ENG 170 - Special Topics in Literature

Focuses on a special topic (such as genre, historical period, issue, theme, or methodology) at the 100-level, which includes multiple of learning outcomes, as listed below. Depending on the Special Topic, this class may fulfill ONE of the following: a historical sequence (B1 or B2), a genre course (C1 or C2), or a pre-1700 course at the 100 level (one of two D1 courses). May be repeatable for credit depending on the topic.

S’24 SECTION .01 INTRO TO ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

An introductory course on Asian American literature and culture. An overview of Asian American literary and cultural production from Chinese Exclusion to the present. We’ll be studying novels, poems, plays, graphic novels, and films created by Asian American and Pacific Islander artists to reflect on themes such as immigration, empire, family, social mobility, the environment, and the lived experiences of citizenship, race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability. First-year students and non-English-majors are welcome! For English majors, this course may satisfy the B-2 requirement. Fulfills VE Requirement

S’24 SECTION .02 WRITING THE EARLY ATLANTIC

In the early Atlantic world, Europe, Africa, and the Americas are linked not only by an ocean but by rapidly increasing contact driven by exploration and exploitation, encounter and colonialism, potential and limitation. While one narrative of the period might emphasize voluntary movement and the wonder of discovery, another might articulate survival and innovation in the face of violent dispossession. While one narrative might rally resistance to enslavement and creative resilience in bondage, another might navigate the uncertain ground of incomplete freedoms and ambiguous rights. In this course we will specifically considers acts of writing as forms of agency wherein individuals seek to define their own sense of identity, resistance, belonging, and adaptation in relation to the complexities of the early Atlantic world. Students will read early genres such as long-form poetry, chronicles and reports, captivity narratives, and religious writing. This course fulfills the VE (verbal expression) requirement by paying equal attention to close reading and critical thinking, on the one hand, and persuasive argumentation and writing, on the other. For English majors, this course may satisfy the B1 requirement. Fulfills VE Requirement

S’24 SECTION .04 EARLY WOMEN’S VOICES

This course examines a range of materials featuring women writers, narrators, and protagonists, ranging in date from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries. We will read romances, fables, love poetry, mystical and visionary literature, theology, autobiography, political theory, and correspondence between nuns, aristocratic women, and aristocratic nuns! Medieval and Renaissance women were often constrained by complicated social, economic, and political forces, which intersected with activities we think of as historical, cultural, and religious. Through these texts we will confront a variety of questions: Are there recurring ways in which women’s voices and modes of expression are portrayed? Do female-authored texts share any essential characteristics? Can we locate a female literary ethos in particular genres, or are we encountering a fortuitous selection of “typical” early English literature? Much of our time will be spent on how women viewed themselves, their bodies, and their place in the world. Texts may include works by Heloïse, Marie de France, Cristina Mirabilis, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Christine de Pizan, Mary Sidney, Emilia Lanier, and Margaret Cavendish, along with select male authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer. For English majors, this course may satisfy the Period D-1 requirement. Fulfills VE Requirement

Special Topic Fall 2023: Ecofictions: Literature and Environment

The environmental crisis implicates all living (and non-living) beings on the planet. It poses complex challenges for scientists and policy makers, but it is also a deeply existential crisis that compels us to think about deep questions: what does it mean to be human? how do we understand the human entanglement with the non-human world? what is the relationship between the `real’ natural world and the emergence of virtual worlds enabled by digital technologies? is a more reciprocal connection with nature possible in an era defined by capitalist relations? This course provides an opportunity to reflect on a number of key tropes in ecological thinking including wilderness, waste, animals, extinction, and transnational politics and culture. Drawing on novels, poetry, films, artworks, philosophical texts, and digital media, we will ask how literature has shaped environmental thought and action (or could). What literary genres and styles emerge to address the huge ecological challenges of our times? As we will see, concerns pertaining to `eco-politics’ are embedded in histories of imperialism, systemic racism, and discourses of sexuality. Hence our investigations address questions of ethics and relationality-specifically, whether we might cultivate more ethical relationships not only with the nonhuman world, but also with one another. For English Majors, this iteration of the course satisfies the C-2 requirement.

A key aspect of the course will entail reflecting on your own orientation to climate change and its presence in your everyday life. Key readings may include work by Thoreau, JM Coetzee, Wu Ming-Yi, Alexis Gumbs, Amitav Ghosh, Lucille Clifton, Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, and more.

For English Majors, this iteration of the course satisfies the C-2 requirement.

Prerequisites: IDND 018  or VE placement

Course Designation/Attribute: VE

Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually