Spring 2022
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.
2000-Level Courses
2203W: American Literature Since 1880
Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
2203W | TuTh 5:30-6:45 | Rogers, Lynne D.
This class will expose students to a variety of modern narrative styles in American Literature. The course content will be centered on the modern American novel as major format supplemented by film clips. The thematic focus of the course will be on both the civilian and the soldier as a protagonist, the ethical obligations of society towards the soldier and civilian and the moral choices of individual rights. Many of these works have been written by authors with military or battleground experience as well as civilians who have immigrated to the United States from a war torn country. Readings will be selected form the earlier canons and then move to the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Class will be taught in a seminar format and students will write 3 five page papers using secondary sources.
2301: Anglophone Literatures
Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
2301 | TuTh 3:30 - 4:45 | Rogers, Lynne D.
Anglophone Literature will include selected contemporary literary texts from Ireland, Australia, South Africa and the Far East. The selected readings will introduce some of the literary responses to the violent legacy of colonialism and the resulting socio-economic oppression. The class will view some films, thematically related to the literary texts, to help students visualize the landscape of the literary works. While the works differ in narrative style and genre, their ethical concerns overlap allowing students to look at similar dilemmas from different contexts. The narrative styles range from allegory to social realism. Thematic issues will include the concept of boundaries, childhood and the loss of innocence as a political metaphor, the legacy of colonialism, the disappointment of revolutionary dreams, and alternative constructions of identity that circumvent the restrictions of nationalism. The class will be taught in a seminar format and students will write three five page papers using secondary sources.
3000-Level Courses
3420: Children’s Literature
Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011.
3420 | MW 1:25-2:40 | Wolfley, Laurie A.
3509: Studies in Individual Writers
Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.
3509 | TuTh 11:00-12:15 | Bedore, Pamela
Stephen King
Stephen King is perhaps the most recognizable name in popular fiction today; he has sold an absurd number of books, his novels have been made into numerous films and TV shows, and the only time one of his novels has gone out of print is when he insisted that Rage be taken out of circulation (we’ll discuss why). King is an excellent speaker in high demand, he has numerous honorary degrees, and he maintains a high-traffic website. In his mid-seventies, he also represents popular culture across five+ decades.
In this course, we’ll read several novels and novellas: Carrie (1974), The Shining (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Different Seasons (1982), Misery (1987), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), Doctor Sleep (2013), and Mr. Mercedes (2014). We’ll also read a few shorts stories and some of King’s non-fiction pieces. Assignments will include two five-page papers and a final project that may be analytical or creative.
Our guiding questions will include: What is the appeal of the horror genre? Of popular fiction in general? What is the relationship between the written text and its filmic representations? Is there a relationship between popular fiction and sociocultural anxieties? Can studying genre fiction help us to understand something about ourselves, as individuals and/or as a society?
Any questions? Don’t hesitate to contact the professor, Pam Bedore (pamela.bedore@uconn.edu).
3653: Maritime Literature Since 1800
Also offered as: MAST 3653
Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to sophomores or higher. Not open for credit to students who have passed ENGL 3650.
3653 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 | Bercaw Edwards, Mary K.
This course will examine the chronological development of a literature wherein the sea functions as physical, psychological, and philosophical setting. We will begin by investigating early uses of the sea in literature and ways in which early works influenced later writings. Through the use of literary theory and maritime history, we will establish the context in which these works were produced. But, above all, we examine closely the works themselves. Literary genres included in the course will include poetry, drama, narrative, short stories, and novels. We will study works by Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, and Joseph Conrad, among others. The course will conclude with contemporary poetry written by the Fisher Poets who gather in Astoria, Oregon, each year. Students must finish the assigned reading prior to class meeting. Grades will be based on completed reading and class participation as well as shorter and longer papers. The class will be a combination of lectures, class discussion, class presentations, films, and field trips.