Fall Courses 2020
* For M.A. English Education students
† For M.A. English and M.F.A. Creative Writing students
ENGL 7010: Children's & Adolescents' Literature, David McKay, Thursday, 4:30–6:10 p.m.*
This class attempts to address a number of very complicated questions. First, what do we really mean when we say that we are teaching students "to read"? Secondly, why does the acquisition of this skill involve "literature"? Thirdly, what is "literature" in the first place, and what does it mean when attached to the descriptive phrase "children's and adolescents"? And lastly, how do the answers to these questions impact the style and content of works written specifically for children and adolescents? This course will survey "children's and adolescents' literature" in its broadest sense, from picture books through to writing appropriate for high school students. Using picture books by Seuss, Sendak, and others, we will begin the semester by attempting to identify what the purpose of "reading" and "language arts" instruction is or claims to be; and to propose criteria for judging the success of a work of children's/YA literature. Following a developmental model, we will look at a variety of works that begin to transition from picture book to middle reader. Finally, we will look at recent developments in YA literature. While we will always and primarily be looking at these texts from a literary-critical perspective, we will not overlook the more pragmatic and practical aspects of using these works as tools in real classrooms, especially as these relate to selecting books using the Common Core Standards and to the idea of multiculturalism in a pluralist society. Students will be expected to regularly attend class, actively engage with the material under discussion, and complete all short homework assignments; to participate in a group assignment that evaluates one the assigned books; and to submit a 10- to 12-page literary/critical research paper. Readings are posted to the class's Akademos site.
ENGL 7011: Literary Texts & Critical Methods, Ramsey Scott, Monday, 6:30–8:10 p.m.*
This class will explore the ways in which the study of critical methodologies and rhetorical devices can provide tools for the teaching and textual analysis of literature. The primary literary text we will read will be Nella Larsen's Passing (1929); all other readings will be works of literary criticism, theory, or philosophy, including samples drawn from major theoretical schools (psychoanalysis, Marxism, formalism, structuralism and post-structuralism, deconstruction, feminism and queer theory, etc.) and theorists (including Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Anne Anlin Cheng, Eve Sedgwick, and others). Students will write eight short response papers; give two presentations; and prepare a final project incorporating historical research, curriculum development, and / or creative writing.
ENGL 7203: Renaissance Drama Exclusive of Shakespeare, Marie Rutkoski, Tuesday, 4:30–6:10 p.m. (Area 2)
Description TBA
ENGL 7305: 19th-Century Novel, Wendy Fairey, Monday, 4:30–6:10 p.m. (Area 3)
Jane Austen speaks of her canvas as a "two-inch square of ivory," while Henry James calls 19th-century novels "loose baggy monsters." Concise or sprawling, the novel became the dominant literary genre of the 19th century. In this course we examine its role in both producing and expressing culture, and we explore some of its formal elements, the organizing principles that inform it. Readings include Jane Austen's Persuasion, William M. Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens' Bleak House, George Eliot's Middlemarch, and George Gissing's The Odd Women. Among our concerns are the novel's ability to describe and criticize society; recurrent figures of the orphan, the governess, the fallen woman and the cad in their social trajectories; the persistence and evolution of the marriage plot; the subplot of empire; and narrative issues of point of view and recurrent imagery and symbols. All in all, the course aims to familiarize students with the genre and period and to develop their critical ability. Course requirements include weekly response papers, a term paper, and a final exam.
ENGL 7420: Seminar: Joyce's Ulysses, Ellen Tremper, Thursday, 4:30–6:10 p.m. (Area 4)†
What were James Joyce’s contributions to Modernism? How (or) did he change the direction and techniques of fiction writing? In this course we will begin with Joyce’s short story collection Dubliners and his novel A Portrait of the Artist as preparation for exploring Ulysses, the seminal work of 20th-century fiction (#1 on millennial lists of the best and most important). We will approach both the short stories and Portrait and then the novel from the point of view of the writer’s craft, considering, for example, questions of subject, point of view, time, free indirect style, story arc, setting, inconclusivity/ambiguity.
But...
Brooklyn College has committed to enacting anti-racist priorities, policies, and practices. We are reviewing our courses with the aim of, literally, re-seeing them. Reframing and reshaping are the critical goals. Although this course is focused on writerly issues, these are not, cannot be, nor have they ever been divorced from their social and political context. The Modernist movement or movements and Ulysses, Dubliners, and Portrait, as signal examples, open onto necessary conversations about the issues that still animate our nation today: colonialism, in its broadest sense; white supremacy; race; class; technology; media. Our discussions will reflect these concerns.
CMLT 7430: Seminar: Translation Theory & Practice, Mónica de la Torre, Wednesday, 4:30–6:10 p.m. (Area 4)†
What do we talk about when we talk about translation? A cursory glance at terms commonly associated with the practice—originality, loss, faithfulness, accuracy—reveals the limiting ways in which it is often framed. The goal of this seminar is to broaden our critical understanding of translation as process, mode, and metaphor. What are the politics behind translation's metaphors? How is translation linked with colonization, with the movement of diasporic bodies? Can we speak of an erotics of translation? Benjamin famously claimed that a translation issues from a text's afterlife, that it ultimately serves "the purpose of expressing the central reciprocal relationships between languages." Conversely, Rosmarie Waldrop posits that its "ultimate task may be to bear witness to the essentially irreducible strangeness and distance between languages…." What does each stance imply for poetics? In addition to reading seminal and contemporary approaches to translation theory (Haroldo de Campos, Édouard Glissant, Emily Apter, Lawrence Venuti), we will read works by Anne Carson, Kate Briggs, Borges, Lydia Davis, Langston Hughes, Clarice Lispector, Christian Hawkey, Jack Spicer, Cecilia Vicuña, and others. Students will be required to work on a self-directed project or short experimental exercises on a weekly basis.
ENGL 7501: Introduction to Critical Theory, Martin Elsky, Wednesday, 6:30–8:10 p.m. (Area 5)
Description TBA
ENGL 7506: Practicum in Teaching College Composition, Elaine Brooks, Tuesday, 4:30–6:10 p.m. (Area 5)†
Introduces scholarship in the field of composition studies to enable you to use knowledge of developments in composition as you prepare to teach. Students become familiar with scholarly journals and read articles about major theoretical concepts and a variety of topics. Students also become familiar with some textbooks and material available for teaching composition as well as draft a sample syllabus for a composition course. Each class meeting will include discussion of assigned reading and practical applications.
ENGL 7507: Advanced Theories & Practice of Composition, Natalie Nuzzo, Thursday, 6:30–8:10 p.m.*
One of the biggest responsibilities of English teachers is the teaching of writing. How can a teacher help his or her students develop their own writing process, and enable them to see their own weaknesses and work on them? How can a teacher both prepare students for the high-stakes tests they have to take and at the same time, aim higher, to the level of expertise required in college? How can students learn to use writing to think and learn? How is work on grammar and conventions integrated into work on content and thinking? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this class. Requirements for the class include: a journal, a literacy autobiography, several other writing assignments and a Writing Teacher/Tutor Portfolio, where students will examine their own (or others') teaching, follow several of their own students throughout the term, and critique their own teaching of writing.
ENGL 7603: Introduction to Linguistics, Simanique Moody, Tuesday, 6:30–8:10 p.m. (Area 6)
Description TBA
ENGL 7800: Introduction to Literary Research, Karl Steel, Thursday, 6:30–8:10 p.m.†
Description TBA
ENGL 7810: M.A. Thesis†
Students must obtain adviser consent and submit online Thesis Title Form via the Brooklyn College WebCentral Portal.
