English

An introduction to the study of literature by and about the lives of women, written in a variety of genres and periods, from a number of cultural traditions. Explores ways in which a study of a writer's ideas and techniques and a text's background (e.g., biography of the author, political climate, religious tradition) can lead to greater appreciation and understanding of a work, a writer, a reader and a time. A variety of critical points of view with particular attention to Feminist and Womanist theories.

A study of American environmental literature and its imaginative forms in relation to environmental concepts, movements and philosophy, including changing ideas of nature and wilderness; representations of space and place; the deep ecology, ecofeminism, bioregionalism and environmental justice movements; urban nature; the impact of climate change and the Anthropocene; and the relation between human ideas and language and the more-than-human world. Includes attention to cultural issues of ecology, such as how ecological imagination affects sense of identity and social and economic practices. May include writers such as Thoreau, Muir, Aldo Leopold, Margaret Atwood, Linda Hogan and Helena Viramontes.

This class offers an overview of myriad ways in which literary texts explore, reflect, question, and reimagine both the concept of “identity” and the types of identifications it enables—including (but not limited to) race, class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, immigration status, and linguistic/cultural background. Beginning in the mid-1800s and focusing on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we engage with works across a wide range of genres, including the novel, memoir, essay, poetry, and film. Together, we will analyze how authors’ different approaches to the elements of literature (narrative voice, poetic form, character construction, description, and so on) help to generate different representations of identity. We will also frame our readings of these works with concepts drawn from some of this period’s most influential theoretical approaches to identity and selfhood.

Introduces film analysis skills that focus on technical details of the cinematic medium, and how they influence narration, character and theme. Highlights important topics in film and literary theory and analyzes the functions and forms of film as a medium in comparison to other forms of media that use words. Appropriate for first-year students. Also listed as FILM 207.

This course covers the contemporary literary scene with particular attention paid to bestsellers and prizewinners in multiple genres such as the novel, short story collections, poetry and non-fiction. Appropriate for first-year students.

This course will examine popular religious literature published in the United States — such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the Left Behind series — and ask how it embraces or pushes against established religious traditions and literary norms. Students will investigate how authors use different literary genres to explore religious belief, practice and community. Appropriate for first-year students. Also listed as REL 209.

In every offering of Interdisciplinary Approaches to Literature, you'll explore a different type of literature (like folklore, stories about illness, or speculative fiction) that can be approached using concepts, bodies of knowledge, or ways of thinking from a discipline other than English. 

In this first-year writing course, you will develop your capacity for academic analysis through an original research project. You will identify an area of interest and you will find materials to analyze, develop research questions, explore secondary texts, and make claims connected to the evidence you have found. As many researchers do at this stage in their work, you will then reframe what you have discovered for a public audience. During the research process, you will also be preparing for the English 118 Symposium by working on your own Symposium Presentation. The creation of your Symposium Presentation will provide significant opportunities for considering the nature of your research, the relationship between visual and written and issues of writing craft.

An introduction to creative writing and the writing workshop process, focusing on the genres of poetry and short fiction but also occasionally exploring other genres (such as playwriting or creative non-fiction). Includes intensive writing and discussion of the craft and process of writing. Appropriate for first-year students.

In Creative Writing Projects, a working professional writer will guide you through the planning, creation, revision and (in some cases) submission and publication of a specific type of Creative Writing project: a manuscript for National Novel Writing Month, a short story, a poetry chapbook, a one-act play, or a book proposal, for example. This course welcomes experienced writers as well as beginners, and may be taken more that one time for credit when types of projects are different.

Want to really shine in your next class presentation?  Interested in learning how to complete research assignments with less stress and more success?  Join this hands-on workshop course to explore a variety of research and presentation tools that will support success throughout your Earlham career.  Projects in this course will be based on topics that represent your interests and passions.

This course lays the groundwork for English majors and minors by addressing the question “Why study Literature?” in relation to a wide range of literary texts and theoretical approaches. The class will study a variety of works and genres from American, British and World literary traditions, including attention to literary history, influence and periodization. Students will develop the fundamental skills of literary interpretation, including interpretive writing and research, while also learning about future professional opportunities for English majors. Appropriate for first-year students with a strong writing background and significant interest in majoring in English.

This is a companion course to JPNS 343 that will examine a selection of short stories and novels spanning the Shôwa and Heisei periods. The class will address questions of genre, legitimacy, canon, translation, the social role of the writer, and the place of female authors.

Introduces representative literary texts from modern Japan, mostly from 1900 to present. Develops more advanced skills for literary analysis. Some topics include: I-novel autobiographical fiction, women's writing and modern poetry.

This course features mostly U.S. literary texts that represent cross-century encounters with what DuBois named “the color line.” We will explore texts’ and readerships’ relationships to raced, sexed and gendered hierarchies, considered Immigration as "Whiteness of a Different Color," and make use of interdisciplinary contexts and methods. This class will require additional meetings to be scheduled during the semester for group work, writing instruction, and other activities. These times will be flexible, but the class does require that students have some time available for such meetings, as well as time for extensive reading.

An analysis of the topic of class and ideology in literature in English from different periods.  

Selected topics determined by the instructor that address issues of peace and justice in relationship to literature. Readings may be interdisciplinary and will focus on literature written in English. This course may be taken more than one time for credit when the topics are different.

Cross-listed as ENSU 354 when on an environmental topic.

This course focuses on Shakespeare's plays, and on the ways they represent an exacting storytelling craft filled with precise techniques: character webs and conflicts, symbols and scene weaves. Along the way, we'll team up to explore how Shakespeare pioneered some kinds stories we still read and see today, and discover what Shakespeare's stories have to say about the how and why of human experience.
 

This course investigates the spirit of emergent traditions within speculative African and African American literature ranging from science fiction to fantasy and other predominantly surrealist expressions. Occasionally, discussions will also foray into relevant connections in art, music and film as we interrogate the ever evolving trajectory of events and historical motivations behind the afro-speculative drive. Since this course seeks to extend ongoing discussions on black realities and cultures both in America and transnational settings, critical essays examining global constructs of black identity will serve as significant foundational content to class discussions and assignments.

This course focuses on specific kinds of literary theory, critical techniques and/or interpretive approaches. It may be take more than one time for credit when the topics are different.

An examination of the genesis and development of the novel, with particular emphasis on its role in literatures written in English. This course may be taken more than one time for credit when the topics are different. Prerequisite: 200-level English course or consent of instructor.

ENG 481 INTERNSHIPS, FIELD STUDIES AND OTHER FIELD EXPERIENCES

An exploration of a literary theme or subject matter with cross-disciplinary dimensions, and at a level which requires the student to bring an accumulation of literary and analytical skills and value judgments to bear. Subject determined by the instructor in consultation with the Department.

This course offers students the chance to engage with texts that raise some of the largest existential questions of human life, including the nature of health and disease, the doctor-patient relationship, the social aspects of illness, and the dimensions of a well-lived life. Through the works of authors like Mary Shelley, Lev Tolstoy, Michael Ondaatje, Atul Gawande, Eula Biss, and Anne Boyer, we will explore questions of sickness and health beyond the biomedical paradigm to consider these questions through a humanistic lens. Fulfills the humanities elective requirement for the applied minor in Medical Humanities.