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English
COURSE OFFERINGS BY DEPARTMENT
Course titles are followed by the course code; credit units; limit, if any, of students per section; prerequisites and/or eligible grades; and semester offered, if not a full-year course. Full-year courses that receive four credits and semester courses that receive two credits are considered major courses. A student’s GPA is determined by the marks earned in major courses.
English 9 (ENG101)
4 CU, required of all 9th graders
This course introduces students to critical literary analysis by demonstrating the parallel bases of narrative forms and archetypes across history and cultures; development of critical writing skill is paramount. Texts explore the cycle of human experience from creation to apocalypse with notable stops in between: heroism and quests, love and loss, and monsters and magic. Ancient sources of myth and contemporary literature are treated for their multiplicity and universality of perspective. Students study literary tropes in text and film with an emphasis on learning how and why common themes recur. Students will develop strong critical thinking skills and deepen reading comprehension skill; they will bolster grammatical accuracy and write cogently. All modes of expression—rhetorical, presentational, creative, and analytical—are emphasized with special attention devoted to the latter. Analytical papers, beginning with the classic 5-paragraph essay, help students practice formulating their logic clearly and authoritatively for 10th grade and beyond. Texts may include Parallel Myths, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Antigone, Much Ado About Nothing, I am Legend,along with a variety of short stories and films. English 10 (ENG201)
4 CU, required of all 10th graders
English 10 examines the multifaceted American identities that comprise the national character and aesthetic. What is “American” about the country’s literature? Evolving, multi-faceted, and as diverse as its geography and people, American literature confronts the dilemma brought by opportunity. As part of our inclusive approach to American letters, students will explore a range of texts, including: East of Eden, The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Sula, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Things They Carried, and Flight, along with units on the Harlem Renaissance and Transcendentalism, treatment of American rhetoric, recognition of aesthetic movements and style through history, and a diverse selection of philosophy and film.
After the two-year sequence of English 9 and 10, students have acquired the requisite skills, core knowledge, and independence of mind to explore their passions in their junior and senior years in the Advanced English Seminar program. This series of four advanced courses gives students the opportunity to do intensive work in particular areas of interest with teachers who have unique expertise. Students select among 21 unique seminars offered each year by faculty members who originate, design, and develop curricula; every course requires voluminous and deep reading, significant analysis and writing, and earnest engagement and participation. Advanced English Seminars represent a range of historical periods, literary genres, geographical locales, world issues, major authors, seminal periods, and crucial styles, and all are devoted to rigorous and deep literary study with an emphasis on critical writing.
Each year, a number of students opt to sit for Advanced Placement exams in English—either Language or Literature—with a modicum of additional preparation. In addition, students interested in doing further in-depth research culminating in a written thesis may choose to apply for the following:
The Laurel Society: Honors Thesis in English (ENG510)
1 CU, open to students in grade 12
This is a full-year course in which a senior will research, write, and defend a thesis. Students must apply in the spring of their junior year through a formal application process that will include submission of materials, statement of intent, and a declared path of inquiry; if accepted, the senior will begin the process of researching, investigating, and writing a long-format critical thesis in response to a self-developed and original topic, perhaps stemming from curricular work in English courses and bolstered by outside reading and research. Students will meet rigorous criteria throughout the process, to include: formal application submission by 4/15 of junior year, annotated bibliography and five pages by the end of Q1 senior year (11/1), regular benchmark meetings with each English department member throughout the fall and spring semesters to accompany page output deadlines, and completion of 30-page thesis by 4/15. Thesis submission will be followed by two oral defenses: a scholarly thesis defense before an English department and advisory panel and a subsequent public presentation of work at or around Evening of the Arts. First Semester Advanced English Seminar Courses (each worth 2 CU)
• A History of Magic (ENG443) • Blind Spot (ENG409) • Criminal Intentions (ENG434) • Haunted Minds (ENG402) • Labyrinths: Magical Real & Fantasy (ENG405) • Literature of the American South (ENG441) • Literature of the Sea (ENG423) • Novel Stories (ENG403) • Science & Ethics in Literature (ENG432) • Who are You? (ENG436)
• Adaptations: Transformation of Text (ENG427) • Beowulf’s Band of Brothers (ENG424) • The Bible as Literature (ENG440) • Comedy/Tragedy (ENG435) • Dreamscapes & Borderlands (ENG419) • Flash Points (ENG431) • Inferno: Irish and Italian Lit. (ENG426) • Intersection (ENG439) • Representing Africa (ENG438) • Trauma and (Re)Memory (ENG433) • You Are What You Eat (ENG442)
FIRST SEMESTER COURSES
A History of Magic (ENG443)
Magic, like every force in the universe, requires rules to govern it and means through which it can be applied. Magical systems developed in a culture’s literature explore the human need for structure and power over our world. In this course we will question the functional purpose of magical systems in their context, explore emerging patterns, and evaluate the ethics of trying to tame the chaotic power of magic. Together we will use traditional myths and modern retellings, short stories, a Shakespeare play, and YA novels to explore the impact of the progression of magical systems from the casual “because magic” to a highly structured and rigorous set of unbreakable laws. Application of historical and archetypal literary critical theory will be the driving force behind analytical and creative writing. Texts in the course may include Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, teacher selected short stories and excerpts, and a student selected YA novel.
Blind Spot: Unreliability and Disruption in Narrative (ENG409)
Stories told from a first-person perspective are notorious for their narrators’ fallibility; in fact, this is often necessary to build dramatic action or to guide the reader to draw certain conclusions. Sometimes authors compound complexity by adding disruptions to time, characterization, and more until every blind spot looks the same. Texts (and films) may include Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, McEwan’s Atonement, Amis’ Time’s Arrow, Nolan’s Memento, and selections from Saunders’s Civilwarland in Bad Decline.
Criminal Intentions: Crime and Law in Fiction (ENG434)
Courtrooms and crime scene tape, hardboiled detectives and damsels in distress. Crime fiction is frequently seen as beach-read material, and for good reason, but authors use crime as a means of making a larger critique of society, individual agency, and gender dynamics. Students in this course will take a global look at the causes, consequences, and lasting after-effects of crime while exploring the dark obsession and cruel devotion within this genre’s pages. Centering our inquiry around Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s landmark evocation of crime and law in Crime and Punishment, we will read Albert Camus’ The Stranger alongside excerpts from Kamel Daoud’s The Meursault Investigation; the witty, biting 2017 novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, The Serial Killer will follow. Other texts may include short pieces by Henry Nxumalo and Casey Motsisi as well as contemporary films.
Haunted Minds: Studies in Gothic and Horror Literature (ENG402)
Horror writing has been seen as a genre that is “sensationalistic,” catering to the demands of the public for gore and violence. Yet, many notable authors, including Christopher Marlowe, Henry James, William Faulkner, and Joyce Carol Oates, have written well-crafted tales of the supernatural. The aim of this course is to explore what makes us afraid and why. Students will look at what elements of the genre allow us to tap into our individual and societal fears in a way that is both entertaining and “safe,” and examine whether those fears have changed or remained the same over time. Readings for this course include Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House, and Neil Gaiman’s Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Labyrinths: Magic Realism and Fantasy in World Literature (ENG405)
Contemporary writers of magical realism, surrealism, and fantasy often abandon traditional narratives for experimental ones. In these stories, the difference between what’s “real” and what’s “imaginary” is not immediately clear. A love-struck man is followed by yellow butterflies. A woman wrestles an underwater monster. Cats talk, and fish fall from the sky. Why do writers make the impossible happen? How are phenomenal events used to re-imagine history, war, philosophy, and culture? Texts include Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Erdrich’s Love Medicine, along with short stories. Films include Pan’s Labyrinth, The Fisher King, and Birdman.
Literature of the American South (ENG441)
According to Scout Finch, “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience”. But what happens when legal, familial, religious, marital, and schooling institutions attempt to force young people into a prescribed life path? In this course, we’re interrogating coming of age, class struggle, racism, truth and reconciliation, through the eyes of characters who dare to be different. Beginning in the early 20th century and ending in contemporary times, Southern Lit will explore the region as a microcosm for universal conflicts contextualized in the difficult and oftentimes misunderstood history of the American South. Study the pilgrimage to understand and be understood in one of the nation’s most dynamic and diverse regions. Take a metaphorical “road trip” south of the Mason-Dixon line with the novels Friday Night Lights, The Color Purple, Secret Life of Bees, and The Nickel Boys, as well as films The Help (2011) and Moonlight (2016).
Literature of the Sea: Explorers, Pilgrims, and Mad Captains (ENG423)
Sea literature has canonized figures that live forever in our culture. There is the mad captain and demagogue Ahab, the flawed hero Odysseus, the spiritual and inquisitive Marlow. Texts include Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea, Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Homer’s The Odyssey, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, selections from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, along with short stories and poetry. Films include Castaway, Master and Commander, and Jaws. This course focuses on the sea as both subject and setting in literature as well as mankind’s relationship to it. How do we survive physical and emotional trauma? What is a spiritual life? What makes an individual “great”? Or “mad”? Paradoxes abound; the sea creates, and it destroys.
Novel Stories: Studies in Nineteenth Century British Fiction (ENG403)
Who is laughing maniacally in the attic in Jane Eyre? Why is a monster stalking Victor Frankenstein? What causes Heathcliff to wander the moors in Wuthering Heights? When will Mr. Darcy win the heart of Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice? These questions and more keep readers returning to English novels of the nineteenth century and filmmakers capturing modern audiences. In this course, we will uncover the answers to these questions while exploring and analyzing the novels, discussing the history and culture that inspired them, learning about the authors who wrote them, and viewing the films that seek to recapture their worlds. Readings may include Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, and Cranford.
Science and Ethics in Literature (ENG432)
Scientific ethics, a set of moral obligations that advocate for integrity in all stages of scientific inquiry, not only direct scientific study but also shepherd society toward defining right and wrong. But, sometimes this doesn’t hold true: “they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should” (Jurassic Park). Are there cases in which science’s questions should not be answered? Or should science ignore humankind’s cultural tastes in favor of unbiased inquiry? In science, how do individuals’ rights hold up to those of the many? We will attempt to answer questions related to medical and experimental ethics through both nonfiction and fiction. The summer reading text is Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Course texts may include Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Irving’s The Cider House Rules, and McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, along with short stories and poetry. Films may include Gattaca, Jurassic Park, and Mommy Dead and Dearest.
Who are You?: Understanding the Self through Memoir (ENG436)
How would you tell the story of your life? Would your narrative be chronological or more fragmented? Would you portray your actions as boldly heroic or humbly quotidian? Memoirists must decide on the “truthiness” of their own histories, dictating which moments are illuminated and which ones are pushed aside. In addition to composing our own written work, this course will borrow from texts such as King’s On Writing, excerpts from Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day, Levy’s The Rules Do Not Apply, and Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant, as well as selected readings. Summer reading is Walls’ The Glass Castle.
SECOND SEMESTER COURSES
Adaptations: Transformation of Text (ENG427)
Why are films rarely as successful as their written counterparts? What does it take to produce a film that adeptly mirrors or even transcends its literary inspiration? In this course, students will study various texts—nonfiction, novel, short story, children’s fiction—and their visual/audio adaptations. When texts are transformed, what makes the cut? What is gained in the transformation? How does the visual interpretation remain authentic to that which inspired it? Texts and films may include The Handmaid’s Tale, Brokeback Mountain, Fight Club, Sherlock, and various children’s books/ films.
Beowulf’s Band of Brothers: European Epics and Sagas (ENG424)
Beowulf, the legendary Geat warrior, is not the only hero to face monsters, treacherous kings, enemy tribes, and perilous sea crossings. In this course, students will read epics and sagas that recount the triumphs and tragedies of heroes and some heroines (e.g. Medb and Boudica) with a focus on the heroic codes and the cultures that define them. Readings may include the Táin Bó Cúalnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), Beowulf, Norse and Icelandic sagas, The Song of Roland, and Norse, Germanic, and Irish myths. Time permitting, students will explore the relationship between some of the early tales and excerpts of later works by such authors as W.B. Yeats and John Millington Synge. The Bible as Literature (ENG440)
When Chris Martin of Coldplay sings “my castles stand on pillars of salt and pillars of sand,” he is alluding to two stories from the most significant piece of literature ever—The Bible. In this course, Old and New Testaments will not be studied as religious texts but as pieces of literature worthy of close scrutiny and criticism. This is a book of paradoxes, stories of clarity and confusion, truth and hypocrisy, and peace and violence. Students in this course will explore the historical creation and assembly of the Bible and the significance of its ancient stories. Students will also read excerpts from Pearl S. Buck’s The Story Bible, C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, and Colm Toibin’s The Testament of Mary. Films include Cool Hand Luke and Life of Pi.
Comedy/Tragedy: Dueling Impulses in Theater (ENG435)
The way that the American populace has learned about the stories of Black life in the U.S. has been wholly flawed. Historically, dominant narratives about everyday people have been subverted by stereotypes, misnomers, and prejudicial reporting. Black literary movements gained momentum in the era of the “new negro”, otherwise known as the Harlem Renaissance. Since then, Black writers, film makers, musicians, and other artists have sought to both understand and be understood. While many of the aforementioned groups create artistic works recognizable to mainstream audiences, some have departed from these mainstream traditions. This course explores Black identity in the U.S. by journeying from the weight of external anti-Black forces
to the depths of universal, internal matters of the heart and soul. Re-visiting the age old conundrum of nature v. nurture, we must ask: what are our identities anchored in? Students interrogate issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality with the following dramas: Jeff Stetson’s The Meeting, Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, Charles Fuller, Jr.’s A Soldier’s Play, Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, and film adaptations of August Wilson’s Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Dreamscapes and Borderlands: Alternate Realities in Literature (ENG419)
Often authors present us with realms of magic and/or madness that border our own ordinary universe. In each of these other worlds, we may recognize some of the elements of “reality,” but they are oddly distorted or out of place. Other elements are alien to our experience, even nightmarish or monstrous from our point of view, but the characters accept them as “normal.” In this course, we will explore these dream worlds to see how they reflect or distort our own, and in doing so, what they may suggest to us about the way we define time, reality, normality, and identity. Texts may include Sir Orfeo, selections from the Mabinogion, Alice in Wonderland, Neverwhere, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, and Kindred.
Flash Points: Literature of Contemporary Issues (ENG431)
Will humanity ever reach the end of its quest for social justice? Realistically, perhaps not, but the end isn’t where victory lies; it’s in the number of feet walking the path. The first step in the quest is developing greater consciousness, by looking at contemporary issues where they flare in conflict— at flash points. This course uses both fiction and nonfiction to consider ways of negotiating today’s most challenging problems. Units include environmental justice, terrorism and surveillance, migration, and human rights. Texts in this course may include Pat Barker’s Regeneration, Helon Habila’s Oil on Water, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, and/or Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost.
Inferno: Damnation and Transformation in Irish and Italian Literature (Scibilia) (ENG426)
Dante’s Inferno is a text that spirals into Hell then helixes up. Students will ascend, too, from purgatorio and paradiso, studying how writers—both Italian and Irish—navigate states of damnation and transformation. Texts include Dante’s Inferno, Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees and other stories, Joyce’s Dubliners, McCann’s Everything In This Country Must, and poetry by Heaney, Yeats, and Boland, among others. Films may include The Godfather and in the Name of the Father.
Intersection: Where Nonfiction Crosses Paths with History (ENG439)
According to the British author Penelope Lively, “If you have no sense of the past, no access to historical narrative, you are afloat, untethered.” Join us in this course to fasten yourself to history and the figures that built our American story. The construction of that narrative will be explored through nonfiction, rhetoric, biography, and graphic novels. Student choice regarding texts will be a central element of this course in order to diversify the threads of the past that we will weave together into a full look at history. Required texts may include: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix and A Woman of No Importance. Student choice will be employed to select a biography, such as, but not limited to, John Adams, Barracoon, and Notorious RGB and a graphic novel, such as, but not limited to, March, Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, They Call Us Enemy, and Drowned City. Films and shows include Hamilton and Band of Brothers.
Representing Africa: Literature of the African Continent (ENG438)
“Being defiant can be a good thing sometimes,” wrote Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her novel Purple Hibiscus. How have African people seen themselves in relation to the larger world? This course tackles the diversity and heterogeneity of African writing (and writing about Africa), numerous important issues outwardly applicable to the world at large: colonization and its aftermath, persistent tensions between tradition and modernity, the complexities of gender roles, and integration of Africa with the larger world, and the intricacies of race and identity. Over the course of the semester, we will examine a variety of literary and cultural texts (novels, poetry, journalism, and film) by writers from throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Texts may include: Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Weep Not, Child, Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, and Gordimer’s The Conservationist.
Trauma and (Re)Memory: Trauma Theory in Literature (ENG433)
Traumatic experiences often have a way of imprinting themselves on human consciousness, so much so that emotional distress, as well as physiological symptoms, such as insomnia or physical pain, often plague the victim for years following the event. How do writers represent
