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All literature courses fulfill the College of Arts & Sciences literature requirement and MPSL culture track requirement.
Any writing course 200 or above fulfills the advanced writing requirement.
EN 160 01 Reading Roundtable Prof. McKenna M :00-3:50 15 None
Banned Books: Sex, Politics & Puritanism--Students will read texts that have been banned in the United States in the last sixty years. We will explore the social and cultural reasons for the banning and the implications of banning books in terms of our perception of the US as a "free speech" nation. In addition to giving students the opportunity to read and analyze literature in an informal setting, the roundtable allows students to hone their critical thinking skills.
EN 160 02 Reading Roundtable on the Works of Mark Twain Drs. O'Conner & Mihm T 2:00-3:15 15 None
Works of Mark Twain—This one-credit reading course will allow students to examine a broad spectrum of the works of one of America's most famous authors, Samuel L. Clemens, or Mark Twain. Works covered may include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Life on the Mississippi , Puddn'head Wilson , The Mysterious Stranger and many shorter works. Students will be expected to read all the works on the syllabus and to participate in discussion.
EN 170 01 Writing Roundtable (various projects) Dr. Brooks F 2:00-2:50 Lib Mac 15 None
Writing Roundtable is a one-credit workshop modeled after writers' groups. This semester each student will propose a creative writing project in any area of their choice--poetry, hypertext, science fiction, fantasy, haiku, fiction, one-act plays, folklore or children's literature.
EN 201 01 Intro to Creative Writing: Dr. Braniger TR 12:30-1:45 20 IN 151
Gleaning the Fields—EN 201 is an invitation to explore the mysterious and evocative workings of the world and self, both through reading the work of published authors, and through bringing about one's own creative work. Students will not only explore the materials, forms and purposes of contemporary poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, but will become the artists, the ones who gather such materials, forms, and purposes, and bring forth something new. During the semester, students will read and view the works of contemporary writers. Students will also fashion their own poems and stories, which will be workshopped in the class. As students engage in their own bringing-forth, they will draw on the everyday, ordinary experiences of their world, and show the way that these experiences are or can become extraordinary, for themselves and others.
EN 215 01 Newswriting I Dr. Meddaugh TR 3:30-4:45 20 IN 151 or consent
Focused on print reporting, this course is an introduction to basic methods of news reporting and writing. The course is designed to develop skills associated with gathering and organizing information from a variety of sources and developing stories based on that information. Additionally, students develop a basic knowledge of writing techniques and story types, and learn to apply this knowledge in exercises and writing assignments. The course also examines the modern news industry and media ethics.
EN 220 01 Literature of Childhood Prof. Dwiggins TR 2:00-3:15 10 IN 151
In this course we will examine cultural (mis)representations of diversity inside America. We will look at the representations of gender, race, and class. We will explore the meaning of diversity while analyzing picture books, novels, and films marketed to children. Throughout our consideration of these matters, we will discuss, argue, and question. Texts we will examine include a sampling from genres 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. We will also view a couple of movies that were created based on these texts or influenced by them.
Fulfills the English core Literature in the 20 th Century requirement.
EN 220 02 Modern Midwestern Literature Dr. Haspel MWF 1:00-1:50 10 IN 151
"Modern Midwestern Literature" examines the literary and cultural productions of authors from the states of the American Midwest - a region usually defined as including the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Questions we will discuss will include the following: What does it mean to be a Midwesterner? In what ways is Midwestern identity "typically" American, and in what ways is it different? What are some of the characteristics of Midwestern cultural identity, as expressed in the region's literature? To what extent are Midwestern literature and culture influenced by neighboring regional cultures like those of the South and West? Authors likely to be discussed in the class include Richard Wright, Kurt Vonnegut, Sinclair Lewis, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Toni Morrison, Edgar Lee Masters, Langston Hughes, Ambrose Bierce, and Sherwood Anderson. Musical selections from Midwestern
artists will also be a feature of the class, and visits from modern suburban Midwesterners of the silver screen - e.g., Ferris Bueller, Wayne Campbell - are a distinct possibility.
Fulfills the English core Literature in the 20 th Century requirement.
EN 232 01 American Lit in the 20 th Century Dr. O'Conner MWF 10:00-10:50 IN 151
This course surveys a wide range of modern American writers from around 1900 to the present. It examines these writers in the cultural, intellectual, and historical contexts of the 20th Century. Units include Regional and Social Realism, Early 20th century Poets, Modernist Portraits, the Southern Renaissance, the Literature of Liberation and the Search for Identity, among others. Along with close readings and examinations of the literature, we will look at a broad range of the cultural contexts that influence this literature including the fine arts, history, material culture, religion, politics, music, cultural geography, folklore and anthropology.
Fulfills the English core Literature in the 20 th Century requirement.
EN 242 01 Major World Authors Dr. Matthews TR 2:00-3:15 10 IN 151
Taking Dostoevsky's novel as our central text, we will explore themes of alienation, violence and power across cultures and continents. While not all of the novelists we will read respond directly to Dostoevsky, they all concern themselves with the anxieties of the modern world. The reading list includes: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (Russia); Albert Camus, The Stranger (France); Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Colombia); Nuruddin Farah, Sweet and Sour Milk (Somalia); Orhan Pamuk, Snow (Turkey). Students will write a research essay linking theories of violence to the narratives we will read; they will also keep a reading journal.
Fulfills the English core Literature in the 20 th Century requirement.
EN 270 01 Computer-Aided Publishing Dr. George MWF 11:00-11:50 20 IN 150 or consent
This course is an introduction to layout and design as well as computer tools that assist designers in their tasks. The course will revolve around Adobe InDesign 2.0 (which replaces PageMaker 6.5). In addition, you will work with image software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. By the time you finish this course you will be able to:
- Use InDesign to design a variety of professional materials
- Know the key concepts of layout and design
- Know more than you ever wanted about type
- Know how to manipulate images for your publications
- Know how to adapt rhetoric for a business-oriented audience
- Have fun doing all of the above
Class sessions will be a combination of presentation and discussion, followed by workshop time for you to practice what we covered that day.
Fulfills a publishing requirement for English majors, but does not fulfill advanced writing requirement.
EN 280 01 Journalism Workshop Dr. Meddaugh TBA EN 215 or consent
Staff members of the Decaturian , Millikin's campus newspaper, receive credit for writing and other staff responsibilities. This course can be repeated each semester for up to eight credits.
EN 300 01 Advanced Creative Writing Dr. Frech TR 12:30-1:45 20 EN 201
Bill Gass writes in Reading Rilke : "Translating is reading, reading of the best, the most essential, kind." The advanced creative writing workshop will combine the reading, translating, and writing of poems to develop students' craft and expand their aesthetic sensibilities. Students will translate into English poems from a language they've studied, reading existing translations when available. From the reading of new voices, the experience of work from other cultures, and the close examination of a poem as a crafted, made object (one the students will essentially remake in English), students will sharpen their skills for working on poems of their own. This workshop will involve some work in fiction, but will focus primarily on poetry.
EN 301 01 Advanced Writing: Web Publishing Dr. Brooks MWF 12:00-12:50 20 IN 151
Web Publishing is a workshop on writing and publishing web sites. 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.
Fulfills advanced writing or publishing requirement.
EN 301 02 Advanced Writing: Literary Non-fiction Dr. Frech MW 2:00-3:15 20 IN 151
Literary Non-Fiction—Spend the semester learning the art and craft of writing about real-life events in an exciting and provocative way. Learn how to use the techniques of writing fiction to add life to your non-fiction. Find out how to incorporate dialogue, character development, plot, etc., as you tell your tales. The class will be conducted as a writing group, concentrating on the members' own work while reading examples of published writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe. Each student will complete a major project of one extended piece or several smaller connected pieces.
EN 310 01 Applying Writing Theory Dr. DeJoy W 5:00-7:30 25 IN 151
This course has several main goals: To help students develop an understanding of the history of writing studies that relates to their current interests; to introduce students to contemporary theories of rhetoric and composition in ways that allow them to be contributing members in their chosen focus areas within English Studies; to provide a forum for exploring the terms of grammatical competency in writing studies and further developing skills in this area; and to create an environment in which people with varied interests in English studies can form a community to think, read, and write about literacy.
EN 316 01 Feature Writing Dr. Meddaugh TR 11:00-12:15 20 EN 215 or consent
This is an advanced journalism class focused on feature writing. There will be three general formats of feature writing explored: ethnographic writing, in-depth features, and editorial formats. Class activities will include feature analysis, lecture and discussion, writing exercises, as well as ethnographic data collection. Students can, but are not required to, submit final products to the campus newspaper, the Decaturian . However, the class is designed to benefit writers far beyond a newspaper application.
EN 322 01 Major English Authors II Dr. Mihm TR 11:00-12:15 25 IN 151
This course provides an introduction to significant writers and literary periods in English literature from 1800 to the present, including the Romantic, Victorian, Modern and Contemporary eras. The course is also designed to help students develop skills of (1) reading literature carefully and (2) interpreting literature in biographical, historical, and cultural contexts. We'll supplement assigned readings with optional film versions, such as Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, Vanity Fair, The Importance of Being Earnest, Mrs. Dalloway/The Hours, The French Lieutenant's Woman, A Clockwork Orange, and Endgame. Students will be responsible for several exams and periodic short papers.
Fulfills the British Traditions Core for English majors.
EN 325 01 Shakespeare: Early Works Dr. Poitevin MWF 3:00-3:50 25 IN 151
This course will examine the early works of Shakespeare including sonnets and selected comedies, histories, and tragedies: for example Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Richard III and Hamlet . Class discussions will explore Shakespeare's writings in the context of early modern culture and as performance texts. In addition to close reading of the plays, we will dip into the current critical conversations about the plays by reading several critical essays.
Fulfills the English Core Shakespeare requirement.
EN 340 01 Studies in Poetry: Dr. Brooks MWF 9:00-9:50 10 IN 151
Global Haiku Traditions
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 arts and related poetics in Japan, and then examine the contemporary 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.
Fulfills the lit major requirement Studies in Poetry.
EN 350 01 Shakespeare's Contemporaries Dr. Poitevin TR 3:30-4:45 25 IN 151
Even had Shakespeare never written for the stage, the dramatic literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries would remain some of the most interesting and exciting in English literature. The course surveys dramas in English written by Shakespeare's rival contemporaries and near contemporaries during the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Carolinean periods. Our readings will sample some of the most popular genres of the time: revenge tragedy, city comedy, tragicomedy, and romance. Playwrights may include Christopher Marlowe, Elizabeth Cary, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, John Ford, and Aphra Behn. Class meetings will place the works discussed in historical, cultural, and critical contexts. In addition to getting a better grasp on what the Renaissance theater was like, we'll talk about the rise of the Machiavellian state, changing roles of women, trade and travel, anatomical discoveries,
exorcisms and more.
Fulfills the English core requirement British Traditions to 1700 or literature major requirement Studies in Drama.
EN 360 01 Tolkien and Global Fantasy--The Epic Tradition Dr. George TR 9:30-10:45 10 IN 151
Although continuously popular since the 1965 publication of The Lord of the Rings in the United States, J. R. R. Tolkien's work has never been as popular as it has been since the release of Peter Jackson's Academy-Award winning films. Yet there is more to this British philologist's work than mere popularity. By all accounts, Tolkien was a highly-educated man, versed in many languages and the literatures of many cultures. This vast store of knowledge is evident in his most compelling works: The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings , and The Silmarillion . This course will allow students to study these works in the context of comparative fantasy. As a philologist, Tolkien was a master of language and literature, focusing on the Middle Ages and the learning that developed the language and literature of medieval England. To study Tolkien's
work is, then, to also study the learning that he amassed. Students in this course will read representatives of global epic--a genre that crosses cultures
and millennia--to gain insight into Tolkien's work. Representative non-Western epics will include the earliest-known epic-- Gilgamesh --excerpts from The Mahabharata and Ramayana , excerpts from the Japanese Heike Monogatari (the story of Heike) , excerpts from early gnostic literature (which has its origins in the Far and Middle East), as well as the Old English Beowulf .
Fulfills the English core requirement Literature in the 20 th Century or lit major requirement Studies in Fiction.
EN 360 02 Global Women's Voices Prof. McKenna MW 4:00-5:15 10 IN 151
How does a woman's tale of life and love in Cameroon connect with a child's story of being taken from her home in Haiti and sent to New York? If you grew up a female in Chile, do you have anything in common with a young woman in India? Do a contemporary, hip Japanese woman and a feminist from Lebanon have anything to teach each other? Moreover...how will reading their stories help us to come to a better understanding of the cultures and the contexts from which they write? Find out by spending the semester reading the novels and short stories of some fascinating women who use words to remind us of how small our world really is and, yet, how unique our individual experiences are.
Fulfills the English core requirement Literature in the 20 th Century
or lit major requirement in Studies in Fiction.
In addition this course can count toward a gender studies minor.
EN 420 01 Mark Twain Seminar Drs. Mihm & O'Conner TR 2:00-3:15 20 One course in literature or consent
Popularly seen as America's humorist, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was a man of wide-ranging interests and writing: journalist in mining towns of the Old West, travel writer in Hawaii and Europe, inventor of Huck and Tom on the Mississippi, and, later in life, biting critic of slavery, religion, and the dark, dark side of human nature. In the first half of the course we'll examine Mark Twain's most famous writing--from Tom Sawyer to The Mysterious Stranger . In the second half, seminar members will dive into their own areas of interest and will complete a major seminar project (such as MT and racism, MT and journalism, Huck and Tom Among the Indians , MT in King Arthur's Court, etc.). In late spring we'll plan a delightful trip to Florida and Hannibal, Missouri.
Fulfills required seminar for English lit majors.
EN 480 50 1-3 Professional Writing Internship Dr. Brooks TBA Consent
Writing Internship is a chance for you to gain experience using your writing skills in the workplace. Work as a writer a few hours a week for local organizations writing and designing brochures, web sites, books, newsletters, grant proposals, and other documents. Establish a network of contacts for future job referrals and build up a portfolio of successful documents. You must complete a learning contract including (1) site supervisor contact information, (2) task description, (3) learning goals, and (4) professional expectations. See Dr. Brooks for further details and help getting placed.
Fulfills off-campus learning requirement.
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