Course Descriptions - Spring 2007
Spring 2007 Course Offerings
ENG 101: College Composition
ENG 001: Writing Workshop
Instructors: Staff
Anticipated Size: 20 students per section, approximately 36 sections per semester.
Prerequisite: Entering students place themselves into either ENG 001 or ENG 101. Guidelines to be used as the basis for this decision are mailed to incoming students several months before the start of fall semester. Students with extremely strong backgrounds in writing may attempt credit by examination through Jerry Ellis in the Onward Office.
Course Descriptions:
An introductory course in college writing in which students practice the ways in which writing and reading serve to expand, clarify, and order experience and knowledge. Particular attention is given to analytic and persuasive writing. To complete the course successfully, students must write all assignments and must have portfolios of their best work passed by a committee of readers other than their classroom teachers. Especially well-prepared students will be encouraged to submit portfolios before the end of the semester; if their work is of exceptionally high quality they will be granted early completion.ENG 001 is a course for students who need to develop and practice the basic writing habits necessary for successful university-level writing. Successful completion of this course should enable students to do well in ENG 101. The course grants three semester credit hours, hours that do not count toward graduation but do count toward semester load.
ENG 129 (500 & 501): First-year Seminar in English Instructors: Staff Prerequisite: First-year students only. Course Description: Offers small-group discussions of literature focusing on a common theme. Each division takes up a different theme, such as utopianism, the quest myth, growing up in America and the like. Students can expect to read texts closely and write regularly about them. May be repeated for credit. Required Texts: To be determined. Evaluation: To be determined.
ENG 131 (01): The Nature of Story
Instructor: Wilson
Anticipated Size: 350
Prerequisite: None.
Course Description: Explores the fundamental activity of why and how we create, tell and read/listen to stories. An exploration of the various ways storytelling enters our lives: through music, art, literature, photography, history, film and song. We’ll use a technology appropriate for navigating through the many ways these arts weave their stories, from swing to blues, from country to classical, from film to fiction, from painting to architecture. Using a textbook designed for the course as a platform, we shall attempt to illuminate the centrality of storytelling to our culture. In addition to the reading, then, we’ll view films and other visual material and listen to stories in a variety of spoken and musical forms–discussing it all as we enjoy the art of storytelling. Some storytellers will perform for the class. Required Texts: a textbook written for the class by the instructor; other material will be provided by the instructor. Evaluation: Three short quizzes spaced throughout the semester and one final quiz, all taken electronically through WebCt.
ENG 131 (02): The Nature of Story Instructor: Staff Anticipated Size: 105 Prerequisite: None Course Description: Explores the fundamental activity of why and how we create, tell and read/listen to stories. Readings may include selections from short stories, novel, film, song, and poetry. Readings will come primarily from the modern world, from the western cultural traditions and from a variety of other cultures. (Satisfies the General Education Human Values and Social Context Western Cultural Tradition and Cultu8ral Diversity and International Perspectives Requirements.) Required Texts: To be announced Evaluation: To be announced
ENG 170 (01) & (02) Foundations of Literary Analysis (See University course schedule for CED Offerings) Instructor: Staff Anticipated Size: 20 Prerequisite: Eng 101 Course Description: This course is designed as a close reading of literary texts for students preparing to become English majors. We will explore how conventions of genre, form and style work in literature and develop a vocabulary for understanding and communicating ideas about literature. We will write regularly throughout the semester to practice the critical discourse expected of English majors. Required Texts: Still to be selected. Evaluation: Three short papers (two to four pages), one longer paper (five to seven), reading quizzes, and attendance.
ENG 205 Introduction to Creative Writing (See University course schedule for CED offerings) Instructor: Staff
Prerequisite: ENG 101
Course Description: An introduction to the writing of poetry and fiction. Students will be expected to complete a body of work during the semester. Student writing will be workshopped in class.
Required Texts: To be announced.
Evaluation: An end of term portfolio of work will receive a letter grade.
ENG 212: Persuasive and Analytical Writing
Instructor: Staff
Anticipated Size: 20 per section
Prerequisite(s): ENG 101 and at least sophomore standing
Course Description: Designed for students and wanting practice in those forms of expository, analytical, and persuasive prose required in writing answers to essay text questions, term papers, research projects, and extended arguments.
Required Texts: To be announced.
Evaluation: An end of term portfolio of work will receive a letter grade.
ENG 222 (01 & 02): Reading Poems Instructor: Moxley & Staff Anticipated Size: 25 students Prerequisite: 3 Hours of English (above 101), English major, or instructor permission Course Description: This course, required of all English majors, focuses on helping students develop critical skills particularly suited to the interpretation and analysis of poetry. It is intended to prepare students to read and write about poems with intelligence and finesse. Readings will include poems from different eras in both traditional and innovative forms, and may cover a range of poetic practices and a variety of media: including, for example, poetry readings, little magazines and presses, digital texts, and poetic movements. By the end of this course students will be able to identify a variety of poetic devices, forms, tropes, and movements. They will also have read and/or listened to some of the most admired poems in the English language, know their authors, eras, and importance in the history of poetry. Satisfies the General Education Western Cultural Tradition, Artistic and Creative Expression and Writing Intensive Requirements. Required Texts: The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Shorter Fifth Edition Evaluation: Letter grade based on quizzes, papers, and participation.
ENG 236: Canadian Literature Instructor: Norris Anticipated Size: 35 Prerequisite: ENG 101 Course Description: A survey of Canadian literature from 1850 to the present. Interpretations and analysis of the poetry and prose of major literary figures. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.
ENG 244 (01) : Writers of Maine Instructor: Staff Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: ENG 101 or equivalent Course Description: The Maine scene and Maine people as presented by Sarah Orne Jewett, E. A. Robinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mary Ellen Chase, R.P.T. Coffin, Kenneth Roberts, E. B. White, and others. Required Text: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.
ENG 245 (01): American Short Fiction Instructor: Rogers Anticipated Size: 30 Prerequisites: 3 hours of literature or permission. Course Description: A study of American short fiction from Irving to the present. The class will proceed chronologically; concentrating on those formal developments that have made the short story a particularly American genre. Required Texts: To be selected. Evaluation: Short papers and exercises, quizzes, midterm, and final.
ENG 271 (01): The Act of Interpretation Instructor: Billitteri Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisites: ENG 170 Course Description: Acts of interpretations are historical-specific acts of cultural intervention, shaped by the cultural horizon of the reader. This is granted, and even axiomatic, but equally granted is the fact that the reader’s horizon is always informed and deeply transformed by the encounter with literary texts. In other words, acts of interpretations are historical-specific acts of cultural intervention that bring the interaction between text and reader to a temporary, if significant, resolution. The dual constitution of this interaction and the dialectics of its processual unfolding will be the focus of our course. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: Attendance, participation in workshops, three short papers, final exam.
ENG 271 (02): The Act of Interpretation Instructor: Brinkley Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: ENG 170 Course Description: An introduction to critical theory. Study of individual critics or schools of literary theory. Application of these interpretative strategies to literary texts. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.
ENG 308 (01): Writing Poetry Instructor: Norris Anticipated Size: 20 Prerequisite: ENG 205 or 307 or permssion. Course Description: Writing poetry, reading poetry, learning structure by doing. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: Letter grade based on six reader’s responses, attendance, and a portfolio of work.
ENG 317: Business and Technical Writing
Instructor: Staff
Anticipated Size: 20 per section (15 sections)
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or equivalent; juniors and seniors in declared majors only.
Course Description: This course helps prepare students to communicate effectively in the workplace. Students become familiar with the processes, forms, and styles of writing in professional environments as they work on memoranda, business correspondence, instructions, proposals, reports and similar materials. Special attention is paid to the fundamental skills of problem solving and analyzing and responding to purpose and audience. Some sections may incorporate electronic communication, such as First Class. Required Texts: Technical Communication: A Reader-Center Approach. 5th ed. by Paul Anderson. Evaluation: Several short written assignments, homework, participation, quizzes, and one major project.
ENG 406 (01): Advanced Poetry Writing
Instructor: Moxley
Anticipated Size: 16
Prerequisite: ENG 205 and ENG 308 or permission
Course Description: A poetry workshop in poetry at the advanced level. We will explore poetic form and technique, and work on refining poetic gestures and skills. Students may want to use this course to complete their capstones.
Required Texts: TBA
Evaluation: Letter grade based on quality of work and commitment.
Eng 435: The Bible and Near-Eastern Literature Instructor: Wilson Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature or permission
Course Description: An exploration of the Bible within the context of other Near-Eastern religious and mythic literature from Mesopotamia and Babylon, Egypt, Canaan, Persia and other cultures that went into the creation of this Hebrew and Christian Bible. Will include PowerPoint and audio lectures about the archaeology and anthropology of this period so important to subsequent western culture—3000 B.C.-100 A.D. Will focus to some degree on the role of goddess figures in the development of the Bible into the form we find it in today. We’ll approach the Bible as an anthology of fiction, myth, and polemic–sometimes bitter and heated–arising out of specific cultural and philosophical contexts. Finally, the course will suggest that the Bible will become a more humane document when understood as the product of cultural interbreeding and argument.
Evaluation: short papers to be used as discussion launching pads; a final essay.
Texts:
Gilgamesh The Ancient Near East (vols. 1 & 2) The Hebrew Goddess Myths from Mesopotamia The Myth of the Goddess Bible
ENG 442 (01) : Native American Literature Instructor: Lukens Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature or permission Course Description: The course focuses on textual productions by Native American writers; our readings will illustrate the enormous importance of who “gets to tell” the story. We will attempt to take what some critics have called an “ethnopoetic” approach, which recognizes the centrality of the author’s cultural context in the interpretation of literature. You will be asked to supplement literary critical methods ordinarily exercised in a literature class with research in history, anthropology, religious studies, and other disciplines, and as much as possible from indigenous sources. Our research will be guided by this central question: what information do we need in order to understand a work of literature if we are outsiders to the culture that produced it? Possible Texts:
Leslie Silko, Ceremony William Apess, A Son of the Forest Sherman Alexie, Reservation Blues Henry Red Eagle, Aboriginally Yours Zitkala Sa, American Indian Stories Mourning Dove, Cogewea, The Half-Blood Louis Owens, The Sharpest Sight Sophia Alice Callahan, Wynema
Additional Readings: Group presentations will require some library research. Evaluation: Reading finished by first day of discussion; class attendance and participation; frequent informal writing–a weekly “worksheet”; group research and oral presentation (written list of sources required); 2 short papers (4-6 pp); proposal for final paper/project (one page); final paper/project 8-10 pp or equivalent.
ENG 444 (01) : Contemporary American Fiction Twenty-First Century Novels Instructor: Kress Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature or permission Anticipated Size: 25 Course Description: This course will explore the following questions: “what is America becoming in the twenty-first century?” and “can literature respond to that becoming?” To ask these questions, we will be looking at seven novels that have been published in the past six years. Coming from a variety of styles and perspectives, these novels may or may not constitute a unified vision or voice for the American landscape at the present; in fact, they may do just the opposite. But in that melee, we may find ourselves closer to the question of America—and of American fiction and art—than in some more sedate concord. Texts :
Brian Evenson, The Open Curtain Edward Desautels, Flicker in the Porthole Glass Shelley Jackson, Half-Life Lydia Millet, Oh Pure and Radiant Heart Christina Milletti, The Religious and Other Stories George Saunders, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil Steve Tomasula, Vas: An Opera in Flatland
Evaluation: Two 10-12 pp. critical papers, one in-class presentation, and passionate class participation.
ENG 446 (01): American Poetry Instructor: Friedlander Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature or permission Anticipated Size: 25 Course Description: This class offers an immersion in American poetry from the seventeenth century to the present with special emphasis on the century and a quarter running from the 1840s (when the Fireside Poets first came to prominence) through the 1960s (the threshold of our own era, taken up in greater detail in ENG 449, Contemporary American Poetry). Students will read (and hear) a wide-ranging selection of poems in a variety of forms and genres addressed to a diverse set of audiences both popular and specialized. The work discussed will include: hymns essays and sermons in verse jokes satires rhymed stories first-person declarations of feeling statements of belief protest poetry nature writing elegies and consolation verse poems by and for children language experiments compressed epics –and much more. Given this variety, no one mode of interpretation or response will be sufficient, hence students will find it necessary to reflect on their own activity as critics. A capacity for self-examination is the only important prerequisite for this course. Readings will be drawn for the most part from anthologies, but we will also look at poems in their original contexts of publication and listen to poets reading their own work both live and in archived recordings. Required Reading: John Hollander, ed., American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century (Library of America College Editions) David Lehman, ed., The Oxford Book of American Poetry Packet of supplementary readings Students will also make use of Fogler Library’s microfiche collection Early American Imprints, the Library of Congress American Memory database (focused on nineteenth-century books and periodicals), the University of Michigan’s American Verse Project, and recordings of poetry readings archived at PennSound. Evaluation: Weekly responses on FirstClass, two short projects (one involving archival research, the other a detailed examination of a single poem), and a final paper on a topic to be determined in consultation with instructor. Note: students should also try to arrange their schedules so they will be able to attend poetry readings in the New Writing Series. These are usually held on Thursdays at 4:30.
ENG 453 (01) : The Works of Shakespeare Instructor: Brucher Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature or permission. Course Description: We’ll read 14 or so plays by Shakespeare, exemplifying the various periods of his career and modes in which he worked–comedy, tragedy, history, and romance. Class discussions will try to illuminate the expressive range of Shakespeare’s language, the significance of the dramatic forms he used, and the social, political, and intellectual structures that shaped his work. We’ll pay some attention to performance issues. This version of 453 will emphasize several Roman plays, including Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra, several “problem” plays, including Hamlet, Measure for Measure, and All’s Well That Ends Well. Other texts will likely include The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Richard the Third, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, and The Winter’s Tale. Required Texts: The Norton Shakespeare, ed. Stephen Greenblatt (Norton, 1997). Evaluation: Two comparative take-home preliminary examinations, a long paper/project, and a final exam. Performance may be substituted for some written work.
ENG 454 (01) : Elizabethan and Seventeenth Century Lyric and Narrative Poetry Instructor: Hatlen Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature or permission Course Description: This course will focus on the lyric and narrative poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries, with special emphasis on the sonnet tradition, especially Shakespeare’s sonnets; the metaphysical and cavalier traditions; and the two great long poems of the English Renaissance, Spenser’s The Fairie Queene and Milton’s Paradise Lost. We will devote a considerable portion of our class time to issues of “how to read” poetry, including discussions of issues of form (the iambic pentameter line emerges as the dominant English poetic pattern during this peri9od), convention (the Petrarchan sonnet, the pastoral, and the epic were all well-developed systems of poetic conventions), and voice (who is speaking in the poem? the “author”? a “persona”?). We will also consider the social, religious, and intellectual context which shaped the poetry of this period; and to this end, we will explore some prose works of the period. Required Texts: The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 1B Hugh MacLean, ed., Edmund Spenser’s Poetry (Norton) Scott Elledge, ed., John Milton, Paradise Lost (Norton) Kerrigan, ed., Shakespeare, Sonnets and Poems (edition not yet selected) Evaluation: 3 short (500-1000 word) papers; 1 take-home prelim; 1 take-home final; a reading journal.
ENG 465: The British Novel Instructor: Jacobs Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisites: 6 hours of college literature; the time and inclination to read about 200 pages a week. Description: This offering of The British Novel focuses on the nineteenth century. During this period, England was transformed from a largely agrarian and rural nation to a major industrial and colonial power, with accompanying shifts in literacy levels and reading preferences, class relations, family structures, and gender roles. We’ll consider how the novel, as the dominant literary form, asked questions about these social changes and sought solutions to resulting social problems. But we’ll also look at classic works of fantasy and horror fiction, showing another side of nineteenth-century imaginary life. Students who have taken 465 with Professor Rogers, with an emphasis on the eighteenth century, may take this course under an alternate number. Contact Professor Jacobs to arrange. Likely readings (subject to change):
Charlotte Bronte, Villette (Penguin) Lewis Carroll, The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland Charles Dickens, Hard Times Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (Oxford) Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge (Broadview) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Broadview) Bram Stoker, Dracula (Broadview) Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Evaluation: class participation, a brief presentation, a couple of short papers, informal writings & quizzes, a researched term paper
ENG 471: Feminist Literary Criticism
Instructor: Billitteri Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature Course Description: Cultural Locations: Literature, Gender, and Gender Theory. Gender theory (an interdisciplinary theoretical approach focused on the analysis of the cultural assumptions surrounding gender, assumptions involving and affecting both women and men) has found a most fascinating articulation in the spheres of literature, literary criticism, and canon formation. This class will introduce students to gender theory, and pursue the question of gender as a socially constructed and socially regulated site of cultural discourse, shaping our social relations as well as our reception, interpretation, and institutional transmission of literary texts. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.
ENG 480 (02): Topics in Film: Screenwriting Instructor: Irvine, A. Anticipated Size: 20 Prerequisite: Permission of instructor Course Description: This class will begin with an exploration of the screenplay format. Students will learn the standard terminology, and from there begin to create their own short scenes. We will watch and analyze scenes from various films, examining how the transition is made from script to screen. As a final project, each student will write a complete short film. Reading for the class will consist of published screenplays, essays on the theory of film, and student work. Students who wish to enroll in 480 should contact the instructor. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on the basis of their contributions to in-class discussion and exercises, as well as the completion and merit of the final project.
ENG 480: Topics in Film Theory and Practice of Reading Film Instructor: Brinkley Anticipated Size: 25 Prerequisite: 6 hours of literature Course Description: In addition to a range of texts that will introduce film theory–Eisenstein, Bazin, Metz, Lyotard, Hallberstein etc.–a substantial portion of the course will be devoted to two texts by Gilles Deleuze: Cinema I: Movement-Image and Cinema II: The Time Image. The course will therefore work both as a course in film theory and in the philosophy and literary theory that is grounded in Deleuze’s work. Films we will see will include: Citizen Kane (Welles), Persona (Bergman), Aquirre or the Wrath of God (Herzog) Andre Roublev (Tarkovsky), and Shoah (Lanzmann). We will also screen a range of recent documentaries and I am open to suggestions from the class. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.
ENG 496 (01): Field Experience in Professional Writing Instructor: Staff Anticipated Size: 20 Prerequisite: 9 hours of writing including ENG 317 and permission. In special instances, some requirements may be waived. Course Description: Students work with businesses, professions, and other organizations approved by the department. The work in the course varies with each student enrolled and with the needs of the cooperating employer but normally involves either research, public relations, reporting, editing, interviewing, indexing, or other allied activity requiring skill in reading and writing. May be repeated for credit up to 6 credit hours. Required Texts: to be determined. Evaluation: to be determined.
ENG 505: Graduate Writing Workshop: Fiction Writing Instructor: Kress Anticipated Size: 15 Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission Course Description: Primarily, this course will examine forms and theories of fiction writing. In addition to workshopping your own writing, you will be doing extensive reading—both fiction and fiction writers writing about fiction—as well as performing numerous experiments in a variety of forms, voices, styles. The basic question for the course: what is a sentence and what can it do? Texts : To be announced. Evaluation: Your grade is based on the quality of your critical and creative work, as well as your level of thought and in-class participation.
.
ENG 529 (01): Studies in Literature Science Fiction After World War II Instructor: Irvine, A. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission Anticipated Size: 10 Course Description: In this class, we will read novels and short stories from the end of the Golden Age right up to the present, as well as relevant criticism and theory. Authors will include Heinlein, Dick, Delany, Le Guin, Robinson, Ellison, Butler, Tiptree, Bester, Miller, Haldeman, and others. We will discuss the genre’s predilection for satire, its relationship with utopia, the impact of women writers, cyberpunk, etc. Prepare for a lot of reading. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on the basis of two short presentations and a seminar paper due at the end of the semester.
ENG 536: Topics in Canadian Literature:
The Twentieth Century Canadian Novel
Instructor: Norris
Anticipated Size: 10
Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or permission.
Course Description: In this course we’ll be taking a look at a baker’s dozen of the important English-Canadian novels of the twentieth century. We’ll be reading and discussing a novel every week.
No prior knowledge of Canadian literature is required.
Reading List:
Tay John O’Hagan As for Me and My House Ross The Double Hook Watson The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Richler Beautiful Losers Cohen A Jest of God Laurence Coming Through Slaughter Ondaatje Lives of Girls and Women Munro Not Wanted on the Voyage Findley Almost Japanese Sheard Fugitive Pieces Michaels The English Patient Ondaatje The Blind Assassin Atwood Evaluation: Two presentations, serving as the basis for two ten page papers.
ENG 555: Literature of the Enlightenment Instructor: Rogers Anticipated Size: 10 Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or permission Course Description: Investigates unique features of 18th-century literature: e.g., prose satire, the gothic novel, domestic tragedy, the biography, periodical literature, etc. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.
ENG 580 (01) : Topics in Poetry and Poetics – Visionary and Prophetic Tradition in English and American Poetry Instructor: Hatlen Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or permission Anticipated Size: 15 Course Description:. This course will examine the relationship between religion and poetry during the past two centuries, through the reading and discussion of the works of thirteen poets, all of whom sought within poetry a way of carrying forward visionary and prophetic possibilities into an apparently secular era. 3 Cr. Open to undergraduates with the permission of the instructor. Texts: William Blake, Selected Poems (Dover) P. B. Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” and Other Poems (Dover) Gerard Manley Hopkins, Poems (Everyman’s Library) Walt Whitman, Selected Poems and Song of Myself (both Dover) Emily Dickinson, Text not yet selected W. B. Yeats “Easter 1916’ and Other Poems (Dover) D. H. Lawrence, “Snake” and Other Poems ( Dover) H.D., Trilogy (New Directions) Hart Crane, Complete Poems, Centennial Edition (Liveright) Muriel Rukeyser, Selected Poems (American Poets Project: Library of America) Allen Ginsberg, The Fall of America (City Lights Pocket Books Series) Robert Duncan, Selected Poems (New Directions) Adrienne Rich, The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems 1950-2001 (Norton) Evaluation: 1. Weekly response papers to the readings for each week, two to four pages long. These weekly response papers will be ungraded, but I will ask the students to collect them in a portfolio to be turned in at the end of the semester. I will grade this portfolio (more for a willingness to take chances and explore possibilities than for “correctness”), and it will count 20% of the course grade. 2. Two short critical papers, four to eight pages, due in weeks 5 and 10. I will grade these papers: students will be given an opportunity to rewrite the paper if they are dissatisfied with the grade. Each of these papers will count 20% of the course grade. 3. A course project, which will count 40% of the course grade, to be selected from one of the following possibilities: A. A research paper of ten to twenty pages. The first draft of this paper will be due in week 12, students will present their work to the class in week 14, and the final version of the paper will be due in exam week. B. A collection of poems, 10-20 pages, with a five-page introduction explaining the relationship of these poems to the visionary and prophetic tradition in English and American poetry.
ENG 649: Seminar in Modern & Postmodern American Poetry Instructor: Billitteri Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or permission Anticipated Size: 10
Course Description: Poetry and the Politics of Representation in Twentieth-Century Materialist Poetics
This seminar will examine three specific moments in the history of twentieth-century materialist poetics: Objectivism, Projectivism, and Language Poetry. Our examination will involve the study of the foundational assumptions of materialist poetics: the critique of the romantic aesthetics of poetry as the beautiful medium of transcendental revelations and vatic illuminations; the insistence on the political thickness of language (a thickness poetry cannot avoid, nor dilute); the understanding of poetry-writing as intellectual work of critical intervention; the willingness to be actively engaged in a labor of oppositional cultural interpretation. The goal of this seminar is to familiarize students with the debate on the politics of representation lodged at the center of modern and postmodern American poetry. This debate is marked by the following issues and questions: What does it mean for poetry to take up the analysis of the politics of language and be self-reflexively engaged with the politics of its own linguistic representation? What does it mean for poetry to abandon the romantic aesthetics of the beautiful and account for the ugly, the unappealing, the non-poetic, and even the non-original? We will take up these questions with the aim of understanding the subject matter of the seminar and to reassess our cultural assumptions about poetry, language, and the politics of literature. Required Texts: To be announced. Evaluation: To be announced.