English

If you like to read, to think and talk with others about what you’ve read, to write and hone your writing to catch and convey thought and emotion beyond yourself, English might be the major for you. English majors concentrate in writing or literature, but all are concerned with the power of words to enlighten, to move, to liberate, to discover, to breathe forth new realities.

English graduates become teachers, scholars, screenwriters, journalists, editors, copywriters, web designers, lawyers, policy-makers, entrepreneurs, poets… there are no limits.

WRITING

The study of writing directly engages students’ imaginations and knowledge and helps them develop their potential as writers through courses in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting and journalism. Small workshop classes provide intensive experience in the crafting and revising of students’ own work and in the productive critique of others.

Topics Courses for Fall 2012:

Creative Writing II: Modeling Classic Writers and Their Contemporary Counterparts
Professor Antonya Nelson

ENG 312A: Creative Writing II: Poetry Writing Topics: Black Poets
Professor Eugene Gloria

LITERATURE

Literature courses cover the spectrum of English, American, Anglophone, and world literatures, from the age of enlightenment to the literature of food, from Shakespeare to Kathy Acker, from Victorians to video games, and students to develop methods of critical interpretation. We seek both to inform and to engage our students, often through vigorous discussion and thoughtful debate.

Topics Courses for Fall 2012:
Topics in Literary Studies:

ENG 155a: Writing About Film Professor Flury

ENG 155b: Inhabiting Dramatic Literature Professor White

ENG 155c: Performance Poetry Professor Geis

ENG 155d: Shakespeare’s Tragedies Professor Ciscsery-Ronay

ENG 155e: Literature of California Professor Alvarez

ENG 155f: Readings of the Black Diaspora Professor Dickerson

200-level topics:

ENG 264: Women & Lit: Topics: Nine Women Poets Professor Altman

Advanced Topics:

ENG 392A: Genres: Spy Fiction Professor Flury

ENG 393A: Literature and Culture: 20^th Century US Literature
and the Working Class
Professor Altman

Other Departments

English

WRITING

LITERATURE