Spring 2003 English Courses

Course Title	Course Description
Creative Writing Roundtable Dr. Randy Brooks EN 170-01	Starting Your Novel is a one-credit workshop modeled after writer’s groups. This semester, each student writes a prospectus for a novel and writes several key scenes of the novel (at least three chapters).
Writing Seminar Dr. Terry Shepherd EN 200-01	This course will be conducted as a writing workshop. The class time will be spent writing and sharing what we write. In addition to producing pieces, you will be asked to help the other writers in class improve their writing by providing thoughtful, detailed and helpful suggestions for moving a piece to the next stage. Each student will be encouraged to try various genres for the purpose of finding which one most interests him/her. By the end of the course, you will have a working portfolio and a polished portfolio as your final project. Join us and explore the art and the craft of writing.
Newswriting I Dr. Robin Sterns EN 215-01	News 1 is an introduction to print journalism. This fast-paced writing course covers basic and intermediate news writing (everything short of features and investigative reporting). It also covers the basics of journalism ethics and legal issues and Associated Press style. Work situations simulate the experience of a beginning reporter at a newspaper. By mid-semester, you'll be encouraged to submit stories to the Decaturian and build your writing portfolio.
Computer-Aided Publishing Dr. Mike George EN 270-01	This is a workshop-style course the aims of which are to introduce you to the fascinating and exciting world of document design. You will learn how to use industry-standard software, how to apply basic design concepts and typography to a variety of design situations, and how to manage the publishing process. Along the way, you’ll have a whole lot of fun with computer-aided publishing and design some really cool materials.
Journalism Workshop Dr. Robin Sterns EN 280-01	Staff members of the Decaturian, Millikin's student newspaper, receive credit for writing one story for each issue of the paper this semester, under the direction of the instructor and student editors. This course is repeatable up to eight times.
Adv. Creative Writing: Postmodern and Post-Confessional (At Least Until the Next Election) Dr. Jennifer Hancock EN 300-01	What is McSweeney’s? Is language poetry dead? Which e-zines are respectable? Is the memoir the new novel? Where is contemporary American poetry headed, and who’s driving the bus? While we (rigorously) workshop original poetry and prose, we will investigate current trends in creative writing publishing and evaluate our own work in light of these trends. This is a class for serious writers who are interested in the world beyond the workshop. Open to all genres of creative writing.
Web Publishing Dr. Randy Brooks EN 301-01	Web Publishing is a workshop on writing and publishing World Wide Web pages. Are you ready to expand your mind into cyberspace? Will computer screens shape your thoughts? Or will you shape computer screens to create and project your cyber-self into the virtual world of the web? This workshop examines web publishing and takes you from reflective interaction to critical creation of new hypertexts. You will learn how to critique web site designs and how to create web pages for campus and off-campus clients. This is an advanced writing course, with extended individual projects ranging from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, literary criticism, bibliographical web resources, technical writing, educational resources and web reference collections.
Applying Writing Theory Dr. Randy Brooks EN 310-01	Applying Writing Theory, is an introduction to contemporary writing theories with an emphasis on applying these theories to the student’s own writing as well as applying them to the teaching of writing. This course provides an overview of invention strategies, the role of audience, the aims of discourse, approaches to style, and methods of arrangement. The course also includes a study of grammar and writing pedagogy.
Magazine Writing Dr. Robin Sterns EN 380-01	Magazine writing is the creative writing of journalism. The goal of this class is to develop a complete understanding of magazine writing for today's print media. We will analyze and critique current and award-winning examples from magazines like The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire and Sports Illustrated, and you will write, write, write. This is an advanced writing class.
Advanced Writing and Publishing Projects: Bahamas Seminar Professor Judi Crowe EN 382-01	The Seminar on the Bahama Islands is a unique opportunity in book publication that few undergraduates are able to experience (and include in their resume). This advanced writing and editing opportunity involves you in the entire process by which a respected research text is created and brought to yearly publication. The course project is The Bahamas Index and Yearbook, a unique and valuable reference work in its 16^th year of publication, purchased and used by some of the best research libraries in the world. While we will begin by studying the history of The Bahamas, we will also learn about the contemporary Bahamas by reading, indexing, and abstracting articles published in Bahamian newspapers during the year as well as write about the year’s events as a whole. Included in the course is an optional trip to The Bahamas over Spring Break during which time we will continue to acquire information that completes the yearbook.
Professional Writing Internship Dr. Dan Guillory EN 480-01	The internship provides qualified students an opportunity to receive academic credit for supervised, non-classroom experience in an employment setting. Students may choose to serve apprenticeships in various fields of interest, such as newspaper or public relations, library work, or other areas of professional training. A maximum of six credits of internship may count toward major, with no more than three credits per semester.

Spring 2003 Literature Courses

Course Title	Course Description
Approaches to Literature Prof. Sandra McKenna EN 120-01	This course offers students an opportunity to explore, discuss and write about a variety of literary genres including novels, short fiction, poetry and drama. Students learn to think critically while enhancing their understanding of the music and the power of language. As we uncover the "mysteries" of literature, students gain new insights into the creative process and into the ways stories link the reader and the writer.
American Identity: What is an American? Changing American Identity in 20^th Century Dr. Michael O’Conner EN 220-01	This course will examine the subject of American identity, seeking an answer to the question that Crevecoeur first posed in 1782, "what is an American?" Using literary texts mostly from 20th century American literature, we will examine this subject from the point of view of many voices and multicultural perspectives. Starting with the dominant voices of the 18th and 19th centuries as a springboard, we will then turn to the waves of immigrants and workers who came to this country seeking a better way of life or who were originally brought here as slaves, from Europeans to African Americans to Asians to Latinos. We will look especially at the resistance these people ran into in their quest to be recognized as Americans. Texts will be wide-ranging, with works examined by Sinclair, Steinbeck, Bulosan, Viramontes, Rivera, Ellison, Baldwin, Brooks, Roth, Momaday, Ehdrich and many others.
Literature of Childhood: The Historical View of Mom and Dad Prof. Mary Dwiggins EN 220-02	We will be looking at the historical development of children's literature and especially the cultural representations of "childhood" and "Mom and Dad" and the historical changes in attitudes towards them. Texts we will examine include a sampling from the genre such as folk tales, picture books, fantasy, science fiction, and concept books. We will approach the literature reading with different "eyes" including an historical approach, a feminist approach, and a psychological approach.
Literature of Toni Morrison Dr. Monique Ferrell EN 220-03	The goal of this class is to introduce students to the world and works of Toni Morrison. Texts to be read include The Bluest Eye, Tar Baby, Sula, Jazz and Paradise. We will examine some of the theory and speculation which surround her work and examine the ways in which her novels are woman centered, spiritual, racial and politcal. Special attention will also be payed to how her texts represent facets of American development, culture and identity during various points in history.
American Literature of the 20^th Century Dr. Brian Mihm EN 232-01	This course explores the cultural and literary diversity of American writing in the 20^th century, and includes important novels and short stories, a wide variety of poetry, and several major plays. The course focuses on literary experiments and trends in cultural ideas: literary realism (Chopin, James, Wharton, Cather), 1920s modernism (Eliot, Millay, Faulkner), Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, Ginsberg and the Beats, postmodernism (Barth, Vonnegut, Shepard), and contemporary multicultural writing since 1970 (Walker, Silko, Morrison, Brooks, Song). Themes and issues raised are those of our own lives: self-fulfillment, gender, family, violence, the idea of America, meaning, and values in a multicultural society. This course fulfills the college literature requirement, the English major requirement of literature in the 20^th century, the English education requirement.
American Film Dr. Dan Guillory EN 250-01 & 02	This course will introduce the student to the basic critical concepts of film analysis and highlight the most important films of our culture, including Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant; D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation; John Ford’s Stagecoach; Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane; and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Diversity and ethnic issues will also receive considerable attention (through Griffith) and through such works as Raisin in the Sun; The Color Purple, and Malcolm X. We will conclude with a discussion of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Ace Ventura, Pet Detective; and Pulp Fiction; Natural Born Killers, and American Beauty.
Major English Authors II Dr. Bonnie Gunzenhauser EN 322-01	In this course, we'll explore British literature and culture from 1750 to the present. Because this period saw huge changes in the ways that writers and readers thought about themselves, each other, and the work of reading and writing, we'll center our exploration around these topics. We'll use a variety of genres (non-fiction prose, poetry, fiction, and contemporary criticism) and a variety of projects (reading journal, short essays, longer papers) to help us think together about how and why ideas about the social function of writing, reading, and literature changed during this time and continue to change today.
Shakespeare: The Later Works Dr. Emily Detmer-Goebel EN 326-01	This course will examine the later plays of Shakespeare both in context of early modern English culture and as play scripts/performances. Class discussions will explore Shakespeare’s writings as products and/or producers of early modern culture through consideration of issues including gender, race, class, sexuality, family, politics, monarchy, religion, crime and justice, play and festivity, world exploration and colonialization, among other things. In addition to close reading of the plays, we will dip into the current critical conversations about the plays by reading several critical essays. Plays under consideration will be As You Like It; Twelfth Night; Measure for Measure; Othello; King Lear; The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.
Studies in Poetry: Global Haiku Dr. Randy Brooks EN 340-01	Global Haiku Tradition examines the origins and spread of Japanese poetics from Japan around the world, with a special focus on the adaptation of haiku into other cultures and languages. We will study the history of haikai genres and related poetics in Japan, and then examine the contemporary internalization of haikai poetry traditions in various international cultures. A special feature of the course is that students will interview leading contemporary international poets, editors and scholars of haiku. This course fulfills the literary studies requirement for English majors, the literature course requirement for College of Arts and Science students or the global studies requirement of University Studies.
Modern Drama Dr. Emily Detmer-Goebel EN 350-01 T Th 9:30	This course concentrates on works by four major contributors to "Modern" drama: Henrik Ibsen, Anton Checkov, Bertold Brecht and Eugene O'Neill. We will read, discuss, and write about these playwrights, exploring the relevant theatrical production history and the development of naturalism, realism, expressionism, and epic theatre.
International Film Dr. Dan Guillory EN 366-01	Expand your cultural and artistic horizons by studying these foreign films: 8 _ (Italian), Breathless (French), Das Boot (German), Babette’s Feast (Danish), My Life as a Dog (Swedish), The Return of Martin Guerre (French), Cinema Paradiso (Italian), Like Water for Chocolate (Mexican), The Seven Samurai (Japanese), Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese), and Amélie (French). Learn about New Wave (nouvelle vague) films and the "auteur" theory of film directing.
Women Writers Dr. Terry Shepherd EN 366-02	Writing from the Margins–We will focus on women writers throughout the ages who have been silenced for various reasons: e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. The result, of course, is that we have been denied many of their ideas, their art and their perspectives on all of those issues with which we spend our lives coming to terms. These writers started with a "a decision to bring one’s mind out of that dead space, to the margin between self and other, old ideas and new." Let’s listen to their voices and understand all that we might have missed had they not taken the risks so necessary to bring ideas to words to print. We will read such writers as Sappho, Aphra Behn, Dorothy Alison, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Rita Mae Brown, Edwidge Danticott, Therese Kuoh-Moukoury (who will visit class) , Evelyn Accad (who may visit class), etc.
Seminar: Nadine Gordimer Prof. Rosemarie King Grindy EN 420-01	This seminar will focus on the novels of Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. We will examine how she negotiates her dual sense of responsibility to her art and to social justice, and we will consider how she questions, defines, and ultimately asserts her "place"–as a white, as a woman, and as a writer–in politically volatile South Africa from the 1950s to the present. Readings in South African history, feminism, whiteness studies, postcolonial theory, and Gordimer’s essays will provide background and context for our work.