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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