ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND CREATIVE WRITING: COURSES
Not all courses listed will be offered each year. All courses are three hours a week (3.0 credit hours) unless otherwise indicated. Students should consult the Departmental office or website for details of Topics and Seminar courses offered in a given year. Note: English courses 26-203, 26-240, and 26-498 are all double credit (6.0 credit) courses.
100-LEVEL COMPOSITION COURSES
26-100. Composition
An exploration of the fundamentals of effective writing, including attention to rhetorical concepts of audience, purpose, and context; planning, logical development, and organization; and format and style. (Because of the large number of written assignments and the need for individual instruction, enrollment in 26-100 is limited.) (Not open to students majoring in English.) (Antirequisite: 26-103.)
26-103. Writing Creatively
An introduction to the fundamentals of writing creatively in various genres with emphases on reading and writing skills, discussions of published texts, and in-class workshops and writing exercises. (No portfolio submission required for admission.) (Does not count for credit as one of the five required creative writing courses of the English Literature and Creative Writing program.)
100-LEVEL LITERATURE COURSES
26-120. Writing about Literature
An introduction to the basic tools for analyzing and writing about literature. Students will be trained in practical criticism of the major genres of literature (poetry, drama, and narrative) and will write a number of critical essays. (Not available on an Audit basis.) (Restricted to majors in English and BAS only.)
26-122. Drama of the Western World: The Tragic Vision
An introduction to tragedy from antiquity to the present, from literary and theatrical perspectives.
26-123. Drama of the Western World: The Comic Vision
An introduction to comedy from antiquity to the present, from literary and theatrical perspectives.
26-128. Women and Literature
An introduction to the ways in which women have been represented and constructed in English literature of various periods.
26-140. Topics in Literature
An introduction to a topic in literature. Topics may include Canadian Aboriginal literature; literature pertaining to topics such as the Bible, the environment, disability studies, film, or music; comparative literatures; or world literatures in English. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.)
200-LEVEL CREATIVE WRITING AND LITERATURE SURVEY COURSES
26-201. Topics in World Literatures
This course features world literature in English or in translation drawn from Western and non-Western sources. Historical settings, cultural backgrounds and critical commentaries complement views on cultural diversity and inter-disciplinarity. This course focuses on any of the major genres, including non-fiction and a variety of literary traditions including women's, minority, and ethnic literatures. Topics could include Orientalism, Diaspora writing, as well as African, Asian, Chinese, European, or Middle-Eastern literatures either in English or in translation. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100-level English literature course.)
26-202. Topics in Culture and Text
This course will feature studies in English literature with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include genre studies such as Science Fiction, Children’s literature, Detective Fiction, Visual Narrative (i.e.; Comics), Environmental Criticism, Disability and Literature, and the Semiotics of media, among others. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different). (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100 level English literature course) (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100 level English literature course).
26-203. Creative Writing I
An intensive workshop in various genres. Previous formal creative writing experience is expected. (Portfolio approval is required for admission.) (Not available on an Audit basis.) (A 6.0-credit, two-term course.)
26-205. Children’s Literature
A critical study of selected works of literature written for children, including nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and book-length classics. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one English-literature course.)
26-210. Early British Literature
A critical study of selected works of major writers of the Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration, and early eighteenth-century periods (from 450 to 1760) (Restricted to English majors only.) (Students may not receive credit for both 26-210 and 26-110).
26-211. Later British Literature
A critical study of selected works of major writers of the Romantic, Victorian, and Modern periods (from 1760 to the present). (Restricted to English majors only.) (Students may not receive credit for both 26-211 and 26-111).
26-260. Canadian Literature
A critical study of selected works of Canadian literature across various genres, regions, and communities. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one English-literature course.) (Restricted to English majors.)
26-270. US Literature
A critical study of selected works of US literature across various genres, regions, and communities. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one English-literature course.)(Restricted to English majors.)
26-280. Contemporary Literary Theory
A survey of contemporary literary theory, which may include new criticism, structuralism, poststructuralism, hermeneutics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, new historicism, or gender studies. Explores fundamental critical concepts, with an emphasis on the ways in which notions of reading, textuality, authorship, and subjectivity have developed in Anglo-American and European thought. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100-level literature course in English.) (Restricted to English Majors)
26-285. History of Literary Criticism
Major Works, movements, and ideas in literary criticism from the Greek Classics to the mid-Twentieth century will be covered. This course will help students develop skills in the application of theory as well as the criticism of theory itself. Key schools of thought or movements covered could include Classical, Neo-Classic, Feminist, Humanist, Romantic, Nihilist, Existential, Marxist, and Psychoanalytic, among others. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100-level English literature course.)
26-290. Introduction to Rhetoric
A survey of historical and theoretical aspects of rhetoric from the fifth century BCE to the present, including an examination of the relationship between rhetoric, epistemology, ethics, and politics. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100-level English literature course.)
26-291. History of the English Language
A survey of the background and origins of the English language and its various forms from Old English to the end of the eighteenth century. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100-level English literature course.) (Restricted to English majors.)
26-293. Modern English and Linguistics
A survey of linguistics (the study of languages as systems), with particular emphasis on the English language. (Prerequisite: Semester 3 standing and one 100-level English literature course.)
300-LEVEL CREATIVE WRITING AND LITERATURE COURSES
NOTE: Requirements for all 300 level English Department courses: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26.211.
26-301. Gender and Literature
A study of how gender is constructed in texts from a variety of periods, with emphasis on cultural contexts, feminist theory, and notions of gender and sexuality. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-302. Writing About the Arts (Practicum)
A practicum in writing about contemporary forms of artistic expression. Students will write in multiple genres, exploring connections between art, its social and cultural contexts, and their own experience. Coursework and assignments will be complemented by interactive explorations of a variety of art forms. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-304. Creative Writing II: Special Topics
An advanced workshop featuring a specific genre, approach, or subject. (Portfolio approval is required for admission.) (May be repeated for credit if topics are different.) (Not available on an Audit basis.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-305. Editing Practicum
A practicum in the theory and practice of editing historical, scholarly, and creative works. Students will be directly involved with current editorial projects in the Department. (Permission of the instructor required.) (Not available on an Audit basis.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-306. Publishing Practicum
This course introduces students to theoretical and practical aspects of book production and provides a framework to apply knowledge and skills to concrete projects. Students will oversee the creation of a bound publication working with a finished, edited manuscript. The course will focus on project management, budgeting, author relationships, design, production, publicity, sales and marketing. This course covers the fundamentals of pre-publication planning as well as pre-press and printing production, principles of graphic design, and issues surrounding copyright. The emphasis of the course is on praxis; students are expected to make decisions at each stage of production, from choosing a printing house to determining the best way to promote and market the finished book. Completed projects will be published through a professional Press, or in the format of a scholarly journal. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-307. Writing Hypertext (Practicum)
A study of the aesthetic and textual principles of hypertext and contemporary theories of writing, reading, and textuality. Assignments in web-page creation will provide media literacy and HTML skills. (Not available on an Audit basis.) (1 lecture, 2 lab hours per week.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-309. Scholarship and Bibliography (Practicum)
A study of literary research methods and textual scholarship. Includes practice in research techniques and in bibliographic description, the study of editing procedures, and the examination of the historical and theoretical contexts of textual production. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-310. Middle English Literature
A study of post-1066 Medieval literature, excluding Chaucer. Texts will be read in normalized Middle English. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-312. Chaucer
A study of the major works of Chaucer, including The Canterbury Tales. Texts will be read in normalized middle English. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-314. Topics in Medieval Literature
Studies in Medieval literature, with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include Old English or Medieval Romance. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-322. Topics in Renaissance Literature
Studies in Renaissance literature, with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include Milton and Paradise Lost, early seventeenth-century lyric, or literature of the English Revolution. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-323. Sixteenth-Century Non-Dramatic Literature
A study of continuity and change in English literature, culture, and intellectual history in the sixteenth century. Explores canonical and non-canonical poetry and prose by men and women in the context of the European Renaissance and Reformation. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-324. Seventeenth-Century Non-Dramatic Literature
A study of continuity and change in English literature, culture, and intellectual history in the seventeenth century. Explores canonical and non-canonical poetry and prose by men and women in an age of religious, political, and scientific revolution. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-326. Shakespeare I
A study of selected plays to 1600 (early tragedies, histories, and comedies) from literary and theatrical perspectives. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-327. Shakespeare II
A study of selected plays from 1600 (tragicomedies, tragedies, and romances) from literary and theatrical perspectives. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-328. Topics in Renaissance Drama
Studies in Renaissance drama, with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include Shakespeare in Performance (at the Academy at the Stratford Festival) or drama of the English Renaissance (excluding Shakespeare). (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-333. Restoration Literature
A study of literature in the light of the shifting social, political, and intellectual contexts of 1660-1700. Texts include poetry, drama, fiction, and polemical prose by men and women. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-334. Eighteenth-Century Literature
A study of literature from the Augustans to the Romantics. Texts range from poetry to short fiction to journalistic prose by men and women. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-335 Restoration and Eighteenth Century Drama-
A study of English plays and theatre 1660-1800. Writers may include Etherege, Behn, Dryden, Congreve, Steele, Lillo, Goldsmith, and Sheridan. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-336. Topics in Restoration and 18th-Century Literature
Studies in Restoration and eighteenth-century literature with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include eighteenth-century fiction, satire, gender and literature, and colonialism. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-343. Early Romanticism
A study of the literature of late eighteenth-century Britain in its historical and cultural contexts. Writers may include Burns, Austen, Blake, Wollstonecraft, Godwin, Walpole, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-344. Later Romanticism
A study of the literature of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Britain in its historical and cultural contexts. Writers may include Mary Shelley, Keats, Byron, Hemans, P. B. Shelley, de Quincey, and Clare. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-346. Early Victorians
A study of responses to industrialization, urbanization, social reform, gender relations, and late Romantic ideas. Writers may include Dickens, Gaskell, Tennyson, Carlyle, and the Brownings. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-347. Later Victorians
A study of responses to changing attitudes and values in art and society from mid-century to the death of Queen Victoria. Writers may include Arnold, Eliot, the Rossettis, Hardy, and Wilde. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-348. Topics in Victorian Literature
Studies in Victorian literature with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include the “Woman Question”, representations of empire, literature of the fin-de-siècle, the Brontës, the working-class question, or Victorian gothic. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-349. Topics in Romantic Literature
Studies in Romantic literature with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include Romantic biography/autobiography, landscape and representation, Romantic women writers, the Jacobin novelists, Romanticism and race, or the gothic. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-350. Modern Drama
A study of drama from the end of the nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. Writers may include Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Eugene O’Neill, Gertrude Stein, Eugene Ionesco, Arthur Miller, and Harold Pinter among others. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-352. Modern British Literature
A study of works published in the first half of the twentieth century. Writers may include Hopkins, Hardy, James, Conrad, Lawrence, Eliot, Woolf, Ford, and Auden. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-353. Contemporary British Literature
A study of works published since the mid-twentieth century. Writers may include Orwell, Jones, Greene, Golding, Spark, Fowles, Pinter, Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Dylan Thomas, Amis, Larkin, Hughes, and D. M. Thomas. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-354. Literature and Postcolonialism
A study of the literature of nations and peoples responding to various forms of oppression, including colonization, racism, assimilation, and genocide. Introduces relevant theory and focuses on contemporary English-language texts from Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, North America, and elsewhere. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-355. Modern Irish Literature
A study of works published since the start of the twentieth century. Writers may include Yeats, Joyce, Synge, O’Casey, Clark, Beckett, Kavanaugh, O’Brien, Kinsella, Trevor, and Heaney. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-356. Contemporary Drama
A study of drama from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Writers may include Samuel Beckett, Derek Walcott, Wole Soyinka, Caryl Churchill, Harold Pinter, Cherríe Moraga, David Henry Hwang, Tom Stoppard, Edward Bond, David French, Robert Lepage, among other diverse and popular playwrights, collectives, and performance artists. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-357. Topics in Modern and Contemporary British Literature
Studies in modern and contemporary British literature with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include literary impressionism, poets of WWI, or the mid-length poem. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-358. Native Literatures and Cultures
A study of literature by First Nations and Aboriginal writers from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-359. Literatures of the African Diaspora
A study of literatures in English produced by writers of African descent in Africa, the Americas, Canada and the Caribbean. The course may take as its focus a specific period or the development of the literature of a particular area. The course may include works by writers and theorists such as: Derek Walcott, Wole Soyinka, Toni Morrison, George Elliott Clarke, Ama Ita Aidoo, Frantz Fanon, Paul Gilroy, and Ngugi Wa Thiong ’O. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-361. Topics in Canadian Literature
Studies in Canadian literature with changing emphasis on the literature of a particular region or community, a particular genre, or select authors. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-366. Canadian Poetry
A study of significant modern and contemporary Canadian poetry. Discussion may include questions of form, voice, place, identity, and community. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-367. Canadian Fiction
A study of significant modern and contemporary Canadian short stories and novels. Discussion may include questions of identity, place, form, voice, and community. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-371. Topics in USLiterature
Studies in US literature, with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors. Topics might include American gothic, 19th-century citizenship, African-American literature, or the Harlem Renaissance. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-372. US Literature: Colonials to Civil War
A study of the emergence and development of US literary identity from the earliest settler writings through to the American Renaissance. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-373. US Literature: Civil War to Realists
A study of innovations in style and subject during the period between the Civil War and World War I. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-374. The US Moderns
A study of US writing in the period between the World Wars, including expatriates in Europe. New styles of poetry, drama, and fiction will be considered in the context of contemporary events.
(Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-375. The Literature of Contemporary America
A study of post-WWII US literature in the contexts of contemporary social and artistic change. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-383. Topics in Literary or Cultural Theory
Studies in selected theories, theorists, or movements and countermovements in contemporary literary theory, cultural studies, or intellectual history. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-395. Topics in Language and Linguistics
Studies in language and linguistics, with changing emphasis on an area or subfield of linguistics (e.g., syntax or sociolinguistics) or of a related field. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-397. Advanced Composition Theory and Practice
A study of the relationship between theory and practice in Composition. Applying theories of Composition and writing in a variety of genres, students will examine how people write and how discourse is produced and circulated. (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
26-399. Topics in Composition and Rhetoric
Studies in Composition and Rhetoric, with changing emphasis on particular aspects of these fields. Topics might include literacy studies, visual rhetorics, or rhetoric and contemporary society. (May be repeated for credit if the topics are different.) (Prerequisite: Semester three standing, and two of 26-120; 26-210 or 26-211.)
DIRECTED READINGS
26-401 to 26-410.
Directed Readings are offered only under exceptional circumstances, and only with the written permission of the Department Head.
SEMINAR COURSES
26-411. Seminar in Medieval Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-412. Seminar in Renaissance Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-413. Seminar in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-414. Seminar in Romantic Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-415. Seminar in Twentieth-Century British Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-416. Seminar in Canadian Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-417. Seminar in American Literature
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-418. Seminar in Literary or Cultural Theory
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses, including 26-280.)
26-419. Seminar in Composition and Rhetoric
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-420. Special Topics Seminar
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-424. Seminar in Literature of the Victorian Period
(Prerequisite: Semester 7 standing and ten English courses.)
26-498. Creative Writing III: Seminar
(Portfolio approval is required for admission.) (A 6.0-credit, two-term course.)