English: Fall 2024 Course Descriptions

Successful completion of English 1158 is a prerequisite to all courses numbered 2000 and

above.

Successful completion of 45 hours of coursework, including six hours of 2000-level

literature courses, is a prerequisite for all courses numbered 3000 and above.

ENGL 2031: SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

This course is designed for English majors with the appropriate level of difficulty;

however, non-majors are welcome.

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MWF

10:00 AM – 10:50 AM

D. RUTLEDGE

A study of American literature from the Colonial period to the Civil War, emphasizing the

literary elements of the texts and their relation to the literary, historical, and cultural

contexts. This course is open to all students; it is required of English majors.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

This section will have two tests, two papers, lots of quizzes, and a

final exam.

TEXTS:

Broadview Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition,

Volume One

ENGL 2033: SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

This course is designed for English majors with the appropriate level of difficulty;

however, non-majors are welcome.

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ONLINE

ASYNCH

E. LEWIS

This online course is designed to give students an overview of American literature from

the post Civil War to the contemporary period that emphasizes both content and the

formal elements of style and structure. We will be looking at different genres and sub

genres such as essays, autobiographies, plays, short stories, novels and poetry. This

course will also introduce students to the terms that categorize the various literary

movements during the periods, for example, realism, regionalism, naturalism,

modernism and postmodernism. The cultural and historical context of these periods

will be an important focus of our study. In this regard, you will become familiar with the

terms that define the various historical periods, such as the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz

Age, the Harlem Renaissance, the Southern Renaissance etc.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Course requirements will include two major papers and three

exams: take home exam 1, take home midterm exam and a

proctored final exam. I will provide detailed information about

the paper assignments and exams.

TEXTS:

TBD

ENGL 2041: MAJOR AMERICAN WRITERS

• This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

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MWF

12:00-12:50 PM

K. FRANKLIN

This literature course, designed for non-English majors, will examine US prose and poetry

to determine what exactly a “major American writer” is. Over the course of this semester,

we will investigate different movements in American writing and look closely at why

history has found these particular authors worthy of inclusion.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Major requirements include reading quizzes, discussions,

reading responses, two papers, a midterm, and a final exam.

TEXTS:

The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 13

ed.

ISBN:9781319331849

ENGL 2043: NEW ORLEANS LITERATURE

This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

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9:30 – 10:45 AM

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM

J. KUCHTA

This course covers selected literary works set in New Orleans. We will discuss themes

(race, gender, religion, culture, etc.) common to the various genres of New Orleans

literature (short stories, novels, plays, and essays). We will also analyze how and why

these themes are relevant and or have changed (or not) alongside the many ways in which

New Orleans itself has or hasn’t changed in the last 200 or so years.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Reading quizzes, forum posts, an analytical essay, and a

written midterm and final exam, both of which will have short

and long-answer components.

TEXTS:

Butler, Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

Cable, Old Creole Days

Chopin, The Awakening and Selected Short Stories

Dent, Ritual Murder

Dunbar-Nelson, The Goodness of St. Roque and Other Stories

Roahen, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Seat at the New Orleans

Table

Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Additional texts TBA.

ENGL 2090: SPECIAL STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

• This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

These courses are designed for non-English majors but open to majors as

electives.

DOG AS PROTAGONIST

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ONLINE

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J. KUCHTA

Reading, evaluation, and discussion of selected writers, works, or literary topics. May be

taken twice for a maximum of six credit hours.

In this Special Studies course, But Does the Dog Die? Dog as Protagonist, students will

read several novels and a selection of short stories that all have dogs as their

protagonists. In doing so, we will explore the ways in which authors have chosen to

depict their canine leads and delve into their interiorities – or not. Some questions to

ponder are as follows: Why have some authors anthropomorphized their protagonists

while others have left them au naturel? What do these works tell us about dogs? What

do these protagonists have to say about their relationships with us and how we treat

them? Are they more than a wet nose and a tail wag? Are they sentient beings with

rights and deserving of proper treatment? Finally, what can we learn from these brave

beasts and their trials and tribulations? Do they have something to teach us not only

about themselves but also about ourselves?

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Reading quizzes, forum posts, an analytical essay, and a

written midterm and final exam. Both exams will have short

and long-answer components.

TEXTS:

The Plague Dogs, Adams

Timbuktu, Auster

“The Dialogue of the Dogs” Cervantes

Call of the Wild & White Fang, London

“Memoirs of a Yellow Dog,” O. Henry

The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein

“A Dog’s Tale,” Twain

Additional texts TBA.

ENGL 2090: SPECIAL STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

• This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

These courses are designed for non-English majors but open to majors as

electives.

GHOST STORIES

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MWF

11:00 AM – 11:50AM

R. WERNER

Telling ghost stories has long been a cultural rite of passage. Horror remains one of the

most consistently popular genres of literature, and Literary Ghost Stories reveal much

about the cultures that produce them. This course will center in on the literary tradition of

the ghost story primarily in English from the early-nineteenth century through today,

encouraging students to consider these texts from both a cultural and a psychological

perspective. Students will read a wide variety of tales from both canonical and lesser-

known writers, including stories by authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Gaskell, Oscar

Wilde, Henry James, and Carlos Fuentes.  By the end of the semester, students will be able

to effectively analyze the elements of the fiction genre and discuss the historic, cultural,

and psychological implications of these texts. They will conduct independent research to

produce thoughtful and insightful writing on the theme of the course. The course will

students to work together with a group to produce a presentation, and work

independently to write a major researched argument on the theme of the course. The

course will also test students’ knowledge of the material in quizzes and a final exam.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

The course will students to work together with a group to

produce a presentation, and work independently to write a

major researched argument on the theme of the course. The

course will also test students’ knowledge of the material in

quizzes and a final exam.

TEXTS:

Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Grey Woman” (1861)

Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Madam Crowl’s Ghost” (1870)

Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost” (1887)

Vernon Lee’s “The Virgin of the Seven Daggers” (1889)

Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (1898)

Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover” [1945]

Carlos Fuentes’ “Aura” (1962)

Nalo Hopkinson’s “The Glass Bottle Trick” (2000)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “This Strange Way of Dying” (2013)

ENGL 2152: TECHNICAL WRITING

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8:00 AM – 8:50 AM

9:00 – 9:50 AM

10:00 – 10:50 AM

2:00 – 3:15 PM

K. FRANKLIN

I. FINK

E. HOGAN

K. MCDONALD

D. PIANO

This course, designed primarily for students in science and engineering, will introduce the

basic forms and conventions of technical writing.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

For most sections, there will be a major technical report

(researched and documented), several other writing

assignments, and one oral assignment.

TEXTS:

Consult the UNO Bookstore about texts, as they vary with the

instructor.

ENGL 2208: READING DRAMA

This course satisfies the General

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MWF

ONLINE

11:00 AM – 11:50 AM

ASYNCH

K. LEE

J. MAXWELL

Theatre is an art form we can trace all the way back to the ancient Greeks, yet it maintains

a profound relevance to contemporary life. This class introduces students to

contemporary work on the stage, historically important writers who shaped modern

movements, and includes a wide variety of styles and aesthetics to show some of the

breadth of this visceral, deeply human art form. We’ll read plays that are shocking,

political, and silly by turns. The class serves as an introduction to the vibrant and complex

art forms that make up drama. We’ll look at the difference of how plays live as art objects

on the page and on the stage simultaneously.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Midterm, Final exam, may include written responses and

weekly quizzes

TEXTS:

Texts may include:

August Wilson. Fences. ISBN 9780452264014

Lisa D’Amour. Detroit. ISBN 0865478651

Suzan-Lori Parks. Topdog/Underdog. ISBN: 1-55936-201-4

Rajiv Joseph. Gruesome Playground Injuries. ISBN:

1593762941

Tony Kushner. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National

Themes: Part One: Millennium Approaches Part Two:

Perestroika. ISBN 978-1559362313

Mac Wellman and Young Jean Lee, eds. New Downtown Now.

ISBN: 0-8166-4731-3

Other works will be provided as video links or PDFs in class.

ENGL 2228: READING POETRY

• This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

English majors should not take this course, as it duplicates material covered in 2258.

SECTION P001

MWF

11:00 – 11:50 AM

K. MCDONALD

English 2228, Reading Poetry is an introductory literature course where students will learn

to read, analyze, and appreciate poetry. We will be covering a variety of poetry, written

from antiquity to today. We will consider poetry’s purpose in our world; why do we read it,

and why do we write it? What can poetry do that prose cannot? How do we know if

something is poetry? By the end of this course, you should have a strong understanding

of the tools poets use, such as form and figuration, and you should feel confident in your

ability to read and enjoy poetry.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

TBA

TEXTS:

TBA

ENGL 2238: READING FICTION

• This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

English majors should not take this course, as it duplicates material covered in 2258.

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O001

INTERNET

ASYNCH

C. PETTAWAY

This course is designed to introduce students to works of American, British, and Global

fiction from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, both short stories and

novels, through an examination of the formal elements of fiction. The major directive

in the course is the acquisition of literary analysis skills. The critical thinking skills that

you acquire in this course will be valuable in your other courses. Readings include

writing by women, African Americans, other minorities, and non-Western writers.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Reading quizzes, comprehensive analysis/reflections, 3 major

projects

TEXTS:

The Confessions of Frannie Langton, Moonrise Over New Jessup, The

Only Good Indians, Women Talking

ENGL 2258: INTERPRETING LITERATURE

* This course is designed for English majors with the appropriate level of difficulty.

Departmental consent is required.

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R. WERNER

An intensive course in writing about various literary genres, designed to sharpen literary

skills. Required for English majors. Open only to English Majors.

This course is designed to teach students the analytic skills they will need to critically read

and interpret literary texts.  Students will be introduced to the major features of four major

genres of literature: Fiction, Drama, Poetry, and Literary Non-Fiction.  Students will develop

both their close-reading skills and gain confidence writing about literature.  Students will

produce a paper closely examining a literary work for each of the four genres.  We will

spend a good deal of time developing and drafting your papers.  We will also cover

effective techniques for writing an essay exam.  This is a writing intensive class, so

students’ writing, drafting, and participation will all form the major part of their grades.

 The course will be taught in an asynchronous online format.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

Possible texts include: Moore “How to become a Writer”

Russell “Bog Girl”

Morrison “Recitatif”

Shakespeare “Sonnet 130”

Shelley “Ode to the West Wind”

Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

Walker “Childhood”

Brooks “First Fight”

Viorst “A Wedding Sonnet for the Next Generation”

Angelou “Still I Rise”

Harjo “An American Sunrise” (on Canvas)

Shakespeare Twelfth Night, or What You Will

Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest (CP 1-55)

Descartes “Discourse on the Method”

Swift “A Modest Proposal”

Twain “Advice to Youth”

King “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

Walker “In Search of our Mother’s Gardens”

Smith “Joy”

ENGL 2311: AMERICAN FILM AS LITERARY ART

• This course satisfies the General Education Literature Requirement.

English majors should not take this course, as it duplicates material covered in 2258.

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P001

MWF

10:00 – 10:50

C. PETTAWAY

An introduction to the literary art of American film based on representative classics. A

laboratory fee is required. English 2311 is a general introduction to American Film as a

literary genre. Students will view and discuss films from various periods and

movements. We will also read supplementary material to deepen our analysis of the

films.

Content warning: This American Film as Literary Art class includes content that

addresses and depicts racism, sexual themes, and other violence. Some films may

display explicit language, graphic violence, and scenes of a sexual nature. I encourage

open dialogue, respect for varied perspectives, and sensitivity to potentially distressing

subject matter. Students are permitted to opt out of viewing specific films if they find

the content upsetting or in conflict with their personal values. Alternate assignments

or accommodations will be provided upon request.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Film quizzes, comprehensive analysis/reflection essays, weekly note

submissions)

TEXTS:

Supplementary material will be provided for students.

ENGL 2342: SURVEY OF BRITISH LITERATURE II

This course is designed for English majors with the appropriate level of difficulty;

however, non-majors are welcome.

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TTH

2:00-3:15

N. EASTERLIN

This course provides a general introduction to the major British literary periods,

movements, and writers from 1780 to the present.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

Greenblatt et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature,

volume 2, W. W. Norton, 9th ed. ISBN 9780393919653

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Modern Language

Association of America, 8th ed., ISBN 9781603290241

ENGL 2377: BIBLE AS LITERATURE

This course is designed for English majors with the appropriate level of difficulty;

however, non-majors are welcome.

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TTH

2:00-3:15

L. VERNER

A study of selections from the Old and New Testaments. The course aims to give the

student an understanding of the Bible as a literary and historical work, not as the revealed

word of God. To this end we will study the Jewish bible (also known as the Old

Testament), the Christian New Testament, the Apocrypha, and three non-canonical

gospels. We will read and discuss depictions of heroism, love, spiritual and literal journeys,

familial relations--in short, the subjects that make up much of the literature of all times

and cultures. We will also consider biblical texts as political and historical documents

produced and interpreted under specific cultural circumstances.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Two 4-5 page papers; a two exams; a final exam; contribution to

class discussion.

TEXTS:

The Oxford Study Bible, eds. Suggs, Sakenfeld, and Mueller,

Oxford UP. ISBN 978-0195290004

ENGL 2378: INTRO TO WOMEN’S LITERATURE

This course is designed for English majors with the appropriate level of difficulty;

however, non-majors are welcome.

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J. HURTER

In this course, we will be reading a variety of texts written by women, with a particular

focus on poetry. As long as there has been literature, there have been women writers.

Despite many obstacles meant to keep women out of the world of literature and

publishing, women have always found a way to express resistance to the systems in place

that told us we didn’t belong. In this class, we will read poems in English and in translation

by women from around the world, as well as a variety of essays and short stories, that tell

of the diverse experiences and ideas of women writers from many places, time periods,

and walks of life. We will see that there is no single way to be a woman, and no single way

to write from a woman’s perspective. We will also interrogate ideas of womanhood in our

culture. What "makes" a person a woman, and more importantly, why are people so

obsessed with answering this question?

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

A Book of Women Poets from Antiquity to Now: Selections from

the World Over, ed. Aliki Barnstone and Willis Barnstone

A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett

Deluge by Leila Chatti

Assorted texts on Canvas

ENGL 2521: INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE

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11:00 AM – 12:15

S. RICHARDSON

This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the works of poet and

playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616). We will examine this author’s plays as both

historical artifacts and spectacles, best understood when illuminated by live performance. To

allow us to consider the ways that staging, props, and special effects are essential

components of Shakespeare's dramatic works, this course will be especially concerned with

considering how and why his plays resonate so deeply with audiences. In addition to select

poetry, works to be discussed include some of Shakespeare’s most famous histories,

comedies, tragedies, and romances.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Students will complete weekly reading response assignments,

two 4–6-page essays, one 5–7-page essay and a final

presentation.

TEXTS:

The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed., ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et al

(ISBN-13: 978-0395754900). Though this is an expensive text, it

is the one preferred by American scholars and you will find that

quite inexpensive used editions are widely available online. The

1st edition is also acceptable.

ENGL 3381: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY THEORY

Prerequisite: ENGL 2258. Open to English majors only.

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2:00 – 3:15 PM

N. EASTERLIN

What makes a work literary? What are the preconceptions that readers bring to literary texts?

What governs canonization, the process that selects and institutionalizes works of literature?

Can literature effect social and political change? Can it transform individuals? What are the

cognitive processes engaged in literary reading?

We won’t answer all—or any!—of these questions in English 3381. But in this basic

introduction to contemporary literary theory, we’ll explore the work of key theorists from the

turn of the twentieth century to the present, utilizing a theory guide, selected essays, and

sample literary texts.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Three essays and an essay take-home portion of the final exam;

in class mid-term exam and in-class portion #1 of the final exam

TEXTS:

Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction, 3rd ed., Michael Ryan;

ISBN: 978-1-119-06174-8

The Complete Poems, 1927-1979, Elizabeth Bishop; ISBN -13:

978-0-374617004

Selected Stories, Alice Munro; ISBN-13: 978-0-679-76674-2

ENGL 3381: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY THEORY

Prerequisite: ENGL 2258. Open to English majors only.

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TTH

ONLINE

4:30 – 5:45 PM

ONLINE

J. GERY

This course provides an introduction to contemporary theory and its application to reading

literature, as well as to analyzing other texts, phenomena and contexts. The seminar will focus

primarily on various modern and postmodern theoretical approaches to literature, including

Russian Formalism, New Criticism, Psychoanalytic Criticism, Structuralism, Marxist and Critical

Theory, Archetypal Criticism, New Historicism, Deconstructionism, Feminist Theory and

Gender Studies, Postcolonialism, and Ecocriticism, as time allows. While lectures will provide

some historical context for these evolving perspectives, class time will be devoted to close

readings of original texts that define each theory, as well as to applying them to poetry and

fiction. Oral presentations and papers will allow students to examine individual theories in

more detail than may be possible in class discussion.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Two short analytical papers, two in-class oral presentations on

individual works (one literary, one theoretical), an annotated

bibliography, and a research paper.

TEXTS:

Culler, Jonathan, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, 2011.

Dove, Rita, ed. The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century

American Poetry, 2011.

Rice, Philip, and Patricia Waugh, eds. Modern Literary Theory.

Fourth Edition, 2001, 2013.

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway, 1923

Readings on handouts (.pdf)

ENGL 4033/5033: AMERICAN MODERNISM

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E. LEWIS

This course will explore American literary modernism movements by examining the key

literary , artistic, cultural and social concerns of the first half of the twentieth century.

Reading poetry and prose by a wide variety of authors, we will examine literary responses

to WW1, women’s expanding roles, racial segregation and racism, challenges to

conventional gender and sexual norms, expatriation and exile, European fascism and its

reflection in America and WWII.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

This course will incorporate discussion forums, Q/A response

assignments, peer interaction, a midterm and final essay exam,

and a final research project. Graduate students will have additional

work in the course.

TEXTS:

Authors may include Sherwood Anderson, John Steinbeck, Claude

McKay, Nella Larsen, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora

Neale Hurston, Djuna Barnes, Katherine Ann Porter, HD, T.S. Eliot,

Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, William

Faulkner, among others.

ENGL 4043/5043: NEW ORLEANS LITERATURE

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E. STEEBY

While “New Orleans” recently celebrated its tricentennial, the writers of the “Bulbancha Is Still

a Place” zine remind us: “Before the first Europeans came here, it was a place where people

from over 40 distinct Native groups crisscrossed, traded, followed game and fish, moved due

to rising and falling waters, and interacted with one another.” Ever-changing, this has been a

gathering place for sacred and routine exchanges, profane and profitable transactions, for

well over a thousand years. As this course takes up the topic of “New Orleans Literature” then,

we will anchor understandings of our local multiethnic/ multiracial culture and history from

this critical and expansive context. Just as levees were built to contain shifting networks of

waterways in the service of plantation slavery, colonial governance, and later international

container shipping, so have there been attempts to contain the stories of this place. But the

stories, like the waterways, refuse to be controlled. How does the literature of this place help

us understand New Orleans as an African city, an indigenous city, an immigrant city, a queer

city, a city of sex work, a city made out of mounds of seashells? We will read Choctaw tales,

punk graphic memoirs, speculative fiction from 2019 and 1854, Creole short stories, spoken-

word poetry, plays, and more. Students will connect the literary genealogy of the city with its

rich genealogies of performance, music, food, film, and visual arts.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Students will submit a midterm essay exam, a final

research paper, and weekly discussion posts to

Canvas.

TEXTS:

George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes

(Kessinger)

Kate Chopin, The Awakening and Other Stories

(Modern Library)

Charles Chesnutt, Paul Marchand, F.M.C. (University

Press of Mississippi)

Thomas C. Dent (edited by Kalamu Ya Salaam), New

Orleans Griot: The Tom Dent Reader (UNO Press)

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, A Kind of Freedom

(Counterpoint Press)

Bulbancha Is Still a Place: Indigenous Culture from

New Orleans zine (edited by Jeffery U. Darensbourg)

Maurice Carlos Ruffin, We Cast a Shadow (Penguin

Random House)

ENGL 4093/5093: STUDIES IN BLACK LITERATURE

NARRATIVES OF AMERICAN SLAVERY

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D. RUTLEDGE

This course covers a variety of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century narratives of slavery –

mostly of slavery and emancipation. The narratives are of the north and the south, relating the

lives of men and women, some with intrusive editorial hands and others with editors who are

less intrusive. Our purpose is to see what is distinct in the narratives and what themes they

have in common. We want to discover what they had to say in their own time and what they

have to say to ours. In the final weeks of class, we read three novels that depict American

slavery. We will discuss some of the reasons why this topic continues to engage the

imaginations of American writers.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

All of the original narratives are available online.

Students only need to purchase the three novels.

Toni Morrison, A Mercy

Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

Jesmyn Ward, Let Us Descend

ENGL 4378/5378: WOMEN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY & LIFE WRITING

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HYBRID

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3:30-4:45 PM

HYBRID

D. PIANO

This course introduces students to one of the most prolific and popular literary genres of the

late twentieth century: life narrative. Defined by Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson as, “a set of

ever-shifting practices that engage the past in order to reflect on identity in the present,” the

term life narrative encompasses numerous writing practices that include autobiography,

memoir, auto-ethnography, testimonials, journals, diaries, zines, blogs, and letters, to name a

few. In this class, we will focus primarily on long-form writing (essays/books) but also explore

other self-representational genres such as online diaries, blogs, zines, visual images and films

aiming to analyze how writers use self-representational practices to interrogate not only

gender as a fluid identity category but its intersection with sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability,

nationality, and class.

The class will also be introduced to theories related to the development and history of life

narrative as a field of academic study as well as significant concepts and themes that will

facilitate our understanding of this complex and ubiquitous genre. While the course primarily

focuses on recently published works, we will also read canonical autobiographical texts to

understand life-writing as enabling national narratives and also calling those narratives into

question.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Assignments include a midterm, a final, a slide

presentation, a final project, and weekly response papers

TEXTS:

Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick

Douglass, an American Slave.

Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian

Slave.

Clare, Eli. Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and

Liberation. 2nd edition.

Gonzalez, Rigoberto. Butterfly Boy: Memories of a

Chicano Mariposa.

Gumbs, Alexis Pauline. Undrowned: Black Feminist

Lessons from Marine Animals.

Kobabe, M. Gender Queer: A Memoir

Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals.

Machado, Carmen. In the Dream House: A Memoir.

Graywolf Press, 2021

Eds. Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane. Nonbinary

Memoirs of Gender and Identity.

Shehadeh, Raja. We Could Have Been Friends, My Father

and I.

Ward, Jesmyn. Men We Reaped.

ENGL 4522/5522: SHAKESPEARE: LATER PLAYS

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2:00-3:15 PM

HYBRID

E. RICHARDSON

Prerequisite for ENGL 5522: consent of department. The later plays, with particular emphasis

on the author’s development. (Units: 3.00/3.00)

In this course, we will explore some of the best-known dramatic works of poet and playwright

William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Through the close study of a selection of Shakespeare’s

later plays, students will learn about the author’s development while also gaining a broader

comprehension of social, political, and historical themes characteristic of English literature and

culture during the early modern period. Class discussion will center on performance and

identity, as we consider the continued relevance of Shakespearean drama, from theatrical

practice on the seventeenth-century stage to current film adaptations. Works to be discussed

will likely include Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Macbeth,

Anthony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Weekly reading response assignments, two 5–7-page

essays, a final research essay of approximately 10 pages

and an accompanying presentation.

TEXTS:

The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed., ed. G. Blakemore

Evans, et al (ISBN-13: 978-0395754900). Though this is

an expensive text, it is the one preferred by American

scholars and you will find that quite inexpensive used

editions are widely available online. The 1st edition is

also acceptable.

ENGL 4913/5193: EARLY 20

CENTURY POETRY

SECTION P001

3:30 – 4:45

J. GERY

Prerequisite for ENGL 5913: consent of department. Modern English and American poetry to

1945.

This course surveys British and American poetry from 1900 through World War II, from W.B.

Yeats through W.H. Auden. The primary focus will be on Yeats, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein,

H.D., T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Laura Riding, and Wallace Stevens,

but as time and interest allow, we will also look at representative poems by Thomas Hardy,

Robert Frost, Mina Loy, World War I poets (Rosenberg, Owen, Sassoon), Marianne Moore,

Edna St. Vincent Millay, E.E. Cummings, Robinson Jeffers, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Hart

Crane and Auden. The class will focus on the Modernist upheaval and revolutionary ideas at

the start of the twentieth century, as well as the social, ideological, and cultural context in

which these poets wrote. But most class time will be devoted to the careful reading and

discussion of individual poems.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

A short analysis of a poem, a research paper, midterm

and final exams, and brief class presentations on

individual poems, as assigned.

TEXTS:

H.D. (Hilda Doolittle). Selected Poems

Hughes, Langston. Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

Jackson, Laura (Riding). Selected Poems: In Five Sets

Pound, Ezra. Early Writings: Poems and Prose

Pratt, William, ed. The Imagist Poem. (Third edition)

Ramazani, Ellmann, and O’Clair, eds. The Norton

Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Volume

1 (Third edition)

Stein, Gertrude. Tender Buttons.

Stevens, Wallace. The Palm at the End of the Mind:

Selected Poems and a Play.(recommended)

Williams, William Carlos. Selected Poems

ENGL 6090: SPECIAL STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE

REVISITING THE SOUTHERN GOTHIC

SECTION W001

ONLINE SYNCH

ONLINE

6:00-8:45 PM

ONLINE

E. STEEBY

In case there was any doubt, the popularity of recent streaming shows like The Fall of the

House of Usher and Interview with a Vampire reminds us that the gothic genre endures.

Gothic tropes and narrative conventions—haunted houses, haunted people, landscapes

saturated with the macabre, tragically intertwined family trees, and the like—also continue to

appear in critically-acclaimed Southern literary texts. In this course, we’ll take a look at how

literary texts set in the U.S. South have engaged the Gothic as a mode of storytelling,

beginning with Edgar Allan Poe’s classic antebellum-era stories and continuing up to

contemporary novels like Jesmyn Ward’s 2023 Let Us Descend. Reading Appalachian ghost

stories, Choctaw murder mysteries, tales of Louisiana maroon communities, and more, we’ll

consider why this genre has had such allure and appeal for hundreds of years, and we’ll

assess the particular significance of how it resonates differently relative to the historical

context of the narrative setting and/or publication era. In particular, we’ll consider how Black

and Indigenous writers, as well as LGBTQ+ writers and white working class writers, have

engaged gothic tropes as part of a larger narrative challenge to racial, sexual, gender, and

class norms of the region and nation. For example, what role has the Gothic played in

depicting experiences of colonialism, slavery, and Jim Crow segregation that explode the

boundaries of what most readers associate with “reality” or realism? When pre-existing

linguistic and narrative conventions simply cannot address the complexity of experience, how

have writers innovated nonfiction and fictional forms? As such, we’ll consider how the Gothic

may reinforce overdetermined notions of “the South”; but we’ll also analyze the degree to

which it may serve as counter-narrative/ counter-memory for communities historically

excluded from control of publishing and media. We’ll read short stories by authors such

asKate Chopin, Pauline Hopkins, Dorothy Allison, and Lauren Groff, as well as novels by

Truman Capote, Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., and others. To round out our conversation,

we’ll look at a few examples from television and film of how these tropes, texts, and contexts

have been adapted for and by visual media as well.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Students will develop a midterm and final project, a

presentation, and submit weekly discussion posts to

Canvas.

TEXTS:

POTENTIAL FULL-LENGTH BOOKS:

Toni Cade Bambara, The Salt Eaters

Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms

William Faulkner, Wild Palms

LeAnne Howe, Shell Shaker

Zora Neale Hurston, Mules and Men

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs

Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets

Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding

Ciera Horton McElroy, Atomic Family

Toni Morrison, Beloved

Jesmyn Ward, Let Us Descend

Tennessee Williams, Suddenly Last Summer

Eudora Welty, Delta Wedding

ENGL 6153: UNO PUBLISHING LAB

SECTION H001

HYBRID

3:30- 4:45 PM

HYBRID

A. HIMELSTEIN

In conjunction with the University of New Orleans Press, this lab teaches students the

publishing process, following a text from draft form to its final publication. The course will

include workshops on editing for content, copy-editing, and publishing industry practice.

Students will also learn the business side of publishing, including marketing, distribution,

printing, and design of texts, as well as bookstore and author relation

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Reading portions of 50 manuscripts, and reading 10

manuscripts in their entirety. Short evaluations of many

manuscripts, and an editorial process on the chosen

manuscript.

TEXTS:

Manuscripts Submitted to Contest.

ENGL 6154: NON-FICTION WRITING

SECTION P001

6:00-8:45 PM

A. GISLESON

A workshop in advanced creative nonfiction writing. Participants will write two or more works

of literary nonfiction, at least one of which will include investigation or research. They will also

turn in one significant revision of a work. They will participate in workshop discussion and write

critiques of their peers’ work. The instructor and members of the workshop will lead and

participate in craft-based discussions of various works of literary nonfiction, as well as

interviews and craft essays.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Two or more works including workshops. Multiple supplementary

readings and discussion

TEXTS:

Essays, book excerpts, interviews and other nonfiction of the

various subgenres of creative or literary nonfiction. They will all be

available on Canvas.

ENGL 6161: WRITING FICTION

SECTION P001

SECTION P002

6:00-8:45 PM

B. JOHNSON

M.O. WALSH

*This course requires written permission from Director of the Creative Writing Workshop

ENG 6161 is a graduate level fiction writing course in the "workshop" tradition. Students will

write three new pieces each, one revision, and a short essay. Students will also compose

written critiques on their peers' stories and participate actively in class discussion. The course

texts are student generated, so no textbooks need to be purchased. Students should,

however, budget for copying and printing costs throughout the semester.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Three new stories, one revision and essay. Weekly

critiques.

TEXTS:

N/A

ENGL 6163: WRITING POETRY

SECTION P001

6:00-8:45

J. GERY

Admission by permission of the department. Training in the writing of poetry. May be

repeated for credit. This is an advanced workshop in the writing of poetry. The class will focus

primarily on students’ poetry – its composition, vision and revision, craft, and artistry.

Students submit their own works to class for analysis, criticism, and discussion, as well as

prepare written critiques of others’ works. In addition, each student will be assigned twice

during the term to present another student’s poem and to lead class discussion.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Besides poems, students will write two short papers on

individual poems and a review of a book of contemporary

poetry. At the end of the course students will submit a

final manuscript of 11-13 pages, including a brief preface

on poetics.

TEXTS:

Ramazani, Jahan; Richard Ellmann; and Robert O’Clair

(Eds.). The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary

Poetry. Third Ed.

Deutsch, Babette. Poetry Handbook. Fourth Edition

4-5 books of contemporary poetry

ENGL 6190: TOPICS IN CREATIVE WRITING

SECTION H001

HYBRID

TTH

HYBRID

3:30-4:45 PM

HYBRID

B. JOHNSON

In this hybrid course, students will learn about the behind-the-scenes process of publishing in

a professional literary magazine. Along the way, they will hear advice from guest editors about

how manuscripts are selected as well as why some manuscripts never make it past the first

round of consideration. Students will participate in the selection and various editing stages of

both fiction and nonfiction. They’ll learn how to edit for content as well as how to copy-edit

using a style guide, a tool that all professional literary magazines use.

While we will hear from professional editors, this class is a hands-on learning experience

rather than a lecture class. Students will leave the class knowing how to submit their own

manuscripts. They also will have the necessary tools to work at any literary magazine.

This course is open to students in the MA or MFA programs.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Weekly manuscript evaluations and participation in

discussions about those evaluations. The final project for

this course will be the presentation of the fully edited

manuscripts that the group read, evaluated, chose, and

edited for an upcoming issue of Bayou Magazine.

TEXTS:

Bayou Magazine Submissions, Bayou Magazine Style

Guide

ENGL 6191: REMOTE FICTION WRITING

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

M.O. WALSH

*This course requires written permission from Director of the Creative Writing Workshop

ENGL 6191 is a graduate level fiction writing course in the "workshop" tradition. Students

will write three new pieces each, one revision, and a short essay. Students will also compose

written critiques on their peers' stories and participate actively in class discussion. The

course texts are student generated, so no textbooks need to be purchased.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Three new stories, one revision, and other assignments.

Weekly critiques of peers’ stories.

TEXTS:

N/A

ENGL 6193: REMOTE POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP

Requires permission from Director of the Creative Writing Workshop

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCHRONOUS

S. BALKUN

This is an advanced writing course in the composition, reading, analysis, criticism, and revision

of poetry. The class will focus primarily on students’ poetry – its composition, craft, vision,

revision, and artistry. Students regularly submit their own works to class for analysis, criticism

and discussion. In addition to composing and revising poetry, students will prepare weekly

comments on poems presented, then respond to and discuss other posted comments, with

those comments to be reviewed by the instructor for response and evaluation. Students will

further complete additional writing assignments TBD. In addition, at the end of the term,

students will submit a final manuscript of revised works, including a brief preface on poetics.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

See description

TEXTS:

TBD

ENGL 6194: REMOTE NONFICTION WRITING WORKSHOP

Requires permission from Director of the Creative Writing Workshop

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCHRONOUS

J. JAMES

A workshop in advanced creative nonfiction writing. Participants will write two or more works

of literary nonfiction, at least one of which will include investigation or research. They will also

turn in one significant revision of a work. They will participate in workshop discussion and write

critiques of their peers’ work. The instructor and members of the workshop will lead and

participate in craft-based discussions of various works of literary nonfiction, as well as

interviews and craft essays.

REQUIREMENTS

INCLUDE:

Two or more works including workshops. Multiple supplementary readings

and discussion

TEXTS:

Essays, book excerpts, interviews and other nonfiction of the various

subgenres of creative or literary nonfiction. They will all be available on

Canvas.

ENGL 6196: ADAPTATION

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

J. MAXWELL

Adaptation of material form one genera to another provides important opportunities for

writers to better hone their craft while simultaneously creating early-career, professional

opportunities beyond the university. In this course, within a critically informed paradigm,

students select material to adapt to a new genre, explore the intricacies of both the original

and new genres, then write and revise an adaptation within a workshop model. Adaptation is a

ubiquitous part of Western literature, and its use as a literary mode continues to mushroom,

becoming ever more important.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Students will present on the text they want to adapt and

the genre they’re adapting into. They will write and revise

their adaptation using a modified full-class workshop.

They will write weekly responses to their peers’ texts.

TEXTS:

Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief. 3rd Edition, by

David Starkey, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2016. ISBN-13:

978-1319035334

Adaptation and Appropriation (The New Critical Idiom),

2nd Edition, by Julie Sanders, Routledge Press, 2015.

ISBN-13: 978-1138828995

ENGL 6200: SEMINAR IN PLAYWRITING

SECTION P001

6:00-8:45 PM

J. MAXWELL

At its best, playwriting takes the strengths of poetry, non-fiction, and fiction but reshapes

each genre’s skill set into a medium that has unique physical and temporal qualities.

Moreover, playwriting is a mediated genre; the writer’s words are not experienced directly by

readers but are mediated to an audience via a host of other artists. This complex relationship

poses unique challenges and opportunities for artists working in language. Those challenges

will constantly inform the development of our work. Within this multifaceted approach, we

will also look at the role of traditional and non-traditional narrative structures and how they

operate on the stage. Consequently, we will use workshops, peer responses, and in-class

discussions to develop one-act or full-length plays.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Along with generating substantial texts that receive

extensive revision, the class also has students write ten

minute plays for participation in Southern Rep’s 6x6 play

series.

TEXTS:

William Missouri Downs and Robin U. Russin. Title: Naked

Playwriting: The Art, The Craft, And The Life Laid Bare. ISBN:

1879505762

ENGL 6240: NONFICTION GENRES/MEMOIR

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

D. PIANO

This course focuses on non-fiction writing genres such as reportage, memoir, survivor

accounts, biography, political and travel writing, and historical events written by novelists,

critics, academics, and poets who have chosen nonfiction genres to explore a particular

person, event, or culture; to bear witness or be a critical observer of an historical era or time

period; to reconstruct an historical period or event, or to examine relevant social issues

pertaining to the writer’s identity. Considering their primary genre of expression, we’ll consider

their motives for writing nonfiction, examining issues not only related to form and content but

also purpose and audience. In other words, we will attempt to answer the question: How does

nonfiction represent specific kinds of experiences, social issues, or historical events better than

poetry and/or fiction? Is it to generate interest or outrage about an issue, bring to light a

submerged event or history, deliver a social critique, or reveal an intimate knowledge of a

particular subject?

We’ll also consider ethical issues that all nonfiction writers must attend to such as the relation

between the writer and their subject; issues of representation and accountability; truth claims

associated with the re-construction of historical fact and/or specific events; and the veracity of

sources used for research, whether they be archival, memory-based, observational, or

representational.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Assignments include a midterm, a final critical essay, an online

audio-visual presentation, and weekly discussion forums.

TEXTS:

Paul Auster The Invention of Solitude

Roz Chast Can’t We Talk about Something Else? (graphic novel)

Athena Dixon The Loneliness Files

Amitav Ghosh In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a

Traveller’s Tale

J. Drew Lanham, The Homeplace: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s

Love Affair with Nature

Raja Shehadeh, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, News of a Kidnapping

Colson Whitehead The Colossus of New York

Carolyn Forche What You Have Heard is True

Leslie Marmon Silko The Turquoise Ledge

Carmen Maria Machado In the Dream House

Tara Westover Educated

ENGL 6280: INTRO TO GRAD STUDIES IN ENGLISH

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

N. EASTERLIN

ENGLISH 6280, Introduction to Graduate Studies, first provides students with an overview of

the areas of English Studies, including literary studies, digital humanities, and professional

writing. Second, the course familiarizes students with graduate-level research and writing

techniques, honing library, annotated bibliography, and essay writing skills. Third, 6280

introduces the concepts and practices of contemporary literary theory.

After completing this course, M.A. students in literature and professional writing will be

prepared to pursue M.A.-level graduate work.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

TBD

ENGL 6370: THE EPIC

SECTION W001

ONLINE SYNCH

ONLINE

6:00-8:40 PM

ONLINE

L. VERNER

This class will interrogate the genre of the epic in the ancient, classical and medieval periods.

Far from being simply a long work about a hero or heroes, epics famously encapsulate the

ethical system and values of a civilization, often at a point when the civilization is itself in flux.

As such, epics are especially useful for interrogating points of contention and disagreement as

societies change, and they depict the impact of changing mores on characters of virtue and

good will who find themselves on opposite sides of various cultural divides.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Requirements: contribution to class discussion; class

presentation on research topic; annotated bibliography;

seminar paper.

TEXTS:

Enūma Elišh (18th c. BCE?); Epic of Gilgamesh (between

1600/1155 BCE); the books of Genesis, Exodus, 1 & 2 Samuel

and 1 Kings (6th c. BCE) from the Jewish Bible; Homer’s

Odyssey (8th c. BCE); portions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8

AD); Beowulf (~1000 AD); and the Icelandic saga Grettir the

Strong (late 14th c.)

ENGL 6390: CAROLINE DRAMA, 1625-1642

SECTION W001

ONLINE SYNCH

ONLINE

6:00-8:40 PM

ONLINE

S. RICHARDSON

Prerequisite: consent of department. May be repeated twice for a maximum of 9 credit hours.

The Caroline period in England officially ended with the beheading of Charles I on a public

scaffold on January 30th, 1649, but the theaters were closed earlier, in 1642, and remained

closed until 1660 when the monarchy was restored. This course focuses on drama written

during Charles I’s turbulent reign, particularly on plays written by four of the period's most

important dramatists of the public theaters: Richard Brome, John Ford, Philip Massinger, and

James Shirley.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Assignments will include weekly discussion responses, two

presentations, and a final research essay of 15 pages with an

accompanying proposal and annotated bibliography.

TEXTS:

Brome’s The English Moor

Brome and Massinger’s The Late Lancashire Witches

Ford’s Tis’ Pity She’s a Whore

Massinger’s The Renegado and The Roman Actor

Shirley’s The Bird in a Cage

ENGL 6941: THE CRAFT OF FICTION

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

B. JOHNSON

This class is designed for fiction writers. We will examine short stories of various styles with a

writer’s eye toward identifying how they are constructed. Using craft essays to study the

elements of fiction—plot, characterization, POV, etc—students will learn to identify the

underpinnings of successful stories and to use that understanding in their own written work.

This is a required course for MFA students. Admission is contingent upon approval by the

director of the Creative Writing Workshop.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

Each student will present a craft essay and short story, submit

weekly craft essay summaries and story critiques, and

complete several short creative writing projects. Participation

is a critical part of this class and thus full participation on the

forum or in class will be mandatory for a passing grade.

TEXTS:

Burroway & Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction: A Guide to

Narrative Craft, 10th Edition ISBN-13: 978-0226616698

ENGL 6944: THE CRAFT OF NONFICTION

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

E. BRINA

In this course, students will read as writers: identifying and focusing on the elements of craft

and analyzing how these elements are orchestrated to compose a compelling work of

creative nonfiction. Students will explore and examine techniques through careful study of

various essays, excerpts, and complete larger works by renowned authors of creative

nonfiction, as well as through writing and revising their own work.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

TBD

JOUR 6700: DIGITAL JOURNALISM

SECTION O001

ONLINE

ASYNCH

B. RUTLEDGE

This course will explore digital journalism via literature, in-class discussion, and fieldwork.

Students will learn how technological developments have changed the face of journalism in

the 21st century and probe the positive and negative aspects of these changes. Students will

learn how to write stories for online publications, how to use social media effectively as a

broadcast tool, how to create podcasts and spoken-word reports, and how to use a

smartphone as an all-purpose reporting tool. Students will also learn how to verify sources

online and explore ethical issues that affect digital journalism such as privacy rights and

information sharing by whistleblowers.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

TBD

TEXTS:

TBD