Undergraduate Literature Course Offerings for Spring 2007
1923.001-004 Great Works of Literature (H) – 20003-20006 Pesta
The Devil is in the Details . In this course designed for non-majors who have little to no background in literature, we will consider changing literary and artistic representations of Hell and the Devil in Western culture. From Dante’s Inferno to C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, from Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus to Goethe’s Faust, we will focus on the endless struggle between good and evil as played out in drama, fiction, and epic. This is your opportunity to read great books that will make you culturally literate, study key themes in the formation of modern culture, and earn college credit. Along the way, we will encounter warrior angels like Michael and Gabriel, and demonic personifications of evil, including Satan, Beelzebub, and Mephistopheles.
MW 10:30-11:20, discussions various times on Friday
2413.001-006 Introduction to Literature (H) – 20012, 14-15, 17-19 Various Faculty
An introduction to poetry, drama, fiction, and film. Students will develop their abilities to think critically and write analytically about literature. Both papers and examinations. Various Times
2413.701^ Introduction to Literature (H) – 20020 Honors Walker
An introduction to literature and critical thinking, with an emphasis on the way storytellers (fiction writers, dramatists, poets, filmmakers) use diverse narrative strategies to shape the attitudes and beliefs of their readers. TR 10:30-11:45
2543.001, 002Survey of British Literature I – 20033, 27146 Hair
British literary tradition from the Anglo-Saxon period down to the eighteenth century--one thousand years of literary foundations. We will read and discuss various genres, including epic, romance, and drama; texts and authors treated include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Behn, and Pope. 1 essay, quizzes, 3 exams. MWF 10:30-11:20, MWF 9:30-10:20
2653.001, 002 Survey of British Literature II – 20034 Austin, McConnell
England ’s literary tradition after 1798. Read works by Wordsworth, Keats, Browning, Yeats, Lawrence, and others. TR 3:30-4:45, MWF 12:30-1:20
2773.001 Survey of American Literature I – 20036 Frohock
An interdisciplinary tour through early American culture and history, from the voyage of Columbus to the end of the Civil War. We will read and learn about early colonial encounters, Puritan faith and experience in New England, Enlightenment and Revolution, the struggle to overthrow slavery, and the emergence of distinctly American poetry and fiction. MWF 8:30-9:20
2883.001, 002 Survey of American Literature II – 20037 Griffith, Lopez
How did “these United States” become “the United States?” Why are the last 100 years called “the American century?” We’ll ask, and tentatively answer, such questions as we explore American literature and culture from 1865 to present. Three exams and one paper. TR 9:00-10:15, MWF 11:30-12:20
3123.001 Mythology (H) – 20040 Eldevik
Greek and Roman mythology as encountered in the great literature of Classical antiquity. Authors include Homer, Hesiod, Ovid, and Virgil. Follow the Roman calendar and the myths associated with each month. What Roman deity is "January" named after, and what's so bizarre about him? Who gave his name to the month of March, and why? MWF 2:30-3:20
3173.001 World Literature II (H, I) – 20042 Prchal
Explore novels, short stories, film, and poetry (in English) from Africa, the Middle East, mainland Asia, and the Pacific Rim. Discuss strategies available to--and limitations facing--readers from the Western world who delve into literature and narratives from these areas. Special attention will be paid to issues of colonization, post-colonialism, and globalization. TR 9:00-10:15
3173.701^ World Literature II (H, I) – 25155 Honors Fitz
20th century texts from Hawaii, Japan, China, India, Egypt, Israel, South Africa, Nigeria, and Botswana. Acquire a knowledge of critical
vocabulary and of concepts necessary for discussion of cultural and philosophical problems that arise in reading literature from
Non-Western cultures TR 3:30-4:45
3183.001 Native American Literature (H) – 25156 Smith
Beginning with texts by Indian writers of the early 20 th century, this class will explore the development of a Native American literary tradition, paying special attention to how Native narratives work to reconstruct history, to reclaim the past. Two essays, two exams. MWF 1:30-2:20
3193.801+ African-American Literature (H) – 25454 Tulsa Shabazz
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to a variety of classic texts, writers, and themes that have shaped what is commonly called the African-American literary tradition. However, we spend a great deal of the course looking at critical questions and paradigms that are central to the discipline of African American literature and culture in order that students may then apply these skills to future readings. We will cover texts such as slave and oral narratives such as spirituals, blues, work songs & gospels, and look at how these genres develop and form the foundational elements of contemporary Black literary traditions and aesthetic movements. M 4:30-7:10
3240.351 Literary Criticism – 20046 Wallen
Do you sometimes wonder how to justify being an English major? Does your father tell you that reading novels will keep you from getting a job, marrying a good-looking person, and attaining high public office? In Literary Criticism we shall examine all the ways literature and art have made life worth living; so take this course and learn just how important beautiful works of art really are -- and how to answer your dad. Discussion, papers, exams. MWF 11:30-12:20
3363.001 Readings in Drama (H) – 20078 Mayer
Love, Sex, Marriage, Divorce, Comedy . We'll start with Shakespeare, read several Restoration and eighteenth-century comedies, then plays by Wilde and Shaw, and finish by looking at American films from the 1930s and 1940s as well as at least one from the 1970s. We'll consider how comedies treat sex and love and try to make sense of marriage and divorce. Exams, papers, participation, quizzes. TR 9:00-10:15
3410.351 Popular Fiction (H) – 20079 Batteiger
We'll read 20th century political novels by Orwell, Graham Greene, Robert Penn Warren, William Golding, Aldous Huxley, and Andrew McDonald. The familiar ones are All the King's Men, 1984, Animal Farm. Less familiar are Graham Greene's The Quiet American, McDonald's The Turner Diaries (supposedly the book that inspired the OKC bombing). and Huxley's Brave New World. We'll also look at films made from some of these books, and political films not made from books. It's literature, but it's also politics, but we'll try to keep ourselves under control and not get into political fights. We want to focus on what these minds have made of politics, not whether we agree with them. MWF 9:30-10:20
3813.001 Readings in the American Experience (H) – 25153 Smith
Explore the Oklahoma experience through readings by a diversity of Okie authors. This course will investigate the many components, some well-known and others well-hidden, that comprise red dirt cultures. Expect a fast-paced reading list, including items by Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck, N. Scott Momaday, Joy Harjo, Rilla Askew, Michael Wallis, and others. This course will challenge us to think of our home in new ways. Two exams, 2 essays. MWF 11:30-12:20
3813.002 Readings in the American Experience (H) – 25153 Mason
Race and Reproduction. This course introduces some of the newer scholarly approaches to the interdisciplinary study of reproduction by focusing on issues of racism, nation building, and imperial expansion yet retains an older feminist approach by examining women’s experiences with the racialized issues of fertility, childrearing, and motherhood. We’ll move between fictionalized and non-fiction accounts of the inextricable relationship between race relations and reproductive politics. Main topics include: colonizing maternity; reproducing whiteness circa 1900; women of color organizing for reproductive justice now. TR 12:30-1:45
4170.001 Studies in 20 th-Century British Literature – 20089 Walkiewicz
Modern Irish Literature. Beginning with W. B. Yeats and James Joyce, we’ll be examining the ways in which Irish writers have responded to recent Irish history and culture, have represented the Irish colonial and post-colonial experience. We’ll be discussing matters relating to race, gender, and class as we read poetry, fiction, and drama by a number of Irish writers, including not only Yeats and Joyce, but also Eavan Boland, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Bowen, Flann O’Brien, J. M. Synge, Sean O’Casey and others. TR 2:00-3:15
4210.001 19 th Century American Literature – 20090 Decker
Life Along the Color Line . Representing Race in the 19th-Century American Novel. Cooper, Melville, Stowe, Clemens, Chesnutt. (You will read and enjoy Moby-Dick. Guaranteed.) Three papers; final exam. MWF 10:30-11:20
4220.001 20 th Century American Literature – 20091 Leavell
American Drama. How have America’s 20th-century playwrights interpreted and challenged dramatic conventions? How have they used theater to ignite social change? Read O’Neill, Hellman, Williams, Miller, Albee, Shepard, and a few others. 6 informal responses, 2 critical essays, 2 essay exams. TR 9:00-10:15
4300.001 Romanticism – 25173 Wallen
Revolution, electro-magnetism, the metric system, and Keats' poetry - this course will show how Europe shed its old corrupt habits to embrace the hope and promise of a new age. If you think beautiful poetry and exciting, dangerous ideas should be stifled, stay away. Discussion, papers, exams. MWF 9:30-10:20
4320.001 Studies in Postmodernism – 20092 Walkiewicz Fiction – From the Absurd to the Postmodern . Major Major Major Major, a time-traveling optometrist, a female trapeze artist with wings, a Sheep Man, and a female cyborg from an alternate reality-these are some of the characters we will encounter as we read and discuss novels by Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Angela Carter, Haruki Murkami, Joanna Russ, and others. Two papers, two exams. TR 10:30-11:45
4400.001 Regional Literature – 20093 Leavell
Expatriate Literature . What draws American artists, intellectuals, opportunists, tourists, and students of all ages to cross the billow? Sex? Booze? Culture? Seven expat writers: James, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, Baldwin, Paul Bowles, and Arthur Phillips. 6 informal responses, 2 critical essays, 2 essay exams. TR 12:30-1:45
4600.001 Studies in Chaucer/Milton – 25177Jones
His contemporaries called him many names: adulterer, woman-hater, freedom-lover, king-killer. His writings continue to pique interest. Find out about vegetarian meals in Paradise, an infamous talking snake, a virgin stuck in a chair, and the consequences of a famous haircut. 2 papers, 2 exams, 1 tutorial, and a public reading of Paradise Lost. MWF 12:30-1:20
4700. 001 Single Author/Work – 26973 Mayer
Robinson Crusoe: Castaway Narratives from Shakespeare to TV . We'll focus on Robinson Crusoe (1719) as a myth of modern culture, reading the novel and works that anticipate or imitate it. We'll also read or watch castaway narratives from The Tempest (1611) to Lost (2004), including novels like Swiss Family Robinson, Lord of the Flies, and Foe and films like Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Buñuel) and Cast Away (Zemeckis). Papers, class reports, participation, quizzes. TR 10:30-11:45
4723.001 Shakespeare (H) – 20105 Eldevik
Taking advantage of the new textbook Shakespeare: Script, Stage, Screen and the upcoming OSU production of Julius Caesar, we shall strongly emphasize the theatrical aspects of Shakespeare's works and the experience of viewing Shakespeare performances both live and on film. Another important emphasis will be the variety of genres in which Shakespeare wrote--tragedies, comedies, romances, and history plays. MWF 10:30-11:20
*indicates the course is approved for graduate credit
^701 sections for honors students only
+801 sections offered at OSU-Tulsa
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
