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ENGLISH (ENGL)
Chair: Penn Szittya (202) 687-1324
Department of English website
Course Numbering: Introductory courses in the English Department are numbered 001-099. Undergraduate elective courses are numbered 100-499. Graduate courses are numbered 500-899 and are open to qualified undergraduates.
PRE SESSION (May 19-June 13)
Shakespeare
Collins
ENGL-130-01
MTR 10:30 a.m.-1:40 p.m.
3 cr.
This course considers five of Shakespeare's best known plays, three tragedies and two comedies: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear, Much Ado about Nothing, and The Merchant of Venice in order to understand how these plays might be brought to life on the stage (in Shakespeare's time and our own) and what meaning they might have today.
Survey of African American Literature
Mitchell
ENGL-229-01
MTR 1:00-4:10 p.m.
3 cr.
We will read representative texts by African American writers of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Class dicussion and several short papers will be expected.
FIRST SESSION (June 2-July 3)
Expository Writing
Escuardo
ENGL-001-10
M-F 1:30-3:00 p.m.
3 cr.
This course provides students with the writing skills and strategies for successful university writing. The course will focus on improving the writing of college-level critical and analytic essays. A limited class size will allow for maximun attention to individual compositon problems and concens. A diagnostic essay will be given on the first day of class. This course is not a course in creative writing. Please note: Georgetown students will receive a pass/fail grade for this course. Summer-only students take the course for a letter grade.
This course is not intended for students seeking to improve their English proficiency. Those students should consider courses offered by the Department of English as a Foreign Language
Writing, Race, and Nation: In and Around the American Renaissance
Fruscione
ENGL-041-10
M-F 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
3 cr.
This course will examine key texts of the American Renaissance, as well as a handful of critical and scholarly essays. This important era gave America some of its classic texts and canonical authors, such as: Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Kate Chopin, all of whom we will read. Assignments and requirements include 3-4 papers and class discussions.
Romantic and Realist in 19th Century America
Hirsh
ENGL-176-10
MTR 10:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
3 cr.
Students may take this course for graduate credit. This elective will examine important literary texts written in America, focusing in particular on the form that the Romantic and Realist movements took here. It will include readings by Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Twain, Chopin, and Dreiser, and include visits to area musems in order to examine the art of the period as well.
That 70s Course
Lorenz
ENGL-210-10
MTR 1:30-4:00 p.m.
3 cr.
The fanciful nature of That 70's Show and Broadway productions such as Mamma Mia exhibit our tendency to compress and romanticize historical eras. This course will attempt to counter that tendency by investigating the more complex and often contradictory configurations of 1970's American cultural productions and institutions. Areas of inquiry will include advertising and representation, the socially conscious television sitcom, "serious" commercial cinema and exploitation film, the postmodern novel, techniques of surveillance, and the last days of disco. There will be four short paper assignments and a final.
Literature of Exile
Boylan
ENGL-439-10
MTR 5:45-8:15 p.m.
3 cr.
Participants in this course will explore the many meanings of "exile," noting distinctions as well as proximities with such related concepts as refugee, émigré, and expatriate. We will begin by considering the individuality of the exile, noting that one's banishment might be punishment by another or election by the self to leave an unacceptable political or social environment--even if that means leaving home and isolating oneself in a strange land. We will examine what makes the exile such a riveting study, even as we vicariously experience her lonliness, alienation, stubborness, and courage. Poetry, novels, essays, paintings and film offer a variety of exile portraits; we will depend on these multiple perspectives to begin to understand the discontinuous presence of these strangers. Required texts include a book of essays on the exile, from Seneca to Baldwin, Altogether Elsewhere, M. Kundera's Ignorance, A. Desai's The Inheritance of Loss, O. Wilde's De Profundis, D. Mengestu's The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, D. Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, I. Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise, and M. Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union: A Novel (P.S.). In addition to daily active and informed contributions to class discussions, students will choose from amongst many topics (e.g. home, borders, jealousy, imperialism, the wandering identity, immigration, etc) to research in order to lead discussion on this topic within context of the literature and other art we are examining, and prepare (in stages) a 15-20 page research paper on one of several topics prompted by exile literature.
Introduction to Journalism
Decker
ENGL-470-10
TR 6:00-9:00 p.m.
3 cr.
This course will teach students the basics of newspaper and magazine writing, beginning with how to assess the news value of an event or situation, how to develop story ideas and how to put together a story. Much attention will be paid to improving students' writing styles and developing interviewing techniques, as well as consideration of ethical issues facing journalists today. Guest speakers from the Washington journalism community will visit. Writing assignments will include short assignments and one longish profile or feature story.
Video Production
Dillon
ENGL-474-10
MW 6:00-9:00 p.m.
3 cr.
THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Politics and Literature
Yip
ENGL-476-10
MTR 8:00-10:30 a.m.
3 cr.
This course will examine the ways politics is represented in literature, and how literary texts in turn shape politics. We will investigate a wide range of texts--from poems to films--and focus on such themes as colonization and decolonization, American progressive movements of the 1960s, the political culture of regimes, revolution, and resistance, and the historical context of particular political movements. Therefore, we will study a number of theoretical frameworks, ranging from Postcolonial Theory to Gender Theory.
CROSS-LISTING: History of U.S. Broadcasting
Lorenz
AMST-391-10
MWF 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
3 cr.
This American Studies course will examine the sociopolitical and economic factors that contributed to the rise and maintenence of radio, television, cable, and Internet industries in the United States. We will investigate institutional decisions that have affected broadcast media since their 1910 inception, particularly how such modern business enterprises have been guided by advertising interests. Focus will be racked on program development and how broadcast genres have evolved over time, as well as issues of censorship, audience reception, and social responsibility.
CROSS LISTING: Witches
Kugele
GERM-043-10
MTWR 1:30-3:30 p.m.
3 cr.
This course will be taught in English and fulfills one semester of the College Literature requirement (ENGL-043). No knowledge of German is required. Does not count toward the German major or minor. This course examines the construction and the representation of witches and witchcraft in history, literature, film, and in academic writing. It is particularly interested in the historical, social, economic, geographical, religious, philosophical, medical, and cultural realities of the women (and men) labeled as witches and the circumstances leading to the emergence and the end of the witch hunts.
CROSS LISTING: (Re)Born in the USA
Delaney
HUMW-011-10
M-F 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
3 cr.
THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED
SECOND SESSION (July 7-August 8)
Expository Writing
Kraemer
ENGL-001-20
M-F 1:30-3:00 p.m.
3 cr.
Dark Prophesies and the Modern World: Learning College Level Writing by Applying Visions of the Future to our World Today. This course provides students with the skills and strategies for successful university writing, while focusing on sinister literary visions of the future and relating them to the modern world. Students will examine classics such as Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 as well as the more recent visions of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta. Exploring a single theme throughout the course, students will write various college-level critical and analytic essays as well as other types of non-academic writing in order to learn how to adapt to different writing situations and how to develop flexibility in their writing style. The coursework will consist of weekly papers, reading journals, in-class writing assignments and group work.
Please note: Georgetown students will receive a pass/fail grade for this course. Summer-only students take the course for a letter grade. This course is not intended for students seeking to improve their English proficiency. Those students should consider courses offered by the Department of English as a Foreign Language.
Expository Writing: Investigating American Identity
Middleton
ENGL-001-21
M-F 1:30-3:00 p.m.
3 cr.
This course will focus on improving the writing-skills required for college-level critical and analytic writing. Classes and writing assignments will be structured around a variety of texts (literary and audiovisual) including contemporary short stories, poems, advertisements and television shows that engage with the notion of American identity. Coursework will include in-class writing exercises and weekly papers. Writing will focus on development of a thesis derived from close analysis of these texts. One of these weekly papers will be developed into a longer final paper.
Please note: Georgetown students will receive a pass/fail grade for this course. Summer-only students take the course for a letter grade. This course is not intended for students seeking to improve their English proficiency. Those students should consider courses offered by the Department of English as a Foreign Language
The Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age
Hamilton
ENGL-042-20
M-F 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
3 cr.
This couse will give the students an in-depth understanding of one of the most influential periods in American history: the Jazz Age. This will be an interdisciplinary course: we will listen to Jazz music, watch Jazz-inspired films, read Jazz Age novels, short stories, and poems, and study sculpture and paintings from the 1920s and 30s.
Television Theory and Critcism
Jaramillo
ENGL-269-20
MTR 5:45-8:15 p.m.
3 cr.
As a site of entertainment and information, "reality" and fantasy, "quality" and "trash," and commerce and the public interest, television requires an active, critical interrogation of its texts. This course will use theoretical and critical approaches to explore this omnipresent--yet frequently dismissed--medium.
The Road Movie and Other Journeys Through America
Corbin
ENGL-270-20
MTR 8:00-10:30 a.m.
3 cr.
THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED
War and Terrorism in Popular Culture
Gorman
ENGL-291-20
MTR 10:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
3 cr.
How are war and terrorism reimagined and imbricated into popular culture? What are the effects of aestheticzing violence? This course will examine the proliferation of artistic forms which seek to address the issue of war and the attendant concern about terrorism in America by looking at contemporary conflicts and their impacts on texts including literature, film, television, video, song lyrics, and poetry.
Twice-told Tales
Burke
ENGL-319-20
MTR 1:30-4:00 p.m.
3 cr.
In this course, we will analyze a pairing of texts to question what happens when a text is re/interpreted or re-envisioned? To this end, we will not only read texts and watch their film incarcerations, but will also take a look at film theory, reception theory, and historical criticism. Such parings may include Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge, Abre Los Ojos, and Vanilla Sky, American Psycho (both film and text), The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Smoke Signals, among others. These re/visions will allow us to revise our own work, push the boundaries of interpretation, work on argument, research, and write our own film reviews.
CROSS LISTING: Witches
Kemmis-Hicks
GERM-043-20
MTWR 1:30-3:30 p.m.
3 cr.
This course will be taught in English and fulfills one semester of the College Literature requirement (ENGL-043). No knowledge of German is required. Does not count toward the German major or minor. This course examines the construction and the representation of witches and witchcraft in history, literature, film, and in academic writing. It is particularly interested in the historical, social, economic, geographical, religious, philosophical, medical, and cultural realities of the women (and men) labeled as witches and the circumstances leading to the emergence and the end of the witch hunts.
CROSS LISTING: Unconscious Literacy: Reading Signs of Authority and Prestige in Media Messages
Tietz
HUMW-011-20
M-F 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
3 cr.
By using the sign theories of Ferdinand de Saussure and C.S. Pierce, as well as the theory of the unconscious from Sigmund Freud, we will try to account for the signs of authority and prestige that often pass unnoticed in the media, signs that we seem to process unconsciously. We will take examples from print media, television, film, video, radio, and the Web and try to determine exactly how such signs are structured and why they usually escape our scrutiny. While empahsis will be put on signs and their interpretaion, other less semiotic methods will also come into play. The course material, as well as concepts we will discuss and develop in class, will be the basis for four writing assignments.
