|
Note: You must establish a session for Winter Term 2001 on wolverineaccess.umich.edu in order to use the link "Check Times, Location, and Availability". Once your session is established, the links will function. Courses in EnglishThis page was created at 7:32 PM on Mon, Jan 29, 2001. Winter Term, 2001 (January 4 – April 26)Open courses in English Wolverine Access Subject listing for ENGLISH Winter Term '01 Time Schedule for English. For all English classes, registered students must be present at each of the first two meetings to claim their places. Any student who does not meet this requirement may be dropped from the course. NOTE: If you must miss a class due to religious observances, contact the instructor or leave a message for the instructor with the department (764-6330). WRITING COURSES:After taking or placing out of Introductory Composition, students may elect either English 224 or 225 for further practice in the fundamentals of expository and argumentative prose. English 325 offers the opportunity for work in argumentative and expository prose at a more advanced level. Several sections of English 223, the beginning course in creative writing, are available each term. The work is multi-generic, and two of the following will be covered in each section: fiction, poetry, and drama, or you may take English 227 (Introductory Playwriting). A more advanced course for creative writers is English 323 (Fiction or Poetry), which is available after completion of the prerequisite, English 223. More experienced writers may apply for admission to specialized sections of English 327 (Playwriting), English 423 (Fiction), English 427 (Advanced Playwriting), and English 429 (Poetry). Admission to these advanced courses is by permission of the instructor, who may require writing samples. INDEPENDENT STUDY:Independent study in English must be elected under one of the following numbers: 226 (Directed Writing, 1-3 hours), 299 (Directed Reading, 1-3 hours), 426 (Directed Writing, 1-4 hours), 499 (Directed Reading, 1-4 hours). There is a limit to the total hours that may be taken under any one number. Students interested in independent study should obtain an application from the English Department office on the third floor of Angell Hall. Independent study proposals must be approved by a supervising professor and by the Undergraduate Chair of the department. The deadline for Independent Study in the Winter Term 2001 is January 12, 2001. English 350 & 351This two-term sequence is designed to give students a principled sense of the range of literary works written in English; the first term will characteristically deal with works produced before the later seventeenth century – to the time of Milton, that is; the second term will begin at that point and proceed to the present. These courses will be open to English concentrators and to non-concentrators alike. English 370, 371, & 372Each of these courses will range over the materials of the periods indicated below in one or more of a variety of ways. Some may be multi-generic surveys; some may focus on the development during the period of specific genres; some may be topical, others formal in their principle of organization. All sections will emphasize the development of student skill in writing essays analyzing the materials and evaluating the approaches in question. ENGLISH 124. College Writing: Writing and Literature.Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (Introductory Composition). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. By connecting the two terms of its title, Writing and Literature aims to help prepare the student to produce the range and quality of expository prose expected in college courses. Works of literature will be considered for their effective use of language and argument. They will serve as reference points for thinking and writing strategies. Characteristically, sections of English 124 will involve the writing of 20-30 pages of revised prose, with considerable attention given to the preparation of drafts and to revision. The literary works which will serve as points of reference will vary from section to section and from term to term. For a variety of reasons it may be necessary for instructors to change courses or sections prior to the first day of class, although we try to keep this to a minimum. Revised course descriptions will be posted to this web site as they occur.
ENGLISH 125. College Writing.Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (Introductory Composition). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No one ever finishes learning to write, so this course focuses on helping students further develop their unique potentials as writers, readers, and thinkers. By analyzing texts from a variety of academic disciplines, students will come to understand the conventions writers follow to present their ideas effectively to their chosen audiences. What rhetorical strategies are common in different disciplines – and why? How and when might we use those strategies in our own writing? For instance, what writing strategies would we call upon for a lab report, and would we use any of those strategies for a philosophical speculation, a history exam, a love letter? Throughout the term, students will work to identify the writing skills they most need to develop, and they'll invent and refine a personal style of expression that can be adapted to different audiences and purposes. Course requirements include at least 40 pages of writing, including at least 20 pages of revised, polished prose. For a variety of reasons it may be necessary for instructors to change courses or sections prior to the first day of class, although we try to keep this to a minimum. Revised course descriptions will be posted to this web site as they occur.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. All sections of 223 teach the writing of two of the following three genres: fiction (including personal narrative), drama, and poetry. Different sections will emphasize the individual genres to varying degrees. Class work involves the discussion of the process of writing and the work of a few published authors. Students will do exercises meant to develop a sensitivity to language and a facility with evocative detail, voice, form, and so forth. Most classroom time, however, is devoted to reading and discussion of student writing. A final portfolio of revised finished work of 35-50 manuscript pages may be required.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 001.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 002.Instructor(s): Christopher J Hebert (hebertc@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/winter/english/223/002.nsf In this class we will approach the writing of fiction and drama as an act of imagination, an act that employs skills and sensibilities that can be learned. To facilitate this learning, we will focus class time primarily on student workshops, as well as on the discussion of selected published texts, considering elements of form, style, and content. Over the course of the academic term you will be required to produce at least one one-act play and two pieces of short fiction, all of which will be presented in workshops, where you and your peers will develop your skills as writers, readers, and critics. In a class such as this, participation is mandatory, and students should expect to experience writing as a process, involving sometimes heavy revision. Grades will be based on final portfolios (of approximately 35 pages), and other, less weighted writing assignments.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 003 – TransformationInstructor(s): Heather Marie Abner (habner@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In this introductory creative writing course you will be encouraged to transform into the inventive and unique poet and/or fiction writer that is lurking inside you. We will focus not only on becoming creative writers, but also creative thinkers. Our task will be to shape our thoughts and experiences into well-crafted poems and prose using the basic tools of memory, observation, and imagination. In a sense, we'll be translating ourselves into art. Most of our class-time will be devoted to workshopping student poems and stories; however, we will also discuss assigned readings and use brief in-class writing exercises in order to stimulate and inspire us. Course requirements: During the academic term, students will turn in both a midterm portfolio and a final portfolio. Students will be expected to complete 7-10 pages of revised poetry and 20-25 pages of revised prose by the end of the academic term. Other requirements include short peer critiques, and attendance at two public readings.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 004.Instructor(s): Scott M Hutchins (smhutchi@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. All writing is creative writing, but in this course we will focus on the genres of poetry and fiction. Good books and good poems are propelled by voice, and one of the central goals of this course will be to find your voice and develop it. To that end, we will spend a good portion of the class time workshopping your stories and poems, and we will also devote time to discussing published stories and poems. While reading both student and published work, we will acquire a vocabulary that helps us to analyze and critique both others1 work and our own. Class requirements will include a fiction portfolio (two stories) and a poetry portfolio (5-10 poems), plus some in-class writing and take-home assignments. Required texts may include a short story anthology and a poetry anthology.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 005 – Sex, Death, and Other Related ObsessionsInstructor(s): Jennifer Kietzman (jkietzmn@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. The aim of the course is to weave together a consideration of a topic we all have in common but are frequently unable to address with first-attempts to express ourselves creatively. We will consider the relationship of sex, death, and other body-related obsessions to our writing and wonder what it is about the graphic which so often relegates its practitioners to the much-derided genre of pornography. Can the graphic be used to interesting affect in a broader context of writing? In doing so, we will be reading canonical writers whose obsessions pervade all that they write. Included in the course will be Dennis Cooper, Kathy Acker, Dodie Bellamy, Georges Bataille, Antonin Artaud, Thomas Nashe, Anais Nin, Iceberg Slim, A.R. Ammons. A variety of views on sexuality will be considered. You will write 6-8 finished poems and 15-18 pages of prose, approximately 3 stories of varying length. The topics of these writings will not all be circumscribed by the theme of the course; however, the aim is to see how many ways we can include and address obsessional material.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 006.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 007.Instructor(s): Kristina E Faust (faustk@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. The primary aim of this course is to help you write confidently, in your own voice, about what moves or intrigues you, in a way that might effectively move or intrigue someone else (your reader). To this end, we'll read the poetry and short fiction of experienced writers (Baldwin, Baxter, Chekhov, G. Garcia Marquez, Ho Davies, Mansfield, etc.) with an ear for what is "true" in their work, and with an eye for how it is crafted. You'll apply the same type of intelligent and rigorous analysis to the work of your peers during class workshops. In addition, we'll do a number of exercises in order to bend your brain in a creative direction. Some of these exercises will grow into your poems and stories. Graded work will include 5-8 poems and their revisions, and 10-16 pages of fiction.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 008.Instructor(s): Jess Francis Row (jrow@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course is an introduction to the writing of poetry and fiction, intended for those who have little or no experience working in either genre. We will spend roughly a third of our class time discussing the work of contemporary writers and past masters, and two-thirds reading and "workshopping" your poetry and short stories. Our goals will be to help you develop the skills that can support a range of expression, and to help you discover what you really want to write about. There will be weekly assignments and two graded portfolios of revised work (one due at midterm, one at the end of the term); altogether you will be expected to write 8-10 poems and two short stories. Come prepared to abandon your preconceptions and push your boundaries.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 009.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 010 – Scribing Plays & PoetryInstructor(s): Nadine A Maestas (nadineam@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course is designed to equip writers with the tools necessary to seriously consider the craft utilized in the process of artistic articulation. We will investigate traditional methods of composing poetry and dramatic writing through writers belonging to the category of "Minor and Miscellaneous." Readings might include Robert Herrick, Abraham Cowley, Laura Riding Jackson, Helen Adams, John Wieners, Pedro Pietri, and Suzan-Lori Parks. The goal of the course is to introduce writers to a variety of methods involved in writing and reading drama and poetry. This course will focus more heavily on poetry. Required of all writers: 8-10 pages of revised poetry, 15-20 pages of revised dramatic writing, and 1 review of a chapbook-length work.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 011.Instructor(s): Dominic W Holt (holtd@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course will serve as an introduction to the creative writing of poetry and fiction, and thus we will focus on our own work in a workshop atmosphere as well as studying the works of established writers. The semester will be divided between writing and studying poetry and fiction, but as I am a poet, those of you who are most interested in writing poetry, and who wish to learn to write fiction as well, should seek out this course. In addition to working on our own works for critique and revision, the course will also consist of the inspection of reading assignments and reports on contemporary writers' selections to help gain a contextual understanding of what is being created today. Though some of the poets and fiction writers we will study may be those of the past, they too will aid in our exploration of using language for the sake of personal and other discoveries. Lastly, do not sign up for this course if you are only looking for an easy semester to pass the time, and are not a student who is very interested in investigating and advancing their craft among others who hope to become, or already are devoted writers. For, this course will serve as a community of writers fostering the students' learning and explorations of the written word.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 012.Instructor(s): Genevieve F CancekoPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/winter/english/223/012.nsf This is an intensive introductory workshop in poetry and fiction, with an emphasis on fiction. Among other things, we will learn how to write silence, punctuate dialogue, and use the white space. Class sessions will focus primarily on critiques of student work in a collaborative atmosphere. For inspiration and tips on craft, we will read works by (but not limited to) Yasunari Kawabata, Lorrie Moore, Roald Dahl, Andrea Barrett, Anton Chekhov, William Trevor, and Franz Kafka for comic relief. By the end of the academic term you will have drafted and revised 5-10 pages of poetry and 20-25 pages of fiction; provided written and oral critiques of classmates' work; attended a fiction and poetry reading; and reviewed a book of poetry or fiction you have read during the academic term.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 013.Instructor(s): Margaret L Dean (mldean@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/winter/english/223/013.nsf A series of structured assignments will guide students through the process of shaping the raw materials of ideas and language into polished fiction and poetry. No one style or approach will be valued over another: our goal will be to create writing which moves us, intellectually and emotionally, by any means necessary. We will read great writers and poets in order to be inspired by them, imitate them and blatantly rip them off. Workshops (responding to each others' work in writing and in conversation) will play an integral part in our introduction to creative writing. Requirements: reading, participation, thoughtful peer critiques, and 6-10 pages of poetry and 10-20 pages of fiction for a combined minimum of 30 pages.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 014.Instructor(s): Stefan Kiesbye (skiesbye@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This writing course will primarily focus on discussing students' work. The final portfolio should consist of 5-8 pages of poetry and 20-30 pages of prose (this course has an emphasis on fiction). Readings will include Ernest Hemingway, Richard Ford, Alice Munro, Andre Aciman, Lorrie Moore, Agota Kristof, Amy Bloom, Tony Hoagland, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes and Charles Simic. We will have in-class writing exercises and you will be asked to attend at least two public readings over over the academic term. Required texts: Course pack.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 015.Instructor(s): Eileen Marie Conner (econner@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This class is a beginning creative writing workshop for poetry and fiction, concentrating on poetry. We will be exploring the possibilities of the written word through daily exercises and readings, as well as through in-class critiques of our work. Students will be expected to complete up to eight poems and five to ten pages of prose during the academic term. Readings may include such authors as Nikki Giovanni, Adrienne Rich, William Carlos Williams, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Carl Sandburg, or Italo Calvino.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 016.Instructor(s): Benjamin Paloff (bpaloff@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This is an introductory workshop in the composition of prose and poetry. Beginning with the assumption that all retelling – whether in the form of a poem, a short story, or a creative essay – employs elements of fiction and invention, we will explore how fine writing can mediate a wide range of rhetorical, emotional, and artistic goals at the same time that it manipulates and reshapes our received language. The purpose of this course is to develop your skills as writers, readers, and critics of each other's work. In addition to a final portfolio (6-8 pages of poetry and 16-20 pages of prose, all carefully revised), students will be required to participate actively in class discussions and to complete regular reading assignments (approximately 30 pages per week, in addition to the work of your classmates). Texts are likely to include The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction and The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry. Although our discussions will concentrate on American literature and language, readings will frequently draw from our increasingly international pool of available writing. With few exceptions, we will concentrate our discussions on work and techniques from the last thirty years.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 017.Instructor(s): Scott J Berzon (sberzon@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course will be structured around your creative writing in the genres of fiction and poetry, with a slight emphasis in poetry. It is my belief that an active interest in reading is an important factor in developing good writing skills. Over the course of the academic term, we will look at a wide range of works and authors including, but not limited to: David Baker, Ethan Canin, Michael Cunningham, Rita Dove, Etheridge Knight, Alice Munro and Pablo Neruda. Assignments will include 5 poems, 2-3 short stories, in-class writing assignments and your attendance at one public reading in either genre. Due to the nature of a workshop course, attendance will also be an influential component of your grade.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 018.Instructor(s): Jeremy B Gregersen (jgreger@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This workshop-based introductory creative writing course approaches writing as a means by which we can validate our individual voices, thoughts, and experiences. Things written down are things remembered. While student work will be our primary focus, we will also attempt to gain a greater understanding of the specific critical context of student works by reading a broad range of poets and writers. (These may include, but will not be limited to: Bidart, Blake, Crane, Doty, Eliot, Fulton, Hawthorne, Hughes, Joyce, Kerouac, O'Brian, Poe, Toomer, and Whitman.) Students will be asked to offer thoughtful responses to each other's work, keep an ongoing writing journal, and complete a final portfolio of 6-10 poems and at least 2 short stories for a combined minimum of 35 pages.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 019.Instructor(s): Manu Samriti Chander (mchander@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde wrote: "All art is quite useless." In this class, we will aim to disprove Wilde's statement by writing poetry and fiction that reflect outward upon the world. Class time will be divided between discussing the strategies of successful, socially-conscious writers and critiquing one another's work. By the end of the academic term students will have compiled a portfolio comprised of at least 30 pages; attended two public readings (one in poetry and one in fiction); and learned a great deal about the pragmatic power of language, i.e., the way it can be quite useful in defining and understanding the contexts which we inhabit. Authors whose work we will study include: Alice Fulton, Amiri Baraka, Joseph Brodsky, William Wordsworth, James Baldwin, Flannery O'Connor, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Anton Chekhov.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 020.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 021.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 022.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 023.Instructor(s): Paul R Graham (prgraham@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In this introductory creative writing course, we will work first and foremost with the belief that we all have something important to say, some story to tell, or some idea to share. Through in-class writing exercises, workshops, revisions, and discussion of the strategies of working writers and poets, we will concern ourselves with developing the techniques of fiction and poetry writing most essential to rendering our ideas clearly and, in turn, emotionally moving our readers. The emphasis will favor fiction writing. The readings will span time and cultures, and include – but by no means be limited to – fiction by James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever, Alice Munro, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Leslie Silko and Richard Wright; poetry by Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, Stephen Dunn, Mary Oliver, and Gary Snyder.
ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 024.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 223. Creative Writing.Section 025.Instructor(s): Sophia Galifianakis (galis@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (3). (CE). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. The goal of this course is to tap in to new ways of thinking about and writing poetry and prose. To do this, we'll be reading the work of several published authors, discussing the effectiveness of their styles and strategies, and possibly experimenting with the literary tools they employ. However, the focus of this course is you and your writing. To this end, the workshop environment is designed to help you pinpoint and explore the force of your own creative voice, instincts and skills. During writing workshops, you will critique the work of your peers, bringing your insights to class to generate a lively discussion on the work in question. You will also be required to attend and respond in writing to two readings, and to write a short, informal paper in response to a contemporary volume of poetry or short fiction of your choice. While we will be reading and writing both poetry and fiction, the emphasis in this class will be geared more toward poetry. At the end of the academic term, you will turn in a portfolio consisting of 8-10 pages of poetry, and 15-20 pages of fiction. Texts may include an anthology and a course packet.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course furthers the aims of English 124 and 125 in helping to analyze the various claims of a given issue and to develop ways of exploring and defending positions, ideas, and beliefs in writing. Careful attention will be paid to the process of reasoning, the testing of assumptions and claims, the questioning of beliefs, and the discovery of ideas and evidence through analysis and rigorous articulation in written discourse. The course will also focus on considerations of style, formal strategy techniques, and revision as integral to precision in making points and developing argumentative ideas both for purposes of individual reflection as well as for the purpose of persuading an audience.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 001.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 002, 016.Instructor(s): Carrie Elizabeth WoodPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 003, 004.Instructor(s): Charles Lavelle Taylor IIIPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. (Contact the Comprehensive Studies Program Office for more information.)
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 005 – Personal Ideas / Social ActionInstructor(s): Cathryn Mc Faul (bestc@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/winter/english/225/005.nsf This is a course of discovery, designed to encourage you to develop your argumentative ? or persuasive ? writing skills. While much of the writing you will do here at UM, and in your future careers, will be argumentative ? i.e., designed to win the reader over to your way of thinking about a particular issue ? you will no doubt be asked at various times to define, describe, analyze, compare, contrast, and evaluate. This course will allow you to practice and develop these skills within an argumentative framework. You will practice strategies of gathering and presenting evidence, developing a personal writing style, writing for different audiences, considering counter arguments, and avoiding logical fallacies. The emphasis throughout the course will be on the function of argument as a form of persuasion, by which communicators attempt to convince others, and as a form of inquiry, through which communicators assess the strength of their own convictions. Our discussions will be organized around the textbook readings and around issues that are of current interest to you.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 006, 014.Instructor(s): Josie Kearns (jakearns@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course will explore argumentative techniques such as disclaimers, stacking, arguing the opposite, examples, side-by-side, analogy, contrast/comparison, humor, counter argument and narrative argument. We will examine one court case, numerous essays with opposing viewpoints and episodes from The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling's black-and-white suspense television series with some attention to science fiction, irony and twist endings. The series chronicles topics such as the individual vs. society, man vs. machine, gender and belief systems. In addition, some short stories will be included as handouts for the series. Workshop of student papers will also form the basis of our discussion. Texts: The Bedford Reader, The Undertaking, and handouts Assignments: daily in-class writings, three papers.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 007, 015.Instructor(s): Kirsten Herold (fogh@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 008.Instructor(s): Anne G Berggren (agbergrn@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 009.Instructor(s): Hilary Joan Thompson (hthoms@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 010.Instructor(s): Cathryn Anne Mc Faul (bestc@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 011, 026.Instructor(s): Simon HyounPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 012.Instructor(s): Lauren Kingsley (kiwirosa@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. The goal of this course is to strengthen students skills in argumentative writing. Techniques in form and strategy will be covered, as well as the fundamentals of research. Types, occasions, and reasons for argument will be explored, but the three papers will utilize the the classic methods of evaluation, causality, and proposal. There will also be a midterm, small writing assignments, critiques and group work.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 013.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 014.Instructor(s): JOSIE KEARNS (jakearns@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 015.Instructor(s): KIRSTEN F HEROLD (fogh@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 016.Instructor(s): Carrie Elizabeth WoodPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 017 – How to Persuade Your Mother to Get a TattooInstructor(s): Anne F Widmayer (afwidma@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. First, think about your mother. Does she like hummingbirds or true-love knots? Would she like a full-body tattoo or an ankle tattoo? Next, consider how to present this proposition to her. Should you spring it on her at once? Or direct the conversation another way at first to quell her suspicions? And finally, consider how you should structure your arguments. What sort of evidence will you use? How will she respond to your arguments and evidence? In this section we will first learn the rules for classical argumentation. Then, always bearing in mind the audiences to whom writers address their arguments, we will learn how to parse and evaluate the arguments of such writers and orators as: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., Susan Brownmiller, Robert Bork, Stanley Fish, Anna Quindlen, William Brennan, Ellen Goodman, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Catharine Mackinnon. Course requirements will include participating vigorously in class or small-group discussions, composing reading responses, writing five essays (at least two of which will require outside sources), formulating critiques of your classmates' and your own writing, and presenting arguments in formal class debates.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 018.Instructor(s): Robert E Cosgrove (rcosgrov@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. The purpose of this course is to facilitate an exploration of argumentative writing. How do you make an effective argument? How do you produce good argumentative prose? Your hard work in this course should lead you to some satisfying answers. Of course you'll be thinking, writing, rethinking and rewriting. Approximately 30 pages of your writing will be graded, but you'll be producing a good deal more than that, both in writing and non-writing work. To put it another way: your knowledge, ingenuity, and collaborative skills are qualities that you'll be expected to share generously with each other. Although we'll be working with a text on argumentative writing, we can also structure our work around exemplary texts that you choose, or we can focus on other particular issues/activities that you find to be compelling and useful for our collective objectives.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 019.Instructor(s): Eben Y Wood (ebone@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course will be focused in two primary directions: the fundamentals of clear, well-organized writing, and the means by which argumentative writing in particular is developed and expressed. This is not a research course, but we will focus on a particular set of texts and issues that will allow us to understand the kind of intellectual inquiry necessary to producing an argument as opposed to a naively-expressed opinion. In the present case, our texts and in-class discussions will center around the issue of affirmative action, an issue of particular relevance to and importance for the University of Michigan (and the United States generally) at this moment in history. We will develop through a series of draft exercises and polished argumentative essays an understanding of the historical development of affirmative action in the 1960s, the major arguments for and against, and the significance of affirmative action programs to the present moment. Texts will be a mixture of general essays on argumentative writing, historically-oriented studies of U.S. race relations and affirmative action, and polemical or argumentative pieces drawn from contemporary news sources, including television and film.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 020, 021.Instructor(s): Randy L Tessier (rlt@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. (Contact the Comprehensive Studies Program for more information.)
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 022.Instructor(s): Bich M Nguyen (bich@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In this course we will be arguing and writing about current topics in American culture, including aspects of pop music, media, and education. As we examine our assumptions and views on our culture we will work toward achieving greater critical thinking and reasoning skills. Students will write 3-4 papers and participate in a debate. Be prepared to share your ideas and work with your peers.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 023.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 024.Instructor(s): Elizabeth Bachrach HuttonPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 025.Instructor(s): Patrice Marie RubadeauPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 026.Instructor(s): Simon HyounPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 027.Instructor(s): Hilary J Thompson (hthoms@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In this advanced course in argumentative essay writing, we will consider various styles of argument and review the many types of logical fallacies. Critical reading strategies will be as important as effective writing techniques. We will explore ways to use to personal experience and observation as well as research from sources. Discussion, informal writing (either in-class assignments or response papers), and four formal essays will be required.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 028.Instructor(s): Kelly E AllenPrerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 029.Instructor(s): LOUIS A CICCIARELLI (lcicciar@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This advanced composition course is designed with an emphasis on developing argumentative writing skills; we will focus our work on influencing others through reasoned discourse. To argue well will be to claim a purpose, to know that purpose, and given the audience, to develop a strategy and discourse that offers persuasive support of that purpose. Papers will be drawn from current readings, television, movies, online sources, a novel we will select during the term, and topics that arise in classroom discussions. You will be required to write three 5- to 7-page essays over the term as well as one 3-page paper and other short writing assignments.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 030, 034 – Arguing DilemmasInstructor(s): Gene L Laskowski (point@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. The course gets its title from its basic assumption: argument entails at least two differing points of view often confronting a single individual who must choose between them. This assumption points to John Holt's definition of intelligence – that intelligence is not a matter of what grades we get but of how we behave when we are not sure what to do. When we are faced with a dilemma, then in the privacy of our own minds, we argue, and our arguments matter because we have to chose. In other words, this course stresses being able to identify and understand differing points of view. This issues from which differing points of view emerge will themselves emerge from the assigned texts and films. Requirements: four essays, five to seven pages, each entailing research; eight peer critiques of two pages each; completion of all reading assignments, class attendance, informed contribution to discussion. Late papers are penalized and the final grade in the class is lowered after the third absence of the term (excused or unexcused). Texts: Bissinger, Friday Night Lights; Krakauer, Into the Wild; Schlink, The Reader; Suskind, A Hope in the Unseen; Weston, A Rulebook for Argument. Films: "Return to Paradise," from "Full Metal Jacket," "Still Killing Us Softly," "Obedience: The Milgram Experiment," from "The Moral Life of Children," "Cry Rape," and "The Color of Fear."
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 031.Instructor(s): Amit Ray (amito@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 032.Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 033, 035.Instructor(s): Laura A Kopchick (lkz@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course is designed to develop arguments which seek to deconstruct aspects of popular culture (that which surrounds us everyday). The academic term will be divided into three sections (magazines, television, and public spectacle). Through close examination of evidence, we will look beyond the veneer of popular culture to form our own arguments about what is really happening (how changes in popular magazines reflect changes in our society; how television is perhaps moral instruction; how public gatherings define specific traits for a group). We will utilize a workshop format and use full class workshops to consider our writing. Each student will have one essay workshopped by the entire class and will receive written feedback from their peer group on three others. This means that we will read each other's writing and learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses. The goal will be twofold: to develop the critical skills necessary to read, discuss and analyze a piece of writing, and to develop the ability to apply this skill to our own work. I believe that discussion is key to exploring and developing our ideas and can help begin the writing process. Class discussions will develop critical thought processes that are essential to writing good essays. We will concentrate on connecting reading and writing in this course. Part of our goal will be to help you find ways to confront critical issues in contemporary culture and focus your responses to them.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 034 – Arguing DilemmasInstructor(s): Gene L Laskowski (point@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.
ENGLISH 225. Argumentative Writing.Section 035.Instructor(s): Laura A KOPCHICK (lkz@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the Introductory Composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 226. Directed Writing.Prerequisites & Distribution: Permission of instructor. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for a total of three credits. Credits: (1-3). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. Registration only by arrangement with the instructor.
ENGLISH 227/Theatre 227. Introductory Playwriting.Section 001.Instructor(s): Oyamo (oyamo@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (CE). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. See Theatre and Drama 227.001.
ENGLISH 229/LHSP 229. Technical Writing.Section 001.Instructor(s): Scott Melanson (melanson@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Completion of the introductory composition requirement. (4). (HU). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2001/winter/english/229/001.nsf In this course, students analyze and practice the types of writing done by technical and professional writers – in particular, manuals, reports, correpondence, and proposals. Like all effective writing, technical and professional writing emerges from an understanding of purpose and audience, from an understanding of "the rhetorical context." It is the specifics of its rhetorical context – not any implied intellectual difference – that distinguishes technical and professional writing from other forms of writing. Thus, a major goal of this course will be to help students develop the analytical skills they will need to navigate the rhetorical contexts technical and professional writers encounter in a variety of fields. Since most technical and professional writing is the result of collaborative activity, students should expect to work in teams in the course, but the course will also address more personal issues, such as the writing of resumes and letters of self-promotion.
ENGLISH 230. Introduction to Short Story and Novel.Section.Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability ENGLISH 230. Introduction to Short Story and Novel.Section 001 – English and the World TravellerInstructor(s): Amit Ray (amito@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In the simplest terms, reading is an activity that transports the reader into a world created by the author and the text. If we agree that this is a function of reading, we will be going for a long and fascinating journey in this course. This course isn't about English literature but literature in English. Keep the distinction in mind. The legacy of the English empire forefronts English as a language that exists and functions globally. However, this displacement of English from center to margin has resulted in some strange and wonderful creations. We will be reading some of these literary works, traveling abroad to places like India, Nigeria, South Africa, Hong Kong, Trinidad and New Zealand. We may be surprised by where our travels will take us, perhaps heading over to England's next door neighbor, Ireland, or even coming home to the United States for a spell. No passport is required but keep in mind that this is a group activity. We travel together and that means no stragglers. Our readings will include works from, but not limited to, Kipling, Tagore, Joyce, Woolf, Ishiguro, Okri, and Hulme. Attendance is mandatory and the timely completion of assignments will be re-enforced with in-class writing assignments. Formal writing assignments include two papers (5-7 pages) and two shorter (2-3 pages) literary analyses.
ENGLISH 230. Introduction to Short Story and Novel.Section 002 – Secret Selves?Instructor(s): Alyson Helene Tischler (alysont@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course examines literature which depicts the "secret selves" that lurk inside of us. The notion that a deviant, transgressive persona exists within an individual emerges most poignantly in Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886); during the day, Dr. Jekyll is a scientist, while at night, a madman is unleashed: Mr. Hyde seizes control over Dr. Jekyll and wreaks havoc on the city of London. We will use this novel as a starting place from which we will examine other works devoted to "secret selves," beginning with Charles Brockden Brown's Edgar Huntly (1799) and ending with examples of the hugely popular genre of the memoir at the end of the twentieth century. In the course of this trajectory from the eighteenth to the late twentieth century, we will encounter selections from the writings of Freud which formalize the study of "secret selves" through the concepts of repression, perversion, and the unconscious. As we go on to examine works by Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein, we will consider whether the birth of psychoanalysis leads to the reluctance among writers to expose their "secret selves." Finally, we will ask whether the tell-all memoirs of recent years keep the very self that they claim to reveal out of the reader's reach. Assignments include four formal essays, response papers, and a presentation to the class.
ENGLISH 230. Introduction to Short Story and Novel.Section 003 – Violence of a KindInstructor(s): Jeffrey Mich Buchanan (jmbuchan@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. While reading the classic American western, we anticipate the final gunfight; this moment of violence, an isolated moment between individuals, ushers in a kind of textual closure, returning the status quo, the rule of law, and the triumph of good. This individual and momentary violence diverts our attention away from other forms, often social and systematic represented by the brothel above the tavern, the abuse of alcohol, racism, sexism, classism. In this class, we will take a look at fictional representations of these more subtle, but no less sinister, forms of violence, focusing specifically on violence that appears reproductive, mechanistic, and institutional. We will consider ways of coping with, escaping from, and redirecting, for example, domestic, racist, and even rhetorical violence. Texts may include short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Katherine Mansfield, Tillie Olson, Dorothy Parker, and Junot Diaz; novels made up of stories, such as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and John Edgar Wideman's Damballah; and the novels The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Hiding Place by John Edgar Wideman, and Eva's Man by Gayl Jones. Students will be required to complete short one page responses to the readings and write four longer essays (5-7 pages).
ENGLISH 230. Introduction to Short Story and Novel.Section 004 – Voices of the American ExperienceInstructor(s): Lauren Kingsley (kiwirosa@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In this course students will read a selection of American classics known for their strong narrative voice. We will explore how distinct voice-driven stories reveal and shape unique aspects of American experience. Further, we will examine how regionalism and urban realism have contributed to popular nostalgia, characterization in film, and cultural stereotype. A tentative reading list includes stories from Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, Isaan Bashivas Singer, Eudora Welty, Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger, Grace Paley, Larry Brown, Rick Moody, Louise Erdich, and Junot Diaz; novels may include Walker Percey's The Moviegoer, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon or Beloved, William Faulkner's The Reivers, Saul Bellow's Seize the Day, Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth.
ENGLISH 230. Introduction to Short Story and Novel.Section 005 – From Colonial to Global: Returning to the Seeds of ChangeInstructor(s): Sejal Sutaria (ssutaria@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. Communities around the world become rapidly more global, multicultural, and economically interdependent every day. This trend may seem to stem exclusively from more recent advances in technologies that make travel and communication over long distances possible. However, the seeds of globalization were sown long ago when explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo began to discover, conquer, and colonize new lands and create environments where different cultures were drawn together. These exploits began the process of colonialism, one in which one nation politically and socially dominates the cultures or regions of another through government policies, military strength, and sociocultural influence. Colonialism brought different cultures in contact in ways that would permanently redefine the cultures of those they ruled as well as their own. In this course we will explore how writers represent and comment upon how British colonialism and decolonization led people on both sides to redefine their personal, cultural, and national identities. We will also consider how the power dynamics between those who rule and those who are ruled influence the ways cultures influence the processes that define identity. To expose you to the unique perspectives of both the colonizers and the previously colonized, the course will pair novels and short stories by English writers with those by Indian and African writers. These texts will help us investigate how the need to write about a culturally or politically specific theme influences writers craft differing styles and structures for their short fiction and novels. Writers we will study will include but are not limited to Charlotte Brontë, Rudyard Kipling, E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad, Jean Reese, Naideen Gordimer, Chinua Achebe, Salman Rushdie, and Anita Desai.
ENGLISH 239. What is Literature?Section 001.Instructor(s): William R Alexander (alexi@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Prerequisite for concentrators in the Regular Program and in Honors. (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. What does it mean to be an author, to create a story? To figure that out, we'll be authors ourselves a little and ask about our own responses as readers. We'll read texts closely, attempting to understand their less accessible meanings, the effect of the social and economic context in which they are written and read, and what's at stake for us, if anything, in the content. We'll be interested in the social purposes of literature and in questions of authors' responsibilities. We'll read or view The Official Story, Interviews with My Lai Veterans; Wiesenthal's The Sunflower; Coetzee's Age of Iron; Thomas' The White Hotel; Kingsolver's Pigs In Heaven; Washington's Iron House; Cervantes' Emplumada; and Shange's "spell #7." Class participation will be important, and you'll write 25 pages worth of essays and literature, the nature of which we'll determine together. No exams.
ENGLISH 239. What is Literature?Section 002 – Telling Stories: The Art of NarrationInstructor(s): Lillian L Back (lillianb@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Prerequisite for concentrators in the Regular Program and in Honors. (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. In this class we will want to think about the power and the connectedness that the act of telling stories might provide. For example, a character in Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River thinks: Every time I take a story and let it stream through my mind from beginning to end, it grows fuller, richer, feeding on my visions of those people the story belonged to until it leaves its bed like the river I love. And then I have to tell the story to someone. As we discuss various 20th century literature (mostly), we find ourselves grappling with issues as basic as how and why do these created characters "tell us" stories? How do those stories provoke our own life stores? All along, our discussions will focus on the process of interpretation and understanding of these wonderful tales. Two essays and two hourly exams required.
ENGLISH 239. What is Literature?Section 003 – Ain't I A Woman?: Ethnic Women WritersInstructor(s): Betty L Bell (blbell@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Prerequisite for concentrators in the Regular Program and in Honors. (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Lab Fee: Laboratory fee required. Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course will study the ways in which ethnic women writers attempt to build and speak to communities of women in their works. Although attention will be given to ethnic communities, the course will emphasize gender in an inter-ethnic conversation between women writers. Required texts will include autobiographical essays and texts by contemporary ethnic women writers. Course requirements will include two ten-page papers.
ENGLISH 239. What is Literature?Section 004.Instructor(s): Sara B Blair (sbblair@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Prerequisite for concentrators in the Regular Program and in Honors. (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted. This course is intended to introduce students to the study of literature, and its changing claims and value in varied social contexts. We'll encounter a wide variety of genres, including the lyric, the novel, short fiction, autobiography, and drama, in writers ranging from Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson to Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, Derek Walcott, and Sylvia Plath. Some key questions for our work: how do literary forms and ways of meaning shape the experiences of readers? What's the relation between literature and other kinds of writing or expression (popular fiction, journalism, film)? How do literary texts represent, negotiate, or challenge rei |
