Undergraduate Literature Courses Spring 2009

ENGL 1923.001-004 - Great Works of Literature (H) / Batteiger
CID 12741-12744,  MW 10:30-11:20am
In this course we will read important political novels of the twentieth century, including Huxley’s Brave New World, Orwell’s Animal Farm, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and, as background, Machiavelli’s The Prince. We will also view important political films, such as Citizen Kane. The emphasis will be on how these novels and films critique existing world orders or propose new ones for our consideration. Two exams, two papers (5 pages each) and a final examination.

ENGL 2413.001-3,5,6 -Introduction to Literature (D, H)
Various times, Various instructors
Students will analyze literary texts (including their formal features and themes) as products of the cultural contexts in which they were produced. A majority of the readings for the course will consists of works that were composed by and/or express the concerns and experiences of women, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos/Latinas.  Students should leave the course with a better understanding of what these groups have contributed to American literary history and American culture as a whole.

ENGL 2413.004 - Introduction to Literature (D, H) / Eldevik
CID 12749, TR 9:00-10:15am
This course explores a variety of literary forms--prose fiction, poetry, drama--and, in accordance with the D designation, investigates literary representations of diversity in America.  In addition, this semester there will be special emphases on satire and parody and on Slavic (Russian and Polish) writers.

ENGL 2413.701 - Introduction to Literature - Honors (D, H) / Gildersleeve
CID 12752, TR 2:00-3:15pm
An honors-level introduction to literature course with the objective of familiarising students with various literature genres. The diversity designation includes the perspectives of traditionally under-represented voices and groups. Readings will cover both canonical writers – the big ‘names’ of literature, read from non-canonical perspectives – as well as less well-known writers, many publishing in contemporary times. Students will submit papers as well as essay exams.

ENGL 2543.001 - Survey of British Literature I / Mayer  
CID 12765, TR 9:00-10:15am
British Literary tradition --- about one thousand years of literary foundations. Expect to read and discuss various genres including epic, romance and drama. Texts may include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Behn and Pope. Essays, quizzes and exams.

ENGL 2653.001- Survey of British Literature II / Franzese
CID 12767, TR 12:30-1:45pm
This course will attend to the styles, concepts and cultural context to be identified with significant works from the periods of Romantic, Victorian and Twentieth Century British literature. The course will attempt to offer not so much a history of literary events as a literary history of consciousness. We will measure our success by our ability to discern demonstrable continuities and creative departures in the course of our readings.

ENGL 2883.002 - Survey of American Literature II (D) / Smith
CID 1277, TR 10:30-11:45am
Our course introduces the range of American literatures following 1855 by providing a sampling of the works of several authors who express, confront, and encompass particularly American identities. The following question will be central to the course: "Under what circumstances does national identity celebrate or deny a variety of cultural identities in America?" By learning more about the works of authors from a variety of regional, racial, sexual, and historical backgrounds, we will discover overarching themes that distinguish American literature and thereby suggest characteristics of American identity. Class attendance, preparation, and participation are mandatory. Course text: Baym, Nina, Ed. Norton Anthology of American Literature, Package 2.

ENGL 3123.001 - Mythology (H) / Eldevik
CID 12773, TR 2:00-3:15pm
Gods and goddesses, warrior heroes and heroines, the products of the ancient Greek and Roman imagination as depicted by poets such as Homer, Ovid, and Hesiod.  Midterm and final exam; quizzes; short writing assignments, term paper, team presentation.

ENGL 3173.002  -  World Literature II (I) / Aubeeluck
CID 12777, MWF 12:30-1:20pm
Explore novels, short stories, film, and academic articles from regions of Africa, the Middle East, mainland Asia, the U.S, 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, immigration, transnationalism and globalization.

ENGL 3190.001 - Readings in Post-colonial/Multiethnic Literature / Prchal
CID 18741,  MWF 1:30-2:20pm
From Reconstruction to Immigration Restriction, 1865-1925.  We will take a comparative approach to American ethnic literature from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth.  African-American authors, including Charles Chesnutt and Nella Larsen, will be read along side immigrant authors, such as Anzia Yezierska and Sui Sin Far.  We will also look at what Mark Twain, Willa Cather, and other white, native-born authors had to say about the nation's treatment of its African-American and immigrant peoples.

ENGL 3193.001 - African-American Literature (D, H) / Smith
CID 12778, MWF 1:30-2:20pm
This course is a survey of major movements in African American creative, intellectual, and vernacular traditions. The following question will be central to the course: "In what ways does African American literature stand as a canon of its own and in what ways does it respond to a broader American literary canon"? Over the semester, we will discover several cultural, thematic, political, and literary conventions that are significant in African American studies. By learning about the myriad forms in which African American cultures are expressed, we will discover ways in which these cultures are integral parts of the broader American culture. Class attendance, preparation, and participation are mandatory. Course text: McKay, Nellie and Gates, Henry Louis, Eds. Norton Anthology of African American Literature  

ENGL 3243.001 - Literary Theory and Criticism / Austin  
CID 18742, TR 2:00-3:00pm
A survey of the aesthetic, philosophical, social, psychological, and linguistic theory that is central to the study of literature today.  We shall discuss both mimetic and expressive traditions of literature, as well as the sublime mode. In addition, we shall consider how we understand and use the concept of the author, how we assign value, how the discipline of English literature has established parameters of interpretation, how gender affects reading and valuation. Expect difficult reading and challenging discussion. Two papers, midterm, and final.

ENGL 3343.001 - Readings in Poetry / M. Price
CID 18743, TR 10:30-11:45am
The genre of poetry from epic to free verse by form and theme. Useful stuff for English majors. Assessment includes discussion, short papers, exams.

ENGL 3383.001- Readings in Narrative / Grubgeld
CID 12814,  MWF 10:30-11:20am
Although linked by a common preoccupation with the uncanny and the supernatural, the primarily 20th century novels and short fiction in the course ask us to read in radically diverse ways, thus developing our versatility and expertise as readers of fiction.  Novels by Stoker and Morrison; short fiction by Conrad, Dubus, and O’Connor.  Series of short response papers, final exam.

ENGL 3410.001- Popular Fiction—Science Fiction  (H) / Walkiewicz
CID 18744, MWF 11:30-12:20pm
Surveying the genre of science fiction from the early 19th century to the recent past, we will concentrate on such things as gender and class issues as we analyze the ways various writers and one film maker have examined what it means to be human. Along the way, we’ll encounter aliens and androids in the process of exploring a variety of dystopias and post-apocalyptic landscapes. Two papers, midterm, final.

ENGL 3410.801 - Popular Fiction: Detective Fiction / Takacs
CID 18962, T 4:30-7:10pm, TULSA
This course will focus on (mostly) American detective fiction. We will survey the historical development of the field from Edgar Allen Poe's short stories through the "hardboiled" fiction of Hammett and Chandler up to modern variations on the detective story by feminist authors and authors of color. Evaluation will likely consist of several short online comprehension exercises, a research essay and two exams.

ENGL 4100.001 - Studies in Medieval British Literature: Body and Text  / Price  
CID 18746, TR 2:00-3:15pm
In recent years, “the body” has proved a fruitful concept through which to explore such topics as art, literature, history, theater, and film; no time period seems more apt for such analysis than the later Middle Ages, wherein corpus Christi might mean at the same time the physical body of the historical Christ, the suffering body of Christ crucified, the real presence of Christ in the host, the body of the church and its members, and the relationships between church, community, and identity. We will read a number of Middle English texts, including the frequently and the infrequently anthologized, in order to open up ways in which the concept of the body undergirds aspects of the Middle Ages both theological and carnal. Students will be expected to make presentations and lead discussion on their chosen text. Assessment includes translation assignments, a presentation, and a research paper.

ENGL 4130.001 - Studies in 18th-Century Brit. Lit.: England and the Wider World  / Frohock
CID 1282,  MWF 9:30-10:20am
 In this course we will consider how the British represented the wider world during the eighteenth century in fiction and travel narratives.  Works we will read depict the West Indies, the South Seas, Africa and  the Middle East.   Assignments include term papers and exams.  ENGL 3243. 001 Lit Theory & Criticism / Smith MWF 1:30-2:20. CID 18083 This course introduces the most influential theoretical approaches to literature. In addition to developing a better understanding of literary theory, students will begin the process of applying those various theories to texts through independent projects. Class preparation and participation are mandatory. Course texts: Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory plus additional reserve readings.  

ENGL 4170.001 - Studies in 20th-Century Brit. Lit.: Irish Literature / Grubgeld  
CID 12822,  MWF 12:30-1:20pm
We will focus on the drama, poetry, short stories, nonfiction (and music) of modern and contemporary Ireland in the context of its complex and unusual history and culture.  We will read familiar figures like Yeats, Shaw, and Joyce as well as many others who may be new to you. Analytical paper, short reports, participation in play and poem readings.

ENGL 4210.001 - Studies in 19th-Century Am. Lit.: The Bestseller and the Book / Walker 
CID 12823, TR 10:30-11:45
Seduction, betrayal, murder, moral outrage, mystery, and romance are the narrative engines of American’s most popular stories, nineteenth-century bestsellers often published as series, as serials, as sequels, as subscriptions, and as bestsellers turned into blockbusters. What texts were popular and why? What can our reading of bestsellers (a historie du livre) tell us about the society that produced and then by the millions, consumed them? Papers, presentations, and a final exam.

ENGL 4220.001 -  Studies in 20th-Century Am. Lit.: Poetry / Leavell
CID 12824, TR 12:30-1:45pm
"Make it new." "No ideas but in things." "Imaginary gardens with real toads
in them." "[Poetry] begins in delight and ends in wisdom ... the same as for
love." What has poetry become in the past century? Who are its voices? What
are its designs? 6 informal responses, 2 critical essays, 2 essay exams.

ENGL 4320.001 - Studies in Postmodernism—Pursuing Postmodernism /  
Walkiewicz CID 18747, MWF 1:30-2:20pm
In an effort to pin down this slippery term, we will read introductory and theoretical texts as well as fiction and drama by Donald Barthelme, Angela Carter, Don DeLillo, Tom Stoppard, and others. We’ll also look for traces of the postmodern in contemporary mass culture as well as in representative works in a variety of other media, including architecture, film, music, painting, and photography. Lecture and discussion sessions will be supplemented by a film screening and multimedia presentations. Two papers, midterm, final.

ENGL 4400.001 - Regional Literature: Expatriate Americans / Leavell
CID 12827, TR 3:30-4:45pm
What draws American artists, intellectuals, opportunists, tourists, and students of all ages to cross the billow? Sex? Booze? Culture? Six expat writers: James, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, James Baldwin, Paul Bowles, and Patricia Highsmith. 6 informal responses, 2 critical essays, 2 essay exams.

ENGL 4520.701 - Honors Seminar: Gay and Lesbian Literature  / Mason
CID 12833, TR 9:00-10:15am
In the four decades since New York City's 1969 Stonewall rebellion, gay and lesbian literature has become established as a distinctive form of cultural expression. In a variety of styles and genres, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people began writing about sexual subcultures. At the same time, gay scholars began to search for a literary history long denied by the refusal to recognize homosexual love as an integral part of Western literature. And queer theorists began to analyze the power of language as it relates to the infinite varieties of gender expression. This seminar will explore these issues through a multicultural variety of literary genres. 

ENGL 4700.001 - Single Author/Work Pre-1800: Dante / Greteman  
CID 12840, TR 12:30-1:45pm
We will follow Dante on his grand poetic journey from the tortuous circles of Hell to the ecstasies of heaven -- an act of imagination that, in Dante's Paradiso, seems to astonish God himself.  Dante's poem is both a triumph of medieval religious allegory and a paradigm shift towards the modern, secular worldview.  As readers, we'll explore the paradox that this most spiritual of journeys keeps pointing back to earth, and forward to life as we know it.  

ENGL 4723. 001 Studies in Shakespeare / Jones MWF 12:30-1:20. CID 12788 An educated European assumes an undergraduate will at least know the names of the world's leading artists--writers, composers, painters, and architects. This course is for those who want to know more than Shakespeare's name. 2 papers, 2 exams, one tutorial session.

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
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