English—Literature, B.A.
Students concentrating in literature gain a broad understanding of literary culture and a variety of perspectives from which to explore issues of representation and literary form, and also acquire the skills requisite to formulating and advancing sustained and persuasive readings of texts. Building on the foundations of English 213 and 219, in which fundamental skills and practices of reading and writing about literature are cultivated, students encounter some of the intellectual and cultural issues in the fields of British, American, and World literature in English 314, 316, and 321. Students then practice their reading skills and deepen the base of knowledge developed in this core in six electives and a seminar devoted to the study of a single author. Elective choices allow students to focus on the English language, explore specific literary genres and themes, and investigate the writing of particular communities and literary historical periods. Finally, in English 412, the Capstone Seminar, students interrogate a critical issue current in literary studies by completing a research essay of publishable quality and length.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required | ||
| ENGL 213 | Introduction to the Study of Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 219 | Making Literature Matter | 3 |
| ENGL 314 | Topics in American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 316 | Topics in British Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 321 | Topics in World Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 412 | Capstone Seminar: Current Issues in the Discipline of English | 3 |
| One Single Author Course: | ||
| ENGL 331 | Shakespeare: Early Works | 3 |
| ENGL 332 | Shakespeare: Later Works | 3 |
| ENGL 363 | Single Author Study | 3 |
| Electives | ||
| Select six literature courses from the following for a total of 39 credits: | ||
| ENGL 204 | Modern American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 205 | Queer Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 209 | Children's & Young Adult Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 214 | Science Fiction | 3 |
| ENGL 215 | Multiethnic US Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 218 | The Short Story | 3 |
| ENGL 219 | Making Literature Matter | 3 |
| ENGL 220 | African American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 226 | Women in Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 227 | Survey of Dramatic Literature to 1620 | 3 |
| ENGL 228 | Survey of Dramatic Literature from 1620 | 3 |
| ENGL 230 | Classical Drama of Greece & Rome | 3 |
| ENGL 231 | ||
| ENGL 303 | The Novel | 3 |
| ENGL 305 | African American Women Writers | 3 |
| ENGL 306 | Modern Poetry | 3 |
| ENGL 307 | Modern Drama | 3 |
| ENGL 308 | Satire | 3 |
| ENGL 309 | Epic | 3 |
| ENGL 310 | Medieval & Renaissance Drama | 3 |
| ENGL 312 | Colonial American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 313 | Stories of Teaching & Learning: Narratives of Education | 3 |
| ENGL 318 | Postcolonial Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 322 | Middle Eastern Literature: Writing Beyond Modernity | 3 |
| ENGL 323 | World Poetry of 20th Century | 3 |
| ENGL 324 | Irish Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 326 | Eighteenth-Century British Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 327 | Romanticism in England | 3 |
| ENGL 328 | Literature of the Crusades | 3 |
| ENGL 329 | Contemporary World Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 330 | Elizabethan Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 331 | Shakespeare: Early Works | 3 |
| ENGL 332 | Shakespeare: Later Works | 3 |
| ENGL 340 | Survey of U.S. Writers of Latin-American Descent | 3 |
| ENGL 342 | Asian Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 345 | Literature of Genocide | 3 |
| ENGL 346 | ||
| ENGL 347 | ||
| ENGL 350 | Age of Chaucer | 3 |
| ENGL 351 | African & Caribbean Women Writers | 3 |
| ENGL 352 | Modern and Contemporary African Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 353 | ||
| ENGL 356 | Victorian Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 363 | Single Author Study | 3 |
| ENGL 389 | Literature of the Palestine - Israel Conflict | 3 |
| ENGL 409 | Literary Theory | 3 |
| ENGL 410 | Thematic Studies | 3 |
| ENGL 420 | Major Cultural Conflicts in Literature | 3 |
| 39 | ||
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the Literature BA program, students will be able to:
- Summarize texts written in a variety of modes, styles, and discourses.
- Paraphrase texts written in a variety of modes, styles, and discourses.
- Perform close reading of literary works with attention to their formal features.
- Construct explication of texts written in a variety of literary modes.
- Analyze, synthesize, and integrate secondary materials into original analysis, interpretation, or argument.