Fall 2009 Undergraduate Course Descriptions

AFRICAN LITERATURE

No Course Offerings Fall 2009

LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAS

No Course Offerings Fall 2009

CHINESE LITERATURE

LTCH 101 - READINGS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINESE LITERATURE
TRANSLATION WORKSHOP - CONTEMPORARY MEMOIRS AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
Instructor: Larissa Heinrich  

Intended for students who can read Chinese fluently (native level and above) who wish to gain both theoretical training and practical experience in translating Chinese memoirs and autobiography into English.  The class will be workshop style; in addition to reading and discussing different theoretical approaches to Chinese-English translation, we will also work on translation projects in class, circulating and comparing drafts and "workshopping" individual pieces.  Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.  *This course would fulfill LTWL major’s non- European, non- U.S requirement.  

CLASSICS LITERATURE 

No Course Offerings Fall 2009

LTCS 52 - TOPICS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Instructor: Winnie Woodhull                  

This course will introduce students to the field of cultural studies through the examination of literature, film, television, popular music, performance, and new media such as the internet.  The aim will be to see how various modes of cultural expression shape individual and collective identities along the intersecting axes of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, and geopolitical position.  We will also be concerned to determine how inequalities of wealth, status, and political power are at once registered and challenged in cultural representations.  Finally, we will consider a key question in cultural studies: why culture matters--why it is not merely entertaining, and not simply a more or less accurate reflection of “what’s really going on” economically, politically, and socially.

LTCS 87- FRESHMAN SEMINAR
READING TELEVISION: TV, POLITICS, AND POPULAR CULTURE
Instructor: Meg Wesling

How do we produce meanings and pleasures from television, and how TV does present to us a particular view of the world around us? We'll focus on three genres: reality TV, teen drama, and TV news, using episodes from Gossip Girl, The Daily Show, The Office, Surviror, and America’s Next Top Model, to name a few. Meeting dates: October 5, 12, 19, 26; November 2, 9, 16.

LTCS 87 - FRESHMAN SEMINAR
READING TELEVISION: TV, POLITICS, AND POPULAR CULTURE
Instructor: Meg Wesling

How do we produce meanings and pleasures from television, and how TV does present to us a particular view of the world around us? We'll focus on three genres: reality TV, teen drama, and TV news, using episodes from Gossip Girl, The Daily Show, The Office, Surviror, and America’s Next Top Model, to name a few. Meeting dates: October 5, 12, 19, 26; November 2, 9, 16.

LTCS 87 -FRESHMAN SEMINAR
HOLLYWOOD ROMANCING THE ASIANS: ETHNICITY, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
Instructor: Yingjin Zhang

This seminar examines three stages of Hollywood's romance with the Asians--silent, cold war, and postcolonial--as exemplified by Broken Blossoms (1919) to Sayonara (1957) to M. Butterfly (1993)--and explores changes in screen representations of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Meeting dates: September 29; October 6, 13, 20, 27; November 3, 10, 17.

LTCS 110 - TOPICS IN POPULAR CULTURE: SOUND AND VISION
Instructor: Shelley Streeby

This course provides an overview of recent theories of popular culture, with a special emphasis on the emerging interdisciplinary fields of sound studies and visual culture studies. While the former traces histories of the material production and consumption of sound, the latter investigates the changing significance and meanings of visual images. Although sound studies and visual culture studies are often isolated from each other, we will compare theories of popular culture in both fields in order to think about distinctions, comparisons, and convergences between the two. We will also examine diverse popular cultural practices and forms, including music (techno, hip-hop, and other popular genres), television (The Daily Show, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock), film, and new digital media. While the US will be the main focus, we will also consider the global flows of popular culture by placing the US in international and transnational contexts. * This course may also count as a LTEN class.

LTCS 145 - NATIONAL CULTURE IN COLONIAL AND POSTCOLONIAL CONTEXTS
Instructor: Ping-hui Liao

This course explores the ways in which Taiwanese authors responded to multiple layers of colonialism over the years.  We will read in detail a representative selection of literary works produced between 1895 and 1995, relating them to their socio-historical contexts. Reading materials will be in English.  *This course would fulfill LTWL major’s non- European, non- U.S requirement.

LTEA 110B - MODERN CHINESE FICTION IN TRANSLATION
LU XUN
Instructor: Larissa Heinrich

 A survey of representative works of the modern period from 1919 to 1949. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. *This course would fulfill LTWL major’s non- European, non- U.S requirement. 

LTEA 120C - HONG KONG FILMS
TIME, SPACE, IDENTITY
Instructor: Yingjin Zhang

This course approaches the questions of space, time, and identity in Hong Kong cinema and offers a historical survey of this exhilarating transregional-transnational film industry and film culture in a century.  Lecture topics include Hong Kong-Shanghai connections (1910s-1920s), rise of Cantonese cinema (1930s), postwar political divergence (1940s-1950s), urban modernity and youth culture (1960s), martial arts legends (1970s), the new wave cinema (early 1980s), the second wave and identity crisis (late 1980s), culture of disappearance (1990s), and new localism (2000s).  No knowledge of Chinese (Mandarin) or Cantonese is required, but upper-division standing is recommended.  All films carry English subtitles, and all reading and writing is done in English. *This course would fulfill LTWL major’s non- European, non- U.S requirement.

LITERATURES IN ENGLISH

LTEN 21 - INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE OF THE BRITISH ISLES: PRE-1660
Proposed Instructor: Michael Grattan

In this course we will examine major literary works written in English before 1660, paying particular attention to how historical, social, and political circumstances shape and are shaped by literary production. This method of reading is the starting point for our exploration of writings that range in genre from verse myth to early drama to lyric poetry, as we develop our understanding of the aesthetic and thematic issues that pervade works from the early middle ages through the restoration. We will also consider the place of such issues as gender, class, and race in early English culture. Readings include Beowulf, selections from The Canterbury Tales, selections from Margery Kempe’s autobiography, Shakespeare, excerpts from Spenser’s Faerie Queene and Milton’s Paradise Lost, and several others.

LTEN 28 - INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE:
IMMIGRATION, RACE, AND U.S. MODERNITY  
Instructor: Lisa Lowe

This introductory course focuses on the study of literature by Asian immigrants and Asian Americans, as expressions of the histories of groups immigrating from origins ranging from China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, to South Asia and Southeast Asia.  Novels, short fiction, and films will be our media for considering the genre of “immigrant narrative,” and its revision, complication, or disruption in narratives of “internment,”  “exile,” “model minority,” “diaspora,” or “refugee.”  We will consider the range of national origins, the uneven shift from non-citizenship to citizenship from 19th-century to post-1965 immigrations, displacements by U.S. wars in Asia, the loss of ‘culture’ and the invention of ‘tradition,’ the racialized spaces of ethnic enclaves and suburbia, and gender roles and relations in immigrant communities. We will read works by Fae Myenne Ng, Cynthia Kadohata, Bienvenido Santos, Jessica Hagedorn, Chang-rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Shyam Selvadurai, Andrew Lam, Lê Thi Diem Thúy, and others.

LTEN 110 - The Renaissance: Themes and Issues (A)
Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama, beyond Shakespeare
Proposed Instructor: John Higgins  


This course will focus on a collection of plays written by Shakespeare’s contemporaries.  Topics of interest to playwrights and audiences of the time (and perhaps current students) include: revenge, murder, world domination, the Islamic world, adultery, incest, cross dressing, religious zealotry, con-artists and thieves, ghosts, werewolves, and puppets.  In addition to looking at the way in which the individual plays use these images as a way of shaping Early Modern discourses of race, gender and class, the course will spend time exploring various elements of the London theatrical world at the time, asking the following questions:  What was the social status of playing, players and authors?  What were the theater structures and theatrical conventions like?  Who went to see plays?  Who refused to see plays?  

In addition to individual plays, we will read a few, brief primary source documents meant to help better understand some of the cultural and literary issues that they raise.  Students will be asked to write two papers, and take a final exam.  

Readings will include a selection of (6 or 7) comedies and tragedies from the following list:

Christopher Marlowe: Tamburlaine the Great
Thomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy
John Webster: The Duchess of Malfi
Ben Jonson: Volpone, The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair
Thomas Middleton (w/ co-authors): The Roaring Girl, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, The Changeling Francis Beaumont: The Knight of the Burning Pestle

LTEN 115A - THE RENAISSANCE: THEMES AND ISSUES (A)
Instructor: Caralyn Bialo

Major literary works of the Renaissance, an exciting period of social and cultural transformation in England as elsewhere in Europe. Topics may include a central theme (e.g., humanism, reformation, revolution), a genre (e.g., pastoral), or comparison with other arts and sciences.

LTEN 118 - MILTON (A) - cancelled

LTEN 125C - SECOND GENERATION ROMANTIC POETS - cancelled
BYRON, THE SHELLEYS, AND ROMANTIC RADICALISM (B)

LTEN 127B - VICTORIAN POETRY:
Poetry of Sensation, Social Statement, or Sensual Symbolism? (B)
Instructor:  Margaret A. Loose  

Shake your hips; tap your feet; lend me your ears; let’s talk about poetry.  It’s about sound, about soul, about sex; it deals with death, and doubt, and difference.  Whether you want to write poetry or just learn to be a better reader of it, it’s indispensable to know about the things you thought you hated: meter, and alliteration, and the difference between sonnets and sestinas.  Here is your chance to learn that vocabulary (no experience required) and why it really matters—the Victorians can show you how.  The Victorians also struggled with the appropriate subjects for poetry: should it address large, contemporary social issues? the realities of the domestic sphere? the subjective experience of the lyric “I”?  They wondered how to (and whether to) represent the individual’s sense of alienation from self, how much poetry should seem like painting or music.  They created a wide cast of characters, from the criminally insane to the deeply pious to the prostitute to the classical hero, and we’ll encounter many of them in the course of our study.  This will be a strongly participatory class, with grades dependent on weekly portfolio writings, attendance/participation, a mid-term paper, and a final exam.  Books will be available at Groundwork Books in the old student center.

LTEN 132 - MODERN IRISH LITERATURE: JAMES JOYCE (B)
Instructor: Michael Davidson

This course will offer a reading of two major novels by James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. The latter, published in 1922 and written while Joyce was in exile in Zurich, Trieste and Paris, has become one of the most important books of the modern era, a novel that changed the shape of literature well beyond narrative fiction. Its formal complexity and fragmented narrative, its dense layers of allusion and multi-lingual punning became the model for many modernist works--from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! to Julio Cortazar’s Rayuela and Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49. Based loosely on Homer’s Odyssey and detailing the lives of its three main characters in a single day in Dublin in 1904, Ulysses tells the story of modern homelessness, Irish colonialism, racial intolerance, the rise of commercialization, and changing gender roles.

This course will read through Portrait in the opening two weeks and then will devote the remainder of the quarter to Ulysses, drawing on secondary sources and other writings by James Joyce. Because the reading load is particularly heavy, students are advised to consult their schedules and make sure they can sustain the pace. It would be good of students could read Portrait of the Artist ahead-of-time so that we can begin discussion of the novel by the second class. Weekly responses to the reading will form the backbone of discussion, and in addition two research papers will be required.

LTEN 140 - EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITISH NOVEL (B)   
JANE AUSTEN
Instructor: Kathryn Shevelow

This is a course about the novels of Jane Austen, their structure and narrative techniques, and their social and historical contexts in early nineteenth-century England.  We will be reading all of Austen's major completed novels in order of their estimated dates of composition and/or publication:  Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion, as well as examples of scholarship on her work and her historical period.   We will be looking at literary concerns such as Austen’s famous narrative structure and satiric voice, as well as discussing issues that arise from a historically-informed reading of the novels, such as her status as a woman writer and her representation of gender, the questions about her political views and the extent of her acknowledgment of the great historical events of her own day (such as the Napoleonic wars and England's active empire-building), and, above all, her representations of economic relations and social class.  We will also be discussing the image of "Jane Austen," from early attempts by members of her own family to manage her posthumous reputation to the present-day cult of “Janeites” and popular representations of Regency England.

The class will have a lecture component, but it will also strongly emphasize class discussion, and will require participation in small-group discussions as well.  There will be reading quizzes and/or response papers for each novel, a midterm examination, a paper or project, and an in-class final. 

LTEN 154 - THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE (C)
Literary Culture and U.S. Empire
Proposed Instructor: Adam Lewis

In this course we will examine the literatures of the United States in the decades prior to the Civil War (1830s-1850s), paying particular attention to issues of race, nation, and empire.  We will focus on the cultural work of literature in supporting and challenging U.S. efforts to extend its political, economic, and cultural reach during this period and the contradictions this expansion produced for U.S. national identity.  Texts under consideration will examine social and historical issues such as Indian removal, the U.S.-Mexican War, the transatlantic slave trade, and explorations in the Pacific and the Americas.  We will also consider the emergence of different literary genres of the mid-nineteenth century—the romanticism that has traditionally defined the “classic” literature of the American Renaissance, but also the “middlebrow” and “low” literary cultures of sentiment and sensation.  These different forms of popular culture provide unique insights into the politics of cultural production as well as divergent views of race, nation, and empire.  This will also allow us to consider different efforts in American studies scholarship to define the period—from an “American Renaissance” to the “American 1848.”  Readings will include texts by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, Sarah Hale, George Lippard, Lucy Pickens, and Martin Delany. 

The election of Barack Obama as the nation's first president of color has led to renewed debates about the role of race in contemporary U. S. society, including the claim that we have collectively entered a "postracial" stage. In this class, we will explore the implications of this debate by tracing the multiple ways in which "race" is both naturalized and potentially deconstructed through visual culture. We will analyze a wide variety of media, among them (political) advertising, documentaries, performance, and animation. While we will focus on visual representations throughout, we will do a lot of old-fashioned reading, exploring various theoretical approaches to race and its interrelations with categories such as gender, nation, class, and sexuality. Readings will include texts by a variety of (visual) culture theorists, such as Stuart Hall, Laura Mulvey, Roland Barthes, and Susan Bordo. Readings will be available electronically on our course website at WebCT.

LTEN 176 - MAJOR AMERICAN WRITERS: FITZGERALD AND HEMINGWAY AND THE TWENTIES (D)
Instructor: Ronald Berman    

This course will cover the following:
F. Scott Fitzgerald: selected short stories The Great Gatsby
Ernest Hemingway: selected short stories The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms

Fitzgerald and Hemingway were part of a great migration of American writers who left the provinces to go to points east. Like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, they did their best American work in Europe. The Great Gatsby is a meditation on America by a writer living on the Riviera who wanted to recover his own and the nation’s past. The Sun Also Rises (it is written, literally, by an American in Paris) tells the story of a writer who is no longer interested in that complex subject – and who sees that other subjects may be as compelling. The narrative of these novels is what we know, but along with The Waste Land, these writers invented American modernism. They formulated new kinds of language, and connected their work to the art, style and design of the twenties. Often they made that style in their own image.

Too often, Fitzgerald is praised for telling the story of heroic success, and for telling us what America was like. But he is important also for telling us what it looks like. Hemingway and Fitzgerald were unremittingly visual, and their work (as the great philosophers of the twenties like Dewey, Whitehead, and Wittgenstein advised) is as much about the values of perception as the perception of values. So, this course will be less about the expatriates in Paris or The Lost Generation than about the great, absorbing problems of putting what you see into what you write.

LTEN 186 – LITERATURE OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (D)
Instructor: Camille Forbes



This course examines the period (roughly 1920 to the early 1930s) that was known as the New Negro Movement, later referred to as the Harlem Renaissance.  Although the Harlem Renaissance is often thought of as a literary movement, it was much more than this; it was a time of developing racial consciousness expressed through the arts.  Our class will include incorporation of music as well as close readings of major poetry and prose writers studied in the context of cultural history.  We seek to understand the sociocultural significance of the historical moment as well as the texts written during it.

LTCS 110 (TOPICS IN POPULAR CULTURE: SOUND AND VISION)
LTWL 114(CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: THE MODERN AGE)
LTWL 124 (SCIENCE FICTION: THE NEXT GENERATION)
 

LTEN Upper Division Codes:

(a) = British Literature before 1660
(b) = British Literature after 1660
(c) = U.S. Literature before 1860
(d) = U.S. Literature after 1860

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LTEU 137 - SEMINARS IN GERMAN CULTURE:
AMERIKA: GERMAN ENCOUNTERS WITH THE NEW WORLD
(crosslisted with LTGM190)
Instructor: Todd Kontje

The hero of Franz Kafka’s Amerika sails into New York harbor past the Statue of Liberty – but something is not quite right: in Kafka’s version, Liberty does not hold up the torch of freedom, but brandishes instead an enormous sword. Fact or fiction, promise or threat? Kafka’s image captures an ambivalence that resonates throughout German literary representations of the New World over the past two centuries, in which America features alternately as the ‘land of unlimited opportunities’ and a frightening colossus, as a beacon of liberty and a place of danger. Readings will include Heinrich von Kleist’s “Betrothal in Santo Domingo,” Karl May’s adventure novels of the Wild West, Daniel Kehlmann’s recent bestseller, Measuring the World, and Kafka’s Amerika; we will also view two or three films, probably including The American Friend and Fitzcaraldo. All readings and class discussion in English.

LTEU 154 - RUSSIAN CULTURE: RUSSIAN-AMERICAN FICTION - cancelled for Fall 2009
(crosslisted with LTRU 150)

LTEU 158 - SINGLE AUTHOR IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE
CHEKHOV           
(crosslisted with LTRU 123) 
Proposed Instructor: Yelena Furman             

By looking at both his short stories and his major plays, this course will explore Chekhov’s radical alteration and modernization of the Russian literary landscape at the turn of the century.  Topics to be considered include: Chekhov’s literary innovations in both drama and prose; his unprecedented portrayal of women and women’s sexuality; and his lasting significance to both Russian and Western culture(s). 

Second-year course designed to be taken after 1C/CX. We undertake a thorough review of grammar while continuing to develop language skills (oral and written) by studying short stories, cartoons and movies from various French-speaking countries. May be applied towards a minor in French literature.
Prerequisite: LIFR 1C/CX or equivalent or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam.

LTFR 2B -INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II
Instructor: TAs supervised by Catherine Ploye

We continue the review of grammar begun in LTFR 2A. To strengthen language skills, plays from the 19Th and 20th centuries as well as two movies are studied. May be applied towards a minor in French literature or towards fulfilling the secondary literature requirement.
Prerequisite:  LTFR 2A or equivalent or a score of 4 on the AP French language exam.

LTFR 2C -INTERMEDIATE FRENCH III
COMPOSITION AND CULTURAL TOPICS
Instructor: Catherine Ploye

Designed for students who wish to further improve writing and conversational skills. Most advanced course in the program that offers a formal review of grammar. Oral skills are practiced through discussions of cultural issues presented in a contemporary novel and a film. May be applied towards a minor in French literature or towards fulfilling the secondary literature requirement. Students having completed 2C can register in upper-level courses (115 or 116). Prerequisite: LTFR 2B or equivalent or a score of 5 on the AP French language exam

LTFR 21 - CONVERSATION WORKSHOP I
Instructor: TA supervised by Catherine Ploye

One-unit, one-meeting-a-week courses, designed to develop and maintain oral skills by discussing current cultural issues of the francophone world. These courses may be taken more than once, alone or in combination with any other literature course. Prerequisite: LIFR 1C/CX or consent of instructor.

LTFR 115 - THEMES IN INTELLECTUAL AND LITERARY HISTORY
DU MOYEN AGE A LA REVOLUTION
Proposed Instructor: Annick Gentet

Dans le cadre de ce cours, nous étudierons quelques textes importants de la littérature française du Moyen Age à la Révolution.  Le cours a lieu entièrement en français. Prerequisites: LTFR 50 or LTFR 2C.

LTFR 124 - 19TH CENTURY
GRANDS MAGASINS ET POÉSIE DE LA MODE AU 19E SIÈCLE
Instructor: Catherine Ploye

Le gilet rouge de Gautier, les cheveux verts de Baudelaire, les sommes extravagantes dépensées par Balzac pour une canne… ne sont que quelques exemples de la fascination que la mode a exercée sur les écrivains du 19e siècle. Leurs écrits reflètent cet intérêt alors qu’ils s’interrogent sur la signification du vêtement dans de nombreux poèmes, essais ou articles de mode. Nous les analyserons en parallèle avec le roman de Zola sur les grands magasins, lequel explore un autre aspect de la mode au 19e siècle.
Auteurs possibles: Balzac, Gautier, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Zola. Prerequisites: LTFR 116 or 115

LTFR 143 - TOPICS IN MAJOR AUTHORS IN FRENCH - Cancelled for Fall 2009
DANIEL PENNAC

LTGM 100 -GERMAN STUDIES I: AESTHETIC CULTURES
Instructor: Todd Kontje

This course offers an introduction to the study of German literature. It is intended for students who have completed two years of university German (2ABC) or the equivalent (please contact the instructor if you have questions). The course is required for German Studies majors and can also be used to fulfill the requirements for a German Studies minor. We will read representative examples of various literary genres (lyric poetry, short prose, drama) in historical context. Most works will be from the period around 1800; authors include Goethe, Schiller, and Heinrich Heine. Readings and class discussion in German.

LTGM 190 - SEMINARS IN GERMAN CULTURE
AMERIKA: GERMAN ENCOUNTERS WITH THE NEW WORLD
(crosslisted with LTEU 137)
Instructor: Todd Kontje

The hero of Franz Kafka’s Amerika sails into New York harbor past the Statue of Liberty – but something is not quite right: in Kafka’s version, Liberty does not hold up the torch of freedom, but brandishes instead an enormous sword. Fact or fiction, promise or threat? Kafka’s image captures an ambivalence that resonates throughout German literary representations of the New World over the past two centuries, in which America features alternately as the ‘land of unlimited opportunities’ and a frightening colossus, as a beacon of liberty and a place of danger. Readings will include Heinrich von Kleist’s “Betrothal in Santo Domingo,” Karl May’s adventure novels of the Wild West, Daniel Kehlmann’s recent bestseller, Measuring the World, and Kafka’s Amerika; we will also view two or three films, probably including The American Friend and Fitzcaraldo.

Introduction to the grammar of ancient Greek, with readings appropriate to this level, including some from Plato, Euripides, Homer, the New Testament, and others. This is the first of a three-quarter sequence, by the spring quarter of which we'll be reading Homer's Odyssey in the original Greek. Following successful completion of this sequence (LTGK 1-2-3), students will be eligible to enroll in upper-division Greek Literature courses. Quizzes, midterm, final, and daily homework.

LTGK 133 - PROSE
Instructor: Page duBois

We will read selections from Herodotus' Histories. Herodotus is the "father" of Western history. He writes about the past of the Greeks, but also about the Greeks' neighbors, in Asia Minor, Arabia and in Egypt, and tells many wonderful stories about his world. This course can be repeated for credit as its content changes. Prerequisites: LTGK 3 or equivalent.  

No Course Offerings Fall 2009
 

A second-year course in Italian language and literature.  Conversation, composition, grammar review, and an introduction to literary and nonliterary texts. 
Prerequisite: LIIT 1C, LIIT 1C/1CX, or equivalent or consent of the instructor.

LTIT 100 - INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURES IN ITALIAN
Instructor: Stephanie Jed

L’italiano 100 è un’introduzione ad alcune delle tematiche principali della letteratura italiana contemporanea, quali la condizione esistenziale dell’individuo, il ruolo della donna, la famiglia e la società.  Si leggeranno opere di autori del Novecento che rispecchiano punti di vista differenti.  Fra gli altri ricordiamo Italo Calvino, Carlo Levi, Leonardo Sciascia, Clara Sereni, Dario Fo, e Stefano Benni.   In più, ogni venerdì studieremo autori che scrivevano nei secoli precedenti.  Prerequisites: LTIT 50 or consent of professor.

KOREAN LITERATURE

LTKO 1A - BEGINNING KOREAN: FIRST YEAR I
Instructor: TAs supervised by Jeyseon Lee

Please visit our Korean Literature website at: http://korean.ucsd.edu/  for a course description for this course.

LTKO 1B - BEGINNING KOREAN: FIRST YEAR II
Instructor: TAs supervised by Jeyseon Lee

Please visit our Korean Literature website at: http://korean.ucsd.edu/  for a course description for this course.

LTKO 2A - INTERMEDIATE KOREAN: SECOND YEAR I
Instructor: TAs supervised by Jeyseon Lee

Please visit our Korean Literature website at: http://korean.ucsd.edu/  for a course description for this course.

LTKO 2B - INTERMEDIATE KOREAN: SECOND YEAR II
Instructor: TAs supervised by Jeyseon Lee

Please visit our Korean Literature website at: http://korean.ucsd.edu/  for a course description for this course.

LTKO 3 - ADVANCED KOREAN: THIRD YEAR I
Instructor: TAs supervised by Jeyseon Lee

Please visit our Korean Literature website at: http://korean.ucsd.edu/  for a course description for this course.

LATIN LITERATURE 

LTLA 1 -BEGINNING LATIN
Instructor: Eliot Wirshbo

Study of Latin, including grammar and reading.
                       
LTLA 1 - BEGINNING LATIN 
Instructor: Charles Chamberlain

We will cover the first 13 chapters of Introduction to Latin by Susan C. Shelmerdine.  This means a pace of about 1 or 2 chapters per week overall, though we will go slow at the beginning.  Expect to have a quiz every Monday, plus a midterm and final.  Quizzes are worth 30 %, the midterm 25 %, the final 35 %, class participation and other factors 10 %.  (I also reserve the right to institute more frequent quizzes and to assign graded homework if necessary.)

Latin is not taught as a spoken language, so there will be no emphasis on conversing.  However, there are many grammatical rules to be learned, perhaps more than you ever imagined.  In some ways, Latin is more like math or science than it is like a modern foreign language; it will soon become impossible to "get the gist" of what you read unless you know the grammatical rules thoroughly.  Therefore, I urge you not to fall behind -- it is very difficult to catch up.

LTLA 100 - INTRODUCTION TO LATIN LITERATURE: THE SATYRICA OF PETRONIUS
Instructor: Anthony Edwards

We will read all of Petronius's Satyrica  in English translation and the "Banquet of Trimalchio" episode in Latin. There will also be a showing of Fellini's adaptation of Petronius's book. Petronius's Latin is artfully colloquial; his characters span the boundaries of Roman and Greek, elite and vulgar; his scenarios mock the artistic and philosphical pretensions of Nero's court with comic vulgarity. Read the West's first novel and discover why the Roman empire declined, or why it lasted so long (it depends on your point of view).
Prerequisites: LTLA 3 or equivalent.   

LTLA 135 - DRAMA
Instructor: Charles Chamberlain 
           
We will read a play by Rome's most famous writer of comedy, Plautus.  He is also the earliest writer whose works we have in complete form -- 19 plays to choose from.  The normally serious Romans loved Plautus' blend of Greek levity and Roman gravity.  His language reflects how Latin was actually spoken in the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BC. There will be a midterm, a final, and a writing component.
Prerequisites: LTLA 3 or equivalent.

LTPR 2A  - INTERMEDIATE PORTUGUESE I - cancelled
FOUNDATIONS

LTRU 1A - FIRST-YEAR RUSSIAN
Instructor: Rebecca Wells

Embark on a grand voyage into the mechanics and mystery of Russian language, culture, and people.  We will journey forth into all forms of communication—reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  We will begin acquiring basic vocabulary and grammar skills and attempt to apply them both mechanically and creatively.  Original Russian materials will supplement the basic text and language lab tapes.  This course meets TuTh for grammar lectures and MW for conversation.  Every effort will be made to integrate material on Russian culture into the language curriculum. No prior knowledge of Russian required. Students with prior exposure to Russian should contact instructor for placement.

LTRU 2A - SECOND-YEAR RUSSIAN
Instructor: Rebecca Wells

We will recollect and expand on the language acquisitions of our previous voyages and set out into new, unexplored territories.  While systematically reviewing grammar, we will begin focusing on the language for more creative purposes in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  Audio, video, and reading texts will supplement the basic text.  This course meets TuTh for grammar lectures and MW for conversation.  Every effort will be made to integrate material on Russian culture into the language curriculum. Prerequisite for 2A: LTRU 1C or equivalent. Students with prior exposure to Russian outside of our program should consult with instructor to determine placement.

LTRU 104A - ADVANCED PRACTICUM IN RUSSIAN
Instructor: Rebecca Wells

Development and maintenance of advanced skills in reading, writing, and conversation, as well as advancement in cultural literacy.  Course based on culturally significant written and video texts of various genres and styles.  Individualized program to meet specific student needs. May be substituted for LTRU 101 A-B-C as requirement for major.  Repeatable for credit.
Prerequisites: LTRU 2C or equivalent.

LTRU 123 - SINGLE AUTHOR IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE
CHEKHOV           
(crosslisted with LTEU 158)  
Proposed Instructor: Yelena Furman

By looking at both his short stories and his major plays, this course will explore Chekhov’s radical alteration and modernization of the Russian literary landscape at the turn of the century.  Topics to be considered include: Chekhov’s literary innovations in both drama and prose; his unprecedented portrayal of women and women’s sexuality; and his lasting significance to both Russian and Western culture(s). 
Prerequisites: LTRU 101C or permission of instructor.

LTRU 150 - RUSSIAN CULTURE: RUSSIAN-AMERICAN FICTION - cancelled for Fall 2009
(crosslisted with LTEU 154)

This 5 unit intermediate course meets 4 days per week and is taught entirely in Spanish. LTSP 2A emphasizes the development of communicative skills, reading ability, listening comprehension and writing skills. It includes grammar review, short readings, class discussions and working with Spanish-language video and Internet materials. This course is designed to prepare students for LTSP 2B and 2C. A diagnostic test will be administered on the first day. Prerequisites: Completion of Li/Sp 1C/CX, its equivalent, or a score of 3 on the AP Spanish language exam. Note: The Final Exam for LTSP2A is scheduled for Monday, December 7th, 2009. Contact instructor with any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 2B - INTERMEDIATE SPANISH ll:  READINGS AND COMPOSITION
Instructors:  TAs supervised by Beatrice Pita

This intermediate course is designed for students who wish to improve their grammatical competence, ability to speak, read and write Spanish. It is a continuation of LTSP 2A with special emphasis on problems in writing and interpretation. Students meet with the instructor 4 days per week. Work for this 5 unit course includes oral presentations, grammar review, writing assignments, class discussions on the readings and work with Spanish-language video and Internet materials. A diagnostic test will be administered on the first day. Prerequisites: Completion of LTSP 2A, its equivalent, or a score of 4 on the AP Spanish language exam. Note: The Final Exam for LTSP 2B is scheduled for Monday, December 7th, 2009. Contact instructor with  any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 2C - INTERMEDIATE SPANISH lll: CULTURAL TOPICS
Instructors: TAs supervised by Beatrice Pita

The goal of this intermediate language course is twofold: to further develop all skill areas in Spanish and to increase Spanish language-based cultural literacy. LTSP 2C is a continuation of the LTSP second-year sequence with special emphasis on problems in grammar, writing and translation. It includes class discussions of cultural topics as well as grammar review and composition assignments. The course will further develop the ability to read articles, essays and longer pieces of fictional and non-fictional texts as well as the understanding of Spanish-language materials on the Internet. A diagnostic test will be administered on the first day. Prerequisite: Completion of LTSP 2B, its equivalent, or a score of 5 on the AP Spanish language exam. This course satisfies the third course requirement of the college-required language sequence as well as the language requirement for participation in UC-EAP. Note: The Final Exam for LTSP 2C is scheduled for Monday, December 7th, 2009. Contactinstructorwith any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 2D - INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED READINGS
SPANISH FOR HERITAGE SPEAKERS
Instructor:  TAs supervised by Beatrice Pita

Designed for bilingual students who have been exposed to Spanish at home but have little or no formal training in Spanish. The goal is for students who are comfortable understanding, reading and speaking in Spanish to further develop existing skills and to acquire greater oral fluency, and grammatical control  through grammar review, and reading and writing practice. Building on existing strengths, the course will allow students  to develop a variety of Spanish language strategies to express themselves in Spanish with greater ease and precision. Prepares native-speakers for  more advanced courses. A diagnostic test will be administered on the first day. Prerequisite: Native speaking ability and/or recommendation of instructor.
Note: The Final Exam for LTSP 2D is scheduled for Monday, December 7th, 2009. Enrollment for LTSP 2D requires department pre-authorization. Contact instructor with any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 2E - ADVANCED SPANISH READINGS AND COMPOSITION
SPANISH FOR HERITAGE SPEAKERS
I nstructor:  TA supervised by Beatrice Pita

An advanced/intermediate course designed for bilingual students who may or may not have studied Spanish formally, but possess good oral skills and seek to become fully bilingual and biliterate. Reading and writing skills stressed with special emphasis on improvement of written expression, vocabulary development and problems of grammar and orthography. Prepares native-speakers with a higher level of oral proficiency for  more advanced courses. A diagnostic test will be administered on the first day. Prerequisite: Native speaking ability and/or recommendation of instructor. Note: The Final Exam for LTSP 2E is scheduled for Monday, December 7th, 2009. Enrollment for LTSP 2E requires department pre-authorization. Contact instructorwith  any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 21 - CONVERSATION WORKSHOP I
Instructors:  TAs supervised by Beatrice Pita

Designed to allow students with a basic grounding in Spanish to discuss a variety of topics related to literary and current cultural issues. Focus will be on vocabulary development, use of idiomatic expressions and advancing oral proficiency in Spanish. Pre-requisites: Li/Sp 1C/CX or consent of the instructor.
Note: This conversation/discussion class meets once a week. May be taken as an adjunct to lower  division LTSP courses, alone,  or in combination with any other LTSP course. Recommended for students planning to study abroad.  May be taken 3 times for credit as topics vary. May be taken P/NP or for a letter grade.Contact instructor with  any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 50A  - READINGS IN PENINSULAR LITERATURE
Instructors:  TAs supervised by Beatrice Pita

This course introduces students to Peninsular literature and literary analysis through the close textual reading of a selection of texts including novels, plays, short fiction and poetry. Coursework includes reading of several texts by Spanish authors, participation in class discussions, oral presentations and written assignments. LTSP 50A prepares Literature majors and minors for upper-division work. LTSP 50A and either 50B or 50C are required for Spanish Literature majors. May be applied towards a minor in Spanish Literature or towards fulfilling the second literature requirement for Literature majors. Prerequisites: Completion of LTSP 2C, 2D, 2E or 2 years of college level Spanish.  Notes: The Final Exam for LTSP 50A is scheduled for Monday, December 7th, 2009. Contact instructor with  any questions regarding placement.

LTSP 140 - LATIN AMERICAN NOVEL
Instructor: Jody Blanco

Analysis of 20th century Latin American novels concerning the transformation of societies by urbanization, neocolonial modernity / modernization, and ideologies of liberalism and dictatorship.  Readings may include novels by Rómulo Gallegos, Roberto Arlt, Juan Rulfo, Miguel Angel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier, Clarice Lispector, Manuel Puig, Gabriel García Márquez, Diamela Eltit, and Cristina Rivera Garza.  Course may be repeated for credit when topics vary. Prerequisite: LTSP 50B or 50C.    

LTSP 141 - LATIN AMERICAN POETRY
Proposed Instructor: Alberto Blanco

El curso se propone ofrecer un panorama de las obras de los principales poetas hispanoamericanos nacidos a fines del siglo XIX y principios del Siglo XX, desde José Juan Tablada, Macedonio Fernández, Ramón López Velarde y Gabriela Mistral, hasta Lezama Lima, Nicanor Parra y Octavio Paz. A lo largo del curso se leerán, analizarán y discutirán los poemas más importantes de los autores considerados.
This course will explore and study the rich and varied field of Latin American poetry written in Spanish by poets who were born at the end of the XIX century or during the first decades of the XX century. The readings will go from José Juan Tablada, Macedonio Fernández, Ramón López Velarde and Gabriela Mistral, to José Lezama Lima, Nicanor Parra and Octavio Paz, including, of course, the major Latin American poets: César Vallejo, Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges. Prerequisites: LTSP 50B or 50       

LTSP 154 - LATINO/A AND CHICANO/A LITERATURE
LOS 80S DE CHICANO A HISPANIC
Instructor: George Mariscal

Un estudio de la década de los 1980s—la llamada “Decade of the Hispanic”--cuando la militancia chicana fue displazada por las presiones de una cultura más conservadora durante la administración de Ronald Reagan.  Nuestros objetos de análisis incluyen los autores que inventaron la identidad “Hispanic,” las péliculas y cómo representaban a los personajes chicanos, los autores que se aprovecharon del “Hispanic market” y otras manifestaciones de un período en el cual las condiciones económicas para la mayoría de los Latino/as se empeoraron de manera significativa. Prerequisites: LTSP 50B or 50C

LTSP 170  - CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF CULTURAL PRODUCTION
Instructor: Jody Blanco

En este curso analizaremos las teorías de la producción literaria y cultural en Latinoamérica, partiendo del título mismo: ¿cómo viene a identificarse la cultura con una “producción,” en el sentido de un espectáculo, estreno, actuación, o “performance” de la identidad individual o colectiva?  Cómo relacionarse este concepto de la cultura con la cultura en tanto una reproducción de las costumbres, tradiciones, y modos ancestrales de vivir?  Partiremos de las teorías de la “Diferencia Latinoamericana” con respeto a las teorías de la cultura en Europa y los EEUU en el siglo 19 (Bolívar, Sarmiento, Martí, Rodó), para analizar su influencia sobre las teorías y los discursos culturales del siglo 20 (incluyendo las teorías de la “hibridez cultural”  (Canclini) la “colonialidad del poder (Quijano), el silencio de las clases subalternas (Beverley), y la política cultural de las fronteras (Anzaldúa)).   Prerequisites: LTSP 50A, 50B or 50C

LTSP 171 - STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND SOCIETY  - Cancelled for Fall 2009
DICTATORSHIP AND EXILE

LTSP 174 - TOPICS IN CULTURE AND POLITICS
Instructor: Rosaura Sánchez

In this course we will look at literary texts in terms of the relation of history and literature, and more specifically, the relationship between literary genre and the historical/political context, both of the moment of production of the text and of the period being reconstructed in the text.  Readings will include four novels:  Galíndez (Manuel Vászquez Montalbán), La oscura memoria de las armas (Ramón Díaz Eterovic), Respiración artificial (Ricardo Piglia) and La Frontera de cristal (Carlos Fuentes). Prerequisites: LTSP 50A, 50B or 50C

LTWL 4M  - FILM AND FICTION IN TWENTIETH CENTURY SOCIETIES: EUROPEAN CINEMA
Instructor: Roddey Reid  

This class will introduce students to the major currents and achievements of contemporary European cinema in the context of the “New Europe” of the European Union and an expanded NATO. Issues the new cinema addresses include immigration, national, religious and ethnic identities, the Balkan wars, terrorism and democracy, the expansion of free-market into all areas of public and private life, and the very definition of “Europe” itself (for ex., does it include Russia? Turkey? the Ukraine?). Special attention will be paid to new productions emerging since the end of the Cold War in Europe in 1989, European cinema’s often contentious relationship to U.S. cinema (Hollywood), and the recent dominance of transnational co-productions. Qualifies for the “Culture and Society” regional track of the new European Studies Minor (http://historyweb.ucsd.edu/EuropeanStudies/ESMinor.html)  

LTWL 19A - INTRODUCTION TO THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS
Instructor: Leslie Edwards

This interdisciplinary sequence (LTWL 19A, B, C) includes the literature, mythology, history, philosophy, and art of ancient Greece and Rome, complex civilizations which had a determining influence on all later Western culture. In 19A we'll focus on Greece from the time of the Homeric poems to Aeschylus in the early fifth century. We shall read texts of the period as expressions of an aristocratic culture which placed emphasis on war and athletics and whose economies, educational systems, sexual politics, ethics and theology were shaped by this emphasis. This sequence partially fulfills lower division requirements for the Literature/Writing major, the Literatures of the World major/minor, the Classical Studies major/minor and the Warren College program in Classical Studies. There will be a midterm, final, and paper.

LTWL 87 - FRESHMAN SEMINAR
CONTEMPORARY FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE FILM
Instructor: Winifred Woodhull

Recent films made in France and other parts of the French-speaking world (Mali, Belgium, Quebec), considered in terms of both the social issues they evoke and formal elements such as narrative structure, setting, lighting, camera work, editing, and sound. Meeting dates: October 5, 12, 19, 26.

LTWL 87 - FRESHMAN SEMINAR
INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM
Instructor: Babak Rahimi

This seminar explores the history and religion of Islam. It mainly focuses on theological doctrines and ritual life of Islamic societies from the 7th century to the modern period. We will particularly focus on the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in contemporary history.
Meeting dates: September 24; October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; November 5, 12, 19.

LTWL 114 - CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
THE MODERN AGE
Instructor: Stephen Potts

The Golden Age of children’s literature began in the mid-nineteenth and ended with World War I.  What followed was a period of continued experimentation during the 1920 and 30s, followed by the Silver Age of the mid-twentieth century.  Subsequently, children’s literature has become a major genre, both literarily and commercially.  This course will trace its history over the past 75 years, a period that begins with Mary Poppins and ends with Harry Potter.  We will explore our texts not only for their literary values but for insight into developmental questions and the social construction of childhood. *This course will also count as a LTEN course.

LTWL 124 -SCIENCE FICTION: THE NEXT GENERATION
Instructor: Stephen Potts

Today science fiction is usually associated in the popular mind with stories of space travel, extrapolations of technology, and movies that emphasize action or horror.  The literary tradition of science fiction, however, is considerably more sophisticated.  From its inception the genre has offered a twilight zone where science and the humanities could mingle, where technology could be evaluated through the critical lense of philosophy, social psychology, and literary technique, providing thought experiments that explore the human condition in our scientific age.  After a survey of science fiction’s history, this course will emphasize modern works from the last forty years, with some attention to science fiction in other media such as film, TV, and graphic novels.*This course will also count as a LTEN course.

LTWL 157 - IRANIAN FILM
Instructor: Babak Rahimi

This interdisciplinary course will study Iranian cinema with a history stretching back to the early 20th century. While covering the political history of modern Iran, the course will explore the different genres, themes, plots and characters that reveal or hide the political context of the time and articulate changing ideological underpinnings of the Iranian public sphere. Beginning with the early history of cinema to the post-revolutionary period, we will also study recurring tropes and ideas, such as authenticity, revolution and masculinity, in an attempt to understand what these themes reveal (if at all) about the Iranian society. A number of filmmakers will be studied in this course and they are as follow: Dariush Mehrjui, Masoud Kimiai, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Bahram Bayzai and Bahman Ghobadi. *This course would fulfill LTWL major’s non- European, non- U.S requirement.

LTWL 176 - LITERATURE AND IDEAS
POVERTY
Instructor: Stephanie Jed

The Poverty Coalition was founded in 1991 by a group of professors who were interested in addressing the causes of poverty, not just its consequences.  Following this coalition’s encouragement to develop a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the causes and injustices of poverty, we will analyze how representations of poverty function in literary, cinematic and other cultural texts.  Texts and films will include: Juan Rulfo, The Burning Plain; Elvia Alvarado, Don’t Be Afraid, Gringo; De Sica, Bicycle Thief; Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli; Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed (selections).

STUDENTS MUST HAVE COMPLETED THEIR COLLEGE WRITING
REQUIREMENTS PRIOR TO ENROLLMENT IN LTWR 8 A-B-C
LTWR 8A, B, AND C ARE PREREQUISITE TO DECLARING A MAJOR IN WRITING. STUDENTS
ENROLLED IN LTWR 8B AND LTWR 8C ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND THREE READINGS IN THE
NEW WRITING SERIES. SEE LITERATURE DEPARTMENT FOR TIMES AND DATES.

LTWR 8A  - WRITING FICTION
Instructor: Cristina Rivera-Garza

Study of fiction in both theory and practice. Narrative technique studied in terms of subjectivity and atmosphere, description, dialogue, and the editing process will be introduced through readings from the history of the novel and short story. Writing exercises accompany reading assignments
Prerequisites: completion of college writing requirement

LTWR 8C - WRITING NON-FICTION
Instructor: John Granger

It’s all about writing the difficult truth. Classes will alternate from workshop, on Thursdays, to lectures and discussions of readings (and anything else that arises), on Tuesdays. Required work includes eight writing or revision assignments, each two pages long, and weekly reading quizzes. The course grade is based on a ten-page final project (50%), on workshop performance (30%), and on class participation and attendance (20%).   Prerequisites: completion of college writing requirement

LTWR 100 - SHORT FICTION
Instructor: Sarah Bynum

How does one transform a glorious chaos of experiences, obsessions, dreams, theories, and observations into a shapely and compelling story? This course will explore a variety of methods, both traditional and experimental, for making that transformation possible. An interest in craft and a sense of adventure are key. In addition to submitting stories for workshop, students will be asked to read widely, throw themselves into writing exercises, and contribute generously to discussions. Refining the ability to critique peers’ work will be of equal importance as developing one’s own writing. Readings may include stories by Angela Carter, Rick Moody, ZZ Packer, Stuart Dybek, Aimee Bender, Jorges Luis Borges, Grace Paley, Donald Barthelme, Anton Chekhov, Alice Walker, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mary Gaitskill.
Prerequisites: LTWR 8A; department approval

LTWR 100 -SHORT FICTION
Proposed Instructor: Teresa Carmody

What makes a story a story?  How short (or long) can a short fiction be?  Must there be a beginning, middle and end, or is there another way to think about these spaces, something more like the recurring dream you’ve been having since you were seven years old?  This course will explore a variety of methods, both conventional and experimental, for writing short fictional forms.  We’ll look at elements of craft, and engage in all manner of generative techniques.  In addition to submitting short stories for workshop, students will be expected to read widely and to participate openly in class discussions.  There will be a special emphasis in learning how to read to become a better writer.  Bring your willingness to try everything and anything once! Prerequisites: LTWR 8A; department approval

LTWR 102 - POETRY
POETRY NOW!
Proposed Instructor:James Meetze

Poetry is alive and well. In this workshop, we will explore the work of the new millennium to see how we situate ourselves within the poetic traditions being continued and created today. We will look at how poetry responds to, and even incorporates, new media and technology as well as how poets are looking backward to refine or compliment what has come before in order to “make it new.” We will see how community plays a role in contemporary poetics and think of this workshop as a community in itself—what constitutes a poetic community in the age of online networking, and can we incorporate this into our poetics? Students will read and discuss 8 new books of poetry, and write a short review/response to each. They will also be expected to write a poem per week, participate in workshop critique, and create a long- or serial poem of at least 10 pages and chapbook for the final project. Prerequisites: LTWR 8B; department approval.

LTWR 107 - WRITING FOR CHILDREN
‘BEYOND HARRY POTTER’ - 22 MEETINGS
Proposed Instructor: Marivi Blanco

This workshop class focuses on the writing fiction for young readers. Texts include excerpts from A Wrinkle in Time, The Chocolate War, Silent to the Bone and others by selected authors.  Such readings have been chosen to illustrate the range of options available to writers in this genre.  Students will work on in-class writing exercises based on the Amherst Writers and Artists workshop method.  Manuscripts will be discussed and critiqued by one’s peers in a supportive, non-threatening context. Prerequisites: LTWR 8A; department approval

LTWR 110 - SCREEN WRITING
Proposed Instructor: Silas Howard

The course will explore various types of narrative structure, focusing on the relationship of 'want' verses 'need' in narrative form and the visual aspect of screenwriting. Through scene analysis the class will look at character objective verses the writers' objective, the art of visual storytelling, and the elements of dramatic writing for the screen. Narrative strategies for establishing pacing, setting, characterization, and dialogue will be provided through model films and writing exercises. Also examined are; character motivation, desire, hero and the anti-hero. Students will focus on work habits in order to fully develop the screenplay, from initial idea to completed script. Course also provides students with the opportunity for consistent critique of their screenwriting. Prerequisites: department approval

LTWR 111 - PROSE-POEM - cancelled

LTWR 115 - EXPERIMENTAL WRITING
ALMOST FAMOUS
Instructor: Sarah Bynum

This class is an exploration of experimental fictobiography: What happens when we introduce “real” people, particularly iconic figures, into our narratives? Or, how might we tell a person’s life using collage, fragments, found texts, graphic images, and hybrid forms? For this workshop you will be doing research on your subject of choice as well as generating new writing every week, with the goal of producing a 20-page final piece. Course texts will include: Anne Carson, “The Glass Essay”; John Haskell, I am not Jackson Pollock; Michael Ondaatje, Coming Through Slaughter; Donald Barthelme, “Robert Kennedy Saved from Drowning” and “Cortés and Montezuma”; Jonathan Coe, Like a Fiery Elephant; Kathryn Davis, Versailles; W.G. Sebald, The Emigrants; Anna Joy Springer, “Kathy Acker’s Mystickle Snail and Bone Pedagogy”; Todd Haynes, “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” and “I’m Not There”; Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, “American Splendor.” Prerequisites: department approval

LTWR 121  - MEDIA WRITING
Instructor: Mel Freilicher

The chief project is to conceive of an arts and culture magazine that you would like to publish and edit. This might have a particular focus (music, film, literature, pop culture, computer graphics) or it could cover a wide range of genres, and issues: social, cultural, entertainment, lifestyle, sports, education, food. Your approach might fall anywhere on the spectrum from rivaling established slick, mainstream publications  (Spin, Wired , salon.com) to more experimental or specialized alternatives ( like Punk Planet; Giant Robot; rock zines); periodicals for particular subcultures or age groups; freebie regional newsmagazines; on-line satirical mags. In any case, take the high road: aim for originality and intellectural quality. Your project will consist of a statement of the publication’s intended audience and demographics; a manifesto or letter from the editor introducing the premiere issue, along with its annotated Table of Contents. You’ll also write a major feature article for that first issue.  First drafts of these projects will be read and workshopped by everyone in the class.  Revised papers will be due finals week. We’ll read articles from, and examine a variety of, current publications. Writing exercises involve emulating rhetorical styles of tabloids, also analyzing readings about marketing strategies, and homogenization of commercial print media (Susan Faludi, The Baffler). Prerequisite: LTWR 8C; department approval

LTWR 126 - CREATIVE NON-FICTION - cancelled

LTWR 129 - DISTRIBUTING LITERATURE
Proposed Instructor: Teresa Carmody

There are as many ways of being a writer-in-the-world as there are styles of writing; what kind of writer do you want to be, and why?  This course will explore practical and philosophical aspects of engaging literary community.  Beginning with the base of developing a consistent writing practice, we will first explore more traditional methods of literary distribution and participation: How to evaluate and apply to a graduate MFA program; starting and/or joining a writing group; how and why to submit work to print and online publications; the literary contest in context; the institution of the publisher, and finally, of the reading.  We will then investigate several alternative strategies and movements—past and present—for circulating material (especially of the “unpublishable” variety), and assess the cultural impact of these hands-on, grassroots approaches. For the main project, you’ll devise and implement an alternative method for disseminating your own work—either individually or as part of a group—and present that project in its intended form (print, performance, electronic, visual, etc.) along with information about a movement/group you’ve drawn on as your project’s antecedent. Participants should come to the class with a significantly developed body of work, such as a chap-book-length series of poems, stories, or hybrid texts.
Prerequisites: LTWR 100, LTWR 102, LTWR 120, or LTWR 127; department approval

LTWR 148  -  THEORY FOR WRITERS
Instructor: John Granger

This course applies philosophy, historical analysis, and literary theory to creative writing projects.  To this end we will read Badiou, Derrida, Gramsci, Deleuze, Benjamin, Althusser, Foucault, Wittgenstein, and others.  Participants will workshop weekly writing exercises written in response to theoretical positions, leading to a ten-page final project representing, with a greater critical awareness, what writers do.  Required text:  The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (NY: Norton, 2001).  Required work & grade breakdown: weekly exercises (50%); final project (50%). Prerequisite: departmental approval