100- and 200-level | 300-399 | 400-499 |
A complete up to date listing of English Department course descriptions can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/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 Fall Term 1998 is September 14, 1998.
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239. What is Literature? Prerequisite for concentrators in the Regular Program and in Honors. (3). (HU).
This class is designed to stimulate your thought about issues that should prove central to all your subsequent engagements with literature, inside and outside the classroom. The course is designed to help you formulate productive questions about the nature of literary study and the changing meanings of "literature" itself. Often ranging over a wide variety of genres and historical periods, sometimes including the study of film or other visual arts, 239 asks students to consider texts in a comparative, analytical light. Sections of 239 often devote some time to talking about the social and historical forces that shape a culture's ideas of what constitutes literature. Students in 239 also often address questions of literary value and evaluation. Though discussions often prove theoretical in nature, they are usually tied to particular texts. 239 is designed to help students develop skills that will be crucial to further work in the English concentration: discussion, writing papers about texts, reading critically and with an eye for detail.
Section 011. What pleasure or profit do we seek from texts that advertise themselves as "literature" (as opposed to other texts)? Is there such a thing as enduring literary value? If so, how can we identify it? According to prominent literary critic Terry Eagleton, "Literature, in the sense of a set of works of assured and unalterable value, distinguished by certain shared inherent properties, does not exist." In this course, we will test Eagleton's provocative thesis against works of fiction, drama, and memoir drawn from both inside and outside the canon of "great literature" to see if we agree with him. Our reading list will include Shakespeare's King Lear, Jane Austen's Emma, Sigmund Freud's Dora, D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, and Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods. Written assignments will include a midterm, final, and two 5-6 page essays. Please note that attendance and vigorous class participation are requirements of this course. (Sofer)
Section 012. This section is restricted to students of the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program. This course will explore the elusive nature of literature. We will try to find (or create) the "truth" about literature and its interpretation. A main focus will be the narrative perspective, or point of view, from which literary discourse flows - e.g. the reliability of narrators and the extent of their power over the reader (and other characters or voices). We will also broaden our discussion to the ethics of narrative situations in general. Issues of narrative authority will be linked to your own writing to foster more informed and effective rhetorical strategies relating to purpose, style, and evidence. In addition to studying a variety of literary genres and historical contexts, we will investigate some "literary" characteristics of painting, sculpture, and film. Assignments will include group discussions, several exploratory reactions (1-2 pages), two short analysis papers (3-4 pages), a longer argumentative paper (6-8 pages), and a final exam. (O'Keefe)
Section 014. This section of "What is Literature?" focuses on the ways in which literary texts can be seen to rewrite, reinterpret, and respond to one another. Beginning with the assumption that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to pinpoint the original creator of any narrative, trope, or theme, we will instead consider authors as figures who borrow from, transform, and play off each other's efforts. Focusing on pairs of related texts, we will read William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! alongside Toni Morrison's Beloved, both of which examine race, history, and the power of the dead; Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, which address women's place in society; George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and David Mamet's Oleanna, which explore the power relations between teacher and student; and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now, which problematize the concepts of civilization and barbarism. Coursework includes 3 papers and 5 quizzes. Cost:2 (Egger)
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100- and 200-level | 300-399 | 400-499 |