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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
The many variations of the detective novel--from the British "cozy" to The many variations of the detective novel--from the British "cozy" to American "hardboiled" thrillers--have long been staples of popular culture. While the intricate plot may play a large role in attracting readers, other formal elements of detective fiction have attracted many writers, some who would transgress the genre itself. In this class, we will read and discuss works by various American ethnic writers and their use of the forms and conventions of the mystery novel to ask: how do we understand the relationship between racial/ethnic identities, histories, experiences and the genres, conventions, and other elements of detective fictions? What is the relationship of form, genre, narrative to cultural politics and history? How do the different writers use conventions of detective fictions, and to what effects and purposes? To this end, we will be readings works that are recognizable "detective fictions" as well as works that complicate and push the boundaries of the genre, to the extent that they become nearly unrecognizable. This is not to suggest that these boundaries are strict or stable. As we will see, the question of what does or does not constitute "detective fiction" will become less central as we investigate multiple ways in which the novels/authors stretch, disrupt, and play with the forms and elements of detective fictions.
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3.00 Credits
This course is for students who want to learn how to write a clear, well?argued, intelligible paper based on close, critical analysis of texts. A range of literary texts will be assigned including fiction and poetry, but the emphasis will be on the genre of the literary essay/creative nonfiction. This course is designed to prepare students for upper-level English department courses.
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3.00 Credits
The goal of this course is to teach you how to write a clear, well-argued, and interesting analytical paper. We will spend most of our class time actively engaged in a variety of techniques to improve your critical reasoning and analytical skills, both written and oral. Though the skills you learn will be applicable to other disciplines, and a central purpose of the course is to improve all aspects of your writing, this is a literature class, designed partly to prepare you for upper level courses in the English Department, so we will, therefore, spend equal time on the interpretation of literature, in this case, contemporary American fiction, examining the very, very recent (last ten to twenty years) developments in American fiction. We will read short stories and novels by writers such as Mary Robison, Karen Russell, Cormac McCarthy, Nam Le, ZZ Packer, among others. This course will focus more directly on basic expository writing skills than the other 100-level classes.
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3.00 Credits
Ghosts and witches, magicians and spirits--all are part of the supernatural worlds that so often intrude upon what we're tempted to assume is a drama's "true reality." This course will examine six of Shakespeare's greatest--and strangest--plays by considering the consequences of the collision of these realms--their powers and limitations, their illusions and revelations. Plays will include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale.
Prerequisite:
A 100-level English course, or a score of 5 on the AP Exam in English Literature or a 6 or 7 on the International Baccaluareate
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3.00 Credits
An introduction to film analysis, focusing on features produced by Hollywood studios from the 1930s to the present. Our emphasis will be on film genres, and on the formal properties of film as a medium for telling stories. We will also consider the industrial organization of film production and the intersection of economics and popular culture. Students will be required to attend screenings of one and sometimes two films weekly, by directors including Welles, Hitchcock, Coppola, and Jonze. Critical readings will be assigned.
Prerequisite:
A 100-level English course, or a score of 5 on the AP Exam in English Literature or a 6 or 7 on the International Baccalaureate; not open to students who have taken English 203
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3.00 Credits
Mainstream narrative cinema as we know it today was shaped during Hollywood's "Golden Age," the 1930's and 1940's, when Hollywood set the stylistic and narrative norms that have dominated cinema ever since. Working in many narrative genres, and forging distinctive styles despite the industrial methods of the studio system, the best Hollywood directors, such as Howard Hawks, Ernst Lubitsch, and Preston Sturges, were able to produce an astonishing number of great films within a short span of time, which won the spectator over not by the sensational visual stunts so common today, but by using superb writing and deft cinematography to spin out engaging narratives. Despite their light touch, these films are deceptively thoughtful about social, psychological, and ethical problems. In this tutorial course, we will study a range of films by Hawks, Lubitsch, and Sturges--primarily comedies, but also gangster films, Westerns, and films noirs--taking advantage of each director's distinctive style and social and moral vision to find common strains of thought among diverse works. Topics to be discussed will include sexuality and gender relations, class mobility, distinctively American forms of ambition and heroism, World War II and the Depression, thievery and con games. Critical essays on individual films, as well as accounts of film genres and of the socio-historical backgrounds of the period, will be assigned, along with films such as Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, The Big Sleep, Red River, Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, To Be or Not To Be, The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, and Sullivan's Travels. After a week in which we will meet as a group to become acquainted with some of these films and with approaches to analyzing them, students will meet with the instructor in pairs for a 60- to 75-minute session each week during the rest of the semester. They will write a paper every other week (five in all), and write a response to their partners' papers in alternate weeks. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills not only in reading, viewing, and interpretation, but also in constructing critical arguments and responding to them in written and oral critiques.
Prerequisite:
A 100-level English course, or a score of 5 on the AP Exam in English Literature or a 6 or 7 on the International Baccalaureate
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3.00 Credits
Focusing on first-person accounts of LGBTQ sexualities, this course examines how changing social and political realities have affected sexual desires and identities, and how individuals represent their experiences of these historical and conceptual shifts. How do these representations of sexuality challenge prevailing ideas about desire and identity? How do they navigate the gender limitations imposed by our language? How do other social identifications, such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender, shape these experiences of sexuality? We will read memoirs, autobiographies, and personal essays that reflect a range of LGBTQ identities and experiences, including works by Martin Duberman, Audre Lorde, Leslie Feinberg, Alison Bechdel, Reinaldo Arenas, Kate Bornstein, Gloria Anzaldua, Samuel Delany, David Wojnarowicz, and Michelle Tea. These narratives will be accompanied by a variety of queer and feminist theories of sexuality, some of which interrogate the historical and conceptual limitations of "experience" and "identity." This course fulfills the requirements of the Exploring Diversity Initiative in that it investigates institutions of power and privilege as they have impacted LGBTQ communities, emphasizes empathetic understanding of gender and sexual diversity, and focuses on critical theorization of intersecting differences and identities.
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3.00 Credits
A survey of the major figures and movements of English literature through the first part of the seventeenth century: Beowulf, Chaucer, Marlowe, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, and others. The goal of the course is critical and historical understanding of the English literary tradition, with practice in close reading and critical writing.
Prerequisite:
A 100-level English course, or a score of 5 on the AP Exam in English Literature or a 6 or 7 on the International Baccalaureate
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3.00 Credits
A seminar devoted to making and thinking about documentary audio. Students will learn how to do field recording, conduct interviews, and edit and score short non-fiction pieces. At the same time, we will explore fundamental questions about storytelling. What counts as a good story? When does editorial manipulation turn into lying? What is the nature of the contract between maker and listener? In addition to listening to exemplary pieces ranging from The War of the Worlds to episodes of Radiolab, we will read widely in media theory and cultural history.
Prerequisite:
A 100-level English course, or a score of 5 on the AP Exam in English Literature or a 6 or 7 on the International Baccalaureate, or permission of the instructor
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3.00 Credits
A studio course designed for those interested in writing and creating works for the theatre. The course will include a study of playwriting in various styles and genres, a series of set exercises involving structure and the use of dialogue, as well as individual projects. We will read and we will write, beginning with small exercises and working toward a longer final project. Students will be expected to share in each other's work on a weekly basis, and to collaborate with students enrolled in Directing. At the end of the term, we will share our collaborative work with the community as part of an informal Playwriting Festival.
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