Spring Courses
ENGLISH 5100 (online): Introduction to Phonology Dr. Mischler
The course presents an introductory study of human vocal speech and speech production, from the point of view of linguistics. The basic features of the English speech system and the physical production of speech sounds are discussed in detail. Students will also learn a phonetic transcription system to describe and analyze the speech sounds of English and other languages. Finally, students will explore the application of the knowledge learned in the course to other fields, including the study of language and language teaching. Required text: Ladefoged, Peter. A Course in Phonetics, 5th ed.
ENGLISH 5250 (online): Studies in the 18th Century (Sexuality and the Languages of Sex in Eighteenth-Century Britain) Dr. Cruise.
In this course we will examine discursive treatments of sexuality in the eighteenth century and how they were applied or, perhaps better, translated into more polite forms of literature. Readings will include: Aristotle's Masterpiece, The Rape of the Lock, Pamela, and others
.
ENGL 5570 (online): Antebellum and Postbellum Southern Literature Dr. Crank
This class investigates southern discourse from roughly 1750 to 1920, a huge time period during which the people of the southern states began to think of themselves as a distinct voice within the larger American song. Because this course moves through centuries, we will explore southern writers who documented the physical and metaphorical landscapes of the south in the 18th century (Thomas Jefferson, William Byrd, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet), who helped shape the discourse of southern apologia and race relations in the 19th century (Booker T. Washington, Charles Chesnutt, Frederick Douglass), and, finally, those writers who emerged from the vanquished "lost cause" of the Confederacy to reconstruct an idea of the south that would be relevant in the 20th century (George Washington Cable, Kate Chopin, Thomas Nelson Page).
ENGL 6110: Studies in Renaissance Literature - Shakespeare Dr. Razovsky
The Shakespeare class will read closely plays from each of the dramatic genres in which Shakespeare wrote: comedy, tragedy, history, and romance. We'll also consider the range of contemporary critical approaches to Shakespeare, including feminism, new historicism, and psychoanalytic criticism. Members of the class will have the opportunity to shape the final list of plays and other readings. The class will consider a range of issues, from Shakespeare's representation of gender and sexuality to his portrayal of political power and manipulation. Texts: Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies. Wells, Stanley, editor.
ENGLISH 6230: Literature and the Environment Dr. McFarland
This class explores the vital relationship between literature and environmental values, asking how changing literary interpretations of the land and animals have influenced attitudes toward nonhuman nature. We'll focus specifically on writings by women authors from Native and First Peoples traditions to survey environmental perspectives across the diversity of American literature. Some questions we'll ask: why have authors been so consistently concerned with-and inspired by-the idea of wilderness? What can environmental literature add to current scholarship about race, class, and gender? Do literary environments have to be "natural"? And what literary interpretations of environment will be likely in the future?
