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Fall
2009
Program Guidance and Early Registration begin on Monday,
April 6, 2009.
English Majors: If you are an English major, please
meet with Wayne Berninger
(the English Department's new Registration Advisor) as early
as possible to register for the advanced English classes you
need. Doing so will help ensure that courses are not cancelled
and that you don't have to scramble to find replacement courses
at the last minute. Attached to this flyer you will find descriptions
of the courses being offered in Summer & Fall 2009. Consult
the English Department website to determine which courses
you still need for your particular concentration (i.e., Creative
Writing, Literature, or Writing & Rhetoric). Contact Wayne
Berninger in the English Department at 718-780-4328 or via
e-mail at wayne.berninger@liu.edu.
Non-English Majors: Advanced English courses aren't
only for English majors! The writing and analytical skills
that students gain in English classes are very useful in a
variety of professional careers. So even if you are not majoring
in English, you can still take upper-division English courses--as
long as you have completed the prerequisites. If you really
want to build up your transcript, consider an English Minor,
which consists of any four English courses numbered 100 or
above. If you'd like more information about minoring in English--or
if you think you might like to major in English--contact Wayne
Berninger in the English Department at 718-780-4328 or
via e-mail at wayne.berninger@liu.edu.
English 101--Introduction to English Studies (Class ID#
2949)
Professor Bernard Schweizer
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45 pm
THIS CLASS WAS CANCELLED DUE TO
UNDER-ENROLLMENT.
This course is REQUIRED for English majors in all three
concentrations (Literature, Creative Writing, Writing &
Rhetoric). You MUST take ENG 101 within the first two semesters
after completing the core English courses (ENG 16 and two
courses from ENG 61-62-63-64). If you are at this stage and
you don't take ENG 101 in Fall 2009, then you MUST take it
in Spring 2010. Yes, you MAY take other advanced ENG courses
at the same time as ENG 101.
This introductory course maps out the field of English studies
and provides a foundation for the more advanced study of literature,
rhetoric, and writing. During the course of the semester,
we will familiarize ourselves with the basic outlines of literary
history, define the various kinds of literary writing (genres),
learn the fundamentals of prosody (the theory of versification),
engage with highlights of the critical tradition, and talk
about the history of English studies at large. Most importantly,
we will perform close readings of literary texts to see what
makes them "work," both thematically and aesthetically,
and we will practice our own creative and analytical writing
faculties. Finally, we will learn about career prospects and
professional opportunities for English majors. A course pack
with primary sources (drawn from British literature) as well
as secondary texts will be provided.
English 103--Workshop in the Essay: Explorations in Writing--Writer
& Style (Class ID# 6026)
Professor Michael Bokor
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm
This course satisfies a requirement in the Writing &
Rhetoric concentration. English majors concentrating in Writing
& Rhetoric may take this class twice.
This course is useful for students looking for opportunities
to improve their own styles for effective academic, professional,
and nonfiction writing. You may be familiar with the rhetorical
concept of "style" and why it is considered an important
factor in determining the success or otherwise of any piece
of writing; and you may also think that you have your own
"style" of writing. But what exactly is "style"
and where does it come from? Does "style" exist
on its own, independent of the writer? Does it exist before
the text, in the text, or outside the text? This course explores
the theoretical, cultural, and discursive aspects of "style"
and seeks to help students examine how factors such as language,
culture, society, politics, and the writer's personality define
and shape the writer's "style." The course is designed
to help students understand how "style" (manner--or
the how) affects the texts (matter--or the what) that they
produce. It aims at helping students discover strategies for
improving their own styles to be able to satisfy the needs
of their audiences. Some of the pertinent questions that will
drive teaching and learning in this course: What is valued
as "style"? Can a writer improve his or her "style"?
How can s/he do so? Is style the reflection of the personality,
taste, and experience of the writer of the text? Or is it
the reflection of the culture of the writer's society? Is
it true that style is the writer or the writer's society in
disguise? This course is designed to be a writing workshop,
which means that a significant portion of class time will
be devoted to writing and talking about your writing. Each
of you will be required to present your work on a regular
basis. The instructional goals of this course are: to introduce
you to academic (and nonacademic) writing and how style influences
the rhetorical choices that writers make; to help you improve
your critical thinking skills through academic inquiry/research;
and to help you improve your writing skills. By the end of
the semester, you should: Develop a high degree of clarity,
fluency, and appropriateness in your writing; learn how to
appreciate style within the context of genre-specific discourses;
and use knowledge on style to improve your own writing. Required
texts: Course Packet of photocopied essays and articles (to
be provided) and Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
(9th ed.), by Joseph M. Williams (New York: Pearson, 2006).
English 104--Creative Writing: Poet's Theatre--Spoken
Poetry & Life Stories (Class ID# 2193)
Professor John High
Mondays 6:00-8:30 pm
This course satisfies a requirement in the Creative Writing
concentration. It can also satisfy an ENG elective requirement
in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating
in Creative Writing may take this class twice.
This class is designed for anyone who has ever wanted to
write creatively yet who is not sure how to begin or how to
move beyond where they are presently in their own writing.
In this course, we will explore our own lives as material
to sculpt and rehearse in dramatic verse and to perform in
a Poet's Theatre. How do we create the magic of language for
the stage? How do we mine our experiences, our pasts, and
our dreams and get beneath the surface of words? In this course,
you will explore your own vision and myth of the world through
poetic expression. Topics will include: getting started with
the spoken poem, making it alive for you, and establishing
a passionate discipline. The course will also zero in on backbone
issues of style and technique, ranging from those of characterization
and plotting in poetic diction, continuity and vividness of
imagery, clarity and music, and the use of phrasing and dramatic
structure. There will be weekly creative writing prompts and
group discussions to guide you through the writing journey
where we will investigate our life stories and give them shape
through the language of our own poetic voices. What is a spoken
poem--what is beneath a monologue or soliloquy, a dramatic
dialogue? How do we transform our written expression for a
theatrical venue? What is at the heart of a story's crisis
and meaning? What do we mean when we talk about taking chances
in writing? We'll look at the work of ancient and contemporary
writers as well as younger voices publishing/performing today.
Feedback will focus on motivating you to tap the undefined
territory of your own imagination in order to more fully cultivate
and mature your voice/s and styles. The goal of the course
includes a final theatrical performance and completion of
a chapbook and/or anthology of our work.
English 128--Early British Literatures: Making of English
Literary Traditions (Class ID# 2395)
Professor Srividhya Swaminathan
Wednesdays 6:00-8:30 pm
This course is required in the Literature concentration.
It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative
Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.
What does it mean to be English and how does language contribute
to the construction of identity? Why do we study early English
literature and what kinds of things are we to learn from the
texts? How did English literary traditions evolve over time
to create a cohesive identity and culture for its people?
This course will begin a chronological survey of the development
of English literary traditions beginning in the ninth century.
Students will gain an understanding of the evolution of the
English language from its earliest forms to the more modern
version of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By examining
the geographic and cultural boundaries as they change over
the centuries, students will gain a better grasp of the fluidity
of "English" or "British" identity. Finally,
students will learn how the form of literature--poetry, prose,
drama--changes over time and contributes to the evolving culture.
English 150--Studies in Ethnic Literature: The Spanish
Caribbean (Class ID# 13243)
Professor Maria McGarrity
Mondays 6-8:30 pm
This semester only, we are allowing this course to satisfy
the ENG 169 requirement in the Literature concentration. If
you have already taken ENG 169 before, then you can use this
course as an upper-division ENG elective in the Literature
concentration. This course can also satisfy a literature requirement
in the Creative Writing concentration or in the Writing &
Rhetoric concentration. If you have already taken ENG 150
before (for any concentration), please be aware that you are
allowed to take it twice for credit.
This course will examine the issues of language, identity,
and diaspora of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. In The
Repeating Island, the Cuban theorist, Antonio Benítez-Rojo,
called this island chain a "meta-archipelago" because
the sea and land borders that might seem initially to separate
these isles in fact link them beyond the boundaries of the
nation-language-island. We will explore the myth of the Virgen
de la Caridad del Cobre, which details the vision of this
Christian Saint/Santería Goddess above the waves by
three people, two Indigenous men and one African man, as a
marker of an inclusive Caribbean cultural hybridity that rejects
the easy formation of exclusive cultural and linguistic barriers.
We will pay special attention to the writings of the Dominican
Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba with a wide-ranging, fluid
vision of Caribbean culture prevalent amid this dynamic chain
of islands and in the larger diasporic world. We will read
writers such as José Lezama Lima, Alejo Carpentier,
Julia Alavarez, Christina Garcia, and Rosario Ferré
as we investigate the structures and struggles of individual
and collective identity.
English 158--Early Literatures of the United States (Class
ID# 2047)
Professor Michael Bennett
Mondays & Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 pm
This course is required in the Literature concentration.
It can also satisfy a literature requirement in the Creative
Writing concentration or in the Writing & Rhetoric concentration.
This course will examine works of literature written before
1865 in what is now the United States. The theme of the course
is "American Myths, U.S. Realities." We will explore
the contrasts between the myths that have produced America
and the lived realities of those who reside within the borders
of the United States. Rather than focusing on a few "masterpieces,"
we will read a wide variety of short prose pieces and poetry,
much of which has not received a great deal of study. We will
also discuss the "major authors" traditionally associated
with the period, but we will examine them from a comparative
perspective: Cooper's version of the frontier juxtaposed with
that of Native American narratives; Emerson's transcendentalism
compared with the immanent concerns of abolitionist writers;
Hawthorne's romanticism versus that of the women writers he
flippantly dismissed. In order to make such comparisons, we
will examine the different traditions that arose from America's
various cultural contexts--Native, Hispanic, Anglo, African--to
provide an historically grounded survey of early American
literature.
English 165--Poetry Workshop: No Time Like The Present
(Class ID# 2197)
Professor Lewis Warsh
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-2:45 pm
THIS CLASS WAS CANCELLED DUE TO
UNDER-ENROLLMENT.
This course satisfies a requirement in the Creative Writing
concentration. It can also satisfy an ENG elective requirement
in the Literature concentration. English majors concentrating
in Creative Writing may take this class twice.
Our goal is to expand the definition of poetry, to see what's
possible, both as writers and readers. We'll do this by paying
close attention to the way poetry changes through time and
how much great poetry is a reflection of the age in which
it was written. We'll also discuss the act of writing poetry
as one of risk-taking and investigation and how nothing ever
changes unless you experiment or try something new. Most of
all, we'll observe our various selves in the present moment
and explore the ways of transforming ordinary daily life into
poems. The present isn't all we have--but it's a place to start
from. Let's write our poems by looking around us and seeing
what's there. Some of the poets we'll look at closely are
William Carlos Williams, Charles Reznikoff, Ted Berrigan,
Robert Creeley, Bernadette Mayer, Amiri Baraka, Jack Spicer,
Alice Notley, Anne Waldman, Gary Snyder, James Schuyler, Frank
O'Hara, and Allen Ginsberg. Much of the workshop time will
be spent reading and discussing your work.
English 170--Literary Periods & Movements: Histories
of Home--American Domesticity (Class ID# 6028)
Professor Leah Dilworth
Tuesdays 6:00-8:30 pm
This course will satisfy a requirement in the Literature
concentration. It can also be used to satisfy a literature
requirement in the Creative Writing concentration or in the
Writing & Rhetoric concentration. If you have already
taken ENG 170 before (for any concentration), please be aware
that you are allowed to take it twice for credit.
"Home Sweet Home." "Home is where the heart
is." "There's no place like home." When they
think of "home," Americans are likely to feel warm,
familial sentiments such as these. But home can be a complicated
place, at once safe and stifling, private yet constantly evoked
in public life, a place set apart from, yet deeply implicated
in, global economies. This course will examine the history
of the concept of home in American culture, from the mid-nineteenth
century "cult of domesticity" to the current Department
of Homeland Security. Along the way we will consider how "home"
has been understood in terms of race, class, and gender and
what it means to be "homeless." We will read and
examine a wide variety of texts, including domestic manuals
by Catharine Beecher, Oprah Winfrey, and Martha Stewart; Henry
David Thoreau's Walden; Harriet Jacob's Incidents
in the Life of a Slave Girl; Toni Morrison's Beloved;
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper";
Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers; and the 1975 movie
The Stepford Wives.
English 172--Contemporary Rhetorical Theory (Class ID#
6029)
Professor John Killoran
Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45
This course is required in the Writing & Rhetoric
concentration. It can also be used to satisfy an ENG elective
requirement in the Literature concentration.
How does a political candidate's speech rouse voters? How
does a lawyer's argument sway jurors? How does an organization's
advertisement influence consumers? How do a song's lyrics
move listeners? In this course, we aim to answer these and
similar questions about the nature and power of language.
The course is an elective for students across the disciplines
as well as in English who seek to understand the persuasive
effect of language in their personal lives, their communities,
and their careers. Students will learn perspectives to help
them recognize how language persuades us of what we believe
and whom we believe. By the end of the semester, students
will have developed their sensitivity to the power in others'
use of language and will become more empowered in their own
use of language.
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