Department of English
Faculty Contacts
Spring 2013
Chair, English Department
Sandra Grayson
D 316 x 4160
sgrayson@stmarys-ca.edu
Director, Composition
Lisa Manter
D 300 x 4462
lmanter@stmarys-ca.edu
Director, MFA Creative Writing
Brenda Hillman
D 322 x 4457
bhillman@stmarys-ca.edu
riverrun Faculty Advisor
Molly Metherd
D 309 x 4166
mmetherd@stmarys-ca.edu
English Underground (English Club)
Hilda Ma
D 307 x 4132
hm1@stmarys-ca-edu
Lisa Manter
D 300 x 4462
lmanter@stmarys-ca.edu
Graduate School Advisor
Kathryn Koo
D 319N x8782
kkoo@stmarys-ca.edu
SMPP Advising
Janice Doane
D 306 x 4424
jdoane@stmarys-ca.edu
English Department website: www. stmarys-ca.edu/english
`
Enjoy Literature, Poetry, Film, Plays
Spring 2013
19-1
19-2
24
25
26
27
29-1
29-2
Introduction to Literary Analysis
Introduction to Literary Analysis
SMPP Assessment & Portfolio (.25)
Creative Writing: Multi-Genre
MWF
T/Th
TBA
T/Th
Wed.
Creative Writing Reading Series (.25)
Book Club (.25)
Wed.
Issues in Literary Study
Issues in Literary Study
M/F
T/Th
101-1 Writing Tutor Workshop-Primary (.25)
Wed.
101-2 Writing Tutor Workshop-Advanced (.25) TBA
102-1 Creative Writing: Fiction
102-2 Creative Writing: Nonfiction
103 British Literature I
110 Linguistics
118** 20th Century Lit.:Stories of our World
124 SMPP Assessment & Portfolio (.25)
126** Film: Hitchcock and the Critics
144**19th Century Women Writers
150** American Literature before 1800
154 Trauma in African-Am Lit.
170 Problems in Literary Theory
175 Shakespeare as Dramatist
198 Senior Honors Thesis
Graduate:
211 Fiction Workshop
212 Poetry Workshop
214 Nonfiction Workshop
*261 Craft Seminar in Fiction
*262 Craft Seminar in Poetry
*264 Craft Seminar in Nonfiction
11:30
11:20
Robert Gorsch
Molly Metherd
Janice Doane
1:10
Alex Green
7:00 pm Brenda Hillman
3:20-4:50
Kathryn Koo
12:40
Hilda Ma
9:40
Janice Doane
11:30-12:30 Mick Sherer
Tereza Kramer
M/W
T/Th
MWF
MWF
T/Th
TBA
T/Th
MWF
MWF
MWF
T/TH
MWF
4:30
4:30
9:10
2:15
11:20
Wed.
Wed.
Wed.
Thurs.
Tuesday
T/Th
3:45
3:45
3:45
4:30
4:30
2:50-4:20
1:10
11:30
10:20
2:15
9:40
10:20
Mary Volmer
Marilyn Abildskov
Clinton Bond
Robert Gorsch
Barry Horwitz
Janice Doane
Lisa Manter
Sandra Grayson
Kathryn Koo
Jeannine King
Ben Xu
David DeRose
Sandra Grayson
Lou Berney
Kazim Ali
Susan Griffin
Wesley Gibson
Matthew Zapruder
Marilyn Abildskov
*Open to advanced undergraduates with permission of instructor.
***
NOTES:
 In addition to English Major Requirements, English 100, 102, 110, 125, 126, 153, 154, 173, 182,
183, 184 can be used to satisfy The Subject Matter Preparation Program. See following page.
** English 118, 126, 144, and 150 are cross-listed with Women’s Studies
 English 144 satisfies literature before 1900 requirement for the major
 English 150 satisfies literature before 1800 requirement for the major
 English 154 satisfies the Diversity Requirement and is cross-listed with Ethnic Studies
THE ENGLISH MAJOR
Lower Division:
The lower-division requirements are as follows:
 English 19: Introduction to Literary Analysis (prerequisite to English 29)
 English 29: Issues in Literary Study
It is recommended that students take these courses prior to the junior year.
Upper Division:
English 19 is prerequisite to English 29.
English 29 is prerequisite to English 167, 168, and 170.
The upper-division requirements are as follows:
 English 103: British Literature I
 English 104: British Literature II
 English 150: American Literature Before 1800 or
English 151: American Literature 1800-1900 or
English 152: Twentieth-Century American Literature
 English 175: Shakespeare
 One additional course in English or American literature prior to 1800
 One additional course in English or American literature prior to 1900
 One course in literary criticism or literary theory: English 167, 168, or 170.
(It is recommended that the course in literary criticism or literary theory
be taken in the senior year.)
 Four additional English courses, not more than one of which may be lower
division. English 3, 4, and 5 do not count towards the major.
Updated 4/15/09
The English Minor
The minor in English requires:
 English 19: Introduction to Literary Analysis (prerequisite
to English 29)
 English 29: Issues in Literary Study
 English 175: Shakespeare
and
 three upper division English electives
Updated June 2004
Effective Fall 2002
The Creative Writing Minor
The Creative Writing Minor, offered through the Department of English, is
designed for students who wish to explore their creative potential as writers.
The Creative Writing Minor is an excellent place for students who wish to gain
a greater appreciation of the art of writing, who may wish to pursue a career in
writing or journalism, or who simply wish to develop their academic or business
writing skills by applying the techniques offered in creative writing classes to
their writing at large.
Requirements: (total 5.5 courses)
 English 19: Introduction to Literary Analysis
 English 25: Creative Writing: Multi-Genre Studies
 Three courses from the following:
English 100: Advanced Composition
English 102: Creative Writing Workshop (in Fiction, Poetry,
Creative Non-Fiction, Drama, or Screenwriting) (may be repeated
for credit)
 English 26: The Creative Writing Reading Series (.25 units)
(Must be taken at least twice for credit)
3/07
Emphases Within the English Major
The English major provides a broad foundation in the discipline. Students who desire to
focus on a special area of interest may do so by choosing electives within the major that
meet the following requirements:

Creative Writing Emphasis:
-- English 25 (preferably freshman or sophomore year)
-- Any three upper division Creative Writing classes: English 102 (Poetry,
Fiction, Non-fiction, Dramatic Writing, Screenwriting)
-- Two semesters of English 26 (.25 credit)

Literary Theory and History Emphasis: (preparation for graduate study)
-- One additional course in literary criticism or theory
-- One additional pre-1900 course
-- English 198 (honors thesis) in the fall semester of the senior year
-- English 200, the graduate-level course in Modernism (undergraduates must
apply to enroll in this course)

Dramatic and Film Arts Emphasis:
-- English 125 or 126 (Film)
-- Any three of the following:
English 102: Dramatic Writing or Screenwriting
English 182: The Drama
English 183: Topics in Drama
English 184: Contemporary Drama
English 185: Individual Dramatists
-- Other English and Upper Division January Term courses with film or dramabased content may also apply to the concentration.

For the Subject Matter Preparation Emphasis, please see the next page.
Beginning in Fall 2010, students may petition for the emphasis to be listed on their
transcripts.
SUBJECT-MATTER PREPARATION PROGRAM
All students in the Subject-Matter Preparation Program must enroll in the following
special courses:
English 24/124: SMPP Assessment and Portfolio
English 24 (offered in Spring Only)
English 24 is a .25 credit course that students in the English Subject-Matter
Preparation Program, designed for prospective secondary school teachers, are
required to register for once prior to their senior year. The course assists students in
beginning their portfolio and preparing them for the initial assessment interview
required by the SMPP program.
English 124
English 124 is a .25 credit course that students in the English Subject-Matter
Preparation Program are required to register for during one semester of their
senior year. The course assists students in assembling the final version of their
portfolio and preparing them for the final assessment interview required by the
SMP program
Instructor: Janice Doane
Schedule to be arranged with students
Full requirements for the SMPP are listed on the facing page.
SUBJECT-MATTER PREPARATION PROGRAM
IN ENGLISH
Saint Mary’s College has been approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing of
the State of California to offer a student who majors in English appropriate preparation
for a teaching credential in English. The following course of study is the normal
preparation for a prospective secondary school English teacher. Those who complete this
program are allowed to waive the CSET exam required for high school classroom
teaching.
I.
CORE STUDIES: 13 courses (12.25 units)
Composition and Rhetoric – 2 courses (1.25 units)
English 100: Advanced Composition
English 101: Writing Tutor Workshop (.25 units)
Linguistics – 1 course
English 110: Linguistics—Language, Mind, and Culture
Literature – 8 courses
English 19: Introduction to Literary Analysis
English 29: Issues in Literary Study
English 103 and 104: Major British Writers
English 175: Shakespeare
English 150, 151or 152: American Literature
One course in English or American Literature before 1800
One course in English or American Literature before 1900
Speech, media and creative performance: 2 of the following courses. Choose 1
Communication and 1 in Performing Arts:
Communication 10: Argument and Advocacy
Communication 2: Communication and Social Understanding
Communication 3: Communication Inquiry
Performing Arts 1: Perceiving the Performing Arts
Performing Arts 33: Acting 1: Principles of Performance
Performing Arts 132: Performing Arts in Production
continued
II.
EXTENDED STUDIES: 9 courses (7 units)
The extended studies curriculum is designed to supplement the core by providing
students with depth, breadth, areas of concentration, and an introduction to
classroom teaching and teaching technology.
One of the following courses:
English 167: Literary Criticism: From the Ancient Greeks to the Romantics
English 168: Literary Criticism: the 19th and 20th centuries
English 170: Problems in Literary Theory
One of the following courses:
English 153: American Ethnic Writers and Oral Traditions
English 154: Studies in African-American Literature
Two of the following courses:
English 102: Creative Writing
English 105: Children’s Literature
English 125 or 126: Film
English 140: Literary Genres (Including Popular Genres)
English 163: The Other English Literatures
English 173: Women Writers
English 182, 183 or 184: Drama
Internship Requirement and Classroom Technology
All of the following courses:
Registration in SMPP: English 24 first semester in program (.25 units)
Registration in SMPP: English 124 senior year in program (.25 units)
Education 122: Field Experience (1 unit)
Single Subject Teacher Education 224: Technology in the Classroom (.5 units)
***
SMPP Coordinator: Professor Janice Doane
Dante 306, 631-4424
jdoane@stmarys-ca.edu
October 7, 2010
English 19: Introduction to Literary Analysis
There are courses in speed reading. This is a course in slow reading,
for reading works of literature is a reading that never quite finishes. A good
reader has a hard time getting to the end. There is so much to pay attention
to along the way: a surprising word or comparison, a distracting digression
by the narrator ... Why won't that narrator get out of the way?
Although primarily designed as an introductory course for English
majors, this course is open to all lovers of literature. It will give more
experienced readers a chance to perfect their analytical skills and less
experienced readers a chance to acquire new skills. We will concentrate on
learning how to pay the kind of attention that literature demands and how to
ask and answer fruitful questions. We will begin to master the language of
literary criticism, the technical vocabulary that makes it possible for a reader
to ask and to answer interpretive questions with clarity and precision.
Texts: Scholes et al., eds., Elements of Literature
Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms
Requirements: Careful reading and rereading, active participation in class
discussions, and several short essays.
19-1: Instructor: Robert Gorsch
MWF 11:30-12:30
19-2: Instructor: Molly Metherd
T/Th 11:20-1:10
English 25: Creative Writing Introduction
This course will introduce you to writing fiction, poetry, and plays. By writing and
examining creative writing to see how it works, you’ll learn to better understand what is
being expressed. Whether or not you plan to become a professional writer, you’ll find
that an awareness of craft will enhance greatly your critical appreciation of art.
No creative writing experience is required. This course is open to all majors and counts
as an Area A requirement.
Reading: Assorted stories, poems, and plays.
Writing: Two short essays, two major creative projects, various creative writing
activities.
Instructor: Alex Green
T/Th 1:10-2:40
English 26: Creative Writing Reading Series (.25)
“You are young, so before all beginning, and I want to beg you to be patient toward
all that is unsolved in your heart and tot try to love the questions themselves…” So
the poet Rainer Maria Rilke writes to a friend, a young writer who asks him about
the writing life. From writers we hear about bringing language to the unsolved
questions.
Every semester, some of our finest contemporary writers visit Saint Mary’s to read
from their work and to discuss their writing processes. English 26 is a quarter-credit
class designed to give students an opportunity to be more active members of the
audience. The student will attend the events in the Creative Writing Reading Series,
read the work of some of the writers, and have a chance ask the visitor questions
about the life of a writer.
Requirements:
Regular attendance at all events in the Reading Series; brief reviews of two events
and a longer review of one writer’s book.
Instructor: Brenda Hillman
Wednesdays 7:00-8:30 p.m.
English 27: Book and Film Club
“Your only duty is to write a really good screenplay with the same title as my book.”
-Kazuo Ishiguro
That exactly is the relationship between a book
and a screenplay? Between what is found in the pages of a book and what is later illuminated on the
screen? In this book club, we’ll explore the transformation of books into film and develop our own
theory of adaptation along the way.
If you’ve ever wanted to be a film critic, this
is the book club for you. Book/film selections
will be drawn from the list of possibilities
below. All are welcome. Join us!
Instructor: Kathryn Koo
Wednesdays 3:20-4:50
Into the Wild
Brokeback Mountain
The Lovely bones
The Help
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Cosmopolis
The Hobbit
Anna Karenina
The Life of Pi
The Great Gatsby
On the Road
The Bell Jar
English 29: Issues in Literary Study
This is an introductory course for English majors and minors, and also for any student
who wants to know what concerns those who study literature in college and beyond.
In English 19, or other introductory English courses, you learned to value reading a text
closely for its form and aesthetic features. In this course, we’ll start with a brief review
of this formal (text-based) approach to literature. Then we’ll read a range of literature
and learn how different interpretive approaches can enrich our reading and writing about
texts. We’ll ask many questions: Is it possible (or desirable) to read a text “objectively”?
Why might we want to read familiar literature “against the grain’? Can we really say
that some texts embody “timeless values” and teach “universal truths”? What’s the role
of ideology in interpretation? What does it mean to say that texts and readers are
“situated”? Why do we read and discuss certain texts in the classroom and not others?
What’s the distinction between “serious” and “popular” literature? Is the distinction
meaningful?
By the end of the course, you’ll be a more sophisticated reader, with new reading
strategies: new questions to pose about texts, new ways to answer those questions.
You’ll understand why and how serious readers of literature can disagree. With the new
perspectives you’ll develop, you’ll find literature a richer field of exploration.
Tentative Reading List:




Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical
Theory. 6th ed. Longman, 2011.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds.
Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000
Tatar, Maria, ed. The Classic Fairy Tales, Norton, 1999.
Course reader
Requirements: Response papers, Moodle forum posts, three formal essays, careful
reading, participation in class discussions, and a final exam.
Instructor: Hilda Ma
M/F 12:40-2:10
English 29-2: Issues in Literary Study
This is an introductory course for English majors and minors, and also for any student
who wants to know what concerns those who study literature in college and beyond.
In English 19, or other introductory English courses, you learned to value reading a text
closely for its form and aesthetic features. In this course, we’ll start with a brief review
of this formal (text-based) approach to literature. Then we’ll read a range of literature
and learn how different interpretive approaches can enrich our reading and writing about
texts. We’ll ask many questions: Is it possible (or desirable) to read a text “objectively”?
Why might we want to read familiar literature “against the grain’? Can we really say
that some texts embody “timeless values” and teach “universal truths”? What’s the role
of ideology in interpretation? What does it mean to say that texts and readers are
“situated”? Why do we read and discuss certain texts in the classroom and not others?
What’s the distinction between “serious” and “popular” literature? Is the distinction
meaningful?
By the end of the course, you’ll be a more sophisticated reader, with new reading
strategies: new questions to pose about texts, new ways to answer those questions.
You’ll understand why and how serious readers of literature can disagree. With the new
perspectives you’ll develop, you’ll find literature a richer field of exploration.
Requirements: Careful reading and re-reading, scrupulous attendance, active
participation in class discussion, short essays, final exam.
Readings: Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory by
Steven Lynn; a variety of literary texts
Instructor: Janice Doane
T/Th 9:40-11:10
English 101.01 Primary (.25)
Writing Adviser Training Workshop
You will explore ways to help peer students express themselves in all
stages of the writing process – including discovering and organizing ideas and
editing drafts. By learning practical techniques, you will strengthen your own
writing and develop confidence in working with others.
This training could be valuable for those who are considering working as
teachers, counselors, lawyers, business executives, or other positions that involve
mentoring and professional communication.
After this course, you are eligible to apply to work in the Center for
Writing Across the Curriculum. If you are interested, please contact the Director
for details of the application process.
Readings:
Tutors
Ryan, Leigh, and Lisa Zimmerelli. The Bedford Guide for Writing
and as assigned
Requirement:
One class hour per week (l hour/.25 unit)
Instructor:
Mick Sherer
Wednesday 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
English 101.02 Advanced (.25)
Writing Adviser Training Workshop
This is a weekly Staff Workshop taken by everyone who works in the
Center for Writing Across the Curriculum (CWAC).
We will explore various facets of Writing Center work, weaving in ideas
from scholarly research and our practical experience. Through this ServiceLearning approach, we will build our repertoire of strategies to share with peer
writers and continually improve our own writing and empathic skills.
Readings:
Requirement:
Instructor:
As assigned
One workshop hour per week (l hour/.25 unit)
Tereza Joy Kramer
TBA
Enrollment:
By permission of instructor
English 102: Fiction Writing
In this introductory fiction writing course we will learn to read like writers and to
recognize, analyze and then utilize the traditions of short fiction in the creation of our
own stories. We will learn the tools of the craft, the practices common among successful
writers, how to discover the shape of a story and the importance of creative revision.
While we will focus on the short form we will also consider the challenges inherent in the
novella and the novel and there will be no restrictions regarding genre. Needless to say,
this will be a reading and writing intensive class. No one has ever learned to paint
without painting, or developed a style of her own without first immersing herself in the
work of masters. You can expect both creative and analytic assignments every week and
the semester will culminate in the production of a work of original short fiction with an
accompanying exegesis that describes your artistic influences, intentions, and the revision
process.
Course requirements:
Weekly writing exercises (to be gathered in a portfolio), extensive written critiques of
published stories and student work, an original short story (10-15 pages) and
accompanying exegesis, attendance at no fewer than three Creative Writing and Reading
Series events and, of course, class participation.
Instructor: Mary Volmer
M/W 4:30-6:00
English 102—Creative Writing
Mythical Pictures: Autobiography distilled
Any given moment—no matter how casual, how ordinary—is poised, full of
gaping life.” So says a character in the novel Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels.
And is with this understanding—of the fullness of small moments—that we will
approach the task of this personal writing course: to distill on the page particular
moments from our lives—moments experienced, observed, imagined, and
misunderstood. We will look to practitioners of the form for inspiration,
studying texts by such writers as Jo Ann Beard, Joan Didion, and Rick Bass to
learn about craft: how to shape narrative time, for instance, turning decades into
pages, years into paragraphs, and moments into scenes; how to modulate our
voices on the page; how to move between showing (scene) and telling
(exposition) to create a rich experience for our readers.
In workshop, we will engage one another’s pieces with the motive of
providing—and receiving—constructive criticism, the kind that draws a writer
toward purposeful revision. By the end of the semester, students will not only
have a better understanding of specific writing techniques and a fuller
appreciation of the personal essay as a literary form—what Phillip Lopate called
“the genre of littleness”—but a sense of discovery about the way writing can
teach us things about ourselves that we didn’t know before.
As Stuart Dybeck writes: “It’s only a relatively few moments that we get to keep
and carry with us for the rest of our lives. Those moments are our lives. Or
maybe it’s more like those moments are the dots and what we call our lives are
the lines we draw between them, connecting them into imaginary pictures of
ourselves. You know? Like those mythical pictures of constellations traced
between stars.”
Instructor:
Marilyn Abildskov
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
English 103: British Literature, “The Giants before the Flood”
The oldest hath borne most; we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
As the title above reminds us, while reading the authors who make up this course,
one is often amazed by the force of their brilliance; they sometimes seem to occupy a
region of art forever beyond our reach. But that is also why it is so valuable to read and
study them.
English 103 provides an introduction to English literature from the middle ages to
the beginning of the modern world and includes works by many of our greatest writers.
It isn’t possible to understand how our language and culture came into being without
understanding its birth and its flowering. In the brilliant humor of Geoffrey Chaucer, the
tragedy of Shakespeare, and the splendor of Milton, we will begin to discover why they
are still considered the three greatest poets who have ever written in English.
We will read works which expose the values, problems, and desires of men and
women from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. In these works we will find
wonderful and creative minds struggling to understand their place in the world.
Texts: Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1.
Requirements: Careful reading, class participation, two essays, final exam.
Instructor: Clinton Bond
MWF 9:10-10:10
English 110: Linguistics
This is an introductory course in "linguistics," the scientific study of
language. We will be paying due attention to the usual concerns of
introductory linguistics: e.g., phonetics, morphology and syntax,
semantics, language change, and first and second language acquisition.
But we will be concentrating on less narrowly technical issues and
questions: It is often thought that one's native language is a sort of lens
that determines the way one sees the world. Is it? What can we tell about
world-views from an examination of languages? What can one tell about
the intellectual and imaginative structure of one's culture from one's
language?
How does language use function in society? What distinguishes
acceptable usage from unacceptable usage? Is "good grammar" a matter
of fact or is it the decree of some intellectual ruling class? Is English (or
any other language) biased with regard to gender and ethnicity? Or is bias
purely a matter of the intentions of the speaker?
Texts:
Fromkin, Victoria, and others, An Introduction to Language
Suzuki, Takao, Words in Context: A Japanese Perspective on
Language and Culture
Frank, Francine, and Frank Anshen, Language and the Sexes
Requirements: Faithful attendance and active participation in class
discussion of assigned readings and other in-class activities; a final paper;
and a final take-home examination.
Instructor:
Robert Gorsch
M W F 2:15-3:15
English 118: Twentieth Century Lit: Stories of Our World
From 1900 until today, in the 20th and 21st Centuries, short-story writers around
the world have tried to understand and express what has been happening to them, and
to us. We have been through the collapse of the British Empire, the Russian
Revolution, two World Wars, the Great Depression, revolts, reforms, Cold Wars, hot
wars, and countless revolutions in our personal lives. Short story writers have captured
the beauty and “the horror!” of it all.
We will read modernist writers and post-modernist story writers—to find out
how the world has brought us to the present moment. We will sample important
writers from many countries and cultures. Join us—to find out how we got here and
who we are, today!
Franz Kafka, Chinua Achebe, Albert Camus, James Joyce, Zora Neale Hurston,
Tim O’Brien, Alice Walker, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros,
Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid,
Leslie Marmon Silko, David Leavitt, Juno Diaz, Margaret Atwood,
Raymond Carver
Text:
The Art of the Short Story. Edited by Dana Gioia and R.S Gwynn:
Pearson Longman, 2006. ISBN # 978-0-321-36363-3.
30/30: Thirty American Short Stories from the Last Thirty Years. Edited by
Minh B. Nguyen and Porter Shreve: Pearson Longman, 2006.
ISBN # 0-321-33898-7.
Requirements: Regular attendance, a Writer’s JOURNAL, helpful discussion,
two essays on writers of your choice, and enjoying yourself in modern times.
Instructor:
Barry Horwitz
Tu-Th
11:20 to 12:50
This course is cross-listed with Women’s Studies.
English 126: Hitchcock and the Critics
"To speak of Alfred Hitchcock is to evoke a remarkable series of histories:
the history of cinema generally, in which Hitchcock plays an exemplary role
as a technical and stylistic innovator; a history of Hitchcock's films
themselves, . . . a history of film criticism, especially given Hitchcock's status
as a primary test case for auteur theory, which held that commercial films . .
. can and should be discussed in the same terms as were previously
reserved for "art" films; a history of contemporary film theory, understood at
least in part as involving a return to more sociological concerns after the
excesses of auteurism; etc."
-- A Hitchcock Reader
The artistic career of the Master of Suspense ranges from the silent period to the
seventies. The films produced during this extensive career have won over popular
audiences with their morbid sense of humor and ability to reveal the dark side of
everyday life. But his films aren't just box office hits; they hold a special fascination for
film critics as well. Hitchcock and his films have helped shape the direction of film
criticism: he's been used as a basis for the development of the French auteur theory, he's
been touted as the genius of the psychoanalytic narrative, and both Marxist and Feminist
critics find class and gender to be central motifs for the director. Each week we will view
and discuss a Hitchcock film in light of the criticism that it has generated. Previous
knowledge of film techniques and literary theory aren't necessary (though helpful) -Hitchcock will lead us to an understanding of both.
Required Texts:
Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies.
Deutelbaum, Marshall and Leland Poague, eds. A Hitchcock Reader.
Mast, Gerald, Marshall Cohen, and Leo Braudy, eds. Film Theory and Criticism. 7th ed.
Modleski, Tania. The Women Who Knew Too Much.
Zizek, Slavoj. Everything You Wanted to Know About Lacan (But Where Afraid to Ask
Hitchcock)
*Film Viewing: TBA (attendance is mandatory)
Instructor: Lisa Manter
T/Th 1:10-2:40
Prerequisite: English 29 or permission of the instructor
English 144: 19th Century Women Writers
“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their story. Education has been theirs in
so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion,
1818
Austen’s heroine, Anne Elliot, was right. Prior to the nineteenth century, English
literature primarily belonged to men. But this changed dramatically, and this
course traces that change. What happened to literature when women took up
the pen? Did they tell new kinds of stories, and were these specifically women’s
stories? Did they create new kinds of heroines and plot their characters’ lives in
new ways? Did they handle literary form differently?
This course explores these questions. We’ll begin with Austen’s last novel, and
then trace the achievements of nineteenth-century women writers, and the
obstacles they faced. Readings will range from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, with
its bold feminism and impassioned narration, to George Eliot’s examination of
sisterhood and love in The Mill on the Floss. We’ll read excerpts from conduct
books, which taught women how they should behave, and sample a sensation
novel, about a woman who broke all the rules. We’ll look at work by women
poets. Finally, we’ll explore the appeal of these women writers today, viewing
scenes from some films based on their works.
We’ll be reading with appreciation for each writer’s voice, but also asking what –
if anything – the works we consider have in common, whether there is such a
thing as “women’s writing,” and how much literature changed when women
took up the pen.
Readings: Jane Austen, Persuasion, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, George Eliot, The
Mill on the Floss; poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, and
Amy Levy; Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic; excerpts
from conduct books and popular fiction.
Requirements: Active class participation, weekly written responses, two formal
essays, class report.
Instructor: Sandra Grayson
MWF 11:30-12:30
English 150:
Early American Literature
Race, Gender, and the Origins of Division
In this survey of early American literature, we will search for the origins of division
in America through the prisms of race and gender. Our search will lead us to the earliest
encounters between Native Americans and English settlers and the first accounts of
African slavery in New England. We will also explore two critical moments in early
American history – the Antinomian Controversy and the Salem Witchcraft Crisis – that
reveal the challenges that women posed to the existing social order and the authority of
the established church. We will also have the opportunity to examine the intersection of
race and gender in such works as Mary Rowlandson’s famous captivity narrative that
retraces her experience as a captive of the Algonquin Indians during King Philip’s War.
Early America was a richly textured and highly diverse world of competing voices
and conflicting interests. Early print materials, archival documents, and documentary
films will help us to uncover this fascinating world. This course will offer students the
opportunity to explore the foundational texts of the new republic and the origins of
American identity, culture, and society.
Readings:
Nina Baym, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A,
7th Edition
Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland,
Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God,
A course reader
Requirements: Close and dedicated reading, active participation, group presentations,
journals, midterm and final examinations
Instructor:
Kathryn Koo
MWF 10:20-11:20
This course is cross-listed with Women’s Studies.
This course satisfies the pre-1800 requirement for the English major.
English 154: Trauma in African-American Literature
Modern life begins with slavery… These things had to be addressed by black people a
long time ago: certain kinds of dissolution, the loss of and the need to reconstruct
certain kinds of stability. Certain kinds of madness, deliberately going mad in order not
to lose your mind.” These strategies for survival made the truly modern person. They’re
a response to predatory western phenomena. You can call it an ideology and an
economy, what it is is a pathology. (Toni Morrison)
Slavery sought to repress the human instinct to question, to resist, and to love. While this
endeavor failed in many respects, it did create a pathology, one that novelist Toni
Morrison attributes to “predatory Western phenomena.” One example of these
phenomena is the master narrative of Truth that repressed the psyches of AfricanAmericans, hindering their ability to speak their own truth. In this class, we will consider
literature and artistic expression as antidotes to the master narrative and to psychological
trauma.
Texts:
Morrison, Toni.
Beloved
Jacobs, Harriet.
Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl
Toomer, Jean.
Cane
Petry, Ann.
The Street
Larsen, Nella.
Passing
Baldwin, James.
The Fire Next Time
Souljah, Sistah.
The Coldest Winter Ever
Supplemental readings
Requirements
Active class participation
Essays (2)
One-page Talking Papers (7)
Group presentation
Harlem
By Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
English 170: LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
Over time, critics change their approaches to literature and reading. Do we read to
discover the author's intention? To analyze the ways in which a writer has created a
unified work of art? To understand the writer's view of the society? To encounter
timeless truths? To see how the assumptions of a particular time and place are inscribed
in the text? Do we pay primary attention to themes, to images, to plot, to language, to our
own reactions? Do we expect literature to provide answers, or to pose new questions?
Literary Theory and Criticism is a course designed to cope with these questions and
others. It is for the student who is uncertain about or even frightened by such labels as
"New Criticism," "New Historicism," "Feminism," "Post-Colonialism,"
"Deconstruction," etc. The only prerequisite is openness to considering new, sometimes
foreign ideas or ways to study and think of literature. The aim of the course is to break
down the fear and resulting mistrust or mysticism that grows up around these terms and
to encourage a more sophisticated reading of text than that based on mere common sense
and impression.
Readings:
M.H. Abrams. A Glossary of Literary Terms.
K.M. Newton. Twentieth-Century Literary Theory: A Reader
Essays of Practical Criticism (Handouts)
Herman Melville, Billy Budd
Milder Robert, Critical Essays on Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor (Handouts)
Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Anchee Min, Red Azalea
David Henry Huang, M Butterfly
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Requirements:
Careful reading and re-reading, diligent marking of the texts, active participation in class
discussions, and two papers.
Instructor: Ben Xu
T/Th 9:40-11:10
English 175: Shakespeare as Dramatist
We sometimes forget when discussing the "greatest poet of the English language" that
Shakespeare was a commercial playwright who made his living from writing plays to be
performed for “the masses.” A poet, yes, but Shakespeare was also the greatest dramatist
of his or, arguably, any other age -- a true craftsman of the spectacle of the stage, and of
spoken language, dramatic form, and both profound and humorous characterization.
This course will study a cross-section of Shakespeare's plays, paying special attention to
the plays as dramatic texts intended for live performance. In order to better appreciate
Shakespeare's plays in performance, we will regularly view excerpts from films and
videotaped productions to supplement our careful reading of the texts.
Readings (tentative): A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing,
Henry IV: Part 1, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, King Lear.
Requirements: Careful reading, thoughtful participation in class discussions; 3 short
essays and short weekly written responses.
Instructor: David DeRose
MWF 10:20-11:20
Note: May be taken more than once for credit. Open to non-majors.
Fulfills English Department Shakespeare requirement.
English 198: Senior Honors Thesis (Independent Study)
Directed reading and research under the supervision of a department faculty member,
culminating in the writing of an academic thesis.
Prerequisites
1. Senior standing in the English Major (for the semester in which thesis is to be
undertaken)
2. 3.70 GPA in the English Major
Exceptions must be pursued with the Department Chair.
Application and Deadlines
To undertake an Honors Thesis in Spring 2013, apply by November 13, 2012.
Students are responsible for contacting and proposing projects to potential faculty
supervisors. They must then submit a proposal containing the following to the
Department Chair by the above deadline. Final approval rests with the Dept. Chair
1. a page-long description of the academic project to be undertaken
2. the signature of a faculty supervisor for the project, to be solicited by the student
3. evidence of 3.70 GPA in major
Course Credit
Students will receive 1 course credit for English 198. The course must be taken for a
grade and may not be repeated for credit.
Requirements
1. Regularly scheduled meetings with faculty supervisor to establish a reading list,
organize research, and confer on progress and on drafts of the essay.
2. To equip the student with the skills necessary to complete a significant research
study, the student will meet early in the semester with the librarian subject
specialist (Sharon Walters) who will assist the student in formulating a search
strategy, and in identifying, using, and evaluating appropriate sources of
information.
3. The final project for this course will be a scholarly research essay of at least 20
pages, in addition to a Bibliography or Works Cited list. The essay must conform
to MLA citation procedures. The faculty supervisor must approve and grade the
final project.
Graduate Level Courses
English 211: Fiction Workshop
This course is an intensive exploration of the ideas, techniques, and forms of fiction, such
as the short story, novella, and novel, with primary emphasis on the careful analysis and
discussion of student works-in-progress
Instructor:
Lou Berney
Wednesday 3:45-6:45
English 212: Poetry Workshop
The primary aim of this course is to allow the students as much freedom as possible in
their writing while teaching them the skills to identify their strengths and
weaknesses. The most important work for the student will be to generate new work and
to refine the editing skills in the context of the group. By the end of the course, the
students should develop the terminology and the critical skills for revising poetry, and
should have a good understanding about issues and historical vocabularies for their
practice in the art. Students may also be encouraged to write a poetic statement in which
they will analyze their own poems---with particular attention to their development over
the semester.
Instructor:
Kazim Ali
Wednesday 3:45-6:45
English 214: Nonfiction Workshop
This course gives students the opportunity to explore material in various areas of
nonfiction, such as memoir, personal essay, or travel writing. The course addresses issues
of voice, scene, point-of-view, and theme, as well as any other elements of nonfiction
writing that will emerge from individual manuscripts. By the end of the course, the
students should develop the terminology and the critical skills for revising nonfiction, and
should develop a good understanding about issues and trends in the genre.
Instructor: Susan Griffin
Wednesday 3:45-6:45
*English 261: Craft Seminar in Fiction
This course focuses on issues that influence the writing of fiction. Some seminars may
focus on issues of craft or aesthetics – narrative structure in the novel, point of view, or
dialogue – and others may be thematic in nature – historical fiction, realism or the
postmodern ethos. Readings may include a wide range of fiction from diverse
backgrounds and historical periods as well as the students’ own works-in-progress.
Instructor: Wesley Gibson
Thursday 4:30-7:30
*English 262: Craft Seminar in Poetry : The New American Poetry
In 1960, Donald Allen and Grove Press published The New American Poetry 1945-1960.
It included many poets (Ashbery, Creeley, Ginsberg, Guest, Jones, Koch, O'Hara,
Schuyler, Spicer, etc.) of great future influence, and sorted the poets into categories
(Black Mountain, Beats, San Francisco Renaissance, New York School) familiar to us to
this day. Reading the anthology today, we can see how what is thought of as "new" in
American poetry has (for better and worse) been profoundly influenced by this book, and
beneath a surface idea of the "experimental," a deeper metabolizing of the innovations
and values, both traditional and revolutionary, of the previous 150 years. In the first half
of this course we will read the anthology, as well as separate full books by some of the
poets (Guest, Ashbery, O'Hara, Creeley, Spicer, Wieners, and Creeley) along with
supplementary material, in order to think about the "new" in American poetry, and how
those ideas have influenced our understanding and practice of poetry. In the second half
of the course students will choose and present work they feel has, or will, or should,
determine what we think of as the new American poetry of the 21st century: what has
mattered, what seems to matter now, and what will matter to poets and readers in the
future.
Instructor: Matthew Zapruder
Tuesday 4:30-7:30
*English 264: Craft Seminar in Nonfiction: THE CHARACTER OF
CHARACTER
Many of the most acclaimed novels in the history of literature focus on and are named
after a single character: Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dallaway,
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. We read with focus, then, as we come to know the
texture of Anna’s troubles, the quality of Clarissa’s mind, the futility of Emma Bovary’s
aspirations. Much of what we think of as modern realist fiction probably centers on
character. And so, in discussing the writing of fiction, it’s natural to discuss the fleshand-blood reality of characters we encounter on the page, how to build characters, how to
make them appear more believable and as complex as we know real people to be.
But what of character in nonfiction? How does the writer of memoir and essay bring to
life people on the page who already exist or existed in real life, characters who do not
need to be built so much as revealed? This course will look at a range of work from the
autobiographical novel to the fragmented memoir to long-form literary journalism with
an eye toward studying the nature of characterization: how writers bring to life people on
the page: through glimpses, sketches, full-length scenes that rely on gestures,
descriptions, dialogues, and monologues, and double portraits arranged through
memories, questions, and riffs of imagination). We will ask ourselves in what way firstperson narrators—those who recede into the background and those who take center
stage—are crafted (often through a distinctive voice) to become essential characters. We
will also ask, to what effect? For what purpose do these characters exist on the page? As
windows into another culture? As a way of examining—and arguing—political ideas?
As the canvas on which an elegy is composed? And what particular issues regarding
character do nonfiction writers face? Do readers expect to “like” a narrator in nonfiction
in ways they do not when reading fiction? Do we yearn to know a narrator will be OK at
the end of a memoir in a way that we do not when reading a novel? We will pose these
questions and many more by delving into the character of characters (whether these are
people, places, or ideas) in each text.
READING LIST:
Sylvia by Leonard Michaels
Long Ago in France by MFK Fisher
Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer
Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas
Michael Martone by Michael Martone
“Undertaker, Please Drive Slow” by Jo Ann Beard
An Exclusive Love by Johanna Adorján
Instructor: Marilyn Abildskov
mabildsk@stmarys-ca.edu
T/Th 2:50 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.
*Open to Undergraduates with Permission of Instructor