Fall 2009 English Major Course Guide - Schaumburg Campus
Department of Literature and Languages

 

207  Introduction to African-American Literature

STAFF

Prereq.  ENG 220 min grade of C- or consent

(Tu  2:00 – 4:30 pm)

African American literature is a dynamic resource for understanding numerous individual, communal, and societal needs.  This survey will highlight canonical and emerging African-American authors from the 18th- 21st century (e.g. Dunbar, Johnson, Jacobs, Wells-Barnett, Hughes, Fauset, Wright, Hurston, Ellison, Brooks, Baraka, Sanchez, Young, Clifton, Reed, Hemphill, Beatty) through a range of genres, noting African, European, and “New World” influences.  The writer’s role in a given community, an artist’s aesthetic considerations and unique voice, the function of the arts, and major movements (e.g. “New Negro”/ Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement) will be among the contexts for our study.  Satisfies non-Western requirement.

 

210  British Literature to 1789 to Present

STAFF                                    

Prereq.  ENG 220 min grade of C- or consent

(M W 11:00 – 12:15 pm)

Covering 1000 years of literature produced in Great Britain, this is a whirlwind tour of British literary history. The chief goals of the course are: to familiarize you with the writings of several major English authors of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; to acquaint you with the development of dominant literary forms such as lyric and narrative poetry, drama, prose fiction, and satire; to trace some recurring themes and issues in works written over the course of several centuries; to improve your ability to read literary texts closely and with understanding; to develop your skill at writing about literature clearly and perceptively; and to increase your awareness of the intimate connection between literature and the culture in which it is produced.

 

212 American Literature to 1865

Larry Howe

Prereq.  ENG 220 min grade of C- or consent

(M W 12:30 – 1:45 pm)

Texts from the colonial period through the Civil War; emphasis on the variety of genres--Native American myths, journals and autobiographies, sermons, slave and captivity narratives, public debates, essays, poems, and prose fiction. How the social and historical contexts for these writings defined the emerging cultures of the US.

 

220  Introduction to Literary Analysis

STAFF

Prereq.  University Writing Requirement            

(M W 4:30 – 5:45 pm)                                              

                                               

Close analysis of poetry, fiction, and drama with emphasis on interpretation of literary form and language.  Development of critical vocabulary for explicating texts with attention to genre codes, figurative language, narrative structure, poetic diction and meter, and dramatic forms.  Introduction to basic reference sources and literary criticism.  Emphasis on writing critical analyses and developing interpretive arguments.

 

253 Introduction to Creative Writing

Janet Wondra

Prereq.  University Writing Requirement

(Th 2:00 - 4:30 pm)

Why do we write, and why do we read? What are the pleasures of creative writing, for the writer and for the reader? And how, as writers, do we create these pleasures? In this introductory course, we will be developing our talents in three genres: fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. In addition to critiquing each other’s work, we’ll delve into the writing of published authors to understand and adapt their techniques. The course will focus intently on developing the imagination, but also on craft and revision, with the idea that Good writers revise; great writers revise greatly. By the end of the semester, you’ll have quite a few new arrows in your writer’s quiver.

 

307  Film History

Larry Howe

Prereq.  ENG 220 min grade of C- or consent

(W 6:00 – 8:30 pm)

 

In this course, we'll trace film history from silent film, through sound film, to color and special effects.   As this technology developed, filmmakers found new ways to tell stories.  We’ll note how film works with genre and how in creating its own history it reflected the social history of the cultures in which it emerged.  We’ll also note how film-makers develop and exploit a self-reflexive fascination with film’s own processes.  Titles we’ll study include the following:  Altman’s The Player,  Keaton’s Sherlock Junior,  Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, Micheaux’s Within Our Gates, Lang’s Metropolis, Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, Chaplin’s Modern Times, Welles’s Citizen Kane, De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief, Hitchcock’s Rear Window,  Goddard’s Breathless, and Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, and one chosen by the class. 

 

345  Literature of Chicago (Honors)

Larry Howe                                      

Prereq.  ENG 220 min grade of C- or consent

(M 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.)

Hailed by Sandburg as the “City of Big Shoulders,” Chicago has flexed its literary muscles over the years to produce some of the most notable works in American literature.  In this course we’ll read a sample of that literature in prose—fiction and non-fiction—poetry, and drama.  We’ll consider these works in relation to the city’s history and role in contributing to American culture.   Through this study, we’ll try to figure out what it means for Chicago to be America’s “Second City.”  Titles we’ll study may include the following:  Dreiser, Sister Carrie; Sinclair, The Jungle; Farrell, Chicago Stories; Algren, City on the Make; Wright, Native Son; Bellow: Adventures of Augie March; Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun;  Brooks, Maud Martha; and Cisneros, The House on Mango Street.  

 

353  Advanced Studies in Literary Genre

STAFF

Prereq.  ENG 220 min grade of C- or consent                                             

(M W 2:00 – 3:15 pm)

We will offer an upper-division course in this time slot. The course is not yet staffed so that topic has not yet been determined, but it should be set by mid- to late-March. Please check the course descriptions on the department website for updated info on this course: http://www.roosevelt.edu/english/default.htm

 

 

College of Arts and Sciences