Ivonne M. Garcia

Introduction to Literature and Language

ENGL 103

Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of the department chair. Offered annually in multiple sections.

Introduction to Literature and Language

ENGL 104

Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of department chair. Offered annually in multiple sections.

Writing for the Humanities

ENGL 199

Latino/Latina Literature and Film

ENGL 273

This course serves as an introduction to the literature and film produced by and about U.S. Latinos and Latinas, and to the theoretical approaches, such as borderlands theory, which have arisen from the lived experience of this diverse group. By focusing on the Latino/a experience, and situating it squarely within an American literary tradition, the course examines the intersections of national origin or ancestry with other identity markers such as gender, race and sexuality. We take an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to connect literature and film with history, political science, psychology, art, sociology and so on. Thus, students read not only literary works, both visual and written, but also related works in other disciplines that speak to the issues raised by the texts. Specifically, the course critically explores the effects and literary expressions of internal and external migration, displacement and belonging, nation and citizenship, code switching and other ways in which Latinos and Latinas have made sense of their experiences in the United States. Beginning with 16th-century accounts by Spaniards in areas that would eventually become part of the United States, and moving to the present day, the class familiarizes students with the culture(s) of a group that plays an important role in our national narrative, and with the issues that this group grapples with on our national stage. This counts toward the post-1900 requirement. Open only to first-year and sophomore students who have taken ENGL 103 or 104.

Beyond Borders: Introduction to Trans-American Literature

ENGL 282

This course examines the literatures of the Americas through the critical lenses of contact zone, border and transnational theories. From Laura Esquivel's "Malinche" to Juan Rulfo's "Pedro Paramo" to Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima" to Esmeralda Santiago's "America's Dream" this class explores the clashes between races, cultures, genders, classes, nationalities and worldviews that characterize this richly creative region, both in the hemispheric and U.S. sense of "America." By examining mostly novels but also poetry, including the love poems of Pablo Neruda, we will seek a better understanding of this richly creative and fascinating area of literary study. This counts toward the approaches to literary study or the post-1900 requirement. Open only to first-year and sophomore students who have taken ENGL 103 or 104.

Demons, Great Whites and Aliens: Representing American Fear

ENGL 284

This course engages questions such as: "How have U.S. writers and filmmakers represented fear, and why?" "What are the major themes in American horror?" "What is the relationship of American horror to American history and to ongoing national issues, especially those involving race, class, sexuality and gender?" To answer these questions, we do close reading analysis, read critical and theoretical essays, and apply historicist and cultural-studies approaches to examine specifically "American" novels, short stories and films that seek to incite fear in one way or another. We look at canonical works, such as those of Edgar Allan Poe and Henry James, and also at works considered "mass market," such as those of Stephen King and the film "Jaws". Our mission is to uncover how these texts are cast as specifically "American" and why this is significant to our understanding of the texts and their historical contexts. We also compare how the written and visual "fears" between the texts, and between written texts and films, work differently and similarly. This counts toward the 1700–1900 or the post-1900 requirement. Open only to first-year and sophomore students who have taken ENGL 103 or 104.

ST:Truth, Fiction & Journalism

ENGL 291

ST:Demons,Great Whites,Aliens

ENGL 291

Explorations in Literary Journalism

ENGL 319

A duo of Washington journalists uncovers a political scandal that brings down a U.S. president, a reporter devotes more than a decade to solving one of the worst serial killer cases in U.S. history, toxic waste dumping leads to the death of several residents in a small New England town, and a writer spends eight years of his life shadowing the lawyer who fought and lost one of the earliest environmental law cases in U.S. courts. In all those events, and many others, journalistic research, analysis and writing were the keys to uncovering unknown or concealed facts that changed the course of U.S. history. This class explores the long-standing relationship between literature and journalism through the genre of literary journalism in a series of mostly 20th-and 21st- century texts (such as Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" and Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action"), and films that represent the process and consequences of journalistic writing ("All the President's Men" and "Zodiac," among others). Secondary texts include books about writing and about literary journalism, such as Norman Sims' "True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism". Students will learn to contextualize these works within their historical periods and to analyze them as cultural and literary texts. In addition, students also produce a piece of literary journalism as their final project. The goal of the class is to familiarize students with the historical and literary significance of this genre and to explore how this "fourth genre" has contributed to the construction of personal and national narratives of identity through the use of literary tools. This counts toward the approaches to literary study or the post-1900 requirement. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing or ENGL 210– 291 or permission of instructor. Offered every other year.

Another America: Narratives of the Hemisphere

ENGL 381

This course serves as an introduction to the literature in English of Latin American and U.S. Latino(a) writers. Through both written works and films, we examine the themes, critical issues, styles and forms that characterize the literature of this "other" America. The course expands the notion of what is widely considered as "American" literature by examining works (some originally written in English and others translated into English) produced in both the hemispheric and U.S. contexts of "America." We begin with the Cuban Alejo Carpentier, the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez and the Mexican Laura Esquivel, using rhetorical and cultural analysis to discuss how issues of colonization, slavery, the clash of cultures and U.S. intervention are represented within the texts. We then migrate north into the United States to read essays by Gloria Anzaldúa and Chérrie Moraga, poetry by Miguel Piñero, and a memoir of migration by Esmeralda Santiago. These and other texts help us to explore questions such as: What general similarities and differences can we identify between Latin American and Latino(a) literature? How are individual and national identities constructed in popular films by Latin Americans, and by U.S. filmmakers about Latino(a)s? Is there a difference between Hispanic and Latino(a)? This counts toward the approaches to literary study or the post-1900 requirement. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing; or ENGL 210–291; or permission of instructor.

ST: Exp Lit Journalism

ENGL 391

Hawthorne: Nation and Transnation in Hawthorne's Fiction

ENGL 471

Herman Melville, who dedicated "Moby Dick" to Hawthorne, described the latter as the "American Shakespeare." Perhaps more than any of his contemporaries (with the exception of Melville himself), Hawthorne wanted to be (and be recognized as) the great American writer. But while by the end of his life he had established himself as a respected and largely admired author, the fame and financial success he craved seemed to elude him. This course explores the bulk of Hawthorne's work, more specifically his novels and his short stories (his "sketches" and "tales"), in search of an answer to two important questions: (1) How and why is "the nation" (the developing "American" nation of the 19th century between the 1830s and 1860s) reflected (or not) in Hawthorne's writing? (2) How and why is Hawthorne's writing transnational (that is, how does it move beyond the American nation itself to find sources and issues of discussion)? In attempting to answer these questions, we will try to gauge whether Melville was correct in comparing Hawthorne to Shakespeare. We will read the latest biography on Hawthorne, his five completed novels, his most famous short stories and other writings and a number of critical essays by his contemporaries and by modern scholars who have tried to make sense of this most perplexing and fascinating of the 19th-century U.S. authors. This counts toward the 1700–1900 requirement. Permission of instructor required.

ST: Sr Sem in Literature

ENGL 491

PENDING CPC APPROVAL

ENGL 491

Individual Study

ENGL 493

Individual study in English is a privilege reserved for senior majors who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a writing project on a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum. Because individual study is one option in a rich and varied English curriculum, it is intended to supplement, not take the place of, coursework, and it cannot normally be used to fulfill requirements for the major. An IS will earn the student 0.5 units of credit, although in special cases it may be designed to earn 0.25 units. To qualify to enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the English department willing to direct the project. In consultation with that faculty member, the student must write a 1–2 page proposal for the IS that the department chair must approve before the IS can go forward. The chair’s approval is required to ensure that no single faculty member becomes overburdened by directing too many IS courses. In the proposal, the student should provide a preliminary bibliography (and/or set of specific problems, goals and tasks) for the course, outline a specific schedule of reading and/or writing assignments, and describe in some detail the methods of assessment (e.g., a short story to be submitted for evaluation biweekly; a thirty-page research paper submitted at course’s end, with rough drafts due at given intervals). Students should also briefly describe any prior coursework that particularly qualifies them for their proposed individual studies. The department expects IS students to meet regularly with their instructors for at least one hour per week, or the equivalent, at the discretion of the instructor. The amount of work submitted for a grade in an IS should approximate at least that required, on average, in 400-level English courses. In the case of group individual studies, a single proposal may be submitted, assuming that all group members will follow the same protocols. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of their proposed individual study well in advance, preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the registrar’s deadline.

Senior Honors

ENGL 497

This seminar, required for students in the Honors Program, will relate works of criticism and theory to various literary texts, which may include several of those covered on the honors exam. The course seeks to extend the range of interpretive strategies available to the student as he or she begins a major independent project in English literature or creative writing. The course is limited to students with a 3.33 GPA overall, a 3.5 cumulative GPA in English and the intention to become an honors candidate in English. Enrollment limited to senior English majors in the Honors Program; exceptions by permission of the instructor. Undertaken in the fall semester; students register with the Senior Honors form as well as the individual study form. Permission of instructor and department chair required.

Senior Honors

ENGL 498

See description for ENGL 497. Undertaken in the spring semester; students register with the Senior Honors form.

Connecting Academic and Intern Experiences — Summer

EXPL 205

Internships offer students hands-on experience in a possible career field of interest, the opportunity to focus career goals and aspirations, and exposure to the wider world outside of classroom. This course serves two purposes: to aid students in the identification and pursuit of internship opportunities and to offer students the opportunity to formally connect the internship with wider academic interests.\n\nWorking collaboratively with a Career Development Office advisor, students will produce high quality resumes and cover letters. Students will also discuss networking and practice interview skills. Upon completion of this pre-work, the student will get a form signed by the CDO advisor prior to the start of the internship. An audit notation will be placed on the student’s record upon submission of the form to the registrar’s office. *International students will work directly with the Center for Global Engagement to complete the course requirements.\n\nOnce a student has obtained an internship opportunity (240 hour minimum), the student will identify a faculty member to act as an advisor for the internship. In order to earn 0.13 unit (credit/no credit) of credit, the student must complete all required activities including the final reflection paper and conversation with the faculty advisor. Students must complete the paper before the end of the fourth week of fall semester classes; the signed completion form must be submitted to the registrar’s office by the end of the sixth week of classes. Students may complete three internships either under EXPL 205 or EXPL 206 and receive up to 0.52 units of credit.