Fall 2016
Department of English
List of Gen. Ed. Literature Courses 
More sections may be added soon; check the Schedule of Classes.
Course offerings, places, and times subject to change

The following courses fulfill the Gen. Ed. Literature Requirement

The Sophomore Survey courses (Engl 201, 202, 205, 206) are acceptable for gen. ed. literature credit for all majors, but students not majoring in English or History should consider taking ENGL 210, 211, or 212.

200- and 300- level Gen. Ed. Literature Course Schedule / Descriptions 
(not all instructors provide descriptions).

PREREQUISITE FOR ALL COURSES: C OR BETTER IN ENGL 101 AND 102; OR ESOL 101 AND 102; OR ENGL 115

ALL SECTIONS of: 201 (British Lit I),  202 (British Lit II), 205 (American Lit I), and 206 (American Lit II).  Surveys of English or American literature. These course do not have to be taken in sequence. 

210	002	Literary Genres	MWF 11:00  – 11:50 AM			Laurel Ryan 
NATIVE LITERATURES AROUND THE WORLD.  What is “Native” literature? What do words like “aboriginal,” “indigenous,” and “Indian” mean? In this course, we will learn about the context of such terms by studying the writings of Native peoples from around the world. We will survey the literatures of indigenous peoples from regions such as the Arctic, the South Pacific, and the Americas. We will discuss such topics as creation myths, trickster figures, and the relationship between oral and written literatures.
We will examine the specific literary and cultural contexts of each of the texts we study, but one of the key objectives of this course is to learn how literary traditions do not exist in isolation. Rather, they can cross national borders, continents and even oceans.  In this course, we will study how these Native literatures interact not only with each other but also with Western literary traditions.
	
210	007	Literary Genres	TR	12:30  – 1:45 PM			Krista DeBehnke AMERICAN WOMEN POETS. The course will explore the lives and works of a wide variety of American women poets to help better understand the changes in both American literature and American culture over the last two centuries. By focusing on poetry written by a wide range of American women, we will trace the major movements and figures of American women’s poetry through the modernist and contemporary periods and focus on numerous diverse voices and styles. The major poets this course will focus on is the work of Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Sharon Olds. Texts:  Sharon Olds, Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980-2002,Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems edited with an introduction by Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson

211	002	Thematic Approaches to Literature   MWF 11:00 – 11:50 AM 	Diana Emmons
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES. What makes a creature evil? Is it their appearance or their intentions? Is it their actions or the aftermath of those actions? These are the questions we will be trying to frame and understand as we go throughout classic and contemporary culture to try and find these magical beasts and understand their stories. From Beowulf to Harry Potter we will be studying these various representations and will examine in depth the idea of what makes a Magical Creature “good” or “evil” Students with be expected to read a variety of texts and come prepared with discussion questions for every class. There will be two short papers based on the readings and outside research. The final project will be a detailed research and analysis on a “Creature” of the student’s choice or creation. Possible Readings will include: Beowulf, The Odyssey, The Tempest, selections from J. R. R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, J. K. Rowling, and various “creature” based poems including The Jabberwocky and The Kraken. 

211	005	Thematic Approaches to Literature	TR	12:30 – 1:45 PM 	Jessica Doble 
MEMORY IN NOVELS BY FEMALE WRITERS. What does it mean to remember? Do we remember our earliest years? How do our memories shape our identities? This course is a cross-cultural class where we will explore the ways women share their memories and discuss memory in fictional and non-fictional works. In looking at memories in written texts, we will also take a look at our individual and community memories as a way of exploring our places in the world.

211	010	Thematic Approaches to Literature	ONLINE			Denise Rogers 
SHERLOCK HOLMES, HIS PREDECESSORS AND HIS PROGENCY. The most famous detective in literature is Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. The only set of texts that have been published as widely and in as many languages as the Holmes stories is the Bible. Holmes is seeing a revival due to the new television and film adaptations. Our course will cover Holmes, but it also look at the less enduring figures rival detectives of the Victorian period both male and female (Dr. Thorndyke, Martin Hewitt, Loveday Brooke), as well as Holmes' successor "consulting"detectives of  later periods, like Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and Dennis Lehane's Kenzie and Gennaro. Students can also expect to learn a bit about the time periods and cultures in which Doyle and his fellow mystery writers lived. Assignments: As with any survey course, there will be a goodly amount of reading (exciting mysteries). Students will participate in regular online discussion forums. Students will write two short papers in response to the text, as well as midterm and final essay exams. There will be regular quizzes (multiple choice and short answer) and students will construct a glossary of terms. .Texts: Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Doyle, Arthur Conan.The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Lehane, Dennis. Darkness Take My Hand. Various texts by other period writers.

212	001	Literature and Other Media		MW	1:00 – 2:15 PM  	Andrew Attana
MONSTERS, MOVIES, AND MADNESS: THE HORROR GENRE AS SOCIETAL REFLECTION. Mixing history, literature, and film, this course will be an exploration of how the horror genre is more than exploitation, but a representation of our world, how the fears of society manifest themselves in both film and literature. In studying the translation (often beginning with real life events) from literature to film, students will become familiar with a wide array of major figures and themes within the horror genre and how they are, and have continued to evolve as, a reflection of cultural fears. Through class discussion and research of texts such as John Alvide Lindqvist’s Let the Right One In and Stephen King’s The Shining, this course will explore how
various entries into the horror genre speak to the state of the world, not only when they were produced, but how they still resonate today.

212	002	Literature and Other Media		TR	12:30 – 1:45 PM 	Garnet Branch
HUMANITY AND MACHINES IN FILM AND LITERATURE.  In the past few years several million articles have been printed claiming that in the near future many current jobs will be done by robots. Is this true? Is this possible? Is it predictable? What does our literature say about the relationship between humans and machines? After a close reading of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot, and his short story Run Around, we will watch, analyze, discuss and write about contemporary film in order to explore the relationship between man and machine. In addition, we will analyze works of art that explore our relationship, as well. For example, we will study Joseph Wright’s painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768, Rembrandt Van Rijn’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632, Aldolph Friedrich Erdmann Von Menzel’s Iron Mill, 1875, etc.

212	003	Literature and Other Media	MW	1:00 – 2:15 PM 		S. Griffith  Brownlee
IDEAS THAT SHOOK THE UNIVERSE: SCIENCE IN FILM, FICTION, AND NOT SO FICTION. This course is an introduction to some of science and fiction’s biggest stars, featuring the ideas that shape the way people understand and enjoy literature, movies, and gaming.  The objective is for students to read, view, and respond critically to the ideas presented to them in media.  The course will explore the human condition through science based literature.  Students will view the documentary films Einstein’s Big Idea; What Darwin Never Knew; Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.  Fiction films will include Ender’s Game; Star Trek: Into Darkness; and Dune.  Students will read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation; and Arthur Clarke’s Childhood’s End. One analytical PowerPoint presentation of about 15 minutes, one (3-page) APA style research papers, one 1-page essay on how science has influenced science fiction, and 4 short articles of commentary following the films. 

212	004	Literature and Other Media	MWF	9:00 – 9:50  AM          		Cassandra Pfeifer
STORIES AND THEIR ADAPTATIONS. In this course, we will be looking at stories alongside their adaptations. Since adaptation can take on a variety of forms, we will be looking at multiple mediums, including film, drama, music, television, and text. Students will be using story types covered through the semester to consider varying ways in which narratives morph when adapted into a different form.

312	001   	 Shakespeare	ONLINE					Jack Ferstel 

312	002   	 Shakespeare		TR  12:30  – 1:45 PM		Jack Ferstel

319	001   	Modern Poetry		TR 12:30  – 1:45 PM  		Jerry McGuire

320	001  	 Modern Fiction		MWF 9:00 - 9:50 AM		Lydia Whitt

320	002   	Modern Fiction		MWF 11:00 -11:50 AM		Lydia Whitt	
	
320	003  	Modern Fiction		MW 1:00 - 2:15 PM		Lisa Graley
In this course, we will explore short stories and novels in which characters are depicted as captives. These include some works from the twentieth century such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying and Albert Camus’s The Plague. Other works, however, will be from the past two decades including Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine (2003), Emma Donoghue’s Room (2011), Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son (2012), among others.	 	

320	004	Modern Fiction		TR 9:30  -10:45 AM		Yung-Hsing Wu
		
320	005	Modern Fiction		TR 11:00 -12:15 PM		Yung-Hsing Wu	

321	001	Survey of World Lit I	MWF 12:00 -12:50 PM		Ian Kinsella
	
333	001	Louisiana Literature	MW 2:30 -3:45 PM			Jack Ferstel  

333	002	Louisiana Literature	TR 2:00  - 3:15 PM	       		Jack Ferstel

335	001	Louisiana Folklore	MWF 11:00 - 11:50 AM  	 		John Laudun
Someone once called Louisiana a "folklore land" and we do live in a state, and in a region of the state, where folklore not only abides in abundance but is the subject of a great deal of attention by scholars and citizens, tourists and natives. This course encourages students to take a closer look for themselves at the folklore that surrounds each of us, at the various ways it has been and is currently being represented, and at the ways that it is used to create our everyday reality. Taking a closer look requires students to go out and "see" for themselves various aspects of Louisiana folklife, and then transforming that research into writing that will be shared with others. As part of learning how to write about folk culture, the course includes a survey of literature about Louisiana.

342	001	Modern Drama		TR: 11:00 -12:15 PM     

350 	    001	      Young Adult Lit and Media    	ONLINE		     	Keith Dorwick

350 	    002	      Young Adult Lit and Media    	ONLINE		     	Keith Dorwick
 
370	  003	    Special Topics in Lit and Media Art 	TR    9:30-10:45 	Randy Gonzales
THE LITERATURE, FILM AND CULTURES OF ASIAN-AMERICA. As one of the fastest growing racial-groups in the United States, Asian Americans have become increasingly visible in popular movies and television shows. In light of this increased visibility, this course will explore recent productions like the sitcoms Fresh off the Boat (2015) and Master of None (2015), the docucomedy Meet the Patels (2014), and YouTube series by the Fung Bros (2011-present) and place them within a history of Asian American cultural production which in this course starts with Mine Okubo’s graphic memoir Citizen 13660 (1946) and Carlo’s Bulosan’s America is in the Heart (1946) and includes novels like Milton Murayama’s All I’m Asking for is My Body (1975) and Brian Roley’s American Son (2001), movies like Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), and graphic novels like American Born Chinese (2006). The course is organized into four units: 
1.	Representations in Popular Culture which examines movies, TV shows, and YouTube series; 
2.	History in Literature which includes sub-sections on the internment of U.S citizens of Japanese origin and Asian American migrant labor in Hawaii and California; 
3.	Cultural Negotiations which explores coming-of-age graphic/novels and movies;
4.	Food and Culture which examines the significance of food as a cultural marker. 
The course advocates for a more nuanced understanding of Asian America that is only possible when the public is aware of Asian American history, literature, and culture. To this end, students will share their knowledge with a public audience by writing for popular websites like Wikipedia and Buzzfeed and composing research-based short videos, infographics, photo essays, graphic stories, and/or web posters for inclusion in a digital course exhibit.

370	004	    Special Topics in Literature and or Media Art  TR 11:00 – 12:15 PM 	Lisa Graley
CAGED: HUMAN RESPONSES TO CAPTIVITY In this course, we will study stories of captivity. Beginning with slave narratives, moving to works from the Holocaust and the Russian Gulag, and ending with contemporary tales of human imprisonment, we will look at the worlds individuals create within the bounds of captivity as well as the worlds artists imagine when depicting confinement. Moreover, we will look at critical approaches to representations of confinement. Tentative texts include Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz, Alexander’s Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Tahar Ben Jelloun’s This Blinding Absence of Light, Emma Donoghue’s Room, R. Dwayne Betts’ A Question of Freedom, Betts’ poetry collection Shahid Reads His Own Palm, and Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son. cross-listed with HUMN 300-004 HONR 385-015
									
380	001	  Readings in Literature by Women      MW 1:00 – 2:15 PM			Jennifer Geer 
ENGL 380: This course will examine literature by women in nineteenth and twentieth century Britain and America. In particular, it will focus on the ways women authors have adapted traditional fairy-tale narratives across a range of genres. Texts will include "Beauty and the Beast" by Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Disney's *Beauty and the Beast* (which is the first Disney movie with a female screenwriter), Charlotte Bronte's *Jane Eyre*, Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," Maxine Hong Kingston's *The Woman Warrior*, Sandra Cisneros' *The House on Mango Street*, and short stories and poetry by Elizabeth Bishop, Anne Sexton, and Tanith Lee. 

381	001	Scripture as Literature		TR 11:00 -12:15 PM         	      Ian Kinsella