Spring 2024 Courses

ENGL-1000-001 | English 1A | K. Sinanan | MAY6 - JUN17 | MW 1PM - 4PM
Course Delivery: In-person

Why do we study English Literature in universities world-wide? The subject and study of English Literature and Culture has a history: as David Armitage writes, “English literature and the British Empire were the twin children of the English Renaissance, that extraordinary widening of intellectual and geographical horizons during Elizabeth I’s reign”. Yet, as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o writes, “In colonial conquest, language did to the mind what the sword did to the bodies of the colonized”. On this course we will explore how canonical, decolonial and postcolonial texts engage and critique the processes of race-making and ‘civilization’, so central to the supposed mission of English literature and culture. You will become familiar with a range of various genres and styles in global English, throughout this exploration.

ENGL-1000-002 | English 1A | J. Scoles | JUN21 - AUG1 | TTH 9AM - 12PM
Course Delivery: In-person

This course will introduce students to reading, researching, and writing about English literature by major authors in three distinct literary periods: Romantic, Victorian and Modern. A broad scope of genres will be considered—a significant amount of poetry, several short stories, and a novel, from authors such as Letitia Barbauld, William Blake & Felicia Hemans, John Keats & Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson & William Butler Yeats, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood & Zadie Smith—with lectures and assignments anchored in world history. We will examine the relationship between texts and contexts, and explore how specific narratives are represented and structured in relation to others in world literature & across the three major literary periods. We’ll also interrogate the evolving ‘landscapes’ of identity & conflict in our world over the years, with a focus on the forces (colonial, political, social, etc.) that shape and re- shape history. Students will gain skills & experience in close reading, analyzing texts & literary criticism, among other elements of literary study.

ENGL-1003-001 | Intro Topics in Literature: Horror | J. Ball | JUN21 - AUG1 | MW 1PM - 4PM
Course Delivery: In-Person

This topics course focuses on horror literature. Since this is a horror course, you should assume a blanket trigger warning across the material for a variety of frightening or offensive content.

We will explore how horror literature reflects social and cultural concerns of gender, race, sexuality, and politics. We will consider conventional horror, literary realism, and experimental narrative. We will examine concepts and themes associated with horror, including monsters, madness, and murder. Additionally, we will examine the formal techniques and common themes of horror, particularly as they concern narrative strategies and the role of the reader.

ENGL-1004-001 | Intro Reading Culture | S. Namayanja | MAY6 - JUN17 | MW 9AM - 12PM
Course Delivery: In-Person

In this course, we shall explore the changing trends in writing and reading cultures. The course considers how culture has continued to interact with different forms of texts such as the oral, the supernatural, and even the conspicuous to produce texts that we continuously engage with. By tracing some of the key concepts and analyzing the dynamics embedded in cultural theory students shall attempt to uncover how cultures continue to be the material for the oral and written texts. Students shall have an opportunity to explore and contrast the comic aspects of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, with the paranoia in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies through to some modern texts such as Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus. Students will be expected to reflect on developments in reading as a culture and changes that have occurred since the advent of digital media.

ENGL-1005-001 | Reading to Write | J. Wills | MAY6 - AUG1 | T 1PM - 4PM
Course Delivery: In-person

In this introductory course, writers will build on their knowledge and creative expertise through reading, writing, and workshopping. Together we will come up with a vocabulary to discuss elements of craft centered around four units: voice, figurative language, world-making, and arrangement. We will read and practice creative non-fiction, short fiction, YA genre fiction, and poetry. Assignments are designed to cover a wide breadth of creative writing modes while also narrowing-in on specific elements of craft.

ENGL-2002-001 | The Creative Process | I. Adeniyi | JUN6 - JUL4 | MWF 9AM - 12PM
Course Delivery: In-person

This course addresses the complex processes involved in the creation of a literary text from initial inspiration to publication. Students' reading of fiction is supplemented with lectures based on documented evidence of the authors' own approaches to the craft of writing (including literary essays, interviews, drafts, letters, and/or occasional live appearances, when possible). In this course, we explore the writing process (habits, beliefs, influences, intellectual reasoning, and the artistic visions and commitments) of some contemporary [successful, award-winning] writers. We identify and interrogate the creative processes and artistic decisions that writers made while composing and revising their works. We study the effects of these processes and decisions in relation to the critical and popular receptions of the finished work. Our aim throughout the course is to identify and learn about creative processes and why they succeeded, were effective, or otherwise failed.

ENGL-2102-001 | Introduction to Creative Writing: Developing a Portfolio (Welcome to the Writers’ Room)| L. Wong | JUN6 - JUL4 | MWF 1PM - 4PM
Course Delivery: In-person

“If you’re struggling with what you’re writing—if you’re afraid to be your true self on the page—I dare you to stop listening to the outside voices and try listening only to yourself this one time. Write the book you most want to write…Write the book that is the most unapologetically YOU, no matter how long it takes.”- Nova Ren Suma, author of The Walls Around Us

“Overnight success is almost always a myth. Half of this industry is luck and half is the refusal to quit”--Victoria Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“The first draft isn’t about getting it right, it’s about getting it done.” –Ava Jae, author of Beyond the Red

“The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.” -Jim Rohn

In this workshop-based course, students concentrate on developing a portfolio of creative writing, including literary short fiction, young adult, and genre fiction. The course introduces students to strategies for writing in various prose genres and to the discipline involved in seeing a project through several drafts to its final stages. Through in-class writing exercises/prompts and assigned readings, this class emphasizes skills involved in self-editing and the professional preparation and submission of manuscripts suitable for a portfolio.

Students will be responsible for active participation, thoughtful feedback on peers’ work, and a willingness to generate new writing. This is a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment. The workshop is also encouraged to think about submitting work to literary journals such as the University of 丁香园AV’s Juice: /english/juice-journal-submissions.html

As this is a 200-level writing workshop, students should be fairly independent, committed, and motivated to improve their craft. Late assignments without permission will not receive instructor feedback and they will receive a zero if they are submitted a week after the deadline. This may sound harsh but I want us to adhere to the standards that professional writers follow in their daily practice.

Note: This course is recommended for students who plan to enroll in further creative writing courses at the undergraduate level.

Requisite Courses: 6 credit hours of First-year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)].

ENGL-2604-001 | Poetry and Poetic Form | P. MELVILLE | MAY6 - JUN17 | TTH 9AM - 12PM
Course Delivery: In-person

This course is designed to introduce students to various features, forms, and figures of poetic discourse. While historical context informs lectures and class discussion, this section of the course proceeds, for the most part, according to the figural elements of poetry (such as rhythm and rhyme, diction and tone, metaphor and allegory). By engaging in thorough discussions and varied writing assignments, students learn to become more appreciative, alert readers of poetry, and in the process expand the possibilities of their own writing. Please note that there is no textbook to purchase, as all poems will be available through online links to websites such as poetryfoundation.org and poets.org.

ENGL-2612-001 | Science Fiction | C. FAWCETT | JUN6 - JUL4 | MWF 9AM - 12PM
Course Delivery: In-person

Science Fiction, in exploring hypothetical futures and imagined realities, can situate newness through a journey narrative: the protagonist’s dislocation into a place that is foreign and uncomfortable positions helps us explore alongside these characters discovering distant and different worlds. The journey, prevalent throughout literary history, is a process of growth, of change; this framework in Science Fiction provides speculative spaces that challenge and disrupt our understanding of our world and possible other ones. These journeys challenge perspectives and, sometimes, bring us into contact with the Other.

Starting with Verne's imagined trip to the Moon and ending with Binti's travels to Oomza Uni, we will look at different eras and movements in Science Fiction and how each represents journeys into the unknown and contact with the peoples found there.

ENGL-3160-001 | Topics: Picture Books for Children | H. Snell | JUL8 - AUG16 | MW 1PM - 4PM
Course Delivery: In-person

This course explores a group of literary, media, or cultural texts by, for, and/or about young people that is different in focus from courses in children’s literature offered at the 2000 level. In this iteration of the course, we examine a wide range of picture books from the 1960s to the present and to theories that have been developed to make sense of them. In addition, we consider the value of literary and cultural theories, which, while not directly relevant to picture books, may offer tools for understanding their unique dimensions, approaches, and themes. Excluding picture books used as case studies in picture-book theory, picture books are grouped thematically to allow for comparison of how format – for example, wordless, mixed-media, or pop-up – helps to shape engagements with the same theme. Additionally, we consider the role that Read-Aloud videos – widely circulated via YouTube and other social-media platforms -- play in children’s culture and how some filmmakers have adapted picture books to the screen.

All picture books covered are provided in class, and students are encouraged to make use of the UW Library’s extensive Children’s Picture Book Collection, located on the fifth floor.

ENGL-3116-001 | Writing a Book-Length Project (Fiction or Creative Nonfiction)| L. Wong | JUL8 - AUG16 | TTH 9AM - 12PM
Course Delivery: In-person

Fiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved. Drugs, movies where stuff blows up, loud parties — all these chase away loneliness by making me forget my name’s Dave and I live in a one-by-one box of bone no other party can penetrate or know. Fiction, poetry, music, really deep serious sex, and, in various ways, religion — these are the places where loneliness is countenanced, stared down, transfigured, treated.”- David Foster Wallace

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”-Anne Lamott

“An autobiography can distort; facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies: it reveals the writer totally.” - V.S Naipaul

In this intensive workshop-based creative writing course, students will learn to outline a book-length project in the genres of memoir, adult fiction and/or novels written for young people (ages 13+). Student manuscripts will form the primary texts, in addition to some assigned reading and in-class exercises.

Questions that we will explore but are not limited to: how do writers begin a larger project and find the motivation to finish a 300+ page opus? What are the best ways to overcome “writer’s block?” How do we create and sustain a thriving literary community? Within a stylistical, literary, and ethical context, what should we be aspiring to, as practitioners of long-form fiction or nonfiction, and how can we be successful in breaking into the writing industry?

Students will be responsible for finishing an outline of a book project and they will have the opportunity to workshop at least one or two chapters (depending on workshop size). Creative Writing students are responsible for placing as much attention on critique as on their own craft. Learning to successfully execute a long-form project will be the focus of the workshop, and we will hone our creative processes to produce compelling, original works of writing.

Attendance, thoughtful feedback on peers’ works, and lively discussion are expected. A final grade will be based on participation, including but are not limited to: consultation(s) with instructor, one or two workshop submissions, peer feedback letters, and a comprehensive novel outline/synopsis.

Students are encouraged to think about submitting their work to literary journals such as the University of 丁香园AV’s Juice: /english/juice-journal-submissions.html

As this is an intermediate 3000-level writing workshop, students should be fairly independent, committed, and motivated to improve their craft. This workshop is intended for dedicated writers. Late workshop submissions without permission will receive a zero if they are submitted a week after the deadline. Similarly, if you are being workshopped and you are unable to attend, we may not be able to accommodate you because of scheduling. It is your responsibility to switch with another student if you know that you will be away that class. This may sound harsh but I want us to adhere to the standards that professional writers follow in their daily practice.

A 5 page writing sample (double spaced, 12 font size, Times New Roman) of fiction or creative nonfiction is required for admission. Please see Portfolios for more information: /english/undergraduate-programs-courses/portfolios.html.

Requisite Courses: 6 credit hours of First-year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)].

ENGL-3724-770 | Topics in Race and Ethnicity | J. Wills | MAY6 - AUG1 |
Course Delivery: Online-Synchronous

This course explores various genres and styles of texts directed toward Young Adult audiences through a Critical Race Studies lens. We will analyze literary texts, but also films, tv shows, video games, and social media content produced by Black, Indigenous, and other People of Colour creators. Lectures will focus on identity politics regarding race and ethnicity but also gender, sexuality, class, disability, and age. Lectures will also highlight stylistic, structural, and narrative elements of these works.

ENGL-4294-001 | Contemporary Literature and Culture: Architecture and Comics | C. Rifkind | MAY6 - JUN17 | TTH 1PM - 4PM
Course Delivery: In-person

Comics have been invested in architecture since their beginnings in 1890s newspaper strips about life in New York City tenements and the cityscapes of 1930s Golden Age superhero comics. This course studies how a variety of recent alternative (non superhero) comics from different regions (North America, Europe, Middle East, India, Australia) have drawn into view the histories, politics, economics, and cultures of built space, and how the comics page or screen is itself an imaginative architecture. Divided into three modules (“Houses and Buildings,” “Cities and Shelters,” and “Dreams and Desires”), we will study a range of comics genres, from memoir and realism to noir, fantasy, and horror, within an interdisciplinary critical framework.