LIT 270-01 Gender at King Arthur’s Round Table
Glenn Steinberg
Monday/Thursday 3:30-4:50pm
The brotherhood of the Round Table. Virgins. Knights in shining armor. Adultery. The Holy Grail. This course explores gender as a central concern in stories about King Arthur from the Middle Ages and the 19th century. Among texts and authors included in the course are Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Mark Twain.
LIT 270-02 Science Writing
Christina Maffa-Johnson
Tuesday/Friday 9:30-10:50am
This course will explore works of contemporary science writers across a range of scientific fields including ecology, biology, physics and astronomy. Through an analysis of the discourse and rhetorical strategies of writers, and with a specific emphasis on the multiple modalities of presenting scientific information to a public audience, the course will examine themes such as the relationship of storytelling and identity to science, the possibility for activism in writing and the capacity of words to help us connect with and understand the world around us.
LIT 370-01 Northern Ireland
Mindi McMann
Monday 5:30-8:20pm
This course explores the representation of “The Troubles” (1968-1998) in Northern Ireland, a period of sustained and violent sectarian conflict based in centuries-old animosities. Though Ireland’s colonization – and its often-violent resistance – arguably goes back to the twelfth century, the twentieth century was particularly volatile, especially since the seeming victory for independence achieved in 1921 was tempered by a partition of the island that continues to this day. This course will focus on representations of this conflict from the establishment of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, through the height of The Troubles in the 1970s and ’80s, the relative peace since the 1998 Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, and most recently the consequences of Brexit on Northern Ireland. In this course, we will attend to stories about that conflict and the Irish border as told in novels, short stories, poems, plays, films, and historical narratives. In addition to exploring how content and form have been used in representing the Northern Irish Troubles in the stories or voices in literary texts, we will also discuss how visual elements, such as cinematography and public street art are a vital and lively part of this discussion.
LIT 354-01 Middle English Literature
Glenn Steinberg
Tuesday/Friday 2:00-3:20pm
This course is your chance to meet the wild and crazy, complex, conflicted culture that is medieval England. People often think of the Middle Ages as a very homogeneous time period – controlled by the monolithic Catholic Church, with no social mobility, ruled by arbitrary, all-powerful monarchs. In fact, medieval English culture was very diverse. Knights and ladies, monks and friars, peasants and merchants – they’re not really what you expect, but they’re definitely entertaining (at least as funny and outlandish as Monty Python and the Holy Grail). We begin the semester by looking closely at one genre (romance) in order to examine the diversity of ways in which medieval English people of various stripes conceived of and used that genre, and then groups of students will choose other genres, authors, or traditions in order to select representative readings for their classmates (and explore the diversity of medieval English culture further). Readings will all be in the original Middle English (but you quickly get used to it – even start dreaming in it sometimes).
LIT 421-01 Shakespeare Comedies and Histories
Jo Carney
Monday/Thursday 12:30-1:50pm
This class will offer close readings of seven of Shakespeare’s plays: three comedies and four histories. Various critical approaches will inform our readings of the plays and we will explore issues that remain engaging to readers and audiences today.
CWR 301-01/LIT 301-01 Writing Communities
Catie Rosemurgy
Monday/Thursday 2:00-3:20pm
In this class we will explore various ways practiced writers can leverage their skills for personal and professional success. We will approach writing as a specialized skill that can be used to gain entry into careers, graduate programs, or other aspirational communities and also as an important tool that can be used to build and serve our chosen communities.
Entire bustling industries revolve around the written word—governance and law, journalism, technical writing, book publishing, grant writing, theater, television & film, etc… The better you write, the better you communicate, persuade, educate, and advocate. This class is based on a simple theory: to be able to write in different ways for different audiences, you must develop terrific control over your sentences.
We will write in response to our reading—a selection of influential contemporary poetry and prose—and will complete professional writing assignments based on the kinds of writing done in the book publishing industry. Students interested in publishing and editing will learn the skills they need to compete for internships and jobs, and creative writing students will learn how to create visibility for themselves and their writing community. The writing skills we will practice are also transferable to almost any industry: precision and clarity in writing always matter. Over the semester, we will meet with panels of writers and editors over Zoom to explore the strategies that created their success.