ENGL 461

Fall 2012 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Aug 27-Dec 12

Topics in Literature

Credit: 3 OR 4 hours.

Advanced seminar on any of a variety of literary topics.

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 461 class schedule data for fall 2012
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
51247	Lecture-Discussion	1G	2:00PM -3:15PM	TR	English Building	Murison, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Lit & Culture of the Civil War Section Info: Topic Section 1G: The Literature and Culture of the Civil War ?The real war will never get in the books,? Walt Whitman regretfully declared after the Civil War ended. While bemoaning the sentimental ?mush? so often dished out after a war, Whitman also asks a broader question about whether literature (or any cultural medium) can ever fully represent the realities of war. This class will test Whitman?s premise by returning to the literature produced during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Civil War literature challenges certain accepted stories we tell about national literature and the nation more largely. What happened to the romance and transcendentalism of the antebellum writers in the crucible of war? How did forms like lyric poetry and the novel change to accommodate responses to the first modern war? Can we even categorize this literature, especially the literature of the Confederacy, as ?American literature?? These questions and many more will shape our inquiries over the course of the semester. We will read literature by and about army officers, fugitive slaves, Confederate women, Union nurses, carpetbaggers, and spies, among many other perspectives. We will also become more attuned to the uses that Civil War historical memory has been put to across the last 150 years. As April 12, 2011 marked the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War, this is an apt time to revisit the era and read this ?unwritten war.? Authors may include Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Wells Brown, Augusta Jane Evans, and John De Forest. We may also view films and read literature from a few key eras in which the history of the Civil War solidified in American culture, including the historical fiction of the 1890s, the Hollywood construction of the Old South, and Ken Burns?s 1990 Civil War documentary. No prior knowledge of Civil War history is required. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
51246	Lecture-Discussion	1U	2:00PM -3:15PM	TR	English Building	Murison, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Lit & Culture of the Civil War Section Info: Topic Section 1U: The Literature and Culture of the Civil War ?The real war will never get in the books,? Walt Whitman regretfully declared after the Civil War ended. While bemoaning the sentimental ?mush? so often dished out after a war, Whitman also asks a broader question about whether literature (or any cultural medium) can ever fully represent the realities of war. This class will test Whitman?s premise by returning to the literature produced during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Civil War literature challenges certain accepted stories we tell about national literature and the nation more largely. What happened to the romance and transcendentalism of the antebellum writers in the crucible of war? How did forms like lyric poetry and the novel change to accommodate responses to the first modern war? Can we even categorize this literature, especially the literature of the Confederacy, as ?American literature?? These questions and many more will shape our inquiries over the course of the semester. We will read literature by and about army officers, fugitive slaves, Confederate women, Union nurses, carpetbaggers, and spies, among many other perspectives. We will also become more attuned to the uses that Civil War historical memory has been put to across the last 150 years. As April 12, 2011 marked the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War, this is an apt time to revisit the era and read this ?unwritten war.? Authors may include Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Wells Brown, Augusta Jane Evans, and John De Forest. We may also view films and read literature from a few key eras in which the history of the Civil War solidified in American culture, including the historical fiction of the 1890s, the Hollywood construction of the Old South, and Ken Burns?s 1990 Civil War documentary. No prior knowledge of Civil War history is required. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
40447	Lecture-Discussion	2G	10:00AM -10:50AM	MWF	English Building	Baron, I	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Contemporary British Lit Section Info: Topic Section 2G: Nostalgia and National Memory in Contemporary British Literature For many British citizens, despite the hardships and loss of life, World War II remains a bright and shining Camelot moment framing an indelible image of an egalitarian modern state based on the ideals of English democracy and human rights. But how just how accurate is this memory of an untarnished Britain in which all citizens united together to maintain a utopian political entity? In this course, we?ll examine why so much British literature produced in the last twenty years focuses on a nostalgic recollection of the mid to late twentieth century, and how valid both individual and collective memory is in creating a cohesive national model of class, gender and racial relations before and after the war. We?ll examine the years preceding the rise of fascism in Europe and what kind of society Britains actually inhabited before the Welfare State was created from the ashes of the Blitz, when the great country houses populated by aristocrats and their servants were at the epicenter of the culture. We?ll also see how the Welfare State has fared for those of its members who pride themselves on their working class urban identities, diverse ethnicities and gender distinctiveness. By reading the literature of last two decades, we?ll determine whether British citizens have prospered from more inclusive policies on sex, class and race through education and healthcare, or whether socialism has forced Britain to lose its edge in the world market, which it is now trying to recapture by a renewal of political platforms based on social conservatism, capitalist enterprise and racial purity. Students are expected to attend class regularly and to actively participate in class discussions. In addition, students will be required to give oral reports and to write three papers and take a final exam. Novels and films may include: The King?s Speech, The Remains of the Day, Atonement, Trainspotting, Once Upon a Time in England, Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone, The Half Blood Prince, The Golden Compass, About a Boy and Shaun of the Dead. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
32350	Lecture-Discussion	2U	10:00AM -10:50AM	MWF	English Building	Baron, I	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Contemporary British Lit Section Info: Topic Section 2U: Nostalgia and National Memory in Contemporary British Literature For many British citizens, despite the hardships and loss of life, World War II remains a bright and shining Camelot moment framing an indelible image of an egalitarian modern state based on the ideals of English democracy and human rights. But how just how accurate is this memory of an untarnished Britain in which all citizens united together to maintain a utopian political entity? In this course, we?ll examine why so much British literature produced in the last twenty years focuses on a nostalgic recollection of the mid to late twentieth century, and how valid both individual and collective memory is in creating a cohesive national model of class, gender and racial relations before and after the war. We?ll examine the years preceding the rise of fascism in Europe and what kind of society Britains actually inhabited before the Welfare State was created from the ashes of the Blitz, when the great country houses populated by aristocrats and their servants were at the epicenter of the culture. We?ll also see how the Welfare State has fared for those of its members who pride themselves on their working class urban identities, diverse ethnicities and gender distinctiveness. By reading the literature of last two decades, we?ll determine whether British citizens have prospered from more inclusive policies on sex, class and race through education and healthcare, or whether socialism has forced Britain to lose its edge in the world market, which it is now trying to recapture by a renewal of political platforms based on social conservatism, capitalist enterprise and racial purity. Students are expected to attend class regularly and to actively participate in class discussions. In addition, students will be required to give oral reports and to write three papers and take a final exam. Novels and films may include: The King?s Speech, The Remains of the Day, Atonement, Trainspotting, Once Upon a Time in England, Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone, The Half Blood Prince, The Golden Compass, About a Boy and Shaun of the Dead. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.