Academic Catalog 2012-13 1.800.847.3330 advanced.jhu.edu
490.680 20th-Century World Literature
490.686 Identity in Contemporary Writing
In this fiction reading course, stories or novels from such authors as Kafka, Beckett, Waugh, Marquez, Malamud, Coetzee, and Tanizaki are used to explain how different cultures may have different literary traditions but how the mechanisms of good writing are universal. Class assignments may include response writings and original fiction as well as oral presentations.
This cross-concentration reading elective explores how personal identity is transformed into fiction, poetry, and essays. Writers studied include those whose race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability figure prominently in their work, as well as writers who ignore or dismiss such categorization. Students may be asked to write responses, creative pieces, craft analyses, or essays for discussion by the class. This course should be of interest to students of any concentration.
490.681 Development of Poetry and Poetics I (20th-21st Century)
This reading/craft analysis course focuses on 20th-21st Century American poetry, primarily from the Modernists through the post–World War II era. Students may choose either creative or critical writing assignments inspired by or based on the writers studied. This course is designed to pair with 490.685 Development of Poetry and Poetics II, which covers poetry before the 20th century. Students wishing to take both do not have to take them in any order. Other students may consider either poetics course as an elective. (This course eventually may be combined into a single course with 490.685 Development of Poetry and Poetics II.)
490.687 The Short Story: Past and Present
This fiction reading elective begins with a brief review of the history and development of short fiction, moving to analysis of contemporary forms, trends, and practitioners. Featured authors may include Chekhov, Carver, Paley, Barthelme, Munro, and Dixon. The course focuses on intense reading, analysis, and discussion more than writing assignments. Students also may be asked to make class presentations and to review a range of literary journals. 490.688 The Evolution of Fictional Forms
In this craft elective, students examine aspects of voice in contemporary novels and short stories, considering how style, point of view, tone, structure, and culture all contribute to an author’s or narrator’s individual voice. To understand how authors use these elements, students complete exercises to strengthen their own fictional voices. Readings include novels, short stories, and articles on craft. Class assignments may include response writings and original fiction as well as oral presentations.
This reading/craft elective examines the formative genres of fiction. Students will read examples of romance, confession, anatomy, and novel and consider contemporary fiction in terms of these historical trends. The readings will range from ancient Egyptian tales and Greek romances to typically misplaced 19th-century works such as Flaubert’s “The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Colette, Camus, Julian Barnes, Stephen Dixon, and Lucy Ellmann also may be included in the reading. Students will respond to the readings with fictional pastiches reflecting the forms under study, culminating in a final hybridized project.
490.684 The Heritage of Fiction I & II
490.689 Masters of Nonfiction
490.683 Voice in Modern Fiction
This reading course examines the historical development of fiction craft, emphasizing the interrelationship of social and cultural development with the maturation of writing. Students learn to appreciate how contemporary authors have roots in the fiction of the past, and how they themselves might be inspired by those who came before them. The course requires extensive reading as well as creative and critical writing. Section I examines fiction before the 20th Century; Section II examines the 20th-21st Centuries. Either section may be taken, and neither has to be taken in order. 490.685 Development of Poetry and Poetics II (Pre–20th Century)
This reading elective allows students to analyze and discuss contemporary nonfiction and science-medical writing without the additional requirement of extensive writing assignments. While students write brief reports and make a class presentation, the course largely involves reading and discussing such masters of the genre as McPhee, Mitchell, Didion, Talese, Kidder, and others. Extensive reading is required, and students should be prepared for significant class participation. This course is designed primarily for students in nonfiction and science-medical writing; fiction writers and poets also may find it of interest. The goal of the course is to develop reading and craft-analysis skills that will help writers grow throughout their professional lives. 490.691 Science Policy & Politics
This course explores how science, medicine, and technology can be affected by politics and practices within government, the private sector, and within the fields themselves. Students use the evolution of science policy as context for discussion, research, and writing about contemporary issues. Students in science-medical writing are encouraged to take this course, which requires class presentations and an essay on science policy and politics. This course is open to students in other AAP graduate programs, including those in Government, Communication, Biotechnology, Environmental Sciences and Policy, and to those in other graduate programs at Hopkins.
Writing
This historical survey traces the changing conventions and innovations of English and American poetry before the 20th Century. Students read representative poetry and seminal essays and produce creative and critical writing in response. The emphasis is on lyric poetry, with special attention to meter, figurative language, diction, and rhetorical stance, as well as on the evolution of the poet’s role in society. This course is designed to pair with 490.681 Development of Poetry and Poetics I, which covers poetry in the 20th Century and beyond. Students wishing to take both do not have to take them in any order. Other students may receive permission to enroll in either course as an elective. (This course eventually may be combined into a single course with 490.681 Development of Poetry and Poetics I.)
159