Course Descriptions

ENG 101 College Writing I (1)
Basic instruction in expository writing. Emphasis on identifying an audience, formulating a thesis, developing an argument, supporting the argument, marshaling evidence, citing authorities, answering possible objections. Students are asked to respond to and analyze a variety of texts and to critique each other's work. ENG 101 includes a brief review of grammar and punctuation. Staff

ENG 102 College Writing II (1)
Advanced instruction in expository writing. ENG 102 does not include a review of grammar and punctuation; it does include some library work and a research paper. The course is intended for all writers, weak or strong, who wish to improve their writing and research skills. Staff

ENG 120 Introduction to Literature (1)
This course is an introduction to the forms, vocabulary and critical reading strategies associated with the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and, at the instructor's discretion, one other genre--usually either drama or film. HUM; W; Staff

ENG 123 Introduction to Drama and Theatre (1)
Designed for the play reader, play goer, and theatre practitioner. A study of the basic dramatic elements and principles exemplified in selected dramatic scripts from the Greeks to the present. The focus is on how one understands a script, how one understands a production of that script, and how the script demands are translated by theatre practitioners as a manifestation of the human experience. HUM; W; Cross Listing : THEA 123; N.Blackadder; K.Hogan;

ENG 124 Introduction to Film (1)
Film is studied as a distinct art form with its own means and ends. Films are selected that are representative of various periods or major advances and are studied from historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives. HUM; R.Smith; E.Anderson;

ENG 200 Ways of Reading (1)
Students analyze and assess their own assumptions about what constitutes the act of "reading." We pursue a detailed investigation of the processes of representation and interpretation in order to consider the many different "ways" of reading texts. Integrating theory and practice, we test the usefulness of the models provided by such movements as New Criticism, Feminism, Reader-Response, Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, New Historicism, and Queer Theory to the situated analysis of a variety of literary and cultural texts. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 recommended; Staff

ENG 201 Business and Technical Writing (1)
The course is intended for any student wishing to improve written communication skills, but especially for those students who want to gain skills in writing clear and effective business-related prose. The course focuses on the business and technical writing skills necessary to communicate effectively in a variety of professional settings. Students analyze, evaluate, and create a variety of professional documents: letters, memos, resumes, reports, proposals, business plans, presentations, etc. Cross Listing : BUS 201; J.Haslem;

ENG 202 Teaching Writing (1)
The course is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of the theory, practice, and pedagogy of writing. What defines good writing? How do we learn to write? What are the most effective ways to work with writers one-on-one and in the classroom? As we answer these questions, students learn not only how to effectively teach writing, but also how to improve their own writing. Cross Listing : CTL 202; J.Haslem;

ENG 205 Beginning Poetry Translation (1)
Discussion of theory, contemporary practice, and student work, plus conferences with members of the language faculties. ARTS; Prereq : 103 in a foreign language or equivalent; ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; G.Franco;

ENG 206 Beginning Creative Nonfiction Writing (1)
A seminar in the writing of various kinds of contemporary nonfiction. Discussion of published writers and student work, plus individual conferences. ARTS; Prereq : ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; W; Cross Listing : JOUR 206; N.Rosenfeld; N.Regiacorte; C.Simpson; C.Kitchen; M.Webb;

ENG 207 Beginning Fiction Writing (1)
A seminar on contemporary fiction writing. Discussion of published writers and student work, plus conferences. ARTS; Prereq : ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; W; R.Metz; B.Tannert-Smith; N.Regiacorte; C.Simpson; C.Kitchen;

ENG 208 Beginning Poetry Writing (1)
A seminar on contemporary poetry writing. Discussion of published writers and student work, plus conferences. ARTS; Prereq : ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; W; M.Berlin; G.Franco; N.Regiacorte;

ENG 209 Beginning Playwriting (1)
Discussion of contemporary and student plays, plus individual conferences. ARTS; Prereq : THEA/ENG 123 or THEA 131 or ENG 207 or ENG 208; or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing : THEA 209; N.Blackadder;

ENG 221 Gender and Literature (1)
Emphasis is on the use of gender as a category of analysis by which to examine literary characters, styles, and techniques, as well as the circumstances and ideology of authors, readers, and the literary canon. HUM; DV; Cross Listing : GWST 221; M.Roy-Fequiere; staff.;

ENG 223 Introduction to Children's Literature (1)
This course is designed to familiarize students with various types of children's literature, including folklore, modern fantasy, picture books and realistic fiction. Students will learn how to evaluate the literary standards and pluralistic character of the literature. Authors may include Nodelman, Park, Lowery, Pullman, Taylor and Feiffer. Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; B.Tannert-Smith;

ENG 231 American Literature I (1)
A survey of literature from colonization through the major authors of the mid-nineteenth century. We examine the formation of an American literary tradition in the context of cultural, intellectual, political and economic developments. Authors may include de Vaca, Bradstreet, Edwards, Wheatley, Emerson, Melville, Dickinson, Stoddard, Brent, Douglass and Stowe. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; R.Smith;

ENG 232 American Literature II (1)
A survey of literatures produced in the United States since the Civil War. We examine relationships between cultural and intellectual currents and the political, economic, and social development of the United States during this period, focusing particularly on race, gender and class as analytic categories. Authors may include Howells, Twain, Jewett, Chopin, Cather, Chesnutt, Fitzgerald, Pynchon, Cisneros, Morrison, Harjo, Gibson. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; R.Smith;

ENG 233 African-American Literature (1)
A survey of African-American literature from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. Major literary movements, major writers, and folk literature are studied in historical, cultural and purposive context. Consideration is given to the form and language of the literature, as well as to the question of cultural repression. Alternate years. HUM; Cross Listing : BKST 233; F.Hord;

ENG 234 African and Black Caribbean Literature (1)
A survey of twentieth-century African and Black Caribbean literature. After tracing the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century backgrounds of that literature, the Indigenism, Negritude, and Negrista movements are explored, including the interaction between African and Black Caribbean writers. Post-World War II writing includes emphasis on its increased visibility in the 1950s, and the art, nationalism/Pan-Africanism, and orality orientations since 1960; and the question of language. HUM; Cross Listing : BKST 234; F.Hord;

ENG 235 African American Women Writers (1)
A broad survey of the poetry, fiction, autobiographies and literary criticism of African American women. Beginning with late eighteenth-century poetry, we explore the themes and images of black women and men, language, settings and form of that literature. With African American women at the center of discourse speaking as subjects, we further examine the interlocking of gender, race, and class and the uniqueness of their experience as reflected in their literature, as well as how the historical context of internal colonialism has affected their voices. Alternate years. HUM; DV; Cross Listing : BKST 235; M.Roy-Fequiere;

ENG 242 Postcolonialism (1)
Against the background of socio-political issues like colonialism, nationalism, and race and gender, and in the stream of literary heritages like modernism, this course undertakes an exploration into the prose of Bessie Head and Chinua Achebe (Africa), V. S. Naipaul and Michelle Cliff (the Caribbean), Kamala Markandaya and Raja Rao (India), and the poetry of Wole Soyinka (Africa), Derek Walcott (the Caribbean) and Anita Desai (India), among others, that is supplemented by a consideration of the "colonial" and "postcolonial" theories of Franz Fanon, Aime Cesaire, Homi Bhaba, Benita Parry and Gayatri Spivak. HUM; Prereq : at least sophomore standing; at least one course in music, art, literature, political science or history. Concurrent course in the humanities, history, or social sciences recommended; DV; N.Rosenfeld;

ENG 243 U.S. Latino Literature: Identity and Resistance (1)
The course examines major works by U.S. Latino writers. We explore the themes of identity and resistance as they are developed in the poetry, fiction, theater and essays of Chicano and Puerto Rican authors. Taking as our starting point the cultural nationalist discourses developed by the Chicano writers in the late 1960s, we analyze Puerto Rican and Chicano critiques of the American ideal of the "melting pot." We see how poets, novelists and dramatists have grappled with questions regarding Spanish as a proud marker of identity, with the impossibility of the return to an ideal Island paradise, or to an "Aztlan." In addition, special attention is given to the discussion of gender dynamics as they are expressed in the literature and culture. Cross Listing : AMST 243; M.Roy-Fequiere;

ENG 245 Literature and Power (1)
A study of the relationship between literature and power. This course will examine the cultural forces that influence the creation, circulation, and interpretation of texts. Specific offerings may vary from year to year, but in each incarnation, the course will examine literature through the lens of cultural diversity and power.HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 or ENG 200; DV; Staff

ENG 247 Moral Life in Literature (1)
Literature raises two different types of moral questions: those concerned with the moral parameters guiding the creative process and those dealing with the moral issues raised from within the literary work itself. This course examines both issues. Regarding the former, we ask: Must good literature be moral or can an accomplished work of art be immoral? If there are moral guidelines for the production of literature, what are they? Regarding the latter, we use literature to better understand particular moral issues. What, for example, can literature add to our understanding of friendship, courage, community and the pursuit of individuality? In short, how can novelists help us better understand the human good? Cross Listing : PHIL 247; W.Young;

ENG 248 Teaching Assistant (1/2 or 1)
Prereq : Permission of instructor; May be graded S/U at instructor's discretion; Staff

ENG 250 Independent Study (1/2 or 1)
Prereq : sophomore standing and/or a 200-level literature class; Staff

ENG 251 English Literature I (1)
A study of English literature in its social, intellectual, and historical contexts in the Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, and Renaissance periods. Emphasis is on literary works by major early writers and on the intellectual, social, and political movements that inform the literature. Authors read may include the Beowulf poet, Chaucer, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne, and works by less frequently canonized writers. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; L.Haslem;

ENG 252 English Literature II (1)
A study of English literature from the late seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. The emphasis is on major Restoration, Enlightenment, Romantic, and Victorian writers in their historical and cultural contexts. The evolution of literary styles and genres is related to the intellectual, political, social, and religious movements of the respective periods. Authors read may include Behn, Pope, Swift, Johnson, Blake, Wordsworth, Wollstonecraft, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Bronte, Dickens and Barrett-Browning.HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; N.Rosenfeld; G.Franco; E.Anderson;

ENG 253 Modern British, Irish and American Literature (1)
A study of poetry and fiction from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century, with attention to the relationship between the disintegration of traditional moral, social and intellectual values and the development of new literary forms. Authors include Yeats, Forster, Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, and Rhys. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; N.Rosenfeld;

ENG 270 News Writing and Reporting (1)
This course introduces print journalism through an exploration of its mindset and fundamental forms. Writing- and reporting-intensive, it involves regular assignments for publication about local issues and events, with readings and class discussion. Focusing on Galesburg as a microcosm of reporting anywhere, students form the Knox News Team, meet with city officials and business leaders, and cover stories ranging from recycling to law enforcement to the arts. Articles are regularly printed in local daily and weekly newspapers. Topics include: story research; interviewing and developing a source; covering standard news beats; style and structure of news stories; fact-checking; meeting deadlines; journalism and the law. HUM; W; Cross Listing : JOUR 270; M.Webb;

ENG 275 Advanced Composition (1)
Students will be given formal instruction in advanced composition with a particular emphasis on written argumentation as a part of the rhetorical tradition. Topics will include thehistory of rhetoric and its relevance today, particularly in terms of the written argument, recognizing and avoiding logical fallacies, thevarious ways to appeal to an audience, and writing as a way to construct knowledge.W; Cross Listing : CTL 275; S.Trotter-Martin;

ENG 295 Special Topics (1/2 or 1)
Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of literature or related topics not covered in the usual curriculum. Staff

ENG 306 Creative Nonfiction Workshop (1)
Intensive work in the reading and writing of creative nonfiction; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 206 or written permission of the instructor; May be taken three terms; Cross Listing : JOUR 306; N.Regiacorte; M.Berlin; N.Rosenfeld; M.Webb;

ENG 307 Fiction Workshop (1)
Intensive work in the reading and writing of fiction; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 207 or written permission of the instructor; May be taken three terms; O; W; Staff

ENG 308 Poetry Workshop (1)
Intensive work in the reading and writing of poetry; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 208 or written permission of the instructor; May be taken three terms; O; W; M.Berlin; N.Regiacorte; G.Franco;

ENG 309 Playwriting and Screenwriting Workshop (1)
Intensive work in the writing of plays and film or television scripts; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 209 or THEA 209 or written permission of the instructor; May be taken three terms; Cross Listing : THEA 309; N.Blackadder;

ENG 311 Advanced Writing (1/2 or 1)
Individual projects in writing non-fiction, fiction, poetry, or drama. Conducted on a tutorial basis by members of the department. Prereq : Reserved for exceptional students, after consultation, and with written permission of the instructor; May be repeated for credit; O; W; Staff

ENG 320 Fairy Tale: Historical Roots and Cultural Development (1)
Focusing mainly on the European fairy tale (Italian, French, German, English), the course seeks understanding of the genre's roots in early modern oral culture; of its transition to fashionable literary circles and to children's bookshelves; of its relationship to issues of class and gender; and of its psychological appeal. Some attention also given to modern and postmodern American and film treatments of the fairy tale.HUM; Prereq : Any 200-level literature course or permission of instructor.; W; L.Haslem;

ENG 327 English Prosody (1)
An intensive study of rhythmic expressivity in poetry written in English, with regular scansion and analyses of various texts from the 14th to the 20th century, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Bob Dylan. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; N.Regiacorte;

ENG 330 Chaucer (1)
Focus on Chaucer's poetry (in the Middle English) with emphasis on The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde and on the cultural and literary contexts in which Chaucer wrote. We read selected Chaucerian sources as well as secondary sources on medieval life, customs, and culture. Prereq : ENG 251 strongly recommended; W; L.Haslem;

ENG 331 Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies (1)
Study of Shakespeare's histories and comedies with combined attention to the plays as rich poetry and as texts for performance. Some discussion of the plays in connection with selected critical essays on them, and some in-class analysis of scenes from filmed productions of the plays. HUM; Cross Listing : THEA 331; L.Haslem;

ENG 332 Shakespeare: Tragedies and Romances (1)
Study of Shakespeare's tragedies and romances with combined attention to the plays as rich poetry and as texts for performance. Some discussion of the plays in connection with selected critical essays on them, and some in-class analysis of scenes from filmed productions of the plays. HUM; Cross Listing : THEA 332; L.Haslem;

ENG 334 Literary Criticism (1)
This course is a highly focused workshop-seminar designed to facilitate the careful discussion of a few selected literary-critical theories and their application to a range of literary and cultural texts. Theories discussed may include: new historicism; reader-response criticism; feminist criticism; deconstruction; Marxist criticism; Queer theory, etc. Prereq : two 200-level literature courses or permission of the instructor; N.Rosenfeld;

ENG 335 Studies in American Romanticism (1)
Specific offerings may vary from year to year. Individual topics of study may include "The American 'Renaissance' Revisited"; "American Women Writers of the 19th-Century"; "Literature and Moral Reform"; "Antebellum Poetics: Poe, Whitman, Dickinson". Prereq : any 200-level literature course or permission of the instructor; W; R.Smith;

ENG 336 Studies in the Literatures of America (1)
A study of the proliferation of American literatures since 1860. Specific offerings vary from year to year but might include: "Fiction of the Gilded Age"; "The Rise of Naturalism"; "The Harlem Renaissance"; "Midwestern Literature"; "Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States"; "American Postmodernism"; and "American Gothic." Prereq : any 200-level literature course or permission of the instructor; W; R.Smith;

ENG 342 Renaissance Literature and Culture (1)
Explores the crossover between a complex cultural issue from the 15th to 17th centuries and a set of literary and/or dramatic texts from the same period. Possible topics: culturally based representations of the body; social constructions of gender and the "gender wars"; class issues and "carnivalesque" literature. Possible authors: Spenser, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne, Webster, Milton, selected female poets; selected male and female pamphleteers. Prereq : ENG 251 strongly recommended; W; L.Haslem;

ENG 343 Enlightenment Literature (1)
Studies in English Neoclassical and Pre-Romantic literature with emphasis on satire and the novel. Authors read may include Swift, Defoe, Pope, Fielding, Burney, Sterne, Richardson and Radcliffe. Prereq : ENG 252 strongly recommended; W; E.Anderson;

ENG 344 Romantic Literature (1)
Emphasis on the Romantics as the first generation of writers to face a universe that did not have a built-in meaning. The old Medieval-Renaissance world view, which was still operative in Pope's Essay on Man, no longer served the needs of the Romantic writers, who looked elsewhere for new sources of meaning: to Nature, to the inner self, to romantic love, and to the transcendence (real or imaginary) of art itself. Prereq : ENG 252 strongly recommended; W; G.Franco; E.Anderson;

ENG 345 Victorian Literature (1)
Seminar on the major Victorian writers, 1832-1900. Emphasis is either on novelists such as Dickens, Eliot and Bronte, or poets such as Tennyson, Browning and Rossetti. Prereq : ENG 252 strongly recommended; W; E.Anderson; G.Franco;

ENG 346 Modern and/or Contemporary Poetry (1)
A study of modern and contemporary poetry in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Individual authors and emphases vary, but may include confessional poetry, the Beat poets, and other modern and postmodern authors and movements. Prereq : any 200-level literature course or permission of the instructor; M.Berlin; N.Regiacorte; G.Franco;

ENG 347 Modern and/or Contemporary Fiction (1)
A study of modern and contemporary fiction in England and/or America. Attention is directed toward various traditions and innovations in narrative art as they reflect and incorporate shifting attitudes toward love, marriage, family, social groups and institutions, nature, technology, war, and the relationship of individuals to fundamental economic and political forces. Prereq : sophomore standing; W; M.Berlin; R.Metz; N.Rosenfeld; R.Smith;

ENG 348 Teaching Assistant (1/2 or 1)
Prereq : Permission of instructor; May be graded S/U at instructor's discretion; Staff

ENG 350 Independent Study (1/2 or 1)
Prereq : junior standing and/or a 300 level literature course; Staff

ENG 363 Film Theories (1)
This course will explore one or more of the main currents in film theory, including formalist, realist, structuralist, psychoanalytic, feminist, poststructuralist, cognitivist, and cultural-contextualist approaches to questions regarding the nature, function and possibilities of cinema. The course is designed as an advanced introduction and assumes no prior exposure to film theory. Specific offerings will vary from year to year. Topics of study may include: "Genre versus Auteur"; "Psychoanalysis and Film"; "Narrative and Film"; and "Experimental Film."HUM; Prereq : ENG 124 or permission of the instructor; R.Smith; E.Anderson;

ENG 370 Editorial Vision: Feature Writing (1)
Students study the feature article, its distinguished history-which includes the birth of the Muckrakers at Knox-and its alternative forms, especially in the underground and "new journalism" beginning in the 1960's. Students also produce professional quality feature articles for publication, drawing on a broad range of communication skills-critical thinking, reporting, research, writing, and editing. Prereq : JOUR 270 or permission of the instructor; W; Cross Listing : JOUR 370; M.Webb;

ENG 371 In-Depth Reporting (1)
Passionate, fact-based investigative news stories can have a profound impact on society, as the history of McClure's Magazine and the Muckrakers demonstrates. In this course, students work in teams on locally based topics of national significance to produce a substantial investigative story of publishable quality. Students confer with subject-area mentors who provide guidance in research and understanding the technical, scientific or other specialized issues involved. The course will involve substantial background research and interviewing, in addition to writing a major investigative feature story. Prereq : JOUR 270 or permission of the instructor; W; Cross Listing : JOUR 371; M.Webb;

ENG 373 European Drama and Theatre: Renaissance through the 17th Century (1)
A study of the development of dramatic forms and major dramatic movements as reflected in key plays of Italy, Spain, France, Germany and England from 1450 to 1700. Plays are discussed in their literary, cultural, historical and theatrical contexts. Alternate years. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing : THEA 373; N.Blackadder;

ENG 374 European Drama and Theatre: 18th and 19th Centuries (1)
A study of the development of dramatic forms and major dramatic movements as reflected in the key plays of France, Germany, and England from 1700 to 1875. Plays are discussed in their literary, cultural, historical, and theatrical context. Alternate years. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing : THEA 374; N.Blackadder;

ENG 375 European Drama and Theatre: Rise of Realism to 1945 (1)
A study of the development of dramatic forms and major dramatic movements as reflected in key plays of Italy, France, England, Germany, Spain, and Russia from the rise of Realism (1875) to 1945. The plays are discussed in their literary, cultural, historical and theatrical contexts. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; W; Cross Listing : THEA 375; N.Blackadder;

ENG 376 Modern Drama: 1945 to the Present (1)
A study of the development of dramatic forms and major dramatic movements as reflected in key plays of Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, Japan and Africa from 1945 to the present. The plays are discussed in their literary, cultural, historical and theatrical contexts. Alternate years. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; W; DV; Cross Listing : THEA 376; N.Blackadder;

ENG 377 Women Playwrights: The Search for the Female Voice in Contemporary World Theatre (1)
Analysis of the works of female playwrights who represent diversity in race, nationality, perspective, and style. A brief review of the evolution of feminisms is traced in order to identify the areas of thought and conflict that most influence the condition of the female writer and specifically the playwright. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; DV; Cross Listing : BKST 377; E.Metz;

ENG 378 American Drama and Theatre (1)
A study of the dramatic and theatrical developments in America from their beginnings to the present as they are reflected in key plays. Major focus is placed on the emergence of an original American drama. Plays are discussed in their literary, cultural, historical, and theatrical contexts. Cross Listing : THEA 378; N.Blackadder;

ENG 380 Studies in English and American Literature (1)
Concentration on one or two English or American writers, or on a period or genre. Writers vary from term to term. HUM; Prereq : junior standing; May be repeated, with permission of the instructor; Staff

ENG 385 Stage Comedy (1)
An exploration of comedy in the theatre: comedy as a genre, a style, and a mode of expression. Analysis of representative plays from ancient Greece to the present - non-Western as well as European and American - along with selected theoretical writings on humor, laughter, and comedy. Prereq : One of: ENG 120, ENG/THEA 123, THEA 131, or THEA 240, or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing : THEA 385; N.Blackadder;

ENG 395 Special Topics (1/2 or 1)
Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of literature or related topics not covered in the usual curriculum. Staff

ENG 398 Senior Seminar for Literature Majors (1)
The seminar focuses on issues in literature that are currently being discussed or debated nationally or internationally. The term culminates with a conference at which each student presents a researched paper and answers questions from the audience. Prereq : senior standing; W; O; Staff

ENG 399 Senior Portfolio for Writing Majors (1)
The Senior Portfolio consists of two parts: an edited selection of the student's writing and an introduction of approximately twenty-five pages. Prereq : senior standing; M.Berlin; R.Metz; N.Regiacorte;

ENG 400 Advanced Studies (1/2 or 1)
See College Honors Program. Staff