Spring 22 English Elective Courses
Below is a list of upper-level courses to be offered in the Spring Semester 2022. Note that in addition to fulfilling requirements for the English Major, English Minor, and/or Writing Minor, some courses also count the GDST Minor, the Ethics/Religion and Society Flag in the Core Curriculum, Creative Perspectives in the Core Curriculum and/or the Diversity Flag in the Core Curriculum. Some courses also count for the Writing Flag in the Core Curriculum.
English majors and minors: See below for which courses fulfill which requirements. Click here for a list of all English courses by requirement
Writing minors: See below for which courses fulfill requirements for the Writing Minor.
Not a major or minor? All English courses except ENGL 101, 115, and 205 count for the Humanities Elective in the Core and all except ENGL 210 Methods Workshop and ENGL 499 Senior Seminar are open to everyone. Join us - non-majors are welcome!
SPRING 2022 ENGLISH ELECTIVES
124 Studies in Fiction:
|
124-02 |
TR |
10:00-11:15 |
10987 |
Studies in Fiction is an introduction to the genre of prose narrative, including both the short story and the novel. We will conduct a study of the styles and formal elements of fiction in texts from a wide variety of cultures, periods and authors. For this section, specifically, we will focus on television and text that depict technological dystopias and force us to question our relationship with both technology and humanity.
ENGL-358-01: Black American Since 1865:
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358-01 |
TR |
8:30-9:45 |
16692 |
Humanities elec |
This course covers about a century in the development and expansion of Black American history and culture from 1865 to the mid Sixties, here understood as the history of black music, art, and literature as they help shape a nascent black public sphere while seeding the ground for a general American public sphere. Or to paraphrase novelist Ralph Ellison, there is no American culture that is not simultaneously a black American culture. Thus, the course offers several historical overviews of this development as well as close readings of representative political, social and aesthetic artifacts during the period
NGL 364 Jane Austen: Then and Now:
|
364-01 |
MWF |
9:00-9:50 |
11031 |
This course will explore the historical context and enduring popularity of the works of Jane Austen. We will discuss Austen’s published novels, some of her juvenilia and letters, scholarship on Austen, multiple film adaptations, and other recent adaptations of her work. We will focus on analysis of Austen’s work in relation to the social and cultural conditions of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain and its place in the development of the English novel, still a new genre at the time, but we will also consider its continued relevance to our lives. Thus, we will examine not only the ways in which Austen’s work responds to and reflects the major social issues of her time (the Napoleonic wars, the abolition of the slave trade, gender inequity in property laws and customs, the human costs of maintaining the landed gentry, etc.), but also the ways in which modern adaptations either incorporate or, more often, ignore these themes by looking closely at how and why Austen’s work is adapted for modern audiences. This class serves as a British Literature elective for English majors and minors, a British Literature OR Women’s Literature course for secondary education Language Arts certification students, fulfills the university undergraduate Humanities Elective requirement, and serves as an elective for the Gender and Diversity Studies major/minor.
ENGL 415-01 Early English Literature
|
415-01 |
MWF |
11:00-11:50 |
15087 |
In ENGL 415 we will read a range of English works in poetry, prose, and drama, across a broad range of genres. These works come from both male and female authors from the period 600 to 1600. We will approach the texts through a series of key questions: how were the texts transmitted, circulated, and preserved; which ones were valued and available during these centuries; and how did generic preferences and thematic concerns change for authors and audiences over time? Most of the texts are English, including some modern translations of Old English and Middle English, and we will also read a selection of narratives (in translation) from Latin and Middle Welsh.
ENGL 425: Shakespeare
|
425-01 |
MWF |
12:00-12:50 |
11033 |
Attributes: COST ($40)
This class introduces William Shakespeare’s works through the lens of performance studies. In addition to reading each of the major Shakespearean genres--poetry, tragedy, history, comedy, and romance—we hope to attend two performances at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and a staged reading on campus. Throughout the class, we will consider not only the historical context of the works and their critical heritage, but also what it means to encounter them in theatrical productions today. In addition to spirited participation in class discussion and a presentation, students will write in a variety of forms, including Twitter, wikis, performance reviews, creative work, and research-driven essays. All of the coursework is designed to strengthen students’ critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. There is a $40 cost associated with this course, covering tickets to the two live performances. If this cost is prohibitive, students can be reimbursed.
ENGL 479 – Literature of the American West
|
479-01 |
TR |
10:00-11:15 |
14461 |
Humanities Elec |
If you associate the American West with only cowboys and Indians, or with only John Wayne films, you should think again. While it’s true that the Wild West is associated with iconic images and legends (gunfights at high noon, outlaws, wagon-train attacks, saloons with bat-wing doors, for example), the literature we will read questions the authenticity of that representation of our history as much as it recognizes the appeal of the myths stemming from the romanticized West. The American West is a place of fantastic natural beauty, and landscape is central to this literature, but the concept of the West is also a major contributor to our sense of national identity. This body of literature includes novels, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry from the late 19th Century right up to contemporary works set in the West or by Western writers. We will read texts and watch films representative of the classic Western (Shane, High Noon), but we will focus on contemporary works that revise, challenge, and subvert those older stories. Texts will include works by Cormac McCarthy, Louise Ehrdrich, Sam Shepherd, and others.
ENGL 499 / Senior Seminar
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499 |
10:00-10:50 |
MWF |
11036 |
Senior Seminar is the required capstone course for graduating English majors. The theme of this seminar will be “Teachers & Students.” We will study various texts in multiple genres related to this theme. You will produce a Senior Thesis as your capstone project, and you will share the results of this project in a public presentation at the end of the semester.