ENGL 200

Fall 2026 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Aug 24-Dec 9

Introduction to the Study of Literature and Culture

Credit: 3 hours.

Introduction to the study of literature in the twenty-first century. This course will expand your sense of what literature is and where it happens, including discussion of old and new literary forms (from novels, poems, and plays to comic books, video games, and films). Along the way, students will explore some of the literary and cultural opportunities (such as author readings, scholarly talks, and performances) available to them on a large public university campus, with two goals in mind: to develop your critical interpretive skills and to acquaint you with the discipline of literary studies as it is being practiced all around us today, both inside and outside the conventional classroom.

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

Humanities – Lit & Arts

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ENGL 200 class schedule data for fall 2026
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
32277	Lecture-Discussion	F	2:00PM -2:50PM	MWF	English Building	Pollock, A	Availability: Closed Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/24/26-12/09/26 Degree Notes: Humanities - Lit & Arts course. Section Info: FA26 ENGL 200 - Introduction to the Study of Literature and Culture - Anthony Pollock - This course is designed to help students develop interpretive skills and a knowledge base that will prepare them for more advanced courses in literary and cultural studies. We will engage with powerful works of literature from a range of different genres; we will practice making persuasive, detailed and evidence-based arguments about the readings; and we will think about interpretation itself as a form of action with ethical and social consequences. Possible authors include Richard Blanco, Ray Bradbury, Julio Cortázar, Edwidge Danticat, James Joyce, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sandra Tsing Loh, Katherine Mansfield, Marianne Moore, Suzan-Lori Parks, Craig Santos Perez, Mary Shelley, Adrienne Su, Natasha Trethewey, Helena María Viramontes, and Alice Walker. Requirements: three essay projects, informal journals, and regular class participation.
32268	Lecture-Discussion	P	11:00AM -11:50AM	MWF	English Building	Pollock, A	Availability: Closed Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/24/26-12/09/26 Degree Notes: Humanities - Lit & Arts course. Section Info: FA26 ENGL 200 - Introduction to the Study of Literature and Culture - Anthony Pollock - This course is designed to help students develop interpretive skills and a knowledge base that will prepare them for more advanced courses in literary and cultural studies. We will engage with powerful works of literature from a range of different genres; we will practice making persuasive, detailed and evidence-based arguments about the readings; and we will think about interpretation itself as a form of action with ethical and social consequences. Possible authors include Richard Blanco, Ray Bradbury, Julio Cortázar, Edwidge Danticat, James Joyce, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sandra Tsing Loh, Katherine Mansfield, Marianne Moore, Suzan-Lori Parks, Craig Santos Perez, Mary Shelley, Adrienne Su, Natasha Trethewey, Helena María Viramontes, and Alice Walker. Requirements: three essay projects, informal journals, and regular class participation.
41879	Lecture-Discussion	Q	12:30PM -1:45PM	TR	David Kinley Hall	Soto Crespo, R	Availability: Closed Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/24/26-12/09/26 Degree Notes: Humanities - Lit & Arts course. Section Info: FA26 ENGL 200 - Introduction to the Study of Literature and Culture - Ramon Soto-Crespo - ENGL 200 is designed to help you enjoy reading while imparting skills that will prepare you for 300 and 400-level English courses. It will help you improve your reading practices, provide you with tools for interpretation, and help to facilitate discussion of exciting works of literature. The course selects readings from among the best examples of several literary and cinematic genres, including drama, short stories, novels, and films. This course studies twentieth-century literature of the Americas, focusing first on the short story genre. We’ll read stories written by well-established American writers on the U.S. mainland and short stories written by Latino authors to explore a recent development in this genre. The course will discuss the latest surge in short story writing, and then it will examine the canonical works that precede it. After discussing the short story, our focus shifts to the novel. We will explore two types of novels: the bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) and the modernist novel. From the novel, our discussion turns to contemporary drama. We’ll read and analyze plays that dramatize contemporary themes of sex, death, sociability, and family dynamics. The course aims to improve your reading skills, requiring students to be prepared and attend class regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Read carefully, consistently, and contribute to class discussion.
45880	Lecture-Discussion	S	9:30AM -10:45AM	TR	Lincoln Hall	Loughran, T	Availability: Closed Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/24/26-12/09/26 Degree Notes: Humanities - Lit & Arts course. Section Info: FA26 ENGL 200 - Introduction to the Study of Literature and Culture - Trish Loughran - This is a course about what it means to read literature and practice literary criticism in the twenty-first century. In this particular section of ENGL 200, we typically work with a wide range of different texts and genres, some of which come to us from the deep past and some of which are very contemporary (with forms usually including poems, photographs, films, perhaps a short videogame, essays, and at least one very weird novel). Along the way, we will focus on the question of how literary critics tend to approach these diverse objects of study—in short, on modes of reading and styles of interpretation, from “formalism” to “historicism” to “cultural theory.” By the end of the course, you should be able to describe these different approaches…and know a bit about how to practice them.