Fall 2011
Course Descriptions

English 107: Introduction to Literary Studies I
Dr. M. Bibby 
MW 3:30-4:45

This course is designed to prepare majors and minors for more advanced study of literature by introducing them to the fundamental components of the major genres of literature (drama, fiction, and poetry), such as plot structure, character, narrative point-of-view and style, metaphor and rhythm. Students are taught to identify and evaluate these components in a range of works. Coursework involves reading and writing assignments, students should expect to do at least one documented paper. This course is a pre-requisite for all 300- and 400-level English courses.

Dr. C. Kungl (2 sections)
MWF 10:00-10:50 
MWF 11:00-11:50 

Welcome to the English Major! This course is designed to prepare you to become a successful English major at Shippensburg University by introducing you to the main genres, theories, and terms that English studies uses. We will read a variety of fiction, poetry, and drama from many different time periods for critical analysis, studying such narrative elements as plot, theme, and point of view and poetical elements such as rhythm and meter. We will also discuss the basics of literary research and analysis, skills that you will need in future English classes. My main goals are to engage students thoroughly in the positive elements the major has to offer and to bring joy and enthusiasm to our reading and learning.

English 111: Introduction to Literary Studies II

Dr. R. Zumkhawala-Cook (2 sections) 
TR 11:00-12:15

TR 12:30-1:45

This course expands upon the knowledge and skills you gained in Eng. 107 by introducing you to critical perspectives and research methodologies central to literary scholarship in the English major.  We will consider effective ways to write a critically informed and researched analysis of literary texts in the three major genres (drama, fiction, and poetry).  We will also discuss standard research practices in the English major, such as how to find and access authoritative criticism, draw on social, cultural, and/or historical information to enrich literary interpretation, use specialized research tools, and apply theoretically-informed critical perspectives.  The three case studies on works by Henry James, William Shakespeare, and Walt Whitman will exemplify the various critical approaches, theories, and methods typical of current literary scholarship.  Additionally, we will discuss major theories in current literary study and consider how they might enhance research and interpretations.  Course work will include short analytical papers, one-page summaries of assigned essays, oral presentations, an in-class midterm exam, and a final research project.  My goal is to help you become proficient in the kinds of writing and research activities expected in upper-level English courses and the professional field.

Possible Texts
Peter G. Beidler, ed., The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Bedford Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, 3rd ed.
Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.
Gerald Graff and James Phelan, eds., The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Bedford Case Study in Critical Controversy
Ezra Greenspan, ed., Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself": A Sourcebook and Critical Edition
Mario Klarer, An Introduction to Literary Studies, 2nd ed.

English 233: American Literature I

Dr. W. Harris

TR 2:00-3:15

In this course—the first of a two-part chronologically based survey of American literature—we will study works of fiction and poetry by major writers of this period, including Bradstreet, Irving, Poe, Emerson, Melville, Dickinson, and Whitman.  Also, some attention is given to the history of ideas associated with writers of this period, so, in addition to the expected fiction and poetry, readings will investigate other genres and materials (sermons, speeches, histories, journals, popular culture) that constituted the textual and discursive world of American writers during this period.  We will also look at the cultural and historical contexts of the readings in search of the American myths and values, the main currents of thought (such as Puritanism, Transcendentalism, and abolitionism) that inform the readings. 

Classwork will include mini-lecture, open discussion, periodic quizzes on the reading and lecture material, midterm & final exams, one short analytical paper, and one criticism review.  Papers are expected to follow current MLA conventions for quotations (introduction, integration, citation) and for Works Cited entries.

TEXTS

Baym, Nina, ed.  The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th ed., Part I: Volumes A & B.

Wilson, Harriet E.  Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (Vintage 2^nd edition, 2002)

English 234: American Literature II
Dr. M. Stewart
TR 9:30-10:45

Texts : Lauter , Paul, ed. Heath Anthology of American Literature . Volumes C and D. 5 th ed. Lexington : Houghton, 2006. Faulkner, William . Light in August (Any edition, but the preferred one is Vintage.)

Catalogue Description : Second part of a two-part, chronologically based survey of American literature. Works of drama, fiction, and poetry by major American writers of this period are studied. Representative writers are James, Wharton, O'Neill, and Stevens. In addition, some attention will be given to the history of ideas associated with the writers of this period. Students should expect to write at least one analytic paper dealing with one or more of the works read for the course ( Shippensburg Undergraduate Programs , 183).

Goal: Our primary goal in this class is to help you to appreciate and enjoy American literature. We will also be working to improve your written analytical response to literature. You will have in-class writings and a paper. We will study the works of American writers beginning with the mid-nineteenth century to contemporary times.

We will also pay attention to the history of ideas reflected in our chronologically based study of American literature. Our text “reconnect[s] literature and its study with the society and culture of which it is fundamentally a part” (xxxvi).

Grades: Your grade in this class will be the average of the following requirements:

20% Class participation
20% Analytical paper
60% Two exams (Includes objective and essay questions.

English 236: British Literature I
Dr. S. Harrow
MW 3:30-4:45

Course Description: This class will familiarize you with British literature from the Middle Ages (to ca. 1485) to the Renaissance (1485-1660) and the Restoration/ 18 th Century (1660-1798). Given that we must cover centuries of material, this will be a broad chronological survey. We will focus on histories of ideas as a way to contextualize the texts we read. We will consider the various social, political, economic, and religious questions that influenced writers. There are many more exciting and compelling works than we have time to read together, and I strongly encourage you to read beyond the requirements of this syllabus. Endeavor to read additional authors in the Norton as a way of filling out what we cover in class and for pleasure. Throughout the course, I hope you will consider the ways in which the ideas we discuss inform our present day culture. This course will help you understand literary history and hone your literary critical skills.

Possible Assignments :

mid-semester exam: 25%
essays: 20%
final exam: 25%
quizzes/ blackboard writing or presentation: 20%
small group work, in-class participation: 10%

English 237: British Literature II
Dr. M. Libertin
MW 5:00-6:15

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English 238: Technical/Professional Writing I
Dr. L. Cella
MWF 1:00-1:50

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English 240: World Literature

Dr. C. Dibello 

MWF 1:00-1:50

Theme: Rebels and Misfits

Course Description
Ever since Adam and Eve's disobedience led to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, literature has featured characters who do not conform to social norms. While some of these characters challenge conventional mores for personal or political reasons, others are simply unable or unwilling to fit into their culture. Focusing on the theme of misfits and rebels, this section of World Literature will present fiction and drama from a range of cultures. With settings ranging from nineteenth-century Russia to Castro's Cuba , these works depict characters at odds with their environments. If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to call me at 477-1190, to email me at cjdibe@ship.edu, or to stop by my office, Wright 210.

Major Assignments: analytical essay, oral report, mid-term and final examinations, and daily work.

Required Texts:  Fyodor  Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Henrick  Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Kenzaburo Oe's Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, Reinaldo Arenas's Before Night Falls, Nawal El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero, and Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions

English 304: Literary Criticism 

Dr. M. Dokko
MW 6:30-7:45

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English 307: Poetry Writing

Z. Savich 
MW 5:00-6:15

English 308: Fiction Writing

N. Connelly 
MW 2:00-3:15

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English 330: Shakespeare 

Dr. Kristina Faber
TR 12:30-1:45

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Shakespeare is often spoken of not only as the “greatest English playwright,” but as the “greatest writer in English.” Are these accolades true? What does it matter — the Bard is obviously hot stuff. Why? This course seeks to develop in students a greater appreciation and, naturally, a better understanding of Shakespearean drama by an intensive literary study of selected history plays, tragedies, problem plays, comedies, and romances. We will focus on Shakespeare’s language, making in-depth textual analyses, but also study the plays as plays, considering characterization, setting and staging, momentum and motivation, suspense, silence and soliloquies — the elements of drama. The influences of source material, contemporary events, and technology need consideration, too. We will view several films of Shakespeare plays, an invaluable aid to students encountering a genre only rarely meant to be read, but always to be seen and heard. Finally, we will consider the texts from different critical approaches: New Critical, Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic, deconstructive, etc.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Annotated bibliography
• Quizzes (on the plays and on vocabulary)
• Final exam
• 1 research paper (5-10 pages)
  or
  1 research paper plus a series of short film critiques or a lesson plan

TEXT(S):

• The Norton Shakespeare, or another collection of the complete works (e.g., The Riverside Shakespeare) or individual copies of the plays we read.

A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME:

Shakespeare’s opinion of some teachers: “Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar-school” (Henry VI, Part 2: 4.7.30-32).

Shakespeare’s opinion of some students: “Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall to cureless ruin” (Merchant of Venice, 4.1.141-42).

And to end on the right note, remember: “A light heart lives long!” (Love’s Labour’s Lost, 5.2.18).

English 335: Creative Nonfiction Writing
Dr. K. Van Alkemade
TR 2:00-3:15

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English 343: Film Criticism
Staff
M 10:00-11:50, WF 10:00-10:50

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English 345: Women's Literature

Dr. C. Dibello

TR 12:30-1:45

This course introduces students to an exciting range of literature by women and to issues related to women's writing. Focusing on works written from the nineteenth century through the present, this section of ENG 345 will feature fiction, poetry, drama, and essays by authors including Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Gloria Anzaldua, and Toni Morrison. This course fulfills the multicultural literature requirement for non-certification  English majors and counts as an elective in the Women's Studies minor.

Major Assignments: annotated bibliography, analytical essay, mid-term examination, final examination, daily work. 

English 358: Ethnic Literature:
Dr. R. Janifer
TR 9:30-10:45

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English 366: History and Structure of English Language

Dr. S. Horner
TR 12:30-1:45 

"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences."
Gertrude Stein

Q. Please explain how to diagram a sentence.

A. First spread the sentence out on a clean, flat surface, such as an ironing board. Then, using a sharp pencil or X-Acto knife, locate the "predicate," which indicates where the action has taken place and is usually located directly behind the gills. For example, in the sentence: "LaMont never would of bit a forest ranger," the action probably took place in a forest. Thus your diagram would be shaped like a little tree with branches sticking out of it to indicate the locations of the various particles of speech, such as your gerunds, proverbs, adjutants, etc.
Dave Barry, aka Mr. Language Person

Course Description:

If you're like most people, you probably feel closer to Dave Barry than to Gertrude Stein when it comes to diagramming sentences. Yet when Stein wrote the statement above, she was referring to her intense fascination with words and to the passion she felt about being a writer and immersing herself in the workings of the English language. One of the major goals of this course is to help you share in that excitement as you immerse yourself in the language. In this course you will study both the structure of English--its grammar and syntax--and its history over the past 1300 years or so. This integration of structure and history will, I hope, give you a clearer understanding of how and why the English language operates as it does today.

This is not a course about correctness; that is, we will not spend time on extensive grammar "drills." In one sense, you don't need them. As speakers of the English language, you are all already grammar experts--that is, you already know how to use language to create meaning and to interpret the meanings of others. In other words, you already know the rules. In this class you will learn how those rules work . Along the way, you will gain a greater confidence in your own ability to use English effectively and, eventually, to teach it to others.

Course requirements are likely to include numerous exercises, occasional quizzes, a midterm and final exam, a short teaching presentation, and an analytical paper.

English 378: Studies in Early American Literature:

How were women held captive in the early Republic, both literally and ideologically?  How were they themselves able to captivate others, to resist the strictures and inequities of women’s lives in post-Revolutionary America?  In all of the readings for the course, women are presented either as captivating (the coquette or the guardian of the domestic sphere) or as captive (seduced and/or abducted by male figures, or confined by the legal strictures of marriage).  Starting with Indian captivity narratives, we’ll explore the complex positions from which captive women spoke, the limitations as well as the power of their positions—not just as witnesses but as agents of cultural re-vision capable of undermining stereotypes about gender and race.

We’ll then turn to two early American bestsellers from the 1790s, Charlotte Temple and The Coquette.  Though presented as morality tales about “fallen women,” both novels elicit a number of questions much debated in the early Republic: “Where is ‘a woman’s place’?  In the home?  In the public sphere?  How does life for women in the Federalist era measure up to the promises of the Revolution (such as equality, freedom to dissent, etc.)?  Is there a space for women in the early Republic?  How is a woman to safely or satisfactorily negotiate cultural imperatives about domesticity, marriage, sex, education, reading, religion, and political engagement?”  We’ll then follow the efforts of later novelists—Charles Brockden Brown, Tabitha Tenney, and Catharine Maria Sedgwick—to undermine, safeguard, and re-shape early American ideas about gender and sexuality.  A corollary question in all our readings will be the roles these proto-feminist authors imagined for men and for persons of color in early American life.

Assignments will include a short presentation, a short analytic paper, midterm and final exams, and a final project.  Regular participation and attendance is expected.

Required Texts

Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola (editor),  Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives (Penguin)

Christopher Castiglia, Bound and Determined: Captivity, Culture-Crossing, and White Womanhood

Cathy N. Davidson, Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America (Oxford, 1988 edition)

Julia Stern, The Plight of Feeling: Sympathy and Dissent in the Early American Novel (Chicago)

Susana Rowson, Charlotte Temple (Oxford)

Hannah W. Foster, The Coquette (Oxford)

Charles Brockden Brown, Ormond; or, The Secret Witness  (Broadview)

Tabitha Gilman Tenney, Female Quixotism (Oxford)

Lydia Maria Child, Hobomok and Other Writings on Indians (Rutgers)

English 380: 19th Century British Literature
Dr. D. Vernooy-Epp
TR 5:00-6:15

English 381: 19th Century American Literature

Dr. D. Shiffman
MWF 12:00-12:50

The City in Turn-of-the-Century American Literature

This course examines the city as a site of diversity and extremes  in American life at the turn of the century.  The city contains the most privileged circles of American society who are  bound by their own intricate social codes,  and it is also where the "other half lives,"  the working poor and newly arrived immigrants.  The texts in this course help us understand  how various writers, photographers, and "muckrakers" represented the social, psychological, and economic impact of  rapid industrialization in American life.

Required Texts:

Jacob Riis,  How the  Other Half Lives:  Studies Among the Tenements  (1890)

Stephen Crane,  Maggie, A Girl of the Streets  (1893)

Abraham Cahan,  The Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories of the New York Ghetto (1898)

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900)

Edith Wharton,  The House of Mirth (1905)

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)

Assignments: 

Reading quizzes

Oral presentation

Two,  5-7 page essays

midterm and final exam

English 394: Selected Topics

Dr. E. Galioto
MW 8:00-10:50

"A teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron." - Horace Mann
"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." - Albert Einstein
"The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves." - Joseph Campbell

Course Description

This six-credit Methods block is a practicum in English/Language Arts instruction for secondary certification English majors in the semester before student teaching. Our primary concern will be the joining of theory about teaching and learning with the practical methods of implementing such theory in a secondary classroom. In our weekly readings and discussions, we will explore the theoretical foundations of different learning styles, composing practices, teaching models, ranges of critical thought, and education philosophies, to name a few. Extending beyond abstract analysis, we will then move these theories into their practical applications, as we use them to inform and challenge our own classroom practices. Each class will include a practical workshop component; we will often focus on planning lessons, sequencing assignments, constructing assessments, and differentiating the classroom. Drawing on our varied experiences as both teachers and students, we will develop teaching strategies, activities, and assignments that will address the diverse learners in our secondary classrooms. The students in this practicum will begin to form personal pedagogies that are situated in the larger field of English education, but are also very much rooted in their own classroom practices. Expect to leave this course equipped with a practical portfolio, philosophy of teaching statement, and an understanding of how to put theory into practice.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of Methods I & II, students will be able to

• Plan and execute lessons that correlate assessment, objective, and procedure 
• Plan and execute units that display knowledge of secondary education theory and ELA content 
• Plan and execute lessons and units that attend to diversity in the classroom 
• Display the traits of a reflective practitioner 
• Write a teaching philosophy that combines student learning, teacher practice, and ELA content 
• Begin student teaching with confidence and solid fundamentals

English 426: Teaching Adolescent Literature
Dr. S. Mortimore
W 6:30-9:15

This course is designed to help students grow,define, and articulate their goals and philosophies as a teacher of English and adolescent literature.  In addition, Eng 426 will prepare students with the skills necessary for developing and delivering a curriculum of rigor, relevance, social equity, and cultural awareness.  Working both individually and collaboratively on a variety of projects, students will be challenged to step into the proactive position of “teacher” and classroom leader.  With that in mind, in the development and delivery of a multicultural instructional curriculum, each student will be respected as an expert and also be expected to engage critically in both theoretical and practical scholarly readings and discussions regarding the teaching of literacy and adolescent literature.  Some of the novels assigned in the course may include (but are not limited to) the following:  Forever by Judy Blume, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, Speak by Laurie Anderson, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang,  The Book Thief by Zuzak, and Monster by Walter Dean Myers. The goals and objectives for the course follow. 

Students enrolled in the course will:

Neil Connelly 
MW 3:30-4:45

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English 465: Seminar in Creative Non-Fiction

Dr. K. Van Alkemade
TR 5:00-6:15

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English 467: Seminar in Drama: Gender in Contemporary Drama

Dr. T. C. Crochunis 

T 6:30-9:15

A significant feature of the course will be in-class performance experimentation with gendered roles and with theatrical scenes and situations. Playing will be a major part of our work.

Pending fall performance schedules, we will go to the theatre to see plays of interest and will collaborate to host an evening of improvisation dealing with gender issues.

Other major assignments:

· Three short response papers (1-2 pages, 25%)

· One longer study on gender in one or more plays (8-10 pages, 25%)

· A project involving performing, recording in video or audio, or representing in multi-media or graphic narrative some significant aspect of one of the plays studied; students will also have the option to write a short play (25%)

Class participation and occasional leadership of discussion (including during the evening of improvisation) will be worth the final 25% of the course grade.

English 469: Seminar in Poetry

Dr. M. Bibby 
MW 2:00-3:15

Worrying the Line: The Social Work of African American Poetry, 1940-1960

This course will examine the social work of African American poetry published during the early postwar era. In the mid-twentieth century, the US faced vast social and political changes as the meanings of "race" would undergo profound reconfigurations. The optimism of Allied victory in World War II and advances in civil rights made during the New Deal held out promises for progress, but were countered by an intensified Jim Crow in the South, anti-integration riots in the urban North, and anti-communist hysteria. American writers were challenging status quo ideas of racial difference as never before. Many leading intellectuals proclaimed "race" an outmoded concept. Hollywood released several "race problem" films that attacked the vestiges of segregation and racism, and jazz, rhythm’n’blues, and rock’n’roll enjoyed enormous popularity across racial lines.

Black poets made unprecedented gains in the literary market between 1940 and 1960. Margaret Walker became the first African American selected for the Yale Younger Poets award, Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize, and Melvin B. Tolson became the first American poet commissioned to write a national poem for a foreign country. Langston Hughes published some of his most formally inventive work during this period, and new poets, such as Owen Dodson, Robert Hayden, and Pauli Murray gained national attention. The contradictions and ironies of the period often overshadow such gains. It was a time of white flight to the suburbs, McCarthyism, and “Leave it to Beaver” social values; but it was also the time of desegregation in the U.S. military, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

In this seminar students will read not only the major postwar African American poets, such as Hughes, Brooks, Tolson, and Walker, but also lesser-known yet important poets, such as Owen Dodson, Welborn V. Jenkins, and Gloria Oden. We will also read works by both literary critics of the period, relevant historical documents, as well as more recent critical, historical, and theoretical studies to help give us a well-rounded appreciation of this literature, its reception, and the ways it articulated discourses of race in the postwar.

Possible texts

Gwendolyn Brooks, Blacks
Frank Marshall Davis, Black Moods
Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems of
Melvin B. Tolson, Harlem Gallery and Other Poems
Margaret Walker, This is My Century

Note: This course fulfills a diversity requirement for English majors