Fall 2023 Course Descriptions: Stamford Campus

Fall 2023

For guidance about courses, majors, and minors, contact any English faculty member or Professor Roden, Stamford English Curriculum Coordinator, at frederick.roden@uconn.edu or Inda Watrous, English Undergraduate Advisor, at inda.watrous@uconn.edu.

All forms and details about major and minor requirements can be found at http://advising.english.uconn.edu.

Helpful Information for Non-Majors

  • 1000-level courses do not count toward the English major but are terrific introductions to literary study and typically serve GenEd Category 1b or 4. 
  • If you think you might be interested in an English major, try out a course; if you know you’re set on the major, plan on taking 2600 as early as possible. 
  • Non-majors are welcome in advanced courses (including the 3000- and 4000-level); check your preparedness with an instructor before registering if you have questions.  Following completion of the first-year writing requirement, most upper-level courses are open to all students.  If you encounter difficulty in registering, contact the instructor or Prof. Roden. 
  • English courses make great “related field” classes for many other majors.  Check with your major advisor for appropriateness of choices. 
  • The English minor is highly recommended and easy to accomplish: see https://advising.english.uconn.edu/minoring-in-english/ to determine your requirements.   
  • The English major makes a terrific second major.  If you’ve not yet declared, see https://advising.english.uconn.edu/plan-of-study-catalog-year-2021-2-2/ for requirements.  If you declared on or before May 9, 2021, see  https://advising.english.uconn.edu/plan-of-study-catalog-year-2017/ 
  • Remember you can complete the English major at the Stamford Campus; there’s no need to branchfer.  Many students enroll in pre-professional grad programs (for example, in education) immediately following their degree. 
  • Reach out to an English faculty member or advisor to learn about what you can do with an English major or minor.  We and the Center for Career Development can help you brainstorm, point you toward internships, and introduce you to alumni working in a range of different fields. 

    Helpful Information for Stamford English Majors and Minors

    • Engl 2600 (Major Requirement A or “Methods for the Major”) is offered annually in the Fall semester.  In Fall 2023 it is being offered "online synchronous." 
    • A single-author course (Major Requirement D, Plan of Study 2017-2020) is offered annually or every third semester.
    • An “Advanced Study” course (Major Requirement E, Plan of Study 2017-2020) is typically offered every third semester.  It will next be offered at Stamford in Spring 2024.       
    • We offer at least one pre-1800 course each semester (Engl 2100 this term).  All plans of study require two classes categorized either as pre-1800 or “Early Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic History.”  Check with your advisor or the coordinator if you have questions. 
    • We regularly offer courses in the “Antiracism, Globality, and Embodiment” category (2021+ plan of study): this term, Engl 2214W (Group 1). 
    • We offer a variety of survey and methods courses each semester for Catalog Years 2017-2020.  This term Major Requirement B1=Engl 2100, B2=Engl 2214W; Major Requirement C= Engl 2405, Engl 2409.
    • We offer courses that count for the Writing Minor.  For Fall 2023 these include Engl 2013W, Engl 2701, Engl 3003W, Engl 3715E.
    • Catalog years 2017-2020 allow for 9 elective credits; Catalog year 2021 allows for 12.  Courses that meet a requirement you have already satisfied can count for elective credit .

    Tracks

    The Stamford Campus offers courses towards a number of different “tracks” within the 2021 English major plan of study. For Fall 2023 these include:

    Creative Writing (Engl 2701, Engl 3715E; Engl 2405, 2409, 2413W, 2640W, 3003W)

    Cultural Studies/Media Studies (Engl 2413W, 2640W)

    English Teaching (Engl 2405, Engl 2409, Engl 2413W, Engl 2640W; Engl 2013W, Engl 3003W)

    Literature, Antiracism, and Social Justice (Engl 2214W)

    Literary Histories and Legacies (Engl 2100, Engl 2214W)

    2000-Level Courses

    2013W: Introduction to Writing Studies

    Prerequisites:  ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011..
    2013W | MW 12:20 - 1:10 HB | Gilman, Danielle

     

    2100: British Literature I

    Prerequisites:  ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011..
    2100| M 3:35-6:05 | Roden, Frederick

    For English speakers, the literary production and culture of Britain is the oldest and perhaps the most
    important tradition of influence. Global literature including cultural output in America has its roots in
    this history from (before) “Beowulf to Virginia Woolf” (and beyond). This course will provide an
    introduction to the literary history of Britain (Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration/Enlightenment) to the
    end of the eighteenth century. As we analyze “canonical” works, we interrogate modern constructions
    of gender and sexuality, race, religion, ethnicity, dis/ability, and nationhood. We trace these western
    notions from their original contexts. When we study texts that became the canon (and its borderlands),
    we explore “what makes a classic.”

    Students will take weekly quizzes, write three short (3-page) papers, and develop a cumulative essay
    exam (open-book and -notebook) responding to a prompt. We will also have a field trip concerning
    comparative cultural production (museum, theatre, music); substitution possible if unavailable.

    Engl 2100 counts for the English major’s “Early Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic History” core and the
    “Literary Histories and Legacies” track (as well as earlier plans of study English B1 requirement and
    pre-1800 distribution); the English minor; and GenEd 1b.

    2214: African American Literature

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
    2214W| F 11:15-1:45 | Pierrot, Gregory

    2405: Drama

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
    2405| TuTh 11-12:15 | Brown, Pamela

    2409: The Modern Novel

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
    2409| TuTh 9:30-10:45 | HB | Cramer, P. Morgne

    Modern Novel focuses on novels published since 1900. You will view historical and biographical
    documentaries as well as power point lectures that provide context for each author and novel.

    A unifying framework for this course is Modernism—its roots in the late 19th and early 20th
    centuries and its aftereffects on contemporary authors. Modernism denotes an international
    movement in the arts (e.g. painting, music, literature, philosophy, architecture). In literature,
    modernism refers to experimental writings characterized by radical rejections of 19th century
    (Victorian) literary, political, and moral values. Modernists are rebels in lifestyle and art, driven
    by profound alienation from the status quo and a belief that the unprecedented political and
    intellectual upheavals of their time required a new kind of literature and truth telling.

    We start with Virginia Woolf, founder and shaper of Modernism and trace Modernism’s freeing
    effects on voice, content, and form among post-modern authors: J. M. Coetzee, Nawal el
    Saadawi, James Baldwin, Trevor Noah, Margaret Atwood.

    Required books
    Virginia Woolf (1888-1941) To the Lighthouse (1927) (UCONN online access)
    Nawal el Saadawi (1931-2021) Woman at Point Zero (1975)
    J. M. Coetzee, (b. 1940) Disgrace (1999) disgrace
    James Baldwin (1924-1987) Go Tell It on the Mountain (1952)
    Trevor Noah (b 1984) Born a Crime (2016)
    for E-book, Fill out this form. https://universityofconnecticut-twnqs.formstack.com/forms/rcrp
    Margaret Atwood (b 1939), Oryx and Crake (2003)
    https://uconn-storrs.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01UCT_STORRS/pb0ud7/alma99421253898302432

    2413W: The Graphic Novel

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
    2413W| Sa 10:00-12:40 | Moeckel-Rieke, Hannelore

    The graphic novel and - more broadly - sequential art, is a form of story-
    telling and a medium that has become widely popular all over the
    world. The course will cover different forms of sequential art beginning with
    short narratives in newspapers starting in the 1890s and superhero comics
    originating in the 1930s which have since provided youth culture around the
    globe with quasi-mythical figures. The intriguing combination of image and
    text has long outgrown the realm of popular fiction, however, and the genre
    has become a powerful medium for the discussion of a broad range of
    topics including gender, violence, social class, international conflict and
    genocide. Authors in countries including Israel, Rwanda, Iran, Colombia
    and France have used the medium to explore serious topics. Because of
    the graphic elements, these narratives have also become cutting edge in
    exploring the boundaries of traditional book and online narrative, raising
    questions about authorship, literary market and copyright. The course will
    explore some of the classical and acclaimed graphic novels as well as a
    selection of online art and discuss the social and economic issues
    connected to these publications. In this interdisciplinary course, we may
    also be able to interact with the author of one of these texts.

    2600: Introduction to Literary Studies

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011 or 3800; open to English majors, others with instructor consent.
    2600|W 6:20-8:50 |OS | Cramer, P. Morgne

    English 2600. Dr. Patricia Morgne Cramer. Introduction to Literary Studies
    Introduces students to how literary scholars read, argue, and research. This course is required
    for all English majors and prepares students with skills fundamental to literary studies. These
    include
    **close textual readings

    **basic research tools (e.g., OED, MLA)

    **how to use journal articles while you articulate your own point of view/insights

    **how to incorporate research into your work with MLA quotation and citation methods

    **how to create an annotated bibliography
    This course also includes “classic,” influential statements about the nature and aims of literature
    and literary studies. Your task is to read these essays closely, make meaningful comparisons
    among these position papers, and respond in writing and in class from your own point of view.
    You are also required to work these literary position statements into your final paper.

    Required Textbooks (plus a packet of scholar essays)
    Virginia Woolf, Room of One's Own
    Toni Morrison, Beloved
    Symposium (Penguin) [transl Christopher Gill] 2003
    (required: Diotima’s speech to Socrates on Eros) =
    MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 9th edition
    John Lewis, Across That Bridge (2017)
    Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

    2640W: Studies in Film

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
    2640W| TuTh 12:30-1:45 | Brown, Pamela

    2701: Introduction to Creative Writing

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
    2701 |MW 1:25-2:15 HL |Newell, Mary 

    This course will introduce you to the basics of creative expression in poetry and creative nonfiction. We will read and discuss examples of skilled writing in these genres as inspiration for our own writing. In poetry, we will explore how traditional forms such as the sonnet find a place in contemporary writing alongside newer forms, such as the golden shovel. We will discover how poems take shape through the writer’s choice of prosody elements such as theme, diction (imagery, assonance, alliteration, etc.), meter, rhyme, and tone. The techniques of creative nonfiction will help writers connect with readers while expressing, and probably deepening, their knowledge about their chosen topics. After mid-semester, students may elect a deeper immersion in one or the other of these genres for the final assignments.

    In addition to learning methods of generating new poems and creative essays, you will learn approaches to evaluate and edit your drafts. The end product will be a portfolio of writing that begins to express your unique voice and interests. The prompts, feedback, and exchanges can stimulate your creativity and inspire you to keep improving as a writer.

    3000-Level Courses

    3003W: Topics in Writing Studies

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.
    3003W | Tu 5:30-8:00 | Roden, Frederick

    "Life Writing"

    In this course we will develop our fluency in and practice our facility with a variety of genres that fall
    broadly under the name of "life writing." These include memoir (both glimpses and the more holistic),
    family history/genealogy through narrative (from individual profiles and generational schema to
    ancestral/cultural origins transmitted intergenerationally), oral history (involving interviews of
    consenting subjects), and biography (from the familiar to the remote across time and place). We will
    read a range of texts that shape our perspectives on these forms (in terms of craft and model), work in
    multimedia (including material culture – objects that tell stories; the visual/digital as well as verbal), and
    consolidate specific projects for a term portfolio.

    Individual student writing will be tailored, mentored, and self-directed based on goals/interests of
    structure, theme, and purpose. As a "W" course you will workshop and revise your output for a
    minimum of 15 pages of graded, drafted material. Collectively we will produce more than that quantity
    (informally) over the course of the semester.

    This course is an elective for the English major and minor, and for the Writing minor. For English
    major tracks, Engl 3003W counts for Creative Writing, English Teaching, and Writing & Composition
    Studies. For General Education, it satisfies a W competency.

    3715E: Nature Writing Workshop

    Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to sophomores or higher; instructor consent required. Recommended preparation: ENGL 2701.
    3715E| W 3:35-6:05 |Newell, Mary

    Nature Writing will engage students in methodologies for writing about the natural world and the relation of humans to the more-than-human world. We will draw inspiration from writing outside, at Mill Creek Park and at other locations, and also examine short writings by exemplars of the craft of nature writing. 

    We will read and write ecopoetry, personal essays with an environmental slant, and short stories and will view one or more films.   

    exemplary writing in the genres of ecopoetry, personal essays with an environmental slant, and short stories; we will view one or more films. Topically, Nature Writing encompasses expressions of appreciation as well as science-informed writing about the more-than-human world; elegies about effects of climate change; documentation of instances of environmental degradation; apocalyptic scenarios; and nature immersion stories such as hiking stories. Students may elect to focus in one of these areas or to explore broadly.