Oklahoma State University Graduate Programs in English
Literature Course Offerings for Fall 2006
ENGL 5063.001 CID# 17741 Seminar in Shakespeare: The Human Body/Pesta M 4:30-7:10pm 310M. Why do so many dead, decayed, and dismembered bodies appear in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries? In sixteenth-century Europe, the burgeoning science of human dissection helped undermine long-standing assumptions about the sanctity of the human body. Such dissections raised a host of fears and anxieties that transgressed some of society’s most deeply-held beliefs. English 5063 will trace the impact of these somatic anxieties in the plays of Shakespeare and a few select contemporaries, paying special attention to the body as epistemological construct. Readings will include Shakespeare’s T itus Andronicus, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, and Coriolanus (among others), John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, Henry Chettle’s The Tragedy of Hoffman, and Cyril Tourneur’s The Atheist’s Tragedy. Term paper, midterm, final exam, seminar presentation.
ENGL 5460.351 CID#17743 Gothic Novels/Wallen Th 6:45-9:30pm 202M. Well before Dickens filled his pages with characters so vapid that even Laura Bush could approve, the novel was a dangerous genre that moralists and physicians warned would ruin English youth. This course will examine these works of the Dark Side from the late eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Reports, research paper. -- "Any book with the Devil in it has to be good!" (Albert Einstein)
ENGL 6110.351 CID#17745 Marianne Moore & Elizabeth Bishop/Leavell T4:30-7: 10pm 310M. Moore and Bishop met when Moore was an established poet and Bishop a college student. They liked each other immediately and became lifelong friends. Both have a precise eye for detail, both write about animals, and although both resist easy classification, both are highly regarded by a wide range of poets. The seminar will examine not only their poetry and prose but also their respective generations and the dynamics of influence between mentor and protégé.
ENGL 6220.351 CID#17748 Seminar in Genre: The Narrative and Techniques of Persuasion Walker MWF 1:30-2:20pm 310M. An examination of how storytellers (novelists, filmmakers, dramatists, historians) use diverse narrative strategies to shape the attitudes and beliefs of their readers and/or their audiences. Some talk of Austen and Dickens, Allen and Bergman, Albee and Chekhov, Goodwin and friends.
ENGL 6260.001 CID#17749 Lacan and His Followers/Manon W 6:45-9:30pm 310M. Originally published in 1966, Jacques Lacan’s masterwork, Écrits, has just become available for the first time in English—all 878 pages of it—a good sign that Lacanian theory is as relevant (and daunting) as ever. This seminar takes Bruce Fink’s new translation as occasion to explore Lacan in the primary, including sections from Écrits, Four Fundamental Concepts, and The Seminar, Book XX: Encore. Our course will begin as a primer in the cornerstones of Lacanian theory: Real, Imaginary & Symbolic, the notion that “the unconscious is structured like a language,” and the famous assertion that “there is no sexual relationship.” Later, we will engage in a discussion of works by the some of the best contemporary Lacanians: Slavoj Žižek, Michel Chion, Joan Copjec and others. This seminar engages with theory per se, and has no particular programmatic affiliation; students from all disciplines are encouraged to enroll. Several short response essays, one presentation, and a 20-plus page term paper.
English Department
College of Arts & Sciences
Oklahoma State University
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-9474
For Information about English Programs: english.information@okstate.edu
Webmaster: engweb@okstate.edu
