Courses Descriptions: Summer 2004

Advising

The undergraduate major program in English requires students to take ENG 330 (Text & Context), one Language module course (210, 211 or 310), four 300-level Literature modules courses (two in British Literature, two in American Literature), and four additional courses from the Area modules, at least two of which must be drawn from one Area module. In addition, all majors must complete a one-hour capstone course, taken concurrently with an Area module course. The Area modules are: Literature, Film & Media, Writing, Imaginative Writing, Language Study, Theory, Education. A complete description of the English major is available in the English Advising Office (1227 Patterson Office Tower).

The English Advising Office in Patterson Office Tower (rooms 1225, 1227, and 1229) is a center for information and guidance on undergraduate degree programs and post-graduation planning. The Advising Office serves not only English majors, but also those students working on a minor in English, those seeking Teacher Certification in English, those working on Topical majors in which English is prominent, and students from any area of the University seeking information or advice on English Department courses. (Inquiries about freshmen writing courses should be directed to the Writing Program Office, 1221 P.O.T.)

The English Advising Office will be open Monday - Friday, from 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. throughout the Priority Registration period (March 31 - April 23). Because of the demands made upon the office during this period, appointments are required. Appointments with the advisors - Meg Marquis, Julie Walter, and Christine Luft - can be made by contacting staff associate Andy Johnson in 1227 P.O.T. or by phone: (859) 257-3763. Students are strongly encouraged to see the advisors as early as possible, preferably a week before their registration time. Please note that students in Arts and Sciences will not be able to register without having seen an advisor and having the advisor hold lifted.

Note on registration for writing courses (ENG 207, 305, 407, 507, and 607): Students wishing to take these courses should advance register for them and attend the first class meetings. These students should be aware, however, that (as stated in the UK Catalog) ultimate enrollment in the courses will be by consent of instructor, given after the first class meeting (thus, registration for the course does not guarantee a place on the final roll).

Session I, 4 weeks

ENG 211-010 MTWR 1:00-3:30 pm Guindon

INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS I
This course will introduce and explore the forms and structures of human language, how they are similar, how they are recorded, and how they can change over time. Significant sections of the course will cover:
-human speech sounds and how they are used (Why, for instance is 'blaps' a possible English word, but not 'bspla'? Why is the 's' at the end of 'leaves' actually pronounced as a 'z'?)
-word-formation (Why can we form 'reality' out of 'real + ity' and 'sanity' out of 'sane + ity', but not 'dearity' out of 'dear + ity?)
-sentence structure (Why is 'pretty women and horses' ambiguous? How are the two phrases in 'looking sharp, looking for love' different?)
Students can expect daily homework assignments designed to enable them to understand linguistic forms, and to deduce linguistic structures by applying methods of structural analysis to data drawn from a variety of languages. Test formats will generally be based on the homework.

ENG 230-010 MTWRF 8:00-10:00 am Carter

INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE: BANNED IN AMERICA: FROM HUCKLEBERRY TO HOLDEN
Why are school districts and some parents afraid of Huckleberry Finn, Holden Caulfield and others? Why are certain works and their characters' words either avoided or expurgated to gain admittance into the corridors of high schools? This course will read these works and examine the historical and cultural reasons for the texts' being challenged in the past or today, as well as examine poems such as Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and Ginsberg's "Howl," and the film Midnight Cowboy. We'll try to redeem or reject these texts through close readings and research into the complaints about the works and into the themes of the texts. Coursework will include readings, journals, and one 5-7 pages essay.

ENG 331-010 MTWR 10:00-12:30 pm Lewin

BRITISH SURVEY I
Description not available at time of publication. Please contact the instructor or check back here for an update.

ENG 480G-010 MTWR 10:00-12:30 pm Prats

STUDIES IN FILM: THE VIETNAM WAR IN FILM
An investigation of Hollywood versions of the Vietnam War, with particular attention to the historical and cultural questions raised by these movies, from The Green Berets (1968) to We Were Soldiers (2002). We will screen a total of 10 films, most of them outside of class. Please note, however, that we will screen a movie on the very first day of classes, to be followed by discussion immediately thereafter (such is the nature of the four-week intersession). Midterm, final, end of semester paper. Possible quizzes. Some of the titles that I will consider for discussion (in addition to the two mentioned above): The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket, Coming Home, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, First Blood, Rambo: First Blood, Part II, Uncommon Valor.

Session II, 8 weeks

ENG 207-020 July 7-August 5 MTWRF 1:50-3:50 pm Marksbury

BEGINNING WORKSHOP IN IMAGINATIVE WRITING: FICTION
Description not available at time of publication. Please contact the instructor or check back here for an update.

ENG 211-020 MTR 10:00 - 11:40 am Marks

INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS I
This course is an introduction to the nature and classification of language and to the methods used in contemporary linguistic science to analyze and describe languages, with attention to the practical application of linguistics.

ENG 212-020 MTR 10:00 -11:40 am O'Hara

INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS II
This course is the second semester of a sequence of introductory courses on the scientific study of human language. Credit will not be given to students who have credit for ENG/LIN 211 prior to Fall 2002.

PREREQUISITE: ENG/LIN 211 completed in Fall 2002 or after.

PURPOSE of the course: To expand students' knowledge of linguistics as an academic discipline through a study of various sub-fields of Applied Linguistics, focusing on the main issues and problems of interest in semantics, first and second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and animal communication, and writing systems.

GOAL of the course: To demonstrate how language is acquired and used as a system of communication.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: The student will be able to analyze language data, formulate and test hypotheses, and argue persuasively for one solution over another. These skills will be developed by doing linguistic analyses: discovering patterns of acquisition and use in data drawn from English and a variety of foreign languages. Learning to do this kind of analysis is the most important part of the course.

METHOD: Daily quizlets; quizzes on individual chapters; exams on related chapters; frequent analytical exercises to reinforce what has been learned in class. No cumulative mid-term or final.

TEXTS: 1) Contemporary Linguistics, William O'Grady, et al; 4th edition. Bedford/St. Martin's; ( the Workbook is NOT required for this course.)
2) Language Myths, (eds) Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill, Penguin, 1998.

NOTES: Overrides will be considered only for students on the waitlist who attend the first class session.

ENG 231-020 June 10-July 8 MTWRF 12:40-2:40 pm Durant

LITERATURE AND GENRE: THE SHORT STORY
We'll look at 20th century American short stories in unified collections, exploring what their evolving forms show us about the relationships between the modern and the post-modern periods. Readings include Hemingway, In our Time; O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love; Munro, Friend of My Youth; Borges, Labyrinths; Moore, Self Help; Salinger.

ENG 234-020 MTWRF 12:00-1:00 pm Davis

INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S LITERATURE: AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS
English 234 is a survey of American women's identities. In this course, we will focus on several exciting contemporary American Women Writers. Possible readings include Toni Morrison's Sula (1973), Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions (1988), Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face (1994), Nancy Mairs's Waist High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled (1996), Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed (2001), and Lynn Pruett's Ruby River (2002).

ENG 264-020 July 9-August 5 MTWRF 10:20-12:20 pm Tucker

MAJOR BLACK WRITERS: RACE AND COMMUNITY
This course, in addition to exploring various periods and dramas in African-American literature and viewing how race is manifested by various authors, will seek to examine the significance of community in the lives of the individual characters. How does the community, as a collective and individually, respond to issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia? How does external racism affect the way in which community members treat each other? By reading works such as Toni Morrison, August Wilson, and Wole Soyinka, this class will consider how the multiple personalities remain tied to one another in an attempt to thrive.

ENG 330-020 June 10-July 8 MTWRF 1:50-3:50 pm Uebel

TEXT AND CONTEXT: FIGHT CLUB AND THE POLITICS OF GENDER
This summer course, a Project Mayhem in its own right, will study both the film (Fincher) and the novel (Palahniuk). I'd wager we'll devote more than half of our time to a painstaking reading of the former. We'll situate our texts in their aesthetic, philosophical, and political contexts. Nietzsche on power, Kierkegaard on the ethical life, Marcuse on capitalism, and Faludi on masculinity should keep us thinking--and fighting.

ENG 481G-020 June 10-July 8 MTWRF 9:10-11:20 am Foreman

STUDIES IN BRITISH LITERATURE: SHAKESPEARE AND REVENGE
Shakespeare and his contemporaries imagined a sizable pack of men and women who, wronged by assorted murderers, usurpers, bigots, sexual harassers, and practical jokers, or by people whom they themselves have wronged, find justice unavailable and mercy unsatisfying and so devote themselves obsessively and creatively to revenge. Very often, revenge itself takes the form of theater, as its targets are thrust unwittingly into a well-made play about whose relation to their lives they are mistaken, often fatally. Ah, the pleasurable spectacle of seeing one's enemies suffer exquisite retribution, even if their pain can't erase the pain they've caused. But what about our pleasure, the pleasure of being safely(?) in the audience? Why were these plays so popular? Why does revenge remain popular, in theater, in sporting events, in motor vehicles, in real life? Why is a good, meaty, artful revenge so satisfying to the soul, despite its spiritual and psychological dangers for the revenger and perhaps for the audience? We will read about six of Shakespeare's plays dealing with revenge, including Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest. In order to provide a context for Shakespeare's revenge plays, we'll read a few by other playwrights, notably Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy.

ENG 484G-020 July 9-August 5 MTWRF 9:10-11:10 am Eldred

COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN LITERATURE: THE NOVELLA (SHORT NOVEL)
Short novels, sometimes called novellas, generally fall through the marketing gap between short story collections and novels, a publishing fact that has left authors like Katherine Anne Porter despairing: "Please do not call my short novels Novelettes, or even worse, Novellas. Novelette is classical usage for a trivial, dime-novel sort of thing; novella, is a slack, boneless, affected word that we do not need to describe anything. Please call my work by their right names: we have four that cover every division--short stories, long stories, short novels, novels." Porter did not carry the day: most people still call short novels novellas. This course will look at nineteenth-century realism and twentieth-century modernism through novellas by James, Chopin, Wharton, Lawrence, Larson, Porter, and Morrison. The subjects of these works are diverse (coming-of-age, murder, adultery, madness), but they all share one formal feature: just the plot, no subplots.

ENG 572-420 June 10-July 8 MTWR 6:00-8:30 pm Dathorne

STUDIES IN ENGLISH FOR TEACHERS: AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE FOR TEACHERS
Description not available at time of publication. Please contact the instructor or check back here for an update.