English

Overview

The Department of English at St. Olaf is a large and diverse department: more than 30 faculty offer 65 different courses in language, in writing, and in literature -- in a variety of genres, from a wide range of historical periods, by numerous authors, on a host of different subjects. By birth and by professional training and experience, our faculty come from around the world: from Tanzania, Sweden, Ireland, Bangkok, Dijon, England, and the Bahamas to Louisiana, the Bronx, southern California, the Hudson River Valley, Montana, and numerous points in the Midwest. The English major is a perennial favorite among St. Olaf students as measured by the number of graduating seniors -- it is always in the top five and is often number one.

St. Olaf English majors are found in a variety of careers and professions that require the skills of careful reading, analytical thinking, and oral and written expression: teaching (elementary, secondary, college), law, theology, library science, medicine, business, communications (radio, TV), journalism, advertising, government work, foreign service, editing, and publishing. They are physicians, account supervisors, security analysts, curators, legal counselors, financial planners, consultants, and media strategists. The department conducts annual career-counseling symposia, which feature recent graduates on interesting career paths.

General Education

The English Department -- through its faculty and courses -- actively participates in the general education program. All faculty teach first-year writing courses, either First Year Seminars or sections of English 111. Our Level II courses in literature -- listed below under Electives -- are designed with the college's Literary Studies requirement in mind. Most of our offerings -- in both literature and in writing -- contribute to the college's efforts to diffuse the instruction and the practice of writing throughout the curriculum.

Comprehensive and Distribution Requirements

Prerequisites

The Structure of the English Major

The new major consists of four parts.

The first two parts -- the introductory course and the three-course core historical sequence -- give all majors a common experience, develop students' abilities to study literature at the college level (by enhancing their reading, interpretive, and writing skills), and orient them to a new conception of the development of literature in English.

The second two parts of the major -- the electives and the Major Seminar -- give students the opportunity to complete the major by electing courses in authors, genres, particular historical periods, topics, and writing; by studying a subject of their own choosing in considerable depth; and by completing a major project of their own design.

When a student declares an English major, the student should, in careful consultation with a department adviser, complete an "English Major Graduation Plan." This plan will specify the proposed areas of emphasis and the kinds of courses desired for electives. This plan should be reviewed prior to registration each May.

Requirements for the Majors

Students beginning study at St. Olaf in the Fall of 1994 and after must satisfy the following requirements.

Requirements for the Graduation Major

Supplementary courses in classics, history, philosophy, and modern foreign languages are recommended for all majors.

Requirements for the Teaching Major

Requirements for the Teaching Minor

Special Programs

Special programs include semester and full-year study in England at Oxford, Lancaster, East Anglia, and Aberdeen; semester and full-year study in Ireland at Trinity College, University College Dublin, and University College Galway; interim study in the Caribbean and in Ireland; semester and interim study at the Newberry Library in Chicago; Urban Teaching semester in Chicago; interim theater study in London; internships in writing. (See the Index for further information.)

Recommendations for Graduate and Professional Study

Courses

General

107 English as a Second Language

Students develop English skills required for college level work through an emphasis on composition and the writing process. Other language skills are dealt with as appropriate, in class and through individualized instruction. May not be substituted for English 111 or for General Education 111. Fall Semester only. P/N only.

110 Critical Skills in Composition

In this course, students write frequently, respond to one another's writing, and meet often with instructors in conferences. Emphasis is on students learning about the writing process and revision. Required of those students placed into it. May not be substituted for English 111 or for General Education 111 Fall Semester only.

111 College English

The subject of this course is the craft of writing, including the process of conceiving ideas, drafting, and revising a finished draft. Students write and revise weekly and read professional writing as models and as sources of inspiration. Most sections use writing groups, and students meet frequently in conferences with their instructors. Includes an introduction to library research and preparing a documented essay. Offered both semesters.

125 Introduction to Literature

Literature in English is now being produced throughout the world in great abundance and in many different English-speaking countries. This course introduces you to a selection of this global creativity. It also introduces you to the study of literature and to writing about it. You practice the close reading of texts, think about a variety of literary genres, and consider issues of interpretation. The writing can include both formal and creative assignments. The course is recommended for those beginning the English major and for general education students. Required of all English majors.

221 Literature in English to 1650

This course traces the early development of the English language and its literatures. The course tracks the history of English from Anglo-Saxon, the tongue of conquering tribes coming to the British Islands; through Middle English, the stage of the language under the influence of invaders from France; to early modern English, a stage ushered in by the invention of printing. Students explore representative poetry and prose from these periods -- by Caedmon, the Beowulf-poet, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich, Malory, Spenser, Shakespeare, Lady Mary Wroth, Donne, Milton -- investigating how literary conventions and social history interact. From the sermon to the sonnet, this course covers 1000 years of literary history and ultimately follows the voyage of English from Britain to the Americas. Prerequisite: Prior or simultaneous study in English 125. Required of all English majors.

222 Literature in English 1650 to 1850

This course introduces the literary developments from the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries and explores the exchange of ideas between Great Britain and colonial America. Topics examined include: the influence of the Puritan Revolution on both poetry by Bradstreet and Milton and narratives such as

Pilgrim's Progress and Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative; satiric modes practiced by Dryden, Pope, and Swift; the rise of the novel; the Romantic movement; Transcendentalism; the development of American identity as seen in writers such as Franklin, Fuller, and Douglass. Prerequisite: English 221. Required of all English majors.

223 Literature in English 1850 to the Present

Beginning with the reign of Victoria in Britain and the Civil War in the U.S., this course traces the evolution of the modern world through authors as diverse as Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, and Chinua Achebe. This is an epoch when, in the words of John Stuart Mill, "the old doctrines have gone out, and the new have not yet come in." Definitions of gender, race, nationality, and religion are no longer stable, and the idea of tradition, however conceived, becomes problematic. In the post-colonial era, the study of literature in English embraces writers from around the world. Prerequisite: English 222. Required of all English majors.

Electives

Level II courses (numbered in the 200s) are open to all students without prerequisite beyond Eng-lish 111 or General Education 111 or its equivalent. Level III courses (numbered in the 300s) are primarily confined to the major, demand control of methods and of basic factual and theoretical knowledge appropriate to English studies, require more advanced work, assume more preparation, and pursue subjects in greater depth than do Level II courses. Level III courses are open to students with the stated prerequisites.

Authors

These courses treat works of literature in the context of the life and work of their authors. Courses focus on such authors as Jane Austen, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickin-son, George Eliot, Ralph W. Emer-son, William Faulkner, John Keats, John Milton, Toni Morrison, William Shakespeare, Wole Soyinka, Mark Twain, Derek Walcott, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf.

280 Introduction to Shakespeare

Shakespeare's plays wonderfully capture the full richness of dramatic art and human experience. In this introduction to Shakespeare's work students read and discuss a limited number of plays (eight or nine) in order to concentrate on how to read the plays well and how to respond fully to both text and performance. Students attend live performances when possible and view productions on video. There is some consideration of historical context and background as well as practice in how to write about the plays. This course is designed especially for non-majors.

380 Shakespeare

Shakespeare's plays can be read and seen many times, always with new discoveries. This course, providing more advanced study of Shakespeare's work, takes students back to in-depth consideration of some of Shakespeare's most popular plays and forward into exploration of some of the less-frequently studied classics. One objective is to examine a wide range of genres and types of plays. This course incorporates lecture and discussion, and the study of aspects of Shakespeare's dramatic art through attendance at performances when available and through viewing video tapes.

391 Major British Authors

Students follow the career of a major British author as a way of understanding the act of literary creation. The authors to be studied in the year are announced the previous spring. Recent authors have included Chaucer, Milton, George Eliot, Joyce, Woolf. Because such study is intensive and requires background, students should have prior exposure to the a

uthor studied. For further information and prerequisites, see the spring "English Department Announcements," available from the department secretary.

392 Major American Authors

This course provides the opportunity for in-depth exploration of the work and thought of a major American author. Through attention to life experiences, cultural contexts, and the impact of history, the course offers students a rounded and complex understanding of a major author's literary achievement. Recent authors have included William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and Edith Wharton. Because such study is intensive and requires background, students should have prior exposure to the author studied. For further information and prerequisites, see the spring "English Department Announcements," available from the department secretary.

231 The Middle Ages

This course focuses on two distinct literary periods, which parallel two stages in the history of the English language: Anglo-Saxon and Middle English. Works covered in the first part of the course include Anglo-Saxon elegies, biblical epic, sermons, law, and secular poetry; and in the second, Middle English drama, lyric, mystical literature, and Arthurian romance. Students learn sufficient Middle English to read Chaucer, Malory, and Margery Kempe in the original; other works are studied in modern English translation. Class discussion and writing assignments explore versions of heroism, the role of women, the interactions of secular society and the church as reflected in early British literature.

232 The 16th Century

With late medieval culture in the background, this course traces the development of English Renaissance literature through the 16th century. Court life and court poetry under Henry VIII precedes the mid-century transformations of humanism and the Reformation in England, which in turn lead to the brilliant flowering of literary achievement under Elizabeth at the end of the century: the lyrics and prose of Sidney and other courtiers; the prose and verse of the Countess of Pembroke and Amelia Lanyer; Edmund Spenser's epic, The Faerie Queene; and the plays of Marlowe and Shakespeare.

233 The 17th Century

The 17th century in England was an era of revolution in science, religion, and politics as well as literature. We meet the "Metaphysical" poets including Donne and Marvell, as well as early feminists such as Lanyer. We read early plays such as Shakespeare's Hamlet and Jonson's Volpone, or the Fox; we consider why the Puritans closed the theaters in 1642; we see how different are the plays after the Restoration such as Behn's the Rover. We examine the struggle between orthodox Anglicans and the nonconformist Puritans by pairing works in the same genre, for example, Dryden's epic Absalom and Achitophel and Milton's Paradise Lost.

234 The 18th Century

This course explores great literary classics from the British 18th century, giving special attention to the political, social, and cultural context and why this context has so often been recreated by modern writers, dramatists, and filmmakers. Readings include selections from all the major genres: poetry (Pope), prose satire (Swift), novels (Richardson and Fielding), biography (Johnson and Boswell), and comedy (Sheridan).

235 The Romantic Period

The British Romantic Period, 1798-1832, saw one of the most concentrated and revolutionary outbursts of creativity in English literary history. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats redefined poetry and the poet; Austen, Mary Shelley, and Scott extended and diversified the art of the novel; Lamb, Hazlitt, and De Quincey raised the personal essay to a major literary form. This course studies a representative selection of the literature which, in its preoccupation with nature and the human imagination, still influences the way we think and feel.

236 The Victorian Era

This course is a study of major writers, themes, and techniques in British literature from 1832-1900. The readings usually include a generous selection of poetry by Tennyson, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arnold, Hopkins, Dante and Christina Rossetti, Hardy, and others. We also read novels and other prose by the Brontës, Dickens, Hardy, Carlyle, Wilde, and others, and often examine the links between literature and art, religion, politics, gender, and education, and the many parallel issues faced by the Victorians and our own generation.

237 Modern British Literature

"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." Yeats' famous line distills our sense of the modern experience, a century of turbulence and innovation. This is a period of radical aesthetic experiments: in drama (Shaw, Pinter), in fiction (Joyce, Lawrence, Woolf), and in poetry (Eliot and his heirs).

241 American Literature to 1865

This course considers the question of personal freedom in early American literature and society. Among the topics that inform this consideration are the realities of slavery, the attention to women's rights, the rise of the industrial revolution, the search for spiritual truth, the romanticization of nature, and the interest in America's Puritan past. Among the authors read are Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Fuller, Stowe, Hawthorne, Melville, Douglass, and Jacobs.

242 American Literature 1865 to 1915

The rise of the city, women's struggle for rights, Jim Crow segregation, massive immigration -- the late 19th and early 20th century witnessed conflict, aspiration, and turbulent change that gave shape to modern America. Writers responded with social criticism, regional diversity, and a new realism. This course reads fiction, poetry, and essays by writers such as Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Kate Chopin, W.E.B. DuBois, and Edith Wharton against the historical and cultural contexts of their rapidly changing world.

243 American Literature 1915 to 1945

In this course students read prose, poetry, and drama from the early 20th century until World War II. Topics and themes include the "lost generation," the "roaring twenties," and the depression decade. Major writers, many of whom will be studied each semester and including six Nobel Laureates, are Edith Wharton, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O'Neill, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, John Steinbeck, Katherine Ann Porter, William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, and Wallace Stevens.

244 American Literature Since 1945

This course studies prose, poetry, and drama written by American authors after World War II. It explores significant genres and movements such as the poetry and prose of the Beat Generation, confessional poetry and metafiction, and notes the rise of feminist, multicultural, and regional voices. Rather than try to be comprehensive, the course focuses on a carefully-selected group of writers such as Miller, Lowell, Ginsberg, O'Connor, Plath, Coover, Rich, Shepherd, Morrison, and Silko to introduce readers to the rich diversity that forms contemporary American writing.

245 American Racial and Multicultural Literatures

Domestic in geographic focus, this course introduces students to the literature of an array of racial and multicultural groups in the U.S., including American Indians, African Americans, Jewish Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. In fiction, prose, poetry, drama, and film, students explore the histories, cultural patterns, religious practices, key institutions, gender issues, narrative styles, and the significant contributions of these peoples to our nation. Often such diverse writers as Leslie Silko, Chaim Potok, and Amy Tan raise questions about voice and identity, both individual and collective.

247 Post-Colonial and Third-World Literatures

This course introduces the literatures from former British colonies and from other countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Primary attention is given to literatures in English, but the readings may include some translations. The course examines diverse cultural expressions and the historical and cultural contexts of the works read, including the relationship between oral and written literature, as well as between indigenous and foreign elements.

These courses focus on a specific theme or topic, such as Women's Literature, The Environment, African American Women Writers, Fathers and Sons, and Linguistics.

108 The Hero and the Trickster in Third-World Literature

Among the most enduring and most fascinating figures in folklore and literature the world over are those of the hero and the trickster. This course studies various heroic and trickster figures as manifested in third-world literature from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, both oral and written, and seeks to understand what basic human needs and realities these figures express and fulfill. Offered during Interim.

121 Backgrounds to Literature in English

Who is the Electra in the punning title of Arthur Miller's play, "Mourning Becomes Electra"? This course explores classical and medieval works, like Sophocles' tragedy "Electra," that have influenced authors who write in English. Classical works such as Homer's Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid, and Dante's Divine Comedy are read in translation, as are works in English that show the influence of their classical and medieval predecessors.

270 Literature of the Eastern Caribbean (off-campus)

This course studies selected poets, dramatists, novelists, and essayists of the Eastern Caribbean islands of Barbados, Trinidad, and St. Lucia. Examination of the literature is supplemented by guest lecturers in history, music, religion, politics, and folklore, and field trips to sites of cultural, environmental, and wild life interest. Offered alternate years in the Caribbean during Interim.

272 Utopias

A perfect world, an ideal society, a utopia, cannot exist in the real world with human nature as we know it. The objective of this course is to explore both the literary features and the social functions of utopias. The primary instructional method is discussion. Readings include the following: Sir Thomas More's Utopia of 1516, the work that set the genre; a variety of utopias throughout history; a cluster of utopias written in the 20th century. As a final project each student will imagine and articulate either a utopia or a critique of some existing utopia.

273 Faith and Doubt in Modern Literature

This course examines faith and doubt in select works of literature, mostly in 20th-century writers of fiction, such as Franz Kafka, Willa Cather, Flannery O'Connor, Eli Wiesel, Walker Percy, J. F. Powers, Annie Dillard, and Ian McEwen, but also includes a Shakespeare tragedy.

274 English Language and Linguistics

Students explore the field of linguistics as applied to the English language, while honing their analytical skills. Class members examine the areas of morphology, semantics, syntax, phonology, and pragmatics from a theoretical as well as practical angle; they practice grammatical analysis of documents ranging from film clips and advertisements to professional memos and literary texts and gain an overview of the history of English as a world language. This course serves as the introductory course to the linguistic concentration and fulfills the linguistic requirement of the English Education major.

275 Literature and Film

From the beginnings of the medium, filmmakers have often turned to works of literature for inspiration. This course explores the complex relationships between literature and film. How do we translate the verbal into the visual? What can novels do that films cannot, and vice versa? Subject matter includes both classic and contemporary fiction and film.

276 Literature and the Environment

Students read nonfiction, fiction, and poetry that explore the complex relations between humans and the "natural" world. This course considers questions such as: what does it mean to be connected to a landscape? What is a sense of place? What are the relations between geography and spirituality? What, historically, have been the dominant American attitudes toward landscape? Students also reflect about how they and the writers they read put landscape and experiences into language, how terrain becomes text.

286 Women's Literature

Examining women writers in English, this course focuses not only on the themes and forms of individual texts but also on the development of women's literary tradition(s). It addresses the ways in which women writers conform to and/or challenge the dominant paradigm for female identity, women's social roles, and women's literary practice. Among the topics that may be offered are women's autobiographies, American women writers and the land, contemporary women's fiction, or major women writers.

385 Topics in American Racial and Multicultural Literatures

Students focus on important issues, images, authors, and modes in an intensive study of racial and multicultural literature in the U.S. Racial portraiture, sexual politics, field and factory experience, color and class status, and church and family institutions -- all describe the scope of the course. Students read authors as diverse as Frederick Douglass and Maxine Hong Kingston. Members of the English Department announce each spring the specific authors, titles, and topics for study.

387 Topics in Post-Colonial and Third-World Literatures

This course provides an intensive study of selected topics from the literatures in English of post-colonial and third-world countries. Topics, which are announced each spring, may include study of individuals or groups of authors, or of themes such as the individual as cultural hybrid, the place of politics in literature, ethnocentrism and imperialism, the formation of literature from the clashes of culture, or the relationship between non-traditional literary forms and traditional European aesthetics.

251 Expository Writing

Students develop their skills in the essay form, often looking at published works as models for their own essays, often critiquing each other's writing in a workshop format. Topics and approaches will vary with instructors, but students can expect to be challenged toward more in-depth writing than in English 111 or General Education 111.

255 Journalistic Writing

We begin by looking at the kinds and quality of journalism being written today. Students do critical readings of national, metro, and local newspapers; critique an array of magazines, popular and intellectual; and analyze news taped from public and commercial stations. Students then learn to write their own news copy, including hard news, features, editorials, art and entertainment reviews, sports, business, and travel stories. Students also learn UPI/AP style copy editing and proofreading, which is important for students applying for internships and print media jobs.

257 Creative Writing I

This course provides students with the opportunity to gather insights and develop skills in the writing of creative prose, poetry, and/or drama. Literary selections are often used as models and discussions of craft set the stage for the workshopping of student writing. Its seminar size allows for maximum interaction between the professor-mentor and the student, occasionally taking place in private conferences. The specific emphasis for each section is announced by the instructor.

264 Writing in Many Genres

This workshop is designed to develop and share members' experiments in imagination writing in any genre and at any entry level, beginner to experienced. Possible genres: poetry, short story, novel, drama (stage, screen, video, children's), popular lyric, ballad, hymn text, libretto, children's stories or picture books, or? Offered during Interim.

372 Creative Writing II: Poetry and Fiction

In this course, students who have already completed a unit in creative writing or produced manuscripts in some other context have the opportunity to deepen and polish their work and to develop and complete individual projects in fiction and poetry. Class sessions may be devoted to the discussion of the craft, the examination of literary models, in-class exercises or workshopping of student writing. The specific emphasis for each section is announced by the instructor. Prerequisite: English 257, or approval of instructor or department.

373 Creative Writing II: Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction explores advanced strategies in writing essays. Three areas of emphasis are explored through the semester: the personal essay, lyrical prose, and creative journalism. Students are expected to experiment in various alternatives for achieving effective prose, but are free to chose the particular emphasis that most interests them for most of their work. Many class sessions take the form of workshops in which students critique their peers' work. Prerequisite: English 251, or approval of instructor or department.

Other

294 Internship

298 Independent Study

394 Internship

398 Independent Research

399 The Major Seminar

Offered in several sections every semester, seminars involve in-depth study of a specified topic through readings, research, student reports, and extended projects on subjects of the students' choosing. Special attention is paid to theoretical and bibliographic issues where appropriate. Specific topics are announced each spring. Seminars for 1996-97 are "What is American about American Literature"; "Reading Women"; "Literature and Lives"; "Literary Kinfolk"; and "Hyphenated Americans." Prerequisites: junior standing, English 125, 221, 222, and 223, or permission of instructor and department.

Interim

English 108

The Hero and the Trickster in Third-World Literature

English 114

American Short Stories

English 131

The Comic Novel

English 239

Nature, Super-nature, and Novels of Terror

English 252

Irish Short Stories (off-campus)

English 264

Writing in Many Genres

English 265

The Emerging Poet: A Poetry Writing Workshop

English 270

Literature of the Eastern Caribbean (off-campus)

English 272

Utopias

English 283

Studies in Prose: Fiction and Regionalism

Interdisciplinary 258

Theater in London (off-campus)

Paracollege Seminars

Novels of Salman Rushdie

Humanities: 19th Century Literature

Writing a Woman's Life

Faculty