English Department Courses: Fall 2008
- If a course isn’t described here, you can find generic descriptions in the Undergraduate Bulletin: http://bulletin.loyno.edu/2007undergraduate/courses/engl.php
- Note that not all prerequisites for courses are listed; check LORA https://lorasec.loyno.edu/ for details.
- Courses that meet distribution requirements for English Majors are indicated by the following key:
- Courses that meet distribution requirements for English Majors are indicated by the following key:
- For Writing Majors
- [EnP] English: Pre-1800
- [Am] American Literature
- For Literature Majors
- [AmP] American: Pre-1900
- [M] Medieval
- [R] Renaissance
- [E] Eighteenth Century
- [N] Nineteenth Century
- [C] Critical Theory
- ENGL A205:001
WRITING ABOUT TEXTS 11300
MW 03:30-04:45PM
Robert Bell
This course serves as an introduction to writing about texts and to literary criticism. By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to discuss and write critically about various types of texts.
- ENGL-A206-001
READING POETRY 10204
MWF 09:30-10:20AM
Janelle Schwartz - ENGL-A208-001
WRITING FROM SOURCES10205
MWF 12:30-01:20PM
Kate Adams - ENGL-A210-001
TEXTS AND THEORY 11345
MWF 10:30-11:20AM
Ted Cotton
An entry-level course for freshman English majors and minors who have exempted T122 and/or A205 because of their high entrance scores. The course reads about theory in a guidebook intended for American college students; reads actual samples of theoretical and critical writing from a compendious and wide-ranging anthology; and applies theoretical concepts in a series of short papers and a longer paper that develops over the semester. The six varieties of theory covered in some detail (others are adverted to) include New Criticism; Reader-Response Criticism; Deconstructive Criticism; Historical, Post-colonial, and Cultural Studies; Psychological Criticism; and Feminist Criticism, Post-Feminism, and Queer Theory. These six "schools" represent the way the pie has been sliced by Steven Lynn in Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory, the central text in the class; almost every other guide would slice the pie differently, for this field is definitely still in flux. For instance, anyone in the know would immediately ask, "Where does Marxist critique fit in this mix? And what about Russian Formalism?"
A standard course in English departments has long been "History of Literary Criticism"--often subtitled "Plato to . . . " But with the application of the systems of Freud, Marx, and the French linguist Ferdinand Saussure to criticism in the early part of the twentieth century, "criticism" became something else again and by the latter third of the century was re-conceived as "theory." Theory might be called the philosophy of literature. Just as other disciplines have their master narratives in courses on method and theory--historiography in history, for instance--literature seeks to go beyond itself to answer questions not just of what and how but also of why. Why do we read? What constitutes literary value? Why should one work be accepted in the canon and another not? What approaches will best guide us to meaning? Is there meaning, in any definable sense?
In a recent semester, readings from the critics included Cleanth Brooks (New Criticism), Stanley Fish (Reader-Response Criticism), Jacques Derrida (Deconstruction), Stephen Greenblatt (New Historicism), Sigmund Freud (Psychological Criticism), Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (Feminist Criticism). The various approaches are applied throughout the semester to a single poem, John Donne's "The Canonization," in preparation for a synthesizing term paper, as well as to the three or four short literary samples (usually poems or short stories) provided in each of its chapters by the guidebook .
By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the major critical/theoretical approaches now in use in literary studies--their salient features, their best qualities, and their drawbacks. They should be able to employ--at least at a basic level--any of the six major approaches studied. And they should be able to critique the critical approaches themselves, selecting which is most applicable in a given literary circumstance, and eclectically mixing and matching approaches to best effect. - ENGL-A211-051
INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING
T 04:55-07:35PM
Mark Yakich
This course introduces you to creative writing—poetry and short fiction—in a workshop setting. We will focus on: 1) imitation as a way of individual development; 2) understanding and using formal and structural devices and deciding when and how said structures and devices can be broken; 3) the vital importance of revision. - ENGL-A211-052
INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING
11350 W 04:55-07:35PM
Kelly Wilson - ENGL-A215-001
WORLD LITERATURE I
11254 MWF 12:30-01:20PM
Andrew Macdonald - ENGL-A311-001
WRITING FICTION
11316 MW 03:30-04:45PM
Dale Hrebik - ENGL-A312-051
WRITING POETRY
R 04:55-07:35PM
Prerequisite course: ENGL-A211
Mark Yakich
The aim of this course will be to workshop and to "work-shop." That is, we will be doing the usual critique of each other's poems in a group setting, but we will also be doing a great deal of creating/experimenting/playing ("work-shopping" as in an artisan's workshop) with writing poems in and out of class. My philosophy, in teaching and in my own writing, involves a great deal of hands-on work, taking advantage of happy accidents, mistakes avoided and then gone back for. My job as our leader is to get you to push your own boundaries and to take risks in your writing, which is where the real joy and discovery of writing is. - ENGL-A322-001 [R, EnP]
SHAKESPEARE: HISTORIES
11251 MWF 01:30-02:20PM
Anthony Lala - ENGL-A340-001
THE CANTERBURY TALES [M, EnP]
11338 TR 09:30-10:45AM
John Sebastian - ENGL-A372-001
STUDIES IN AMERICAN CINEMA: HORROR [Am]
11252 TR 02:00-03:15PM
Peggy McCormack - ENGL-A373-W51 [An online course]
THE BLACK WRITER IN AMERICA [Am]
11305
Barbara Ewell
Course is online, but with two on-campus meetings, Friday, August 29, 6;00 p.m. and Friday, December 5.
A survey of African-American writers from slave narratives to local color fiction, from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights movement to contemporary figures. A sampling of the famous and not-so-famous, with special attention to Richard Wright, whose centennial is this year, as well as a selection of critical non-fiction from W.E.B. DuBois to Malcolm X and Toni Morrison. If you don’t know this literary tradition, you don’t know American literature. - ENGL-A406-051
INTERNSHIP:PUBLISHING/EDITING
11309 M 03:30-06:00PM
John Biguenet
Above course requires Permission of Instructor - ENGL-A408-001
WRITING:TECHNIQUE/TECHNOLOGY
11304 MW 03:30-04:45PM
James Lofstead - ENGL-A409-001
CONTEMPORARY TOPICS: RHETORIC [C]
11348 MWF 11:30-12:20PM
Kate Adams - ENGL-A415-001
UNRELIABLE NARRATORS & AUTHORS [Am]
11313 TR 02:00-03:15PM
Mark Yakich
This course will explore the relationship between fiction and nonfiction, between the "story" and "what really happened," between factual truths and emotional truths. We will read, examine, and sometimes imitate a wide range of texts that may include: the Bible, Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Nabokov's Lolita, J.T. Leroy's short stories, James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, and O.J. Simpson's If I Did It. We will also consider a film, the quasi-documentary, Capturing the Friedmans. - ENGL-A415-002
WRITING ABOUT FILM
11398 MWF 11:30-12:20PM
John Mosier
Prerequisite course required ENGL-A211 - ENGL-A415-051
WRITING THE SHORT SCRIPT
11308 T 03:30-06:10PM
John Biguenet
Prerequisite course required ENGL-A211 - ENGL-A427-001
ROMANTICISM [N]
11399 MWF 11:30-12:20PM
Janelle Schwartz - ENGL-A433-001
19TH CENTURY AMERICAN FICTION [Am, AmP]
11292 TR 11:00-12:15PM
Peggy McCormack - ENGL-A461-001
CONTEMPORARY WOMEN'S LITERATURE [Am]
11342 TR 11:00-12:15PM
Melanie McKay
Contemporary Women's Literature explores the distinctive literary visions and voices of 21st-century women writers. We'll examine the texts through the prism of key contemporary issues--post-feminism, post-modernism, urbanism, nationalism, and the media saturation of culture. Texts include Zadie Smith, On Beauty, Jennifer Egan, Look at Me, Deborah Eisenberg, Twilight of the Superheroes, Valerie Martin, Trespass, Marisha Pessl, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and others. - ENGL-A470-001
FILM & THE ART OF LITERARY ADAPTATION
11255 MWF 11:30-12:20PM
Andrew Macdonald - ENGL-A472-001
STUDIES IN EUROPEAN CINEMA: MODERN CLASSICS
11325 MWF 10:30-11:20AM
John Mosier - ENGL-A491-001
PRACTICUM IN TEACHING WRITING
10223 12:30-01:45PM
Robert Bell
Course requires Permission of Instructor - ENGL-G122-001
CRITICAL READING/WRITING
11615
James Lofstead
Video-taped section, open only to Nursing majors. - ENGL-H295-033
ANCIENT EPIC
11347 MWF 12:30-01:20PM
Seminar
Ted Cotton - ENGL-H295-034
DANTE'S "BEAUTIFUL LIES": ALLEGORY AND INTERPRETATION [M]
11339 TR 02:00-03:15PM
Seminar John Sebastian - Prerequisite course required ENGL-T122
or Prerequisite course required ENGL-A205
or Prerequisite course required ENGL-H23
or Prerequisite course required COMP-119
or Prerequisite test required SAT VERB with a minimum score of 650
or Prerequisite test required SAT2 VERB with a minimum score of 650
or Prerequisite test required ACT ENGL with a minimum score of 30
or Prerequisite test required ACT1 ENGL with a minimum score of 30
Note:
Many T-125 courses have a specific theme or focus; consult the instructor or syllabus for details.
- ENGL-T125-001
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10242 TR 08:00-09:15AM
Nancy Rowe - ENGL-T125-002
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10243 TR 09:30-10:45AM
Kelly Wilson - ENGL-T125-003
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
11397 MWF 08:30-09:20AM
John Mosier - ENGL-T125-004
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10252 MWF 02:30-03:20PM
Andrew Macdonald - ENGL-T125-005
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10246 MW 03:30-04:45PM
Marcus Smith - ENGL-T125-006
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE: Fairy Tales, Fiction and Film
11453 MWF 11:30-12:20PM
Tracey Watts
We often overlook the violence and gruesomeness of our favorite childhood stories, and Disney too has helped to sanitize the tales as well. In this class, we return to the site of these tales with a closer eye and then apply our newly refined skills to more contemporary tales of violence. This unit of study takes us abroad; we'll read award-winning works by three celebrated international writers before turning our attention to violence in film. In our closing unit, we'll explore the films Fight Club and Thirteen to see how each depicts violence among young Americans today. - ENGL-T125-008
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10249 MWF 12:30-01:20PM
James Lofstead - ENGL-T125-009
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
11451 TR 02:00-03:15PM
Nancy Rowe - ENGL-T125-010
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10251 MWF 01:30-02:20PM
James Lofstead - ENGL-T125-051
WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
10254 T 06:20-09:00PM
Barbara Ewell
This section of T125 is designed for non-traditional (formerly City College) students, but it is open to all Loyola undergraduates. The focus is generic rather than thematic, with the goal of developing tools for understanding how literary forms and language shape our experience as well as how they give meaning and pleasure to our lives.
Pre-Modern Common Curriculum Courses
- ENGL-U294-001
YOGA: LITERATURE AND PRACTICE
11396 MW 03:30-04:45PM
Tracey Watts
How do literary ideas become physical practice? Our class will explore that exchange of ideas and movement. We'll be reading selections from classical yogic texts like the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Typically, class will involve a mixture of lecture/discussion and physical practice. Students will be expected to complete readings and maintain a physical yoga practice outside of class. - ENGL-U297-001
HEROES AND MONSTERS [EnP, M]
11340 MWF 01:30-02:20PM
Marcus Smith
Modern Common Curriculum Courses
- ENGL-V274-051
WOMEN WRITERS
11306 W 06:20-09:05PM
Barbara Ewell
Course will also be videotaped as ENGL-G274.
As Adrienne Rich once explained, “Re-vision--the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction--is for women more than a chapter of cultural history: it is an act of survival.” Of course, men, too, need this kind of “re-vision”—a course highlighting women’s writing (mostly in English, from the Middle Ages until now) in an effort to understand what is perhaps “the world’s best-kept secret/Merely the private lives of one half of humanity” (Carolyn Kizer). - ENGL-G274-001
WOMEN'S LITERATURE
11629
Barbara Ewell
Videotaped section open only to off-campus Nursing majors.
[See description above.] - ENGL-V277-001
HARLEM RENAISSANCE [Am]
11299 MWF 10:30-11:20AM
Jennifer Jeanfreau - ENGL-V294-001
THE WORLD OF BLADE RUNNER
11293 M 04:55-07:35PM
Mary McCay
This coursewill approach the topic of what makes us human and what social structures determine our place in the world. We will investigate those issues through the three editions of Blade Runner and through essays that discuss the following issues that concern individual identity, social structures, philosophical, psychological, and religious issues of personhood and free will, sociological issues of the city and its environment, the environmental damage of global warming, post-colonialism and political concerns about space, race, and class.
Blade Runner is considered by many critics to be the darkest, most influential Science Fiction film ever made. It combines many different film genres, such as film noir, the western, the detective film, the frontier story, and others; however, it does far more than that, asking questions about our past, our culture, and deeply held prejudices that force us to deal with how we live in the world and how we treat others in that world.