Literary Communities

3 credits · Undergraduate

(3 hrs Lecture) Literary communities provide significant contexts for the writing and study of literature. This course explores the literary works, interrelated biographies, and historical/cultural contexts of communities of writers. This approach provides an alternative framework of study to those focusing on individual authors, literary periods, or genres. Possible literary communities for study in different offerings of this course might include the Bloomsbury Group, the Lake Poets, the Inklings, the expatriate American in Paris, the Beat Poets, and the Kootenay School of Writing. Requisite Courses: 6 credit hours of First-year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)]. ENGL-2202 (3 or 6) Sixteenth-Century Literature and Culture (3 hrs Lecture) This course is a study of representative writers of the sixteenth century with emphasis upon the major poets, dramatists, and prose writers of the period. Requisite Courses: 6 credit hours of First-year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)]. ENGL-2203 (3 or 6) Seventeenth-Century Studies (3 hrs Lecture) This course explores the literature and cultural and historical contexts of the long seventeenth century, ranging from around 1580-1720. It may examine narratives of supposed colonial "discovery," the making of race, and global contexts, as well as various genres of the period including poetry, prose, and drama. Requisite Courses: 6 credit hours of First-year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)]. ENGL-2204 (3 or 6) Eighteenth-Century Studies (3 hrs Lecture) This course examines Restoration and eighteenth-century British literature, with a consistent attempt to contextualize it within contemporary political, economic, social, and intellectual life. Relevant contexts include the appearance and development of party-system politics; the growth of commercial capitalism, urbanization, and sociability; ongoing debates over the status of women, religious minorities, colonial rule, and the institution of slavery; and the impact on literary culture of an emergent mass reading public. In response to continuing challenges to the established canon of Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, the course may include works once considered representative, as well as works by lesser known writers. Requisite Courses: 6 credits of First-Year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)]. ENGL-2205 (3 or 6) Romantic Period Literature and Culture (3 hrs Lecture) This course introduces students to literature and culture of the Romantic period (1789-1832). The course not only considers Romanticism as a complex response to a shared set of literary and philosophical anxieties, but also focuses on the interplay between the socio-political concerns of the Romantic period and the literature that the period produced. Touching on topics as contentious as the French Revolution, women's rights, and the slave trade, the course examines the ways in which issues of nationality, race, and gender shaped the work of many of the most influential men and women writers of the day. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and ENGL-2211 or 3210. Requisite Courses: 6 credits of First-Year English, including ENGL-1001(6) or ENGL-1000(3) [prerequisite(s)].