Fall 2009 Courses - Graduate
| 201 | T | 1900-2145 | Fleck |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201C | T | 1900-2145 | Soldofsky |
| 217 | M | 1600-1845 | Eastwood |
| 240 | M | 1900-2145 | Maio |
| 241 | W | 1600-1845 | Altschul |
| 242 | R | 1900-2145 | Miller |
| 254 | R | 1600-1845 | Cullen |
| 255 | T | 1600-1845 | Engell |
| 259 | W | 1900-2145 | Gabor |
201 Materials and Methods of Literary Research (Prof.
Fleck) Graduate School Boot Camp
In this required course, students will practice the skills
necessary for survival in the SJSU Masters Program. Students will
learn the basics of bibliography and the resources available for
conducting thorough literary research. An introduction to literary
history and a smattering of theoretical approaches will be included
as well. Students will make several presentations, work together on
several group projects, and complete one longer essay.
201C Materials and Methods of Literary Production (Prof.
Soldofsky)
This course introduces Creative Writing graduate students to
the resources, traditions, techniques, and culture associated with
the field of Creative Writing both inside and outside academia. The
class will study the role of the individual writer within the
literary and academic communities, and explore various forms of
literary activity that commonly support "the literary life." A
creative writer's work is both a personal journey toward
increasingly masterful artistic expression as well as an increasing
understanding of what the literary world requires of a writer as a
professional.
In 201C students will learn to use dominant and alternative
literary magazines and publishers, book review indexes, academic
journals, and online and other electronic resources. Students will
produce a brief annotated bibliography of a contemporary writer;
write a book review (for a magazine you have researched); a
personal literary essay to present at an academic or literary
conference; and a book or MFA thesis proposal. By means of this
course, they will learn to apply their knowledge of these of
real-world tasks to their own writing, in their other courses, and
in fulfilling the MFA requirements.
This course is a co-requisite for students in the MFA
program to be taken with their first graduate writing workshop or
first graduate literature seminar. The course fulfills the Graduate
Studies requirement in written communication.
217 Renaissance Literature (Prof. Eastwood)
Elizabeth I had an enormous impact on early modern English
culture. Although she proved herself a capable, efficient, and
politically shrewd monarch, Elizabeth's reign was fraught with
struggles and tensions due to her status as unmarried (and
therefore heirless), female ruler in an emergently patriarchal
culture. This course will provide students with the opportunity to
explore representations of this fascinating and controversial
figure in a variety of early modern texts. Students will examine
the deft manner in which the Virgin Queen represented herself to
her people in her speeches, portraits, and court entertainments,
analyzing the ways in which she turned her culture's assumptions
about gender to her advantage. We will also explore the more
complex ways in which Elizabeth I was represented by the major
poets and playwrights of her day including Philip Sidney, Edmund
Spenser, and William Shakespeare. Secondary texts will include
biographical material, some historical essays, and a variety of
criticism on the topic of Elizabeth's
representation.
240 Poetry Writing Workshop (Prof. Maio)
Open to M.A. and M.F.A. students, this graduate poetry
workshop will concentrate on voice and the dramatic monologue.
Students will write in metrical forms as well as free verse.
Emphasis on the oral presentation of poems.
English 241: Fiction Writing Workshop (Prof.
Altschul)
A workshop is an opportunity to see your writing through
fresh eyes. By submitting your fiction to a dedicated community of
writers, you will get feedback from many different perspectives and
aesthetics, all of which will broaden your original ideas about the
work and illuminate possible directions for revision. Equally
important, by closely reading other writers' work and articulating
your responses, you will hone your analytic skills and your
instincts as to what successful fiction requires. We'll try to
avoid the "diagnostic workshop," i.e. a mere listing of "what's
wrong" with a story, and focus instead on our encounters with the
work, our understanding of its goals and the strategies with which
it sets out to accomplish them.
We'll also spend time looking at published stories, and
discuss the range of approaches contemporary writers take to craft.
Participation and commitment to the class are crucial - you will be
each other's most dedicated readers, critics, and fans.
242 Nonfiction Writing Workshop (Prof. Miller)
In this course we will explore the many facets of Creative
Nonfiction, a genre that mixes the accuracy of factual reportage
with the techniques of fiction writing and the reflective insights
of the essayist. The various works we write in this class will
leave a nonfiction record of our worlds aswe see them today,
experimenting with memoir, biography, travel writing and features.
Students will be assigned short pieces each week to prime
the creative pump and generate new ideas. Workshops will be devoted
to critiquing your work in a supportive, constructive environment.
And as the MFA is a professional degree, we will begin your
metamorphosis into becoming a professional writer.
254: Seminar in Genre Studies of American Literature (Prof.
Cullen)
The NovelEnglish 254 will focus on the American novel since
about 1900. We will read approximately eight fantastic books
covering a wide range of decades and styles, and the reading will
certainly help prepare you for your M.A. or M.F.A. exam. Some
likely texts include The Sound and the Fury, Lolita, Angle of
Repose, American Pastoral, Blood Meridian, and Netherland, but
students will have some say in choosing the reading list. If you
are interested, please email Prof. Cullen at rjcullen@att.net for
the latest information
255: Seminar in Thematic Studies of American Literature
(Prof. Engell)
American Nature Writing 1791-PresentIn this seminar we will read
a number of book-length works of non-fiction focusing on the
natural world in a variety of ways. Pre-1900 texts will include
William Bartram, Travels; Henry David Thoreau, Walden; and Mark
Twain, Life on the Mississippi. From the early twentieth century we
will read Mary Austin, The Land of Little Rain. More recent texts
may include Rachel Carson, Silent Spring; Edward Abbey, Desert
Solitaire; Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams; Marc Reisner, Cadillac
Desert; Sue Hubbell, A Country Year; Garrett Hongo, Volcano; and
Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire.
Some of these works are "romantic," some more scientific,
some highly polemical. They vary widely in narrative form and tone;
they represent over two centuries of our national history; they
deal with a great range of regions, climates, and ecosystems. Each
student will give six or seven short oral presentations, each of
which will be accompanied by a one-page handout and a brief
two-page essay.
Each student will also write a 5-10 page "nature" essay in
the style of one of the authors read in the seminar and a research
essay approximately 8-10 pages in length on some aspect of one or
more of the texts studied in the seminar.
259 Seminar in Composition Studies (Prof. Gabor)
English 259 is a graduate seminar designed to introduce you
to the theories and practical matters of composition pedagogy. As
such, the class begins with a general overview of the field of
Composition Studies. From there, we will delve into one or two
particular schools of thought per week. The semester ends with
several weeks dedicated to very practical matters of syllabus
design and course management. Throughout the term, you will hand in
very short writing assignments and somewhat longer pieces.
The assignments culminate in a course syllabus and rationale
of your own design. English 259 is a prerequisite or co-requisite
for Teaching Associates and is highly recommended for any student,
M.A. or M.F.A., who contemplates teaching writing as part of her or
his career.Required Texts:Berlin, James. Rhetoric and Reality:
Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985Heilker, Paul
and Peter Vandenberg, eds. Keywords in Composition StudiesTate,
Gary, Amy Rupiper, and Kurt Schick, eds. A Guide to Composition
Pedagogies. New York: Oxford U P, 2001.Villanueva, Victor, ed.
Cross-talk in Comp Theory: A Reader, 2 nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE,
2003.Numerous Handouts on the class website - regular internet
access required
