THE POCKET ENGLISH SERIES IUB ENGLISH

COURSE LISTINGS Fall 2021 Welcome to the world of English. We hope you enjoy our pocket series guide to our fall classes.

One thing we know: our students tell us they love their major. And loving your major leads to good things: higher gpa’s, greater satisfaction, a sense of purpose, and some indispensable skills.

We hope you’ll peruse the following pages and dis- cover great possibilities for next semester.

LOVE YOUR MAJOR: CHOOSE ENGLISH

Our design is an homage to our two favorite literary publishers. 2 Can you identify them? ENGLISH MAJOR REQUIREMENTS (33 credit hours)

• L203–206 (choose one), intro to genre (drama, fiction, poetry, or prose) • L260, intro to advanced study of literature and language • 3 courses from 3 different Lit Hist periods (Beg-17th C, 18-19th C, 20-21st C) • L371, critical practices • 5 English electives:

2 @ 200+ 2 @ 300+ 1 @ 400

3 MINOR REQUIREMENTS

MINOR IN ENGLISH • L203-206, intro to genre (choose one: drama, fiction, poetry, or prose) • L260, intro to advanced study of literature and language • 2 courses from 3 different Lit Hist periods (Beg-17th C, 18-19th C, 20-21st C) • 1 English 300+ elective

MINOR IN CREATIVE WRITING 15 credit hours, including 3 from W381 or W383, and 12 from L260, W203, W301, W303, W311, W401, W403, W413, W381, W383 (minimum of 9 credit hours @ 300+)

MINOR IN COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC ADVOCACY • 15 credit hours chosen from all 200+ R-classes, W231, W240, W241, W270, W322, or W350 • (minimum of 9 credit hours @ 300+) 4 — all 15 credit hours — CONTENTS AND KEY

100 200 LEVEL LEVEL

300 400 LEVEL LEVEL

A&H ARTS & HUMANITIES DUS DIVERSITY IN U.S. GCC GLOBAL CIVILIZATIONS & CULTURES

POC PUBLIC ORAL COMMUNICATION S&H SOCIAL & HISTORICAL WC WORLD CULTURE = L310 CAN BE SUBSTITUTED FOR CLASS = L312 = L316 CASE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES EDUCATION GENERAL EDUCATION 5 MODES KEY FALL 2021 MODES OF INSTRUCTION

Throughout this pocket guide you will see the following designations next to the instructor and meeting times: HY, OA, HD, DO, and P. Definitions for these modes of instruction are provided for your convenience below:

• [HY] Hybrid, On Campus & Online: 26% to 75% of the instruction is provided through asynchronous online or synchronous live video instruction. The remainder of the instruction is provided through traditional face-to-face instruction involving all the students together. • [OA] Online All: 100% of instruction is provided entirely through asynchronous online education in which the student is not bound by place or time. No on-campus meetings are required. • [HD] Hybrid, Distance: 26% to 75% of the instruction is provided through asynchronous online education. The remainder of the instruction is provided by synchronous live video instruction. No on-campus meetings are required. • [DO] Distance, Other: 76% to 100% of the instruction is provided by synchronous live video instruction. Some on- campus class meetings may be required. • [P] In Person: Students and the instructor will be in the same room together synchronously.

For more information visit: https://www.iu.edu/covid/ 6 campus-info/learning-modes.html W103 ROSS GAY INTRODUCTORY W 12:30-1:20 CREATIVE WRITING Mode TBD This class is designed to intro- duce students to a range of poetry and fiction, and in the process introduce them to a range of techniques and craft elements with which they will improve their own (or begin their own!) writing. The class will meet once a week for lectures and vigorous discus- sions of the texts and tech- niques, exercises and possi- ble exams. There will be two smaller meetings each week as well, during which you’ll work closely with an instructor and your classmates. Texts will include a poetry and fiction anthology, as well as individ- ual collections of poetry and fiction.

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H 7 W103 INTRODUCTORY CREATIVE WRITING This is a course for budding CATHY BOWMAN poets and fiction writers and M 11:15–12:05 those that have never written poetry or fiction but would like Mode TBD to give it a try. This class offers a stimulating introduction to the fundamentals of writing poetry and fiction. Through assigned readings, discus- sions, and writing assignments we will experience how po- ems and stories are made and how they make a difference in our lives. We will explore and experiment with a wide vari- ety of styles, approaches, and traditions. You will practice the art of giving and receiv- ing constructive criticism in a classroom setting. We will participate in the pleasures of reading and writing as we share our stories, and honor our voices, experiences, and imaginations.

8 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H L 112 LITERATURE AND CULTURE THROUGH THE LENS OF DISNEY Few organizations have DANA ANDERSON more recognizably shaped TR 9:25–10:40 global culture than the Walt Disney Company. DO An ambition that began a century ago with one man in Missouri has now influ- enced billions and filled the world with innumerable texts, from animated films to physical experiences. Time and again, these texts have taken a common source of inspiration: literature. This influence gives us a unique vantage point from which to consider the key questions of our course: What is “liter- ature”? What distinguishes it as one type or kind of text or experience within cul- ture? What tools, ideas, and concepts help us to better understand what literature is, including its values and functions as part of culture? How do adapta- tions grant us insight into these questions?

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H / GCC 9 R130

PUBLIC SPEAKING KURT ZEMLICKA TR 3:15–4:30 (HONORS) Mode TBD

This course prepares students in the liberal arts to communicate effectively with public audienc- es. It emphasizes oral commu- nication as practiced in public contexts: how to advance rea- soned claims in public; how to adapt public oral presentations to particular audiences; how to listen to, interpret, and evaluate public discourse; and how to formulate a clear response.

10 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H INTENSIVEINTENSIVE WRITING GENRE CLASSES L203 INTRO TO DRAMA characteristics of drama as a type of literature through the study of representative significant plays L204 INTRO TO FICTION representative works of fiction; structural techniques in the novel and short stories L205 INTRO TO POETRY kinds, conventions, and elements of poetry in a selection of poems from several historical periods L206 INTRO TO PROSE varieties of nonfictional prose, such as autobiography, biography, and the essay

We offer several sections of our genre classes, taught by both faculty and lecturers. Look online for more details.

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H 11 G208 WORLD ENGLISHES MICHAEL ADAMS MWF 10:00–10:50 P

This course considers varieties of English around the world — on all seven continents — spoken as a native language, a sec- ond (or third) language, and a foreign language. It accounts for how those varieties differ from one another (a linguistic question) and why (a cultural question). The “why” includes historical, political, and eco- nomic factors, structural dif- ferences between English and other languages, and the uses to which various groups put En- glish, once they have it. These differences, factors, and uses also influence attitudes towards English — yours and mine and the English of others — which feed into the system recursively and affect history, politics, law, commerce, and many other things within English-speaking countries and in their geo- political relations. 12 CASE GCC / GEN ED WC L204 INTRODUCTION TO FICTION: BIG BOOKS JESSE MOLESWORTH MW 1:10–2:25 P

L204 offers a slow, unhur- ried reading of two very long novels: Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones and George Eliot’s Middlemarch. We will take each novel part by part, book by book, and even page by page, examining form, con- tent, and overall theme. Our central question is: what is gained from excessive length? What can be accomplished within the span of a long novel that cannot be accomplished in the form of a shorter novel? Since this course is intended to offer an introduction to the study of fiction, we will spend much time discussing the fun- damental formal features of fiction, including point of view, plot, characterization, setting, and style. We will also discuss the historical development of the novel, from its origins to the present. CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H / IW 13 L210 VISUAL NARRATIVES IN THE AGE OF TERRORISM WALTON MUYUMBA MW 1:10–2:25 HD

Exploring different forms of visual narrative—television, feature film, and political documentary—we will inter- rogate the influence contem- porary tv showrunners and filmmakers have on the way United States citizens narrate their experiences of terrorism, 21st century warfare, global warming, economic collapse, and political alienation. Can filmmakers help us understand the consequences of all this on our imaginations or do their narratives keep us from see- ing our actions and ourselves clearly? In order to address this prompt, we will also study essays from film, television, and cultural critics who both help us engage with visual narrative intensely and prac- tice criticism as a literary art form. Our discussions will spring from our watching and reading closely.

14 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H L213 LITERARY MASTERPIECES: MOBY-DICK

In this class, we’ll tackle JENNIFER FLEISSNER perhaps the most legendary MW 4:55–7:25 (8w2) work in all of American lit- erature, Herman Melville’s DO Moby-Dick. Nominally about a voyage to track down the infamous white whale, Melville’s bizarre, hilarious, intense, wonder- ful novel is also about near- ly everything else under the sun: friendship, philosophy, obsession, demagoguery, capitalism, colonialism, reli- gion, the human fascination with the sea... The list goes on. We’ll give the levia- than-sized book the atten- tion it deserves over seven weeks.

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H 15 L220 INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE

LINDA CHARNES Shakespeare! What is all the TR 1:10–2:25 fuss about? Why do we con- tinue to read and see Shake- DO speare’s plays, and what is it about them that makes his work so meaningful af- ter four-hundred-plus years? What do we mean when we say that something—a sit- uation, a play, a movie, a novel, a set of emotions, an event--is “Shakespearean”? Was Shakespeare the “mass media” of his day, and if so, how and why? We will pur- sue these questions through intensive in-depth reading and discussion of six plays that arguably represent what is most Shakespearean about Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Othel- lo, Hamlet, and The Tempest.

16 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H L223 INTRODUCTION TO LATINO LITERATURE

This course provides a general ALBERTO VARON introduction to Latinx literatures MW 1:10–2:25 P and cultures, with attention to how these intersect with eth- nic American writing. We will explore the writing and other cultural texts of the var- ied groups who identify, in- dividually and collectively, as Latina/o/x. Focusing on literature and film, this course will provide a background on the cultural production of Lati- nos in the United States. What does “Latina/o/x” mean? Who identifies as Latino and what concerns do they as a group share? In what ways is Latino narrative in dialogue with mainstream U.S. culture? Authors we will study will like- ly include: Oscar Casares, Junot Diaz, Americo Paredes, Julia Alvarez, Justin Torres, Sandra Cisneros, Maria Hel- ena Viramontes, Luis Valdez, Isa- bel Quintero, Natalia Diaz, and others. 17 L249 REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY: BINARIES AND BEYOND How do we read the catego- KARMA LOCHRIE ries of gender and sexuality TR 1:10–2:25 P in literature from the past? How do we read queerly? How does literature poten- tially queer the reader? This course will examine the ways in which gender and sexual categories in literature chal- lenge and interrogate so- cial norms. Beginning in the nineteenth century, we will consider how Oscar Wilde challenges norms of sexual- ity and gender, while in the early twentieth century, gen- der, race, sexuality become the focus of Nella Larsen’s Passing. Among the other literary texts we will read are James Baldwin’s Giovan- ni’s Room, Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, Fun Home, and Naomi Alderman’s dystopia, The Power.

18 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H, DUS L260 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED LITERARY INTERPRETATION: LANDSCAPES OF TRAUMA AND CONQUEST JOEY MCMULLEN TR 11:30–12:45 Mode TBD Alongside efforts to expand our analytical toolbox and express insightful ideas about litera- ture, this version of L260 asks how poets, non-fiction authors, short story writers, novelists, and playwrights draw on the natural world in their depictions of trau- ma and conquest. Whether, for example, enforcing claims of imperialistic power or providing sites of healing, the landscapes in these works we read are never imagined as solely as a monolith- ic “Nature.” We will consider a variety of challenging perspec- tives on race, gender, and power as we read an assortment of writ- ers from Joseph Conrad to Linda Hogan, from Langston Hughes and Claude McKay to Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, from Shakespeare to Katori Hall.

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H 19 L260 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED LITERARY INTERPRETATION: PLANETARY FICTIONS Humans are increasingly confront- ALLISON TURNER ing the reality that we live on a dam- TR 4:55–6:10 HD aged planet. Some have lived with this knowledge—and its real-world effects—for much longer than others. In this course, we’ll draw on the tools of literary interpre- tation to examine the concept of the planet in literature and culture. If all living creatures, human and nonhuman, share this planet we call Earth, why is it that the damaging effects of climate change are so un- equally distributed? And how might we relate to this plan- et-that-is-our home differ- ently and more justly? We’ll explore these questions and others through readings of novels, poetry, and creative non-fiction, as well as science fiction, documentary, science writing, spoken word poetry, and contemporary climate activism. 20 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H R209 THE RHETORIC AND POWER OF NUMBERS KURT ZEMLICKA Why is there a course about TR 1:10–2:25 Mode TBD math in the English depart- ment? This course explores how numbers, probabilities, and statistics shape our per- ception of reality. We will look at the use of polling in national elections, statistics as justifica- tion for public policy related to environmental, social, and scientific policy, and public perceptions of STEM fields vs the humanities. Instead of learning how to do math, we’ll look at how people use it to justify their view of the world and compel us to act on certain issues.

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H 21 R209 DIGITAL MEMORIALS, MONUMENTS, AND MEMORY This course will explore the JUSTIN HODGSON rhetoric of memory, memori- TR 9:25–10:40 Mode TBD als, and monuments, situating them as value formations for personal and cultural identity (and ideology). But more than just analyzing current memo- rials, monuments, and the like, this course will ask students to engage in the production of digital monuments—i.e., making creative and critical artifacts that engage in what Gregory L. Ulmer calls “elec- trate citizenship.” To this end, students will be exposed to different theoretical frames, develop different technolog- ical skills, and engage dif- ferent rhetorical capacities in order to write about and produce digital monuments of personal / public signifi- cance.

22 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H R210 INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL RHETORIC

JUSTIN HODGSON From smartphones to smart- TR 3:15–4:30 HYT homes, fitbits to tablets, our everyday lives are digitally infused. My watch tracks my vitals. My phone tells me when friends are broad- casting their lives. This digital conditionality has serious implications for who we are, how we communicate, and how we construct real and digital identities. This course will pick up with the depths to which digital mediation has impacted (if not infect- ed) everyday discourse, drawing attention to the qualities and considerations necessary to one’s success in digital culture (from writ- ing for machine audiences to crafting digital identities to being attentive to matters of experience design).

CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H 23 R228 ARGUMENTATION AND PUBLIC ADVOCACY FREYA THIMSEN MW 9:25–10:40 HD Argumentation techniques are powerful tools that can be used for pure self interest and consolidating power. Good arguments can also promote policies that help people and serve the greater good. As we learn about different kinds of advocacy you will have the chance to develop your own sense of how you would like to use argumentation as a citizen concerned about the common good. You will learn specialized terms to describe how persuasion functions on the surface and deeper levels of public culture. Topics may include presidential campaign rhetoric, LGBTQ rhetoric, how university research establishes credibility, how nationalist identity fosters political change, Black liberation rhetoric, and the role of emotion in democracy. You will practice argumentation in friendly debates.

24 CASE A&H / GEN ED A&H W301 WRITING FICTION

W301 is a workshop course BOB BLEDSOE in fiction writing, which focus- MW 3:15–4:30 es on the art of the short story. P We will read a selection of fiction from writers consid- ered masters of the form. We will analyze, critique and discuss this work, and then we will do the same with your work, in a focused and deliberate way. Along the way we will consider the creative process, our work- ing habits, and revision, the most important element in the production of completed stories.

25 W303 WRITING POETRY This upper-level poetry workshop ROMAYNE DORSEY will focus on developing your orig- MW 11:30–12:45 inal work. In class, we will write, read, and write some more, focus- P ing on craft through close reading of contemporary poetry along with essays on poetics. As a craft practice, you will keep a common book on what you read. In workshop, we will engage your poems in process: what is found there, what calls for further explo- ration, etc. You can expect to submit multiple revisions of each poem. By semester’s end, you will have 10–12 pages of new and original poems, several from prompts or in-class writing. Possible course texts include: Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Grat- itude; Limón’s Bright Dead Things; Sharif’s Look; and Smith’s Life On Mars. 26 W381 THE CRAFT OF FICTION W381 will focus on the craft BOB BLEDSOE of fiction. We will cover the most important compo- MW 1:10–2:25 nents of fiction — structure, Mode TBD characterization, plot, de- scription, dialogue, point of view, voice, setting, and revision — by examining published works and writing assignments that focus your attention on elements of craft. What brings fiction to life? What makes characters compelling or memorable? How might you improve your fiction writing skills? We will read and write lit- erary fiction with a focus on aesthetic quality. What are your literary tastes? Have you discovered or refined them? Can you articulate your methodology or your ideas? This course will rely on discussion to test ideas and gain new perspective. 27 W383 THE CRAFT OF POETRY ROSS GAY MW 4:55–6:10 HD In this class, craft of poetry, we will be making as many boats as we possibly can, all of them collaborative, all of them met- aphorical, all of them good for travel and gathering, all of them good for getting closer to our hearts. Or good for hold- ing each other’s hearts. Taking them where they need to go. But nuts and bolts! We will be collaborating on impossibles, including drawings, plays, operas, puppet soap operas, movies, and other kinds of weird stuff that will be 1. fun, 2. interesting for your poetry (etc.) and 3. practice at togeth- ering. 28 L306 MEDIEVAL LITERATURE OF THE QUEER How did the Middle Ages KARMA LOCHRIE conceive of masculinity and TR 9:25–10:40 P femininity, trans and nonbi- nary genders? Most people might assume that this period of literary history had little to say on these subjects, but they would be wrong. In fact, me- dieval texts have the potential to challenge our own ways of thinking about gender, as well as sexuality. For example, the Romance of Silence follows a heroine who passes as a man for most of its narrative and conducts its own debate between nature and nurture regarding the origins of gen- der. Sexuality, too, ranged in its representations from the bawdy to the romantic. Our study will be especially atten- tive the ways in which gen- der and sexuality might be “queer” in medieval texts and how medieval queerness might speak to modern queerness. CASE A&H 29 L310 LITERARY HISTORY 1

SHANNON GAYK MW 11:30–12:45 P This course surveys and samples the earliest literatures in English, from the Old English epic, Be- owulf, to the often bawdy sto- ries of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the courtly quest of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to early drama, love lyrics, and finally to Milton’s epic,Para - dise Lost. Beginning in the 700s and ending around 1700, you should expect a fast and furious journey through the “greatest hits” of early English literature, as we approach early literary history as the story of cultures’ imaginative engagement with their historical, social politi- cal, and religious contexts. You should leave the course with a strong grounding not only in the history and the texts we cover, but also in methods for reading literary texts in relation to their historical contexts. 30 CASE A&H L312 LITERARY HISTORY 2: THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS

JESSE MOLESWORTH MW 9:25–10:40 P The period between 1700 and 1900 witnessed massive po- litical revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. It also wit- nessed massive revolutions in both culture and in literature. This course surveys of the most significant aesthetic and his- torical developments in both Britain and in America during this time. What marks a literary text as “revolutionary”? How are revolutions waged not with weapons but with words? Authors will include Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, William Blake, Herman Mel- ville, Frederick Douglass, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Oscar Wilde.

CASE A&H 31 L313 THE EARLY PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE

LINDA CHARNES TR 3:15–4:30 DO In this course we will read six plays from Shakespeare’s earlier career, roughly pre-1600. What were the issues that most ob- sessed the young playwright, and how do they provide a roadmap into how to understand his entire career? A self-made man who came to London with little means, how did Shakespeare manage to create such a staggering career? Why were his plays popular? More importantly, how does he carve a place for himself by up- ping the ante for his fellow play- wrights? Reading will include: The Taming of the Shrew; The Mer- chant of Venice; King Richard II; Henry V; Troilus and Cressida; Hamlet.

32 =L310 / CASE A&H L316 LITERARY HISTORY 3: NOSTALGIA

You can’t go home again. Or JUDITH BROWN can you? This class thinks about TR 1:10–2:25 P home, loss, and that pleasur- ably achy feeling of nostalgia from the early twentieth centu- ry to the present. Is nostalgia conservative? Does it have a national or gender politics? Does it tell us anything about the future, or our feelings about our globalizing world? What is the relationship between gender and migration? We’ll discuss nostalgia in relation to movements such as mod- ernism, postmodernism, and postcolonialism, and will read a range of narratives, that will likely include Rebecca West’s Return of the Soldier, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Ka- zuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Lynn Nottage’s Sweat.

CASE A&H 33 L317 IN AND OUT OF THE ARCHIVES: ENGLISH POETRY OF THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PENELOPE ANDERSON A bible printed on golden TR 11:30–12:45 HD paper. A hand-drawn map of sixteenth-century Tepea- ca, Mexico. Helen Mirren’s breastplate from Excalibur. A miniature book of poems shaped like a flower. What do all these items have to do with each other, and what do they have to do with early seven- teenth-century English poetry? All these items are among the treasures of the Lilly Library, and they all help open ques- tions and generate answers about the rich meanings of the poems written by John Donne, William Shakespeare, Aeme- lia Lanyer, and others. In this course, we will combine close reading of the poems with individual and collaborative research in the archives to in- vestigate religious revolution, colonial expansion, gendered power, and aesthetic beauty, among other topics. 34 =L310 / CASE A&H L346 TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITISH FICTION: 1945-2000 A survey of English prose in RANU SAMANTRAI the second half of the twentieth OA century. We’ll read works that respond to the dizzying pace of change in an era that saw the great European empires give way to the Cold War, and ordinary life transformed by counter-cultural rebellions and globalization. We’ll read plays by Tom Stoppard and Caryl Churchill, and novels by Sam Selvon, Salman Rushdie, Ka- zuo Ishiguro, Pat Barker, David Mitchell, and Bernadine Evaris- to. These writers will introduce you to the experimentation of postmodernism, the fun of the postcolonial, and the irony of new realism. By the end of the semester you’ll have a map of the period that touches upon its history, philosophy, and aes- thetics.

CASE A&H / =L316 35 L351 AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CRISIS, 1850-1870

JONATHAN ELMER Our present historical moment is TR 9:25–10:40 P marked by racial violence, white supremacist ideology, religious fervor, partisan ruthlessness, and unprecedented fascination with media technologies. This sounds like a pretty good description of the nineteenth century in the United States too, especially in the years leading up to, and im- mediately after, the Civil War.

This class will think about liter- ature in relation to social crisis. We will consider issues of belief and spirituality (new religions, prophetic voices, spiritualism) as well as media technology (print, telegraphy, photography, and channeling). And we will ask questions about how culture responds to and provokes social crisis. Authors will include Alcott, Dickinson, Douglass, Emerson, Jacobs, Melville, Poe, Stoddard, and Whitman. 36 =L312 / CASE A&H L357 TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN POETRY

This course surveys 20th-cen- JOSHUA KATES tury American poetry. We will MW 7:00–8:15 DO begin from the modernists (T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound) and anti-modernists (Robert Frost), registering the importance of the image and imagism to both. We will proceed through objectivism (Mari- anne Moore, William Car- los Williams) and then to the Harlem Renaissance. Next comes the turn to more “au- tobiographical” poetry in the second half of the century (the Beats, Robert Lowell, Eliza- beth Bishop), and we end with the turn to language (John Ashbery, Jorie Graham). Throughout we will pay atten- tion to the way poetry works: meter, syntax, metaphor and other tropes. Participants in this course should come pre- pared to read carefully and closely—and also to enjoy. CASE A&H / =L316 37 L371 CRITICAL PRACTICES

JOSHUA KATES The aim of this course is to famil- TR 3:15–4:30 DO iarize students with some of the leading problems and debates comprising the field of literary the- ory. We will study, in particular, two issues. The first will be literary or artistic value: are some works to be judged better than others, and, if so, how, by what criterion or standard? Secondly, how does one understand or interpret liter- ature; what should a reader do with literature and what is he or she actually interpreting—the au- thor’s intention, the words on the page as defined by a dictionary, or something else? Here we will touch on debates that include le- gal interpretation (Judge Antonin Scalia’s textual views) as well as theories of poetics and language.

38 CASE A&H L371 CRITICAL PRACTICES

Critical Practices is a course NICK WILLIAMS that allows students to think TR 9:25–10:40 Mode TBD about questions that most literature classes raise but which often aren’t the focus of discussion: What is the function of literature and how does it relate to other disci- plines, such as the sciences? When we read a text from the past, should we try to put ourselves in a mindset from the past in order to understand it? To what extent does literature (and the arts more generally) speak to aspects of human psychology which lie deeper than reason and the conscious mind? We’ll sample critical works from some of the best thinkers about these and oth- er questions. Since theoretical texts can be difficult, the focus will be on enhancing student understanding of the material.

CASE A&H 39 L381 THE ESSAY AND THE EPIC, INVENTED, CRITICAL SELF

WALTON MUYUMBA MW 11:30–12:45 HD In this course we will inves- tigate how writers use the essay form and personal ex- perience to critique life in the United States. We will study the fundamental practices of some contemporary essayists through their recent works of nonfiction. Also, we’ll exam- ine how contemporary writers have improvised on the essay and created various, new forms that allow them to cri- tique American cultural poli- tics and “invent” their literary personas simultaneously. Along the way, we will detail the different techniques these artists employ in order to describe the ways that their epic personas emerge, in fact, from paying intense critical attention to the multilayered arrangements of US life. 40 =L316 / CASE A&H L391 LITERATURE FOR ADOLESCENTS REBEKAH SHELDON MW 9:25–10:40 P

What is it about teens and the end of the world? Teen dysto- pias and apocalypses such as Hunger Games, Divergent, and Uglies have dominated 21st century Young Adult Literature and attracted both youth and adult markets. While teen dysto- pias are a recent phenomenon, the teen has been the subject of adult anxiety since its origin in the mid-20th century. In this class, we will look at the 20th century creation and transfor- mation of the teen as an Amer- ican figure from the 1950s to the present as a way to understand the emergence of YA dystopian and apocalyptic literature in the past two decades.

CASE A&H 41 L396 AFROFUTURISM

DE WITT KILGORE This course focuses on Afrofutur- OA ism, a speculative form practiced primarily by black writers, artists and musicians. In this mode they create stories, images and sounds invoking pasts and futures directed by the experiences and designs of the African Diaspora. Often operating within the conventions of mainstream futurism, Afrofutur- ism also serves as a counter to the persistence of tomorrows in which whiteness is the historical and so- cial dominant. We will trace the transracial traffic of ideas, words, and images that has made Afro- futurism an important concept in recent science fiction and Amer- ican musical culture.

42 =L316 / CASE A&H/CASE DUS R323 SPEECH COMPOSITION

The purpose of this course is ROBERT TERRILL to develop skills in persua- MW 1:10–2:25 HY T sive writing and speaking. We will think of “persuasion” broadly, and we will focus particularly on exploring the potential for the artful use of language not merely to influence outcomes but also to fashion audiences. Our primary resources will be his- torical and contemporary ex- emplars of persuasive public communication. We will an- alyze these texts closely with an eye toward extracting from them an archive of ef- fective rhetorical tactics. And then we will draw upon this archive as we compose and improve our own writing. Stu- dents should expect to write several papers throughout the semester, and likely will be required to deliver some compositions orally. CASE S&H/IW 43 R330 SCIENCE, ADVOCACY, AND THE PUBLIC

KURT ZEMLICKA TR 4:55–6:10 Mode TBD Science, Advocacy, and the Public asks the question “how can scientists better communi- cate their research and con- cerns to the public?” We will explore how an understanding of the role of rhetoric in scientif- ic research can help us better advocate for science-based policy related to COVID-19, vaccines, and other pressing public health issues in an era of increasing scientific skepticism.

44 R355 PUBLIC MEMORY IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE CINDY SMITH What do we think we, as a so- TR 11:30–12:45 HD ciety, “know” about past events and their significance? How did we come to “know” this? This course takes a rhetorical per- spective on the contested nature of public memory, primarily in the United States. We will examine what public memory is, how it is perpetuated, how and why it is configured to privilege some his- torical interpretations over others, and how it is modified over time. This semester we will examine various media of memory such as museums, popular film, mon- uments and memorials, living history museums, children’s toys and collectibles, television, tour- ist souvenirs, and more.

CASE S&H 45 R397 VISUAL RHETORIC JOHN ARTHOS MWF 11:15–12:05 HYT Visual Rhetoric focuses on dis- tinctive rhetorical features of visual discourse. This iteration of the course will take up fea- ture film narrative as a cultural instrument of public commu- nication. Interpretive criteria such as narrative fidelity and probability (Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm) will help students hone their critical acumen as rhetorical critics of this popular art form. We will get broad exposure to both American and international films, and develop a rich the- oretical vocabulary of critical judgment.

46 CASE A&H L450 WRITING DISASTER SHANNON GAYK MW 1:10–2:25 P This seminar focuses on the lit- erature of ecological disaster. Our reading will be chrono- logically, geographically, and disciplinarily expansive, though we will especially fo- cus on creative responses to catastrophic floods: from an- cient archetypal accounts of a flooded world, to literature and films set in Katrina-era New Orleans, to recent cli- fi novels. We will consider: How do we make sense of the senselessness of disaster? How do writers represent ex- periences of unprecedented destruction and loss? How they engage questions of ecological vulnerability and precarity? How does disaster affect marginalized communities? How might disaster help us imagine a more resilient or just futures? 47 L470 ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL ALLISON TURNER How is the category of the hu- MW 4:55–6:10 HD man related to the classification of living things into species—and to the historical constructions of race, class, gender, and sexu- ality? We will explore this—and related—questions surrounding the development of natural tax- onomic systems during the long eighteenth century. Readings for the course will include philo- sophical and scientific texts; nov- els, poems, and a play; as well as select secondary and theo- retical texts. Our archive of texts will reveal to us a variety of ways that human beings have encoun- tered, defined, used, cared for, and lived with other creatures and entities. In doing so, we’ll find that these texts also offer up ways that human beings have understood—and sometimes mis- understood—themselves. 48

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