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2024-2025 Academic Year

Fall 2024

ENGL 220 Intro to Literary Studies
In literary studies, we explore the work texts do in the world. This course examines several texts of different kinds (e.g., novel, poetry, film, comic book, play, etc.) to investigate how literary forms create meanings. It also puts texts in conversation with several of the critical theories and methodologies that shape the discipline of literary study today (e.g., Marxist theory, new historicism, formalism, gender theory, postcolonial theory, ecocriticism, etc.). This course helps students frame interpretive questions and develop their own critical practice. Prerequisite: 101. This course is the prerequisite for 300-level work in English.

ENGL 222 Tools/Tech/Cult of Dig Humn
Digital technologies have permanently transformed the ways we read, write, and research. They also give us the potential to ask questions and find answers that were previously impossible to imagine. What can we gain if we use digital tools for analysis that only they can do? What if we could instantly read every newspaper headline from an entire decade, map out a novel in physical space, or visually break down the relationship between two poems? Does reading change if it happens only online? In this class, we will learn various tools and techniques of digital humanities, while familiarizing ourselves with the theory of reading and writing in digital environments. This course is designed for beginners and requires no previous experience with digital tools.

Spring 2025

ENGL 101 Middle Ages on Film
Cross-listed with FMST 210-01. The Middle Ages has proved a rich treasure trove of ideas, images, and narratives for modern filmmakers. Yet "medieval" as a descriptor is also often hurled as an insult, indicating outmoded or backwards-looking modes of thought. In this class, we will consider the ramifications of the resurgence of medievalism in popular film, taking on questions of gender, race, historical influence, and the individual in society. We will move beyond questions of whether a film is "really medieval" and instead ask ourselves what creators and audiences gain from drawing upon medieval influences.  What do we think about medieval culture?  How do we use these ideas about medievalism in our own art and culture, and what does that say about us? Our goals will include your enhanced ability to understand, discuss, and write about the ways in which these texts respond to each other and the particularities of their own time.

MEMS 200 Medieval Women Writers
Cross-listed with ENGL 341-01 & WGSS 301-01. This course examines the writing of female mystics, abbesses, poets, and scholars from the time period 1100-1500. In a historical time in which women were alternately represented as innocent virgins or devilish temptresses, these women negotiate for themselves far more complex identities and relationships with the world than their societies often believed them capable. We will consider issues of class, gender, sexuality, and religion, through the writings of Heloise, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Marie de France, and Christine de Pizan.

FMST 210 Middle Ages on Film
Cross-listed with ENGL 101-02. The Middle Ages has proved a rich treasure trove of ideas, images, and narratives for modern filmmakers. Yet "medieval" as a descriptor is also often hurled as an insult, indicating outmoded or backwards-looking modes of thought. In this class, we will consider the ramifications of the resurgence of medievalism in popular film, taking on questions of gender, race, historical influence, and the individual in society. We will move beyond questions of whether a film is "really medieval" and instead ask ourselves what creators and audiences gain from drawing upon medieval influences.  What do we think about medieval culture?  How do we use these ideas about medievalism in our own art and culture, and what does that say about us? Our goals will include your enhanced ability to understand, discuss, and write about the ways in which these texts respond to each other and the particularities of their own time.

WGSS 301 Medieval Women Writers
Cross-listed with ENGL 341-01 & MEMS 200-03. This course examines the writing of female mystics, abbesses, poets, and scholars from the time period 1100-1500. In a historical time in which women were alternately represented as innocent virgins or devilish temptresses, these women negotiate for themselves far more complex identities and relationships with the world than their societies often believed them capable. We will consider issues of class, gender, sexuality, and religion, through the writings of Heloise, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Marie de France, and Christine de Pizan.

ENGL 341 Medieval Women Writers
Cross-listed with MEMS 200-03 & WGSS 301-01. This course examines the writing of female mystics, abbesses, poets, and scholars from the time period 1100-1500. In a historical time in which women were alternately represented as innocent virgins or devilish temptresses, these women negotiate for themselves far more complex identities and relationships with the world than their societies often believed them capable. We will consider issues of class, gender, sexuality, and religion, through the writings of Heloise, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Marie de France, and Christine de Pizan.