the longest island

Barbara Henning, John High, Tod Thilleman and Lewis Warsh

The MFA Program in Creative Writing at Long Island University

&

Spuyten Duyvil books

presents readings by

Barbara Henning
John High
Tod Thilleman
Lewis Warsh

June 12 Tuesday 6-8 PM

Bisquit BBQ
President Street & Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn, New York

Barbara Henning is the author of Smoking in the Twilight Bar (United
Artists 1988), Love Makes Thinking Dark (UA, 1995), Detective Sentences
(Spuyten Duyvil, 2001), You, Me and The Insects (SD, 2005) and My
Autobiography (UA, 2007). For many years she taught in the English
department at Long Island University. She presently lives in Tucson,
Arizona.

John High's most recent books are Here (Talisman, 2006) and Talking
God's Radio Show (Spuyten Duyvil, 2006). He is the editor of Crossing
Centuries: The New Russian Poetry (Talisman) and has co-translated
books by Russian poets Nina Iskrenko, Aleksei Parshchikov and Ivan
Zhdanov. He teaches in the MFA program at Long Island University.

Tod Thilleman is the author of numerous books of poems and the novel
Gowanus Canal, Hans Knudsen (Spuyten Duyvil, 2003). . From 1991-1999 he
was editor of Poetry New York, a journal of poetry & translation. He is
editor and publisher of Spuyten Duyvil Books.

Lewis Warsh's most recent books are The Origin of the World (Creative
Arts, 2001) and Ted's Favorite Skirt (Spuyten Duyvil, 2002). A new
novel, A Place in the Sun, is forthcoming from Spuyten Duyvil, and a
new book of poems, Inseparable: Poems 1995-2005 is forthcoming from
Granary, He is director of the MFA program in creative writing at Long
Island University.

Undergraduate Courses, Summer & Fall 2007

Summer Session One 2007

(May 14 - June 25)

(There are no upper division courses in Summer Session Two this year.)

English 180: American Detective Fiction
Professor Donald McCrary
Summer Session One 2007: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1-4:40 pm

According to critic Brian McHale, the detective novel, in its search for truth and certainty, is the quintessential modernist fiction. Even in our so-called postmodern society, detective fiction is wildly popular, as evidenced by the proliferation of detective novels that address unique perspectives of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and, yes, postmodernism. While the roots of American detective fiction are widely debated, with critics locating diverse sources from classical literature to Edgar Allen Poe, it is indisputable that American writers created a unique type of detective fiction, influencing everything from French cinema to modern constructions of masculinity. In this course, we will analyze psychological, philosophical, epistemological, social, and cultural ideas and themes within American detective fiction, as we attempt to answer this framing question: What does American detective fiction have to tell us about ourselves and the world in which we live? Writers we will read include Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, John M. Cain, Walter Mosley, Sara Peretsky, Barbara Neely, and RD Zimmerman.

Students will read at least one fiction novel each week, in addition to critical essays about the novels. Students will write journal entries for all the readings and produce two critical essays, each at least six pages in length.

FALL 2007

English 101: Introduction to English Studies
Professor Patricia Stephens
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:00- 1:15 pm

What does one need to know to be an English major or minor? What do English majors and minors study and learn? What kinds of careers and educational opportunities await those who graduate with a degree in English? This course is designed to familiarize students with the diversity and scope of English studies and to introduce students to contemporary debates concerning such issues as the connection between reading and writing, the relationship among different interpretive/critical strategies, and the nature and politics of the literary canon. In this course, we will 1) learn about the rise of English as a discipline and how the profession of English has changed over time; 2) analyze the formation and politics of the literary canon; 3) engage in close readings of literary texts; and 4) examine and experiment with numerous methods of literary criticism and analysis. This course will be conducted as a seminar, and students will be expected to participate in and take responsibility for class discussions. We will read selections from David Richter's Falling Into Theory: Conflicting Views on Literature alongside numerous literary texts (poetry, fiction, and drama selections TBA).

English 103: Workshop on the Essay
Professor Jonathan Haynes
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-4:15

This workshop aims to deepen skills in writing nonfiction prose. To that end we will study representative works by masters of the essay, but the heart of the course will be writing, editing one another's work, and individual meetings with the instructor. Writing is a complex skill and we will pay attention to all its facets, from tone and point of view to grammar and organizing structures. Students will be encouraged to develop their own personal styles and voices and will have considerable freedom in choosing what to write about. Some forms of the essay that we will study and practice are the news story (as a model of efficiently conveying information), the editorial (as an exercise in persuasion), the autobiographical sketch, and the family history.

This course is cross-listed as Journalism 150. It should be useful to students in any discipline who want to improve their written communication skills.

English 104: Introduction To Creative Writing / Finding Our Voices
Professor John High
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-2:45 pm

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, establishing a passionate discipline, making time, focusing on ideas and feelings and giving them shape through the language of fiction, poetry and drama. The course will also zero-in on backbone issues of style and technique, ranging from those of characterization and plot, continuity and vividness of imagery, clarity of diction and the use of phrasing and structure in the writing of our worlds--the various ways that elements of craft inherently dovetail with content. There will be weekly creative writing exercises and group discussions, as well as commentary on the writing process and how to make it come alive for you. What do we mean when we talk about issues of style, form and voice(s)? What is a fiction, a poem--what is a metaphor, what is the magic of language, the ghost of echoes, which reflect your own vision of the world, your experience or past, your dreams or visions? What do we mean when we talk about taking chances in writing? We'll look at the work of Modern and contemporary writers ranging from James Baldwin to Anna Akhmatova to Jorge Luis Borges to that of younger writers publishing today. Critiques will focus on motivating the student to tap the undefined territory of his or her own imagination in order to more fully cultivate and mature her or his own voice/s and styles. The goal of the course includes completing a portfolio and/or anthology of our work.

English 126: News Writing (cross-listed as Journalism 119)
Professor Rauche (Journalism Department)
Section 1: Mondays 3-5:50 pm
Section 2: Wednesdays 6-8:50 pm

English 128: Early British Literatures / The Making of the English.
Professor Srividhya Swaminathan
Mondays, 6:00- 8:30 pm

What does it mean to be English, and how does language contribute to construction of identity? Why do we study early English literature and what kinds of things are we to learn from the texts? How did English literary traditions evolve over time to create a cohesive identity and culture for its people? This course will begin a chronological survey of the development of English literary traditions beginning in the ninth century and ending in the eighteenth. In covering texts as diverse as Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and The Way of the World, students will gain an understanding of the evolution of the English language from its earliest forms to the more modern version of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By examining the geographic and cultural boundaries as they change over the centuries, students will gain a better grasp of the fluidity of "English" or "British" identity. Finally, students will learn how the form of literature-poetry, prose, drama-changes over time and contributes to the evolving culture.

English 158: Early Literature of the United States / Captivity Narratives
Professor Carol Allen
Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:00-4:15 pm

This course explores early American writing before the Civil War. Using the general rubric that most American literature during this era is either an instantiation of economic, social, and/or spiritual containment or a response to being trapped in some manner, we will collectively delve into questions concerning the nature of literary constructs and their permeability. So, as we discover how writing shapes the world by limiting perception, we will focus on its ability to subvert expectations and norms, to infuse political and social spheres with revolutionary spirits, and to redraw forms and terrain. Expect to read political documents, slave narratives, religious texts, myths, poetry, essays, autobiography, fictional narratives and applicable criticism. A partial list of authors includes John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, Benjamin Franklin, James Fenimore Cooper, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Edgar Allan Poe.

English 165: Poetry Workshop
Professor Lewis Warsh
Mondays & Wednesdays 3-4:15 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELED.

Our ideas about poetry are often instilled in us at a very young age, and often those ideas are based on a narrow concept, as if poetry was just one thing written in one way. Our goal is to expand the definition of poetry, to see what's possible, both as writers and readers. We'll do this by exploring the traditions of poetry and see various forms of poetry (among them the sonnet, the sestina, the villanelle) and by paying close attention to the way that poetry changes through time and how much great poetry is a reflection of the age in which it was written. We'll also discuss the act of writing poetry as one of risk-taking and investigation, and how nothing ever changes unless you experiment or try something new. Is all the great writing, for instance, experimental writing? In what way is writing poetry similar to scientific discovery or invention? We'll discuss, at length, what "experiment" means in relation to poetry. Among the poets we'll look at closely are William Carlos Williams, Charles Reznikoff, Ted Berrigan, Elizabeth Bishop, Gertrude Stein, Robert Creely, Bernadette Mayer, Amiri Baraka, Jack Spicer, Andre Breton, Frank O'Hara, and Allen Ginsberg. A final portfolio, consisting of all your written work, is due at the end of the semester.

English 173: Writing in the Community / Recording Women's Lives through Oral History
Professor Harriet Malinowitz
Mondays 6-8:30 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELED.

“Subjective,” personal, non-“official” accounts of what happened in particular times, places, and circumstances offer unique ways of understanding the world and its history. In this course students will collect and disseminate the voices of women whose stories would ordinarily not be accessible to wider publics. We will read about the theories, uses, and methods of oral history, and we will also read a variety of oral histories of women. By the end of the term, and after completing a series of smaller assignments, each student will produce a substantial oral history based on an extended interview with one woman. The women who are the subjects of the oral histories will be carefully chosen according to the interests expressed by the students. The emphasis will be on older (aged 70+) women who may illuminate the realities of earlier social and historical periods, but exceptions may be made in consultation with the instructor. Students are welcome to pursue particular community, family, social, or disciplinary projects of interest to them. The course may be particularly useful for students interested in writing and/or women’s studies, as well as for students majoring in history, sociology, anthropology, or journalism. It will also be of use to anyone seeking a humanities elective that will help in preserving the stories of one or more older women in one’s life.

English 175: Writing for the Professions
Professor John Killoran
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45 pm

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.

English 180: Reading and Writing Autobiography
Professor Patrick Horrigan
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELED.

This is a course in a popular form of life writing known as "autobiography," the writing of one's own life story. By studying a diverse selection of autobiographical works ranging from early Christian "confessions" to nineteenth-century slave narratives to contemporary video diaries, we will see how various writiers and visual artists throughout history and in diverse cultures have tried to create images of themselves. Works will include Saint Augustine's Confessions, Dante's The New Life, Frederick Douglass's narrative of his life as a slave, Walt Whitman's poem "Song of Myself," Edmund Gosse's Father and Son, Virginia Woolf's "A Sketch of the Past," Anne Frank's diary, Richard Wright's Black Boy, Jonathan Couette's video diary Tarnation, and Marjane Starapi's graphic memoir about growing up during the Iran-Iraq war, Persepolis. In addition to reading and writing about the works of published autobiographers, students will have the opportunity to create their own autobiographies. A field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at self-portrait paintings will also be arranged.

Graduate Courses, Summer & Fall 2007

Summer Session One 2007

(May 14 -- June 25)

Eng. 503: Theory of Writing
Professor Barbara Henning
Saturdays, 10:00 am - 3:15 pm.

In this class we will read some theoretical essays that have been important to writers, both poets and fiction writers, since the early 20th century. There will also be a creative writing assignment and workshop each week.

The tentative plan for the reading is as follows:

Week 1 - Essays by Mallarme, Pound, Eliot, Williams and Fenallosa;
Week 2 - An essay by Berger on Cubism, as well as writing by Stein and others;
Week 3 - Essays by Cesaire, Sartre, Hughes, Dubois, and others;
Week 4 - Essays by Zukofsy, Olson, Creeley, Jones, and Levertov;
Week 5 - Sections from Robbe-Grillet's New Novel, as well as writing by Duras;
Week 6 - Sections from Bahktin's The Dialogic Imagination.

Each week you will write a poem or a story and a two page typed response to the readings, thinking about the ideas and considering their importance to your practice as a writer. This will be a very "condensed" class. We are meeting for six Saturdays. Because the first class is the equivalent of 2 ½ regular classes, there will be an assignment to prepare before the first class begins. You can pick up the first assignment from Marilyn Boutwell. Required text: Toward the Open Field: Poets on the Art of Poetry (1800-1950) and handouts. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. E-mail Marilyn Boutwell , who can forward your message to me.

English 624: American Detective Fiction
Professor Donald McCrary
Summer Session One 2007: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1-4:40 pm

FALL 2007

English 502: Writers on Writing
Professor Lewis Warsh
Mondays, 6:10 - 8:30 pm

Ten poets and fiction writers will give talks and readings during the course of the semester. We'll read their work beforehand (either a book, or a substantial excerpt) and do writing assignments influenced and inspired by their work. This is a class in the contemporary--what's being written today--and gives us a chance to talk first-hand with people who have aspired to advance the art of poetry and fiction into the 21st century and beyond. Students are advised to e-mail Professor Warsh for a list of readings for this course so you can get a head start. Among the visiting writers for Fall 2007 are: Samuel R. Delany, Bernadette Mayer, Wang Ping, Karen Russell, Simon Pettet, Anne Waldman, and Chuck Wachtel.

English 509: Sociolinguistics and the Teaching of Writing
Professor Donald McCrary
Tuesdays, 6:10 - 8:00 pm

This course examines the social foundation of language and the linguistic foundation of society. More specifically, the course explores how language and society intersect to construct, and in many ways, control both individual and group identity and consciousness. The relationship between language and society has relevance to the teaching of writing in that both teachers and students possess socially constructed knowledge of language that undergirds their understanding of writing competence and performance. The course explores how sociolinguistic constructions such as class, race, gender, academic discourse, and education might impact upon student writing and teacher instruction and evaluation. The course analyzes sociolinguistic theory and practice, including the work of L.S. Vygotsky, Victor Villanueva, Geneva Smitherman, Pierre Bourdieu, and Elaine Richardson.

English 523: Fiction Writing Workshop
Professor Thulani Davis
Wednesdays, 6:10 - 8:30 pm

The class will be in a workshop format with some readings, and students may work on short stories, or longer works. The course will include completing one longish piece and going through a revision process.

Text: Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers, ed. by Joyce Carol Oates, W.W. Norton & Co., 1998.

Thulani Davis is a journalist, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Among her work are two novels, 1959and Maker of Saints; several plays; the scripts for Paid in Full and Maker of Saints; and the librettos forAmistad and Malcolm X. She is the author of two collections of poetry, has worked on several PBS documentries, and has published in numerous magazines and journals. Her most recent book is My Confederate Kinfolk: A Twenty-First Century Freedwoman Discovers Her Roots. Davis has been a Buddhist priest for sixteen years.

Professor Davis's website: http://www.thulanidavis.com/.

English 524: A Poetics of Voice & Time--A Contemplative Practice Toward the Book
Professor John High
Tuesdays, 6:10 - 8:30 pm

What if as poets we were allowed to do whatever we wanted? What would we do? How long would our own experience & voice sustain us in writing? Every innovation in poetry has grown out of tradition, and in this course we will attempt to discover and connect with our own tradition/s and poetic. Wallace Stevens wrote that all poetry is experimental. So what is the relationship between tradition, innovation, and a writer's unique poetic? In the book you are writing, what underlies the voice, time, being and place of the poetic? If our own voices grow out of the past and from traditions firmly rooted in the power of language and contemplation, our goal is to discover--to see what's out there, both as writers and readers--as we examine the literary traditions and lineages from which we have grown. We'll do this by writing our own poems and by exploring various forms and schools of poetry and by paying close attention to the way that poetry changes through us and through time, how our own books change us. We'll also discuss the act of writing poetry as one of risk-taking and investigation, of destroying and reinventing traditions in our own discoveries, of seeing how nothing ever changes unless we explore and try to let our poems become truly our own, and something new in this act. We'll discuss, at length, what experimental means in relation to tradition and poetic. Among the poets we'll look at closely are: Whitman, H.D., Williams, Pound, Stein, Bishop, Hughes, Cullen, Breton, Mandelstam, Cane, Spicer, Levertov, Creeley, Lorca, Baraka, Whalen, O'Hara, Zukofsky, Oppen, Ginsberg, Mayer, Berrigan, Howe, Palmer, Heijinian, and Jabes. A final portfolio, or chapbook, consisting of all our written poems, as well as a "manifesto" of your own emerging poetic, is due at the end of the semester. We will also schedule a party and reading of our work at the MFA program's reading series, LIU @ Biscuit BBQ.

English 526: Writing for Media I--The Story
Professor Peggy Gormley (Media Arts)
Mondays, 6:00 - 8:50 pm

This cross-listed course is an introduction to the methods and principles of great storytelling in the media. It is the cornerstone course for all forms of story: commercials, sitcoms, movies, experimental shorts, even documentaries and photographic essays. In the first half of the semester, by means of screenings and discussion, students will learn to recognize and analyze basic story elements such as narrative structure, character, setting, plot, design, irony, and comedy. In the second half, in workshop-style classes, students will work on creating their own stories using these elements. Each student will develop his/her own movie-short screenplay and treatment as a final project. A professional screen writer will be a guest speaker at one of the classes. Requirements: access to a computer, purchase of Final Draft writing software, permission of instructor to take the course.

English 579: Contemporary Poetry
Professor Rosamond King
Wednesdays, 6:10 -8:00 pm

Is contemporary poetry a bastion of soulless academics or invigorating experimenters? Has it been taken over by the powerful spoken word or glorified screamers? Whatever your views of contemporary poetry, these are exciting times for what used to be an extremely marginalized form. This course will focus on a variety of poems from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Genres studied will include contemporary lyric, "spoken word," and "experimental" or "avant-garde" work. We will examine voice and style, as well as form and content, and aesthetics and politics. Readings will also incorporate theory and criticism by scholars and the poets themselves. This course is an interactive, discussion-based seminar, and students will have the opportunity to lead some of the sessions. Other requirements include writing a review of a poetry collection and several responses to class readings, in addition to completing a serious research essay on topics of your choice. Attendance to local poetry readings and events is also encouraged.

English 626: African American Short Fiction
Professor Louis Parascandola
Thursdays, 6:10 - 8:00 pm

This course will examine masterpieces of African American short fiction. We will be starting with Harlem Renaissance authors Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay, and then progressing through Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker to emerging talents. Guest authors will be visiting during class to read and discuss their work. The goal of this course is to make you not only a better reader and critical thinker, but also a better writer, teacher, and researcher. Therefore, in addition to the primary texts, we will be examining literary critics on the stories.

English 646: Individual & Small Group Instruction
Professor Patricia Stephens
Tuesdays, 4:10 - 6:00 pm

In this course, students will examine the theory and practice of individual and small group writing instruction. We will examine a range of strategies for working with students one-on-one as we locate that work within its various theoretical and historical contexts. Our work will focus on the following: structuring sessions and establishing priorities; assessing, diagnosing, and responding to student writing; strategies for intervention, planning, drafting, revising, proofreading, and editing; helping students with grammatical and mechanical concerns; helping students improve reading comprehension; working with ESL students; attending to interpersonal dynamics and cultural and ethnic differences; and tutoring online.

Students who enroll in this course will be required to tutor for one hour per week during the semester at the Writing Center and to audio and/or video tape one session with a student. The taped session will be transcribed and analyzed for use in a self-study. Classes will be conducted as seminars/workshops so that all students have the opportunity to participate in class presentations, mock tutorials, etc. Each student will generate her/his own idea/s for a final written (and/or action) project, based on topics of interest that arise during the semester.

Traditions and Lineages Reading May 11th 6-8 PM

Come join us for a night of poetry and fun on May 11th 6-8 PM

The Living Room Lounge
245 23rd Street
Between 5th and 6th
Brooklyn, NY

Readers include:

Michael Desario
Margo Nasti
Sara Kolbasowki
Mark Perkins
and Lewis Warsh

John High's Fall 2007 Poetry Workshop: A Poetics Of Voice & Time- A Contemplation Practice Towards The Book

Hi All,

A quick note here to any of you who are planning to take the poetry workshop in the fall. After much thought I have decided to request that each of you choose a poetics essay, along with a few poems/texts, by an author who for some reason or another has been/is important to your own writing. Please send it to me with a brief paragraph as to why you chose it, so I can include it in the Reader I'm compiling for the fall. (See course description below.)

The trick here is that I need to get these (either hard copies or Word documents sent as attachment) as soon as possible, but no later than the end of May. I hope to be out of the country and doing some of my own writing after that, and need to get the Reader to the LIU printing center by then.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you could, please pass the word. Of course, you can choose anyone you want, and she/he needn't be American, or anything else. The key is here what really matters to you and your own work. I'll be including other authors & texts as well, but want at least one from each of you, so that the reader represents texts that interest you in relationship to your own writing.

Good luck finishing up for the semester.

Thanks!Onward,

Graduate Poetry Workshop
A Poetics Of Voice & Time-
A Contemplative Practice Toward the Book
John High

What if as poets we were allowed to do whatever we wanted? What would we do? How long would our own experience & voice sustain us in writing? Every innovation in poetry has grown out of tradition, and in this course we will attempt to discover and connect with our own tradition(s) and poetic. Wallace Stevens wrote that all poetry is experimental. So what is the relationship between tradition, innovation, and a writer's unique poetic? In the book you are writing,what underlies the voice, time, being and place of the poetic?If our own voices grow out of the past and from traditions firmly rooted in the power of language and contemplation, our goal is to discover-to see what's out there, both as writers and readers-as we examine the literary traditions and lineages from which we have grown. We'll do this by writing our own poems and by exploring various forms and schools of poetry and by paying close attention to the way that poetry changes through us and through time, how ourown books change us. We'll also discuss the act of writing poetry as one of risk-taking and investigation, of destroying and reinventing traditions in our own discoveries, of seeing how nothing ever changes unless we explore and try to let our poems become truly our own, and something new in this act. We'll discuss, at length, what experiment means in relation to tradition and poetic.Among the poets we'll look at closely are Whitman, H.D., Williams, Pound, Stein, Bishop, Hughes, Cullen, Breton, Mandelstam, Cane, Spicer, Levertov, Brooks, Mayakovsky, Mallarme, Khlebnikov,Creeley, Lorca, Baraka, Whalen, O'Hara, Zukofsky, Oppen, Ginsberg, Mayer, Berrigan, Howe, Palmer, Hejinian, and Jabes.

A final portfolio, or chapbook, consisting of all our written poems, as well as a 'manifesto' of your own emerging poetic, is due at theend of the semester. We will also schedule a party and reading of ourwork at the LIU Reading Series in The Skylight Room.

The Esther Hyneman Graduate Awards In Poetry and Fiction

The graduate creative writing faculty of the English Department gives two annual awards ($250 for poetry and $250 for fiction) to graduate students in the creative writing program.
The awards are named for Professor Esther Hyneman, in recognition of her creative energy and her many years of dedicated service to the English Department.

Submission Guidelines:

Submit 8-10 pages of poetry and/or 10-15 pages of fiction. For each piece, include two cover pages, one with title, name of writer, address, email address, and telephone number. The other cover page should list only the title of the work.
Place submissions in the English Department mailbox labeled "Hyneman Award."
Annual Submission Deadline: End of the Third Week in April

LIU Poetry Reading / March 23rd/ See Sun, Think Shadow

This Friday at Night and Day/ Biscuit BBQ 230 5th Ave/ Park Slope, Brooklyn

6 TO 8 PM Sharp

Poetry reading including:

Charles Thorne
Joe Wolff
Joe Garnevicus
Charulata L. Dyal
Jaline Mojica
Sri Raman
Margot M. Nasti
Gary Parrish
Jessica Rogers

Flyer (click pic to enlarge):

Undergraduate Courses, Spring 2007

English 101:001 Introduction to English Studies
Professor Sealy Gilles
Thursdays 6:00-8:30 pm

This course introduces students to the field of English studies both theoretically and practically. It takes for its focus the craft of the rhetorician and the literary artist. We will therefore explore the overlapping territories of the literary scholar, the essayist, the story-teller, the poet, the dramatist, and the professional writer. Three units of genre study - on lyric, prose and tragedy - are accompanied by excursions into the profession, as the course introduces students to issues in the critical tradition, the history of the discipline, and contemporary opportunities for English majors. Students will have opportunities to create texts, even as they acquire the tools to critique them. They will also receive intensive training in the research essay and the use of library resources.

English 104:001 Introduction to Creative Writing-Finding Our Voices
Professor John High
Tuesdays 12:00-2:30 pm

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, establishing a passionate discipline, making time, focusing on ideas and feelings and giving them shape through the language of fiction, poetry and drama. The course will also zero-in on back bone issues of style and technique, ranging from those of characterization and plot, continuity and vividness of imagery, clarity of diction and the use of phrasing and structure in the writing of our worlds-the various ways that elements of craft inherently dovetail with content. There will be weekly creative writing exercises, workshops and group discussions, as well as commentary on the writing process and how to make it work. What do we mean when we talk about issues of style, form and voice(s)? What is a fiction, a poem-what is a metaphor, what is the magic of language, the ghost of echoes, which reflect your own vision of the world, your experience or past, your dreams or visions? What do we mean when we talk about taking chances in writing? We'll look at the work of Modern and contemporary writers ranging from James Baldwin to Anna Akhmatova to Jorge Luis Borges to that of younger writers publishing today. Critiques will focus on motivating the student to tap the undefined territory of his or her own imagination in order to more fully cultivate and mature her or his own voice/s and styles. The goal of the course includes completing a portfolio and/or anthology of our work.

English 104:002 Introduction to Creative Writing
Professor Lewis Warsh
Wednesdays 6-8:30 pm

THIS SECTION WAS CANCELLED.

The goal of the workshop is to expand our ideas of "what is a poem?" and "what is a work of fiction?" Are poetry and fiction exclusive or related genres? Weekly assignments will question preconceived notions of form, content and gender, with emphasis on the best ways of transcribing thought processes and experiences into writing. We will also attempt to engage the present moment-the issues of our time, if any, that influence our writing. is it possible to write in a vacuum while ignoring the rest of the world? What is the writer's responsibility? Can writing change the world? We will read as models the work of Marguerite Duras, Lydia Davis, William Carlos Williams, Amiri Baraka, Frank O'Hara, Andre Breton, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashbery and Ernest Hemingway, among others.

Much of the workshop time will be spent reading and discussing each other's writing.

English 129:001 British Literature II: Faces of Modern Britain
Professor Patrick Horrigan
Tuesdays 6:00-8:30 pm

The course will examine the changing face of modern Britain from its explosive industrialization in the late-eighteenth century, through the cresting and fall of its world empire during the nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries, to its current, uneasy position as the primary ally of the United States in the global "war on terror." Using images from London's National Portrait Gallery as our guide, we will approach the literature of this 200-year period as a series of "close-ups" in which questions of national and personal identity will be especially important. The major texts under discussion, many of which deal quite literally with the enigma of portraiture, will include William Wordsworth's The Prelude, Jane Austen's Emma, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray along with transcripts from the Wilde trials, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, Mike Leigh's film Secrets and Lies, and the still-on-going documentary film project known as The Up Series. Throughout the semester, students will compose critical as well as creative texts in response to the material. They will also give in-class presentations.

English 150:001 Contemporary African-American Writers
Professor Carol Allen
Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:00-4:15 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELLED.

This course focuses exclusively on African American writing from 1970 to the present. It will be divided into units based on genre: poetry, drama, the essay, autobiography, short story, the novel, and testimonial (lyrics, oratory). Expect to encounter such artists as June Jordan, Michael Harper, Quincy Troupe, Adrienne Kennedy, August Wilson, Anna Devere Smith, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Itaberi Njeri, and John Wideman. Critical pieces will be studied as well from the likes of Houston Baker, Henry Louis Gates, Ntozake Shange, and Larry Neale.

English 159:001 Literature of the U.S. II: Faces of Modern America
Professor Patrick Horrigan
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm

Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the first World War, the United States transformed itself from an isolated, primarily agrarian nation into an industrialized, increasingly influential world power. Today it is the embattled, self-proclaimed leader in the global "war on terror." Using images from the recently re-opened American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, the course will chart these historical developments by looking closely at some important, modern American novels, stories, poems, films, and works of nonfiction, many of which deal with the question of portraiture (how do you represent an individual human being?) and the related enigma of American identity (what does it mean to be an "American"?). Major texts will include Henry James' "The Real Thing," Gertrude Stein's word portraits, Alain Locke's anthology The New Negro, Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane, James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, and Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate. Throughout the semester, students will compose critical as well as creative texts in response to the material. They will also give in-class presentations.

English 166:001 Fiction Writing Workshop—The Short Story
Professor John High
Thursdays 6:00-8:30 pm

This workshop will focus on the way autobiography and dreams overlap with story writing and how the past is fictionalized as a way of giving it a voice. The premise is that the source of much fiction is based on memories and dreams. We'll look at writers of the last century as well as contemporary writers of today: Jean Toomer, Marguerite Duras, Jorge Luis Borges, Michael Ondaatje. Lydia Davis, John Berger, Rosemary Waldrop, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Jamacia Kincaid, and Sherman Alexie (among others) who often blur the borders between fiction, dream and life story. We'll concentrate on the various traditions of narrative, including plot, character, and conflict-with an eye towards expanding on what's already been done. There will be weekly creative writing exercises, workshops and group discussions, as well as commentary on the writing process and how to make it come alive for you. The course offers relaxed, though thorough and individualized investigation of the participants' work in relation to craft, theme and content of writing. Our writing project will include working with dreams, secrets, memories, observations, opinions, overheard conversations and random fragments of language. The goal of the course includes completing a portfolio and/or anthology of our work.

English 168:001 Creative Non-Fiction Workshop
Professor Mary Hallet
Mondays & Wednesdays 3:00-4:15 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELLED.

This course will give students the opportunity both to read and write creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction means "factual" writing that uses fictional strategies in order to convey to readers the complexities and nuances of "real life" situations and topics. Because fiction and nonfiction, as well as memory and fact, intersect and sometimes collide in creative nonfiction, we will explore the complicated notion of "truth" in such writing. While much creative nonfiction incorporates autobiographical elements, it is not restricted about simply writing about "the self." While it often (but not always) incorporates the personal, it is also reflective and analytical. Students in the course will have an opportunity to examine and write a variety of diverse creative nonfictional pieces—from texts that report on and analyze current events to those that explore in depth events in their own personal lives. Readings may include texts by Annie Dillard, Oliver Sacks, Joan Didion, Maya Angelou, David Sedaris, and Lee Gutkind.

English 169:001 Non-Western & Post-Colonial Literature
Professor Maria McGarrity
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm

This class will offer a basic grounding in the literatures and cultures of the Caribbean, including a focus on such nations as Haiti, St. Lucia, Montserrat, and the Dominican Republic. We will study the work of Nobel Prize-winning St. Lucian, Derek Walcott as well as such writers as Jamaica Kincaid, Edwidge Danticat, Caryl Phillips, Jean Rhys, and EA Markham. Our reading of short stories, poetry, longer fiction, and film will take us through the 20th century struggle for decolonization as we examine issues of gender, class, race, and colonialism.

English 171:001 Introduction to Classical Rhetoric
Professor Mary Hallet
Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:15 pm

In current contexts, the term "rhetoric" often has a negative meaning. For example, we often hear this term tossed about in relation to politicians who are bombastic, people who "twist" their words to suit their own ambitions and goals, regardless of "the truth." But in the times of Classical Rhetoric, the ancient Greeks and Romans—Aristotle, Quintilian, and Cicero, to name a few—often saw rhetoric as way of discovering and conveying "truth." Rhetoric in this sense was a means of persuasion, and the study of rhetoric was particularly important in a world where oral traditions—the art of delivering speeches and tributes—held precedence over the written word. Significantly, the rhetorical strategies employed by the great orators of the past remain pertinent today and can be applied to both written and spoken forms of argument and persuasion. From the age of the ancient Greeks and Romans until the present time, theorists and scholars continue to study the effects of Classical Rhetoric on current forms of, and ideas about, communication. In this course, we will focus both on the original texts of the classical rhetoricians and the theories that have evolved from the on-going studies of these texts over several centuries. We will place these readings and theories within the contexts of the times from which they evolved, and trace their influence on our study of a variety of current texts, both print and visual.

English 184:001 Henrick Ibsen & Modern Drama
Professor Howard Silverstein
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-2:45 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELLED.

In 2006 we are celebrating the centennial of the death of the playwright referred to as "the father of modern drama." The plays of Ibsen are constantly revived in cities across the nation, on college campuses, and on Broadway and off Broadway. Hardly a season goes by that critics don't acclaim a new Nora in A Doll House or rave about an actress's portrayal of Hedda in Hedda Gabler. Theatergoers are struck with the freshness of Ibsen's dramas, with their close examination of the social and psychological conflicts of the characters. It was this nineteenth century Norwegian who transformed the theater of his time and most of the drama that followed. Ibsen brought realism to the stage: he eliminated the clumsy five-act structure of dramas and the painted scenery of his era. If a play were set in a living room, it looked like a real living room with sofas placed strategically for actors to sit on. The dialogue was believable, and the themes of his plays mirrored the issues of his own time as well as significant problems of our own.

The course will therefore start out with a close analysis and discussion of four plays by Ibsen: The Wild Duck, A Doll House, Hedda Gabler, and Rosmersholm. All of the authors studied in the course are indebted to Ibsen, from the European writers Chekhov, Strindberg, Shaw and Brecht, to American authors Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson.

Course requirements include two critical papers, a midterm and final exam. Depending on theatrical productions being offered, the class will attend an off-Broadway or Broadway play.

English 190:001 Senior Seminar (Literature Concentration)
Professor Leah Dilworth
Thursdays 12:00-2:30 pm

This course will guide students through the process of writing a long research paper (20-25 pages) on a topic of their own choosing. Students will use a range of research resources and write an informal proposal, a formal proposal, a first draft, and a final draft of the paper. You will also read and critique each other's work. Required reading will include essays on research methods and writing as well as a literary text and selected critical essays.

This course should be taken during your final year of study.

English 191:001 Senior Seminar (Creative Writing Concentration)
Professor Lewis Warsh
Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45 pm

We will investigate the lives and writings of innovative 20th century authors--Gertrude Stein, Robert Creeley, Zora Neale Hurston and Frank O'Hara, among others; attend and report on poetry readings--and give readings ourselves; go to museums; listen to music; pay close attention to our surroundings, what we do every day, and the way we think; keep intensive reading journals. Our final project will be putting together a manuscript of our best writing.

This course should be taken during your final year of study.

English 192: Senior Seminar (Writing & Rhetoric Concentration)
Instructor & times to be arranged.

Consult the Chair of the English Department (Professor Sealy Gilles) or the Undergraduate Advisment Coordinator (Professor Wayne Berninger) if you think you need to take this course now.

This course should be taken during your final year of study.

Graduate Courses, Spring 2007

English 520: Non-Fiction Writing Workshop
Professor Deborah Mutnick
Wednesdays 4:10 - 6:00 pm

The nonfiction writing workshop is designed to give you the opportunity to develop your writing in a community of writers. The focus this semester will be on the personal essay in relation to nonfiction writing in general. The course explores various approaches to nonfiction writing, such as the use of autobiography to anchor criticism and of fictional techniques like dialogue and point of view to write about real places, people, and events. It also raises theoretical questions such as what distinguishes nonfiction from fiction. What constitutes "creative" writing? What does the personal essay tell us about larger social and historical issues? And what role does the "I" play in different types of nonfiction writing? You will benefit from a group of readers with different perspectives whose job it will be to provide close readings and constructive criticism of your work.

Those interested in oral history and ethnography will have the opportunity to participate in one of two ongoing documentary projects. "Making a Legacy: The Story of an Urban Public School" is a seven-year project tracking the progress of the pioneering sixth grade class at the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts & Letters, a new secondary school that started in fall 2006 and is located at 225 Adelphi Street, a few blocks from LIU. "Homegrown Stories" is an intergenerational storytelling project sponsored by the Prospect Lefferts Gardens (PLG) neighborhood association. PLG is an area in Brooklyn bordered by Prospect Park, Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Parkside Avenue.

Throughout the semester, we will read published essays as models, identifying and experimenting with different techniques, styles, and approaches to nonfiction writing.

Among the writers we will read are Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Vivian Gornick, Susan Griffin, Alice Walker, Richard Rodriquez, Edward Hoagland, Harvey Wang, Jane Lazarre, and Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan. The emphasis of the class, however, will be on your own writing, which will be discussed at least twice in workshop during the semester. You will be required to complete two short (4-6 page) essays, and one longer (15-20 page) essay or the equivalent, as well as keep a writer's notebook.

English 524: See Sun, Think Shadow—Poetry Writing Workshop
Professor Lewis Warsh
Mondays 6:10 - 8:30 pm

"See sun, think shadow" is a quote by Louis Zukofsky, a great poet of New York City, whose poetry attempted to capture the light and darkness of his immediate surroundings. "Sun" and "shadow" are states of mind and also emotional states-the external world of the sun (what we see) and the interior world lost in shadow (what we're feeling). One goal of poetry is to transcribe the shifts from one state to another and also recreate the experience of what it feels like to be in the sun and in the shadow simultaneously.

We will use this workshop to expand the range of what's possible as poets and will begin by exploring the traditions and the various forms of poetry (among them the sonnet, the sestina, the villanelle). One primary concern is the way that poetry changes through time (in the same way that painting and music changes) and how poetry reflects the time in which it is written. We will also discuss the notion of experimentation, and how writing is an act of risk-taking, i.e. without taking risks nothing ever changes. Is all great writing, for instance, experimental writing? In what ways is writing poetry similar to scientific discovery of invention? We will discuss, at length, what "experiment" means in relation to poetry. Among the poets we will look at closely are Louis Zukofsky, Charles Reznikoff, Ted Berrigan, Elizabeth Bishop, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Robert Creeley, Bernadette Mayer, Amiri Baraka, Alice Notley, Jack Spicer, Frank O'Hara, and Allen Ginsberg. We will also explore the ways in which poetry connects to theory, touching on essays by Maurice Blanchot and Lyn Hejinian.

English 525: Playwriting Workshop
Professor Katt Lissard
Wednesdays 6:10 - 8:30 pm

This course will be divided into three parts. We'll begin with a brief introduction to the history and basics of dramatic writing, using Aristotle's Poetics, David Ball's Backwards and Forwards and Shakespeare'sHamlet. The second phase will focus on scene and character development, through a series of written exercises and assignments, as each student begins drafting a one-act play. The final section of the course will be devoted to workshopping each student's play-in-progress. Ongoing discussion of playwriting craft, theory, and form will be directly related to the individual needs of participating student playwrights and the work each student is developing. Along with the texts mentioned above, we'll be reading relevant plays and using Keith Johnstone's Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre as an ongoing resource. The workshop will culminate in an evening of public readings of student work.

Katt Lissard, a writer and director, spent most of 2005 in Lesotho, Africa on a Fulbright Award - teaching in the Theatre Unit at the National University of Lesotho, producing and directing plays, and researching the dramatic response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Her most recent play, The Law of Falling Bodies, was part of the Third Millennium Festival. Her work has been seen at a variety of NYC venues, including: Dixon Place, HERE, NYU's Experimental Theatre Wing, the ArcLight, St. Mark's in the Bowery, and the former Circle Rep Lab. She is a Mabou Mines Resident Artist alum, an Affiliate Artist of New Georges Theatre Company and a MacDowell Colony Fellow. Lissard also teaches in the Goddard College Interdisciplinary Masters Program and at the State University of New York, Empire State College.

English 527: Web Authoring
Professor John Killoran
Tuesdays 6:10 -8:00 pm

According to a 2004 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 44% of American Internet users have contributed some of their own work to the online world. Projecting from current economic and cultural trends, we can reasonably assume that almost 100% of writers and professional communicators will be expected to author some part of the online world.

To increase their understanding of, participation in, and marketability for such online authorship, students of this course will learn the principles, research, and practices of creating and publishing work on the Web.

Classes will be devoted to such topics as…

•Web rhetoric practices by commercial and non-profit organizations, throughout civic society, and in personal, professional, and communal publishing;
• information architecture and hypertext navigation;
• information design principles and Web layout practices;
• writing for and reading from the computer screen, screen typography;
• rhetoric of integrating text with photographs, graphics, and color;
• user analysis and usability testing.

As a major part of their course work, students will write, design, and publish a Web site on a topic of their specialty.

Web Knowledge, Skills, and Prerequisites

As this is a graduate-level course, much class time will be devoted to developing students' conceptual knowledge: the principles of and research on Web rhetoric. Students will also develop their Web authoring skills:

• hand coding XHTML and CSS,
•using a Web editor,
•creating basic graphics and modifying photographs in Photoshop,
•publishing and maintaining their sites.

The course is designed to accommodate students with little or no Web-authoring experience, though such students should…

• have regular computer and Internet access,
•be very familiar with the Internet,
•be willing to learn quickly.

Students who have already developed these Web-authoring skills will focus their learning on Web research and Web rhetoric and, in consultation with the professor, will be permitted to complete and submit certain basic in-class course work from home.

English 625: 19th Century American Literature
Professor Michael Bennett
Mondays 4:10 - 6:00 pm

In this course, we will be studying literature written in the United States between 1840 and 1900 and the body of critical work that responds to this literature. The first part of this course will be devoted to the antebellum period. We will consider why this period has been called "the American Renaissance" and explore what, if anything, that label adds to our understanding of American culture before the Civil War. The last part of this course will examine American culture in the postbellum period. We will explore the adequacy of the term Realism for describing American literature written during the period of rising industrialism after the Civil War. In both parts of the course, we will interrogate what is meant by some of our key terms: American, literature, author, culture. We will keep in view how issues of gender and race shape (or misshape) our understanding of these terms.

Readings from: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Henry Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Fanny Fern, Rebecca Harding Davis, Mark Twain, Henry James, Kate Chopin, Charles Chesnutt.

English 641: Literacy/ Basic Writing
Professor Xiao-Ming Li
Thursdays 4:10 - 6:00 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELLED.

In this course we will examine whom we teach and what we teach in basic writing courses, i.e. who are basic writers? And what is literacy? Based on the understanding of those two issues, we will discuss how to teach basic writers what we claim to teach. To answer the question of whom, we will read Shirley Brice Heath and Shondel Nero, whose studies of basic writers, the latter of students at LIU in particular, provide useful templates for our own ethnographic or case studies. For the question on literacy, we will read such influential educators as E.D. Hirsch, Paulo Freire, and Patricia Bizzell. To ponder the last question of how, we will examine models such as the Pittsburg model (Batholomae and Petrosky) and the Amherst model (Robin Varnum), and those described by Mina Shaughnessay and Geneva Smitherman in their well celebrated books. A Sourcebook for Basic Writing Teachers edited by Theresa Enos will be used as a companion book for all discussions.

All participants will keep a reading journal to "think aloud" all reading assignments. Each will also engage in a semester-long project to study one of the three key issues proposed above. The project will culminate in a paper of 10-15 pages, which should 1) synthesize and evaluate the readings pertinent to the issue; 2) analyze one basic writer's written texts throughout the semester in the context of the writer's life experience; and 3) propose concrete methodology tailored to this particular basic writer.

English 651: 16th & 17th Century English Literature
Professor Seymour Kleinberg
Tuesdays 6:10 - 8:00 pm

THIS COURSE WAS CANCELLED.

In this course we will explore the sonnets of Shakespeare, and the lyrics of John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvel (these last 3 known as the Metaphysical Poets). A term paper and a final essay in lieu of an exam are required. In addition, students will lead discussions each week. The course is a close reading of 4 major lyric poets to see how their ideas are expressed in their language and forms.

English 700: Practicum in Teaching Composition
Professor Donald McCrary
Tuesdays 4:10 - 6:00 pm

This course prepares graduate English students to teach in the LIU/Brooklyn Writing Program by examining the theories and practices that guide the program, including social constructionism, process writing, portfolio assessment, and thematic course design and applying those theories and practices to the creation of a viable English 16 syllabus. In addition, the course will explore managing the classroom, creating/integrating reading and writing assignments, responding to student texts, teaching grammar, organizing/facilitating teacher-student conferences, and addressing the linguistic issues of a multicultural student population.

Possible texts for the course might include Facts, Artifacts, and Counterfacts by Anthony Petrosky and David Bartholomae, The St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing by Cheryl Glenn et al, and Portfolio Assessment in the Reading Writing Classroom by Robert J. Tierney, Mark A. Carter, and Laura E. Desai.

English 707: Methods in Research & Criticism
Professor Bernard Schweizer
Thursdays 6:10 - 8:00 pm

This course will expose students to major schools of 20th-century critical theory, including New Criticism, Marxism, Feminism, Historicism, and Postcolonialism, and it will familiarize them with fundamental aspects of methodology and research. We will approach the critical heritage from three perspectives: first, we will engage in a discourse about the why and wherefore of theory in general, using Jonathan Culler's meta-theoretical Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction; next, we will encounter various schools of criticism" in action;" that is, we will see how specific critical tools are used in interpretations of our core text,Jane Eyre; third, we will compare two different critical editions of Jane Eyre, assessing the theoretical premises underpinning each edition and identifying the editorial assumptions that went into the making of these textbooks. Finally, we will put what we learned in the first half of the course into practice. The class will be divided into groups, each of which will put together a "critical edition" of their own. That is, each group will act as an editorial committee working with either Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier or Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. The group is to collect a number of relevant critical treatments of these novels, write introductions, and collate the material to resemble an editorial apparatus. The groups are to give a progress report on their evolving critical editions week by week.

Assigned Texts: Jane Eyre, Bedford St. Martin's Critical Edition; Jane Eyre, Norton Critical Edition;Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Jonathan Culler; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.