ENGL 455

Spring 2013 All Classes

All Classes

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 spring 2013
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
59515	Lecture-Discussion	00G	10:00AM -11:30AM	MWF	131 English Building	Bauer, D	Part of Term: B Date Range: 03/11/13-05/01/13 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Edith Wharton Section Info: Topic Section 00G - Edith Wharton and Her Times This class will focus on major U.S. author Edith Wharton (1862-1937), whose 19 novels and novellas and 11 short story collections created a career devoted to what one of her biographers calls ?the social chronicler of her age.? We will start with her short stories: some about love and romance (?Roman Fever?), some about personal careers (?The Other Two?), and others about social comedy (?Xingu?). Over the course of the semester, we will read a few of her most famous novels, including The House of Mirth (1905), from her illustrious career. Many films have been based on her works, and we will be comparing a few of them to the literary works themselves. Assignments for this course will include the following: short responses to Wharton?s writing, a focused paper on the cultural history (5 pages), a midterm and a final.
59514	Lecture-Discussion	00U	10:00AM -11:30AM	MWF	131 English Building	Bauer, D	Part of Term: B Date Range: 03/11/13-05/01/13 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Edith Wharton Section Info: Topic Section 00U - Edith Wharton and Her Times This class will focus on major U.S. author Edith Wharton (1862-1937), whose 19 novels and novellas and 11 short story collections created a career devoted to what one of her biographers calls ?the social chronicler of her age.? We will start with her short stories: some about love and romance (?Roman Fever?), some about personal careers (?The Other Two?), and others about social comedy (?Xingu?). Over the course of the semester, we will read a few of her most famous novels, including The House of Mirth (1905), from her illustrious career. Many films have been based on her works, and we will be comparing a few of them to the literary works themselves. Assignments for this course will include the following: short responses to Wharton?s writing, a focused paper on the cultural history (5 pages), a midterm and a final.
32205	Lecture-Discussion	1G	1:00PM -1:50PM	MWF	115 David Kinley Hall	Spires, D	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 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 arguments about folk 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.
32202	Lecture-Discussion	1U	1:00PM -1:50PM	MWF	115 David Kinley Hall	Spires, D	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 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 arguments about folk 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.
32210	Lecture-Discussion	2G	2:00PM -3:50PM	TR	329 Gregory Hall	Hansen, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Fincher, Nolan & Age of Crisis Section Info: Topic Section 2G: David Fincher, Christopher Nolan and the Age of Perpetual Crisis Over the last decade, we?ve grown quite accustomed to hearing politicians talk about economic crises, military crises, and even religio-historical crises. We live in an age where the crisis, the state of exception, never really seems to end. By focusing on the films that David Fincher and Christopher Nolan directed between 1995 and 2012?the era of New Media and instant news coverage?this course will examine how the psychology of mass-fear has re-mapped the ideological terrain of contemporary society. Framed to some extent by the horrors provoked by 9/11, Nolan and Fincher produced a series of films that both predicted disaster and responded to the failure of Western economic and military power. Along the way, films such as ?fight Club? and ?The Dark Knight? interrogate some of our deepest psychological concerns about modern masculinity, sadism, masochism, and consumer culture. By examining what?s at stake in the Nolan/Fincher films from this period, we will attempt to engage with the often concealed and genuinely troubling concerns about our society and ourselves that these films have come to embody. The course will meet twice a week in a lab format. Course requirements include two 8 page research papers, 1 in-class presentation, a daily reading journal, and two exams. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
32207	Lecture-Discussion	2U	2:00PM -3:50PM	TR	329 Gregory Hall	Hansen, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Fincher, Nolan & Age of Crisis Section Info: Topic Section 2U: David Fincher, Christohper Nolan and the Age of Perpetual Crisis Over the last decade, we?ve grown quite accustomed to hearing politicians talk about economic crises, military crises, and even religio-historical crises. We live in an age where the crisis, the state of exception, never really seems to end. By focusing on the films that David Fincher and Christopher Nolan directed between 1995 and 2012?the era of New Media and instant news coverage?this course will examine how the psychology of mass-fear has re-mapped the ideological terrain of contemporary society. Framed to some extent by the horrors provoked by 9/11, Nolan and Fincher produced a series of films that both predicted disaster and responded to the failure of Western economic and military power. Along the way, films such as ?fight Club? and ?The Dark Knight? interrogate some of our deepest psychological concerns about modern masculinity, sadism, masochism, and consumer culture. By examining what?s at stake in the Nolan/Fincher films from this period, we will attempt to engage with the often concealed and genuinely troubling concerns about our society and ourselves that these films have come to embody. The course will meet twice a week in a lab format. Course requirements include two 8 page research papers, 1 in-class presentation, a daily reading journal, and two exams. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
44786	Lecture-Discussion	3G	9:30AM -10:45AM	TR	119 English Building	Markley, R	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Jane Austen Section Info: Topic Section 3G: Jane Austen This course will focus on the major works of one of the most important novelists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Jane Austen, as well as works by two of her contemporaries, Frances Burney and Elizabeth Inchbald. We will read Austen?s Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion?as well as a variety of texts on the socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts of the period. We will pay particular attention to the changing roles of women authors between 1770 and 1830, and examine at length Austen?s depictions of the problems confronting their heroines in a patriarchal society. Burney?s Evelina and Inchbald?s A Simple Story will offer somewhat different perspectives on these problems. Students will write three short papers (4-5 pages), a midterm, and a final exam. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
43329	Lecture-Discussion	3U	9:30AM -10:45AM	TR	119 English Building	Markley, R	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Jane Austen Section Info: Topic Section 3U: Jane Austen This course will focus on the major works of one of the most important novelists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Jane Austen, as well as works by two of her contemporaries, Frances Burney and Elizabeth Inchbald. We will read Austen?s Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion?as well as a variety of texts on the socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts of the period. We will pay particular attention to the changing roles of women authors between 1770 and 1830, and examine at length Austen?s depictions of the problems confronting their heroines in a patriarchal society. Burney?s Evelina and Inchbald?s A Simple Story will offer somewhat different perspectives on these problems. Students will write three short papers (4-5 pages), a midterm, and a final exam. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
32212	Lecture-Discussion	SU	2:00PM -3:20PM	TR	125 David Kinley Hall	Sobol, V	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/14/13-05/01/13 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Tolstoy Section Info: Topic Section SU: Tolstoy's War and Peace Immerse yourself into the world of Tolstoy?s immortal masterpiece and follow the characters? tortuous paths throughout some of the most tumultuous times of Russian history. This is probably your only chance to ever read War and Peace in its entirety! For undergraduate students, no knowledge of Russian is necessary.