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160
English
Course Descriptions for Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ireland’s “great writers” (W.B. Yeats and James Joyce, for example), it will begin the semester reading a number of texts that establish the important colonial perspective of Ireland’s identity such as Edmund Spenser’s A View of the State of Ireland, Jonathan Swift’s Anglo-Irish tracts, and Lady Morgan’s The Wild Irish Girl, all of which derive from the Anglo-Irish perspective, which emphasizes the English influence on Irish history and culture. The trajectory of this class attempts to capture the persistent struggles for an Irish identity free from England’s influence; the class ends in the anxious atmosphere of the early 20th century, during which the agitations for Home Rule led to partition and civil war. Additional texts may include James Joyce’s Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls, and Lady Gregory’s Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland. Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2013. 4 credits ENGL2124 History through Fiction: Event and Imagination History and literature question and illuminate one another as the imagined world of the political novel is read against, and as part of, historical events. How do such works as The Heart of a Dog, The Victory, or Nervous Conditions present politics and society? How, in reading them, do we gain a greater understanding of power relations and human relations in times of crisis and stasis? Works will be placed in context and then discussed in terms of perspective, ideology, style and impact. When last offered, the theme of the course was Jewish history through fiction; upcoming themes include ancient and early modern history through fiction, imperialism and colonialism in fiction, and history through detective and mystery stories. Spring semester, alternate years, expected spring 2013. 4 credits (Cross-referenced with HIST2124)
Emmanuel Emmanuel College College
ENGL2303 The Modern American Novel (AI-L) Focusing on American novels since World War I, this course will introduce students to a range of literary responses to some of the dramatic historical developments and cultural changes of the modern era. Students will study the formal and aesthetic developments in the modern novel while also examining each literary work in its historical context. Writers studied will include both well-known and lesser-known figures, and the novels discussed will lend themselves to a consideration of the diversity of American experiences that has characterized American modernity. Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2012. 4 credits ENGL2304 American Voices I: U.S. Literature to 1865 (AI-L) This course examines the development of American literature from Columbus to Whitman. Students will consider the aesthetic characteristics of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, as they engage with religious and political movements like Puritanism and slavery, interrogate themes like self-reliance and individualism, and discuss sociocultural issues such as class dynamics, the treatment of indigenous peoples by European settlers, and gender relations. Students consider each text within its historical context in order to understand how it simultaneously responds and contributes to the conditions that have given rise to it. Throughout the semester, students will identify and define the characteristics that constitute an American voice. Fall semester. 4 credits ENGL2305 Writing Women (AI-L) This course surveys the role of women in British and/or American literary culture, as both creators and subjects of literary and cinematic expression. Readings include a range of poetry, short stories, novels and visual texts such as paintings and film.