ENGL 455

Fall 2012 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Aug 27-Dec 12

Major Authors

Credit: 3 OR 4 hours.

Intensive study of the work of one or two major authors.

3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated with permission of English advising office to a maximum of 6 undergraduate hours if topics vary. Graduate students may repeat as topics vary. Prerequisite: One year of college literature or consent of instructor.

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ENGL 455 class schedule data for fall 2012
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
40444	Lecture-Discussion	1G	2:00PM -2:50PM	MWF	English Building	Spires, D	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Richard Wright Section Info: Topic Section 1G: Richard Wright: Texts and Contexts This course uses Richard Wright?s (1908-1960) life and work as a guide for discussing literary technique, genre, media technologies, and forms of cultural criticism. We will pay particular attention to Wright?s (and our) reading of power (raced, classed, gendered, etc.) in the U.S. and the world. Beginning with ?Blueprint for Negro Writing? and Uncle Tom?s Children we will discuss the role of the artist in society, Wright?s use of a Marxist analysis, and his theories about the vernacular culture. By mid-semester, we will have encountered multiple forms (prose fiction and nonfiction, poetry, film, and photography), leading to a larger conversation about cultural transformations in the U.S. between the Great Depression and the conclusion of World War II. We will conclude the semester with The Outsider and a discussion of Wright?s notion of a human right to ?think and feel honestly? in the context of anti-colonialism. Aside from Richard Wright, we will read a sampling from contemporaries including Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ann Petry, William Faulkner, and Ralph Ellison. We will also work through theoretical frameworks from critical race and gender studies, postcolonial studies, and documentary studies. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
39507	Lecture-Discussion	1U	2:00PM -2:50PM	MWF	English Building	Spires, D	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Richard Wright Section Info: Topic Section 1U: Richard Wright: Texts and Contexts This course uses Richard Wright?s (1908-1960) life and work as a guide for discussing literary technique, genre, media technologies, and forms of cultural criticism. We will pay particular attention to Wright?s (and our) reading of power (raced, classed, gendered, etc.) in the U.S. and the world. Beginning with ?Blueprint for Negro Writing? and Uncle Tom?s Children we will discuss the role of the artist in society, Wright?s use of a Marxist analysis, and his theories about the vernacular culture. By mid-semester, we will have encountered multiple forms (prose fiction and nonfiction, poetry, film, and photography), leading to a larger conversation about cultural transformations in the U.S. between the Great Depression and the conclusion of World War II. We will conclude the semester with The Outsider and a discussion of Wright?s notion of a human right to ?think and feel honestly? in the context of anti-colonialism. Aside from Richard Wright, we will read a sampling from contemporaries including Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ann Petry, William Faulkner, and Ralph Ellison. We will also work through theoretical frameworks from critical race and gender studies, postcolonial studies, and documentary studies. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
40445	Lecture-Discussion	2G	2:00PM -3:15PM	TR	English Building	Saville, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Robert Browning (1812-1889) Section Info: Topic Section 2G: Robert Browning (1812-1889) This year, 2012, Robert Browning?s admirers will celebrate the bicentennial of his birth and this course aims to make life-long Robert Browning admirers of all who join it. Perhaps you already know a little of Browning from his weird dramatic monologues like ?My Last Duchess? or ?Porphyria?s Lover.? Perhaps, however, you aren?t aware that, rather than impose his own opinions on others, he uses this poetic form to animate various ethical and political dilemmas confronting the British public in the mid-nineteenth-century decades of political reform, overhaul of marriage laws, and widespread religious controversy. Thus Browning uses paired monologues to compare political commitments (?The Italian in England? and ?The Englishman in Italy?), provocative lyrics like ?Two on the Campagna? to question the viable co-existence of individual freedom and marriage, and edgy religious meditations or painter poems (?The Bishop Orders His Tomb in St Praxed?s Church? or ?Fra Lippo Lippi?) to weigh the possibility of balancing spiritual with sensual well-being. Only rarely does he speak in his own voice and then it is usually to reciprocate his wife?s love poems with declarations of his own like ?One Word More? or ?Amphibian.? These are some of the topics we?ll study as we read Browning?s poetry with accompanying selections from current Browning criticism and contemporary critical theorists such as Amanda Anderson, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Iris Marion Young. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
32346	Lecture-Discussion	2U	2:00PM -3:15PM	TR	English Building	Saville, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Robert Browning (1812-1889) Section Info: Topic Section 2U: Robert Browning (1812-1889) This year, 2012, Robert Browning?s admirers will celebrate the bicentennial of his birth and this course aims to make life-long Robert Browning admirers of all who join it. Perhaps you already know a little of Browning from his weird dramatic monologues like ?My Last Duchess? or ?Porphyria?s Lover.? Perhaps, however, you aren?t aware that, rather than impose his own opinions on others, he uses this poetic form to animate various ethical and political dilemmas confronting the British public in the mid-nineteenth-century decades of political reform, overhaul of marriage laws, and widespread religious controversy. Thus Browning uses paired monologues to compare political commitments (?The Italian in England? and ?The Englishman in Italy?), provocative lyrics like ?Two on the Campagna? to question the viable co-existence of individual freedom and marriage, and edgy religious meditations or painter poems (?The Bishop Orders His Tomb in St Praxed?s Church? or ?Fra Lippo Lippi?) to weigh the possibility of balancing spiritual with sensual well-being. Only rarely does he speak in his own voice and then it is usually to reciprocate his wife?s love poems with declarations of his own like ?One Word More? or ?Amphibian.? These are some of the topics we?ll study as we read Browning?s poetry with accompanying selections from current Browning criticism and contemporary critical theorists such as Amanda Anderson, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Iris Marion Young. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
39497	Lecture-Discussion	A3	12:30PM -1:50PM	TR	Gregory Hall	Kaplan, B	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Philip Roth and Michael Chabon Section Info: Topic Section A3: Philip Roth and Michael Chabon This course explores two major contemporary?and sometimes controversial?Jewish writers from different generations whose energetic and diverse works enliven American literature. As the former young upstart who is now one of the grandfathers of the American literary scene Roth?s career (including now almost 30 novels!) has charted changes in the U.S. from 1959 until the present; the topics of these works include fantastical alternative histories, slams against too politically correct academe, domestic terrorism, fanatics in Israel, baseball, boxing, and passing. Chabon?s texts have become very popular as his explorations into comic books and their intersections with Jewish American history and his construction of an alternate reality wherein Alaska becomes a Jewish homeland struck a chord with contemporary readers. While we won?t be able to read all the works of these prolific writers we will cover some of the highlights and situate the major themes historically. Content warning: some of these novels contain raunchiness and raw language; please don?t take this course if you are easily offended by such things! Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
40443	Lecture-Discussion	A4	12:30PM -1:50PM	TR	Gregory Hall	Kaplan, B	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Philip Roth and Michael Chabon Section Info: Topic Section A4: Philip Roth and Cichael Chabon This course explores two major contemporary?and sometimes controversial?Jewish writers from different generations whose energetic and diverse works enliven American literature. As the former young upstart who is now one of the grandfathers of the American literary scene Roth?s career (including now almost 30 novels!) has charted changes in the U.S. from 1959 until the present; the topics of these works include fantastical alternative histories, slams against too politically correct academe, domestic terrorism, fanatics in Israel, baseball, boxing, and passing. Chabon?s texts have become very popular as his explorations into comic books and their intersections with Jewish American history and his construction of an alternate reality wherein Alaska becomes a Jewish homeland struck a chord with contemporary readers. While we won?t be able to read all the works of these prolific writers we will cover some of the highlights and situate the major themes historically. Content warning: some of these novels contain raunchiness and raw language; please don?t take this course if you are easily offended by such things! Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
60089	Lecture-Discussion	S	2:00PM -3:20PM	TR	Foreign Languages Building	Stenport, A	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Section Title: Strindberg in Translation Section Info: Swedish icon August Strindberg (1849-1912) has been both praised and reviled during the last century?some have called him a demented woman-hater, others have lauded him as the father of modern drama, while a few have chosen to see him as a modern esoteric. Regardless of label, Strindberg?s impact on Western literature and art is indisputable. In this course you will explore the scope of these contributions from comparative and international perspectives. These highlight an idiosyncratic and fascinating production, evident in unique articulations of naturalist and psychological drama, painting and photography, and forays into expressionism and surrealism. Strindberg?s influence on English-language drama will be emphasized; readings by Beckett, Albee, O'Neill or Sarah Kane included. Celebrating a centenary commemoration of August Strindberg?s in 2012, this course is offered in conjunction with several high-profile Strindberg events during fall 2012. These include a Krannert Center for the Arts Production of A Dream Play and numerous guest lectures and workshops by international and US experts on Strindberg, art, performance, and modern drama. All readings and assignments in English. The course is open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students.