Spring 2009 Courses: Undergraduate

Attention English Majors!

Program Guidance & Registration Start Monday, November 17.

Make an appointment now & register early!


English Majors: If you are an English major, please meet with Wayne Berninger (the English Department’s new Registration Advisor) as early as possible to register for the English classes you need. Doing so will help ensure that courses are not cancelled and that you don’t have to scramble to find replacement courses at the last minute. Attached to this flyer you will find descriptions of the courses being offered in Spring 2009. Consult the English Department website to determine which courses you still need for your particular concentration (i.e., Creative Writing, Literature, or Writing & Rhetoric).

Non-English Majors: English courses aren’t only for English majors! The writing and analytical skills that students gain in English classes are very useful in a variety of professional careers. So even if you are not majoring in English, you can still take upper-division English courses—as long as you have completed the prerequisites. If you really want to build up your transcript, consider an English Minor, which consists of any four English courses numbered 100 or above. If you’d like more information about minoring in English—or if you think you might like to major in English— contact Wayne Berninger .

THE COURSES...

English 101: Introduction to English Studies (Class ID# 6714)
Professor Patricia Stephens
Tuesdays 6:00-8:30pm

This course is REQUIRED for English majors in all three concentrations (Literature, Creative Writing, Writing & Rhetoric). You MUST take ENG 101 within the first two semesters after completing the core English courses (ENG 16 and two courses from ENG 61-62-63-64). If you are at this stage and you don’t take ENG 101 in Spring 2009, then you MUST take it in Fall 2009. Yes, you MAY take other ENG courses at the same time as ENG 101.

This course will introduce students to the broad field of English Studies, with a specific focus on the areas of concentration offered at LIU/Brooklyn: Literature, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric and Writing. In general, the course is designed to familiarize English majors and minors with 1) the history and scope of English studies, 2) the use of literary and rhetorical theories to interpret texts, and 3) the tools necessary for close reading, written analysis, and research in the field. During the semester, students will learn about literary genres, periods, and terminology; creative experimentation in texts; and the foundations of argument. Along the way, we will also explore potential job options for students with a major or minor in English. Students will write one research paper and produce a portfolio of written work at the end of the semester. For more information, contact Professor Stephens at patricia.stephens@liu.edu.

English 104: Introduction to Creative Writing (Class ID# 6716)
Spoken Poetry—Finding Our Voices
Professor John High
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45 pm

This course is required in the Creative Writing concentration. It is a prerequisite for ENG 165, 166 and 167. It can also satisfy an ENG elective requirement in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating in Creative Writing may take this class twice.

This class is designed for anyone who has ever wanted to write creatively yet who is not sure how to begin or how to move beyond where they are presently in their own writing. Topics include: getting started with the spoken poem, making it alive for you, and establishing a passionate discipline. The course will also zero in on backbone issues of style and technique, ranging from those of characterization and plotting in poetic diction, continuity and vividness of imagery, clarity and music, and the use of phrasing and structure. There will be weekly creative writing exercises and group discussions to guide you through the writing process where we will explore our ideas and feelings and give them shape through the langu age of our own voices. What is a spoken poem—what is a metaphor, the magic of language, the ghost of echoes and music that reflect your own vision of the world? How do we mine our experiences, our pasts, and our dreams? What do we mean when we talk about taking chances in writing? We'll look at the work of ancient and contemporary writers as well as younger writers publishing today. Critiques will focus on motivating you to tap the undefined territory of your own imagination in order to more fully cultivate and mature your own voice/s and styles. The goal of the course includes completion of a chapbook and/or anthology of our work and an in-class reading of your spoken poems. For more information, contact Professor High at john.high@liu.edu.

English 129: Later British Literatures (Class ID# 7636)
The Artist Coming of Age: Creating the “Uncreated Conscience”
Professor Maria McGarrity
Thursdays 6:00-8:30 pm

This course is required in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.

This course will examine the development of artistic consciousness in the British tradition. We will examine the role of the artist in society, his or her alienation from society, the unique perspectives of the artist and his or her role as critic, both literary and social. We will begin with the youthful artistic idealism of Keats, move onto a discussion of Wordsworth’s vision of the poet, Byron’s art in action, and expand our vision of the artist to include the feminine with Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot. We will transition into the Modern period with Wilde’s conception of criticism as art. Finally we will examine modernity and the aftermath of Joyce’s achievement through Yeats, Woolf, Sitwell, and Beckett. We will challenge the idea that any writer can, as Joyce claimed to through his character Stephen Dedalus, “create the uncreated conscience of [his] race.” Selected Texts: Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh; Beckett, More Pricks than Kicks; Byron, Don Juan; Eliot, The Mill on the Floss; Keats, Selected Letters; Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and “The Dead”; Sitwell, “The Poet’s Lament”; Wilde, “The Critic as Artist”; Woolf, A Room of One’s Own; Wordsworth, The Prelude; Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium,” “Byzantium,” “Lapis Lazuli,” and The Trembling of the Veil. For more information, contact Professor McGarrity at maria.mcgarrity@liu.edu.

English 159: American Literature After the Civil War (Class ID# 6452)
Modern American Culture and the Myth of Oz
Professor Patrick Horrigan
Mondays 6:00-8:30 pm

This course is required in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.

The course follows the figure of the wanderer in search of home as he/she is reincarnated again and again throughout modern American culture. Taking Frederick Jackson Turner's seminal 1893 essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" as our point of departure, we will read L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and then go looking for later descendants of his pilgrims (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion) in the mournful wanderer of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, the restless and love-hungry heroine of Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, the tragically self-ignorant American in Paris of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, the sympathetic midwestern murderers of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and the real-life child star and lost boy of Margo Jefferson's On Michael Jackson. The course is writing intensive. For more information, contact Professor Horrigan at patrick.horrigan@liu.edu.

English 166: Fiction Writing Workshop (Class ID# 6690)
Professor Lewis Warsh
Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45 pm

ENG 104 is a prerequisite for this course! This course will satisfy a requirement in the Creative Writing concentration. It can also satisfy an ENG elective requirement in the Literature concentration.
This workshop will focus on the way autobiography overlaps with fiction and how the past is fictionalized as a way of keeping it alive. The premise is that the source of most fiction is fading memories, whether we're aware of it or not. Though Jack Kerouac is the most obvious exponent of this method, we'll look at other writers of the last century (Marguerite Duras, Thomas Bernhard, Lydia Davis, John Edgar Wideman, Georges Perec, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Laura Riding, Jamaica Kincaid, James Ellroy, Maurice Blanchot) who struggle to cross the borders between fiction and life story. We'll concentrate on the conventions of fiction—plot, character, conflict—with an eye towards expanding on what's already been done. Our writing projects will include working with secrets, memories, observations, opinions, overheard conversations—fragments of everything. For more information, contact Professor Warsh at lewis.warsh@liu.edu.

English 168: Creative Non-Fiction Writing Workshop (Class ID# 7802)
Professor Harriet Malinowitz
Wednesdays 6:00-8:30 pm
ENG 104 is a prerequisite for this course. This course will satisfy a requirement in either the Writing & Rhetoric concentration or the Creative Writing concentration. It can also satisfy an ENG elective requirement in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating in Creative Writing may take this class twice.

This is an intensive workshop devoted to writing literary essays, with a focus on the personal essay. The first few weeks will be devoted to reading literary essays by published authors and analyzing their form, style, the rhetorical strategies they employ, and their use of language. We will then move to a workshop format in which students read and critique each other's essays in detail. The goal of the workshop is to help the writer move toward effective revision; each student will be expected to produce either one long (20-30 pages) or two shorter (10-15 pages) revised piece(s) of creative nonfiction by the end of the term. We will use as a common text Philip Lopate’s The Art of the Personal Essay, as well as selected handouts. The writers we will read may include George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Natalia Ginzburg, Eric Liu, Atul Gawande, Richard Rodriguez, Patricia Williams, Cherie Moraga, Vivian Gornick, Gayle Pemberton, and Maxine Hong Kingston. For more information, contact Professor Malinowitz at harriet.malinowitz@liu.edu.

English 170: Contemporary African Literature and Film (Class ID# 10161)
Professor Jonathan Haynes
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45 pm
Attention: This semester only, this course can be used to satisfy the ENG 169 requirement in the Literature concentration. If you have already received credit for ENG 169, it can be used as an upper-division ENG elective in the Literature concentration. This course can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.

This course explores contemporary Africa through the eyes of some of its most talented writers and filmmakers. They see a continent that is increasingly urbanized and exposed to globalization, but where deep cultural traditions continue to assert themselves and a vibrant popular culture compliments the perspectives of internationally-recognized artists. The problems of poverty, corruption, violence, and disease loom large, but so do the humor and resilience that keep Africa alive. The emergence of women’s voices has fundamentally reoriented Africa’s self-representation. Some recent works by towering senior figures of African culture will be included (the filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, the writer Wole Soyinka), but the emphasis will be on newer talents such as Ben Okri, Jean-Marie Teno, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, and Chimamanda Adichie. For more information, contact Professor Haynes at jonathan.haynes@liu.edu.

English 175: Writing for the Professions (Class ID# 10162)
Professor John Killoran
Thursdays 6:00-8:30 pm

This course will satisfy a requirement in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration. It can also satisfy an ENG elective requirement in the Literature concentration.

This is a writing course for students in any field preparing for their careers. When you are given your first writing project on the job, will you know what to do? Writing for the Professions is an elective for students across the disciplines as well as in English who are looking ahead to prepare themselves to write for their careers in business, law, the health professions, science, technology, education, and the arts. Students will learn to orient their writing toward different audiences, such as managers, customers, clients, and professional colleagues. Students will also learn to write in ways that result in action. By the end of the semester, students will have written their resume and other career-related documents, and will be more confident in their abilities to write effectively. For more information, contact Professor Killoran at john.killoran@liu.edu.

English 190: Senior Seminar in Literature (Class ID# 6058)
instructor & times to be arranged

This course is required in the Literature concentration. Instructor and times to be arranged. Consult the Chair of the English Department (Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger) if you think you need to take this course now.

English 191: Senior Seminar in Creative Writing (Class ID# 7390)
instructor & times to be arranged

This course is required in the Creative Writing concentration. Instructor and times to be arranged. Consult the Chair of the English Department (Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger) if you think you need to take this course now.

English 192: Senior Seminar in Writing & Rhetoric (Class ID# 6470)
instructor & times to be arranged

This course is required in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration. Instructor and times to be arranged. Consult the Chair of the English Department (Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Registration Advisor (Wayne Berninger) if you think you need to take this course now.

No comments: