English Course Descriptions
Jan Term and Spring 2006
JAN TERM 2006
English 200.01X Literary London
Experience the literature of London IN London! Read the works
of famous Londoners of a variety of periods as you visit the
places they wrote about and the places they hung out. This
is a great elective and a painless way for non-majors to earn
humanities credit. In London, December 27, 2005 through January
2006. Dr. Jane Hiles (Register through London Programs, DBH212.)
English 309.01W
Southern Literature and the Civil Rights Movement
The South is home to America's most celebrated regional literature.
It is also home to some of America's most turbulent history.
In this course, we will examine the intersection of literature
and history by focusing on the complex ways that southern
literature has depicted the black freedom struggle of the
1950s and 60s. Beginning with a brief historical overview
of that struggle, we will move on to explore how specific
works of fiction and non-fiction have interpreted the aims
and accomplishments of the civil rights movement. In particular,
we will be interested in examining how historical works employ
the techniques of fiction, and how fictional works shape (or
perhaps distort) historical understanding. Special attention
will be paid to key events that took place in Birmingham between
1960 and 1963. One paper, an in-class presentation, and class
participation. M-F, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Dr. Chris Metress.
English 328.01 Minority Literature
This Jan-term course will focus on women. We will read and
discuss contemporary works by U.S. women from ethnic minorities:
African American, American Indian, Latina and Chicana, and
Asian American. For CWLC women we will focus on spirituality,
but include all aspects of their works. For ENLA women students
we will include some works that are read not only in universities,
but in high schools. We will also read a book by one post-colonial
African woman and have a post-colonial festival of films depicting
women of contemporary cultures overseas. Assignments depend
upon the number of persons in the class--either group or individual
reports and papers. M-F, 9:00 a.m.to 1:00 p.m., Dr. Nancy
Whitt.
SPRING 2006
ENGLISH 205.01 and 205.02 Dr. Julie Steward
Fiction and Film
As we approach the study of fiction and film, the theme
for this course will be Outsiders and Outlaws. We will use
this theme to guide our discussions and to form connections
between works as various as Native American short stories
and The Godfather. What does it mean to be an outsider? How
does our culture construct who is "on the inside"
and who is relegated to the margins? We will pursue these
types of questions while mastering literary and cinematic
analysis. The first half of the course will be devoted to
literature. We will read a number of short stories and at
least two novels, each 350 pages in length. In the second
half of the course we will apply our critical tools to such
films as "The Godfather," "In the Bedroom,"
and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." TR, 8-9:50 and 11-12:50,
Dr. Julie Steward.
ENGLISH 205.03 and 04 Dr. Bryan Johnson
Fiction and Film Utopias and Dystopias
What is a world? What is a perfect world? This course
will study idealized, golden worlds, Arcadias, Edens and their
nightmarish dystopic twins. Perhaps utopias and dystopias
are the same, Janus-faced constructs. Perhaps both are myopias.
We'll study fiction by Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, and
Davis Michell; and films such as Blade Runner, Gattaca, Alphaville
and Metropolis. TR, 1-2:50 and TR 3-4:50.
ENGLISH 210.01W American Literature
This course serves a both a survey of American literature
and an introduction to the major. As we focus on selected
texts from Volumes One and Two of the Norton Anthology of
American Literature, we'll also be discussing the reading,
writing, analytical and oral skills needed for a successful
major in English. Oral presentations, research papers, quizzes
and daily class participation are required. TR, 11:00-12:50,
N305, Dr. Chris Metress.
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English 302.01W Dr. Workman
Required of all English majors and essential to full human
development in all students. English 302 luxuriates intellectually
in the British literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The course covers the Romantic, Victorian, Modern and Contemporary
periods. Opportunities for demonstrated engagement are provided
by two period exams and a final exam (all mostly essay in
form to test what you know not what you don't know), and by
two short critical papers. Also will require a study journal
and presentations. MWF, 9:15-10:20p.m., Dr. Charles Workman.
English 304 The Short Story
Enjoy the short fiction of American and Continental writers,
among them Chekov, Gordimer, Carver, Hurston, Flaubert, Lessing,
Cisneros, Joyce, Steinbeck, Lawrence Wright, James, Jewett,
Faulkner, Hawthorne, Silko and others. View a few of the best
film adaptations of certain stories. The course will explore
the craft of writing as well. Course activities: presentation,
paper, mid-term and final exams. The Story and Its Writer:
An Introduction to Short Fiction by Ann Charters, 6th edition.
MWF, 11:45-12:50, Dr. Janice Lasseter.
English 306.01W Drama
This genre course focuses on the literature of the theatre
from ancient ritual plays to present day experimental theatre.
Innovative developments throughout the history of staged productions
from various cultures will be the emphasis of the course,
including religious dramatizations, political theatre, psychodrama,
Living Theater, and works by those termed absurdists. Our
study will be aided by in-class viewing of filmed productions
of staged versions of some plays and reference to the development
of dramatic theory. We will meet the figures involved in the
Birmingham theatre scene for discussions of the role of drama
in the life of this city. You will participate in some interpretive
exercises, write some short critical reviews and one longer
essay. We also will attend occasional play performances. TR
at tea time, 3:00-5:00, N305, Dr. Rod Davis.
English 309.01W Special Topics: The Bible As Literature.
This is a new course at Samford designed to help students
learn to read and appreciate the Bible under the same conditions
that apply to literature in general. The religious dimension
of the Bible and the theological uses to which it is put lie
outside the course’s literary-historical concern. Rather,
we will study the Bible by learning about its various genres
(history, poetry, wisdom literature, etc.) as well as its
forms and strategies (metaphor, symbolism, allegory, personification,
irony, wordplay, literary allusion, and thematic organization,
for example). Without attempting to impose an interpretive
scheme or point of view on the Bible, the course is designed
to help students become better informed, more sensitive readers
of the Bible. Students must be at least willing to entertain
the possibility of multiple authorship of the Bible over a
thousand-year period if the course is to be of any value to
them.TR 1:00-2:50, Dr. Stephen Epley.
English 310.01W
A demonstration of competency for the student of English requires
not only knowledge of various literatures but also familiarity
with a variety of theoretical approaches to that ever-changing
canon. In our frustration, or fatigue, we may desire to limit
our responsibility by returning to "the classics"
or to "the text itself" and shelve diverse critical
approaches on the margins of our study. However, if we have
learned anything from current literary theory, we know that
there is no unmediated relationship to "the text itself"
and, as such, any list of "the classics" is inevitably
informed by an ideology to which we may or may not be willing
to subscribe. A grounding assumption of this course is that
our relationship to the literature we read is always already
informed by a set of values or assumptions. These values may
seem "natural" to us; nevertheless, we ought to
be aware of the agenda we bring to the texts we study, if
only to better defend our position against a myriad of alternative
perspectives. The primary focus of Approaches to Literature
will be understanding the history, ideology, and methodology
of dominant contemporary critical approaches to literature
and their relationship to one another. We will practice different
methods of interpretation, evaluate their usefulness, and
examine the values and assumptions of each as we proceed.
Your work in the course will culminate in the production and
presentation of an anthology of critical essays on selected
literary works. MWF, 10:30-11:35, Dr. Jane Hiles.
English 324.01W Dr. Baggett
The highly respected nineteenth-century literati wrote all
sorts of outlandish stories--of great white whales (Melville),
scarlet letters (Hawthorne) , and even purloined ones (Poe).
You may have read Hawthorne and Poe's stories already. We
may not have time to read the leviathan Moby-Dick in this
course-unless you insist! The first burst of national literature
is charged with tales of witchcraft; voluptuous, poison women;
scientists' experimenting on their wives and daughters; exposls
of the underside of slavery; arranged marriage as legalized
prostitution; prim and proper Americans with dark undersides;
self-reliance v. the traditional church; labor v. industry
and women who, as Huck Finn said about Christian in Pilgrim's
Progress, "left home and didn't say why." Chopin,
Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Thoreau, Jacobs, Davis,
Wharton, and James are some of the anything-but-staid nineteenth-century
writers who write such literature. We'll see film adaptations
of James' and Wharton's novels. I invite you to take a new
look at the birth of American literature in English 324. It's
not all that racy, unless you know how to read it. Course
requirements: journal and final exam. MWF, 1:00-2:05, Dr.
Mark Baggett.
English 331.01W Film History
This course examines the historical development of film as
an art form. We will survey different critical approaches
to film and watch a variety of movies from silent film to
the present. The course assumes that cinema is a serious medium
with serious messages to offer and real artistic intentions;
also that the viewer expects to be challenged rather than
merely passively entertained. Course requirements include
2 major essays, a film journal, and a comprehensive final
exam. Films we watch will most likely include "The Cabinet
of Dr. Caligari," "Singin' in the Rain," "Citizen
Kane," "Jules et Jim," and "Bonnie and
Clyde" among others. MWF, 1:00-2:05, Dr. Julie Steward.
English 340.01W Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Interpreters: We will do close textual study
of 5 or 6 plays by Shakespeare. For each play we will read
a novel or watch a film that re-interprets the text. For example,
Much Ado About Nothing with Branagh=s film or Hamlet with
John Updike=s novel, Gertrude and Claudius. You will work
in groups to present your findings on the play and responses
to the class. You will also work in a group to produce a scene
from one of the play. Papers, presentations, quizzes, possibly
a final exam. TR 8:00-9:50. Dr. Nancy Whitt.
English 420.01W Dr. Johnson**
Read multi-cultural literature from around the globe, with
emphasis on 20th century and contemporary authors, including
Ha Jin, Iris Murdoch, Pablo Neruda, and Salman Rushdie or
Bhargavi Mandava. Some film will be included. Reading selections
will be finalized by the class at the first meeting. MWF 2:15pm-3:20pm,
Dr. Bryan Johnson.
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