Fall 2013 Course Offerings
Smith College reserves the right to make changes to all announcements and course listings online, including changes in its course offerings, instructors, requirements for the majors and minors, and degree requirements.
Level I
Courses numbered 100–170: introductory courses, open to all students. In ENG 118 and 120, incoming students have priority in the fall semester, and other students are welcome as space permits.
First-level Courses in Writing
ENG 118 Politics of Language
Holly Davis, M W 9:00 AM-10:20 AM
Holly Davis, M W 1:10 PM-2:30 PM
ENG 118 To Hell and Back
Peter Sapira, M W 9:00-10:20 AM
ENG 118 All the World's a Stage
Roger Pinches, M W 2:40 PM-4:00 PM
ENG 118 Water: Science and Politics
Naila Moreira, T Th 9:00-10:20 AM
ENG 118 Consumer Culture
Sara Eddy, T Th 9:00-10:20 AM
ENG 118 Language and Power
Caryl Casson, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
ENG 118 No, Seriously...What's so Funny?: Writing About Humor
Peter Sapira, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
First-level Courses in Literature and Cross-listed First-year Seminars
ENG 112 Reading Contemporary Poetry
Patrick Donnelly, T 7:30-9:30 PM
ENG 120 Reading and Writing Short Poems
Maya Janson, M W 2:40-4:00 PM
ENG 120 Fiction
Robert Hosmer, M W 1:10 PM-2:30 PM
FYS 110 Mysticism and Redemption
William Hagen, T 1:00 PM-2:50 PM
FYS 115 Reading the Civil War
Michael Gorra, T Th 9:00 AM-10:20 AM
FYS 118 The Groves of Academe
Patricia Skarda, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
FYS 128 Ghosts
Cornelia Pearsall, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
FYS 155 Celtic Worlds
Craig R. Davis, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
FYS 160 The End of the World as We Know It: The Post-Apocalyptic Novel
Gillian Kendall, T Th 9:00 AM-10:20 AM
FYS 170 Crime and Punishment
Jefferson Hunter, M W 2:40 PM-4:00 PM
FYS 189 Utopia and Human Nature
William Oram, MWF 9:00 AM-9:50 AM
Level II
Courses numbered 199–249. Open to all sophomores, juniors and seniors, and to qualified first-year students.
Gateway Courses
These courses serve as entry points to the major, introductions to the critical, historical and methodological issues and questions that underlie the study of literatures in English. English majors must select at least two courses from this menu. Fall gateway courses are open to first-year students with the English Literature and Composition AP score of 4 or 5, or a score of 710 on the Critical Reading portion of the SAT.
ENG 199 Methods of Literary Study
Naomi Miller, T Th 1:00 PM-2:20 PM
Michael Thurston, T Th 9:00 AM-10:20 AM
ENG 200 English Literary Tradition I
Douglas Patey, M W F 11:00 AM-12:10 PM
Sharon Seelig, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
ENG 231 American Literature Before 1865
Richard H. Millington, M W F 10:00 AM-10:50 AM
Electives
These courses in particular are designed to interest non-majors as well as majors.
ENG 202 Western Classics: Homer to Dante
Robert Hosmer, M W 9:00 AM-10:20 AM
Scott Bradbury, T Th 9:00 AM-10:20 AM
William Oram, M W F 11:00 AM-12:10 PM
ENG 210 Old English
Craig R. Davis, M W F 10:00 AM-10:50 AM
ENG 212 Telling and Retelling
Patricia Skarda, T Th 1:00 PM-2:20 PM
ENG 236 African-American Literature 1900 to the Present
Kevin Quashie, T Th 1:00 PM-2:20 PM
ENG 238 What Jane Austen Read: The 18th Century Novel
Douglas Patey, M W F 9:00 AM-9:50 AM
ENG 241 The Empire Writes Back: Postcolonial Literature
Ambreen Hai, M W 1:10 PM-2:30 PM
FLS 241 Screen Comedy
Jefferson Hunter, M W 11:00 AM-12:15 PM
ENG 243 The Victorian Novel
Michael E. Gorra, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
ENG 247 Modes of Experiment on Postwar Poetry
Michael Thurston, T Th 3:00 PM-4:20 PM
Level III
Courses numbered 250–299. Open to sophomores, juniors and seniors; first-year students admitted only with the permission of the instructor. Recommended background: at least one English course above the 100 level or as specified in the course description.
ENG 256 Shakespeare
Naomi Miller, T Th 10:30 AM-11:50 AM
Gillian Kendall, T Th 1:00 PM-2:20 PM
ENG 260 Milton
Charles E. Reeves, M W 2:40 PM-4:00 PM
ENG 282 The Harlem Renaissance
Daphne M. Lamothe, M W 2:40 PM-4:00 PM
Advanced Courses in Writing
Only one course in writing may be taken in any one semester, except by permission of the chair. Courses in writing above the 100-level may be repeated for credit only with the permission of the instructor and the chair. For all writing courses above the 100-level, no student will be admitted to a section until she has submitted appropriate examples of her work and received permission of the instructor. Kindly review the course descriptions below for specific instructions and deadlines.
For more information about creating writing courses at Smith and in the Valley, click here.
ENG 206 Intermediate Fiction Writing
David Maine, T 3:00 PM-4:50 PM
ENG 290 Crafting Creative Nonfiction
Robert Hosmer, T 1:00 PM-2:50 PM
ENG 290 Crafting Creative Non-fiction: Topic: Writing About Science
Dava Sobel, T 1:00 PM-2:50 PM
ENG 295 Advanced Poetry Writing
Joan Larkin, T 1:00 PM-3:50 PM
Level IV
300-level courses, but not seminars. These courses are intended primarily for juniors and seniors who have taken at least two literature courses above the 100-level. Other interested students need the permission of the instructor.
ENG 399 Teaching Literature
Samuel Scheer, W 7:00 PM-9:30 PM
Level V
Seminars are open only to juniors and seniors, and admission is by permission of the instructor.
Seminars in the English department stand as the capstone experience in the major. They bring students into the public aspects of intellectual life, and the papers they require are not only longer but also different in kind from those in 200-level classes. These papers require a research component in which students engage the published arguments of others, or at least demonstrate an awareness of the ongoing critical conversation their work is entering. But such work proves most useful when most available, and so we also require that students present their thinking in some way to the semi-public sphere of the seminar itself.
All students who wish to take a seminar must apply at the English department office by the last day of the preregistration period. The instructor will select the students admitted from these applicants.
ENG 309 Seminar: Black Prison Intellectuals
Andrea Stone, Th 3:00 PM-4:50 PM
ENG 334 Seminar: Servants in Literature and Film
Ambreen Hai, Th 1:00 PM-2:50 PM
ENG 382 Seminar: Reading Amer. Lit., Topic: Film Noir and American Fiction 1930-1950
Dean Flower, T 3:00 PM-4:50 PM
Spring 2014 Course Offerings
Level I
ENG 118 Colloquia in Writing
The Politics of Language
Holly Davis
All the World’s a Stage
Roger Pinches
No, Seriously. What’s so Funny? Writing about Humor
Peter Sapira
Language and Power
Caryl Casson
Fakes, Forgeries, and Imposters
TBD
ENG 119 Writing Roundtable
Poverty
Julio Alves
What’s for Dinner? Writing about Food
Sara Eddy
ENG 135 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
Writing about Place and Travel
Pamela Petro
Writing about the Environment
Nancy Cohen
ENG 120 Colloquia in Literature
Fiction
Robert Hosmer
Love & the Literary Imagination
Patricia Skarda
Shakespeare & Film
Gillian Kendall
Level II-Gateway Courses
ENG 199 Methods of Literary Study
Andrea Stone/Jefferson Hunter
ENG 201 The English Literary Tradition II
Cornelia Pearsall/Michael Thurston
Level II-Electives
AAS 202 Topics in Black Studies
Black Music and Literature
Daphne Lamothe
Race and Love
Kevin Quashie
ENG 203 Western Classics in Translation, from Chrétien de Troyes to Tolstoy
Robert Hosmer
ENG 207 The Technology of Reading & Writing
Eric Reeves
ENG 211 Beowulf
Craig Davis
ENG 227 Modern British Fiction
Michael Gorra
ENG 228 Children’s Literature
Gillian Kendall
ENG 233 American Literature from 1865 to 1914
Richard Millington
ENG 235 Modern American Writing
Dean Flower
Level III
NG 250 Chaucer
Nancy Bradbury
ENG 255 What Makes a Tale Worth Telling? Reading the 19th Century Story
Michael Gorra
ENG 257 Shakespeare
William Oram
ENG 259 Rhyming, Railing and Roguery before 1800
Nora F. Crow
ENG 263 Romantic Poetry & Prose
Patricia Skarda
ENG 268 Literary Genres: Lyric Poetry
Naomi Miller
ENG 283 Victorian Medievalism
Nancy Bradbury/Cornelia Pearsall
Intermediate/Advanced Writing Courses
ENG 206 Intermediate Fiction Writing
Emily Barton
ENG 290 Writing Essays New Yorker Style
Nora F. Crow
ENG 295 Advanced Poetry Writing
Joan Larkin
ENG 296 Advanced Fiction Writing
Emily Barton
ENG 384/AMS 351 Writing About American Society
Dava Sobel
Level V-Seminars
ENG 310 Enabling Fictions: Writing Women’s Lives
Sharon Seelig
ENG 333 Major Writer: Ursula K. Le Guin
William Oram
ENG 333: Major Writer: Willa Cather’s Fiction
Richard Millington
Cross-listed and Interdepartmental Courses
CLT 266 Studies in South African Literature & Film
Katwiwa Mule
CLT 306 Foundations of Celtic Europe
Craig Davis
FLS 234 The Art of Film
Jefferson Hunter
SWG 360 The Cultural Work of Memoir
Susan Van Dyne
