Spring 2014 English Course Descriptions

ENGL 191.01: First-Year Seminar: Creative Writing (HONORS) TR 11:00 – 12:15 CRN 11582 Pamela Duncan

What is creativity? Does it involve inspiration or experimentation or both? Does the Muse have to land on your shoulder for you to be creative? Can a person increase his or her creative potential? This first-year seminar will explore these and other questions by uncovering the writing process. You will write in a variety of genres, including fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and you will read masterworks from a variety of authors. By practicing with the many tools and devices that successful writers rely on, you will learn how to enhance your creativity and develop your unique writer’s voice.

ENGL 200.01: Introduction to the English Major T 2:00–3:15 CRN 11732 Dr. Brent E. Kinser

This required one-hour course provides an introduction to the major and an opportunity for you to meet your peers and a number of faculty and staff. During the course of the semester, you will be introduced to various opportunities for study in the major, as well as encouraged to consider what you might do with your major and how to get where you want to be at the end of your time at Western. We will consider employment opportunities and plan a possible route through the English classes you will take during the next two and a half years. You should leave this course with an understanding of the parameters of your chosen field, with a plan for how you will pursue your goals at Western, and with ideas about the ways you can pursue your goals after you are graduated.

Juniors and Seniors should discuss the possibility of substituting another class for English 200 with their advisors.

ENGL 206.01: Literature Of Place MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM CRN 11460 Dr. Mae Miller Claxton

This class will be a survey of the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction works from the Southern Appalachian region. We will also explore music, photography, and film relating to Appalachia. In addition to reading two novels plus a variety of other readings, students will complete two assignments plus a final exam. Students will complete discussion list postings for each class.

ENGL 207.70: Popular Literature and Culture TR 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm CRN 11896 Dr. Sandra Saunders

Examines various popular literary genres, including gothic, popular romances, mysteries, westerns, science-fiction and fantasy, children’s literature, film, television, and the Internet. (P4) Credits: 3 ENGL 209.01: PAST TIMES: LIT & HISTORY — GETTING MEDIEVAL MWF 9:05 – 9:55 am CRN 11595 Dr. Brian Gastle

This course addresses the relationships between literature and history (both as disciplines and as texts traditionally assigned to those disciplines). We will read documents traditionally classified as literature alongside documents traditionally classified as historical and asking ourselves how they relate to each other. This section of the course will focus on medieval literature and history – specifically how we think about the Middle Ages today, how it is represented in contemporary culture, and how those representations compare to “real” medieval literature, history, and culture. Texts/Authors will include Chaucer, Arthurian Lit, Dante, and others.

ENGL 240.01: Research, Literary Criticism & British Literature— TR 11:00–12:15 CRN 11733 Dr. Brent E. Kinser

Survey of British literature with a particular emphasis on learning research skills as well as how to incorporate outside sources and literary criticism into writing. In this course we will paint the history of British literature with broad strokes, from Beowulf to Eliot, while paying particular attention to developing the fundamental skills that define what it means to be a student of literature. In addition to becoming better readers, writers, and thinkers, by the end of this course you will have become more adapt at identifying, finding, and utilizing outside sources. In other words you will become a more effective participant in the diverse and fascinating critical discussion we call English Studies.

ENGL 241.01: Formalism & American Literature TR 12:30-1:45 CRN 11546 Dr. Annette Debo

Through the tradition of American literature, we will learn the fundamental skills of the discipline: formalism, technical vocabulary, and close reading. You will leave the class with a better understanding of the development of the American literary tradition and many canonical texts, as well as essential skills necessary for the upper-level courses in literary studies. (This course is designed for students with a major or minor in English and meets no Liberal Studies categories.) PREQ: ENGL 101

ENGL 242.01: Cultrl Stds Non-West World Literature MWF 10:10 am - 11:00 am CRN 11714 Dr. Elizabeth Heffelfinger

Survey of non-western world literature with a particular emphasis on the role that culture plays in textual production. PREQ: ENGL 101. Credits: 3

ENGL 278.01: Intro to Film Studies MWF 1:25-2:15 pm CRN 11720 Dr. Elizabeth Heffelfinger Watch important classics, including: Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and Hitchcock’s North by Northwest Perks of Being a Wallflower (500) Days of Summer and Jaws *Learn what film movement influenced Tim Burton * Discover a deeper, more meaningful appreciation of the movies *Explore film theory Film courses “count” for most English concentrations!

ENGL 302.01: Introduction to Creative Writing & Editing TR 2:00-3:15 p.m. CRN 11579 Pamela Duncan

This course is designed to fit the needs of a range of students, including those with concentrations in writing, literature, or education. At the end of this course, you will have a good understanding of three basic creative writing genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. You will have the opportunity to explore your creative side through a variety of exercises and using techniques practiced by professional writers. You will also gain skills in the writing workshop process, editing, proofreading, revising, and professional manuscript preparation. By the end of the semester, you will have written, edited, and revised poems, short fiction, and short essays.

ENGL 303.01: Intro Professional Writing MWF 9:05 am - 9:55 am CRN 11914 Dr. Andrew Virtue

Career opportunities, practices and skills in professional writing, editing, and conventional and electronic publication. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). Credits: 3

ENGL 303.02: Intro Professional Writing TR 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm CRN 11260 Dr. Mary Adams

Career opportunities, practices and skills in professional writing, editing, and conventional and electronic publication. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). Credits: 3

ENGL 304.01: Writing for Electronic Environment TR 11:00 am - 12:15 pm CRN 11738 Dr. Diane Martinez

A course that teaches clear and coherent writing in electronic environments, including multimedia publication, Web page and document design, and computer documentation, instructions, and manuals. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). PREQ: Engl 303 Credits: 3

ENGL 305.01: Technical Writing MWF 10:10 am - 11:00 am CRN 11915 Dr. Andrew Virtue

Writing and editing technical manuals and reports; layout and production of technical document with practice in computer applications. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). Credits: 3

ENGL 305.02: Technical Writing TR 9:30 am - 10:45 am CRN 11739 Dr. Diane Martinez

Writing and editing technical manuals and reports; layout and production of technical document with practice in computer applications. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours).

ENGL 306 .70: Nonfiction Writing Workshop MW 4:00-5:15 CRN 11584 Deidre Elliott

In this writing workshop, we'll write and critique our own personal essays, memoirs, and "shorts" (brief bursts of nonfiction energy similar to prose poems or flash fiction). We'll read the best of contemporary nonfiction and use those works as our models. Some of the most dynamic writing these days is nonfiction. If you want to be published, this is the genre to choose. Nonfiction outsells poetry and fiction 15 to 1! Creative nonfiction is writing about: - yourself - family - travel - politics - religion - the outdoors - science - sports - art - music - and much, much more!

ENGL 312.01: Grammar for Teachers MWF 11:15 am - 12:05 pm CRN 11913 TBA

The grammar of standard American English. For students who wish to pursue careers in teaching English and language arts. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). Credits: 3

ENGL 326.01: Policies & Politics of ESL TR 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm CRN 11766 Dr. Eleanor Petrone

History of multilingualism in the US and the politics and policies of ESL at local, State adn National levels. PREQ: Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours.

ENGL 353.01: Stories Retold TR 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm CRN 11261 Dr. Mary Adams This course focuses on novels, plays, poems, and films that are contemporary retellings of canonical works. Narratives are retold from the perspectives of marginalized characters. (P4) Credits: 3

ENGL 367.01: Appalachian Literature MWF 9:05 AM-9:55 PM CRN 11467 Dr. Mae Miller Claxton

This class will be a survey of the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction works from the Southern Appalachian region. We will also explore music, photography, and film relating to Appalachia. In addition to reading two novels plus a variety of other readings, students will complete two written assignments plus a final exam. Students will complete discussion list postings for each class.

ENGL 389.01: Coop Ed: Professional-Writing CRN 11587 Deidre Elliott

See Cooperative Education Program. Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours. PREQ: ENGL 303. Credits: 1 or 3, R15

ENGL 394.70 Film Studies: Adaptation MW 4-5:15 pm CRN 11722 Dr. Elizabeth Heffelfinger

This course explores the complex relationships between literature and film. Adaptations are one of the most profitable and popular motion picture products, and as film scholars we will want to understand how and why the written word is translated into motion pictures. Rather than focus exclusively or extensively on the notion of fidelity (how closely the film replicates the text), we will expand our understanding of adaptations by:

 Reading many different types of works including short stories, novels and graphic novels, plays, and nonfiction works; and, analytical and theoretical approaches to the texts.  Focus on close readings of the original text, and learn how film language and theory can help us make connections between the original work and its cinematic companion.  Explore the debates that accompany adaptations.

Possible Pairings: Into the Wild Children of Men Persepolis The Hunger Games Romeo & Juliet/Shakespeare in Love/Romeo + Juliet

ENGL 405.70: Advanced Creative Writing M 6:00 pm - 8:50 pm CRN 11775 Ron Rash

Advanced fiction workshop in the short story. Prerequisites are either English 308 and/or permission of the instructor. The course emphasizes intense reading as well as writing.

ENGL 412.70: Grammar for Writers TR 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm CRN 11740 Dr. Diane Martinez

The grammar and editorial practices of standard American English. For students who wish to explore careers in writing. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). Credits: 3

ENGL 413.01: ESL Methods for Content Teacher TR 11:00 am - 12:15 pm CRN 11767 Dr. Eleanor Petrone

ESL methodology for content teachers working the English language learnins in the k-12 setting. PREQ: Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours. Credits: 3

ENGL 415.70: Introduction to Linguistics M 6:00–8:50 CRN 11380 Dr. Erin Callahan-Price

An overview of language structure, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, geared towards teachers of English Language Learners. Topics include sounds of the world’s languages, first- and second language acquisition, word formation and creation, the structure of sentences, language use (pragmatics), and language in society (language variation, multilingualism, pidgins and creoles, language ideologies). Students will be given practice in identifying sound, structural, and social patterns in both English- and non-English data by hypothesizing about rule formation and identifying critical themes in relevant texts, from institutional discourse to conversations. Required for the TESOL add-on license/minor.

ENGL 418.01: Fund of Teaching Literature MW 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm CRN 11267 Dr. Michael Boatright

Methods, materials, curriculum, trends, and assessment in teaching literature in secondary schools. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours.) PREQ: ENGL 202. Credits: 3

ENGL 431.01: Shakespeare & His Age TR 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm CRN 11262 Dr. Mary Adams

(Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). Credits: 3

ENGL 459.01 Southern Literature—Literature of the Working Class MWF 12:20-1:10 PM CRN 11468 Dr. Mae Miller Claxton

Dorothy Allison stated in an interview that “the deepest way to change people is to get them to inhabit the soul of another human being who is different from them. And that happens in story. That happens in literature.” We will read about people living on the margins of society—the uneducated, the poor, those without power. The works will be violent and dark. They will also be hopeful and uplifting. They will make you question your views of the world. Possible novels (subject to change!) might be William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Janisse Ray’s Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Harry Crews’s A Childhood, Ron Rash’s World Made Straight, Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina, and Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. You will have a short writing assignment/presentation and a longer synthesis paper based on the works. Students will complete discussion list postings for each class.

ENGL 470.70: 20th-Century and Contemporary Postcolonial Literature MW 4-5:15 CRN 11939 Dr. Laura Wright

Although there is considerable debate over the precise parameters of the field and the definition of the term “postcolonial,” for the purposes of this course, consists of the study of the interactions between European nations and the societies they colonized both during the period of colonization as well as after independence. In this course we will read a variety of postcolonial theoretical texts in conjunction with and as a way of understanding primary literary texts written by postcolonial authors from India, Africa, and Ireland. Our theoretical grounding will help us explore issues of power, race, and gender with regard to colonial domination within the literary texts we will read. In this course, we will work to develop an understanding of and appreciation for various literatures being written in the historic colonies and dependencies of the European powers as we examine how the colonial experience may have affected the type and content of literature produced in these areas. We will explore the following questions: How did the experience of colonization affect those who were colonized while also influencing the colonizers? What were the forms of resistance against colonial control? How did colonial education and language influence the culture and identity of the colonized? How did Western science, technology, and medicine change existing knowledge systems? What are the emergent forms of postcolonial identity after the departure of the colonizers? To what extent has decolonization (a reconstruction free from colonial influence) been possible? How do gender, race, and class function in colonial and postcolonial discourse? Are new forms of imperialism replacing colonization?

ENGL 478.01: Film Theory MWF 11:15-12:05 CRN 11377 Dr. Margaret Bruder

In this class we will be thinking deeply about the impact movies have on culture and how they speak to audiences. We will read and discuss some of the most important theorists in the field to figure out what it is about the medium that makes it such a central part of our lives. In his influential study, The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich goes so far as to claim that cinema has become “a toolbox for all cultural communication” (92). Though we will focus on film form, authorship, stardom, genre and narrative, we will also consider how critics approach more recent questions of sexuality and gender, race and ethnicity, globalism and new media. Films will include Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Vidor’s Stella Dallas, the Wachowski brothers’ The Matrix and the Hughes brothers’ From Hell.

ENGL 483.01: Writing Internship CRN 11589 Deidre Elliott

Practical experience in a writing-related setting. S/U grading. 9 hours per week per course. (Closed to freshmen 0-24 hours). PREQ: ENGL 303. Credits: 3

ENGL 606 .70: Nonfiction Writing Workshop R 6:00 – 8:50 p.m. CRN 11593 Deidre Elliott Explore the current revolution in American literature--the rise of creative nonfiction--in this hands-on writing workshop. In this class, you will: -- write three types of creative nonfiction: the personal essay, the memoir, and the "short" (a brief burst of nonfiction energy similar to the prose poem and flash fiction), -- read the best of contemporary nonfiction, -- discuss publishing opportunities. If you want to be published, this is the genre to choose. Nonfiction outsells poetry and fiction 15 to 1. Creative nonfiction is writing about: - yourself - family - travel - politics - religion - the outdoors - science - sports - art - music - and much, much more! Note: This is an especially helpful class for future teachers. You will learn--from the inside out--how to create dynamic nonfiction writing.

ENGL 607.80: Breaking Into Publishing W 6:00pm-8:50pm CRN 11917 Dr. Drew Virtue ASHEVILLE

“Breaking into Publishing” is a course designed to meet the needs of students wishing to publish their written work. In addition to exploring the topic of publishing papers from a broad perspective, the course will also focus on unique components related to specific genres of writing including academic writing, medical writing, science writing, writing for digital publications, etc. Two of the major assignments include researching the requirements and expectations of different publications/journals and preparing a piece of student writing for publication at the end of the semester. The class discussions/readings will provide students with the basic skills for different genres of writing while the assignments will provide students with the opportunity to conduct more in-depth research about the specific types of writing they will experience in their chosen fields. If you have any questions regarding the course, please contact me (Drew Virtue) at [email protected] or 828-227-3936.

English 608.70: Fiction Writing M 6:00pm-8:50pm CRN 11776 Ron Rash

Advanced fiction workshop in the short story. Prerequisites are either English 308 and/or permission of the instructor. The course emphasizes intense reading as well as writing. Ron Rash is the author of three novels, three volumes of poetry and three story collections. His latest story collection, Chemistry and Other Stories, was published by Picador in 2007. In 2005 he received the James Still Award by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He teaches at Western Carolina University. (See wikipedia’s entry on Rash for a list of his works and many, many awards; also http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ron-rash; for misc info see “How I Write” at http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/ron-rash-how-i-write.html.)

ENGL 610.80: History of Rhetoric W 6:00pm-8:50pm CRN 11730 Dr. Beth Huber ASHEVILLE

We have refashioned English 610 to be more of a comprehensive review of rhetorical theory and less a “history of…” course. In fact, we have applied for a name change for the course going forward to be Rhetorical Theory. While you will still receive a history of the discipline, we will also be covering a broad range of subtopics such as political rhetoric, visual rhetoric, and radical rhetoric.

ENGL 675.80: Modernism R 5:00pm-7:50pm CRN 11549 Dr. Annette Debo ASHEVILLE

This course will cover modernism, both a style of writing and a time period lasting from 1909 (the publication date of Gertrude Stein’s Three Lives) to 1945, the end of the second world war. We will set the stage by investigating the time period’s milieu of war, radical politics, even more radical art and architecture, and the literary centers of New York, London, and Paris. A self-reflexive movement, modernism is known for its many manifestos and movements within movements like Imagism, Vorticism, Futurism, the New Woman, and the New Negro. The writers we will read include modernists who both stayed home and who traveled the world, including H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), William Carlos Williams, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Beach, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Jean Toomer.

Most of these writers knew each other, and all had read each other’s work, engaging in complicated webs of interaction. For example, H.D. read Toomer and recommended Cane to her friends, perhaps when she lunched with Stein and Alice B. Toklas; Hughes traveled the world extensively and was the first to translate Afro-Caribbean poetry for an American audience; an editor of The Dial, an influential “little magazine,” Moore put many of these writers into print; Pound wrote manifesto after manifesto, creating movements as he wrote his exact but maniacal poetry; Stein drove an ambulance during World War I and invented Cubism in writing – precisely what her friend Picasso was doing in painting; Hurston took a decade off her age to be able to freely mix with the young Harlem Renaissance crowd in New York and immediately published reams of short stories; Hemingway, a war correspondent, put the spare style he used for his journalistic writing to work in his fiction; Fitzgerald inscribed the wealth and decadence of the jazz age into his fiction; William Carlos Williams stayed in the U.S., attempting to capture the American idiom and place.

The period is ruled by two wars and a decade of prosperity in between. The wars, which seemed distanced for the isolationist U.S. were really one large war for the Europeans, allowed for a cracking in the regimental Victorian sensibility: women put on pants, cut their hair, and began to vote; African American literature found an audience and hungry publishers; men reeled from their war losses and trench warfare; and all looked for answers to the tragedy of war, some in folklore, others in Greek and Roman myths, religion, Native American traditions, and African art.

These writers sought to find language and forms to fit the new times, a concerted break with the elaborateness and restrictedness of Victorianism. They chose to “make it new,” to use spare and concise language, to elevate images rather than feelings, to reach for language to match the new skyscrapers, and to create forms to capture modernity.

ENGL 693.70: Special Topic: Studies in Nineteenth-Century Non-Fiction T 6:00–8:50 CRN 11734 Dr. Brent E. Kinser

Who is more fabulous than Oscar Wilde? NOBODY! In addition to being an immortal playwright, Oscar Wilde was the author of some of the most compelling non-fiction works ever written. Readings will include The Soul of Man Under Socialism, Intentions (which included the essays “The Decay of Lying” and “The Critic as an Artist”), the devastating letter to “Bosie” that Wilde wrote while in prison: De Profundis. In addition to Wilde, we will read selections from some of the significant Victorian figures who influenced him: Thomas Carlyle (of course), John Stuart Mill, John Henry Newman, Matthew Arnold, Charles Darwin, Charles Kingsley, T. H. Huxley, Walter Pater, John Ruskin, Arthur Symonds, and others.