2013 Winter Quarter Class Schedule & Descriptions
This Winter 2013 Schedule is tentative and subject to change. Please check back frequently for changes, course descriptions, and other updates.
ENG 401 – History of the English Language
Sirles, Mon 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
This course is a systematic study of the nature, history, and usage of the English language, tracing the language from its Proto-Indo-European origins to its present status in England, North America, and the world.
Language core requirement in the MAE. Lang/Lit/Teaching/Publishing requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 407 – Language & Style for Writers
Sirles, Tue 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
A comprehensive examination of structural and stylistic devices that accomplished writers use in creative and literary nonfiction contexts. Topics include sentence emphasis and rhythm, coherence, point of view, authorial stance, and rhetorical aspects of sentence structure, repetition, and punctuation.
Language and style core requirement in the MAE and MAWP. Lang/Lit/Teaching/Publishing requirement in the MAWP (if not used to fulfill language and style core requirement). Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 419 – Topics in Medieval Literature: Love and Chivalry
Bartlett, Thur 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
“Love and Chivalry in Medieval Literature” explores representations of gender, power, and the arts of war and governance in a wide range of medieval English texts. We’ll read chivalric romances, instructional treatises on love and on knighthood, and historical depictions of battles and tournaments written by both male and female authors, and discuss how these works illuminate a distant past that intersects, perhaps in surprising ways, with the concerns of the present.
Medieval period requirement in the MAE. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 439 – Topics in Restoration and 18th Century Literature: Rise of the Novel
Shanahan, Mon 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
How did readers from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries come to identify some types of prose narrative as “novels”? We will read some candidates for the “first English novel” alongside some precursor and rival forms (romance, allegory, scandal narrative, autobiography, etc.) in order to begin to answer the question. Topics will include changing strategies for representing psychology in prose; changing opinions of ‘realistic’ narration and truth; epistolary form; rival critical models for the “rise” (or not) of the novel as the dominant modern genre. Readings include Behn, Congreve, Bunyan, Manley, Defoe, Haywood, Richardson, Fielding, Cleland, Sterne, Walpole, and Austen.
18th Century period requirement in the MAE. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 449 – Topics in Romantic Poetry: Romantic Marginalia
Gross, Thur 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
This course will focus on the marginalia of Romantic poets and their use of paratexts (prefaces, footnotes, and annotations) in the production of such works as “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers”, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (with its marginal gloss), “Kubla Khan”, Keats’ “Hyperion” (informed by Keats’ marginal annotations to Shakespeare and Milton), Hunt’s “Story of Rimini” and Wordsworth and Coleridge’s “Lyrical Ballads.” We will discuss Blake’s marginalia to Reynolds’ Discourses (and the poems listed above) to determine how Romantic reading informs Romantic writing. H. L. Jackson’s Romantic Marginalia, Alex Watson’s Romantic Marginality, and William St. Clair’s The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period will help shape the course’s theoretical approach, as well Derrida’s Glas.
19th Century period requirement in the MAE. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 459 – Topics in Modern British Literature: W. B. Yeats & Irish Revival
Murphy, Mon 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
In the three decades before Irish independence in 1922, Ireland underwent an enormous cultural revival. Attempts were made to turn the dying Irish language into a living vernacular, to revive the Irish countryside through the co-operative movement and to revitalise nationalist politics in a variety of ways.
It was an era of polemic over what it meant to be Irish and how a ‘Celtic’ or Gaelic element might fit into that identity, as urban intellectuals turned their imaginations to the impoverished and hitherto neglected west of Ireland as a source for cultural energy. A group of Anglo-Irish writers including W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge and Lady Gregory attempted to create a new Irish poetry and drama in the English language, particularly through the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. They encountered opposition from those who suspected their motives and provenance in the former ruling class, the Protestant Ascendancy.
This course examines the Irish Revival and pays particular attention to the writing of Synge and of Yeats (some of whose best work was written after it was over). It also explores the fiction of James Joyce who stood apart from the revival and who struggled with the legacy of the bourgeois Dublin from which he had come in order to forge an artistic identity of his own.
20th/21st Century period requirement in the MAE. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 469 – Topics in American Literature: American Fiction in the Age of New Media has been cancelled for Winter 2013. Please choose from other available courses this quarter. If you have questions regarding credits for graduation, please contact your program director. Thank you for your cooperation.
ENG 471 – Bibliography and Literary Research: The New Bibliography
Gross, Tues 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
In the 1980s, Jerome McGann’s A Critique of Modern Textual Criticism challenged the Gregg-Bowers-Tanselle approach to literary editing, focusing on the fact that single editions of works were no longer tenable or desirable. McGann’s Radiant Textuality discusses the implications of the world wide web for editing. He notes how editing specific nineteenth century texts, such as the works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, challenged him to think in new ways about the field of bibliography. We will consider how editors have struggled with the tasks assigned to them, by reading Alexander Pettit’s collection of essays which discusses editions of Faulkner, Conrad, Cather and other writers. We will also look at specific internet sites, such as the Blake Archive, the Rossetti project, Romantic Web Circles, and the Dickens website to conduct research. Students will learn to write abstracts in preparation for presentations at scholarly conferences.
Core requirement in the MAE. May NOT be used for credit in the MAWP.
ENG 472 – Studies in Literary Criticism
Johnson Gonzalez, Wed 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
Study of the theoretical foundations of literary criticism, exemplified by major texts from ancient Greece to the present.
Core requirement in the MAE. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 477 – Topics in Publishing: Outreach Press
Messinger, Tue 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
This course offers MAWP students a unique opportunity: hands-on production experience with an actual book. Taught by the editor-in-chief of the noted independent publishing house Featherproof Books, the class will provide students with marketable skills in the production of online and print books. The final product will be a full-length book produced as part of a first-of-its-kind collaboration between DePaul’s creative-writing program and Steppenwolf Theatre.
Students are welcome to take any or all three of these courses. No prerequisite.
Lang/Lit/Teaching/Publishing requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 477 – Topics in Publishing: Digital Publishing
Thomas, Wed 5:45-9:00 LOOP
In a matter of years, a publishing industry dominated by print is now increasingly, and irreversibly, digital. Most professional or technical writers and editors need a web-first, if not a web-only, attitude and approach. They write for myriad purposes and audiences, and in myriad styles and formats. In addition, they must edit and produce audio and video content (i.e., rich media), and learn how to aggregate their work with that of others, and disseminate it via all the social and professional media tools at their disposal. This course aims to better equip students for digital-driven careers. It is hands-on, project-based, and designed for students to share their skills and experiences.
Lang/Lit/Teaching/Publishing requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 477 – Topics in Publishing: The American Publishing Industry
Harris, Wed 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
Writing students are well-versed in literary tradition, but often have limited knowledge of the industry in which they hope to participate. This course will explore the history of book publishing in the U.S., with a particular focus on the role of the industry in shaping and reflecting literary culture. At all points students will consider their roles as writers and readers. We’ll consider topics in the history and current state of book and journal publishing, including the establishment of literary publishers, the evolution of the paperback and other publishing models, the development and diffusion of publishing programs, the effects of the Internet and online publishing on conventional structures, the roles of review publications and reviewers, the development of bookselling and the role of the chains, the introduction and impact of electronic reading devices and e-books, and related matters. By the end of the quarter, students will have a firm grasp of the book publishing industry and a well-developed sense of the writer’s position within it. Classes will combine lectures, extensive discussion, and group work.
Lang/Lit/Teaching/Publishing requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 478 – Topics in Teaching: Grammar for Teachers
Meyer, Thurs 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
Lang/Lit/Teaching/Publishing requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 484 – Writing Workshop: Writing Childhood
Harvey, Thurs 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
In this cross-genre course, students will study works of fiction and nonfiction about youth and adolescence as a means to 1) explore childhood in their own prose, 2) understand what made them writers, and 3) focus on what sort of writers they want to become. Among the authors discussed will be Eudora Welty, Annie Dillard, William Maxwell and Tobias Wolff. This course will also feature a first-of-its-kind creative exchange between graduate creative-writing students at DePaul and their counterparts at the University of Birmingham in England.
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 484 – Writing Workshop: Novels I- Writing
Johns Trissler, Thurs 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
Joyce Carol Oates often says that a writer can’t compose the first line of a novel until she’s written the last line—meaning that the shape and form of a novel isn’t clear, even to the author, until after she’s completed an entire draft. It’s only when a writer gets through what Anne Lamott calls the “shitty first draft” that she can begin to step back and begin the long process of editing and revision.
In this course, then, we will do very little editing and revision. Instead we will do our best to silence our inner (and outer!) critics and complete an initial draft of a novel, flaws and all, from page 1 to The End, considering the particular challenges of the novel form in terms of plot and structure. Students should come prepared with an outline for a project they would like to draft, along with a list of 5-10 novels they plan to turn to as inspiration and guidance. By the end of the term, writing 20 pages a week, students should have a complete first draft of approximately 200 pages.
This course is the first of a two-course sequence. The second course, ENG 484: Novels II: Workshop, will include a more traditional workshop focusing on editing and revising the novel. Any student who has a completed manuscript of at least 200 pages can apply to take the second course without the first.
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 484 – Writing Workshop: Memoir
Borich, Wed 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
In this graduate creative nonfiction writing course, we class read, write and workshop literary memoir— first-person narratives illuminating memory, personal history, and other accounts of actual lived experience through the use of evocative description, engaging reflection, and all kinds of prose structures. We explore craft and process issues central to the memoir writer’s work, such as: the line between memory and invention; writing about friends and family; and working with difficult personal material. We also discuss the technical elements of artful memoirs, such as character, setting, narrative focus and time management. Students read example texts, write and revise essay-length memoir drafts, and participate in creative writing peer workshops.
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 484 – Writing Workshop: Multi-Genre Shorts
Welch, Tue 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
This multi-genre workshop will explore the short-short, micro-essay, and prose poem as participants work toward defining the individual idiosyncrasies of these brief but invigorating forms. We’ll write and workshop in fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry, and the second-half of the quarter will be dedicated to a “The Pin-Up”—a studio-style workshop in which prompts generate writing that we’ll then pin up on the walls and read and discuss as in a gallery. Potential authors include Lydia Davis, Ben Lerner, Maggie Nelson, and Mary Ruefle. One class period will be dedicated to a book-making workshop with artist and DePaul Associate Professor Matthew Girson.
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 484 – Writing Workshop: Truth and Lies in Literary Nonfiction
Shtier, Mon 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
“Truth and Lies in Literary Non-Fiction” is a course that examines the different meanings of non-fiction in today’s literary world. Students will study major sensational cases and write at least two pieces.
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 490 – Writing for Magazines
Isackson, Mon 6:00-9:15 p.m. LPC
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.
ENG 497 – Writing the Literature of Fact
Anton, Tue 5:45-9:00 p.m. LOOP
A fun, advanced seminar in writing researched nonfiction written with the art of the novelist. We read classics by writers like Martha Gellhorn or Dorothy Parker as well as the best contemporary literary journalists, like Michael Lewis (Moneyball) or Pulitzer-winner Lane DeGregory. Students write two essays — one may be personal — and give one critical introduction to an author. Previous experience in magazine, travel or science writing a plus.
Writing Workshop requirement in the MAWP. Elective in the MAE and MAWP.