English is both a practical and a fulfilling major and minor. The program provides a broad, historical overview of American and British literature, looking closely at language and style, and the influence and reflection of cultural contexts.
The English major and minor build on and deepen the reading, writing, and thinking skills developed in the freshman writing and sophomore literature courses required of all CAS students.
Undergraduate studies in English provide strong preparation for graduate study in English, law, and business, for careers that depend on clear and effective writing, and for the life-long pleasures of reading and creative expression.
Students with satisfactory entrance proficiency in English take ENG-101 and ENG-102, the standard Freshman English sequence. Those whose SAT verbal scores indicate exceptional proficiency are invited to take ENG-103 (Advanced Freshman English) and follow it with ENG-102. For students in ENG-103 who receive a grade of “A,” "A-," "B+," or “B,” a free elective will replace 102. All new students whose standardized test scores indicate a need for further development of verbal or writing skills will be placed into a developmental English course (ENG-095 or ENG-096). Upon successful completion of this course, they will then matriculate into ENG-101 and will then follow the standard Freshman English sequence. Second-language students with serious writing problems may be required to enroll in additional developmental English courses before enrolling in ENG-101. Students may petition for further evaluation of their reading and writing proficiency before enrolling in ENG-095/ENG-096 by contacting the Second Language Services Office prior to the start of their first semester.
Students should have finished ENG-101 and ENG-102 or authorized equivalents by the time they have reached 64 credits. Delaying the English requirement may impair performance in upper division courses and make it difficult to graduate on schedule. Upper division students who have not completed all English requirements should do so before they achieve senior status.
NOTE: ENG-102 is a prerequisite for all English courses above ENG-124. However, students who pass ENG-103 with a B or above are exempt from ENG-102 and may take all English courses above ENG-124.
All CAS undergraduates must take one sophomore literature course. This requirement may be satisfied by enrolling in ENG-213 (English Literature I), ENG-214 (English Literature II), ENG-216 (World Literature), ENG-217 (American Literature I), or ENG-218 (American Literature II).
Note that all English majors must take TWO sophomore surveys: ENG-213 and ONE of ENG-214, ENG-217 or ENG-218. Each course offers an introduction to a significant body of literature in English with continued instruction in reading and writing skills.
Requirements for a major in English are satisfied by 36 credits of coursework in English (in addition to English 213, the sophomore CAS literature requirement). One course must be chosen from ENG-214, 217, and 218. Five courses must be chosen from the groups of English courses – one course per group – and lists of group courses are available in the English Department. A sixth course must be numbered 300 or above. Two English electives may be chosen from any English courses numbered above 104. The Seminar for Freshmen may satisfy one of the English electives at the discretion of the department. The English Honors Seminar may replace one of the five group courses if the student is invited to participate in the seminar. (Each Honors Seminar is relevant to a specific group.) Note that an English major must take ENG-213. An English major must earn the BA.
Transfer students with an English major must complete at least 12 credits of English courses at Suffolk beyond the sophomore literature requirement (ENG-213, ENG-214, ENG-217, ENG-218).
Students who are majoring in English may elect to take a creative writing concentration within the English major. The student would then be required to take at least three creative writing workshops in addition to fulfilling the requirements of the English major. One of those creative writing workshops may simultaneously satisfy the major requirement in the “Genres” group or serve as an elective within the major.
The phrase “creative writing workshops” refers specifically to those prose and poetry workshops designed and implemented by the English department.
English-213 plus four English electives chosen from courses numbered 104 or above. At least three of these four electives must be at the upper-level (numbered 300 or above). English courses fulfilling the core humanities and literature requirements may double-count in the minor. With departmental approval, selected seminars for freshmen may also double-count in the minor. (In some circumstances, an upper-level course from Group 3 of the major Requirements – Literary History I (Medieval to Renaissance) – may be substituted for ENG-213.)
This minor is intended for students who are not majoring in English.
Students who are majoring in disciplines other than English may elect to minor in creative writing. The minor in creative writing requires the student to take at least three creative writing workshops. The minor also requires that the student take one literature course from Group II Genres and Backgrounds and also one other upper-division (300-level or above) literature course.
The phrase “creative writing workshops” refers specifically to those prose and poetry workshops designed and implemented by the English department.
Regardless of whether the student in history and literature chooses to major in history or English, he or she must complete the honors requirements as described in the history and literature program.
See the history and literature major program listing in this catalog.
English majors and English minors may apply to the Writing Center Scholars Program. Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 overall. Recipients of this $4,000 scholarship join the staff at the Writing Center, tutoring 10 hours per week between September and May. Awards are renewable. Application packets are available in January in the English department.
Sigma Tau Delta, a member of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS), established its Eta Upsilon Chapter at Suffolk University in January, 1986. Active membership is open to both English majors and English minors who have completed a minimum of two college courses in English language or literature (beyond the freshman and sophomore English requirements) with an average of 3.5, plus a general cumulative average of 3.0. Associate membership is open to students who have the requisite academic background (as stipulated above for active membership) but who are not majoring or minoring in English. In addition to conferring distinction for high achievement in English language and literature and exhibiting high standards of academic excellence through its chapters, Sigma Tau Delta promotes and emphasizes the discipline of English in all its aspects, including creative and critical writing, by inviting both active and associate members to contribute to its national publication, The Rectangle. All inducted members remain permanently on the roster of the Eta Upsilon Chapter.
Requirements: Internet access, Suffolk e-mail, Microsoft Internet Explorer, MSWord or compatible word processing program. Fluency in English.
0.00
This course focuses on composing academic prose for the college classroom, especially Suffolks Core (or required) curriculum courses. Sequenced assignments will help students sharpen their writing style through economy and effective form. The course will also review grammar, stylistics, sentence level errors, coordination/subordination, and editing.
4.00
This course studies persuasive and expository writing in the essay form through frequent writing assignments based on critical readings of class texts and discussions. Students will also compose a research paper and study the process of writing and revising for an academic audience. Offered every semester.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
ENG 100 or ENG101 or ENG 103
4.00
Further study of persuasive and expository writing through the study of literary form with emphasis placed on critical reading and the revision of academic writing.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Invitation only.
4.00
This course is by invitation only and reserved for incoming Suffolk students with high admission scores. Frequent writing assignments based on close reading of literary texts are assigned as well as a research paper. Offered fall semester.
Offered Fall Term
2.00
Discover literary Boston by exploring the physical settings of its most celebrated stories and poems through old photographs, maps, and early twentieth-century films, complemented by walking tours of the Suffolk University neighborhood and adjacent areas. A $30 field trip fee applies for various visits throughout Boston. This course does not fulfill core requirements.
Occasional
4.00
Survey of drama and theatre as part of world culture from classical Greece through 18th-century China. Normally offered yearly.
Offered Fall Term
Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement,Cultural Diversity Opt B
4.00
Survey of drama and theatre as part of world culture from the 19th century to the present.
Offered Spring Term
Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement,Cultural Diversity Opt A
4.00
Survey of the Old and New Testaments as collections of texts that have their origin in particular historical periods; exhibiting genres such as poetry, myth, history, biography and prophecy, as exhibited in the King James Version and other notable English translations. At the same time we will look at selected examples of how the Bible influenced the writers and permeated the works of English literature.
Occasional
Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement
4.00
Literary masterpieces from ancient times to the Renaissance, including: Homers Odyssey, Sophocles Oedipus, Virgils Aeneid, selections from the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels, and Dantes Divine Comedy. List may vary at the discretion of the instructor.
Offered Fall Term
Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement
4.00
Literary masterpieces from the 17th century to the 20th, including Don Quixote (Spain), Faust (Germany), Madame Bovary (France), War and Peace (Russia) , One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia), The Rouge of the North (China), The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptomist (Israel), and So Long a Letter (Senegal). List may vary at the discretion of the instructor. Normally offered yearly.
Offered Spring Term
Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement
ENG-102 OR ENG-103 with a grade of B or above.
4.00
Study of major writers of England from the beginning to the mid-18th century. Regularly assigned essays on the reading provide the basis for individualized instruction in clear, correct, and persuasive writing. Offered every semester.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Humanities Literature Requirement
ENG 102 OR ENG 103 with a grade of B or above
4.00
Study of major English writers from the mid-18th century to the present. Regularly assigned essays on the reading provide the basis for individualized instruction in clear, correct and persuasive writing. Offered every semester.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Humanities Literature Requirement
ENG-102 OR ENG-103 with a grade of B or above
4.00
A study of literature written in English from cultures around the world, with emphasis on major modern and contemporary writers from countries such as Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa and the Caribbean. Regularly assigned essays on reading provide the basis for individualized instruction in clear, correct and persuasive writing. Offered every semester. Cultural Diversity B
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Cultural Diversity Opt B,Humanities Literature Requirement
ENG-102 OR ENG-103 with a grade of B or above
4.00
Study of major American writing from its origins through 1865. Regularly assigned essays on reading provide the basis for individualized instruction in clear, correct, and persuasive writing. Offered every semester.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Humanities Literature Requirement
ENG-102 OR ENG-103 with a grade of B or above.
4.00
Study of major American writing from 1865 through the present. Regularly assigned essays on reading provide the basis for individualized instruction in clear, correct, and persuasive writing. Offered every semester.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Humanities Literature Requirement
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218 fewer than 80 credits
4.00
This course seeks to answer the following questions. What is literature? Why do we study literature? What methods aid the study of literature? What are English Studies all about? This course extends reading and writing skills, and provides more specialized terms, knowledge, and approaches to prepare students for study at the junior and senior level. Topics vary from term to term. Student must have completed 80 credits or less Normally offered Fall and Spring semesters.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An introduction to medieval literature, this course will focus on short readings from various genres, such as the lyric, chronicle, fable, with emphasis on the romance. The culmination of the course is a drama segment in which students can participate in a performance.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
This course provides a thorough review and analysis of the rules of standard English grammar and usage, including the debate between prescriptive and descriptive grammar, the origin and authority of the rules taught in school and in handbooks of English, and the insights of modern linguistics. Normally offered alternate years
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Greek and Roman drama from its origins; characteristics of the theater; development of tragedy and comedy. Readings in Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plautus, Terrence, and Seneca. Normally offered every third year
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An introduction to Periclean Athens, the golden age of classical Greek literature and thought. Close readings of selections from the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the dramatists Aeschylus and Euripides, the poetry of Pindar, and Platos great work on politics, The Republic. Cross-listed with History 336.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Ancient Greek and Roman myths, their motifs, themes and interpretations. Normally offered every third year.
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Literature of the golden age of the Renaissance with a focus on love and sexuality and the politics of the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Authors studied include Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sidney, and Spenser. This course requires prior approval in order to count towards the Womens and Gender Studies Minor. Students should consult with the instructor and the director of the WGS Minor no later than the first week of classes.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Close reading and discussion of the Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde against the background of the late Middle Ages. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Shakespeares background and development as a dramatist through an examination of selected comedies. Collateral reading of the minor plays and Shakespeare criticism. Normally offered every third semester.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Shakespeares English and Roman history plays. Emphasis on Shakespeares use of his sources and the plays in performance. Normally offered every third semester.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Shakespeares major tragedies reflecting the range, resourcefulness, and power of his dramaturgy. Collateral reading in Shakespeare criticism. Normally offered every third semester.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The comedies and tragedies of major dramatists (excluding Shakespeare) of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, Webster. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Representative selections of seventeenth-century poetry and prose, including Behn, Burton, Donne Drayton, Dryden, Jonson, Milton, Pepys, Wroth, and others. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Poetry and prose of Englands greatest Renaissance poet. The centerpiece of the course is close reading of Paradise Lost. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The great age of satire, essay, criticism, biography, and nature. Dryden, Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele, Boswell, Johnson, Gray, Thompson, and Gibbon. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Development of the Romantic and Victorian novel. Readings in major works of the Brontes, Dickens, Thackeray, Austen, Eliot and Hardy. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The mind and spirit, poetics and poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats, along with selected prose. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
3.00
The study of selected poets and prose writers. Some Victorian fiction. Normally offered alternate years
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Close examination of several novels by two of Englands major Victorian novelists. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Study of antebellum American and African American literature in the context of cosmopolitan modes of thought and revolutionary action. This course considers how writers balanced their interest in building a national culture with their concern for matters of race, gender, politics and civil rights that transcended their time and place. Readings include nineteenth-century works by Longfellow, Irving, Emerson, Fuller, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, and Douglass, as well as twentieth-century responses from Hemingway, Gandhi, King and Johnson.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
In-depth exploration of American Realism from the post-Civil War era to the pre-WWI era (roughly 1875 to 1915). Particular emphasis is given to the role of houses and material and consumer culture in the forging of American identity. Authors may include Howells, Twain, James and Wharton among others. Normally offered alternate years. Students will also visit authors houses in the Boston area. This course requires prior approval in order to count towards the Womens and Gender Studies Minor. Students should consult with the instructor and the director of the WGS Minor no later than the first week of classes.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An extended study of three major novels by Hawthorne, Melville and Stowe as prototypes of the Great American Novel: an elusive achievement that seeks to capture the essence of American experience. This course confronts issues of sin and redemption, ambition and failure, racial and national identity, and aesthetic and cultural value, and it assesses the imaginative influence of these foundational narratives in two contemporary rewritings by Mukherjee and Reed. This course requires prior approval in order to count towards the Womens and Gender Studies Minor. Students should consult with the instructor and the director of the WGS Minor no later than the first week of classes.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The revolution in American literary consciousness between the Civil War and the First World War, and the transition from the traditional to the modern, in the work of Mark Twain, Henry James, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and others. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An investigation of the lives and works of two of nineteenth-century Americas greatest and most original poets. Topics will include types of poetic language and formal structure, the work of the poetic imagination in transforming observations of the world into art, and the ways in which poets process the idea of death and the reality of war. Finally, this course examines Whitman and Dickinsons impact on American popular culture as well as on the writings of modern poets and literary critics.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
African-American writing from the beginning through the present. Normally offered alternate years. Cultural Diversity A
Occasional
Cultural Diversity Opt A
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
This course focuses upon the literary contributions of a selected number of major African-American authors. Normally offered every other year.
Cultural Diversity Opt A
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The course will cover major works of American fiction from the period between World War II and the end of the American war in Vietnam. The course will consider fiction from the Beat Generation, New Journalism, the Black Arts Movement, and postmodernism as well as major writers who arent easily classified. Possible authors include Ellison, Kerouac, OConnor, McCarthy, Cheever, Roth, Updike, Didion, Mailer, Bellow, Bambara, Barth, and Pynchon.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The course will cover major works of American fiction from the period between the end of the American war in Vietnam and the present. The course will emphasize fiction reflecting Americas cultural diversity and current trends in fiction.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An introduction to selected Asian-American writers with an emphasis on socio-cultural issues, such as race, gender and ethnicity. Authors include Bulosan, Hwang, Jen, Kingston, Lee, Mukherjee, Odada, and Tan. Cultural Diversity A
Occasional
Cultural Diversity Opt A,Asian Studies
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An in-depth examination of American poetry written between 1900 and the Second World War, to include writers such as Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Elliot, William Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein, Amy Lowell, Hilda Doolittle, Marianne Moore, Claude McKay, Langton Hughes, and Jean Toomer, among others. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An in-depth examination of American poetry since 1950, to include writers such as Robert Lowell, Theodore Roethke, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, William Stafford, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, Philip Levine, Galway Kinnell, James Wright, Robert Bly, Charles Olson, Allen Ginsberg, Rita Dove, Robert Hass, and Yusef Komunyakaa, among others. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
English 336 Restoration and 18th Century Literature: Poetry, prose, and drama from 1660 to 1800, including works by Aphra Behn, Dryden, Congreve, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Pope, Gay, Swift, and Johnson.
Occasional
ENG 213, 214, 215, 216, 217 OR ENG 218
4.00
A sampling of major American fiction from the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, and the years surrounding World War II. Possible authors include Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Toomer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, John Steinbeck, Richard Wright, and Mary McCarthy.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Important playwrights and their productions: Wilde, Shaw, Galsworthy, Maugham, Synge, OCasey, Coward, Osborne, Pinter, Beckett, Stoppard, Keatley, and others. Topics: The New Woman, Bright Young Things, Angry Young Men, and more. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An intensive workshop in which the student will be required to write original fiction. The focus of the course will be on the students own work, submitted on a weekly basis. The course will also provide the student writer with practical experience in matters of plot, character, dialogue, structure, etc. Normally offered alternate years.
Alternates Fall & Spring
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
For students interested in writing autobiography and/or other forms of the personal essay. Topics can include childhood, place, sexuality, religion, work, the nature of memory. The focus will be on the writing process, with students presenting work-in-progress to the class for discusssion and revision. The student should plan to read models of creative non-fiction by such writers as Frank McCourt, Annie Dillard, Mark Doty, Nuala OFaolain, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An exploration of selected literary journals and their role in American letters. Through our study of the Pushcart prize anthology and past and current issues of journals such as Agni, Antaeus, Callaloo, Georgia Review, Paris Review, Poetry, and Zoetrope, we will examine the ways in which journals both respond to and shape literary culture. Students will write a research paper on an essayist, poet, or story writer that they discover during this course. Taught by the editor of a Boston-area literary journal.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The social, political and cultural revolution in pre-World War II England as it is reflected in the poetry of Auden and Spender and the fiction of Huxley, Waugh, Isherwood, Bowen, Orwell, and Greene. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Discussion and presentations on a pre-announced subject: a major playwright, a dramatic movement or genre, or the relation between script and performance. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An intensive workshop course in which the student will be required to write original poetry for each class meeting. The focus of the course will be on the students own work. We will examine the highly individual processes of composition and revision, and the methods writers use to keep their own practice of poetry alive and well. We will also examine as many of the constituent elements of poetry as possible, from image and rhythm to line and structure. Normally offered alternate years.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
This course explores the development of post-World War II British fiction from the 1950s to the present. The focus is on the consequences in literature and culture of the fall of Empire and the redefining of Englishness and on the tension between realism and postmodern literary experimentation.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Examination of film as an art form in the expression of literature. Several films to be viewed in class together with the relevant literary works. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The history and artistry of those works intended for the child reader: picture books, poetry, fairy tales, fantasies, realistic novels and biography, the international heritage. This extensive range covers Mother Goose to the contemporary novel, reflected by the works of Jean George, Robert Cormier and Katherine Paterson. Normally offered alternate years. Cultural Diversity A Cultural Diversity B
Occasional
Cultural Diversity Opt A,Cultural Diversity Opt B
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A study of the work of two of Americas greatest Realist writers, considering the achievement of each and their extraordinary friendship.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The literature that raises philosophical concerns, often questioning the role of literature itself and the purpose of art. Representative writers are Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka, Mikhail Bulgakov, John Gardner, Julian Barnes, Stanislaw Lem, Italo Calvino and A.S. Byatt. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Classic stories of suspense and detection, including short stories and novels by Poe, Doyle, Chandler, Hammett, Christie, and others. Current examples also to be included. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
This course studies 19th and 20th century women writers and questions the type of women who write, what they write about, and why they write. Themes we examine include domesticity, assimilation, and madness. Authors studied in the past have included Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Anzia Yezierska, Nella Larsen, and Sylvia Plath. Normally offered alternate years. Cultural Diversity A
Occasional
Cultural Diversity Opt A
ENG 102 or 103
4.00
This course studies the expressive and cognitive approaches to the writing process through personal journal writing, metaphor use and a review of grammar and stylistics. Written assignments emphasize discovery and invention as well as the revising of academic prose. Normally offered every other year.
Occasional
ENG 102 or ENG 103
4.00
This course explores research and writing in the context of qualitative research, field work and bibliography. This course requires a lengthy report and project based on extended field work of at least 25 hours at an off-campus research site chosen by the student, approved by the instructor, and validated by a field site representative. This course fulfills the Expanded Classroom Requirement for CAS students. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
Expanded Classroom Requirement
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An Exploration of Post-colonial literature and how the empire writes back following the collapse of European colonialism. Special emphasis will be placed on the legacy of British Colonial rule and the contemporary use of literature and the English Language to both resist and problematize Eurocentric cultural assumptions. Authors studied will include E.M. Foster, Salman Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee, Anita Desai, Hanif Kureishi, and Zadie Smith, among others. Students will be introduced to Post-colonial critical theory and view film adaptations of literary texts.
Occasional
Cultural Diversity Opt B
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
This course provides a basic understanding of the historical development of the English language from its roots in the Indo-European family of languages to its status as the world language of today.
Occasional
ENG 102 or 103
4.00
This course studies both the literary and rhetorical modes of expository essay writing. Readings will focus on the craft of writing, the art of revision and reflections on the reader-writer relationship. Students will be asked to analyze prose passages, compose critical essays and work in peer groups. Normally offered alternate years.
Occasional
ENG 102 or 103
4.00
This course examines the rhetoric of memoirs written primarily by international figures who seek to use personal stories to shape readers perspectives on political issues. After a brief introduction to rhetorical theory and to the genre of memoir, this course will examine contemporary memoirs that address such issues as racism, sexism, religious extremism, war, and genocide.
Occasional
Cultural Diversity Opt B
ENG 102 Or ENG 103
4.00
This course studies a variety of workplace writing including summaries,memos, letters, directions, descriptions, reports and other technical and professional documents. Students may be required to complete certain assignments in collaborative teams. Document design and layout will also be emphasized. Normally offered alternate years
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Writers of the Irish Literary Revival, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Readings from Yeats, Joyce, Synge, OCasey, and OFlaherty. The influence of Anglo-Irish history on Irish writers. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
The culture of Central Europe as reflected in literature, theatre and film. English translations of Austrian, Czech, Hungarian and Polish authors whose poignant perspectives shaped the modern world.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An introduction to the major works of Russian literature with an emphasis on cultural history. Translations of Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Gogol, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekov, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, and others. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A seminar on current approaches to the interpretation of literature, including psychoanalysis, deconstruction and feminist criticism. Students will experiment with making use of theory in analyzing selected literary texts.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
This class will engage with the major novels and selected literary writings of two of the twentieth centurys most important modernist voices, Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster. We will approach their writings within the intellectual framework of British modernism and the cultural context of the Bloomsbury Group out of which they emerged. Special attention will be paid to their theoretical writings on fiction as well as their respective contributions to feminism and queer theory. The class will also view cinematic adaptations of certain novels and discuss how these films have contributed to the enduring appeal and status of these texts as classics of twentieth-century fiction.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A survey of major works of literature and thought crucial to the transformation of pagan models of reason to Christian systems of belief, including works by Plato and Plotinus, St. Augustine and Dante. Of central concern is the changing conception of love, from Eros to Agape. Cross-listed with History 336.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A survey of archaic thought from Greek myths of origin and Hebraic accounts of Genesis to Mosaic law and Aristotelian ethics. Major topics include: polytheism and monotheism, the Psalms, Homers Troy, the complexity of desire and identity in the Hebrew Bible and in Sapphos poetry, biblical depictions of Jacob, Joseph, and David. Cross-listed with History 338.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A course that fits Group 2 of the English major requirements with varying subject matter.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A course that fits Group 3 of the English major requirements with varying subject matter.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A course that fits Group 4 of the English major requirements with varying subject matter. A interdisciplinary offering that features the writing of three of the late 19th centurys greatest minds: Henry, the novelist who wrote The Portrait of a Lady, Daisy Miller, and The Turn of the Screw; William, the philosopher and psychologist who wrote Principles of Psychology (1890) and Varieties of Religious Experience (1902); and Alice, their sister, who became a feminist icon through her remarkable diary. A selection of these works will be explored alongside a James family biography.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
A course that fits Group 5 of the English major requirements with varying subject matter.
Occasional
Take ENG-213, ENG-214, ENG-215, ENG-216, ENG-217 or ENG-218;
1.00
A study of these poems by the Roman poet with a focus on the issues of translation.
Occasional
Take ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
1.00
A study of these poems by the Roman poet with a focus on the issues of translation.
1.00
A week by week reading of the Mesopotamian Epic that predates the Iliad by one thousand years, and is a masterpiece of heroic endurance and tragic insight. Discussions will be led by David Ferry, whose beautiful translation the class will use as text.
Take ENG-213 ENG-214 ENG-215 ENG-216 ENG-217 or ENG-218;
4.00
This course will examine some of the fiction, non-fiction, and poetry produced in response to the Vietnam War and the most recent war in Iraq. In addition to comparing the literature that has emerged from these two very different wars, these texts will also be examined in relation to peace studies, a field in which there is an emerging consensus that literature and the arts must play a central role in examining questions of war and peace.
Occasional
ENG-213 ENG-214 ENG-215 ENG-216 ENG-217 or ENG-218
4.00
This course introduces students to the innovations that have re-defined fiction following the modern period. Novelists will include significant writers (3 Nobel Laureates among them) of the 20th/21st century, including Borges, Kundera, Calvino, Saramago, Garcia Marquez, Vargas Llosa.
ENG 370 or instructor?s permission
4.00
An intensive practical examination of plot, narrative, characterization, and style in the writing of fiction and/or creative non-fiction. Particular attention will be devoted to group discussion of weekly student writing assignments. Normally offered alternate years.
Alternates Fall & Spring
ENG 375 or instructor?s permission
4.00
An intensive workshop course in which the student will be required to write original poetry for each class meeting. The focus of the course will be on both the quantity and quality of the students own work. There will also be specific assignments in the many formal elements of the art. Written self-evaluations will also be required. Normally offered in alternate years.
Offered Spring Term
Take ENG-370
4.00
An advanced course in fiction writing that focuses intensively on developing fiction through weekly group discussions of student writing. Particular attention will be devoted toward deepening and expanding the range of possibilities available to fiction writers.
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An interdisciplinary examination of the history of Boston. Special focus will be on Boston in fiction, poetry, and film, as well as on the analysis of historical documents and accounts. This course is recommended for History and Literature Honors Majors. Jointly taught by professors from the History and English Departments. Normally offered every third year.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
An interdisciplinary course examining the idea of law and its function in human society, with a special focus on issues of violence, war, peace, and justice. The course will examine law as it represented, enacted, and discussed in various literary and philosophical writings from the ancient world to the present, to include various Biblical texts, Sophocles Antigone, Aeschylus Oresteia, Platos Apology, Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice, Melvilles Billy Budd, Toni Morrisons Beloved, among many others.
Occasional
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218 also counts as HIST 304
4.00
This course offers an introduction to the Golden Age of Roman culture and power. Close readings of selections from major historians, poets, political thinkers, and philosophers will be examined in the context of Augustan Rome. Topics such as pietas, virtus, and gravitas, as well as the competing claims of public duty and private devotion, stoic maxim and erotic love lyric, will be discussed from the perspectives of writers such as Virgil, Livy, Tacitus, Horace, Catullus, and Lucretius. Note: This course is identical to HUM 304. Normally offered in alternate years.
Humanities & History
ENG-475;
4.00
An advanced course in poetry writing that focuses intensively on developing work through weekly group discussions of student writing. Particular attention will be devoted toward deepening and expanding the range of possibilities available poets.
An independent study form must be submitted to the CAS Deans Office.
1.00- 4.00
By special arrangement, a junior or senior may pursue an independent research project under the supervision of a faculty member. Consent of instructor and chairperson required. Offered every semester.
Offered Both Fall and Spring
ENG 213, ENG 214, ENG 215, ENG 216, ENG 217, or ENG 218
4.00
Individualized guidance in a career-related activity. Upper-class English majors may gain academic credit for work preparing them for an English-related career, provided that the work is monitored by a member of the English faculty. Department approval is required.
Occasional
Expanded Classroom Requirement
ENG-213 ENG-214 ENG-215, 216, 217 OR 218 Admission by invitation only
4.00
Honors seminar that fulfills Group I of the English major.
ENG 213, 214, 215, 216, 217 OR 218 Admission By Invitation Only
4.00
Honors seminar that fulfills Group 3 of the English major.
ENG-213, 214, 215, 216, 217 OR ENG 218 Admission by invitation only
4.00
Honors seminar that fulfills Group I of the English major.
ENG 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, or ENG 218; Invitation only
4.00
Honors seminar that fulfills Group I of the English major.
