ENGL 274

Spring 2015 All Classes

All Classes

Literature and Society

Credit: 3 hours.

Major literary works presented within the context of social issues of their time.

May be repeated with the permission of English advising office to a maximum of 6 hours if topics vary. Prerequisite: Completion of the Composition I requirement.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Fall 2022 for:

Humanities – Lit & Arts

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ENGL 274 class schedule data for spring 2015
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
39671	Lecture-Discussion 03/16/15-05/06/15 Lecture-Discussion 05/17/15-05/31/15	DW DW	5:00PM -7:20PM ARRANGED	W n.a.	44 English Building Location Pending	Wright, D Wright, D	Part of Term: B Date Range: 03/16/15-05/31/15 Degree Notes: Literature and the Arts course. Special Approval: Departmental Approval Required Section Title: Slavery and Identity Section Info: Topic Section DW: Slavery and Identity - meets with AFRO 298 [SP15 2nd 8 week on Wed 5-7:30 pm and May 17-31 study abroad] In this course, we will explore the experience of slavery in the U.S. through its representation in literature and film. The course will focus on the enslaved, the enslavers, and the middle merchants who participated in the slave trade. We will also examine the economic, political, religious, and scientific justifications used to maintain slavery. Students will travel to Benin, formerly known as ?The Slave Coast,? for two weeks in May. Partnering with Beninese students, we will visit historical sites throughout the country to explore West African cultural traditions. We will pay particular attention to the aspects of these traditions that the enslaved Africans retained to create a new African-American (and, later, U.S.) cultural identity. Enrollment in this course is restricted to students who have been accepted for the May 17-31 study abroad program. Application deadline for Study Abroad is 12/1/14 (http://www.studyabroad.illinois.edu/illinois-programs#.VE5VAxanH40).
59517	Lecture-Discussion	M	9:30AM -10:45AM	TR	108 English Building	Jones, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Degree Notes: Literature and the Arts course. Section Title: Energy Literature Section Info: Topic Section M: Energy Literature For over two hundred years, energy has been big business. The pursuit of energy has inalterably changed our relationship with the natural environment, our understanding of land (and sea) ownership, global politics, and the course of economic history. But how do we make meaning out of it? In this course, we will examine texts that reflect on the politics, aesthetics, economics, and historical significance of energy. From Syriana to The Wind-Up Girl, American culture has turned to art to make meaning out of energy: to praise and lament the energy industries. We will encounter a variety of texts in this course: novels, poems, short stories, newspaper articles, political polemics, historical narratives, and narrative and documentary films. Students will write two critical essays and a large volume of informal writing. Students will also be assessed based on periodic quizzes, exams, and on active, engaged participation in class discussion. TEXTS: Upton Sinclair, Oil!; Paolo Bacigalupi, The Wind-Up Girl
46481	Lecture-Discussion	S2	2:00PM -3:15PM	TR	205 Gregory Hall	Mahaffey, V	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Degree Notes: Literature and the Arts course. Section Title: Modern Irish Literature Section Info: Topic Section S2: Sex and Violence in Modern Irish Literature When we think of Ireland as a Catholic colony of England, simmering with revolutionary impulses from 1798 until 1921, it becomes easier to see why revolutionary violence is so often intertwined with rebellious expressions of forbidden sexuality, conveyed through revolutionary language. In this course, we will concentrate on Ireland as an example of a specific kind of social formation, one that was (and remained) at war with the status quo. We will concentrate on specific, compressed, almost ?nuclear? examples of writing that exemplifies that war: short fiction, plays, the lyric poem. Much of this writing seems enigmatic at first, and one of the questions we will examine is its relation to the riddle, the parable, the fairy tale, and the puzzle. We will try to define the unusual ways in which Irish literature attempts to engage the reader to rethink the party line on sex and politics. We will read works by Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, James Joyce, Sean O?Casey, Elizabeth Bowen, Mary Lavin, Patrick MacCabe. Written requirements include an oral presentation, two 6-8 page essays, and a final exam.