An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division.

Incoming Transfer students, along with continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates, enroll in their designated section(s) through Workday.

Major Requirement | BFA

Epic narratives seem antagonistically devoted to their predecessors in the genre and to the cultural mythologies of their own times. Students in this course will read a series of epics written from antiquity to the present and consider as well the genre's incursions into film. Texts might include: Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Inferno, and Walcott's Omeros. There will be midterm and final examinations, an independently researched essay, and regular short writing assignments.

Elective

The course title 21st Century Poetry bristles with question marks, even if they are invisible: 21st Century Poetry where? 21st Century Poetry in what languages? 21st Century Poetry in 2026? Isn’t that too soon? Why not just teach Contemporary Poetry? We’re a quarter-century in—enough to investigate what might be distinctive about 21st century poetry. And enough distance for perspective on poetry of the previous century.

The 20th century came in with a roar, at least as reflected in European and Anglophone poetry— Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, the Harlem Renaissance and Modernism. The 21st century—a new millennium as well as a new century—came with a sense of dread: Y2K, 9/11, the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the financial crash. How did poetry respond?

Certain subjects remain constant: war, death, nature, joy. Certain movements bridge both centuries: Slam, Spoken Word, electronic literature. And poetry remains constant in being bound always to both tradition and innovation. Even the 20th century slogan “Make It New” has roots in 12th century neo-Confucian scholarship and possibly the Shang Dynasty (second millennium BCE). And Anne Carson’s 21st century “book” Nox is an epic unfolding inside a poem by Catullus (c.84-c.54 BCE).

But much has changed. In this course we will study collections, movements, media, archives, institutions, disciplinary reach, business, economics, technology, publications, priorities, practices, and poetics particular to 21st century poetry in English or translation. Some practitioners bridge both centuries. Some were born in the 21st. Texts may include Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric (2014), David Jhave Johnson’s Aesthetic Animism: Digital Poetry's Ontological Implications (2016), Harryette Mullen’s Regaining Unconsciousness (2025), a contemporary anthology, and essays by Anne Carson.

There will be a midterm and final. Students will also undertake a research project and do exercises related to the thinking and writing conditions of 19th, 20th, and 21st century poetry, which may result in poems.

Elective

In this class, we will explore the future of literature and language art made with and about computers. We investigate the real danger and the revolutionary power of data, software, social media, memes, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence and we will cultivate new ways of relating to digital technology. We will examine the genealogy of writing as a technology in order to gain a better understanding of current and future possibilities. What is the role of the artist in computer-generated artwork? How will the co-evolution of human and machine affect the future of language art? In this course, we will discuss the ethical, aesthetic, and critical dimensions of artificial intelligence and machine learning in relation to the production of new forms of language art. In this class, we examine how artists can use computers as a tool or a collaborator to create the language art of the future. Students will learn to think analytically critically about computer mediated language art and and learn to articulate their process and goals for their work. Students should expect weekly readings, writing and creative assignments that will nourish a final project.

Elective

In this class, we will explore the future of literature and language art made with and about computers. We investigate the real danger and the revolutionary power of data, software, social media, memes, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence and we will cultivate new ways of relating to digital technology. We will examine the genealogy of writing as a technology in order to gain a better understanding of current and future possibilities. What is the role of the artist in computer-generated artwork? How will the co-evolution of human and machine affect the future of language art? In this course, we will discuss the ethical, aesthetic, and critical dimensions of artificial intelligence and machine learning in relation to the production of new forms of language art. In this class, we examine how artists can use computers as a tool or a collaborator to create the language art of the future. Students will learn to think analytically critically about computer mediated language art and and learn to articulate their process and goals for their work. Students should expect weekly readings, writing and creative assignments that will nourish a final project.

Elective

We are all familiar with the moral of the story that comes at the end of a fairy tale. Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood cautions unmarried young ladies not to let "wolves" into their beds, while the Grimm's "Little Red Cap" chastises girls for not listening closely to their mothers. Traditional versions of these tales are conduct manuals, cautionary tales, and homemaking primers for young girls, but they also address the underlying uncertainties associated with growing up and entering adulthood. Over the years, the fairy tale has been retold or reimagined to reflect shifting gender norms, and changing cultural anxieties around the transition to adulthood. Most recently, adaptations on the large and small screens have asked us to consider the motivations of the fairy tale's most notorious female villains in the context of traditional gender roles such as wife and mother.

This course will examine tellings and retellings of four classic fairy tales: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. We will read and watch classic versions, contemporary retellings, and film and television adaptations of these texts that both challenge and reinforce ideas of gender normativity, contextualized by readings in feminist theory, gender studies, and psychoanalytic theory. We will also put these western tales in conversation with other similar literary texts and folk tales from around the world, and yes, we will talk about Disney.

Elective

Students will emerge from this class with a thorough overview of Woolf's life, world, and life's work. The heart of the course will be our study of Virginia Woolf's major novels: Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and The Waves. However, our reading list will also include short stories, essays, and selections from her published letters and diaries. In particular, students can expect to become skilled readers of the stream of consciousness style of narration that characterizes Woolf's fiction and to engage with themes that run through much of her writing such as the creative process, modern subjectivity, sexuality, gender, domestic space, and war.

Elective

This course traces the ways a war experience is both imagined and remembered in short fiction and films of the long twentieth-century amidst a marked acceleration of both mass warfare and ecological change. In Authoring War, Kate McLoughlin notes that the challenge for war writing is to convey this charged space, to communicate this complex situation-part psycho-physiological, part geographical-that is conflict. In a ground war, knowledge of the terrain can mean the difference between life and death for a soldier. The earth, in this sense can be both refuge of safety, or, harbinger of death. For civilians, home-place is often transformed from a familiar site of sanctuary into a foreign-seeming environment of hostility.

We will read works by both soldier and civilian authors-such as Tim O'Brien, Brian Turner, J.D. Salinger, Tadeusz Borowski, Tamiki Hara, Elizabeth Bowen, and Arthur Machen-and watch films depicting World War I, the Vietnam War, and other conflicts-such as 1917 and Apocalypse Now. As we do so, we will ask: How does the setting of war function as more than mere backdrop? Why does natural imagery become a standard trope for representing some of the most traumatic aspects of the war experience? As we contextualize our readings and viewings by looking to scholars of trauma as well as to environmental historians of war, we will consider some of the ways that the environmental aesthetics of war may be linked to our own hostilities towards the environment in a time of climate crisis.

Elective