ENG 270 - Special Topics in Literature

Deep dive into a special topic (such as genre, historical period, author, issue, theoretical or methodological approach) at the 200-level, which includes multiple of learning outcomes, as listed below. Depending on the Special Topic, the class may fulfill ONE of the following: a period requirement focusing on pre-1700 (D1), 1700-1900 (D2), or post-1900 (D3), or a theory course (E). May be repeatable for credit depending on the topic.

S’24 SECTION .02 EMILY DICKINSON

This course examines the poetry, life, and letters of one of America’s major poets. For English majors, this course may satisfy the C-1 or D-2 requirement but cannot double count.

S’24 SECTION .03 QUEER AND ETHNIC COUNTERPUBLICS: PRINT COMMUNITIES FROM C19 TO THE PRESENT

In this seminar, we will study print’s ability to forge minority communities by looking at a series of case studies from the nineteenth century to the present. These case studies will include: African American periodicals published during Jim Crow; poetry produced by Chinese American detainees in the exclusion period; chapbooks, zines, and posters circulated by queer writers and activists during the AIDS crisis; and queer and racialized communities in digital (post-print) spaces, e.g. Black Twitter. This course will involve in-person work at the American Antiquarian Society and remote work on digitized special collections. For English majors, this course may satisfy the Period D-3 or E requirements but cannot double-count. For English minors, this course can count either as a seminar in Theory or as a 200-level English seminar, but it cannot double count for the two requirements. Prerequisite: one course in English; OR one course in Literature, Languages, and Culture; OR one course in Media, Culture, and the Arts.

S’24 SECTION .04 THE PLANTATION, THE RAILROAD, THE BOARDING SCHOOL: CONTRONTING SPACES OF RACIAL CAPITALISM AND SETTLER COLONIALISM

In this course we read nineteenth-century American literature to better understand the cultural ramifications of three historical spaces: the plantation, the railroad, and the boarding school. These sites served as epicenters for two related systems of social oppression that continue to structure our world. The first is racial capitalism: a term describing the confluence of economic and racial exploitation in modern societies. The second is settler colonialism, a program of governance seeking to eliminate Indigenous traditions, culture, and peoples. In addition to cultural theory on these topics, course readings will likely include creative works by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, W. E. B. Du Bois, William Apess, Zitkala-Sa, Mourning Dove, Wong Chin Foo, and Sui Sin Far. We may also read more contemporary re-imaginings of the nineteenth century in literature, as appear in works by Octavia Butler and Maxine Hong Kingston. For English majors, this course may satisfy the D-2 requirement. For English minors, this course counts as a 200-level English seminar.

Special Topic Fall 2023: Songs of the Earth

Can the reading of poetry save the earth?  Perhaps that may be a long shot. One thing it may be able to do, however, is alter our response to Nature: to enable us to “see” Nature differently than the way we have seen it; or have been accustomed to see it.  Poetry may allow us to establish a relationship to the natural world different from the one we have inherited - to open us up to the “thusness” of things, a rewilding of our consciousness and conscience.  This course explores the idea of “ecopoetics”, less from a theoretical/critical construct than from an aesthetic involvement in the appreciation of Nature as it has evolved from not only Western culture; but also from Eastern, Native, and animistic traditions. As well as individual lyrics from multiple poets from the Romantic period to the present (Wordsworth to Oliver), we will also look at some relevant prose pieces (Thoreau, Loren Eiseley, Karen Armstrong, Gary  Snyder). For both English and non-English majors/minors. For English majors, this iteration of the course may satisfy the C-1, D-2, or D-3 requirement but it cannot double-count. For English minors, this iteration of the course may satisfy the C-1 or 200-level seminar requirement but it cannot double-count.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites: One 100-level English literature course (ENG 100-199) or permission of instructor

Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually