Brochure produced by:

Elizabeth Giedraitis ‘18

Check out the English Department’s webpage:

http://www.hartwick.edu/academics/academic- departments/english-department

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Hartwick College

English

Department Course Offerings:

J-Term &

Spring 2018

Key to abbreviations:

“A” = Approaches course

“cr” = credits

“ILS” = Integrative Learning Seminar

“WS” = This course will help fulfill the Women and

Gender Studies Minor requirements.

ENGL. 470-B (4 cr.)

Capital Times: Money and Class in

American Literature

Seguin, R. Clark 251

TTh 10:10 - 12:10

President Calvin Coolidge once said that “the business of

America is business,” an observation that crisply sums up the

overall place of literature and the arts in this country: somewhere

east of nowhere, the object of skeptical indifference at best and

outright hostility at worst. More so than any of the other

“advanced” nations, the major energies of this country have been

devoted overwhelmingly to the creation of monetary wealth and

the pursuit of economic status. Here, then, is some ready content,

at the very least, for those intrepid writers who would venture

onto what can be artistically forbidding terrain. In this course, we

will examine some of the most interesting attempts to fashion

compelling stories from these materials, focusing on two

principal areas: the earlier twentieth century, and such figures as

Theodore Dreiser, John O’Hara, and John Dos Passos; and our

own time, the age of so-called neoliberalism and the dominance

of finance capital, explored by figures such as Bret Easton Ellis,

Ben Lerner, and David Foster Wallace. We will supplement the

literature with critical readings that analyze both the material and

cultural dynamics of capitalism.

ENGL. 382-D (3 cr.)

Ialc: New England Women Writers

Cody, D. Clark 251

TTh 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

This course explores literary works (including satires,

fantasies, ghost and horror stories, and poems) created by women

in nineteenth-century New England. Authors range from the

famous (Emily Dickinson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Sarah

Orne Jewett) to the merely well-known (Julia Ward Howe, Mary

Wilkins Freeman, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman) to the

undeservedly obscure (Harriet Prescott Spofford, Rose Terry

Cooke, Helen Hunt Jackson, Constance Fenimore Woolson, and

Carolyn Wells Healey Dall) to the forgotten and/or unpublished

(Hannah Foster, Helen Peabody, and the Dana sisters). We will

also read some relevant works by male authors (including

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and

Henry James) who were supporters of or hostile to their female

contemporaries. Each course participant will write two research

papers, and there will be a midterm and a final examination.

January Term

2018

ENGL. 249-B (3 cr.)

Novel and Film Noir

Cody, D. Clark 251

MTThF 1:00 - 4:30 p.m.

During the latter stages of the Second World War, critics

in France and elsewhere began to comment on the emergence of a

new and fascinating sort of American film. In “films noir” such

as Murder, My Sweet (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), and Out of

the Past (1947), the fabled “American Dream” appeared to have

undergone a surprising mutation into a delirious, dream-haunted

existential nightmare in which beautiful, dangerous “fatal

women” and their doomed male counterparts struggled for

survival in a violent, shadowy world filled with crime and

corruption. In this course, which chronicles the birth, maturity,

and decadence of the noir aesthetic, we will explore sources of

the genre in American and German Expressionist crime films,

read “hard-boiled” literary works by Ernest Hemingway, James

M. Cain, and Jim Thompson, and analyze not only noir and “neo-

noir” films by directors including Fritz Lang, John Huston, Orson

Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman,

Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarentino, but also noir-based

comedies and satires by James Thurber, Woody Allen, Carl

Reiner, and the Coen Brothers. Each participant in the course will

write two research papers, and there will be a midterm and a final

examination.

Please note: while films noir are enormously entertaining,

they are also serious and often moving works of art. Some “Neo-

noir” films in particular are not for the faint of heart. You might

want to try viewing one of the following films on your own:

Sorcerer (1977), The Vanishing (1988), A Simple Plan (1998), or

The Departed (2006). If you enjoy that experience, you will

probably enjoy this course as well.

ENGL. 355-A (4 cr.) ILS

British Romantics and Beyond

Navarette, S. Clark 251

TTh 8:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Images: nightingales; phosphorescent water -snakes; opium

eaters; .

Genres: lyr ic; ode; sonnet; essay; gothic novel.

Such things will populate the archive of images and genres

that we will assemble in the course of our semester’s exploration

of British Romanticism. The Romantic period in British

literature, although spanning a relatively brief period of time,

produced a remarkably complex, exotic, and radical collection of

writings—writings that, however individually diverse, share a

devotion to discrete aesthetic, philosophical, and political values:

“beauty,” “nature,” “imagination,” the primacy of individual

experience. So experimental was the literature produced by

authors such as John Keats, Lord Byron, William

Blake, and Mary Shelley that it may be said to have provided the

inceptive "spark" that called to life expressions of late-

Romanticism, some of which we recognize from our own recent

history: for example, American Transcendentalism, Pre-

Raphaelitism, Décadence, the Beat and “hippie” culture of the

1960s and ‘70s, and the "sustainability" conversations of the

aughts and beyond. We will explore both "English Romanticism"

of the late eighteenth-century, as well as its heirs and assigns in

our own culture, including the counter-culture and protest

movements of the 1960s and of this very age of our own.

This course fulfills the pre-1800 literature requirement for the

English and Creative Writing major.

ENGL. 350-D (3 cr.)

Poetry and Technology

Fest, B. Clark 248

TTH 2:30 - 3:05 p.m.

The changes in contemporary life brought about by digital

technologies have been greeted with both enthusiasm and trepidation,

and this is certainly true for literature: either digital technologies will

open up new vistas for creativity and expression, or else they will

produce the long-predicted “death of literature.” The realities of how

literature gets made and read in the information age, however, are

simultaneously more complex and more mundane. Grounded in the

history of the book and the materiality of text, this course will

investigate some of the transformations that have taken place in poetic

production during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, focusing

principally on the relationship between interactive poetry and changing

technologies.

Poetry and Technology will be divided into two sections: one

on print and one on electronic literature. We will begin with a handful

of twentieth-century print works that experiment with poetic forms,

including works of ergodic literature and artists’ books. During the

second half of the semester we will read contemporary writers and

artists who push the boundaries of poetic form in new and interesting

ways. We will read electronic literature, digital poetry, and hypertext;

listen to experiments with sound; and play a videogame (or two). We

will also read works of history, criticism, and theory in order to situate

our inquiry into technology and emerging digital forms. Students will

contribute reflections to a collaborative class blog, write critical essays,

and do research. By investigating exciting and challenging works of

modern and contemporary poetry, this course seeks to understand some

of the ways that people are trying to make sense of life in the digital

age.

This course should appeal to students from all disciplines,

including art and art history, business, computer science, creative

writing, critical game studies, digital studies, the environmental

humanities, the history and philosophy of science, network theory, new

media, philosophy, poetics, political science, and other fields.

Spring Term

2018

Students in this class will learn about classical mythology

through the study of the original “classics”: Homer’s Iliad and

Odyssey; Vergil’s Aeneid; and Ovid’s Metamorphoses (all in

translation, of course). Knowledge of these masterpieces is

absolutely essential for understanding Western literature, history,

culture.

In addition to reading these great classical works, each

student will explore a topic of their own choosing (on any aspect

of classical mythology and/or civilization) and present their

research to the class, as well as completing a short paper on their

subject matter. In the past, students have chosen a wide range of

issues, from an examination of how the ancients might have

treated battlefield wounds through Shakespeare’s use of Ovid to

the employment of classical characters and storylines in modern

video games.

Requirements include reading quizzes, two exams, a class

presentation, and a short paper.

ENGL. 221-4 (3 cr.)

Classical Mythology

Darien, L. Clark 251

MWF 11:15 a.m.- 12:10 p.m.

ENGL. 331-C (4 cr.) A

Chaucer

Darien, L. Clark 329

TTh 12:20 - 2:20 p.m.

Chaucer is one of the great writers in all of world

literature. Like Shakespeare, Chaucer wrote a variety of great

works that have importantly influenced literature written in

English and on Western culture more broadly. But unlike

Shakespeare, Chaucer is not widely studied today, perhaps

because of the perceived distance between Chaucer’s language

and culture and ours: a distance that seems to grow with each

passing year.

The truth is that Chaucer IS different. Chaucer’s language,

Middle English, is hard to comprehend, at least at first. The

culture about which he wrote is also very different from ours and

must be understood in order to truly appreciate his poetry. So

studying Chaucer is not easy.

Then why do it? Because Chaucer’s poetry truly is great:

it’s profound, it’s funny, it’s profane, it’s beautiful, it’s not to be

missed. After a few weeks, you’ll wonder why you ever worried

about the language in the first place. And you’ll be glad you took

up the challenge to study something different and difficult – after

all, isn’t that why you’re here at Hartwick in the first place?

Please note that this is a 300-level course with a prerequisite of

ENGL 190 and also that it is being offered as an Approaches

course. We will study the works of Chaucer in Middle English, as

well as the critical reception Chaucer’s works. Besides taking

exams, students will write short papers as well as a substantial

research paper that employs critical theory. If you have any

questions about whether this course would be appropriate for you,

please contact Professor Darien (darienl@hartwick.edu).

ENGL. 323-67 (3 cr.) WS

Contemporary U.S. Drama

Shaw, M. Clark 352

MW 01:25 - 02:55 p.m.

Trumpism starts with misplaced nostalgia for yesteryear: making

an imagined America great again that never existed for a diverse

America.

So, in our class, we begin with the assumption that America is a

contested space, but we will search for lines of empathy,

authenticity, and progress in our imagining of a diverse America

onstage.

We will engage critically with recent performed and written

works such as Hamilton, The Book of Mormon musical, Taylor

Mac’s Hir and 24 Decade History of Popular Music,

Akhtar’s Disgraced, Hunter’s The Whale, Prebble’s Enron,

Mitchell/Trask’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Anna Deveare

Smith’s varied works.

We will also explore the works of Lorraine Hansberry, August

Wilson, Tony Kushner, Sam Shepard, David Henry Hwang,

Maria Irene Fornes, Paula Vogel, Philip Kan Gotanda, Edward

Albee, and Jose Rivera.

ENGL. 233-7 (3 cr.)

The Fury of the Northmen

Darien, L. Clark 251

MWF 2:30 - 3:25 p.m.

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!” This was by no means an uncommon sentiment; from

Ireland to Italy, from France to far-away Byzantium (modern-day

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 previously

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.

Texts will include the two Eddas (the so-called Elder or

Poetic Edda and the Edda of Snorri Sturluson), a number of sagas,

and other works including excerpts from historical documents and

short sagas (þættir).

Requirements include reading quizzes, two exams, and

short papers.

ENGL. 245-6 (3 cr.)

African American Literature

Seguin, R. Clark 251

MWF 1:25 - 2:20 p.m.

African-American literature has from its origins been a

literature of protest. This course will begin with the founding

texts of the tradition -- slave narratives, folk tales -- and then

move to the creative ferment of the Harlem Renaissance in the

1920s and its efforts to forge a cutting edge conception of

“blackness” adequate to an era of rapid social transformation.

Next comes the turmoil and fresh horizons of the Civil Rights

era, with its calls for “black power” and increasingly

experimental literary ventures. Finally, we will look at our

contemporary period, a time when many of the most exciting

African American writers are grappling with a renewed political

ferment in the wake of civil unrest and Black Lives Matter.

Authors we will look at will include: Frederick Douglass, W.E.B.

DuBois, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes,

Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Alice Walker,

Claudia Rankine, and Paul Beatty.

ENGL. 311-B (4 cr.)

Creative Writing: Fiction

Wolff, J. Clark 252

TTH 10:10 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.

This is an intermediate-level creative writing course that

will help you refine the skills of reading, writing, and revising

short stories. Through close readings of contemporary fiction, we

will examine the choices made by the authors and apply that

same decision-making to our own work. This class is first and

foremost a workshop, meaning you will be reading the stories of

your fellow students and then thoughtfully and constructively

critiquing that work via written comments and—most

importantly—class discussion. Above all else, this course

provides a tough but nurturing environment in which the primary

goal is to make our writing better. Any student who has

completed ENGL 213, Introduction to Creative Writing, is

welcome to enroll.

ENGL. 300-I (2 cr.)

Teach Assist in Composition

Suarez Hayes, J. Clark 230

T 6:00 - 7:00 a.m.

Training and practice in the teaching of writing. Students

will serve as tutors at the Writing Center, working with Level I

students and walk-in appointments under the supervision of the

coordinator. Tutors will assist the coordinator with development

of teaching strategies and materials and will discuss samples of

their own writing. Open to students of strong writing ability

regardless of major who have been recommended by faculty.

Consent of coordinator required early in term preceding

enrollment. May be taken twice for credit. Tutors who complete

two semesters are eligible to continue as paid tutors. Offered

every term.

*By permission of Instructor only.*

ENGL. 264-C (3 cr.)

Supernatural Horror in Literature

Cody, D. Clark 251

TTh 12:20 a.m. - 1:40 p.m.

It might be convenient to think of this course as a Gothic

castle filled with chambers, crypts, and dungeons, each of them

containing a frightful ghoul or spectre waiting to pounce upon the

innocent and unsuspecting visitor--or as a guided tour of the

haunted mind of Western culture--or as a chance to learn about

ourselves by studying the things that make us very, very afraid.

In any case we will familiarize ourselves with the literary

traditions of supernatural horror in all their varied forms,

including the traditional Gothic (with its Byronic villains,

clanking chains, slimy dungeons, and bleeding nuns), the

Psychological (in which we learn that, as Emily Dickinson puts it,

“One need not be a Chamber—to be Haunted—”), the

Antiquarian (with its blending of hallucinatory psychosis and

supernatural malevolence in a dark, apocalyptic world), and the

Cosmic (with its fusion of ecstasy and horror, its sensual and

poetic glimpses of other worlds and other modes of perception).

Sub-categories or cul-de-sacs to be explored at one’s own risk

include Horror and the Invisible, the Visual Imagination,

Freudianism, Disease, the Conte Cruel, and Decadence. Readings

include works by authors both famous and obscure, including

Horace Walpole, Matthew G. Lewis, Washington Irving, Edgar

Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fitz-James O'Brien, Henry

James, Rudyard Kipling, Violet Paget, Ambrose Bierce, Robert

W. Chambers, Bram Stoker, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, H. G.

Wells, Arthur Machen, John Buchan, M. R. James, Algernon

Blackwood, M. P. Shiel, William Hope Hodgson, W. W. Jacobs,

Hanns Heinz Ewers, H. P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King. Each

course participant will write two research papers, and there will be

a midterm and a final examination.