Upcoming Course Offerings

Words are magic, and words designed for specific audiences are like spells that shape ideas, attitudes, behaviors, even the destinies of nations. That is why, around 500 BC, the ancient Greeks began to study this power. Some of them believed this power came from the gods; some thought it was witchcraft; and some recognized it as a tool to build stronger communities. They created a whole discipline called rhetoric , and it became the centerpiece of all the liberal arts. Their ideas stretched into the centuries, animating great civilizations, including Rome, England, the United States, and the Christian Church. This course introduces you to that history, from the first Greek sophists to the great Roman teachers to the key theorists of our own day. You’ll learn the original principles of persuasion, apply those principles through careful analysis, and start casting your own spells as better persuaders.

The Anglo-Welsh poet Katherine Philips wrote many of her poems during a decade of particular uncertainty: the 1650s, during which people navigated the aftermath of civil wars that culminated in the execution of King Charles I and the military defeat of his son and heir. Philips’s poetry engages with this complex period on many levels, ranging from the local and personal to the public and political, often writing in ways that render these categories difficult to distinguish. In this class, we will work with a (digitized) manuscript of Philips’s poems in her own hand, the texts dating from 1650 to about 1658. Because no teaching edition of her poems exists, we will begin by collaboratively transcribing the manuscript, creating our own plain-text version of this artifact to use as we spend the rest of the course engaging with a range of historical, contextual, and scholarly materials in service of working out Philips’s artistic response to her tumultuous moment.

For what is, by far, the shortest traditional period in British literary history, the Romantic Age continues to have outsized influence in contemporary Anglo-American culture. This seminar will interrogate this phenomenon by pairing Romantic-era writers and texts with important works from recent decades that grapple with Romanticism’s legacies. We will study, for instance, how William Blake’s radical ethical vision undergirds Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, a 2009 eco-thriller by the Polish Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk; how a Byronic strain of toxic masculinity infects the protagonist of Disgrace, a Booker Prize winner from 1999 by the South African Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee; and how the remarkable rise and fall of the “peasant poet” John Clare is retold in Adam Foulds’s The Quickening Maze, a Booker finalist from 2009. This course should therefore prove valuable not only for specialists in 19th-century British literature but also for aspiring novelists, students of contemporary literature, and anyone interested in how leading writers of today continue to find inspiration in literary movements of ages past.

“Why should the nineteenth century . . . be the century of spiritism?” --Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project

This seminar examines the emergence of new aesthetic and philosophical directions in the latter decades of the 19th century. We will discuss major New York writers--Walt Whitman, Henry James, and Edith Wharton--and consider how the experience of anonymous crowds, the assimilation of new technologies, and the growing fluidity of individual identity combine to create new genres in poetry, fiction, and visual styles.

Our seminar will also consider theoretical approaches to reading the nineteenth century. How, for instance, does urban modernity both intensify social divisions and open new ways of exploring identity and style? How do technologies of production and representation (photography, panoramas, voice recording, motion pictures) pressure the conventional visual and literary arts? What can the ghosts of the nineteenth-century metropolis—its now outmoded forms and obsolete objects--reveal to us now, in ways not discernible then, about the underlying collective dreams and desires of the age?

Two influential critical studies of nineteenth-century urban capitalism, Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project and Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class will guide our inquiry. Benjamin offers a particular counterpoint to the purported materialism of the era. For the later nineteenth century appears strangely immaterial, and its aesthetic is marked by motifs of spectrality and ephemerality; phantasmagoria, ghosts, uncanny doubles, cosmic consciousness, and cosmic horror come to mediate the experience the modern. How and why this is so will be guiding questions in our seminar.

Edward Cutler
4116 JFSB Thu 4-6:50pm

Texts:

Benjamin, Walter. The Arcades Project

Blackwood, Algernon. The Centaur

James, Henry. Washington Square

James, William. Essays in Radical Empiricism

Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class

Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Gras

“Happy are they who understand the words of Jesus, but happier still are they who listen to His silence.” So remarks a contemporary French theologian, evoking silence of a peculiar kind – what scripture describes as the still, small voice. Such a thought attests to how divine silence may be revelatory as well as opaque, peaceful as well as disapproving. Approaching divine silence as a vital feature of spiritual life, our seminar will trace how its themes and resonances are taken up in literary criticism and theory (e.g., in work by Christian Wiman, Simone Weil, Michel de Certeau, and others).

Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

• Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

• Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

• Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

• Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Poetry

• Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Workshopping

• Students in English 670R will evaluate and critique the young adult novels of their peers.

Current Techniques in Writing Young Adult Novels

• Students in English 670R will identify current techniques in the writing of young adult novels through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Young Adult Novels

• Students in English 670R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication by a recognized publisher of young adult novels.

In English 611R: Teaching Advanced Composition, you will complete semester-long internship in teaching advanced writing to college students. The bulk of your learning in this course will take place in an individual internship with an experienced advanced writing teacher, where you will observe and participate in the teaching of the class. We will also meet periodically for seminar sessions designed to support your experiential learning in the internship by giving you a space where you can reflect mindfully, contextualize your learning in the Scholarship on Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and prepare to apply what you learn to future teaching. This course prepares you to practice thoughtful and researched-based teaching in your work during and after your MA. As part of this course, you'll develop a teaching portfolio that you can use on the academic job market. Applications required to enroll for this course.

This course introduces students to the field of professional writing and communication by way of classroom practice with the goal of professionalizing students as practitioners of technical and professional writing. The work in this class is focused on the habits of professionals who write and manage projects. Students will complete a range of professional writing assignments including a proposal, a case or client project, technical documentation, and a website. The final project is a professional writing portfolio that includes self-analysis

The Arthurian legend is one of the best-known narrative traditions from British literature. But from its sixth-century beginnings through today, Arthurian tales of knights, quests, named weapons, and monstrous beasts have most often relegated women to the margins. Despite the seeming equality of the Round Table, there are no seats for women, and when women do appear in the stories, they often do so in disturbing or problematic ways. This course aims to recover Arthurian women—women as characters in, as well as authors and readers of, the Arthurian Legend. Our study will begin with the roles of women in the legend’s creation and expansion during the medieval period, both in England and across Europe, then turn to women’s roles in perpetuating the legend’s literary afterlife. From Marie de France’s twelfth-century Arthurian poems, to the medievalism of the Romantic and Victorian periods, up through recent modern adaptations into literature, music, visual art, and film, women around the world have repeatedly made spaces for themselves at the Arthurian table.

How is it that Virginia Woolf is able to write so compellingly about the experiences of maternity when Woolf herself was never a mother? This course will begin by examining the female relationships in Woolf’s life—the very early death of her mother, Julia Stephen, in 1895 when Woolf was only 13; the powerful sisterhood between Woolf and Vanessa Bell; the intense and passionate connection between Woolf and British author Vita Sackville-West—in an attempt to contextualize the variety of mothers and motherly experiences we encounter in Woolf’s fiction. Students will read seven of Virginia Woolf’s ten novels, including Jacob’s Room, Mrs Dalloway, Orlando, To the Lighthouse, The Voyage Out, and The Waves, as we work our way through the complicated dynamics of feminism, modernism, and the maternal muse.

Trigger warning: This class will discuss (and return often) to Woolf’s experience of childhood sexual abuse.

The early American witchcraft phenomenon has been studied as a manifestation of anxiety surrounding gender and sexuality in the Americas. Certainly it was. But in a much larger sense, witchcraft registered early Americans’ concerns about their relationship to the continent, the Atlantic world, and the globe. In small and often isolated settlements, European colonists in the Americas were in a perpetual posture of defense against anticipated attacks—on their bodies, homes, souls, children, institutions, customs—with no clear sense of the origins or implications of the threat. In this climate, everything in the world, visible and invisible, was suspect. During the most famous episodes in the history of early modern witchcraft, accusers blurred the lines between sinner and saint, stranger and friend, on terms that echoed their constantly shifting status on a globe in flux. Were they Europeans (transmitting centuries of repression and violence) or Americans (entangled with the native inhabitants of their continents and islands)? Witchcraft periodically threw the ongoing tensions of colonial expansion and governance into sharp relief. At stake in these trials was not only the fate of individuals, but also the role that science, spirituality, law, literature, cross-cultural cooperation, and individualism were to play on the dramatic theaters of the New World.

In this course, we will trace the concerns of witchcraft in a variety of texts. Our seminar will begin with a study of the European bases upon which the early American witchcraft phenomenon rests, and we will study the animating anxieties as they were manifested, repressed, analyzed, and dramatized in other global contexts. Our sources will include the familiar and conventionally literary—histories, drama, short stories, a novel—as well as journals, letters, newspapers, and a film.

Just before the pandemic, the hot academic book was Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s Generous Thinking, which argued for a more communal approach to both academic life and the practice of literary criticism. The pandemic and the ever-increasing precarity of much academic labor have generated increased interest in a kind of ethical criticism that attends to questions of what might be called the humane. This course will take up that set of questions, beginning with Hegel’s account of recognition—a concept that has informed many influential theoretical accounts of the human while also proving less than adequate as a model of the humane. Consequently, the course will explore recent work that attempts to generate alternatives to Hegel’s model, including philosophical discussions of vulnerability and intersectionality. The course will culminate by moving these concerns into a theological register, asking what kind of theological anthropology might best account for a way of thinking about the human that could underwrite a richer and more generous life together.

Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

• Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

• Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

• Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

• Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Fiction

• Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

• Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Poetry

• Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

This course involves participation in the CUWP’s summer institute (SI). The course dates are unique, and graduate students should contact Amber Jensen before March 1 with their intention to participate as the course begins with an evening session in March, a full day in May, and then three weeks in June of daily, all-day, attendance. The program encourages teachers to be writers and focuses on improving writing instruction in a highly collaborative environment with teachers of multiple grade levels and content areas.

In this course, we will read a range of literary genres from diverse communities of American writers from 1865 to 1914 to engage the complicated realities of what it means to belong in the United States. Beginning with a juxtaposition of presidential emancipation and white supremacist propaganda, we will directly analyze and discuss the intersecting contexts and the embodied experiences of class, gender, race, and sexuality during this era of reorganizing and redefining the modern United States. Ultimately, our goal is to explore what this period of literature says of what it means to belong and what our individual responsibility is in (re)constructing spaces and relationships of belonging in our immediate and future communities.

Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

• Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

• Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

• Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

• Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Fiction

• Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

• Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Poetry

• Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

In English 611R: Teaching Advanced Composition, you will complete semester-long internship in teaching advanced writing to college students. The bulk of your learning in this course will take place in an individual internship with an experienced advanced writing teacher, where you will observe and participate in the teaching of the class. We will also meet periodically for seminar sessions designed to support your experiential learning in the internship by giving you a space where you can reflect mindfully, contextualize your learning in the Scholarship on Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and prepare to apply what you learn to future teaching. This course prepares you to practice thoughtful and researched-based teaching in your work during and after your MA. As part of this course, you'll develop a teaching portfolio that you can use on the academic job market. Applications required to enroll for this course.

Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

• Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

• Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

• Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

• Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Fiction

• Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

• Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Poetry

• Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

This course involves participation in the CUWP’s summer institute (SI). The course dates are unique, and graduate students should contact Debbie Dean before March 1 with their intention to participate as the course begins with an evening session in March, a full day in May, and then three weeks in June of daily, all-day, attendance. The program encourages teachers to be writers and focuses on improving writing instruction in a highly collaborative environment with teachers of multiple grade levels and content areas.

Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

• Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

• Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

• Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

• Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Poetry

• Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Workshopping

• Students in English 670R will evaluate and critique the young adult novels of their peers.

Current Techniques in Writing Young Adult Novels

• Students in English 670R will identify current techniques in the writing of young adult novels through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Young Adult Novels

• Students in English 670R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication by a recognized publisher of young adult novels.

Workshopping of Creative Nonfiction Drafts

• Students in English 667R will evaluate and critique the creative nonfiction of their peers.

Current Techniques in Creative Nonfiction Writing

• Students in English 667R will identify current techniques in the writing of creative nonfiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Writing and Revision of Creative Nonfiction

• Students in English 667R write and revise creative nonfiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Fiction Writing

• Students in English 668R will identify current techniques in the writing of fiction through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 668R will evaluate and critique the fiction of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Fiction

• Students in English 668R write and revise fiction suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

Current Techniques in Poetry Writing

• Students in English 669R will identify current techniques in the writing of poetry through the study and written assessment of published examples.

Workshopping

• Students in English 669R will evaluate and critique the poetry of their peers.

Writing and Revision of Poetry

• Students in English 669R write and revise poetry suitable for publication in a literary journal of national reputation.

This course involves participation in the CUWP’s summer institute (SI). The course dates are unique, and graduate students should contact Amber Jensen before March 1 with their intention to participate as the course begins with an evening session in March, a full day in May, and then three weeks in June of daily, all-day, attendance. The program encourages teachers to be writers and focuses on improving writing instruction in a highly collaborative environment with teachers of multiple grade levels and content areas.