Course Descriptions
ENG 201: Themes in Literature (3 units)
An introduction to various literary themes and several critical approaches. Focus on verbal and written interpretation and personal application of the following literary themes: innocence and experience; conformity and rebellion; love and hate; and the presence of death.
ENG 271: Literary Criticism (3 units)
An introduction to the major critical schools and controversies of the twentieth century, including New Criticism, Deconstruction, New Historicism, Psychological, and Feminist Criticisms. Lectures, readings and workshops will focus on the critical writing process and on developing a strong written command of the variety of papers appropriate for a major in English.
ENG 281: World Literature (3 units)
A study of world masterpieces, especially selected works of Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, Dante and Cervantes. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 341: American Literature 1 (3 units)
A survey of American literature from its beginning to 1850. Includes journals, diaries, sermons and pamphlets. Emphasis on the writings of Irving, Hawthorne, Poe and Melville. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 342: American Literature 2 (3 units)
A survey of American literature from 1850 to 1945. Literary movements such as Realism, Naturalism, as well as the roots of modern American literature emphasized. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 361: English Literature 1 (3 units)
A survey of representative English prose, poetry and drama from the Anglo-Saxon period to 1800. Readings from such writers as the Beowulf poet, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Swift, Pope and Johnson acquaint students with the literary heritage of the English-speaking world. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 362: English Literature 2 (3 units)
A survey of British literature from the late 18th century through the 19th century. The student will consider the Romantic and Victorian approaches to life through the study and critical discussion of such writers as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Mary Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 380: Women's Literature (3 units)
An intensive study of literature written by women, emphasizing representations of gender in different cultural and aesthetic contexts and exploring the unique contributions and genres particular to women’s writing. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 382: Postcolonial Literature (3 units)
This course provides for in-depth study of postcolonial theory and literature from South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Readings and discussions will focus on postcolonial theory, common themes, literary technique, the role of religion, and the question of personal and national identity. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 383: Modern and Contemporary Poetry (3 units)
A survey of 20th and 21st century poetry, poets and literary movements. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 385: Modern Novel (3 units)
An advanced survey of the development of literary modernism as represented in major European and American novels. Novelists may include Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner and Ellison. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 387: Modern and Contemporary Drama (3 units)
Reading, critical analysis, discussion and evaluation of selected plays from 1890 through the twenty-first century. Dramatists may include Ibsen, O’Neill, Pirandello, Lorca, Miller, Williams and Albee. Attending a performance may be required. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 389: Film as Literature (3 units)
An intensive study of films and screenplays as literature, emphasizing the elements unique to the genre within the context of the modern literary world. Prerequisite: ENG 201.
ENG 441: Major American Writers (3 units)
Extensive reading and in-depth study of one or more significant American authors with special attention to their themes, literary techniques and traditions. Prerequisites: ENG 201, 271, 281 and 341 or 342 or consent of instructor.
ENG 451: Senior Seminar in English (3 units)
An intensive examination of a literary topic or writer with attention to intellectual and literary milieu through which students refine techniques of literary research and scholarship. Prerequisite: ENG 201, 271 and 281 and senior status or permission of instructor and department chair.
ENG 461: Major English Writers (3 units)
Extensive reading and in-depth study of significant longer works by several English authors with special attention to their themes and literary techniques. Prerequisites: ENG 201, 271, 281 and 361 or 362 or consent of instructor.
ENG 466: Shakespeare (3 units)
Critical reading and analysis of selected examples of Shakespeare’s histories, comedies and tragedies. Prerequisite: ENG 201, 271 and 281.
ENG 471: Literary Theory (3 units)
An advanced study of primary texts from the history of literary criticism and the major critical schools of the twentieth century, including formalism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, feminism, new historicism and post-colonialism. Reading will focus on essays and criticism from Plato to Plotinus to Foucault and Stanley Fish. Prerequisites: ENG 201, 271 and 281.
ENG 477: History and Development of the English Language (3 units)
An overview of the history of English and an examination of the development of the language through its linguistic elements. Topics of the course include traditional and contemporary grammar, phonetics, syntax, semantics, patterns of language change, dialects, orthography, etymology, representative oral and written communication and other related issues. Prerequisite: ENG 271 and 281.