, Solzhenitsyn, Grass, Sartre, etc. (Irreg.)

G4453 Literature and Landscape. Exploration of writers, gardeners, farmers and painters who translated nature into art. Texts range from ancient to modern world and may include classical, Renaissance, Romantic, and American works in which engagement in landscape is an important topic. (Irreg.)

G4463 Linguistics and Semiotics. Trace the study of synchronic linguistics in phonology, syntactics and semiotics in the twentieth century and examine the field of semiotics based on this development. (Irreg.)

G4503 Backgrounds of the Renaissance. Prerequisite: 1213. A study of classical and continental authors esteemed in the English Renaissance. Focus on Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Petrarch, Erasmus, and Machiavelli in the contexts of their cultures as well as their contributions to culture. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4513 Chaucer. Examines the poetry of The Canterbury Tales and one or two of Chaucer's earlier narrative poems. Special emphasis will be given to the social, literary and cultural backgrounds to Chaucer's work. (Irreg.)

G4523 Shakespeare Comedies. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing. Close reading and analysis of Shakespeare's comedies and histories. Selected criticism, 1600 to the present. Historical background and Shakespeare's theatre. Dramatic traditions, movie interpretations, performance theory and acting. Emphases and reading lists vary from year to year. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4533 Shakespeare Tragedies. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing. Close reading and analysis of Shakespeare's tradegies and lyric poetry. Selected criticism, 1600 to the present. Historical background and Shakespeare's theatre. Dramatic traditions, movie interpretations, performance theory and acting. Emphases and reading lists vary from year to year. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4543 Tudor and Stuart Drama. Intensive study of the drama of Shakespeare's contemporaries, with emphasis on the plays of Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Attention to dramatic forms, social issues, cultural context, language and performance. Readings will include plays by Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, Heywood, Fletcher, Ford. (Irreg.)

G4553 Milton. Close reading and analysis of selected poetry and prose, with emphasis on Paradise Lost. Study of literary forms, cultural myths, theology, ethics. Themes of loss, guilt, free will, male-female relationships. (Irreg.)

G4563 Drama of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century. Changes in the theatre, the audience and critical theory; foreign and native models; moral reform and political censorship; such genres as heroic, tragedy, wit, comedy and sentimental drama; such playwrights as Dryden, Otway, Congreve, Farquhar, Rowe, Steele and Sheridan. (Irreg.)

G4573 Eighteenth-Century English Novel. Sources, early reputation and emerging critical theories; economic, moral, feminine influences; realistic, psychological, sentimental, gothic and satiric directions; technical developments in structure and point of view; works by such novelists as Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne and Jane Austen. (Irreg.)

G4583 Major Authors in Eighteenth-Century British Literature. Prerequisite: 1213. May be repeated with change of subject; maximum credit six hours. Examines the works of major writers from the long 18th century (ca. 1660-1832), including poets, dramatists, novelists, or essayists such as Aphra Behn, John Dryden, Eliza Haywood, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Jane Austen, or Mary Wollstonecraft. (Irreg.)

G4593 Topics in Medieval Literature and Culture. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated with change of content; maximum credit six hours. Specialized study in selected topics in medieval literary culture. Students will be expected to be able to read Middle English. (Irreg.)

G4613 Nineteenth-Century English Novel. Historical and aesthetic study of the novel in relation to main developments in English literary history during the period. Emphasis, however, is on the intrinsic literary values in the novels read. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4623 English Romantic Poetry. Prerequisite: 1213 or equivalent. May be repeated once with change of content; maximum credit six hours. Intensive study of the most important poems and criticism of early Romantic poets and later Romantic poets. (Irreg.)

G4643 Twentieth-Century English Novel. Intensive study of the major British novels of the twentieth century with attention to the relation between the novel and its social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Readings will include the work of Conrad, Joyce, Lawrence, Woolf, Waugh, Huxley, etc. (Irreg.) [IV-WC]

G4653 Twentieth-Century English Poetry. A survey with emphasis on Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Lawrence, Graves, Auden, and Dylan Thomas. (Irreg.)

G4713 Major Authors in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Prerequisite: 1213. May be repeated with change of subject; maximum credit six hours. Intensive study of one or more major 19th century American authors such as James Fenimore Cooper, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Emily Dickinson, or Mark Twain. (Irreg.)

G4723 Issues in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Prerequisites: 1213. May be repeated with a change of subject; maximum credit six hours. Intensive study of 19th century American texts in a specific literary or historical context, such as the Civil War and Reconstruction, the women's rights movement, transcendentalism, regionalism or sentimentalism. (Irreg.)

G4733 American Naturalism and Realism. Major American novelists from the Civil War to the end of World War I, including Howells, James, Twain, Crane, Dreiser, Norris and Wharton. (Irreg.)

G4813 American Drama. An examination of representative American plays ranging from naturalistic tragedy to farce. Emphasis is on the period since 1918. (Irreg.)

G4823 American Novel Since 1920. Major authors and schools in American fiction including Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck and others selected by the instructor. (Irreg.)

G4833 Twentieth-Century American Poetry. A survey from Frost to the present with emphasis on major figures in each of three generations. (Irreg.)

4853 The English Capstone Course. Prerequisite: 1113, 1213, and 2433 and 2443 or 2543 and 2653 or 2773 and 2883, plus twelve hours. Combine English majors from diverse tracks to work on a topic involving major cultural issues, artifacts and texts. Projects include a significant amount of writing demonstrating the students' accomplishments in analyzing literature. (F, Sp) [V]

G4913 The Teaching of English (Crosslisted with EDEN 4913). Prerequisite: 3222, nine hours of education, and senior standing. To be taken preferably the semester immediately preceding student teaching. Development of skills in teaching the language arts at the secondary level. Introduction to current trends, professional literature and resource materials. Practice in presenting model lessons. Written reports. (Sp)

4923 Advanced Fiction Writing (Slashlisted with 5923). Prerequisite: six hours of creative writing, application and departmental permission. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Work at an advanced level for qualified students. Intensive writing, peer criticism, revision, and reading in current markets with the goal of producing publishable work. No student may earn credit for both 4923 and 5923. (Irreg.)

4933 Advanced Poetry Writing (Slashlisted with 5933). Prerequisite: six hours of creative, application and departmental permission. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Intensive writing, peer criticism, revision, and reading in current markets with the goal of producing publishable work. No student may earn credit for both 4933 and 5933. (Irreg.)

4943 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Writing (Slashlisted with 5943). Prerequisite: six hours of 2000-3000-level writing courses, application and departmental permission. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Intensive writing, peer criticism, revision, and reading in current markets with the goal of producing publishable creative nonfiction. No student may earn credit for both 4943 and 5943. (Irreg.)

4970 Special Topics in World Literature Today. 1 to 3 hours. Prerequisite: 1213 and permission of instructor. May be repeated with a change of topic, maximum credit six hours. In-depth study of selected contemporary international writers/jurors who visit campus as part of the Neustadt and/or Puterbaugh symposiums for World Literature Today. (Irreg.)

4990 Independent Study. 1 to 3 hours. Prerequisite: three courses in general area to be studied; permission of instructor and department. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Contracted independent study for topics not currently offered in regularly scheduled courses. Independent study may include library and/or laboratory research and field projects. (F, Sp, Su)

Courses in English numbered 5000 and above are primarily for graduate students who have had eighteen hours of English, or the equivalent, but are open by permission to seniors.

G5003 Seminar-Special Topics in English, American or Comparative Literature. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated with change of subject matter. Topics in theoretical and historical problems of English, American or comparative literature in different periods. (Irreg.)

G5113 Teaching College Composition and Literature. Prerequisite: graduate standing. In a workshop format, students will apply readings in composition and literary theory to such practical concerns of freshman English teaching as course planning, assignment preparation, grading and discussion techniques. (F)

G5133 Teaching Technical Writing. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Introducution to the types of writing professional engineers and scientists are expected to do and methods of teaching these forms of writing. In addition, students will attend classes being taught by the professor and have the opportunity to design and teach some workshops as well as evaluate the undergraduates' work. (Irreg.)

G5223 Seminar-Film. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Will involve reading and analyzing the works of the more sophisticated film theorists and critics as well as studying approaches to the teaching of film (the auteur theory; film history; film genres; visual literacy; film and society; film as narrative; non-narrative forms). (Irreg.)

G5243 Women Writers. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. Topics vary. Focus is on women's achievements, the context of the ages in which they wrote, and on critical approaches including feminist theory and criticism. (Irreg.)

G5253 Transatlantic Women Writers. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Explores work of eighteenth and early nineteenth century women writers who were "transatlantic" in different ways: some were born and/or lived in America and published in England; some wrote novels which crossed the Atlantic or were set on both sides; some corresponded and wrote in tandem. (Irreg.) 

G5313 Literary Criticism. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. A comprehensive history of literary criticism, the study of a particular movement or related movements in literary criticism; or a study of a particular issue or related issues in literary criticism. (Sp)

G5323 Contemporary Cultural Studies. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated once with change of topic; maximum credit six hours. Addresses variable topics and issues in cultural studies such as popular culture, mass media, subcultures, gender codes, visual media, minority literatures, global cultural, and post-modernization. (Irreg.)

G5333 Native American Women Writers. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Reading or viewing poetry, fiction, autobiography, and film by Native American women. Examining traditional Indian societies' conceptions of gender, and the relationship between Western feminism and Native women's political experiences. (Irreg.)

G5343 Native American Fiction. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter; maximum credit nine hours. Study of fiction written by Native American authors in the nineteenth and twentieth century. The course may include native authors from throughout the Americas and study the cultural contexts of Native American fiction. This course may also focus on particular themes and authors. (Irreg.)

G5353 Native American Poetry. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter; maximum credit nine hours. Study of poetry written by Native American authors in twentieth century. Course may include native authors from throughout the Americas (including poetry in indigenous languages) and study the cultural contexts of Native American poetry. This course may also focus on particular themes and authors. (Irreg.)

G5363 Native American Non-Fiction and Criticism. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter; maximum credit nine hours. Study of Native American cultures by means of non-fiction and scholarly-critical writings. Course may focus on issues of methodology, theory, and cultural studies. Course may also focus on particular themes and authors. (Irreg.)

G5373 Graduate Topics in Native American Literature. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit twelve hours. Special topics focusing on Native American cultures, including literature, drama, philosophy, and thematic approaches to the subject. Course may also focus on particular themes, movements, and authors. (Irreg.)

G5403 Issues in Composition, Rhetoric and Literacy. Prerequisite: graduate standing. An overview of contemporary research and theory in the study of written composition, with emphasis on rhetorical theory, the interrelationship of writing and reading, and the politics of defining literacy. (Irreg.)

G5413 History of Modern Composition Studies. Prerequisite: graduate standing. A survey of twentieth century scholarship on composition theory, including composing process theory and discourse theory. (Irreg.)

G5423 Classical Rhetorical Theory. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Historicizing of rhetoric from ancient Egyptians to Greek sophists, Plato, Aristotle to Rome and Augustine. Includes examination of the ways "history" and cultural studies comprise the area. (Irreg.)

G5433 Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric and Composition Theory. Prerequisite: graduate standing. An introduction to the rhetorical thought of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain and America, focusing on the development of rhetorical theories within the contexts of (1) eighteenth-century Scottish moral philosophy, (2)English romanticism, and (3) the emergence and development of higher education in nineteenth-century America. (Irreg.)

G5443 Twentieth-Century Rhetoric and Composition Theory. Prerequisite: graduate standing. A survey of twentieth-century scholarship on rhetoric and composition theory, beginning with the rhetorical theories of Kenneth Burke, with emphasis on the mid-century revival of rhetoric and composition through current changes brought about by technology and feminism. (Irreg.)

G5453 Special Topics in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated three times with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. Addresses topical issues being debated within the profession. (Irreg.)

G5463 Rhetoric and Technology. Prerequisite: graduate standing. A graduate seminar designed to explore the impact of computer technology on rhetorical theory. Examines electronic literacy in terms of the following themes: history and writing technologies; the politics of writing instruction in computer-mediated classrooms; rhetoric and issues of difference; and intellectual property in a computer age. (Irreg.)

G5473 Women's Rhetorics and Writing Practices. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Analysis of selected historical and current work by women according to histories and theories of written composition theory, rhetorical theory, and literacy practices. These issues are studied by analyzing how women interact with different forms of communication (e.g., speaking, print, film, video, computer graphics). (Irreg.)

G5483 Rhetorical Perspectives on Literacy. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Inquiry into the meaning of "literacy" in the electronic age where text, graphics, and video "interanimate" each other. It asks: what are the boundaries of literacy: What academic fields does its study encompass: What is the current benchmark for illiteracy: How have different societies defined functional literacy? (Irreg.)

G5513 Major Medieval Author. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with a change of subject matter; maximum credit nine hours. Topics vary. Focus on an outstanding medieval author such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Margery Kempe, or Thomas Malory, read in his or her literary, historical, and social context. (Irreg.)

G5523 Topics in Medieval Literature and Culture. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with a change of content; maximum credit nine hours. Topics vary. Special studies in major figures, genres, themes, and movements of the Middle Ages. (Irreg.)

G5543 Topics in Early Modern Literature and Culture. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. Topics vary. Special studies in major figures, genres, themes, and movements of the early modern period. (Irreg.)

G5533 Major Early Modern Author. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. Topics vary. Focus on a significant early modern author such as William Shakespeare, John Milton, or Margaret Cavendish, read in his or her literary, historical, and social context. (Irreg.)

G5553 Postcolonial Theory and Writing. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Theories of postcolonialism as they have emerged from poststructuralist theory in the west, and from various political-literary movements in the non-Western world. Also focuses on the literatures of postcolonial cultures in Asia, Africa, Latin American, the Caribbean, Australia, and North America. (Irreg.)

G5603 Seminar-Eighteenth-Century English Literature. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter. Special studies in major figures, genres, themes and movements of the eighteenth century. (Irreg.)

G5613 Seminar-Nineteenth-Century English Literature. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter. Special studies in the Romantic and Victorian periods designed to promote original research and criticism. (Irreg.)

G5623 Seminar-Twentieth-Century English Literature. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter. Topics vary. Special studies in authors, literary types and literary movements. (Irreg.)

G5703 Seminar – Special Topics in American Literature. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated with change of subject matter; maximum credit 9 hours. Intensive study of a major theme, issue, genre or figure in American literature and culture that is not limited to any single historical period. (Irreg.)

G5723 Late Nineteenth Century & Early Twentieth Century American Lit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Examination of late nineteenth and early twentieth century fictional accounts of the relation between class and literary culture. Discussion includes writers' relation to literary market, writers' sense of the capacity of literature to transform society, and the writers' relation to nationalism, imperialism, and/or cosmopolitanism. Provides a broad survey of high and middlebrow literary culture in the U.S. at the turn of the century. (Irreg.)

G5803 Seminar-Twentieth-Century American Literature. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with change of subject matter. Topics vary. Special studies in American authors, ideas and literary types. (Irreg.)

G5813 Blackness, Coloniality, Gender. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Taking an historical and cultural approach to Black U.S. and Caribbean female writing, explore the struggle between the "official" cultural contexts and the spaces of counter-cultural resistance. Analyze the terminology "colonial" and "postcolonial" and the current theoretical landscape in which these terms are used. (Irreg.)

G5903 Methods of Graduate Study. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Required of all Ph.D. candidates. An introduction to the use of library resources as relevant to the various aspects of the discipline. Students will pursue individual research projects in their concentrations: literary study, criticism, rhetoric, composition or other areas. (Irreg.)

G5923 Advanced Fiction Writing (Slashlisted with 4923). Prerequisite: graduate standing, six hours of creative writing, application and departmental permission. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Work at an advanced level for qualified students. Intensive writing, peer criticism, revision, and reading in current markets with the goal of producing publishable work. No student may earn credit for both 4923 and 5923. (Irreg.)

G5933 Advanced Poetry Writing (Slashlisted with 4933). Prerequisite: graduate standing, six hours of creative writing, application and departmental permission. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Intensive writing, peer criticism, revision, and reading in current markets with the goal of producing publishable work. No student may earn credit for both 4933 and 5933. (Irreg.)

G5943 Advanced Creative Nonfiction Writing (Slashlisted with 4943). Prerequisite: graduate standing, six hours of 2000-3000-level writing courses, application and departmental permissions. May be repeated; maximum credit six hours. Intensive writing, peer criticism, revision, and reading in current markets with the goal of producing publishable creative nonfiction. No student may earn credit for both 4943 and 5943. (Irreg.)

G5960 Directed Readings in Research. 1 to 4 hours. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated with change of content; M.A. thesis option maximum credit three hours; M.A. non-thesis option maximum credit six hours; Ph.D. maximum credit nine hours. An individual course, which may not duplicate regular course offerings, of intensive research. Area and problem to be determined by student and directing professor. (Irreg.)

G5980 Research for Master's Thesis. 2 to 9 hours. Variable enrollment; maximum credit applicable toward degree, six hours. (F, Sp, Su)

G6013 Research Seminars in Composition, Rhetoric or Literacy. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Topics vary. Issues of the historical/philosophical in composition and rhetorical studies; issues of empirical research in composition/rhetorical studies; issues of literacy in composition/rhetorical studies. (Irreg.)

G6103 Introduction to Research Methods in Rhetoric and Composition. Prerequisite: by permission. Topics vary. A survey of the literature in composition research from 1900 to the present; directed research of an empirical, historical or theoretical nature. (Irreg.)

G6113 Issues in Contemporary Theory and Cultural Studies. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Explores issues in theory and cultural studies during recent decades, focusing on influential figures, major texts, innovative schools and movements, and new problems in the field. (Irreg.)

G6213 Research Seminar on Women Writers. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. May be repeated twice with change of content; maximum credit nine hours. Detailed research on women writers and the contexts in which they write, as well as criticism and theory. (Irreg.)

G6503 Research Seminar in Early English Studies. Prerequisite: graduate standing. May be repeated twice with a change of content; maximum credit of nine hours. Involves detailed research in early English, early modern or medieval literature. (Irreg.)

G6703 Research Seminar in American Literature Before 1900. Prerequisite: by permission. Involves detailed research in American literature before 1900; limited to students working on the M.A. and Ph.D. who have taken the proseminar in American literature before 1900. (Irreg.)

G6803 Research Seminar in American Literature After 1900. Prerequisite: by permission. Involves detailed research in American literature since 1900; limited to students working on the M.A. and Ph.D. who have taken the proseminar in American literature since 1900. (Irreg.)

G6980 Research for Doctor's Dissertation. (F, Sp, Su)

Updated: May 17, 2005