Category: Stuff You Oughta Know

The latest events, opportunities and any other news that is applicable to our program.

Fall 2020 Writing Studies Course Offerings

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Fall 2020 Writing Studies Course Schedule

(Photo: Howard Dinin)

ENG 560: Rhetoric Then and Now (Core Course)

CRN 42049

Mondays – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Dr. Melissa Goldthwaite

How do writers use rhetoric? How do we balance attention to genre, purpose, audience, context, and our own sense of style? In Rhetoric Then and Now, we will consider these and other questions, exploring rhetoric’s classical origins and studying the work of 20th and 21st century rhetorical theorists in order to understand how rhetorical concerns shape our own writing practices. This course will be discussion-based and include a workshop component. Students will write a series of response papers and conduct a semester-long project exploring the relevance of rhetorical theory to their own writing or area of interest. (Core Course)

ENG 614: Road to Revolution in the 1960’s (Area I)

CRN 42050

Tuesdays – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Dr. Owen Gilman

A study of the American cultural scene during the 1960s with particular focus on the contribution of writers as agents of change in movements to break existing stereotypes and to challenge racial discrimination, gender discrimination, sexual repression, environmental degradation, and war. Writers may include: Jack Kerouac, Harper Lee, Rachel Carson, Nikki Giovanni, Eldridge Cleaver, Dee Brown, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Betty Freidan, and some Beat poets. Films were also consequential both in propelling and in reflecting revolutionary changes in American life through the 1960s. Several key films that may be considered include In the Heat of the Night, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and Easy Rider. (Area I)

ENG 670: Fiction Writing Workshop (Area III)

CRN 42051

Thursdays – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Professor Tenaya Darlington

This class is designed to make you a better fiction writer – to teach you about the craft, to give you a space in which to explore your voice, and to push you beyond the familiar. There is also a workshop component, which will give you the chance to receive feedback from the group about your work. You’ll write hard, read widely, and learn stylistic devices that can be used in many areas of your writing. This is a portfolio-based class; you’ll write two major short stories and revise them for final submission at the end of the term.

Registration begins March 30, 2020. 

 

 

Writing Studies Summer 2020 Course Offerings

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Summer I: (CRN 20123)

ENG 620: Special Topics in Literature/Culture: Crime and Media

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:00 p.m. – 8:55 p.m.

Instructor:  Dr. Mike Lyons

(Area I) 5 slots reserved for Writing Studies students

One out of five people imprisoned in the world is in a prison in the United States. This country incarcerates more people—by a long way—than any other country in the world. Yet we don’t know much about who is in our prisons or why they are there. We think we do because journalistic (Fox News and CNN) and fictional depictions (Law and Order and Orange is the New Black) tell us stories about crime, justice and incarceration. But are those trustworthy? In this class we’ll find out by meeting people who are in prison, talking with them and their families and creating our narratives.

Media narratives have impacted our understanding of crime, justice and incarceration. We will produce new narratives, stories of redemption inside the walls through work with men and women who serve life sentences and their families. The course includes work outside of class, meeting with these folks. Our work will include audio, video and prose. Media production experience is helpful but not required.

This course will include undergraduate students and graduate students from the Writing Studies program in the Department of English. For more info, write Dr. Mike Lyons at jlyons@sju.edu

Summer II: (CRN 20283)

ENG 620: Special Topics in Literature/Culture: Horror in Literature & Film

Hybrid class – Online/ Tuesdays in person, 6:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.

Instructor:  Dr. Paul Patterson

(Area I)

Have you ever asked yourself: “Why do I like to be scared?” When the novel came into being in the middle of the eighteenth century, its most popular genre was the Gothic—the novel of horror. In fact, the modern era—the era of science, reason, and democracy—has been obsessed with terror, fear, and the unknown since its very inception. So, why do we like to be terrified? What is it about horror fiction that so appeals to modern culture? We often avoid delving into such questions because they reveal to us that our pleasures often seem woefully uncivilized and unseemly. Beginning with one of the earliest Gothic horror novels, the course will trace out a literary, philosophical, and filmic history. Each unit of the course will explore how a different psychological/cultural concept of terror plays out in an aesthetic context.