Course Offerings English Department Spring 2008 Hartwick College

Course Offerings
English Department
Brochure produced by
Rachel Prouty ‘10
& Professor Cody
Spring 2008
Hartwick College
12. Woodcut border from Book of Hours. Paris: Vostre,
1502.
13. Border from Book of Hours.
14. Woodcut Illustration from Raphael Holinshed‟s The
Historie of Scotlande. London: Henry Denham, 1857.
15. Illustration from The Historie of Scotlande.
16. Woodcut illustration by Virgil Solis for Æsopi Fabvlæ.
Frankfurt, 1566.
17. Woodcut illustration from Ioannis de Sacro Bosco‟s
Sphæra. Cologne: Cholinum, 1581
18. Black-letter text from The Romaunt of the Rose, in The
Woorkes of Geffrey Chaucer, newly printed with diuers
addicions which were neuer in printe before . . . . London:
John Kyngston, 1561.
19. Woodcut illustration by Hans Springinklee for the Book
of Daniel, Biblia Latina. Lyon: Sacon for Anton Koberger,
1522.
20. Woodcut illustration for the Book of Hosea, Biblia
Latina.
21. Title page from Elbert Hubbard‟s Little Journeys to the
Homes of English Authors. New Series, Volume VI. East
Aurora, NY: The Roycrofters, 1900.
22. Title page from John Ruskin‟s The King of the Golden
River. East Aurora, NY: The Roycrofters, 1900. Headpiece
from Andromache.
Six images from The Wonder Clock or four and twenty
Marvellous Tales, being one for each hour of the day;
written & illustrated by Howard Pyle. Embellished with
Verses by Katharine Pyle. New York: Harper & Brothers,
1888.
Illustration Credits
1. Woodcut printer‟s ornament from title page of Andromache. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Duke’s Theatre.
London: T. Ratcliffe, 1675.
2. Woodcut initial letter from the “Epistle to the Reader” in
Andromache.
3. Initial letter from Act I, Andromache.
4. Printer‟s ornament accompanying “The Names of the
Persons,” Andromache.
5. Initial letter from the “Epistle Dedicatory” in Thomas
Shadwell‟s The Libertine: A Tragedy. Acted by His Royal
Highness’s Servants. London: Henry Herringman, 1676.
6. “Finis,” from the final page of The Libertine.
7. Printer‟s Ornament from Sir William Lower‟s Horatius:
A Roman Tragedie. London: G. Bedell and T. Collins, 1656.
8. “Tragedie,” from the title page of Horatius.
9. Printer‟s ornament from the conclusion of Thomas Becon‟s “The Polecy of Warre,” in Becon‟s Works. London:
John Day, 1563.
10. Dedication from Becon‟s “Preface” to “The Polecy of
Warre.”
11. Initial letter from “The Polecy of Warre.” 1502.
January
Term
2008
Introduction to Creative Writing
(ENGL. 213-03)
Prof. C. Frost
MTWTHF 3:00-5:30, CLA 248
Little by little, in workshop, discussion, small groups,
readings by visiting writers, and conferences with the
instructor/writer, we can move from what we like and what
we don‟t like to the individual voice, one‟s own truest noise.
We will begin with fiction and move toward poetry. On
workshop days we will read student work with care. The
spirit of a good workshop is serious, intimate, supportive,
and often humorous. Our purpose will not be to „fix‟ a poem
or story but to comment on its energy and its design.
Discussion will concern the myriad possibilities of art and
beauty— experiment and form. And there'll be lots of
reading—the Beats, the moderns, minimalists, magical
realists—to see what's possible in poetry and fiction.
Art of the Cinema
(THEA. 260-78) (W)
Prof. K. Golden
M 4:00-4:55 CLA 342, W 2:55-4:55 AND 149
Twelve fascinating films
shown on a big screen in
Anderson Theatre in a
fourteen week term; what
could be better than that?
Discussion topics include
story and screenwriting,
cinematography, editing, art
direction, movie music and
scoring, special effects and
more. THEA 260 includes a
“W” option for students who
need to achieve Level 4.
CIS: Unruly Women
(INTR. 310-Cd)
Prof. S. Navarette
TTH 10:10AM 12:10, CLA 346
This course will examine the outrageous acts and everyday
rebellions (to recruit Gloria Steinam‟s phrase) of women who have
interrogated and resisted the gender constructions and ideologies
that, although roughly in place in early modern European culture,
were formalized by the mid-eighteenth century with the
establishment of a powerful middle class, the monied members of
which were eager to include among their holdings women who, in
their roles as wife, daughter, and mother, could be showcased as
household tutelaries. Josephine Baker‟s notorious “banana dance”;
Martha Stewart‟s attempt to corporatize domestic practice; Hillary
Clinton‟s
refusal to be “K-O‟d”
within the
political arena; the
photographs of
performance artist
Cindy
Sherman: outrageous
acts such as
these will be examined
in the context
of precursor acts of
rebellion staged
by women unable to
contain themselves within their designated spheres within the larger
context of their eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century
Western cultures and societies. This course will place special
emphasis upon novelistic representations of rebellious women,
focusing on the ways in which feminine “waywardness” manifested
itself within narrative constructs shaped by various overlapping
contexts—political, social, cultural, economic. Discussions of these
primary texts will be shaped by a consideration of a range of
materials (music, films, the visual arts, scientific manuals) and
theoretical models and methodologies. Cross disciplinary in
orientation, this CIS will benefit from perspectives imported by
students from other disciplines. Literary texts will include Lewis
Carroll‟s Alice in Wonderland (1865), Angela Carter‟s The Passion
of New Eve (1977), and Toni Morrison‟s Beloved (1987). Films
will include Billy Wilder‟s Sunset Boulevard (1950), Jonathan
Demme‟s Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Neil Jordan‟s The
Crying Game (1992).
Fury of the Northmen
(ENGL. 235-02) Prof. L. Darien
MTTHF 12:00-2:30, CLA 251
It is often said that in the 9th century, an Irish monk wrote a prayer in the
margin of a manuscript: “From the fury of the Norsemen, O Lord, protect us!”
Whether or not such a manuscript actually exists, the sentiment was by no means
uncommon; from Ireland to Italy, from France to far-away Byzantium (modernday Istanbul), the barbarian pagan invaders from the Scandinavian peninsula
(also known as the Vikings) astonished and terrified the Christian societies of
Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries. They raided monasteries and towns,
pillaging all they could find and killing anyone they pleased, from the lowliest
peasant to the Archbishop of Canterbury (whom they murdered by pelting him
with animal bones!).
But the Vikings were not just evil barbarians that terrorized the so-called
civilized world; they were also traders, explorers, settlers and poets. After their
conversion to Christianity and thus the introduction of writing into a previous
oral society, these Scandinavian peoples again astonished the civilized world by
creating a body of vernacular literature that is virtually unparalleled in its
imagination, breadth and beauty. This course examines a small piece of this rich
heritage.
We will read (in translation, of course) examples of the three major genres of
Old Norse-Icelandic literature; the edda (mythological poems and prose), the saga
(the best known genre, sometimes inaccurately hailed as the first novelistic
writing), and the pattr (similar to short stories). Attention will also be paid to the
historical backgrounds with readings from non-Norse historical sources such as
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. The breadth of the Viking experience will also be
represented by sagas about the discovery of North America and about the Vikings
in Byzantium. Recurrent themes and emphases will include the importance of
revenge and blood feud, the law, the varying roles of women, and the evolving
influence of Christian ideology.
Texts will include the two Eddas (the Elder and the Younger), a number of
sagas (including the Saga of King Harald and The Vinland Sagas), and a number
of parttir, along with other short excerpts.
Introduction to
Screenwriting
(ENGL.250-03)
Prof. M. Burgio
MTTHF 3:00-5:30, CLA 251
Students will learn: the basics of screenwriting,
including story, character, plot, dialogue, scene,
and dramatic tension; the structure of screenplay in
three acts; and the screenplay format using Final
Draft Version 7. Writing assignments include twopage papers on assigned films, several short papers
on special topics provided by the instructor, a
character biography, short treatment, and the first
30 pages (Act I) of a feature-length screenplay.
Classes consist of lectures on the basics of
screenplay craft, written assignments,
screenings, discussions of films, and workshops of
students‟ work.
SIST: Bishop and Lowell
(ENGL. 450-45)
Prof. T. Travisano
M 11:15-12:10, WF 11:15-12:35, CLA 329
Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) and Robert Lowell (1917-1977) were
two of the great American poets of the twentieth century. They met and
became close friends in 1947 when Lowell was 30 and Bishop 36, and
shortly after each had published a prize-winning first book. They remained
close friends (Lowell called Bishop my favorite poet and favorite friend)
for the rest of their lives and wrote many wonderful letters back and forth
for the next three decades, until Lowell‟s death in 1977, two years before
Bishops own. Your professor is currently completing an edition of the
complete letters between Bishop and Lowell, scheduled to be published in
2005, and we will be working from those letters as well as with Bishop‟s
and Lowell‟s poetry, exploring their interconnected lives and art and their
intertwining poetic and personal development.
Goals: As an English department seminar, this course serves as one of
the capstone experiences of the English major. Along with reading some
great poems and great letters, we will be developing direct, hands on
experience with working with primary sources such as letters and other
documents and we will also develop our skill is responding to secondary
(critical) sources. Each student will develop verbal, research and analytical
skills by giving a series of class presentations, sharing work with the class
and getting useful responses. And each student will write two relatively
long papers. To support you in doing this, well work on research and
critical thinking skills, the use of source materials, and the art of
developing a bibliography.
Hawthorne & His World
(ENGL. 380-Gh)
Prof. D. Cody
TTH 2:30-4:30, CLA 248
Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the great explorers of the
twilight realm of the imagination, is one of the few American
authors who has consistently maintained his place in our
literary canon. This course will attempt to enrich our
understanding of the author‟s life and works by locating them
in a variety of cultural contexts, including the psychological,
the religious, and the historical. We will explore, for example,
his ambiguous relationships with movements as diverse as
Calvinism and Transcendentalism; his place in the “Young
America” movement; his fascination with both magic and
science; his ambivalent attitude toward the feminist
movement of his day; the ways in which precursors such as
Spenser, Milton, Shakespeare, Cotton Mather, Sir Thomas
Browne, Robert Burton, Samuel Johnson, and Sir Walter
Scott influenced his own stories, sketches, and romances; his
relationships with contemporaries such as Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Edgar Allan
Poe, and Herman Melville; and his influence on such literary
heirs and disciples as Emily Dickinson, Henry James, Edith
Wharton, Franz Kafka, H. P. Lovecraft, William Faulkner,
and Stephen King. There will be two papers, a midterm, and
a final examination. All students will be expected to take an
active part in class discussions.
Four Modern American
Poets
(ENGL.384-01)
Prof. T. Travisano
MTWF 10:00-12:30, CLA 349
In this class we will be to read, experience and
develop an understanding of four of the greatest
and most original American poets of the twentieth
century. Other goals will be to develop critical
reading and writing skills and to develop an understanding of the art of poetry and how poets
create a working style. The four poets to be explored this term include Robert Frost, Wallace
Stevens, Marianne Moore and one mystery poet
as yet to be determined.
Modern British Literature
(ENGL. 365-Ef ) (W)
Prof. M. Schramm
TTH 12:20-1:40, CLA 252
Spring
Term
2008
“On or about December 1910 human character changed,” said
Virginia Woolf in response to a London art exhibition titled
“Manet and the Post-Impressionists,” which included paintings by
VanGogh, Gauguin, Matisse, and Picasso. As Woolf observed,
the exhibition revolutionized the way people looked at art and
“human character.” Christine Walsh, an art critic for The Daily
Herald, called these artists “Great Rebels of the World” and
grouped them with Edwardian socialists and suffragettes.
Texts by great literary rebels of the Edwardian Age will be our
focus. We‟ll read Dubliners, a short story sequence by James
Joyce, the Irish author whom T. S. Eliot called “the man who
killed the nineteenth century.” Other scholars credit Virginia
Woolf with ushering in the twentieth century with her experiments
in fiction. Reading Woolf‟s novel To the Lighthouse will allow us
to explore her revolutionary approaches to character and her use of
stream-of-consciousness. In her essay “Modern Fiction,” Woolf
explained that her aim in using this narrative mode was to capture
the “flickerings of the innermost flame,” in other words, the
internal worlds of human beings rather than their outward lives.
“Flickerings of the innermost flame” also appear in writings of the
modern poets included in the course (William Butler Yeats, T. S.
Eliot, Philip Larkin, and Seamus Heaney); D.H. Lawrence‟s short
stories; and E. M. Forster‟s novel Howards End.
Grades will be based on two critical essays, a final exam, and
class participation. “W” students will write two additional critical
essays.
Four Fantasists:
Tolkien and His Precursors
(ENGL. 350-78)
Prof. D. Cody
MW 2:55-4:15, CLA 346
This exploration of the literary fantasy—the realm, that is, of the
imaginary, the fabulous, the unreal, and the uncanny—will center
on the works of four of the central figures in the history of the
genre. William Morris—poet, artist, political radical, a man who
according to his own reckoning was “born out of his due time”—
created the modern literary fantasy when he wrote The Wood
Beyond the World in 1894. Shortly thereafter, H. G. Wells began
to publish his “scientific romances”—works such as The Time
Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds, “atrocious
miracles,” as J. L. Borges has called them, that “will be
incorporated into the general memory of the species and even
transcend the fame of their creator or the extinction of the language
in which they were written.” In 1926, E. R. Eddison produced The
Worm Ouroboros, considered by many connoisseurs to be the finest
example of the heroic fantasy. And beyond them all, of course,
looms J. R. R. Tolkien‟s The Lord of the Rings, the most popular
work of fantasy ever written and in many ways a compendium of
much that came before it. As we read and discuss these and other
works, we will examine the ways in which they concern themselves
with the ways in which they express a utopian frustration with the
waves of industrialism, imperialism, technology, warfare, pollution,
alienation, and exploitation that have exerted such a powerful
influence on modern life and culture. There will be two research
papers, a midterm, and a final examination.
The Anatomy of English
(ENGL. 208-02)
Prof. J. Suarez-Hayes
MWF 9:05-10:00, CLA 252
"I really do not know that anything has ever been
more exciting than diagramming sentences."
Gertrude Stein
What would possess Gertrude to say such a thing? Why
bother to diagram a sentence? Have you pondered the
Existential "there" lately or been accused of dangling a
participle? We will probe these mysteries through a
systematic, practical and analytical study of the structure and
function of words, phrases, and clauses in the English
language through an in-depth study of authentic materials by
authors from diverse backgrounds, while emphasizing
recognition of form and analysis of function. Required for
those students planning to teach secondary English (must be
completed before student teaching may begin).
Recommended for English majors and minors, those
planning to tutor at the Writing Center, and students serious
about writing as a serious career.
If you have ever wondered why English does what it
does, this course is for you.
Intro. to Creative Writing
(ENGL. 213-Cd)
Prof. A. Lichtenstein
TTH 12:20-2:20, CLA 248
Learning to write creatively means
learning to think creatively and to be
aware. Through a series of writing
experiments in both fiction and poetry, you
will experience writing as a powerful
means of exploring the world and
In this course you will be
introduced to various forms of
fiction and poetry and to the
tools of the craft that will help
you to write in those forms.
You will explore significant
memories, images and events
to mine for fictional and/or
poetic gold. And you will
learn that writing is a creative
process in which you
continually give yourself
permission to say what you
Shakespeare I
(ENGL. 336-78)
Prof. L. Darien
MW 2:55-4:55,CLA 251
This course consists of advanced study of the first half of
Shakespeare‟s dramatic career, a period in which
Shakespeare wrote many of his great histories and comedies.
Among the plays to be studied are Richard III, Taming of the
Shrew, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It,
and Merchant of Venice.
Along with our in-depth consideration of the particular
plays, their cultural context, and critical reception, we will
also be attempting to answer two nearly unanswerable
questions: how does historical drama change historical
“reality”? and what makes comedy funny?
Students may take Shakespeare I and Shakespeare II in
any particular order they wish (and do not by any means
have to take both), but please note that this is an upper-level
English course.
Middle English
Literature
(ENGL. 333-Gh) (A)
Prof. L. Darien
TTH 2:30-4:30, CLA 251
British Literature:
Beginnings to 18th Century
Variety is one of the hallmarks of Middle English
literature, which is not surprising when one realizes that the
time period is not only relatively long (c. 400 years), but
also is one of enormous social, cultural, and linguistic
change.
Literature of the Middle English period is written in a
large number of dialects and in many genres: romance,
lyric, Breton lai, saint‟s life, epic, historical chronicle,
drama, dream vision, and many more. This course can
therefore only hope to introduce some of this rich
complexity through the study of a number of the more
important Middle English works, including those of the
Pearl-poet and of Geoffrey Chaucer. Works will be read in
the original Middle English except in the case of the Pearl
-poet.
This course is also satisfies the “Approaches”
requirement for majors. Thus besides the Middle English
works themselves, we will also be studying various types of
literary criticism (including feminist theory, New
Historicism, deconstruction, Marxist theory, and textual
criticism and source studies) as well as applying these
critical approaches to the literature being studied.
(English. 230-04)
Prof. L. Darien
MWF 11:15-12:10, CLA 244
This course is a survey of the great works of
English Literature from the beginnings through the
18th century. Not only does the course explore
some of the best and the most beautiful works
written in Old, Middle, and Modern English, but it
also introduces the student to the methods of literary
study, particularly the study of poetry.
Among the works and authors read are
Beowulf, Gawain, Chaucer, Sidney, Spenser,
Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, Milton, Dryden,
Swift, and Pope. (This course is required for all
English majors.)
Creative Writing: Fiction
(ENGL. 311-Cd)
Prof. B. DeLanoy
TTH 10:10-12:10, CLA 329
Romanticism to Realism
(ENGL. 231-04) (W)
Prof. M. Schramm
MWF 11:15-12:10, CLA 248
Have you ever wondered what was written in
England in the centuries between Gulliver’s Travels
(1726) and the Beatles‟ lyrics (1960s)? Have you
ever drawn a blank when asked at family gathering,
“So, as an English major, what do you make of
Wordsworth or Joyce?”
Answers to these questions and more can be
discovered in Survey of English Lit. II, a course
which includes Romantic, Victorian, and modern
literature. We begin with William Blake‟s “Songs of
Innocence” and “Songs of Experience,” deceptively
simple lyrics that sound like Mother Goose rhymes
but are actually biting satires of British society. The
course ends with poems in which Seamus Heaney
struggles with his vocation as a poet in troubled
Ireland. Many of our readings will be poetry, but in
the final month we‟ll discuss two modern novellas
(James Joyce‟s The Dead and Joseph Conrad‟s Heart
of Darkness) and selected short stories by James
Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine
Mansfield, and Doris Lessing.
There will be two paper assignments (four for
“W” students), as well as a mid-term and final exam.
This class is open to students
that have all ready taken an
introductory creative writing
course. Otherwise, students will
need to get permission to join the
class.
This class will assume at least a
passing familiarity with the basic
components of storytelling—
character, conflict, detail,
description—and focus instead on
the craft of serious fiction. Students
will read published work, essays on
technique, and will write new work
to be discussed in workshop. This
class is for those with an abiding
interest in fiction, in the how and
why of prose.
Creative Writing: Nonfiction
(ENGL. 310-07)
Prof. T. Travisano
MWF 2:55-3:50, BRE 308
This is a course in non-fiction writing
for those who already write well and want
to get better. It‟s called creative writing:
non-fiction because we‟ll be exploring how
to use creative tools, narrative, humor,
surprise, metaphor, appeals to strong
emotion in writing based on fact or
opinion. We‟ll be focusing in particular on
feature writing and the essay, those areas
of journalism and periodical writing that
give the freest rein to the prose writers
creative talents. Exploring examples of
creative non-fiction from many leading
sources, we will learn to read acquisitively:
that is, we will to try to imitate, adapt, or
otherwise acquire the most effective
elements of the technique of these writers.
Class sessions will normally follow a
workshop approach, in which students will
discuss, criticize and learn from writing
samples. We will often meet in small
group conferences to examine papers. On
occasion, outside visitors may be invited to
talk to the class about their craft.
American Literature:
Beginnings to the Civil War
(ENGL. 240-03)
Prof. T. Travisano
MWF 10:10-11:05, CLA 329
In this course, well be reading a diverse array of
writings which, taken together, begin to tell the story of
the founding of the United States and the emergence of
distinctly American ways of writing and understanding.
Well hear from farmers and philosophers, from men
and women, from people whose skin is white, black, or
red, from poets, printers and politicians. In fact, several
of our writers: Freneau, Franklin, Whittier, Douglass,
and Whitman, to name a few were poets, printers and
politicians all at once. Well study conceptions of
freedom, individuality and equality, as these emerge
from the crucibles of revolution, race, class, and
gender. Well watch the emergence and transformation
of such basic American concepts as the self-made
manor woman. And well explore the struggle in
American life between a devotion to traditions in
politics, culture, arts and the transforming impact of a
series of revolutions in politics and outlook. We‟ll also
develop a critical vocabulary to talk and think about
literature. We‟ll learn to read complex texts alertly and
acquisitively and to write about and discuss them
analytically. In the process, we will develop an
understanding of American literature and culture to
1865 and its relation to the present.
American Literature:
Civil War to the Present
(ENGL. 241-04)
Prof. I. McManus/Dusenbery
We will aim in this course to study leading authors of poems, stories, novels and plays enduring from 1865 to the present day. We will focus on classic works more or less in their
entirety rather than engaging in a futile attempt to be encyclopedic.
We will attempt to find patterns connecting these works
to each other and articulate what may be specifically American about these texts. We will also focus on the individual
voice, maverick or revolutionary as it may be.
Thematically we will address issues of race, class, gender
and the ways in which they have interrupted or deferred the
American dream for the American family.
These works are likely to include but not be limited to
Walt Whitman‟s Song of Myself, Mark Twain‟s Huckleberry
Finn, Kate Chopin‟s Desiree’s Baby, Charles Chesnutt‟s The
Passing of Grandison, Stephen Crane‟s Maggie, A Girl of
the Streets, Eugene O‟Neill‟s A Long Day’s Journey Into
Night, Tennessee Williams‟ A Streetcar Named Desire, Alan
Ginsberg‟s Howl and Raymond Carver‟s Cathedral. Other
writers under consideration include Emily Dickinson, Edith
Wharton, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Philip Roth, Jack
Kerouac and Toni Morrison.
We will relate works to their historical contexts and to
cultural and literary movements such as Realism, Naturalism
and Modernism as we look back at the breathtaking trip
America has enjoyed since the end of the Civil War.
Introduction to playwriting
(ENGL. 250-78)
Prof. M. Shaw
MW 2:55-4:15, CLA 252
In order to explore the wonders of writing for the stage,
we will read select contemporary works to explore dramatic
structure, characterization, tone, and styles. The students
will write monologues, scenes, and one-act plays, while
also critiquing and workshopping the work of fellow students. The class will culminate in open readings of the students work.