Fall 2006
ENW 2000 Theories of Writing - Smith
The subject of this course is composing―reading and writing. At the heart of composing, I believe, lies empathy and identification. That means, whenever we read and write, we somewhat courageously put ourselves in dialogue with a larger “text” which has been written, revised, and performed over time by multiple authors. In this course, we will consider how, as readers and writers, we exist in relationship with the past, with the words of others, and with various cultures. Ideally, this class represents a type of crossroads, a space where the past, the present, the writer, the written, the reader, and the text intersect. My goal is to make this space challenging, surprising, and generative for all of us.Obviously, we will read and write a great deal in this course, and one of our writing assignments will be a significant research project involving application of contemporary theory. We will consider the work of writers like Gloria Anzaldúa, Peter Elbow, Paolo Freire, Harriet Jacobs, Azar Nafisi, Mary Louise Pratt, Michael Ondaatjte, Adrienne Rich, Edward Said, and others.
ENW 2000 is required of all English majors following the “Writing Emphasis” program, and should be taken in the sophomore year, before enrolling in 3000-level ENW courses. This course does not fulfill the general education Humanities requirement.
ENW 2510 Intermediate Composition - Reading, Talking, Knowing Cultural Identities - Holt
ENW 2510, Intermediate Writing Seminar, is a three-hour writing course focusing on the development and enhancement of the literacy skills essential to college-level writing. Designed as preparation for students who are interested in taking advanced-level writing courses, students are also welcome who desire further writing instruction. Reading and writing assignments will address the theme of cultural contact, and students will be encouraged to examine the impact of cultural expectations at various levels, from the personal to the global. In the past, coursework in this class has included viewing episodes of All in the Family and reading novels such as The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, and Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid, as well as a selection of contemporary poetry and fiction. At least three major writing assignments and various smaller writing activities will be assigned, and students will be expected to compose in drafts, engage in peer evaluation sessions, and make use of electronic technologies. Course requirements include active participation in all aspects of the class, consistent writing improvement, and serious attention to revision. Prerequisite: ENG 1010 or 1100.
ENL/W 3500 History of the English Language - Monteverde
Recognizing that any description of this course is destined to be off-putting, let me begin by stating that ideally this course should make your own language come alive for you as a living entity whose current form is the result of all its childhood experiences and whose future shape, though predictable to some extent, is also yet to be determined. We will study the growth of our language from its origin as a descendant of the Indo-European language family in distant prehistory to its current position as the 2nd most widely spoken language in the modern world. Though required for all students seeking teacher certification in English, this course also is of value to students interested in the study of literature and the development of a personal voice in writing, because it will make the primary tool of writing, the language itself, more visible to you. Tests will be augmented with a variety of assignments, such as a personal language history, designed to help you appreciate the on-going and individual process of change that can be experienced in the study of English. Out of class assignments include producing a brief essay reflecting on how use of language shapes a particular work or group of your own choosing—past students have considered such topics as a book by Dr. Seuss, a play by Shakespeare, a novel by Faulkner, a current movie, and internet speech. An optional service learning unit can also be taken as part of the course.
ENW 3590 Writing for Spiritual Development - Pinter
What matters? Why are you here? What is your story? How does your story fit, or not, in the larger human story?
This class will read what others have written about these questions and we will write some of our own explorations about faith and doubt. This foundational course is designed for those interested in writing about issues of faith. It provides an opportunity to explore the basic aspects of spirituality, assuming that they related to one’s growth as a writer about the spiritual life. It is non-sectarian, but includes an awareness of several traditions and belief systems. The class will focus on personal discipline, spiritual reading, and journal keeping as means of being attentive to core beliefs.
Types of writings include life writing, creative non-fiction, and writing for social change. Various topics include faith and doubt, myth and metaphor, imagination and dream, evil and good, and the idea of spiritual discipline.
ENL 3620 Shakespeare: Representative Plays - WellsThis course will introduce students to the unsurpassed and inexhaustible pleasures of Shakespeare’s plays. We will begin with a study of Shakespeare’s language, with the goal of helping students become competent readers of his plays, and move to practicing a more accomplished literacy whereby we study how Shakespeare’s plays yield dizzyingly pleasurable experiences through beauty, poignancy, irony, paradox and wit—the qualities that make Shakespeare pre-eminent among dramatists in our language. To these ends we will study plays from all four traditional Shakespearean genres—comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances.
ENW 3670 Perspectives on Literacy - HoltReading the word “literacy” calls into play many personal beliefs about our class system, economic and political structures, educational institutions, cultures, and media. As you read this course description, complex processes are at work making use of abilities you have been practicing throughout much of your life. During interaction with your family, in school, at work, and in daily life, you are making use of a basic level of literacy skills. Another level of literacy is achieved through reading; from assumptions you hold about the role of literacy in your development; your beliefs about the function of higher education in your future; and your plans for a life in a society that demands higher literacy and uses it to establish criteria for success. We will begin this course by exploring the personal function of literacy, and progressively extend our examination to social, historical, economic, and academic perspectives on literacy. Designed for students who require an upper-division writing course, ENW 3670 is open to any student interested in further developing her/his writing skills by exploring the intersections of literacy and culture. Prerequisite: ENG 1010 or 1100.
ENW 3680 Book Editing in Context - AlexanderHow is the written word transformed into bound book? Who decides what is published and why? How does the book industry serve as gatekeeper for ideas and culture? What’s the difference between developmental and manuscript editing? What’s the difference between letterpress and offset printing? Why are there so few books with green covers? What are “the book arts”? Answers to these questions and more will be explored in this course, which is both and overview of the history and cultural context of book publishing in the United States and an introduction and practicum in basic editorial skills, with an emphasis on text editing. Students will be introduced to the history and status of the industry, from the earliest days of publication in the New England colonies to the current state of commercial, scholarly, and independent publishing. The basic function of the editor in various stages of the publishing process will be examined and basic editorial skills practiced. Students will take field trips to local publishers and printers, and will develop a final project in the form of a chapbook they edit, design, and produce themselves, from raw manuscript to bound book. Texts will include The Chicago Manual of Style, Inside Book Publishing, selected issues of Publishers Weekly, and other materials.
ENL 3720 Romanticism in England - Hutchins
Are you interested in an in-depth study of some of the various and fascinating strands comprising what we call the age of English Romanticism? We’ll examine English literature and culture, 1780-1840, featuring works of authors like Austen, Blake, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Percy and Mary Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, and others not so well known. I use a modified thematic approach: some themes including the literary imagination and creativity; sources of hope and despondence, developments in religion and family roles, romantic love and madness; the nature of gothic, the validity of reading biography into literature, etc. (While some of these themes may have been touched on in English 2120, I will make certain that we feature different works and approaches.)
My approach to critical method centers mostly on new historicist and cultural studies approaches, although other approaches are welcomed. Besides works of literature, we will examine cultural documents such as children’s literature, fairy tales, sermons and guidebooks, journals and diaries, journalism and speech-writing, visual art and ballads, etc. Let’s also consider to what degree and in what ways the influence of the Romantics still shapes our own ideals, even two centuries later. Assessment learning includes two examinations, one presentation, one project, one major paper, and several journals. I encourage but do not require creative approaches to journals, papers, and projects.
ENL/W 4900 Seminar in English Studies – The Nashville Project - Curtis
Students in this course will be initiating and ongoing researched project on some part of the literary histories of Nashville. Particular approaches will be determined during the course, but participants will, among other things, discover and explore literature produced in and about Nashville; research Nashville history, including visiting places in and around Nashville appropriate to their projects; and determining what form(s) writing about literary histories of Nashville should take. (Note this course is for senior English majors graduating no later than May 2006 only; the course will be offered again in the Spring.)
