English
and
Philosophy
English and Philosophy
Spring 2014
Course Offerings
English & American Studies
Lower Division / 1000-2000 level ········· 2
if asterisked (*), may fulfill general education requirements
Upper Division / 3000-4000 level ········· 4
if double asterisked (*), may also be taken as a 500-level course
for Graduate credit
Graduate Courses / 6000-7000 level 7
Philosophy Courses································ 9
1
Lower Division
1000-2000 level
if asterisked (*), may fulfill general education requirements
American Studies
Courses
American Studies 2200*
Introduction to American Studies
Instructor: Debra Shein
TR 9:30-10:45 am
Satisfies part of Objective 6 (Goal 9)
What is the field of American Studies, and
what strange and compelling things do
people studying America choose to investigate? In this class, we’ll research these questions as we review articles on topics as diverse as marriage customs, car culture, and
the connections between fad diets and
religious life.
We’ll use literary texts and historical
documents to help us get a feel for earlier
times, and also other cultural “texts” such
as works of art, architecture, fashion, music,
film, and scientific inventions. We’ll look at
what people have done for work and recreation, and discuss conflicts about politics,
religion, race, ethnicity, and gender. In
short, all of the fascinating and messy components of our American life. You will learn
how professionals in the interdisciplinary
field of American Studies apply insights
from many disciplines to interpret American culture.
English Courses
the interpretation and evaluation of
representative texts.
English 1100
Academic Writing and
Speech ESOL
Multiple sections offered / see Class
Schedule in BengalWeb for details
Explores culture-based academic expectations and conventions in communication.
PREREQ: ISU Admission; 500+ TOEFL
or permission.
English 1115-01*
Madness in Literature
Instructor: Tera Cole
MWF 9-9:50 am
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 7)
This special topics literature course will
cover a range of literary genres including:
novellas, novels, short stories, poetry, and
English 1101
English Composition
Multiple sections offered
including ONLINE and Idaho Falls
see Class Schedule in BengalWeb
for details
Course in which students read, analyze and
write expository essays for a variety of purposes consistent with expectations for college-level writing in standard edited English.
English 1102*
Critical Reading & Writing
Multiple sections offered
including ONLINE and Idaho Falls
see Class Schedule in BengalWeb
for details
Satisfies Objective 1 (Goal 1)
Writing essays based on readings. Focus on
critical reading; research methods; gathering, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing
ideas and evidence; documentation.
PREREQ: ENGL 1101 or equivalent.
English 1107*
Nature of Language
Instructor: Christopher Loether
TR 1-2:15 pm
Satisfies Objective 7
General survey of structure and use of
language. Topics include language origins,
descriptive and historical linguistics, language and culture, and history of the
English language. Equivalent to ANTH
1107 and LANG 1107.
English 1110*
Introduction to Literature*
Multiple sections offered
including Idaho Falls / see Class
Schedule in BengalWeb for details
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 7)
Introduction to the critical reading of
various literary genres, with attention to
drama. The focus of the course is the representation of madness in literature (i.e. depression, mania, schizophrenia, existential
angst, etc.). These texts will cover a wide
range of authors, historical time periods and
encompass different cultural contexts. An
emphasis will be placed on critical reading
and analysis of these texts. Students will
learn appropriate literary terminology and
respond to the texts in class discussion,
group discussion and through written analysis. Themes are a great way to explore literature. This class will be a lot of fun!
English 1115-02*
Comics, Films & Theatre
Instructor: Jacob Claflin
MWF 11-11:50 am
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 7)
This class will
examine works
of literature that
use more than
the written word
to tell a story.
Students will be
introduced to the
basics of multimodality, and
will examine
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how multimodal texts, such as comics,
films, and theatre, convey their meaning by
using multiple modes of meaning.
English 1115-03*
Modern Irish Literature,
1800-present
Instructor: William Donovan
TR 11 am – 12:15 pm
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 7)
From Yeats and Joyce to John B. Keane,
modern Irish literature includes some of the
best reads in the English language. This
course provides an introduction to modern
to convince unbelievers that 80s action
films, low budget Italian horror films,
French New Wave vignettes, slapstick comedies, and cutting edge documentaries are
all worth exploring critically?
English 1126 examines a broad spectrum of films across multiple themes, countries of origin, and genres. The course will
show students how to make a film study an
engaged activity, rather than a passive way
to kill time. If you believe movies matter,
sign up now!
English 2206
Creative Writing Workshop
Instructor: Bethany Schultz Hurst
TR 11 am – 12:15 pm
Introduction to one or more forms of
creative writing.
Irish literature at the same time that it covers basic literary analysis. We will examine
how Irish literature helped to shape and to
question issues of national identity in differing social contexts, and will focus on
themes such as myth, gender, and selfdetermination.
Students will read, study, and discuss
short fiction, poetry, and drama by such
major figures as James Joyce, W.B. Yeats,
and J.M. Synge, as well as Seán O'Faoláin,
Lady Gregory, and Frank O’Connor.
English 1126*
Art of Film
Instructor: Carlen Donovan
TR 1-2:15 pm
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 6)
You know what your favorite movie is, but
can you say why? Can you explain its genre,
origin, and style? Do you want a vocabulary
English 2211
Introduction to Literary Analysis
Sec. 01, Instructor: Jessica Winston
T 4-6:30pm
Sec. 02, Instructor: Tracy Montgomery
TR 1-2:15pm
English 2212*
Introduction to Folklore/
Oral Tradition
Instructor: Amy Maxwell
MWF 1-1:50 pm
Satisfies Objective 9
Folklore genres and folk groups, including
introductory experience in folklore fieldwork focused on study of a genre or group
of genres within verbal, customary, or material culture. Equivalent to ANTH 2212.
English 2258-01*
Survey of World Literature II
(17th century to present)
Instructor: Michael Stubbs
TR 11 am – 12:15 pm
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 7)
Students will read some of the world’s most
influential literature from the haiku and
travel stories of Basho in 17th century Japan
to the graphic novel of Marjane Satrapi in
contemporary Iran. And they will examine
how race and place are represented as they
compare Joseph Conrad’s Africa to Chinua
Achebe’s Africa. But this is not all! Students
will also observe the humor and tragedy of
human folly across time as they compare
the satire of Voltaire to that of Kurt Vonnegut. And still there’s more! Students will
read how the representation of love changes
across time and culture through Goethe’s
young Werther and Jane Austen’s Elizabeth
Bennet. But these are just a few of the combinations and possibilities! There will be
more: Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Kafka,
Marquez. Register now before it’s too late.
English 2258-02*
Survey of World Literature II
(17th century to present)
Instructor: Terry Engebretsen
ONLINE
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 7)
The class provides an introductory survey
of world literature from the early modern
period to modern times. Students will read
a variety of texts, authors, and genres (epic,
poetry, drama, fictions, religious texts) from
different geographical, cultural, and historical traditions. Students will be encouraged
to approach these texts from cultural and
historical perspectives, trying to outline
similar and different themes, images, narrative
students’ analytical reading skills,
encouraging students to think critically and
independently about background lectures
and readings.
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English 2268
Survey of British Literature II
(19th century to present)
Instructor: Jessica Winston
MWF 10-10:50 am
Examination of major works and authors in
historical perspective, with emphasis upon
literary and cultural backgrounds.
English 2278
Survey of American Literature II
(1860 to present)
Instructor: Hal Hellwig
MWF 12-12:50 pm
Examination of major works and authors in
historical perspective with emphasis upon
literary and cultural backgrounds.
English 2280
Grammar and Usage
Instructor: Sonja Launspach
TR 11-12:15 pm
This course is a basic introduction to the
grammar of standard English. Students will
learn the vocabulary of grammar as well as
phrase and clause structure and their function in the structure. Part of our discussion
will involve the historical development and
use of grammatical forms within different
social and written contexts. Assignments
English 2281
Introduction to Language Studies
Instructor: Brent Wolter
MWF 9-9:50 pm
This is an introductory course that focuses
on different aspects of language: its structure and its social use. Topics might include
language variation, language change, and
discourse. Assignments include response
papers, a mid-term project, a research paper
and a final exam.
Upper Division
3000-4000 level
sion
if double asterisked (*), may also be taken
for Graduate credit
English 3311
Writing and Research
about Literature
Instructor: Brian Attebery
TR 1-2:15 pm
In this course, designed for English majors,
we will focus on critical writing as a genre.
How do you turn your reading experience
English 3306
Intermediate Creative Writing
Instructor: Susan Goslee
MWF 11-11:50am
Advanced training in one or more of the
forms of creative writing. PREREQ:
ENGL 2206 or equivalent.
English 3307
Professional and
Technical Writing
Sec. 01 MWF 1-1:50 pm (Hal Hellwig),
Sec. 02TR 11 am – 12:15 pm (Debra
Shein
T 7-9:30 pm (Mark
Dodd – Idaho Falls)
An intensive course covering skills and
conventions pertinent to writing in the
professions, including technical writing.
Applications in disciplines or subjects of
interest to the individual student. Especially
appropriate for science, engineering, and
pre-professional majors. PREREQ: 45
credits and ENGL 1102.
Instructor: Terry Engebretsen
Sec. 03 ONLINE, Sec. 04/06/07/08
Distance TR 11 am – 12:15 pm
Professional and Technical Communication
will help you develop the rhetorical skills
Since professional and technical writing,
beyond the most formulaic, is essentially
persuasive, the main focus of the course will
be on successful persuasion. We will also
practice the major types of professional and
technical documents, emphasizing format.
We will practice professional formatting
and design of documents. This spring, one
of these sections of 3307 will be online; the
other section will be offered as a distancelearning course. PREREQ: 45 credits and
ENGL 1102.
English 3308
Business Communications
Multiple sections offered / see Class
Schedule in BengalWeb for details
An advanced course in conventions of
business communications, emphasizing
purpose and audience. Focus on style,
semantics, research skills, format, persua-
of a poem or a novel into a piece of writing? What are some of the uses of critical
discourse beyond papers for class? What
distinguishes the most effective and interesting critical writing? Readings for course
will include I. A. Richards’ Practical Criticism
— the book that launched the New Critical
emphasis on close reading of poetry — and
Seymour Chatman’s Reading Narrative Fiction,
along with selected critical essays from
recent academic journals. PREREQ: 60
credits including ENGL 2211.
English 3323
Genre Studies in Fiction:
Short Stories and the Short
Story Sequence
Instructor: Amanda Zink
TR 8-9:15 am
In his “Philosophy of Composition,” Edgar
Allan Poe writes that “if any literary work
is too long to be read at one sitting, we
must be content to dispense with the immensely important effect
derivable from
unity of impression
— for if two
sittings be required, the affairs of the
world interfere,
and everything
like totality
is at once destroyed.” Poe, one
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will also write their own poems that explore
self and the construction of speaker. Finally,
we will turn our critic’s eye to student work
in peer workshops, where students will give
and receive constructive feedback.
of the “founding fathers” of the short story
genre, theorizes both writers and readers of
short fiction in this statement, echoing
Shakespeare’s notion that “brevity is the
soul of wit.” In this course, we focus on the
generic category of the short story and its
close literary cousin, the short story
s
English 3328
Gender in Literature: ProtoFemininity, Hyper-Masculinity,
Queered Identities
Instructor: Amanda Zink
TR 9:30-10:45 am
Departing from the notion that studying
gender in literature is synonymous with
studying women in literature, this course
will look at the ways female and male genders are constructed and queered in American literature. In this context, “queer” is a
verb: to queer gender is to look at the foundations of gendered roles and identities and
question them. In this course we will read
texts such as Louisa May Alcott’s Little
Women, Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, and
Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues to explore
and to reconsider the limits, biases, and
boundaries of gendered identities.
English 3341
Bible as Literature
Instructor: Curtis Whitaker
MWF 11-11:50 am
The Bible has exerted a profound and lasting influence on British and American literature, and this course seeks to make you
familiar with the Biblical language and
narratives that lie behind so many literary
works. We will begin by putting the Bible in
its historical context, examining its textual
history and comparing it with other writings
from the ancient Near East. The bulk of the
course will then consist of an examination
of the various Biblical genres — creation
stories, psalms, historical narrative, wisdom
literature, prophecy, gospels, epistles, apocalyptic writings — and the human values
expressed through these genres. The issue
of translation will be a recurrent topic as
we consider how the original Hebrew and
Greek texts have been rendered into English over the centuries, especially in the
King James Version of 1611.
English 4406/5506**
Advanced Creative Writing
Workshop
Instructor: Bethany Schultz Hurst
TR 1-2:15 pm
This semester we will explore the concept
of “self” in contemporary poetry. How do
poets address worthwhile issues of personal
experience or identity while managing to
avoid self-indulgence? Is it a matter of content, perspective, or tone? Do technical
aspects of the line, diction, and image play a
part? We will read recently published volumes from poets such as Anna Journey,
Traci K. Smith, Dean Young, and Nick
Flynn, whose speakers range from the
seemingly confessional to the obviously
constructed. We will also study essays that
examine the role of “self” in contemporary
poetry. Students will evaluate these readings
in discussion and written assignments; they
English 4409/5509**
Literary Magazine Production
Instructor: Susan Goslee
W 4-6:30 pm
From the call for American independence
in the pamphlet “Common Sense” to the
first state-side publication of “The Waste
Land” in the Dial, small magazines and
presses have fomented political and literary
change in our country. While students in
this course may not bring about similar
revolutions, they will gain exciting hands-on
experience in the production of Black Rock
& Sage, ISU’s literary journal. Students will
first develop strategies for soliciting literary,
art, music, and schematic submissions.
Then in exciting and lively debates, they will
select the stories, poems, and essays that are
to be published. Students will also organize
and produce different events on campus to
promote the magazine and support ISU’s
art culture. To inform our production of
Black Rock & Sage, we will survey a variety
of well-established student-run journals,
read interviews with significant journal editors, study the history of the “little” magazine, and consider briefly the relationship
among the arts, democracy, and culture.
Students will participate with critical papers
of varying lengths, discussion, and a final
exam. In this class, students will help shape
the ways in which Idaho State contributes
to the nation’s literary dialogue. PREREQ:
ENGL 2206.
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English 4464/5564**
Studies in Seventeenth-Century
Literature: Renaissance Belief
and Doubt
Instructor: Curtis Whitaker
R 4-6:30pm
Tensions between religious and secular
points of view lie behind many public decisions today: think of issues as diverse as
reproductive rights, treatment of the environment, or military actions in the Middle
East. This course will examine how the
sacred/secular divide originated in the seventeenth century, or late Renaissance, a
period known both for its intense religiosity
— as seen in the Thirty Years War on the
Continent and the Civil Wars in England —
and for its public secularism, at least after
1660, when one’s religious affiliation was
deemphasized or nonexistent. Our texts
will include imaginative literature by writers
such as Marlowe, Milton, and Swift as well
as expository prose by Francis Bacon, René
English 4466/5566**
Studies in Early NineteenthCentury Literature
Instructor: Matthew VanWinkle
MWF 1-1:50 pm
The late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries in Britain, often referred to as the
Romantic era, is frequently seen as an age of
extremes. The world seemed to be on the
cusp of tremendous promise politically,
socially, technologically, and artistically.
When some aspects of this promise were
hard to pin down. In this Major Figures
course, we will try to get a picture of Chaucer and his world, and since he wrote in
Middle English, we’ll learn the basics of the
language. We’ll study some of the ways that
Chaucer has been received over the centuries, and focus especially on The Canterbury
Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. The course will
also look at what the medieval world continues to mean to us.
fulfilled, the elation was magnificent. When
other aspects of this promise were thwarted, the disappointment was profound. This
course will explore the intensity of these
highs and lows, primarily through the poems and the critical prose of the period. It
will also attend to the glimpses of common
life we get in the occasional but illuminating
attention paid to the “middles” between
these experiential extremes.
English 4473/5573**
Geoffrey Chaucer and the
Protean Author
Instructor: Thomas Klein
TR 1-2:15 pm
At night was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a companye,
Of sondry folk, by aventure y-falle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrims were they alle.
The 14th century in England was a time of
great upheaval and change. The Black
Death and the 100 Years War had decimated the populace, breaking up traditional
social classes, while English was
reasserting itself as the official and
literary language of England. In
the midst of this emerged the
fascinating figure of Geoffrey
Chaucer (c. 1343-1400). From the
racy to the high heroic, Chaucer’s
works give social commentary,
experiment wildly in literary genre, and tell touching stories. Long
considered one of the “greats” of
English literature, the figure of
Chaucer as author is surprisingly
English 4480/5580**
Varieties of American English
Instructor: Sonja Launspach
R -7-9:30 pm
This course will study the various dialects of
American English in depth. It will begin with
the historical evolution of the different dialects, the effect of migration on dialects, and
the influence of non-English immigrant languages on the development of American
English. The course will also examine different dialects, such as Appalachian, Chicano,
and African-American, in depth. Part of the
course will be a hands-on project studying
the language variation. The course work will
include homework, short research papers
and fieldwork assignments. The readings will
include texts and a reading packet. Graduate
students will have additional assignments
that include a longer research paper.
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English 4490/5590**
Topics in Folklore:
Folktale Controversies
Instructor: Jennifer Attebery
T 7-9:30 pm
Folktales — fictional oral narratives often
incorporating fantasy settings, characters,
and actions — have long been studied by
folklorists. But folktale scholarship has had
a bumpy path in which there have been
many strongly stated points of view, often
contradictory. Should tale texts be recorded
verbatim or can they be consolidated into
“ur” texts? What are the best selection principles for creating an anthology of folktales?
Should folktale texts be Bowdlerized for
children? Are tales best seen as Jungian and
universal — keys to the human psyche —
or are they best studied as expressive of
historical and cultural contexts? Did oral
tales precede the writing of literary fairy
tales, or did the Italian writer Straparola
invent the fairy tale, generating oral tales
imitating his originals? Folklore wars are
waged over these issues on the pages of
journals and books, many of which we will
read in this course. Students will gain
knowledge of the folktale as a form of oral
narrative as well as the ways in which it has
been studied over time.
Reading will include: Zipes. The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of
a Genre. Bottigheimer. Fairy Godfather: Straparola, Venice, and the Fairy Tale Tradition. Journal of American Folklore. Special Issue, “The
European Fairy Tale Tradition Between
Orality and Literacy.” Dundes. Little Red
Riding Hood: A Casebook. Tatar. The Hard
Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Ordering
information.
Using methods studied in the course,
students will complete a research project
regarding a folktale or group of folktales of
their choice. The project will require a series
of steps due in increments throughout the
semester. There will be additional expectations of graduate student work.
English 4491
Senior Seminar in Literature:
Forging Jane Austen
Instructor: Roger Schmidt
TR 9:30-10:45am
A study of Jane Austen, who between 1790
and 1817 brought to the emerging genre of
the novel a level of formal perfection never
before seen and not equaled since; she
remains
one of the
great prose
stylists of
the English
language.
Her ironies
are multilayered,
and largely
a matter of
tone; when
that tone is
fully understood,
it is said,
one will never be the same reader again. In
addition to reading four of her major novels, we will read and study the manuscripts
of her unpublished and unfinished novels,
The Watsons and Sandition. Using first a dip
pen, and then a quill, students will learn to
forge Austen’s handwriting, and for a final
project write, in Austen’s hand, a “newly
discovered” chapter to one of these unfinished works. Texts: The Oxford World’s
Classics editions of Sense & Sensibility, Pride
& Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger
Abbey; Eleanor Winters, Mastering Copperplate
Calligraphy (kit includes text as well as paper,
ink, pen-holder and nibs). PREREQ:
ENGL 3311 and 6 additional hours of
upper-division English.
English 4491
Senior Seminar in Literature
Instructor: Tracy Montgomery
M 7-9:30pm
Students demonstrate their reading and
research skills in this capstone course.
Within instructor's chosen theme, students
develop a cumulative research project
including a substantial paper and oral
presentation. Details to be announced.
PREREQ: ENGL 3311 and 6 additional
hours of upper-division English.
English 4493
Senior Seminar in
Professional Writing
Angela Petit
T 4-6:30pm
This new course is open to majors in professional writing as well as those from other
tracks who would like to learn more about
professional writing as a possible career or
graduate school choice.
This small, intensive seminar will focus
on both theory and practice in professional
writing. Students will read texts and engage in
lively discussions of domestic and global professional writing topics, including collaboration, authorship, digital communication, multimodality, and intercultural communication.
The course will also introduce tools
important to professional writers, including
software for writing and design; tools for
job searches; and tools for finding graduate
programs in professional writing. (Prior
knowledge of software or these tools is
not required.)
Students will leave this course with a
greater understanding of professional writing and its possibilities. They will also leave
with a completed online portfolio of their
professional work, including scholarly and
creative work, professional and technical
documents, newspaper and magazine articles, and multimodal texts. PREREQ:
ENGL 4410 or permission of instructor.
English 4494
Senior Seminar in
Creative Writing
Bethany Schultz Hurst
M 4-6:30pm
Capstone course suitable for students working
in any creative writing genre. Each student will
compile in advance a reading list and project
outline in consultation with instructor. During
course, the student will complete a substantial
creative writing project and give a presentation. Instructor will also assign class-wide
readings, some from each student’s list. Workshop-based. PREREQ: ENGL 4406 or permission of instructor.
Graduate Courses
in English
English 6623
Seminar in a Literary Theme:
The Literature of Dream
Instructor: Brian Attebery
W 7-9:30 pm
This course will combine psychological and
cognitive studies of dreaming with literary
texts that exploit dream as a way of revealing character, universalizing conflict, working through trauma, and reaching for the
numinous. From visits from the gods to
Medieval dream visions to Romantic poets’
7
laudanum-tinged visions, dreams have long
been an essential narrative technique, allowing, for instance, realistic fiction to borrow
some of the symbolic resonance of myth
and fairy tale. Literary approaches to dream
tend to fall back on the earliest psychological theorizing — usually Freud. However,
recent dream studies offer a number of
alternative critical perspectives on, for instance, the use of dream therapy in cases of
trauma and the connection between dream
content and personality types. The goal of
the course will be to introduce students to a
range of critical approaches that offer a
fresh look at familiar literary texts. One
component of the course will be a metacritical study of uses and misuses of psychological
theory (looking at you, Bruno Bettelheim and
Joseph Campbell) in literary studies. Assigned
texts will include Ursula K. Le Guin’s The
Lathe of Heaven, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando,
Philip K. Dick’s Ubik, Haruko Murakami’s
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,
and a volume of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.
English 6625
Seminar in a Literary Period:
Afterlives in Nineteenth-Century
British Literature
Instructor: Matthew VanWinkle
M 7-9:30 pm
In contemporary literary scholarship, to
speak of a work’s afterlife is usually to chart
its reception history, to trace its metamorphic appeal from its initial audience,
through subsequent generations of readers,
to our own moment. This sense of the
word has informed recent nineteenthcentury studies, from Andrew Bennett’s
demonstration of a Romantic-era “culture
of posterity” to Robert Douglas-Fairhurst’s
exploration of Victorian “forms of survival”
that carry forward writings beyond the
writer’s death. Our own moment seems
especially interested in these forms of survival, as neo-Victorian works like Michel
Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White and
the proliferation of Sherlock Holmes adaptations attest.
Yet speaking of the afterlife in connection with nineteenth-century literature also
invokes a richly fraught and historically
specific trepidation. The most vernacular
sense of afterlife, then and now, refers to
the possible continuation of existence beyond death. Nineteenth-century Britain saw
this continuation, in its traditional Christian
form, subjected to an unprecedented array
of challenges from the sciences and from
philological investigations of sacred texts.
This class, then, explores the moments of
contact and divergence between a historically situated concern and a vital thread in
current scholarly conversations on the era.
English 6662
Seminar in Creative Writing:
Innovation in Contemporary
American Formal Poetry
Instructor: Susan Goslee
T 4-6:30 pm
In popular understanding, most poetry today is composed in “open verse,” and the
more experimental the poetry, the farther
away it’s thought to move from literary
tradition. In a Field review of Evie Shockley’s the new black, Martha Collins writes,
“It wasn’t so long ago that formalism and
innovative poetry seemed to be mutually
exclusive categories” (101). However, there
are innovators who use (and productively
abuse) formal elements. This course will
explore experimental poetry written in the
US in the twenty-first century that works
with received poetic forms. We might first
look at a handful of avant-garde writers
who compose primarily open verse. We
will, also as overview, study the history of a
few traditional verse forms still written
today. Next, we will examine the important
formalist work by writers of color. Collins’
review goes on to argue that “much AfricanAmerican experimental poetry is in fact
rooted in the use and subversion of form”
(101). Structured as a hybrid creative
writing/critical seminar, this course will
serve students interested in studying poetry
and poets interested in additional workshops. Because few young writers today use
formal verse — the experienced and novice
poets will be on equal footing.
English 6681
Theory of Second Language
Acquisition
Instructor: Brent Wolter
M 4-6:30 pm
The course will: 1) address theories describing the processes underlying second
language acquisition, as well as relevant
research, 2) consider what conditions increase the likelihood of successful second
language acquisition, and 3) review the
implications of 1 and 2 for second language
learning and teaching.
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English 7731
Practicum in Teaching Composition
Instructor: Susan Swetnam
R 7-9:30 pm
This course offers practical training in composition pedagogy related to the teaching of
ENGL 1101. Each seminar-style Thursday
night meeting considers a particular topic or
topics in classroom practice, class session
planning, the teaching of particular components in a composition class, paper evaluation and commenting, etc. along with opportunities for students to share questions/
problems/successes and to learn from each
other. In addition to the seminar sessions,
each student will be observed periodically
by the instructor (followed by conferences),
and at least one set graded papers from
each student’s class will be reviewed. Students should submit complete syllabi and a
full set of major paper assignment prompts
to the instructor no later than the Wednesday of the week before classes start.
Enrollment in ENGL 7731 is mandatory for and limited to MA-level Teaching
Assistants in the Department of English
and Philosophy who are entering their first
semester of independent ENGL 1101
teaching (usually second-semester students).
Philosophy Courses
Lower Division
if asterisked (*), may fulfill general
education requirements
Philosophy 1101*
Introduction to Philosophy
Multiple sections offered
including Idaho Falls / see Class
Schedule in BengalWeb for details
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 8)
An introduction to the major thinkers and
major problems in Western philosophical and
scientific traditions. Sections may emphasize
either an historical or a problems approach.
Sec. 02 MWF 10-10:50am
Instructor: Russell Wahl
This section of 101 is a survey of some major figures in Western philosophy and some
of the philosophical problems which perplexed them. We will look at works of
Plato, Descartes, Berkeley, and Bertrand
Russell, focusing primarily on problems in
theory of knowledge, and questions concerning the nature of reality. The course is
designed to expose the students to conflicting
answers to these questions. There will be
two examinations plus a final, one or two
short quizzes, and a short paper.
Philosophy 1103*
Introduction to Ethics
Multiple sections offered
including Idaho Falls / see Class
Schedule in BengalWeb for details
Satisfies part of Objective 4 (Goal 8)
An introduction to philosophy through an
analytical and historical study of major
ethical theories. The course will focus on the
basis of judgments and reasoning concerning
questions of good and bad, right and wrong.
Philosophy 2201*
Introduction to Logic
Instructor: William McCurdy
MWF 10-10:50 am
Satisfies Objective 7
An introduction to the concepts and
methods of deductive and inductive logic,
with special emphasis on the use of logical
methods to identify, analyze, construct, and
evaluate everyday arguments.
Philosophy 2230
Medical Ethics
Instructor: Ralph Baergen
Multiple sections offered / see Class
Schedule in BengalWeb for details
An examination of ethical issues that arise in
medical practice and biotechnology. Topics
may include informed consent, withdrawing
life sustaining treatment, abortion, assisted
suicide, and the allocation of scarce resources.
Upper Division
if double asterisked (**), may also be taken
for Graduate credit
Philosophy 3353
Philosophy of Law
Instructor: James Skidmore
MW 1-2:15 pm
This course will introduce you to a number of
philosophical problems that arise with respect
to law. These problems develop at a number
of levels. First there are practical, concrete
questions: Is the death penalty a just form of
punishment? Is there a constitutional right to
privacy? Should same-sex marriage be legally
permitted? These concrete questions lead to
more general ones: What exactly is the purpose of punishment? How is punishment
limited by justice? What is the purpose of
marriage? How do we interpret general consti-
tutional concepts such as
“cruel and unusual punishment” or “equal
protection of the laws?”
When is it permissible —
or obligatory — for a citizen to break the law?”
Finally, these
questions lead us to fundamental philosophical
issues regarding the
nature of law: What exactly is a law? What distinguishes laws from mere
rules or commands? Is a “law” that is grossly
unjust a law at all? What explains the citizen’s
ordinary obligation to obey the law? These are
the questions we will examine in the course.
We will rely as much as possible on lively
discussion rather than lecture, and all students
are welcome. Prior experience in philosophy
is helpful, but not necessary.
Philosophy 4400/5500**
Philosophy and Art
Instructor: Ching-E Ang
TR 4-5:15
In this course, we will examine some fundamental philosophical issues about the nature
of art, beauty, and aesthetic experience.
Issues we will examine include the nature of
beauty, aesthetic experience, the nature of
fiction, and artistic value, among others.
Philosophy 4425/5525**
Existentialism
Instructor: Ching-E Ang
W 4-6:30 pm
In this course, we will ponder the themes
and ideas brought up in the works of existentialist philosophers. These philosophers
include Nietzsche, Kafka, Camus, Sartre,
and Heidegger.
Philosophy 4460/5560**
Theory of Knowledge
Instructor: Russell Wahl
TR 11 am – 12:15 pm
This course is a survey of topics in epistemology such as the nature of knowledge,
the problem of skepticism, and the nature
of justification. Various claims about the
sources of knowledge, and accounts of a
priori knowledge and truth, will also be considered. Readings will be from classical and
contemporary sources. There will be two
take-home examinations, a paper and a
presentation, as well as a final examination.
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English
and
Philosophy
208-282-2478
www.isu.edu/english
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Department of English and Philosophy
Idaho State University
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