Courses
Spring 2021 Courses
EN 101 THE PROCESS OF WRITING (3)
MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Offers intensive work in generating ideas, organization, style, and mechanics for the
development of college-level writing. Admission by assignment. Does not fulfill core
requirement in English.
EN 111 COLLEGE WRITING (3)
A writing intensive course that develops students’ college-level writing competence; writing
is taught as a process that entails a series of revisions through the completion of several
short assignments and longer expository essays. Includes preparation of a research paper
and instruction in MLA style. Introduces literary analysis, terminology, and technique by
reading and interpreting literature that comprises various genres and represents diverse
cultures.
EN 202 INTRO TO DRAMA (3)
TR 8:30 AM-9:45 AM
Studies eight plays representing the major stages in the development of drama from
ancient ritual to contemporary commercial theater.
EN 207 GLOBAL LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan
WF 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
W 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Explores non-western and world literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to
the present, including works from South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
EN 227 AMER IMAGES IN LIT (3)
MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Explores short stories, novels, and poetry embodying various images of America—its
geography, values, customs, and people— emphasizing the subject and quality of the
images presented, the literary techniques with which these are developed, and the total
self-reflection of the country which they convey.
EN 230 LITERATURE AND MEDICINE (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth
TR 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
This course focuses on writers who have depicted illness and the universal questions
common to all humans as they face their own mortality. While there is a long history of
literature that reflects this topic, this course will consider more contemporary illnesses
through the genres of fiction, non¬fiction, drama and poetry to make discussion more
relevant for students.
EN 240 INTRO TO POETRY (3)
Instructor: M. Miller
MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Provides a solid foundation in the essential vocabulary for interpreting poems and
appreciating the techniques of poets both traditional and contemporary. Offers an optional
service-learning component, giving the opportunity to volunteer to work in groups with a
local, published poet in a variety of ways.
EN 304 (EG) LITERATURE & DIVERSITY (3)
Instructor: D. Anderson
MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
This course focuses on literary works that foreground or thematize forms of social diversity
or difference—“race” and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc. The course
introduces students to works of (mostly) American literature that explore the social
construction and significance of diverse identities—how and by whom these identities are
defined, valued and contested; how they influence experience and perception; how they
shape or misshape human interactions; and, not least, how they are continually
complicated or problematized by the complexities of individual lives (e.g., the fact that we
often inhabit multiple “identities” simultaneously) and the reality of our common humanity.
EN 306 ENGLISH LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: M. Miller
TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Covers the development of English literature from early medieval to modern times,
including readings from representative authors of each period.
EN 319 WRITING THE SELF IN POETRY AND PROS (3)
R 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Writing the Self in Poetry and Prose is a hybrid literature/creative writing/performance
course that allows students to explore the possibilities for self-expression in poetry and
personal essays. Students read and analyze examples of personal essays and lyric poetry
by published authors; read and discuss a guidebook discussion of craft; write their own
pieces in a collaborative, workshop setting that encourages critique and revision; and,
ultimately, perform selected pieces for their classmates and/or a campus audience in a
campus venue. Though there will be a strong autobiographical element in the writing
studied and produced for the course, students will also be encouraged to think about how
their experiences and concerns as individual writers intersect with the wider world and can
be expressed in ways that will engage an audience.
EN 330 CONTEMPORARY IRISH FICTION (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan
MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
This course will focus on Irish fiction from the mid-1980’s to the present. A thematic
approach will cover such topics as the implications of politics and religion, gender and
sexuality, and the persistence of cultural myths within a literary framework.
EN 334 (EE) REFUGEE CRISIS IN WORLD LIT (3)
Instructor: D. Anderson
TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Ethical Inquiry Effective, Fall 2019 forward. The number of people forced to flee their
homes by war, persecution, poverty and environmental degradation is greater today (over
sixty-five million) than at any other time in world history. Stories of deadly journeys, squalid
camps, border walls, travel bans, separated families and rising xenophobia have become a
commonplace of the nightly news, but so too have individual acts of kindness and collective
expressions of solidarity with the most vulnerable. As David Miliband, head of the
International Rescue Committee has powerfully argued, how individuals and their
governments respond to the refugee crisis is a test not only of a society’s laws and policies
but of our values: “Empathy and altruism are two of the foundations of civilization. Turn
that empathy and altruism into action and we live out a basic moral credo.” This course
explores the ethical issues raised by current and past refugee crises through the lens of
global literature, reading novels, short stories, poems, plays and creative non-fiction for
what they can tell us about our ethical duty to one another, especially as that duty may be
complicated by cultural differences, social divisions and the operation of social forces
beyond individual control.” Enriched Core: Ethical Inquiry and Applications
EN 345 AFRICIAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki
WF 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Surveys African American literature starting with historical texts including poetry, slave
narratives, folk tales and African-American spirituals, through post-Emancipation literature
of racial uplift and polemic writing, to the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. Moving
through the twentieth century, the course examines social protest literature,
autobiographical writing, feminist statements, and neo-slave narratives. The institution of
slavery and its legacy loom large in many of the texts. Beginning with Frederick Douglass’s
foundational Narrative (1845) and culminating in Octavia Butler’s neo-slave narrative,
Kindred (1979), we will pay particular attention to the role of memory and
self-representation in literature and appreciate literature as a tool for social justice.
Includes a field trip to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and a walking
tour of Harlem.
EN 403 LIT VICTORIAN AGE (3)
Instructor: M. Miller
M 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Studies the variety of trends present in English literature in the period from 1832 to 1900
as shown in the works of Tennyson, Browning, Arnold and others.
EN 410 SENIOR PORTFOLIO PROJECT (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth
MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
One of the final courses that an English major takes, the “Capstone ePortfolio Project”
offers students the opportunity to revisit several papers written for English classes taken at
Caldwell University. In this capstone course, students will heavily revise these papers
according to certain guidelines, incorporate the process of self-reflection, and ultimately
create an e-portfolio that will showcase their accomplishments as English majors.
*Formerly English Seminar through Spring 2019.
EN 413 CONTEMPORARY FICTION (3)
Instructor: D. Anderson
TR 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Emphasizes literary analysis in world fiction by late 20th and early 21st century writers,
including Erdrich, Morrison, Achebe, Ondaatje, and others.
EN 417 SHAKESP:PLAYS OF LVE (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth
TR 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
Explores Shakespeare’s use and interpretation of the literary conventions of love while
tracing his dramatic development through critical reading of representative plays and
sonnets.
EN 418 GUILTY PLEASURES: READING & WRITING
T 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
“Soothsayers and Truth-tellers: Satire, Sci-fi, and Speculative Fiction as Agents of Social
Change. In this course, we will consider how we can use our creativity to shape the world
we live in. Through these genres, which can act as fun-house mirrors of society by
distorting our reality to illuminate the problems we see, we will make incisive critiques with
sharp humor, scientific imaginings, and world building. For inspiration, we will read, watch,
and discuss examples of these. Possible readings and viewings will include Margatet
Atwood, Kurt Vinnegut, Octavia Butler, Ursula LeGuin, Suzanne Collins, Jonathan Swift, The
Onion, Black Mirror, Russian Doll, and Get Out.”
Fall 2020 Courses
EN 101 THE PROCESS OF WRITING (3)
Offers intensive work in generating ideas, organization, style, and mechanics for the
development of college-level writing. Admission by assignment. Does not fulfill core
requirements in English.
EN 111 COLLEGE WRITING (3)
A writing intensive course that develops students’ college-level writing competence; writing is
taught as a process that entails a series of revisions through the completion of several short
assignments and longer expository essays. Includes preparation of a research paper and
instruction in MLA style. Introduces literary analysis, terminology, and technique by reading and
interpreting literature that comprises various genres and represents diverse cultures.
EN 111 (HP) COLLEGE WRITING (3)
A writing intensive course that develops students’ college-level writing competence; writing is
taught as a process that entails a series of revisions through the completion of several short
assignments and longer expository essays. Includes preparation of a research paper and
instruction in MLA style. Introduces literary analysis, terminology, and technique by reading and
interpreting literature that comprises various genres and represents diverse cultures.
This course is for students in the honors program.
EN 202 INTRO TO DRAMA (3)
Instructor: G. Linda MW 8:30 AM-9:45 AM
Studies eight plays representing the major stages in the development of drama from ancient
ritual to contemporary commercial theater.
DR 202 INTRO TO DRAMA (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Introduces students to performance styles and conditions across the centuries focusing on 4-5
plays. Class periods are devoted to developing performance and analytic skills.
EN 207 GLOBAL LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan W 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Explores non-western and world literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to the
present, including works from South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
EN 226 PSYCH AND LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: A. Harris TR 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Uses the insights of Freud and Jung to illuminate myths (ancient and modern) and examines
techniques for dramatizing the life of the mind in fiction and drama. Selections by Strindberg,
Lawrence, James, O’Neil, et al.
EN 227 AMER IMAGES IN LIT (3)
Instructor: D. Whelan MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Explores short stories, novels, and poetry embodying various images of America—its
geography, values, customs, and people— emphasizing the subject and quality of the images
presented, the literary techniques with which these are developed, and the total self-reflection
of the country which they convey.
EN 230 LITERATURE AND MEDICINE (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 8:30 AM-9:45 AM
This course focuses on writers who have depicted illness and the universal questions common
to all humans as they face their own mortality. While there is a long history of literature that
reflects this topic, this course will consider more contemporary illnesses through the genres of
fiction, non¬fiction, drama and poetry to make discussion more relevant for students.
EN 301 FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN LITERATURE (FORMERLY KNOWN AS MASTERPIECES)
OF WESTERN LITERATURE) (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan TF 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
Surveys major literary texts in the history of the western & world literature with an emphasis on
those considered essential to an understanding of British and American literature.
EN 305 AMERICAN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki MWF 10:00 AM-10:50 AM
Surveys over three hundred years of American literature beginning with the Puritans and other
early English settlers and ending in the first half of the twentieth century, with an emphasis on
the nineteenth century. Ranging across a variety of genres, modes, and literary movements,
from the early Puritan “plain style” to the nineteenth-century American literary Renaissance,
from realism and regional local color writing to modernism, from Realism to the Harlem
Renaissance, this class will explore how American writers have created an American subject.
EN 314 CHILDREN’S LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: C. Echterling Online
Presents a multidisciplinary overview of children’s literature in the light of recent scholarship
including: the historical context of classical and popular children’s literature; philosophical,
educational and sociological theories of childhood; and literary motifs and archetypes.
EN 317 LITERATURE INTERPRETATION THEORY (FORMERLY KNOWN AS LITERARY
CRITICISM) (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Explores contemporary critical approaches to literature, including new historicist, feminist,
psychoanalytic, Marxist, African-American criticism, postcolonial, and lesbian/gay/queer
criticism. We will examine the various theories as well as the assumptions and values upon
which they rely in seminar form, developing the tools of literary analysis.
EN 320 WRITING POWER (3)
Offers an intensive writing workshop for students determined to advance from average to
superior writing performance. Emphasis on effective strategies for producing compelling prose
in many disciplines.
EN 320 (HP) WRITING POWER (3)
Offers an intensive writing workshop for students determined to advance from average to
superior writing performance. Emphasis on effective strategies for producing compelling prose
in many disciplines. This course is for students in the honors program.
EN 321 (EE) WORK AND WORKING-CLASS LIFE (3)
Instructor: D. Anderson MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
“Work and Working-Class Life in Literature” invites students to explore ethical issues in the
context of literature (short stories, novels, poems, plays, non-fiction essays) focused on work,
working people and working-class life. Some of the questions we consider in class discussion
and in writing are the following: Does work have an ethical value beyond its purpose of earning
a living? Why are some kinds of work valued less than others? Are poverty and unemployment a
sign of personal, or societal, moral failing? What ethical obligations do workers owe each other
and/or to the people who employ them? What ethical conflicts are faced by working people
trying to survive in a harshly competitive world?
EN 323 JOURNAL EDITING: PRESENCE (3)
Instructor: M. Miller MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
This course will enable students to exercise a critical eye in selecting poems written in a wide
variety of styles by numerous contemporary poets from across the USA on the basis of their
artistic merit and their fulfillment of a working definition of “Catholic Art.” It introduces students
to professional interviewing techniques required when interviewing award-winning, published
poets and strengthens their literary writing skills when articulating how these poets find their
literary works to be formed by their Catholic faith. It will also require students to read the
selections published in a number of current literary journals devoted to publishing works that
intersect with religious faith and spirituality with a view toward providing a unique contribution
to the field through the selection of poetry for this journal, Presence: A Journal of Catholic
Poetry. Students will also write short reviews of recently published collections of poems and
exercise research skills to find forthcoming titles of poetry collections to list in the journal’s
announcement section.
EN 324 (EC) CATHOLIC WRITERS (3)
Instructor: M. Miller TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Studies a range of major authors from the medieval period to the 21st century whose
Catholicism is central to their artistic vision, influencing the content and/or the form of their
work. Genres include epic, lyric, short fiction, novel, and graphic novel. Works are read from a
theological perspective, and requirements include a written analysis of a contemporary film
from this perspective. Writers include Dante, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Flannery O’Connor, Alice
McDermott, and Gene Luen Yang.
EN 349 (EE) LITERATURE & THE ENVIRONMENT (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki WF 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Introduces students to American nature/environmental writing and explores the different ways
writers have thought about our relationship to the natural world. Reading texts ranging across
time and space, we discuss the kinds of questions they raise and try to answer: What
obligations do people have to other species? What is our relation to the natural places or
bioregions we inhabit? What environmental threats do we face, and how can they be
addressed? What is the relationship between environmental and social justice? In addition to
reading, discussing, and writing about the work of others, students also have an opportunity to
do some “field observations,” spending some class time outside directly observing nature in
order to produce their own creative nonfiction essays. Summer 2020 & Prior- Global Awareness
Fall 2020 forward- Ethical Inquiry.
EN 406 CREATIVE WRITING (3)
Instructor: K. Jorgensen T 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Offers an intensive exploration of the short story and lyric poetry. A workshop for students
interested in developing creative talents. Opportunity for publication in literary magazines.
EN 410 CAPSTONE EPORTFOLIO PROJECT (FORMERLY KNOWN AS CAPSTONE SEMINAR) (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
One of the final courses that an English major takes, the “Senior Portfolio Project” offers
students the opportunity to revisit several papers written for English classes taken at Caldwell
University. In this capstone course, students will heavily revise these papers according to
certain guidelines, incorporate the process of self-reflection, and ultimately create an
e-portfolio that will showcase their accomplishments as English majors. *Formerly English
Seminar through Spring 2019.
EN 413 CONTEMPORARY FICTION (3)
Instructor D. Anderson TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Emphasizes literary analysis in world fiction by late 20th and early 21st century writers,
including Erdrich, Morrison, Achebe, Ondaatje, and others.
Spring 2020 Courses
DR 203 MODERN & CONTEMP. DRAMA IN PERF
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Introduces students to modern and contemporary performance styles and conditions. Focuses on 4-5 scripts taken from a range of countries.
EN 101 THE PROCESS OF WRITING (3)
Instructor: S. Miller MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Offers intensive work in generating ideas, organization, style, and mechanics for the development of college-level writing. Admission by assignment. Does not fulfill core requirement in English.
EN 111 COLLEGE WRITING (3)
A writing intensive course that develops students’ college-level writing competence; writing is taught as a process that entails a series of revisions through the completion of several short assignments and longer expository essays. Includes preparation of a research paper and instruction in MLA style. Introduces literary analysis, terminology, and technique by reading and interpreting literature that comprises various genres and represents diverse cultures.
EN 207 GLOBAL LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan TF 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
Explores non-western and world literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, including works from South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
EN 207 GLOBAL LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan W 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Explores non-western and world literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, including works from South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
EN 221 WOMEN IN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki WF 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Examines the construction of female images, roles and attitudes in literature by and about women from around the globe. We will examine the representation of gendered identity in a variety of genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) and historical periods with a central focus on modern and contemporary works.”
EN 226 PSYCH AND LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: A. Harris TR 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Uses the insights of Freud and Jung to illuminate myths (ancient and modern) and examines techniques for dramatizing the life of the mind in fiction and drama. Selections by Strindberg, Lawrence, James, O’Neil, et al.
EN 227 AMERICAN IMAGES IN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Explores short stories, novels, and poetry embodying various images of America—its geography, values, customs, and people— emphasizing the subject and quality of the images presented, the literary techniques with which these are developed, and the total self-reflection of the country which they convey.
EN 229 LITERATURE & THE ARTS (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Surveys the relationships between literature and other major art forms: music, dance, film, painting, sculpture and demonstrates what is gained and lost when literary classics are interpreted in other creative media.
EN 240 001 INTRO TO POETRY (3)
Instructor: M. Miller MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Provides a solid foundation in the essential vocabulary for interpreting poems and appreciating the techniques of poets both traditional and contemporary. Offers an optional service-learning component, giving the opportunity to volunteer to work in groups with a local, published poet in a variety of ways.
EN 240 002 INTRO TO POETRY (3)
Instructor: M. Miller TR 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
Provides a solid foundation in the essential vocabulary for interpreting poems and appreciating the techniques of poets both traditional and contemporary. Offers an optional service-learning component, giving the opportunity to volunteer to work in groups with a local, published poet in a variety of ways.
EN 304 (EG) LITERATURE & DIVERSITY (3)
Instructor: D. Anderson MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
This course focuses on literary works that foreground or thematize forms of social diversity or difference—“race” and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc. The course introduces students to works of (mostly) American literature that explore the social construction and significance of diverse identities—how and by whom these identities are defined, valued and contested; how they influence experience and perception; how they shape or misshape human interactions; and, not least, how they are continually complicated or problematized by the complexities of individual lives (e.g., the fact that we often inhabit multiple “identities” simultaneously) and the reality of our common humanity.
EN 306 ENGLISH LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: M. Miller MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Covers the development of English literature from early medieval to modern times, including readings from representative authors of each period.
EN 307 MODERN DRAMA (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Explores the plays, theaters and audiences of modern and contemporary theater. While the central focus is on American and British plays, several of the plays will provide a global perspective.
EN 319 WRITING THE SELF IN POETRY AND PROS (3)
Instructor: K. Jorgensen T 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Writing the Self in Poetry and Prose is a hybrid literature/creative writing/performance course that allows students to explore the possibilities for self-expression in poetry and personal essays. Students read and analyze examples of personal essays and lyric poetry by published authors; read and discuss a guidebook discussion of craft; write their own pieces in a collaborative, workshop setting that encourages critique and revision; and, ultimately, perform selected pieces for their classmates and/or a campus audience in a campus venue. Though there will be a strong autobiographical element in the writing studied and produced for the course, students will also be encouraged to think about how their experiences and concerns as individual writers intersect with the wider world and can be expressed in ways that will engage an audience.
EN 334 (EE) REFUGEE CRISIS IN WORLD LIT (3)
Instructor: D. Anderson TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
**Ethical Inquiry Effective, Fall 2019 forward.** The number of people forced to flee their homes by war, persecution, poverty and environmental degradation is greater today (over sixty-five million) than at any other time in world history. Stories of deadly journeys, squalid camps, border walls, travel bans, separated families and rising xenophobia have become a commonplace of the nightly news, but so too have individual acts of kindness and collective expressions of solidarity with the most vulnerable. As David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee has powerfully argued, how individuals and their governments respond to the refugee crisis is a test not only of a society’s laws and policies but of our values: “Empathy and altruism are two of the foundations of civilization. Turn that empathy and altruism into action and we live out a basic moral credo.” This course explores the ethical issues raised by current and past refugee crises through the lens of global literature, reading novels, short stories, poems, plays and creative non-fiction for what they can tell us about our ethical duty to one another, especially as that duty may be complicated by cultural differences, social divisions and the operation of social forces beyond individual control.” Enriched Core: Ethical Inquiry and Applications.
EN 345 AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
Surveys African American literature starting with historical texts including poetry, slave narratives, folk tales and African-American spirituals, through post-Emancipation literature of racial uplift and polemic writing, to the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. Moving through the twentieth century, the course examines social protest literature, autobiographical writing, feminist statements, and neo-slave narratives. The institution of slavery and its legacy loom large in many of the texts. Beginning with Frederick Douglass’s foundational Narrative (1845) and culminating in Octavia Butler’s neo-slave narrative, Kindred (1979), we will pay particular attention to the role of memory and self-representation in literature and appreciate literature as a tool for social justice. Includes a field trip to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and a walking tour of Harlem.
EN 401 SHAKESPEARE:POL.PLAY (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 8:30 AM-9:45 AM
Explores Shakespeare’s interpretation of the use and abuse of political power while tracing his dramatic development through critical reading of representative plays.
EN 403 LIT VICTORIAN AGE
Instructor: M. Miller
Studies the variety of trends present in English literature in the period from 1832 to 1900 as shown in the works of Tennyson, Browning, Arnold and others.
EN 410 ENGLISH SEMINAR
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
One of the final courses that an English major takes, the “Senior Portfolio Project” offers students the opportunity to revisit several papers written for English classes taken at Caldwell University. In this capstone course, students will heavily revise these papers according to certain guidelines, incorporate the process of self-reflection, and ultimately create an e-portfolio that will showcase their accomplishments as English majors. *Formerly English Seminar through Spring 2019.
EN 418 GUILTY PLEASURES: READING & WRITING
Instructor: E. Eklund R 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
When we stay up far into the night reading a novel instead of sleeping, chances are that the book in question is not one of the “classics” typically enshrined in literature anthologies and taught in college English courses but a psychological thriller, romance novel, detective story, horror novel or science fiction narrative. For many of us, these and other forms of genre fiction constitute a vital part of our extracurricular reading—the reading we do, perhaps somewhat guiltily, for fun. Guilty Pleasures: Reading and Writing Genre Fiction starts from the premise that we need not apologize for the pleasure we find in the books of Stephen King or Octavia Butler or Patricia Highsmith—to take three well known examples—that genre fiction often has great literary value, and that it can teach us a lot about how fiction works. This course introduces students to some of the best short fiction in a selected genre and helps them apply what they have learned in short stories of their own creation.
Fall 2019 Courses
EN 101 THE PROCESS OF WRITING (3)
Offers intensive work in generating ideas, organization, style, and mechanics for the development of college-level writing. Admission by assignment. Does not fulfill core requirement in English.
EN 111 COLLEGE WRITING (3)
A writing intensive course that develops students’ college-level writing competence; writing is taught as a process that entails a series of revisions through the completion of several short assignments and longer expository essays. Includes preparation of a research paper and instruction in MLA style. Introduces literary analysis, terminology, and technique by reading and interpreting literature that comprises various genres and represents diverse cultures.
EN 222 LITERATURE & LAW (3)
Instructor: M. Miller R 7:00 PM-9:30 PM
Explores concepts of law and justice in selected masterworks of fiction and drama. Recommended for, but not restricted to, criminal justice majors.
EN 226 PSYCH AND LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: V. Cirillo T 7:00 PM-9:30 PM
Uses the insights of Freud and Jung to illuminate myths (ancient and modern) and examines techniques for dramatizing the life of the mind in fiction and drama. Selections by Strindberg, Lawrence, James, O’Neil, et al.
EN 227 AMER IMAGES IN LIT (3)
Instructor: D. Whelan MW 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Explores short stories, novels, and poetry embodying various images of America—its geography, values, customs, and people— emphasizing the subject and quality of the images presented, the literary techniques with which these are developed, and the total self-reflection of the country which they convey.
EN 230 LITERATURE AND MEDICINE (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
This course focuses on writers who have depicted illness and the universal questions common to all humans as they face their own mortality. While there is a long history of literature that reflects this topic, this course will consider more contemporary illnesses through the genres of fiction, non¬fiction, drama and poetry to make discussion more relevant for students.
EN 301 MASTERPIECES OF WESTERN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan TF 11:30 AM-12:45 PM
Surveys major literary texts in the history of the western & world literature with an emphasis on those considered essential to an understanding of British and American literature.
EN 302 RENAISSANCE: SPENSER TO MILTON (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth TR 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Studies poetry, prose and dramatic works of the men and women of the English Renaissance in relation to the continental Renaissance and the non-Western world. We will focus on the cultural, historical and literary contexts that shaped the age and its literature, featuring both well-known writers like Edmund Spenser, Lady Mary Wroth, Sir Philip Sidney, and John Milton as well as lesser-known writers like Elizabeth Cary. (Formally named Renaissance: Poetry and Prose prior to Fall 2015).
EN 305 AMERICAN LITERATURE (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki MWF 10:00 AM-10:50 AM
Surveys over three hundred years of American literature beginning with the Puritans and other early English settlers and ending in the first half of the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the nineteenth century. Ranging across a variety of genres, modes, and literary movements, from the early Puritan “plain style” to the nineteenth-century American literary Renaissance, from realism and regional local color writing to modernism, from Realism to the Harlem Renaissance, this class will explore how American writers have created an American subject.
EN 312 THE ENGLISH NOVEL (3)
Instructor: K. Kornacki W 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Traces the origin of the novel and its development as a literary form. Studies representative works of chief novelists of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
EN 317 LITERARY CRITICISM (3)
Instructor: M. Lindroth MW 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Explores contemporary critical approaches to literature, including new historicist, feminist, psychoanalytic, Marxist, African-American criticism, postcolonial, and lesbian/gay/queer criticism. We will examine the various theories as well as the assumptions and values upon which they rely in seminar form, developing the tools of literary analysis.
EN 320 WRITING POWER (3)
Offers an intensive writing workshop for students determined to advance from average to superior writing performance. Emphasis on effective strategies for producing compelling prose in many disciplines.
EN 323 JOURNAL EDITING: PRESENCE (3)
Instructor: M. Miller TR 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
This course will enable students to exercise a critical eye in selecting poems written in a wide variety of styles by numerous contemporary poets from across the USA on the basis of their artistic merit and their fulfillment of a working definition of “Catholic Art.” It introduces students to professional interviewing techniques required when interviewing award-winning, published poets and strengthens their literary writing skills when articulating how these poets find their literary works to be formed by their Catholic faith. It will also require students to read the selections published in a number of current literary journals devoted to publishing works that intersect with religious faith and spirituality with a view toward providing a unique contribution to the field through the selection of poetry for this journal, Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry. Students will also write short reviews of recently published collections of poems and exercise research skills to find forthcoming titles of poetry collections to list in the journal’s announcement section.
EN 324 (EC) CATHOLIC WRITERS (3)
Instructor: M. Miller TF 10:00 AM-11:15 AM
Studies a range of major authors from the medieval period to the 21st century whose Catholicism is central to their artistic vision, influencing the content and/or the form of their work. Genres include epic, lyric, short fiction, novel, and graphic novel. Works are read from a theological perspective, and requirements include a written analysis of a contemporary film from this perspective. Writers include Dante, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Flannery O’Connor, Alice McDermott, and Gene Luen Yang.
EN 349 (EG) LITERATURE & THE ENVIRONMENT (3)
Instructor: C. Echterling WF 1:00 PM-2:15 PM
Introduces students to American nature/environmental writing and explores the different ways writers have thought about our relationship to the natural world. Reading texts ranging across time and space, we discuss the kinds of questions they raise and try to answer: What obligations do people have to other species? What is our relation to the natural places or bioregions we inhabit? What environmental threats do we face, and how can they be addressed? What is the relationship between environmental and social justice? In addition to reading, discussing, and writing about the work of others, students also have an opportunity to do some “field observations,” spending some class time outside directly observing nature in order to produce their own creative nonfiction essays.
EN 406 CREATIVE WRITING (3)
Instructor: K Jorgensen T 4:20 PM-6:50 PM
Offers an intensive exploration of the short story and lyric poetry. A workshop for students interested in developing creative talents. Opportunity for publication in literary magazine.
EN 410 SENIOR PORTFOLIO PROJECT (3)
Instructor: T. Harney-Mahajan MW 3:00 PM-4:15 PM
One of the final courses that an English major takes, the “Senior Portfolio Project” offers students the opportunity to revisit several papers written for English classes taken at Caldwell University. In this capstone course, students will heavily revise these papers according to certain guidelines, incorporate the process of self-reflection, and ultimately create an e-portfolio that will showcase their accomplishments as English majors. *Formerly English Seminar through Spring 2019.