Department of English

Courses – Spring 2025

Spring 2025 Course Descriptions

General course descriptions can be found in the English Catalog.
For 100-level course descriptions, please scroll down to the bottom of this page. 

English Major Courses 

Odd Jobs: Modern Japanese Satire
ENG 204-01: Nonwestern Literary Classics
M/W 3:30 – 4:45
CRN: 13479
Instructor: Jean-Luc Bouchard.

This course will explore several classic works of modern Japanese fiction that use humor and satire to critique jobs and workplace culture, including the absurd, surreal novellas The Factory and The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada and best-sellers like Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura, as well as films like Tampopo by Juzo Itami.

ENG 205-01 Power Plays: Sports & Literature
TR 12:30-1:45
CRN 13480
Instructor: Michael Pittard

Who are sports for? Why do we play them, watch them, invest our time, attention, and money into them? What benefits and consequences do we get from sports overall? Who is empowered and disempowered by sports? How do narratives of power affect how we participate in sports, even as a neutral or distant observer? And crucially, how do sports help or hurt not just the individual, but our society as well? Are sports actually healthy?

Over the course of this semester, we will read a variety of different texts that engage with these very questions, in terms of race, religion, sex, gender, orientation and economic status. From direct, invective critiques of the sports media industry to poems elegizing the many tragic early deaths of professional wrestlers to graphic novels of baseball history, we will answer the above questions ourselves as a class. How can we ask more of sports while still celebrating their incredible hold on our culture and potential to expand access to power?

“Ways the World Ends: Post-Apocalyptic Literature, Video Games, and Film”
CRN 13482
MWF 12:00-12:50
Dr. Matt Phillips

Airborne bacteria? Aggressive fungus? Entropy? Join us as we explore the varied end-of-the-world scenarios depicted in I Am Legend, The Last of Us, Oryx and Crake, and more. Help us discover how catastrophe affects emotion and empathy. Witness our world in competition with the unknown.

ENG 213-01: Dream West: The Transatlantic Imagination
CRN 13483
T/TH 9:30-10:45
Dr. Chris Hodgkins

The idea of The West has driven many dreams—and not a few nightmares—in literary history, from Arthur’s Avalon, More’s Utopia, and Drake’s landing in California to Herbert’s Church Militant, Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, and Paine’s Common Sense—not to mention Johnson’s “A Brief to Free a Slave,” The Declaration of Independence and The Northwest Ordinance. In this course we will bring earlier English-language literatures into close, dynamic comparison with each other, treating the Atlantic as a “zone of contact,” from Medieval England to Revolutionary America. Given the chronological period of 800-1800, the course’s primary focus will be the interchange between north and central Atlantic peoples, as the Atlantic Rim incubates new hybrid English-language literatures and cultures which cross the ocean and, in the process, begin to transform the literature and culture of “old” England, too. We will read many major poets, dramatists, essayists, satirists, and novelists within the contexts of their times and Atlantic World relations: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Bradstreet, Milton, Behn, Swift, Franklin, Wheatley, Jefferson, Johnson, Native American figures, and others. We will link canonical authors in fresh ways, but with special attention to historical-contextual documents and colonial events, relations, and connections.

ENG 230-01: Writing in Digital Environments
CRN 13492
T/Th 11:00-12:15
Instructor: Virginia Weaver

Producing and analyzing digital content is increasingly necessary for most career fields and creative pursuits – but being an effective digital writer requires a cutting-edge set of skills. This class takes a deep dive into the uses and misuses of AI, emerging tools and knowledge required to create successful online content, and how to write in digitized workplaces. We will learn practical skills with tools such as ChatGPT, Canva, and more, while exploring the often thrilling – and usually bizarre – world of online media.

ENG 230-02: Writing in Digital Environments: Building Your Digital Toolbox
CRN13493
M/W 2:00-3:15
Instructor Kate Burt

There’s an entire world of free digital writing tools out there, and this course is here to help you learn to use them! In this course, students will become more familiar with software such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Canva, and Evernote and learn to use these programs to better support their writing process. Students will also explore a variety of multimodal composition topics, including rhetorically effective typography, accessibility issues in digital writing, AI writing generators and tools, and digital storytelling. Join us for a chance to experiment with your writing process, learn about evolving digital writing cultures, and play with new and familiar writing tools.

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ENG 235-01: Speculative Fiction as Social Criticism
T/R 12:30 – 1:45
Instructor: Jean-Luc Bouchard. 

Speculative fiction—which embodies genres like sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, and horror as well as literary surrealism and absurdism—uses fantastical plots and outlandish concepts to grab our attention and tell a compelling story. But more often than not, these works of literature also use speculative elements to comment on our very own, very real world. In the words of Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg, “It’s easier for an audience to take warnings from sci-fi without feeling that we’re preaching to them.” In this course, we will explore several examples of speculative fiction that investigate, complicate, and criticize social trends, political movements, and interpersonal dynamics, even when they depict a far-fetched alternate universe. Course texts include: Severance by Ling Ma, Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Watchmen by Alan Moore, and the short film World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt.

ENG 236-01: “Books to Keep You Up at Night”: Contemporary Horror Fiction
CRN 13495
T/TH 11:00-12:15
Dr. Amy Vines

This course will begin with the question: “what scares you?” But we will spend most of the semester analyzing how and why certain horror narratives scare you. This class will approach this genre of fiction not only from a literary perspective but will analyze them within psychological and cultural frameworks as well. How do authors and narrators maximize the terror or creep factor for their readers? By describing the whole horrible scene? Or just giving us glimpses of the monster? What is the more powerful producer of fear: the writer’s skill or our own imaginations? Class readings will include a series of novels, one short story, and a podcast; authors will include Carissa Orlando, Chuck Wendig, and Stephen King among others.

ENG237-01: The Visual Novel
CRN 13496
MWF 11-11:50
Evan Moore; CRN 13496

Adventure games, sometimes called “visual novels,” are the quintessential combination of game and narrative. These games often include changeable stories and multiple outcomes. Our class will analyze these narrative games like we analyze books, poems, and films, but with the added aspect of gameplay. Do my choices matter? What do we do when there are no good options? Why might we call them “novels” when they’re games? What even is a game? What about narrative games that aren’t called visual novels? We will play some together as a class, some in the Esports Arena, and some for homework (including Night in the Woods). Students will need access to the course games, either with a laptop or with a console (all games will be available on all major platforms, and we can provide access to a PC and some consoles), but this “videogaming as literature” course requires no previous gaming experience.

ENG 237-02: Building Identities: Virtual Domains and Representation
CRN 13497
T / TH 9:30-10:45 AM
Instructor: Brittany Hilliard

Have you ever wanted to customize and live in a majestic castle or estate? Do you dream of building a thriving town of your very own? If you answered “yes” to either of those questions, this course is for you! In it, we will study how the video games from The Elder Scrolls series and Dragon Age series empower players to take control of their stories by constructing and inhabiting their own domains such as residences and cities. We will discuss how virtual spaces enable players to express themselves, make the games more inclusive for other players, and build communities. During our discussions, we will investigate how those digital locations represent a player’s gender, aesthetic tastes, lifestyle values, and culture. Along the way, we will relate those themes to the ways medieval and early modern writers use buildings and landscapes to symbolize identity. We will play specific games from The Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age franchises together in class, but students should also obtain those games, whether on PC or consoles, and play on their own. No gaming experience is required for this course.

English 240.01: Language, Culture, and Health: The Rhetoric of Health and Wellness
CRN 13498
T/TH 2:00-3:15pm
Instructor Abby Bryan

What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to be well? Every day we are confronted with messages prompting us to care for our health and well-being. Influencers and celebrities promote the latest self-care trends on TikTok and Instagram, healthcare providers flood our inboxes with tips for “being well,” and big-box stores advertise an endless array of products promising to make us fitter, healthier, and happier. In this class, we will analyze how these everyday messages shape our perceptions of health and

wellness—often in subtle and even invisible ways. We’ll explore what these messages lead us to believe about our health and consider how they influence us to care for our bodies. Together, we’ll develop a set of analytical tools that will help us to navigate the complexities of our contemporary health culture and to evaluate the beliefs and behaviors it promotes.

The Pub and the People: Drinking and Literature
ENG 241: Food and Literature: Culture, Identity and Place
CRN 13499
T/TH 2:00-3:15
Dr. Ben Clarke

In their 1938 study, First Year’s Work, Mass-Observation observed that “more people spend more time in public-houses than they do in any other building except private houses and workplaces.” Pubs were essential to working class people in Britain in the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century, providing an accessible public space where they could socialize with friends; in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, Alfred Doolittle calls them the “poor man’s club.” They were also complex institutions, structured by ideas of gender, class, and race. The communities they sustained were consequently often more difficult to access, or at least fully access, than they appeared. Women were often restricted or even excluded in many places, as were those perceived as “outsiders,” whether because of their class, regional background, or both.

Pubs remain central to the British imagination, but they been in decline in recent decades, with 305 closing in the first six months of 2024 alone. This course uses literary texts to explore the functions public houses served, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the consequences of their loss. It considers, amongst other things, their importance as communal spaces and the ways in which class, gender, and racial differences were reproduced and sometimes challenged in the pub. It also examines alcohol itself, including the connotations of specific drinks, and the differences between public and private drinking. Students will read a wide variety of complete novels and extracts from longer works, including texts by writers such as John Hampson, Patrick Hamilton, George Orwell, Alan Sillitoe, Nell Dunn, and Pat Barker.

What Is Love?
ENG 270-01 Big Questions in the Humanities and Fine Arts 
CRN 13500
T/Th 2:00–3:15
Dr. Jennifer Keith

How have writers, artists, and philosophers represented or defined love? How can their work enrich our understanding of this central passion? After we examine several inherited Western influences that continue to shape notions of love, we will explore works from the Renaissance to the Romantic and modern eras. Studying visual art, essays, poems, and

short stories, we will focus on romantic love, love of the divine, and love of the community. Writers studied will include Sappho, Plato, Julian of Norwich, John Donne, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Carson McCullers, Martin Luther King, Jr., Alice Munro, Toni Morrison, Angela Carter, and bell hooks.

Where is the World?
ENG 273: Big Questions in Global Engagement and Intercultural Learning
CRN 13501
MWF 11:00-11:50
Dr. Gary Lim

How do narratives transport us across geographical and cultural boundaries to instill a distinct view of the world? How does storytelling explore fantastical myths and legends while rooting us in tradition? How do we use stories to encounter the strange, marvelous, and utterly ordinary? In this course we will travel across the world, exploring narratives that have intrigued diverse cultures by examining the relationship between the imagination and the transmission of cultural beliefs. In the first part of the course, we will read excerpts from the Chinese classic, “The Journey to the West,” the Hindu epic, “The Ramayana,” and perhaps one of the most popular narratives of the European Middle Ages, “The Book of Sir John Mandeville.” In the second part of the course we will read two novels, Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” and Michael Ondaatje’s “The English Patient.” Throughout the course we will also view film adaptations of these works to appreciate the transformation and transmission of these narratives through time.

ENG 325-02: Writing Fiction: Intermediate
CRN 13506
M/W 3:30-4:45
Joseph Dunne
This intermediate course is designed to build on the terms and techniques introduced in ENG 224, deepening the discussion through analysis of outside readings and the workshop of original short fiction.

ENG 105-02: Introduction to Narratives: Narratives of Climate Change
CRN 13460
Asynchronous online
Instructor: Mohammad Ataullah Nuri

Why do humans create and engage with narratives? What role do they play in shaping culture? “Introduction to Narratives: Narratives of Climate Change” examines these questions through selected novels, stories, poetry, and films from various cultures. Students will develop close-reading skills and writing strategies, exploring historical and cultural contexts while examining how narratives shape societal views, particularly on climate change. Each week, students will focus on key elements of narrative, examining the techniques authors use to shape public ideas about a changing environment. By the course’s end, students will not only master narrative analysis and writing but also gain a deeper understanding of how stories can inspire awareness about the environmental crisis.

English 105-03: The Black Southern Gothic
CRN13461
T / TH 11:00-12:15
Instructor: Crystal Thompson

What is the Black Southern Gothic? Jordan Peele’s Get Out and NOPE, Kyshona’s “Carolina,” Adia Victoria’s “Magnolia Blues,” and Toni Morrison’s Beloved are works that exemplify the genre. In this course, we’ll explore the conventions that let viewers or readers know they’re in the presence of Black Southern Gothic— including: altered time that also alters reality; festering wounds that won’t heal; memory (however skewed) of plantation life; the abject; the supernatural; and the interchangeable nature of the abnormal/normal. As we analyze books, movies, videos, and short stories that incorporate elements of magical realism, horror, mysticism, and science fiction, we’ll consider the historical, regional, cultural, and religious/spiritual contexts that give the Black Southern Gothic its power.

ENG 105.01: Introduction to Narrative: Flash Fiction and Micro Narratives
CRN 13459. MWF 11-11:50AM
Instructor: Jennifer Champagne

Does size matter when it comes to great literature? Epic narratives get a lot of attention—but what about the contemporary world of the short story or something as breathless as a

micro or flash? In this section of Introduction to Narrative, we will be teasing apart what makes short narratives so powerful, journeying through short stories before diving into smaller and smaller works. From the thrilling space of experimental flash fiction to the emotional gravity of micro fiction, students will learn how even the smallest of narratives, the shortest of sentences, can have outsized impacts.

ENG 105:04 – Reimagining Pasts: Historical Narratives and Fictions
CRN 13462.
Asynchronous online 03/06 – 05/05 (P.O.T. B)
Instructor: Blair Lee Lunn
MAC CritThink Hum and Fine Art

MAC CritThink Hum and Fine Art

This course will explore the interplay of fact and fiction in narratives that reimagine the past. Breaking down elements of narrative to address themes of memory, identity, and ethics, we will examine the blending of “fact” and “fiction” to recreate historical stories that still find life in contemporary issues. Through readings, online discussions, analyses, and creative projects, we will explore the possibilities and limitations of historical fiction in filling the gaps left by traditional histories and in challenging established narratives. We will also consider how historical fiction might elevate marginalized voices and reimagine possibilities, while balancing the ethical implications of the recreative process itself.

ENG-106.02 Introduction to Poetry: The Art of Poetry in Life and Liberation
CRN 13466.
MWF 1:00-1:50
Instructor James Daniels
MAC CritThink Hum and Fine Art

From Marvin Gaye to SZA, Langston Hughes to Danez Smith, Sandra Cisneros to Elizabeth Acevedo, Joy Harjo to Jesse Begay, poetry has filled our pages and ears in many forms in an effort to capture and express complex emotions, better define important concepts, and give us to see the world in a more surprising, vivid way. This survey literature class is centered around how poets (and artists who use poetic means to convey their thoughts) do this work. Together, we will build a better understanding of what it means to liberate the mind, body, and spirit—expressing oneself without barriers–by analyzing 20th and 21st century poets that did or do the same. We will also grow an appreciation for the craft and meanings of poetry, build the skills necessary to read (and occasionally write) poetry the authentically represents individual and collective identity, and build community with peers and other local organizations and writers that relate to or affirm their identities.

ENG115-01, Literature off the Page 
CRN 13467 / MWF 10 – 10:50
Instructor: Evan Moore

This class is about oral storytelling. We’re going to do literature by listening to and reading texts that are not meant to be read silently in isolation. We will pay attention to the delivery just as much as we pay attention to the words themselves. We will also discuss how some of these stories change over time, how different people have adopted them for their own needs, and how we create stories together. We must read out loud, and we must hear, and we must perform. In this course, students will study oral literature across times and cultures. Students will be responsible for short reflective papers and performances. Texts of study this semester include The Magnus Archives, Old Gods of Appalachia, hip-hop diss tracks, The Iliad, and more.

Satisfies MAC oral communication requirement.

English 123-02: Entering the Political Arena— Speaking Out for Change
CRN 13472 / MWF 10:00-10:50 AND MWF 11:00-11:50
Instructor: Abigail G. Fitzpatrick

This course teaches listening, speaking, and writing in public contexts. We’ll dive into how we can get involved in individual AND collective advocacy, and channel our passions into change-making through letters, lobbying, social media and formal debate. Students practice interpersonal communication formally and informally as they develop their capacities in oral communication.

Satisfies MAC oral communication requirement.

English 140-02: Growing Pains: Childhood, Growth and Identity—Literature, Health & Wellness
CRN 13476 /MWF 1:00-1:50 AND 2:00-2:50
Instructor: Abigail G. Fitzpatrick

Through readings such as Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, poems from A Light in the Attic, poems by Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou and more, we’ll explore literature discussing mental and physical health and wellness as it relates to youth, growth and identity. Moreover, we’ll explore how this literature approaches, represents, challenges and changes historical and contemporary ideas about health and wellness.

Satisfies MAC health and wellness competency requirement.

ENG 190-01: Literature, Gender, & Identity
CRN 13478 / online, asynchronous 
Instructor: Dr. Beth Miller

This course examines the shaping power of stories—how different forms of representation within story express, question, and challenge culturally and socially embedded identities, particularly when it comes to gender. Beyond tracing these patterns in the literary texts we’ll study together; this class includes a reflective element as well—How have stories shaped us and our understanding of our multiple identities and the identities of those around us?

As part of our journey of discovery, we open with a few fairy tale adaptations before diving into Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West.

Satisfies MAC diversity and equity competency requirement