English Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Below is the list of English courses, their titles, and their official univeristy course descriptions which have been approved for inclusion in the General Education Curriculum being implemented in the Fall 2006 semester.

Note that we have many new courses, and all of our existing courses have now been renumbered to conform with the numbering system established by the Office of Undergraduate Curricula. For your convenience, this list is also available sorted by old course number.

New #	Old #	Title	Catalog Description
050	006E	Multimedia North Carolina	Each student will complete a service-learning internship and compose a multimedia documentary about the experience using original text, photos, audio, and video.
051	006F	"Boy Raised by Wolves": Wild-Child Stories and Theories of Human Nature	This course is on accounts of "wild children" raised in a state of nature, and the philosophical, moral, historical and scientific questions they raise.
052	006M	Computers and English Studies	How do computers change the study literature? How do images tell stories? How is writing evolving through photo essays, collages, and digital video? We investigate these and related questions.
053	006N	Slavery and Freedom in African American Literature and Film	The seminar's purpose is to explore the African American slave narrative tradition from its nineteenth-century origins in autobiography to its present manifestations in prize-winning fiction and film.
054		The War to End All Wars?: The First World War and the Modern World	Examination of literary and cinematic works that expose the cultural impact World War I had on contemporary and future generations.
055		Studies in African American Drama	We will learn about the experience of African Americans as depicted in the American theater, about the artists who have depicted it, and about the techniques for reading and interpreting plays.
056		Projections of Empire: Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction and Film	The course covers a range of fictions about colonialism and its aftermath, exploring both narrative and filmic depictions of empire and its legacies.
057		Future Perfect: Science Fictions and Social Form	"Future Perfect" is a first year seminar that will investigate the forms and cultural functions of science fiction.
058		The Doubled Image: Photography in U.S. Latina/o Short Fiction	Course will examine the aesthetic and cultural functions and implications of textual images of photography and photographs in U.S. Latina/o short stories from the 1960s to the present.
059		English: The International Language	An exploration of the status and use of English worldwide, considering the varieties that have developed in Singapore, South Africa, the Caribbean islands, and the American South and their histories.
060		Awakenings: Coming of Age in Modern American Literature and Film	Through a study of modern novels, films, essays, and occasionally a poem, this seminar will study moments of awakening to a life-defining concept of the self.
061		Turner, Wagner, Hardy: An Interactive Conspectus of All the Arts	Scrutiny of graphic art (by Turner), music and music drama (by Wagner), and literature (Hardy); comparisons and correlations: materials for a lifetime of self-education.
062		Martin Luther King, Jr.: His Legacy in African American Literature	We will tie together history, politics, the Civil Rights Movement, and literature in an exploration of King's impact upon the nation and particularly upon the South.
064		Ethics and Children's Literature	An investigation of how the tradition of children's books addresses and negotiaties central questions of existence and conduct, focusing on the ways ethical problems are formed in such literature.
065		The Sonnet	In this seminar students read over a hundred sonnets, learn the sonnet's different forms, and relate them to the cultural environments in which they were written over the past four centures. Studies memorize sonnets and write their own sonnets. Poets who have written sonnets visit the class regularly. Students write an extended term paper on a sonnet-sequence of their own selection.
066		William Butler Yeats and Irish Independence	A consideration of Yeats's poetry, plays, and political activities in relation to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 and its aftermath.
067		Travel Literature	Students will read examples of several kinds of travel litertaure, e.g. voyage, pilgrimage, exploration, tour, and mission. Special attention to North Carolina as a tourist venue.
068		Radical American Writers, 1930-1960	The evolution of leftist American literature from the Depression through the early Cold War. Authors include Mary McCarthy, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Saul Bellow, and others.
070		Courtly Love--Then and Now	Study of the medieval concept of Courtly Love, tracing its classical antecedents, its expression in Renaissance literature (especially Shakespeare), and its influence in modern culture.
071		Doctors and Patients	This course explores the human struggle to make sense of suffering and debility. Texts are drawn from literature, anthropology, film, art history, philosophy, and biology.
073		Leaving Adolescence	Course looks at films as they illuminate stories, poems, memoirs, biography and novels form United States and Canadian literatures. Students write essays, journal entries, memoirs, film criticism, and brief performances.
074		Epic/Anti-Epic in Western Literature	In this course, we will study epic and anti-epic strains in Western literature, reading key texts in the epic tradition from Homer and Virgil through the twentieth century in light of various challenges to that tradition and tensions within it.
075		Interpreting the South from Manuscripts
076		Decadence, Nihilism and Aestheticism: 1870-1910
077		Seeing the Past
078		First Year Seminar: The Life and Writing of William Butler Yeats
083		First Year Seminar: Narratives of America and South Africa: In Slavery, In Prison, In Limbo	Uses historical and biographical materials, literary works, films, and speeches from the United States and South Africa to help illustrate the impact confinement has upon creative and literary imaginations.
100	010	Basic Writing	Required for incoming students with Verbal SAT of 470 or lower. Provides frequent practice in writing, from short paragraphs to longer papers, focusing on analysis and argument. Workshop format.
101	011	English Composition and Rhetoric	Required of all students except those exempted by placement tests. Students practice the writing conventions that define social, cultural, and professional communities. Up to nine papers, including research projects.
102	012	English Composition and Rhetoric	Required of all students except those exempted by placement tests. Students practice the writing conventions that define various academic disciplines. Up to nine papers, including research projects.
102I		English Composition and Rhetoric (Interdisciplinary)	Required of all students except those exempted by placement tests. Students practice the writing conventions that define selected academic disciplines. Up to nine papers, including research projects.
120	020	British Literature, Chaucer to Pope	Required of English majors. Survey of Medieval, Renaissance, and Neoclassical periods. Drama, poetry, and prose.
121	021	British Literature, Wordsworth to Eliot	Required of English majors. Survey of Romantic, Victorian, and Modern Periods. Poetry, novels, and plays.
122		Introduction to American Literature	Representative authors from the time of European colonization of the New World through the twentieth century.
123	023	Introduction to Fiction	Freshman and sophomore elective, open to juniors and seniors. Novels and shorter fiction by Defoe, Austen, Dickens, Faulkner, Wolfe, Fitzgerald, Joyce, and others.
124	024	Contemporary Literature	Freshman and sophomore elective, open to juniors and seniors. The literature of the present generation.
125	025	Introduction to Poetry	Freshman and sophomore elective, open to juniors and seniors. A course designed to develop basic skills in reading poems from all periods of English and American literature.
126	026	Introduction to Drama	Freshman and sophomore elective, open to juniors and seniors. Drama of the Greek, Renaissance, and Modern periods.
127		Writing About Literature	Course emphasizes literature, critical thinking, and the writing process. Students learn how thinking, reading, and writing relate to one another by studying poetry, fiction, drama, art, music, and film.
128	028	Major American Authors	A study of approximately six major American authors drawn from Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe, Whitman, Clemens, Dickinson, Chesnutt, James, Eliot, Stein, Hemingway, O'Neill, Faulkner, Hurston, or others.
129	022	Literature and Cultural Diversity	Studies in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Native American, Anglo-Indian, Caribbean, Gay-Lesbian, and other literatures written in English.
130	023W	Introduction to Fiction Writing	A course in reading and writing fiction. Close study of a wide range of short stories; emphasis on technical problems. Class criticism and discussion of student exercises and stories.
131	025W	Introduction to Poetry Writing	A course in reading and writing poems. Close study of a wide range of published poetry and of poetic terms and techniques. Composition, discussion and revision of original student poems.
132H	029W	First Year Honors: Introduction to Fiction Writing	Close study of the craft of the short story and novella through a wide range of reading, with emphasis on technical strategies. Class discussion of student exercises and stories.
133H		First Year Honors: Introduction to Poetry Writing	Close study of a wide range of published poems and of the basic terms and techniques of poetry. Composition and discussion and revision of a number of original poems.
134H	029B	First Year Honors: Women's Lives	Focuses on women's life writing, including autobiography, biography, autoethnography, personal essay. Includes theories of life writing. Students will read contemporary works in each genre and write their own versions.
135H	029	First Year Honors: Types of Literature	Freshman honors students only. Study of literary forms (epic, drama, lyric, novel), beginning in the fall term and concluding in the spring, with three hours credit for each term. Students should consult the assistant dean for honors or the English Department for offerings.
140	022Q	Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Culture and Literature	Introduces students to concepts in queer theory and recent sexuality studies. Topics include queer lit, AIDS, race and sexuality, representations of gays and lesbians in the media, political activism/literature.
141		World Literatures in English	This course will be a basic introduction to literatures in English from Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Anglophone literary traditions.
142	042	Film Analysis	This course offers an introduction to the technical, formal, and narrative elements of the cinema.
143		Film and Culture	Examines the ways culture shapes and is shaped by film. This course uses comparative methods to contrast films as historic or contemporary, mainstream or cutting-edge, English- or foreign-language, etc.
144		Popular Genres	Introductory course on popular literary genres. Students will read and discuss works in the area of mystery, romance, westerns, sci fi, children's literature, and horror fiction.
145		Literary Genres	Studies in genres including drama, poetry, prose fiction, or nonfiction prose, examining form, comparing that genre to others (including popular genres), placing works within a tradition or a critical context.
146		Science Fiction/Fantasy/Utopia	Readings in and theories of science fiction, utopian and dystopian literatures, and fantasy fiction.
147		Mystery Fiction	Studies in classic and contemporary mystery and detective fiction.
148		Horror	From its origins in Gothic and pre-Gothic literatures and arts, this course examines the complexities and pleasures of Horror. Topics include psychology, aesthetics, politics, allegory, ideology, and ethics
190	027	Introduction to Literary Studies	Introduces students to the field of literary studies while emphasizing a single writer, group, movement, theme, or period. Students conduct research, develop readings, and compose literary interpretations.
206	034	Intermediate Fiction Writing	Prerequisite, English 130 or 132H and permission of the Director of Creative Writing. Substantial practice in those techniques employed in introductory course. A workshop devoted to the extensive writing of fiction (at least two short stories), with an emphasis on style, structure, dramatic scene, and revision.
207	034P	Intermediate Poetry Writing	Prerequisite, English 131 or 133H and permission of the Director of Creative Writing. An intensification of the introductory class. A workshop devoted to close examination of selected exemplary poems and the students' own poetry, with an emphasis on regular writing and revising.
208	035N	Reading and Writing Creative Non-Fiction	Prerequisite, Introduction to Fiction or Poetry (English 130, 131, 132H, or 133H) or permission of instructor. A course in reading and writing creative non-fiction, focusing on three of its most important forms: the personal essay, nature writing, and travel writing.
209	039	Writing Children's Literature	Prerequisite, Introduction to Fiction or Poetry (English 130, 131, 132H, or 133H) or permission of instructor. A course in reading and writing children's fiction, focusing on five important forms: folk tale, fairy tale, picture book, young adult, and biography.
210		Writing Young Adult Literature	Prerequisite, Introduction to Fiction or Poetry (English 130, 131, 132H, or 133H) or permission of instructor. A course in reading and writing young adult fiction, with a focus on the crafting of a novel.
225	058	Shakespeare	A survey of representative comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances by William Shakespeare.
226	045	Renaissance Drama	A survey of Renaissance drama focusing on contemporaries and successors of Shakespeare during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
227	054	Literature of the Earlier Renaissance	Poetry and prose of the earlier Renaissance, including More, Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser, Bacon, and Marlowe.
228	060	Literature of the Later Renaissance	Poetry and prose from the late Elizabethan years through the "century of revolution" into the Restoration period after 1660: Donne, Jonson, Bacon, Herbert, Burton, Browne, Marvell, Herrick, and others.
229	049B	Renaissance Women Writers	This course introduces students to a variety of renaissance English texts authored by women. Topics include historical perspectives on women and gender and methodological approaches to renaissance feminist study.
230	064	Milton	A study of Milton's prose and poetry in the extraordinary context of seventeenth-century philosophy, politics, religion, science, and poetics, and against the backdrop of the English Civil War.
261	090	An Introduction to Literary Criticism	An introduction to literary criticism in English studies, with an emphasis on historical developments from Plato to the present.
262		Literature and Cultural Difference	Studies in the diversity within and between African American, Asian American, Latina/o, Native American, Anglo-Indian, Caribbean, GLBTQ, feminist, proletarian, and other literatures in English. Intended for ENGL majors.
263	050	Literature and Gender	Intensive study, focused on gender issues, of criticism and writing.
264		Literature and Sexuality	A literary and cultural critical examination of the role sex plays within the creation, consumption, and regulation of literature.
265	090C	Literature and Race, Literature and Ethnicity	Considers texts in a comparative ethnic/race studies framework and examines how these texts explore historical and contemporary connections between groups of people in the United States and the Americas.
266		Science and Literature	Introductory exploration of the relation between science and literature, as well as the place and value of both in the contemporary world.
278		Irish Writing, 1800-2000	This course introduces major texts and current themes, from Joyce to the postcolonial, in Irish writing from 1800 to 2000.
279		The Irish Literary Revival	We will examine the roots and development of the Irish Literary Revival, in the work of Yeats, Joyce, Lady Gregory and Shaw, from 1890 to 1930.
280		The Western	This course offers a broad overview of the western as a literary and especially cinematic genre.
281		Literature and Media	This course investigates the rich and complex relationship between literature and other mass media.
282		Travel Literature	Students will analyze various types of travel literature, such as voyage, pilgrimage, and tour, in terms of literary conventions, historical conditions, and consideratons of gender, ethnicity, economics, empire, and religion.
283		Life Writing	Exploration of different forms of life writing such as autobiography, biography, and autoethnography. Readings will include theories of autobiography and selected literature.
284	039B	Reading Children's Literature	An overview of the tradition of children's literature, considering the ways those books point to our basic assumptions about meaning, culture, self, society, gender, economics.
285		Classical Backgrounds in English Literature	A survey of Greek and Roman epic and lyric poetry, literary criticism, and philosophy designed for the undergraduate English major.
286		Nature Writing	Introduction to the field of "nature writing" surveys historical periods, authors, and a variety of genre; cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary; study "classics" in the field such as A Sand County Almanac.
287	091C	Another Country: Homoeroticism in British Literature	This course will examine themes of homoeroticism, gender identity, class relations and the changes in cultural norms precipitated by World War I in literary works by British men.
288		Literary Modernism	In this class we'll read early 20th century poetry, fiction, films, and criticism, and consider the ways these works constituted, defined, and challenged the phenomenon known as literary Modernism.
289	049J	Jewish-American Literature & Culture of the Twentieth Century	Through readings in a wide range of genres, this course will examine major factors and influences shaping Jewish American literature and culture in the twentieth century.
300	030	Advanced Expository Writing	Advanced practice with critical, argumentative, and analytic writing, including forms of the essay. Special attention to style, voice, and genre.
300I	030I	Advanced Expository Writing (Interdisciplinary)	Advanced practice with critical, argumentative, and analytic writing, including the essay. Special attention to writing in the disciplines of life and applied sciences, social sciences (including business), and humanities.
301		Advanced Expository Writing for the Humanities	Advanced practice with the oral and written discourse of the humanities. Special attention to disciplinary rhetoric, style, genre, format, and citation.
302		Advanced Expository Writing for the Social Sciences	Advanced practice with the oral and written discourse of the social sciences. Special attention to disciplinary rhetoric, style, genre, format, and citation.
303	033	Advanced Expository Writing for the Natural Sciences	Advanced practice with the oral and written discourse of the natural sciences. Special attention to disciplinary rhetoric, style, genre, format, and citation.
304	032	Advanced Expository Writing for Business	Advanced practice with business and professional oral and written discourse. Special attention to disciplinary rhetoric, style, genre, format, and citation.
305		Advanced Expository Writing for Law	Advanced practice with legal oral and written discourse. Special attention to disciplinary rhetoric, style, genre, format, and citation.
306		Playwriting	Prerequisite, Introduction to Fiction or Poetry (English 130, 131, 132H, or 133H) or permission of instructor. A workshop for people interested in writing plays, focusing on elements that make them work on stage, such as: characterization, climax, dialogue, exposition, momentum, setting, and visual effects.
307	047W	Studies in Fiction: Style and Stylistics	Close study of language and grammar as tools of style. Numerous short exercises. Collaborative development and production of a language-arts show based on original exercises.
313	036	Grammar of Current English	An introductory course in descriptive English linguistics that studies the sounds, word-building processes, and sentence structures of current English as well as general notions of correctness and variation.
314	038	History of the English Language	A study of the development of English from its Proto-Indo-European origins to Modern English, with emphasis on how events and contacts with other languages influenced the vocabulary of English.
315	094A	English in the USA	A historical and critical examination of regional, social, and stylistic variation in English in the United States, including correctness, legal and educational issues, and the influence of mass media.
319	051	Introduction to Medieval English Literature, excluding Chaucer	An introduction to English literature from the eighth century to the fifteenth, focusing on the primary works of Old English and Middle English literature.
320	052	Chaucer	An introduction to Chaucer's major poetry: Troilus and Criseyde, the "dream" poems (e.g., Parliament of Fowls), and The Canterbury Tales.
321		Medieval and Modern Arthurian Romance	Representative examples of Arthurian literature from the Middle Ages and nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with some attention to film, art, and music.
322		Medieval England and its Literary Neighbors	A study of the external literary influences which shaped Old and Middle English, notably the vernacular literatures of England's Celtic neighbors (Wales, Brittany, Scotland, and Ireland) and/or France.
325		Shakespeare and his Contemporaries	This course explores the wide range of drama produced in England between the 1570's and 1640's including work by Shakespeare and his many rivals.
326		Renaissance Genres	This course traces the historical evolution/devolution of renaissance literary genres. Each offering will focus on a single generic kind or set of kinds.
327		Renaissance Literature and its Intellectual Contexts	A focused study of one or two intellectual movements of the Renaissance through the literary and non-literary texts of the period.
328		Renaissance Authors	This course involves the detailed study of a substantial author of the English Renaissance, such as Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, Raleigh, Bacon, Jonson, Donne, Browne, or Herbert.
330		Perspectives on the Renaissance	Students will study Renaissance literature while assessing the usefulness and status of a theoretical approach, such as feminist theory, queer theory, cultural materialism, new historicism, or psychoanalytic theory.
331	066	Eighteenth-Century Literature	A survey of British literature from Dryden to Paine.
332	065	Eighteenth-Century Drama	A survey of Restoration and eighteenth-century drama from Etheredge to Sheridan
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