ENGL 455

Spring 2017 All Classes

All Classes

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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. May be repeated for graduate credit if topics vary. Prerequisite: One year of college literature or consent of instructor.

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ENGL 455 class schedule data for spring 2017
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
32205	Lecture-Discussion	1G	10:00AM -10:50AM	MWF	115 English Building	Loughran, P	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/17/17-05/03/17 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Weird Writers Section Info: Topic Section 1G: Weird Writers: Poe, Lovecraft, Vandermeer This course will be devoted to three centuries of the strange, as imagined in the minds of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and more recently Jeff Vandermeer. “Weird fiction” is now a legitimate generic designation (Google it!), carrying with it an implicit celebration of the abnormal, the odd, the otherworldly, the deviant—the weird. For these three authors, that means a series of encounters with madmen, mushroom-people, extra-terrestrials, and other Lovecraftian blob-monsters of the deep. Some questions we might ask include: what the relationship between weird stories today and the early Gothic? Why are weird stories, which often carry with them some coded form of horror or discomfort, so pleasurable and so popular? But most of all, what makes something weird—and does the when of that weird matter? In what sense, in other words, are Poe’s maniacs nineteenth-century maniacs? How are Lovecraft’s monsters archaeological artifacts from the early twentieth century? And what might we learn about the norms of our own moment from the fungalpunk and steampunk fantasies of Jeff Vandermeer? Along the way we’ll read novels and stories from these three major authors, possibly play a videogame or two based on their imaginings, and investigate supporting scholarship from queer, postcolonial, and feminist theorists---a body of work that, it turns out, is just as interested in weird things as these three weird writers are. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
32202	Lecture-Discussion	1U	10:00AM -10:50AM	MWF	115 English Building	Loughran, P	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/17/17-05/03/17 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Weird Writers Section Info: Topic Section 1U: Weird Writers: Poe, Lovecraft, Vandermeer This course will be devoted to three centuries of the strange, as imagined in the minds of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and more recently Jeff Vandermeer. “Weird fiction” is now a legitimate generic designation (Google it!), carrying with it an implicit celebration of the abnormal, the odd, the otherworldly, the deviant—the weird. For these three authors, that means a series of encounters with madmen, mushroom-people, extra-terrestrials, and other Lovecraftian blob-monsters of the deep. Some questions we might ask include: what the relationship between weird stories today and the early Gothic? Why are weird stories, which often carry with them some coded form of horror or discomfort, so pleasurable and so popular? But most of all, what makes something weird—and does the when of that weird matter? In what sense, in other words, are Poe’s maniacs nineteenth-century maniacs? How are Lovecraft’s monsters archaeological artifacts from the early twentieth century? And what might we learn about the norms of our own moment from the fungalpunk and steampunk fantasies of Jeff Vandermeer? Along the way we’ll read novels and stories from these three major authors, possibly play a videogame or two based on their imaginings, and investigate supporting scholarship from queer, postcolonial, and feminist theorists---a body of work that, it turns out, is just as interested in weird things as these three weird writers are. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
32210	Lecture-Discussion	2G	1:00PM -2:50PM	MW	148 Armory	Newcomb, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/17/17-05/03/17 Credit: 4 hours Section Title: Cinema of the Coen Brothers Section Info: Topic Section 2G: Citizens Coen: The Cinema of the Coen Brothers Over nearly thirty years Joel and Ethan Coen have occupied a distinctive place in American cinematic culture, as postmodern auteurs who gleefully violate the stylistic “rules of the game” while also paying reverent homage to previous moments in American films. Their films consistently foreground their own roles as creators, which has made them key predecessors for later “star” directors such as Tarantino and Spike Jonze; yet in their personal lives they don’t court flamboyant celebrity but remain quietly devoted to their art. They have won many awards including the Oscar, yet they are still regarded with skepticism by some academic critics who find their films all about style and genre pastiche rather than substance. This class will explore these contradictions and many others as we survey the Coens’ work of the past three decades, along with some of the “originals” that have inspired them to rethink cinematic genres, especially the screwball comedy, the Hitchcockian thriller, the gangster picture, and the hard-boiled film noir. The syllabus will certainly include, among others, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and The Man Who Wasn’t There, along with Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels and the original “Ealing comedy” The Ladykillers. The class involves a two-hour weekly screening and a two-hour discussion session, both of which are mandatory. You can expect essays, quizzes, brief oral presentations, and a final exam. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
32207	Lecture-Discussion	2U	1:00PM -2:50PM	MW	148 Armory	Newcomb, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/17/17-05/03/17 Credit: 3 hours Section Title: Cinema of the Coen Brothers Section Info: Topic Section 2U: Citizens Coen: The Cinema of the Coen Brothers Over nearly thirty years Joel and Ethan Coen have occupied a distinctive place in American cinematic culture, as postmodern auteurs who gleefully violate the stylistic “rules of the game” while also paying reverent homage to previous moments in American films. Their films consistently foreground their own roles as creators, which has made them key predecessors for later “star” directors such as Tarantino and Spike Jonze; yet in their personal lives they don’t court flamboyant celebrity but remain quietly devoted to their art. They have won many awards including the Oscar, yet they are still regarded with skepticism by some academic critics who find their films all about style and genre pastiche rather than substance. This class will explore these contradictions and many others as we survey the Coens’ work of the past three decades, along with some of the “originals” that have inspired them to rethink cinematic genres, especially the screwball comedy, the Hitchcockian thriller, the gangster picture, and the hard-boiled film noir. The syllabus will certainly include, among others, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and The Man Who Wasn’t There, along with Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels and the original “Ealing comedy” The Ladykillers. The class involves a two-hour weekly screening and a two-hour discussion session, both of which are mandatory. You can expect essays, quizzes, brief oral presentations, and a final exam. Restriction(s): Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.