Fall 2026 Course Descriptions: Storrs Campus

Fall 2026

Each semester the faculty for the Department of English provide course descriptions that build upon the University's catalog descriptions. These individually crafted descriptions provide information about variable topics, authors, novels, texts, writing assignments, and whether instructor consent is required to enroll. The details, along with reviewing the advising report, will help students select course options that best meet one's interests and academic requirements.

The following list includes Undergraduate courses that are sequenced after the First-Year Writing requirement and will change each semester.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

1101W-01 | TuTh 12:30 - 1:45| Winter, Sarah

This course introduces students to ancient Greek and Roman mythology and foundational literary genres arising in antiquity, including epic, tragedy, comedy, and lyric poetry. Greek and Roman authors whose works will be read in translation include: the Greek poets and dramatists, Hesiod, Homer, Sappho, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes; and the Roman poet, Ovid. The second part of the course will focus on the equally influential genre of romance. We will read medieval courtly romances by Marie de France, the Arthurian tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and conclude the semester with Dante’s medieval epic, The Inferno, which tells the story of the poet’s descent into hell. Through multiple opportunities to receive feedback from the instructor and their peers, students will revise and improve their written work by focusing on analytical and conceptual precision of language and effective organization of the key claims in their argument. Students will also gain greater proficiency in interpreting the complex and ambiguous meanings of mythic, poetic, and narrative forms, as well as genres, character types, and figurative language in literary texts. Students will identify and develop a well-reasoned opinion on the ethical questions raised by the literary texts. Course Requirements: two 4-5 page papers; 2 required revisions of the short papers totaling 14-15 pages; required peer writing workshop; final exam; group presentation; participation in class discussions and online discussion boards.

Prerequisites: None

Also offered as: AMST 1201, HIST 1503

1201-01 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 | Anson, April

A multi-disciplinary inquiry into the diversity of American societies and cultures. We will explore the myths and realities of what and who are considered American through foundational and contemporary research as well as fiction, film, poetry, and other forms of artistic representation. Students will write weekly responses, two short research assignments, a midterm, and a final exam. Course time will be used for short lectures, class discussion, group work, and individual presentations. This course is open to anyone. There are no recommended prerequisites.

1201-01 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 | Reynolds, Kristen

What is America? In this course, we will try to answer this question using a multi-disciplinary lens that explores multiple topics including slavery, settler colonialism, and immigration. We will explore how these topics shape American history and culture to analyze what America symbolizes across social groups and what it means to be American. Using a series of foundational and contemporary texts alongside fiction, film, and other cultural products, we will explore the multiple and intersecting facets of America’s identity/identities. Student assignments will include group work, short quizzes, periodic written responses, and midterm and final exams. Course time will primarily be used for discussion and short lectures.

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011

1401-01 | MW 10:10-11:00 with discussion sections on Friday | Semenza, Gregory

This course focuses on the theory and history of the international horror film, from the silent era through the present day; it also surveys the important sub-genres of horror, including the monster films, paranormal films, slasher films, gialli, and folk horror films, just to mention a few. Often criticized—sometimes dismissed—as the lowliest of all forms, horror has in fact always been one of the most capacious, formally innovative, and ideologically complex film genres. The passionate responses it inspires in audiences, from cult-like devotion to outright disgust, raise fascinating questions about why we love (or hate) to be frightened. How do the things that most terrify us change over time or within different locales? How do we draw ethical lines (personal, institutional, or national) about what we are willing to depict or watch on film? What do our individual and collective responses to horror say about us and the world in which we live?

The course schedule is organized into two (somewhat overlapping) sections on Theory and History. In the Theory section, we’ll pursue topics of special interest--such as the depiction of women in the horror film--in great depth and in relation to multiple films. In the History section, we’ll work 1) to situate emblematic, groundbreaking, and/or influential films in relation to their specific subgenres and cultural-historical moments; and 2) to trace the development of the genre over time.

Please note that this course is not for the squeamish. Many of the films contain graphic violence and gore, strong sexual content (including sexual violence), and generally disturbing themes. I will do my best each week to help you anticipate any unusually graphic content, but please note that, in many ways, disturbing content is precisely the focus of this course.

Assignments include weekly reading and screening, serious notetaking in lectures, participation, a group project, a midterm, and a final examination.

1401-02 | MW 1:25 - 2:15 with discussion sections on Friday | Semenza, Gregory

See the description for 1401-01

1401-03 | W 5-7:30 | Barreca, Gina

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

1616W-01 | MWF 1:25 - 2:15| Nakhle, Marie Nour

English 1616W is a writing-intensive survey of major works of English and American literature loosely organized around the themes and motifs of satire and parody.

While not set, texts will likely include:

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1600)
Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal” (1729)
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle (1963)
Percival Everett, Erasure (2001)

And a few more. We will be paying close attention to the contexts in which these texts were created as well as/in order to understand their formal construction in terms of motifs, language, etc.

As a writing-intensive W-course, we will also spend significant time discussing how we read and write about literary works. Course requirements include active in-class participation as well as a combination of traditional (essay, presentation, etc.) and non-traditional (TBD) writing assignments.

Also offered as: AMST 2276W

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2276W-01 | TuTh 12:30 - 1:45| Reynolds, Kristen

The catalog describes this course as follows: interdisciplinary approaches to American utopian and dystopian literature of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. However, this class is designed to offer you much more than this description implies.

Focusing primarily on the 20^th and 21^st centuries, this course examines how technology is explored in fiction, film, and music. Relying on a combination of short stories, novels, and films by Octavia E. Butler, Aldous Huxley, Spike Jonze, and more, we will ask what the boundary between utopia and dystopia truly is when one calls the other into extreme focus. We will also examine how creatives examine the possibilities and limitations of achieving utopian ideals using technology. Student assignments will include periodic reflection essays, short quizzes, and a final paper. Prerequisites include ENGL 1007, 1010, or 1011.

2276W-02 | TuTh 5:00-6:15|Grossman, Leigh

It’s a bit terrifying but accurate to say that we are living in a golden age of dystopian fiction. Both dystopias and utopias (often two ways of looking at the same thing) have become pervasive across American media, including books, stories, and graphic novels, tabletop and video games, long- and short-form video, and more. In particular the audience has been getting younger—dystopian worlds that used to be geared toward adults are increasingly focused on teenagers and middle-grade readers. This class will look at some of the roots of the current golden age, but the main focus is on what topics lend themselves to utopias and dystopias, and why authors use particular tropes of the field. We will look both at what authors are trying to accomplish, and what readers expect in a satisfying work (and how those things differ for adult and younger audiences). The class will include many key older works, but with a significant focus on current authors who are changing the field (Sarah Pinsker, Rivers Solomon, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Rebecca Roanhorse, etc.). We will also look at some critical writing, and some of the authors you are reading will be guests in the class.

2276W-03 | TuTh 11:00-12:15| Knapp, Kathy

We know a dystopian landscape when we see one, perhaps because recent literature, film, and television abound with examples, from the popular YA franchise The Hunger Games to the serialized version of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, to resurgent syllabus favorites such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, all of which bespeak contemporaneous anxieties arising from large-scale problems that we currently contend with: climate change, the rise of fascism, the persistence of racial and economic injustice, the Covid pandemic, and more. Harder to identify are compelling depictions of utopia, which translates from the Greek as “no place,” and which theorists Frank and Fritzie Manuel identify as a “fantasy” based on the myth of heaven on earth. An impossible dream? Perhaps, but In this class, we will focus on predominantly contemporary narratives that engage, imagine, and complicate our understanding of utopian imaginaries by considering texts that are grounded in a realist tradition but which explore its characters’ desires for and efforts toward an alternative future. This being an American Studies course as well as a literature course, we will read the utopian and dystopian impulses fueling these novels alongside the ideals and mythologies that have underwritten what it means to be American: as we will discuss, from its inception, the U.S. has been an ostensibly utopian project that has depended upon gathering some and excluding others by way of an exceptionalist ideology and the heady promises of the so-called American Dream. We will read the novels by authors such as Lauren Groff, Jesmyn Ward, Emily St. John Mandel and others alongside films and other media as well as a variety of theoretical and cultural readings to ask if not answer a series of questions including but not limited to the following: what is the relationship between utopia and dystopia? Is utopia possible or even desirable? Is there a uniquely American version of utopia, and if so, what values and beliefs sustain it? As we respond to answers to these questions, we will develop our own working definition of the utopian. Students will write weekly responses, participate in discussion groups, and create two interdisciplinary projects that respond to and extend course material.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2301W-01 | MW 11:15-12:05 |Hybrid| Coundouriotis, Eleni

Anglophone literatures are English language works from Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia. These works were shaped by the history of British colonialism and its long aftermath in an ongoing decolonization. This semester we will focus on contemporary fiction that tackles decolonization, globalization, migration, and gender. All our texts are narratives (most of them novels). We will focus on the role of character development in fiction and the ways in which writers create story arcs that comment on contemporary situations and the context they arise from.

In-person meetings will be discussions and the remote component of the hybrid modality will focus on giving you the tools for effective analysis of the texts. You will be assigned weekly short writing assignments that will build toward the 15-page revised writing requirement for the W. There will also be a midterm and a final.

2301W-02 | TuTh 3:30-4:45|Sanchez, Lisa

This course examines English language literature by writers outside of the U.S. and the British Isles. Our focus this semester will be Caribbean writers, including Edwidge Danticat, George Lamming, Julia Alvarez, Jamaica Kincaid, C.L.R. James, and V.S. Naipaul.

Grades determined by in-class writing assignments and class participation.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2401-01 | MW 12:20-1:10|Hybrid|Forbes, Sean

2401-02 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 | Cohen, Bruce

This introductory course will focus on the close reading and analysis of verse to expand your appreciation of the traditions of poetry. We will explore poetic techniques, forms and strategies and learn to critically analyze poetry. In essence, we will delve into what makes a poem a “poem.” We will discuss some of the various “schools” of poetry to provide you with some historical context for the sensibilities and conventions of poetry. The goal of the course is to expand your interest in poetry to the point that you will read it outside of class, well after the course has concluded and be able to discuss poetry in an intelligent manner. Course requirements include class participation, written essays and a final exam.

2401-03 | TuTh 12:30-1:45 | Cohen, Bruce

See description for 2401-02

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2407-01 | TuTh 12:30-1:45 | Sanchez, Lisa

This course surveys American and other significant writers. Our aim is to analyze the short story as art and artifact. Students will study the history and elements of the short story genre; master the key concepts involved in analysis of the genre; and participate in class discussions and group discussions.

Grades determined by three in-class exams and a class participation grade.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2407W-01 | TuTh 11:00-12:15 | Burke, Mary

This course will concentrate on short stories in English by American and international authors. Students will sample a broad spectrum of stories that illustrate a particular style, era, national tradition, or theme, and will learn how to read with careful critical attention. Coursework will consist of a practice essay, a midterm long-format paper, response papers, group discussion, and a final assessment.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2408W-01 | TuTh 12:30-1:45 | Burke, Mary

We will read a variety of plays with an eye to staging. Progressing in chronological order, we consider evolutions of genre, theme, and form in drama from a variety of national traditions, from Henrik Ibsen through J.M. Synge and on to Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire), the British “Angry Young Men” (and women) scene of the 1950s, and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (1959). Coursework will consist of a practice essay, a midterm long-format paper, response papers, group discussion, and a final assessment.

Why study modern and postmodern absurdist, Surrealist, Dada-esque, non-naturalistic plays? 1) To be okay with not knowing. As absurdist extraordinaire George Saunders puts it: “Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.” 2) To strengthen your synapses. "Most critics and theatergoers," playwright Maria Irene Fornes once said, "are so used to seeing plays in only one way — What is the dramatic conflict? What are the symbols? — that they go through their entire lives looking for the same things. If they don’t find what they expect, they’re disconcerted." Reading our texts, and staying with the difficulties that each one presents, will be an exercise in intellectual breadth and versatility, and in critical judgment: two of the goals for a UConn Gen Ed course. 3) To engage nonsense in the pursuit of sense. Studying these texts, and their historical, political, and philosophical contexts, will highlight the absurdity of humanity-- and only if we can recognize our absurdity can we celebrate the possibility of non-absurdity! 4) To gather courage to go on with your life. Here comes another year, another semester, another day... "The comic alone is capable of giving us the strength to bear the tragedy of existence." That's Eugene Ionesco. Let's gather strength for this year, and beyond, through our study of theatrical absurdity. This course requires a weekly writing assignment, a scene presentation, a great deal of reading, a live discussion section, a midterm, and a final exam.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011. Not open to students who have passed ENGL 3621 when taught as "The Graphic Novel."

2413-01 | TuTh 8:00-9:15 | Capshaw, Kate

This course explores the history and theory of the graphic novel. We will explore a variety of approaches to the genre, from superhero narratives to graphic memoir, from manga to contemporary experimental texts. While no single course can offer a comprehensive summation of such a vast and various body of work, our class will address the field’s major generic threads. We will also develop an understanding of the ‘grammar’ involved in reading a panel, page, and entire comics sequence. One of our objectives is to support each other as we engage the critical discourse around comics and graphic novels: we will share sources and insights and offer constructive feedback as we work together to produce informed and incisive term papers. Class participation is highly valued in grading. The use of AI in any facet of our work is prohibited.

2413-02 | TuTh 12:30 - 1:45 | Knapp, Kathy

Over the past several decades, critics have come to recognize the value of comics as both an art form and as literature. This course will introduce students to key concepts and a working vocabulary for considering what it means to approach the graphic novel as a hybrid form: what can a graphic novel do that a novel can’t, for instance? And how does narrative shape the way we see? We will read graphic novel criticism alongside a variety of graphic novels and memoirs as we identify the possibilities suggested by a medium that asks us to do several things at once: we spend more time with and attend more carefully to the page before us as a form of training for developing a new approach to understanding the world around us.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2603-01 | MW 1:25- 2:15 Hybrid| Dolan Gierer, Emily

The goal of this course is to understand the Bible as one of our earliest literary texts, one which weaves together poetry, history, and personal narrative. We will explore the various literary genres of the Bible, examine the complex characterizations of both God and humans, wrestle with thematic ambiguities around gender, national identity, violence, suffering, and sacrifice, while also developing a better understanding of the narrative conventions of ancient Hebrew writers. This course is open to anyone interested in studying the Bible as one of the most popular and enduring literary texts of all times and helps fulfill the Early Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic History requirement for English majors. Assignments include daily quizzes, weekly journals, a mid-term exam, and a final paper.

Also offered as: CLCS 2609

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 Not open for credit to students who have passed AMST/ENGL 3265W when offered as "Fascism and Antifascism in the US."

2609-01 | TuTh 11:00 - 12:15 | Vials, Christopher

As a type of state, fascism was largely destroyed in 1945. But as an ideology and a set of political movements, it has appeared in countries across the globe, before and after World War II.

In this course, we will explore the questions: what is fascism? How is it relevant for thinking about the culture and politics of the world today, and the United States in particular? And how does fascism differ from other forms of authoritarianism? 1

After surveying the historical fascisms of Germany, Italy, and Japan, we will turn to the United States, where we will devote much of the remainder of the class to exploring U.S. fascist or fascist-like movements that moved from fringe to mainstream.

We will also discuss the applicability of the concept of fascism for the United States -- a country with a history of race rooted in settler colonialism, slavery, and immigrant labor. When does structural racism cross the line into actual fascism? What’s the relationship between racism and authoritarianism? Are practices like segregation or voter suppression ‘fascist,’ or do they come from a different kind of anti-democratic history?

Along the way, we will discuss what is has meant to be an antifascist, both in the United States and abroad. What’s the difference between being “against fascism” and being “an antifascist”? How does antifascism intersect with other politics and movements? What kinds of action has it involved, and how has this shifted over time? How productive or counterproductive has it been?

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2635E-01 | MW 2:30-3:20 with Friday discussion| Menrisky, Alex

This course offers an introduction to human relationships with environment through the lens of literature. In other words, it is a survey of the different ways writers and other figures have represented environment—and human relations with it—over time and across genres, rather than of the science of environment. We will read fiction, nonfiction, poetry, film, and other media to consider how concepts like “nature” and “environment” have meant different things at different times. We will focus primarily on writing based in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present, considering the unique role that
ideas of nature, wilderness, and environment have played across American history and culture. Accordingly, we will have two major objectives throughout the semester: (1) to understand the diversity of ways writers conceive of environment, and (2) to think through the relationship between literary form/genre and environment—why a writer might favor a certain form/genre to communicate about environment and environmental problems and how those forms/genres shape readers’ perceptions. Even though we can’t possibly touch on all of them, we’ll survey a wide range of genres, including nature writing, ecopoetry, and “cli-fi.” Texts will include works by such authors as Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Simon Ortiz, Tommy Pico, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, as well as films such as Princes Mononoke and even video games.

2635E-02 | TuTh 2:00 - 3:15| Sembu, Kazuki

This course explores human relationships with environment by examining how writers and other figures have represented and imagined the nonhuman world across eras and genres. We will address questions revolving around concepts such as “environment” or “nature,” as well as how environment takes shape in representations of the more-than-human world. Our primary focus will be on British literary texts ranging from the early modern to the Victorian era by authors such as Margaret Cavendish, Anna Barbauld, William Cowper, William Wordsworth, and John Ruskin, while also engaging with non-British texts by Henry David Thoreau, Jack London, J. M. Coetzee, Seishu Hase, and Ryoichi Wago, along with films. These texts, which cover fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and other media types, will provide a framework for considering how various environmental issues (e.g., climate change, human stewardship, ecology, natural disaster, imperialism, environmental/multispecies justice, etc.) overlap and interlock.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011. May not be taken out of sequence after passing ENGL 3701, 3703, or 3713.

2701-01 | MW 9:05 - 9:55 | Hybrid | Forbes, Sean

2701-02 | MW 11:15 - 12:05 | Hybrid | Forbes, Sean

2701-03 | MWF 1:25 - 2:15 | Hybrid | Pieratti, Danielle

This course is an introductory class in creative writing that will expose you to a variety of genres including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, and hybrid works. Students will complete five mini-modules, each focusing on a different creative technique, as well as a sixth module in which you will select your own literary models and focus. Expect to spend significant class time writing and responding to authors such as Yusef Komunyakaa, Michelle Zeuner, Annie Dillard, Sylvia Plath, and Lorrie Moore. Revision and active participation in workshop are requirements of the course, and your final project will be a portfolio of selected drafts and revised works.

2701-04 |TuTh 9:30 - 10:45 | Dennigan, Darcie

Welcome to this experiment-based creative writing course. Expect to write abundantly, to write many many imperfect poems, scenes, and more, to take chances on paper and aloud, and to share your ideas, feedback, & attention. Participation matters a great deal in this course and I will ask all to strive to be an active and consistent part of this developing writing community. Our experiments will be influenced by Benjamin Jarnés, Oulipo, Oberiu, Sibyl Kempson, John Cage, and other thinkers & groups. Our questions: How can art make the familiar strange? How can theatre make time strange? How can poetry make language strange? In this exploration, we will read quite a bit, including poetry by Farnoosh Fathi, Harryette Mullen, and more, as well as plays by Caryl Churchill and Jose Rivera, plus many smaller readings along the way. Expect to generate a portfolio of poems and a one-act play, and to be present to give significant feedback to fellow students.

2701-05 | TuTh 11:00 - 12:15 | Hybrid | Dennigan, Darice

See description for 2701-04

2701-06 | T 5:00 - 7:30 | Pelizzon, Penelope

This workshop in poetry and narrative prose is a playful, challenging, and supportive space for you to experiment with a variety of creative writing techniques. You’ll be writing every week, composing poems and prose for which you’ll receive ample feedback. You’ll also be reading widely, delving into works by a variety of authors. We’ll talk about these works in class discussions, figuring out what makes them effective and thinking about how we can use some of the same literary techniques to expand our own writing. In our workshops, you’ll gain confidence in sharing your work for critique. You’ll also develop your skills in giving considerate yet rigorous feedback to classmates on their in-process writing. The five individual projects you’ll write will culminate in a final portfolio of revised work. By the end of the semester, you’ll have gained a strong foundation in poetic and narrative prose techniques. You’ll also, I hope, have an intensified pleasure in reading many types of poetry and prose, and a sense of how crafting your own writing can be a life-changing way of exploring the deepest human experiences. This is a discussion-centered class, and students will be expected to participate actively and in-person at each meeting.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2730W-01 | MW 10:10 - 11:00 | Hybrid| Gallucci, Mary

“Tour, Journey, Voyage, Lounge, Ride, Walk, Skim, Sketch, Excursion, Travel-talk…” Samuel Taylor Coleridge offers insight into the different modes of movement that define travel and the different styles of writing that comprise travel literature. From the imaginative voyage to explain migration or invasion (as in the ancient world) to the real experience of trekking across a continent or scaling a mountain, we will examine travelers as they move through culture or escape into the
wilderness. We will study travel writing from its beginnings in antiquity. We will read excerpts from key texts of Homer, Apollonius of Rhodes, and Vergil, discussing the features of this type of travel writing. To orient ourselves, we will read theory about travel, observation, and cross-cultural exchange. How do travelers discuss the encounter with otherness? We will view how travel is connected to exploration/exploitation and reflect upon the ethics of famous excursions. We will return to fiction to understand how an increasingly civilized and “known” world might leave people out. The desire to gain knowledge has always inspired travel; even in a world of limited opportunities for so many based on race, gender, and language, unlikely travelers might find refuge in studying the beauty of nature in a faraway land. Some will travel as missionaries, teachers, or students of other cultures. Travel can be a source of physical and mental challenge, as we see from adventure travel. Finally, travel can be escape or quest, as the world becomes ever more alienating.

Texts: D. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (Penguin Classics); P. Mattiessen, The Snow Leopard (Penguin Classics); J. Krakauer, Into the Wild (Anchor Books); C. Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (Vintage). In addition, readings
on HuskyCT by Homer, Apollonius of Rhodes, Vergil, Julius Caesar, Tacitus, Petrarch, Columbus, Vespucci, Maria Sibylla Merian, M. H. Kingsley, H. D. Thoreau, Claude Levi-Strauss.

Assignments: weekly journal contributions; one short (5-page) paper; one long (10-page) paper and a final exam.

2730W-01 | MW 1:25 - 2:15 | Hybrid| Litman, Ellen

This course is designed to introduce students to the craft of travel writing, with attention to the history, variety, and ethics of the genre. Students will explore this vibrant genre of non-fiction by reading a range of travel writing, most of it contemporary. They will write three original travel essays grounded in their experiences, as well as one critical analysis of published travel writing. They will also remix one of their essays into another medium, such as a video, audio essay, illustrated narrative, or annotated map. All the essays will be composed in drafts, with peer review. Other requirements include actively participating in class discussions and peer-reviews (in-class and online) and assembling a final portfolio.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 . Instructor Consent

3091-01 | Arr. | Fairbanks, Ruth

Writing Internships provide unique opportunities to apply writing skills and to develop practical critical thinking in non-academic settings supervised by professional writers. Internships are recognized as an important experiential aspect of undergraduate education and many employers give preference to applicants with internship experience. English 3091 is open to juniors and seniors in all majors. Both on-campus and off-campus placements in a broad variety of professional career areas are available.

Excellent writing and communication skills are essential.

Applicants must have at least 3.0 cumulative GPA in the major and at least 54 credits.

This is a variable-credit, permission number course with one to six possible credits depending on specific placement projects. The course may be repeated for credit with no more than eight credits per placement.

Grading Scale: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

See the English Department website link (below) to Writing Internship Program pages for further information and application forms: https://english.uconn.edu/undergraduate/writing-internship-program/

Interested applicants may at any point email questions about the program, application materials, or application process to Ruth.Fairbanks@uconn.edu. Because internships are in demand, it’s highly recommended that students discuss the ENGL 3091 opportunity with major advisors in advance of the official Spring 2026 advising period.

Application Timeframe: after applicants have discussed the internship opportunity with major advisors, they should schedule a meeting in weeks 7-12 with Professor Ruth Fairbanks through nexus.uconn.edu and submit application materials to Professor Fairbanks.

Application materials: internship application, letter of interest, current transcript, and best academic paper should be electronically submitted prior to meeting with Professor Ruth Fairbanks. For further information, see the link to online internship pages.

Placements have included Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, Connecticut Landmarks, Connecticut Writing Project, Globe Pequot Press, Dodd Research Center and Archive, Mystic Seaport, New Britain Museum of American Art, UConn Office of Inclusion and Civil Rights, UConn Women’s Center, UConn Information Technology, World Poetry Books, WithitGirl online magazine. Other placements are available.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

3115W0-01 | MW 11:15 - 12:05 Hybrid |Cordon, Joanne

Fast Times: Sex, Scandal, Satire, Science and Society

What’s your picture of the eighteenth century? Dudes in powdered wigs and fancy garments on uncomfortable furniture droning dully about philosophy? This class is not that. Instead, read about friendship poems and imperfect enjoyment poems (and yes, it’s about that); hear about what happened when they let women—gasp—play female roles on the stage; sample the scalding burn book of period satirists; find out why coffee is good, masquerades are bad, scientists seem silly, and Phillis Wheatley is a genius; and learn about snuff boxes, curiosity cabinets, spleens, rakes, fops, ape-leaders, blue-stockings and riff-raff.

Authors may include Aphra Behn, John Dryden, Anne Finch, John Gay, Oliver Goldsmith, Eliza Haywood, William Hogarth, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Katherine Phillips, Alexander Pope, the Earl of Rochester, Jonathan Swift, Phillis Wheatley, William Wycherley.

Texts=three plays. Requirements include participation in class discussion, in-class writing assignments, three six-to-seven-hundred word “short takes,” and a creative project that will be a combination of a brief presentation in class (five to ten minutes) and a written description of how you developed your idea.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011; open to juniors or higher.

3422-01 | Online Asynchronous | Cormier, Emily

We will read YA books seriously and have fun, challenging, and heady (asynchronous!) conversation about them. The syllabus is arranged to discuss how the field of Young Adult Literature has changed over time, offering a historical picture of what the genre has been and paying attention to changes in the field. Is there anything that unites these very different books from cultural moments as Young Adult? We will keep in mind that that we’re scholars of literature in this classroom, and come to a better understanding of the history, purpose, and unique challenges of Young Adult Literature.  Most importantly, we will examine the negotiation of power in these texts.  In addition, we will consider published critical responses to the works we read, and, learning from these articles, craft our own analytical responses that demonstrate an ability to engage with the world of ideas in a meaningful and individualized way.   Expect 2 papers, weekly VoiceThread participation (webcam required), weekly 400-word Discussion Board posts, and responses to posted lectures.

Please note that async classes (OA) such as this do not meet in a physical classroom and do not meet over Zoom/WebEx. However, the 2.5 hours of "in-class" time should be set aside each week for the lecture and voice threads. This is in addition to a typical "homework" load, since it replaces the in-class time.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011. May not be taken out of sequence after passing ENGL 3505.

3503-01 | TuTh 11:00 - 12:15 | Mahoney, Charles

An intensive study of Shakespeare’s plays across a variety of genres (tragedy, comedy, “problem play,” Roman plays, romance) with attention both to many of Shakespeare’s major characters (e.g. Juliet, Hamlet, Richard III, Brutus, Marc Antony, King Lear, Prospero) and to many of the predominant features of his dramatic style, in terms of the structure of individual plays as well as the components of his technique (such as soliloquies, metatheatricality, dramatic irony, musical and lyric interludes, et cetera). We will also selectively consider criticism of Shakespeare from the eighteenth century (e.g. Samuel Johnson), the nineteenth century (e.g. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt, and Anna Jameson), and the twentieth (e.g. A. C. Bradley, T. S. Eliot, Frank Kermode). Plays likely to be considered include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest. Likely requirements will include active participation, short papers, a midterm video, and a final project.

Also offered as AAAS 3998-02

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

3623-01 |TuTh 12:30 - 1:45| Kim, Na-Rae

The Korean War left a lasting impact on modern world history—and its temporary cease-fire status continues to unsettle the two Koreas and the United States. Scorched into the national consciousness of Koreans yet largely forgotten in the American imaginary, the Korean War continues to resurface in different contexts and, at times unexpectedly, in different modalities.

Through an interdisciplinary methodology that draws upon history, films, art, memoirs, and literature, this course studies how South Korea, North Korea, Korean America, and the United States remember, represent, and re-imagine the aftermath of the Korean War. Rather than rehashing the historical specificities of the war itself, our focus is on the politics and ethics of representing the aftermath of the war and its present reverberations. By examining competing and contradictory representations of the war, we will come to understand how the Korean War is central to understanding both historical and contemporary formations of South Korea, North Korea, and Korean diasporas.

This course intentionally engages divergent representations of Korean life, often coupling a North Korean representation with a South Korean account, or juxtaposing a Korean American perspective with a South Korean one. This allows the questioning of different agendas and sociopolitical relations developed in regard to this tragic war. Moreover, we will critically examine the ethical dimensions of writer-narrator-reader relationships and ask: what does it mean to remember, reimagine, and represent a historical incident in which we are all still deeply embedded? How does representation shape the ways in which we think about the historical incident? How are we, then, to think about the Korean War and its aftermath in the present moment, especially when the war is not over and continues to reverberate in the present?

All readings are in English. Original Korean texts are available upon request.

Also offered as: HRTS 3631W

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011; open to sophomores and higher.

The refugee is a foundational figure for humanitarianism. The course will trace the development of humanitarian thought on refugees and migrants through various story-telling strategies that have been adopted by displaced persons and others speaking on their behalf. Because they frequently become stateless, refugees are among the most vulnerable populations. Refugees and migrants occupy highly contentious spaces such as camps, remain in legal limbo for extended periods (sometimes generations), and frequently suffer from trauma, having survived events of extreme violence.

This course focuses on how we tell the stories of refugees and migrants. We will also grapple with the specific characteristics of humanitarian thought (the value of life, the relief of suffering, the protection of civilians in war, etc) and discuss the overlap between humanitarianism and human rights. Narrative is very important for claiming a legal right to refugee status and for making an asylum application legible. The focus of the course will be on the analysis of narrative modes across different creative and nonfiction media, in text and film. We will pay close attention to point of view and voice as they are rendered in narrative.

The course is offered in a hybrid modality. Our in-person meetings will be discussions. The asynchronous component of the class is writing intensive.

3631W-01 | MW 10:10 - 11:00 | Hybrid| Coundouriotis, Eleni

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011; open to sophomores or higher. May not be taken for credit after passing ENGL 3621 Literature and Other Disciplines when taught as Law and Literature.

3635-01 |TuTh 3:30 - 4:45| Winter, Sarah

This course introduces students to interdisciplinary methods of interpretation in law and literary studies by reading novels, plays, satires, poetry, and law reports featuring topics including: criminal intent, detection, and the penal system; trials and the legal profession; slavery and servitude; incarceration for debt; marriage and divorce; colonization and imperial legal systems; sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination; property and wills; and torture and crimes against humanity under international human rights law. A key focus will be to study the ways literature portrays and interrogates the complex concept of legal personhood—how an individual, social group, or a legal entity such as a corporation may gain access to or be excluded from the legal process. We will be particularly interested in the historical deprivations of legal personhood and rights imposed on married women, children, enslaved people, and Native Americans, as well as the legal personality of the corporation. Larger philosophical, historical, and political questions of who determines what counts as law, legal procedure, and justice will be at the center of our discussions. We will study a selection of literary works including: plays by dramatists Aeschylus, Shakespeare, and Susan Glaspell; satirical writings on the law by Charles Dickens: and novels and stories by Mary Wollstonecraft, Herman Melville, Arthur Conan Doyle, E. M. Forster, Edwidge Danticat, and Louise Erdrich. No prior knowledge of law is required.

Course Requirements: two 5-6 page papers; a midterm exam; a final 7-9 page comparative paper, with option for a research paper; a group in-class presentation; an individual presentation of questions on the reading; regular discussion participation and completion of reading assignments; no final exam.

Prerequisites: ENGL 2701; instructor consent required. May be repeated once for credit.

3701-01 | TuTh 3:30 - 4:45 | Cohen, Bruce

Poetry and Prose-Poetry

The class will be a poetry and prose-poetry writing workshop. It is designed for students who have a serious and committed interest in writing and discussing poetry have taken 2701. We will be reading and analyzing five books of poems and will be unraveling the craft and esthetic design of the various poets. We will also dissect the differences between poetry & prose poetry. Naturally, students will be required to produce original work and actively participate in the writing workshop. Students will be asked to research outside writers and share work with the class. It is assumed that all students have an active vocabulary and understanding of poetry. The class is by permission only and students will be asked to submit poems for consideration for entrance into the class.

Prerequisites: ENGL 2701; instructor consent required. May be repeated once for credit.

3703-01 | MW 11:15 - 12:05 | Hybrid |Litman, Ellen

Fiction

This seminar is designed for upper-level undergraduate students interested in writing fiction, and as such it will require a great deal of writing, reading, and revising. Students will write 2 or 3 original short stories (or novel chapters) and complete a series of exercises. Most pieces will be then revised for the final portfolio (the final project for this class). The students will be required to actively participate in the discussions of the assigned readings and their peers’ work. Some discussions will occur in class, while others will take place on Perusall or HuskyCT. The course texts will consist of craft essays and individual short stories and novel excerpts. For a permission number, please e-mail Professor Litman at ellen.litman@uconn.edu.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to sophomores or higher; instructor consent required. Recommended preparation: ENGL 2701.

3715E-01 | W 5:00 - 7:30 | Pelizzon, V. Penelope

This class is an imaginative exploration of ecologies and environments through poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. You’ll be reading widely and sharing your own writing each week. Our readings will prompt many questions: how can our practice as creative writers make us more conscious co-habitants of our ecosystems? How can creative writing deepen our understanding of local places and of those who lived here before us? How might poems and stories engage crucial environmental issues? Participants will write and revise five major creative projects, exploring different genres and techniques. Participants will also keep a semester-long field log using a local ecosystem of their choice as the center for daily reflective writings. Most weeks, we’ll divide the class meeting time between participant-led discussion of the readings, constructive critique of workshop members’ own poems and prose, and short in-class writing labs designed to strengthen aspects of our creative writing craft. Participants should plan to read avidly, to write and revise adventurously, and to engage actively in in-person class discussions.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; at least 12 credits of 2000-level or above English courses or consent of instructor; open to juniors or higher.

4203W-01 | TuTh 11:00 - 12:15 | Simmons, Kali

This course will focus on the artistic and theoretical contributions of Indigenous Women. Indigenous Feminist analyses emphasize the intersections of settler-colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and racial capitalism. Primary texts will span a variety of time periods, genres, and forms (including poetry, non-fiction, music, novels, and film).

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; at least 12 credits of 2000-level or above English courses or consent of instructor; open to juniors or higher.

4600W-01 | TuTh 2:00 - 3:15 | Dennigan, Darcie

Contemporary Experimental Theater: Creative and Critical Approaches

This capstone will lead students in critical and creative approaches to contemporary experimental theatre-- collaborative, cheap, devised, regional, site specific. We'll read works by practicing playwrights like Julia Jarcho, Jesús I. Valles, Jerry Lieblich, Sibyl Kempson, Ro Reddick, Kathy Ng, and more, and look closely at a few theatre companies, including the Wooster Group, Ontological-Hysteric Theater, and Nature Theatre of Oklahoma. Why is it important that theatre operate outside the "mainstream"? How can experimental theatre meet (and make?) moments of great global change? Why is a "literary" approach to theatre actually the wrong one? Get ready for these and other big questions in a course that will ask you to read aloud, participate in ways you feel comfortable (introverts warmly welcomed), and to write at least one original play, one dramaturgical treatment, and one piece of criticism.

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; at least 12 credits of 2000-level or above English courses or consent of instructor; open to juniors or higher.

4965W-01 | TuTh 3:30 - 4:45 |Mahoney, Charles

Romantic Shakespeare

British actors, directors, theatre-goers, and critics of the period we now designate “Romanticism” (1780s-1830s) redefined the way we think about Shakespeare. It was a moment of unmatched “bardolatry,” or Shakespeare-worship. In terms of revisions, productions, and criticisms of Shakespeare’s plays, this epoch made Shakespeare modern. And the criticism of Shakespeare from this period remains unsurpassed. This seminar will examine six of Shakespeare’s plays important for Romantic readers, critics, performers, and theatre-goers (likely Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Coriolanus, The Tempest), paying attention both to the Folio text and those revisions and prompt-texts used on the Romantic stage. In doing so, we will attend to the accounts and roles of certain key actors and actresses on the stage (e.g., John Philip Kemble, Sarah Siddons, Edmund Kean, Eliza O’Neill) and the writings of a number of important Romantic critics (e.g., Samuel Taylor Coleridge, August Wilhelm Schlegel, William Hazlitt, Elizabeth Inchbald, Anna Jameson, Thomas de Quincey, Charles Lamb, and Stendhal). Our goal will be to understand how the Romantics read Shakespeare, why they idolized him, and how they made him modern.

Likely requirements include active participation, two 5-7 page essays, and one 10-12 page research paper.

Fall 2026

The following list includes Undergraduate courses that are sequenced after the First-Year Writing requirement and will change each semester.

1000-Level Courses

1101: Classical and Medieval Western Literature

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

1101W-01 | TuTh 12:30 - 1:45| Biggs, Fred

1101W: Classical and Medieval Western Literature

1103W: Renaissance and Modern Western Literature

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

1103W-01 | TuTh 9:30 - 10:45| Tonry, Kathleen

1201: Introduction to American Studies

1201-01 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 | Reynolds, Kristen

1401: Horror

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011

1401-01 | MW 10:10-11:00 with discussion sections on Friday | Semenza, Gregory

1401-02 | MW 1:25 - 2:15 with discussion sections on Friday | Semenza, Gregory

See the description for 1401-01

1401-03 | W 5-7:30 | Barreca, Gina

1503: Introduction to Shakespeare

Prerequisites: None

1503-01 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 | Tribble, Lyn

1601W: Race, Gender, and the Culture Industry

1616W: Major Works of English & American Literature

2000-Level Courses

2049W: Writing through Research

2100: British Literature I

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2100-01 |TuTh 2:00-3:15 | Hasenfratz, Bob

2100-02 | TuTh 12:30-1:45 |Tonry, Kathleen

2101: British Literature II

2201: American Literature to 1880

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2201-01 | MWF 10:10-11:00 | Salvant, Shawn

2201-01 | MWF 12:20-1:10 | Salvant, Shawn

2203: American Literature Since 1880

2203-01 | MWF 12:20-1:10 |McLain, Adam

2203W: American Literature Since 1880

2203W-01 | TuTh 3:30-4:45 |Phillips, Jerry

2207: Empire and U.S. Culture

Also offered as: AMST 2207, HIST 2207

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2207-01 | MWF 11:15-12:05| Gregory, Patrick

2214: African American Literature

Also offered as: AFRA 2214

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2214-01 | MWF 10:10-11:00| Fasipe, Emmanuel

2214-02 | TuTh 11:00-12:15| Williams, Erika

2274W: Disability in American Literature and Culture

Also offered as: AMST 2274W

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2274W-01 | TuTh 5:00-6:15 |Brueggemann, Brenda

2276W: American Utopias and Dystopias

2301: Anglophone Literatures

2301W: Anglophone Literatures

2310: Literature of Migration

2401: Poetry

2407: The Short Story

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.

2407-01 | TuTh 12:30-1:45 | Sanchez, Lisa

2407W: The Short Story

2408W: Modern Drama

2409: The Modern Novel

2411: Popular Literature

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2411-01 | MW 11:15-12:05|Hybrid| Codr, Ariana

2411-02 | MW 12:20-1:10|Hybrid| Codr, Ariana

2413: The Graphic Novel

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011. Not open to students who have passed ENGL 3621 when taught as "The Graphic Novel."

2413-01 | TuTh 8:00-9:15 | Capshaw, Kate

2413-02 | TuTh 12:30 - 1:45 | Knapp, Kathy

2600: Introduction to Literary Studies

2603: Literary Approaches to the Bible

2605W: Capitalism, Literature, and Culture

2607: Literature and Science

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2607-01 | Online Asynchronous | Duane, Anna Mae

2608: Introduction to Indigenous Film

Also offered as: NAIS 3998 (new course number of NAIS 2608 in development)

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011

2609: Fascism and its Opponents