Fall 2007 Courses - Undergraduate

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English 22: Fantasy and Science Fiction
Read the original works that inspired Peter Jackson!! We will read large sections of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and study the medieval and linguistic backgrounds to his epic tale. Other works may include the Fall of the House of Usher, The Time Machine, Rossum's Universal Robots, Princess of Mars, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Sandman, Neverwhere and short stories by William Gibson, Dean Paschal, Ursula K. Leguin and Arthur C. Clarke. Emphasis is on epic and dark fantasy with some science fiction and cyberbunk.
Professor Stork: MW 1200-1315
Professor Eastwood: W 1800-2045

English 56A: English Literature to Eighteenth Century
Major literary movements, figures, and genres from Anglo-Saxon period through the eighteenth century. Works and writers may include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer, Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Swift, Fielding, Johnson, Boswell.
Professor Pollock: TR 9-10:15am

English 56B: English Literature, Late Eighteenth Century to Present
Something for everyone in the greatest hits of Brit Lit for the past two-hundred-odd years, covering the Romantics, Victorians, Modernists, and Postmodernists, their poetry, fiction, drama, and prose.
Professor Harris: TR 10:30-11:45am

English 68A: American Literature to 1865
Survey of American literature.
Native-American myths to Walt Whitman.
Professor Shillinglaw: TR 1200-1315

English 71: Creative Writing
Writing in various literary genres; emphasis on eliciting and developing talent in various kinds of creative writing. Prerequisite: English 1A; sophomore standing or above
Professor Miller: MW 1200-1315, 1330-1445; R 1800-2045
Professor Maio: TR 1330-1445
Professor Maio: T 1800-2045
Professor Berman: M 1600-1845
Professor Evans: MW 0900-1015

English 71: Introduction to Creative Writing
Introduction to Creative Writing (English 71) is a 3-unit lower-division course designed and administered by the Department of English & Comparative Literature at San Jose State University to fulfill Core General Education requirements in the C2 Letters area of Humanities & the Arts. This section will be taught online using the WebCT instructional platform. The course will involve both the reading and writing of poetry, creative non-fiction, and short fiction. Students in this class will read published worksÑcontemporary and historicalÑof poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction. Students will write original works of poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction in response to works by published authors that students will use as models. English 71 will explore the traditions of poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction as they have evolved over the last few centuries. Students will examine these traditions in the light of understanding the historical and cultural contexts from which they have arisen. The course will be taught using a combination of online small writing groups (organized as learning communities) and online writing workshops. In the discussion, published works of creative writing will be closely read and analyzed. In the writing workshops, creative work by class members will be analyzed and critiqued for revision. Students are required to participate in all workshops dedicated to the discussion of class members' writing. Professor Soldofsky: On-line WebCT Section

English 78: Intro to Shakespeare
Reading of five or six representative plays. The Elizabethan era, dynamics of performance, and close analysis of the plays. No credit in the English major.
Professor Fleck: TR 1200-1315

English 100W: Writing Workshop
English 100W is an integrated writing and literature course designed to provide English majors with a firm foundation for the professional study of literature. Over the course of the semester, students will engage in all phases of those reading, thinking, researching, and writing processes that produce clear and purposeful critical essays that demonstrate an understanding of and illuminate for others how literature contains and conveys its effects and meanings. Approximately one half of the semester will be spent on the study of poetry.
Professor Cox: F 0900-1015
Professor Eastwood: TR 1330-1445
Professor TBA: MW 0900-1015

English 101: Introduction to Literary Criticism
Study and application of various historical and contemporary approaches to literature, such as formalism, structuralism, new criticism, cultural studies, new historicism, poststructuralism, Marxism, post- colonialism, feminism, etc. Application of these approaches to works of literature.
Prerequisite: 100W.
Professor Krishnaswamy: MW 1030-1145
Professor Wilson: M 1900-2145

English 103: Modern English
The growth and structure of modern English, including its phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Attention to social and regional varieties, with implications for language development and literacy among native and non-native speakers.
Professor Stork: MW 1030-1145
Professor Cox: TR 1030-1145

English 106: Editing for Writers
Perplexed by punctuation? Grieved over grammar? Overwhelmed by organizational problems? This course offers a solid review of diction, syntax, grammar, and punctuation; it also covers document-editing skills: how to organize papers, evaluate graphics, and perfect document design.
Professor Cox: MW 1030-1145

English 109: Writing & the Young Writer
This course is designed to strengthen participants' writing skills in both creative and expository genres and to develop participants' knowledge and skill as future teachers of writing. Professor Lovell: M 1600-1845
English 112A: Children's Literature Study of literature for elementary and intermediate grades, representing a variety of cultures.
Professor Krishnaswamy: MW 0900-1015, 1200-1315
Professor Rice: T 1800-2045

English 112B: Literature for Young Adults
Study of selected literary material, representing a variety of cultures, chosen to motivate secondary school readers.
Professor Warner: W 1600-1845

English 116: Mythology
An introduction to the main stories of Classical Greek and Roman mythology and a survey of Arthurian and other Celtic legends. We will read many of the original versions of these myths and consider their later appearances as well. Some attention paid to non-Western mythology as well, especially as relates to Creation mythology, angelology and Eros. Professor Stork: MW 1200-1315

English 117: Film, Literature, and Culture
An exploration and comparison of narrative in film and literature, the focus of the class will be on cultural definition and cultural change and the interaction between cultures. English major elective and single-subject credential requirement that also satisfies area V upper division GE.
Professor Engell: T 1500-1745 Professor TBA: W 1800-2045

English 123B: Literature for Global Understanding: Africa
Examines the literary production and cultural heritage of Africa. Issues addressed may include Afrocentrism, the scramble for Africa, slavery, the middle passage, colonialism and decolonization, the black Atlantic, the African Diaspora, ethnic violence, religion, economics, modernity, class, gender, human rights and indigenous movements will be exemplified in the writings of significant writers from various countries of Africa. For Fall 2007, the class will study a variety of texts and authors including Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, Emperor Olaudah Equiano, Leopold Senghor, Camara Laye, Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ben Okri, Ken Sara-Wiwa, Naguib Mahfouz, and others. Presentations, short papers, research project, and exams required; satisfies Advanced GE in Area V.
Professor Chow: MW 1330-1445

English 125A: European Literature, Homer to Dante
Classical and medieval literature in translation: Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Virgil, and Dante.
Professor Mesher: TR 1330-1445

English 129: Career Writing
This course provides an introduction to writing as a profession. Students will practice a variety of written genres for a variety of purposes and audiences. Students will also plan and write two publications: The English Department Newsletter and The Writing Life.
Professor Cox: MW 1200-1315

English 130: Writing Fiction
A workshop for students with experience writing fiction. Each participant will submit two new short stories for consideration by the class. A third submission may be either another new story or a substantial revision. Other requirements include assigned readings of published stories and thoughtful criticism of classmates' work. Course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: English 71 or instructor permission.
Professor Taylor: MW 1330-1445 (new faculty!)
Professor Berman: R 1600-1845

English 131: Writing Poetry
In this course students will write and revise original poetry, which class members will critique each week in a "workshop." Students will also read work by published poets, some of which will be used as models for students to emulate in their writing. Most of the poetry written for this class will be in open form, but there will be a couple of instances where students will be asked to experiment writing in meter and in closed forms. We will read works of contemporary poetry intended to help us understand the distinction Robert Lowell made between "the raw" and "the cooked"Ñbetween Beat poetry as opposed to more conventional "academic" poetry. The theme of the course will be "Poetry and Politics." Over the semester, we will interrogate the often cited paradigm that in poetry "the personal is political." The goal of the course is to help students improve the quality of their poetry by learning more about the craft of poetry writing and techniques of revision. Poetry is largely the art of making original images and metaphors, paying concentrated attention to language, down to the level of the syllable. Class members will learn how to make better metaphors, as well as learn to construct other types of figures of speech. Class members will also learn how to improve the sound of their poems. By the end of the course, students will have finished a short manuscript of poetry. Students who are not sufficiently experienced reading and writing poetry are not encouraged to enroll in this class. To enroll in the course, undergraduates must have successfully completed English 71 or receive permission of the instructor. The class can also be taken by MA and MFA candidates for Graduate credit. This course can be repeated twice for credit.
Professor Soldofsky: TR 1200-1315

English 133: Reed Magazine
Established in the 1920s, Reed is one of the oldest student-edited literary magazines west of the Mississippi. In this course we will cover all aspects of the editorial process, from solicitation and selection of material to production and distribution. This semester we will also examine the trend toward web publishing of literary journals and the establishment of online literary communities. Open to all majors. May be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: upper-division standing.
Professor Taylor: M 1900-2145 (new faculty!)

English 140A: Introduction to Old English
An introduction to the language, literature and culture of Anglo-Saxon England (597 Ð 1100 CE). We will study Old English and progress from reading simple prose to such poems as the Riddles, Battle of Maldon, Wanderer, Seafarer, Wife's Lament and selections from Beowulf. An opportunity not to be missed! A chance to learn about the very earliest written and oral records of the English-speaking world!
Professor Stork: MW 0900-1015

English 144: Shakespeare I
Major plays such as Twelfth Night, Henry IV, Part I, and Hamlet.
Professor Eastwood: TR 900-1015

English 147: Milton
The man, the thinker, the revolutionary, the poet. English poems, major prose, selected modern criticism.
Professor Fleck: R 1900-2145

English 150: The Victorian Age
Study of major authors and poets from 1832 to 1900, tracing changes in philosophy, religion, society, and culture represented in their works.
Professor Wilson: W 1900-2145

English 164: American Literature 1910-1945
Writers may include Wright, Hurston, Cather, Eliot, Moore, Faulkner, William Carlos Williams, and Gertrude Stein. Professor Shillinglaw: TR 1330-1445

English 165: Topics in Ethnic American Literature
English 165 is a course focusing on the study of a topic in ethnic American literature, such as African American, Asian American, Latino American, or ethnic autobiography. In Fall 2007 the focus is on Native American. Materials include myths, songs, and tales from oral tradition, and texts/writers such as William Apess, N. Scott Momaday, James Welch, Gerald Vizenor, Leslie Silko, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and a variety of poets.
Required: Quizzes and in-class activities, multiple essays, midterm and final exams.
Professor Chow: TR 1200-1315

English 169: Ethnicity in American Literature
Major contributions to American literature which reflect ethnic encounters with the wider American culture. Includes prose, poetry, and drama from five major American ethnic groups: African, Asian, Chicano/Hispanic, European, and Native American. Fulfills Advanced GE requirements in Area S and concentrates on the study of ethnicity as represented and constructed in American literature in relation to the formation of the concept of self, the place of self in society, and issues of equality and structured inequality in the United States. It addresses issues of race, culture, history, politics, economics, etc., that arise as contexts relevant to the study of literature by and/or about Americans (including immigrants) with Indigenous, African, European, Latino, Hispanic, and Asian backgrounds. Required: Quizzes and in-class activities, multiple essays, midterm and final exams.
Prerequisite: Completion of Core GE, satisfaction of Writing Skills Test, and upper-division standing.
Professor Brada-Williams: MW 1200-1315
Professor Chow: TR 0900-1015

English 174: Literature, Self and Society
Study of works of American literature that look at changing definitions of self in relationship to society. Prerequisite: Completion of Core GE, satisfaction of Writing Skills Test, and upperdivision standing.
Professor Heisch: MW 1030-1145

English 176: The Short Story
Analysis and interpretation of selected short stories from the 19th century to the present. Professor Maio: TR 1030-1145

English 180: Individual Studies
By arrangement with instructor and department chair approval. CR/NC grading. (Section 1) TBA TBA TBA TBA (Section 2) Professor Stork: TBA TBA (Section 3) Professor Stork: TBA TBA

English 182: Gender & War in 20th Century Literature
We are a nation at war: at war in Iraq and Afghanistan; at war on terror as such. In many cultures, war is typically thought to be “masculine,” while peace is considered to be “feminine.” In the field of literature too, it is commonly assumed that men write about war while women write about love. Although the vast majority of combatants have indeed been men, women and femininity have nonetheless been crucial to war efforts, and women frequently represent a high proportion of the casualties of war. How are modern notions of masculinity and femininity produced, mobilized, challenged or perpetuated by and through military engagements across the globe? What can we learn about the relationship between war and gender from 20th century literature? Are women “naturally” more peace-loving than men? How can we understand the phenomenon of female suicide bombers? Should feminists fight for women's access to combat roles in the military or oppose the military? After briefly considering gendered conceptions of war in key classical texts from across the world (The Illiad, Lysistrata, Ramayana), we will examine key 20th century texts written by both women and men about/during specific civil or international conflicts (the two world wars, Vietnam, Korea, Nicaragua, Algeria, Palestine, Sri Lanka and the partition of the Indian subcontinent). Readings from Wilfred Owen, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemmingway, Assia Djebar, Sahar Kahlifeh, Gioconda Belli, Ha Jin, Bapsi Sidhwa, and Sadaat Hasan Manto. Films: Costa-Gavras's State of Seige or Conspiracy Theory; Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers; Santosh Sivan's The Terrorist.) Repeatable for credit.
Professor Krishnaswamy: M 1600-1845 (this is the correct time)

English 184: Student Teaching II
(Section 1) Professor TBA: TBA (Section 2) Professor Lovell: TBA (Section 3) Professor Warner: TBA (Section 4) Professor Burchard: TBA (Section 5) Professor Morella: TBA (Section 6) Professor Parker: TBA (Section 7) Professor Hamor: TBA

English 190: Honors Colloquium
Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing, 3.5 GPA, 3.0 overall GPS and admission to departmental honors program. Professor Fleck: T 1600-1845

English 193: Capstone
Seminar in Literature and Self-Reflection Culminating course for English majors, requiring students to reflect on their experience and their progress toward meeting the Department Learning Goals. Each student will 1) submit a portfolio of writing from at least five courses taken in the major; 2) significantly revise one of those portfolio selections; 3) add other written work to the portfolio based on readings and activities during the semester; and 4) write an introduction to the portfolio evaluating its contents in relation to the Department Learning Goals. Readings will include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama addressing the theme of reflection and self-evaluation. Writers whose work is under consideration for the syllabus include Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett, Zora Neale Hurston, A.A. Milne, T.S. Eliot, H.G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman, John Steinbeck, Annie Dillard, Lord Byron, Elizabeth Inchbald, Tom Stoppard, Chris Marlowe and Bill Shakespeare.
Professor Wilson: W 1600-1845
Professor Douglass: R 1600-1845