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ENGLISH PAPER
Autumn 2016
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please consult with the Marion Academic Advisor for English Majors, Shellie Shirk (shirk.20@osu.edu), or the Marion English Faculty Coordinator, Stuart Lishan (lishan.1@osu.edu), concerning which English major concentration and/or other requirements are met by your choice of the following courses. English 2201 | British Literature Medieval – 1800 Nathan Wallace MW 3:004:20 PM / 3 credit hours In this survey of British and Irish literature from the Middle Ages to 1800, we will study major works of fiction, drama, and poetry such as the anonymous AngloSaxon epic Beowulf, the Middle Irish saga Sweeney Astray, Marie de France’s Lanval , Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales , William Shakespeare’s Othello , poems by Elizabeth I and Aemelia Lanyer, John Milton’s Paradise Lost , William Hogarth’s Marriage a la Mode, and Frances Burney’s Evelina. In addition to discussing their literary qualities, we will also consider these works’ meanings in historical and cultural contexts. Major themes of discussion will be: religious and political history through literature, the development of language and national identity, and women’s writing. In this class, you will be responsible for weekly study questions, two exams, two essays, and a minicomic assignment. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2220 | Villains in Shakespeare Peter C. Dully Jr. TR 12:301:50/ 3 Credit Hours English 2220 focuses on how villains are introduced and perfected in the form of Othello's Iago, Macbeth's Lady Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice's Shylock, Richard III's Richard and others. Along the way, we'll look at the evolution of villains in our broader culture, including Hannibal Lecter, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Tupac Shakur, to see how Shakespeare's ideas of human misconduct have evolved and shaped contemporary discourse. After all, Shakespeare is widely regarded as the fixed center of the Western canon, 1
and you come into contact with his ideas every time you open your eyes. This class aims to demystify that process while introducing you to the most accomplished and engaging writer in the history of English. The course is structured like a seminar, in that it's studentcentered and discussion heavy. We'll look at a couple of films, a television show or two, listen to some songs (dancing strictly optional) in producing three shorter papers over the course of the semester. There will be a midterm and a final exam to show what you know. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2263 | Introduction to Film Catherine Braun TR 3:00 4:20 / 3 Credit Hours Beginning with the silent films of the 1910's and continuing through the developments of the early 2000's, this course will examine Hollywood cinema as an institution: its history, genres, and work as both a cultural form and an industry. Through course readings, class discussions, and informal writing, you will develop a vocabulary and analytical skills that will allow you to discuss a film within these contexts. This course fulfills the Arts and Humanities GE credit in Visual and Performing Arts. Some of the films that might be on our screening list include: It (1927), Rear Window (dir. Hitchcock, 1954), Bamboozled (2000), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ( 1953), WallE (2008), Casablanca (1942), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2265 | Writing of Fiction I Stuart Lishan M, 1:304:15/ 3 credit hours “The world now consumes films, novels, theatre, and television… with such ravenous hunger that the story arts have become humanity’s prime source of inspiration…. A culture cannot evolve without honest, powerful storytelling.” —Robert McKee Help keep the culture thriving and help it evolve! Feed the “ravenous hunger” of the world! Write stories! That’s what English 2265 is all about. It’s a course centered on the writing of fiction. Specifically, it’s a course on the writing of “honest, powerful” stories starring “made up” characters that are "true" (What is the truth of fiction, anyway? Excellent question! We'll talk about it!). To do that, we’ll work with playing at reading and writing stories and parts of stories. We’ll also be sharing our stories with one another around the metaphorical campfire that is a writer’s workshop. 2
You don't have to have written fiction before. You don't even have to think that you're especially" creative" (which, I have it on good authority, is Balderdash!). You can all join in to produce a blast of meaningful work. And you certainly don't have to be averse to having fun. Texts: Steering the Craft (Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew) , by Ursula K. Le Guin; The Story and Its Writer, Eighth Edition, edited by Ann Charters; and, of course, the writing that you create. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2269 | Digital Media Composing Ben McCorkle MW 9:30 10:50 p.m. / 3 credit hours Web 2.0. The Cloud. Social Networking. Twitter. Podcasting. Ten years ago, we would have been scratching our heads trying to figure out the meanings of these cryptic terms, but today, they are becoming increasingly commonplace for us. More and more, we have a hand in actively shaping the landscape that creates such terms: the Internet. For this course, we will focus on the issues associated with creating digital media content (in other words, using computers to make meaning by combining words, images, and sound). In addition to examining the formal properties and social implications of digital media texts (the various genres of online discourse and how they circulate through the web), we will also investigate the practical, rhetorical, and ethical dimensions of composing in a digital world. No experience with digital media is required for this course, but during the semester, you will develop a digital portfolio that includes a variety of larger and smaller projects using different combinations of images, audio, and animation. Texts will consist primarily of an online course packet of readings/viewings/listenings. For more information, contact Ben McCorkle (mccorkle.12@osu.edu). ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2280 | The English Bible Nathan Wallace MW 4:305:50 PM / 3 credit hours The Bible is the most influential book in the history of the world, primarily because the story of Abraham is fundamental to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Moreover, the King James Version has shaped the modern English language and Americans regularly invoke the Bible in arguments about politics, history, science, medicine, and foreign policy. Despite our frequent references to the Bible in these areas, it is ironic that relatively few Americans have studied it very closely. In this course we will learn how to read the Bible as a literary text or, rather, as a collection of literary texts from many genres, written over the period of roughly a thousand years. In our discussions and assignments we will investigate the Bible’s historical contexts, analyze its literary techniques, and recover a multiplicity of voices, perspectives, and theologies that are often overlooked. In this course you 3
will write two papers, a midterm, and a final exam. You will also write weekly study questions. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2290 Colonial and U. S. Literature to 1865 Sara Crosby TR 9:3010:50/ 3 credit hours Aliens in the American Mind “And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss also looks back at you.” – Nietzsche This class will ask you to look (just a bit) into that abyss, as we investigate the alien encounters that made “America.” When Old and New Worlds met, the clash shook truths that had seemed eternal. The unthinkable became reality, and ideas that previous generations would have judged insane—democracy, for instance—became “American.” In this class, we will meet some of the criminals, captives, rebels, socalled “lunatics,” and outcasts who emerged as “American” authors, and we will examine the strange new literature they wove out of their experiences on the edge of the unknown. In short, we’ll try to map the development of an American psychology and understand the aliens in our own minds. Class Requirements: Midterm and final, 34 page paper, and creative work, including your own 12 page “contact myth” and a group short film or dramatic scene. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 3378 | Special Topics in Film and Literature: Irish Film and Literature Nathan Wallace MW 6:007:20 PM / 3 credit hours For a small country, Ireland has produced a surprisingly large share of the modern world’s finest literature, drama, and film. In this course, we will see how these art forms have developed alongside each other, from the origins of cinema in the Nineteenth Century, to the global marketplace for Irish literature and film during in the TwentyFirst. Along the way, we will study the ways Irish writers and filmmakers have packed their stories with such overarching themes as: British imperialism versus Irish nationalism, tradition versus modernity, and realism versus romance. We will literature by Dion Boucicault, Emily Lawless, J.M. Synge, Lady Augusta Gregory, James Joyce, Elizabeth Bowen, Mary Lavin, Frank O’Connor, Liam O’Flaherty, Edna O’Brien, Patrick McCabe, and Emma Donoghue. Films in this course will include: The Informer (1934), Odd Man Out (1947), The Crying Game (1992), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006), and Room (2015). There will be a midterm and a final essay in this course, and you will write weekly study questions. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 4
English 3379 | Methods for the Study of Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacy Ben McCorkle MW 1:30 – 2:50 / 3 credit hours Have you ever wondered how we communicate? What makes language tick? Why we feel the need to reach out to people, be it with a spoken or written word, a silent gesture, or a love song? English 3379 will help you begin to answer those agesold questions. Methods for the Study of Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacy introduces students to these interrelated fields and how we do our work within them. Together, this discipline studies the ways people use language and other symbols to convey messages, persuade audiences, and create meaning. Those who study writing, rhetoric, and literacy are also very concerned with how these practices are learned and taught. In one semester, we can only dip into the wide variety of work in these fields; this course is designed to introduce students to the key concepts in the studies of writing, rhetoric, and literacy and to allow students opportunities to pursue their own interests in relation to those concepts. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 3398 | Methods for the Study of Literature Ben McCorkle MW 11:00 – 12:20 / 3 credit hours The primary goal of this "gateway to the major" course is to learn how to produce effective literary criticism and other types of academic writing within the discipline. We will read a selection of literary works from different historical periods, nationalities, and a range of genres and forms. The course will be more than simply writing and discussing literature, though. We will also learn about various critical approaches and literary theories, each of them framing a different way to read or "enter" the texts we'll study. We will sample representative essays from some of the major "schools" of literary theory (feminism, Marxism, new historicism, deconstruction, etc.) and come to understand them in both class presentations and followup discussions. As a final component of this course, I would like to offer you a glimpse into the business of English studies, beyond just writing essays for your professor. To that end, I have designed the course so that you will have the opportunity to teach complex ideas to your fellow classmates, and also to share your own scholarship with colleagues in ways that resemble the professional work done by scholars in the vast field of English studies. Texts (subject to change): Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts (Writing About Literature and Critical Theory) . Sixth Edition. New York: Longman, 2010. Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Lightning Source/Dover Thrift Editions: New York, 1992. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 3467S | Issues and Methods in Tutoring Writing Lynda Behan 9:30 10:50 / 3 Credit hours You don’t have to be an English major to take this class—you just need to be interested in learning how to help others use writing to learn. 5
This interactive course focuses on the theory and practice of peer consulting techniques. You’ll lead and participate in class discussions about learning theory, and through the service learning component of the class, you’ll have the opportunity to put that theory into practice. This course is particularly helpful to those who are planning careers as teachers or who are enrolling in the professional writing minor. It’s also advised for anyone who would like to work as a tutor in Academic Enrichment. Course requirements: article summaries & responses, weekly journals & online discussions, one presentation, one formal paper, and participation in tutoring sessions. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 4583 | Special Topics in World Literature in English Sara Crosby TR 1112:20 / 3 credit hours Blood and Oil: A Secret History Gold and Ivory. Coal and Copper. Oil and Water. Resource extraction has ruled our history and promises to dominate our future, and yet its story remains mainly a dirty secret known only to insiders. In this class, we will unearth that secret and follow the story across continents and centuries. We’ll track it from memoirs about goldhungry conquistadores to novels on the nineteenthcentury whaling frenzy to films on the surreal battles over Amazonian rubber and West Virginia coal to soap operas about the current Dakota oil boom. In the process, you will gain insight into extraction mythologies, how they have developed and why, and how they’re subtly and powerfully influencing the way we think of ourselves and our world. ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 4584 | Special Topics in Literacy: Digital Literacy Catherine Braun TR 1:30 2:50 / 3 Credit Hours @MarionStudents @EnglishMajors @EnglishEdMajors @EducationMajors @Writers What is digital literacy? What does it mean to "read and write" in the age of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other digital communication technologies? Are all of these media harming our literacy and communication skills? Or are we developing new sophisticated forms of literate communication in the digital age? Take this class to find out! 6
Besides reading and writing in traditional forms about literacy, you'll also get the chance to "read" some new fangled kinds of digital texts and "write" (or compose) some digitallymediated texts (no prior experience required). We’ll also reflect on the implications of the current digital communication landscape for teaching and learning, particularly of “literate skills.” #taketheclass #youknowyouwantto #itllbefun #youlllearnstufftoo ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 4592 | Special Topics in Women in Literature and Culture Sara Crosby T R 34:20/ 3 credit hours Bad Women “Cherchez la femme”—when you want to find the source of some trouble, look for the woman. Writers seem to have taken this maxim to heart and quietly constructed world literature around “the bad woman.” In this class, we too will look for her. We’ll track her across continents, centuries, and genres and investigate the various forms she takes—from witches, bitches, serial killers, and sluts to black widows, animal women, femme fatales, and feminists. Texts include: Aeschylus’s Oresteia, John Keats’s Lamia, Emile Zola’s Nana, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Joanna Russ’s The Female Man, Patty Jenkins’s Monster, and the “righteous babe” recordings of Ani Difranco. Assignments include: a research paper on a topic of your choice, quizzes, two short tests, and some inclass dramatic performance (as a group).
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_ COMING THIS SUMMER _ English 2264 Introduction to Popular Culture: Fandom Rules Sara Crosby TWR 8:00 10:15 (May 11 June 21) / 3 Credit Hours In this class, we’ll examine the phenomenon of American “popular culture” by focusing on its strangest and most dynamic aspect: fan culture. One could argue that all fiction is fan fiction and that every film is a fan film, but this is explicitly true of many popular productions, which emerge out of an interaction with a restless public. We’ll investigate the nature of that interaction and figure out its rules and its mysterious purposes and effects. As we sweep through American history, you’ll learn about the origins of American pop culture and fandom (in sensational murder coverage and minstrel shows) and then track them through the dawn of Hollywood’s celebrity culture and into the internet and comiccon era with its explosion of fanproduced content. By the end of the course, you’ll participate in this process, too, by creating your own short fan fic or film. 7
✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ English 2367.02 | Literature and the US Experience Nathan Wallace MW 23:45 pm (12 Weeks) / 3 credit hours From the colonial period up until the recent past, the idea of the frontier has been central to the way we talk about American identity. For this reason, the “Western” has been one of the most popular genres in American literature between the Civil War and the Vietnam Era. In this course we will study the evolution of the Frontier as an idea, and consider how various Twentieth Century storytellers continually reinterpreted the Old West in various ways to reflect their own times. We will also consider how and why the Western genre “died” around the year 1970. What does “the West” mean to Americans today? Why has the cowboy, once the ideal of American male heroism, been replaced in our popular culture by the superhero? Is America still a country defined by the idea of the “frontier,” or must we find some other historical metaphor for our history and collective identity? Students will two short papers in the first half of the term, and an 8page research paper at the end of the term. Discussion & practice of the conventions, practices, and expectations of scholarly reading of literature & expository writing on issues relating to diversity within the U.S. experience.
PALS | Pride And Life Skills Mentoring Program
The Pride And Life Skills mentoring program (PALS) is a cooperative venture between The Ohio State University at Marion, the Boys & Girls Club of Marion County, and Marion Public Schools to develop a mentoring program that is a winwin situation for both elementary, middle school students, and college students. PALS, connects college students from the Marion campus with grade school children in the Marion area to provide oneonone mentoring opportunities for kids. The Boys & Girls Club matches program volunteers with school age children and provides each a useful handbook to direct them through the mentoring process. Students earn 1credit per term of independent study by attending mentoring sessions regularly, coming to a few meetings, and writing a twopage report about their mentoring activities at the end of each term. For further information contact: Ben McCorkle • mccorkle.12@osu.edu Nikole Patson • huffman.689@osu.edu
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