Information about Spring 2012 Classes

Spring Offerings

LANG 352: History of the English Language and The Teaching of Writing - Amanda Wray. This course provides a historical survey of the English language as well as an introduction to current theories of writing pedagogy. Our aim is to study language as an evolving and negotiated meaning-making practice that shapes and adapts to social, historical, and/or cultural contexts. Students in LANG 352 will propose individual learning projects that could include programmatic curriculum design, teaching portfolio, or linguistic analysis. We will read a range of texts including contemporary composition theory, social justice pedagogy theory, student writing, and literature derived from Old, Middle, Early Modern, Modern, and PostModern English.

LANG 368: Poetics of Identity And Perception – Holly Iglesias. Students will study the work of poets from around the world, exploring the themes of identity and ways of knowing. We will read as writers—poems from The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, several full-length collections by U.S. authors, and one craft book. Throughout the semester, each person will write original poems as well as craft and thematic analyses.

LIT 241: Introduction to Poetry – Sam Schuman. We will look at short poems written from the beginnings of English literature up to today. We will survey poetic devices such as rhythmic patterns and meter, and discuss some major poetic types such as the sonnet. The class will have the opportunity to meet and talk with some contemporary Asheville writers. The emphasis of the course will be on close, careful deep reading of a relatively few poems, rather than a comprehensive survey. The class will be conducted on a discussion basis, with little lecturing by the instructor.

LIT 246: Introduction to Shakespeare – Sam Schuman. “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” This course will consider representative comedies, tragedies and history plays, written early and late in Shakespeare’s career. We will read relatively few plays, but read them carefully and thoroughly. The emphasis will be on Shakespeare’s dramas as stage productions, designed to be performed by actors, to be heard and seen, not read. There will be frequent opportunities for all students in the class to participate in informal presentations of interesting and important scenes. Acting experience is certainly not required, but a willingness of each man and woman in the class to “play many parts” with energy and enthusiasm will be helpful.

LIT 324: American Literary Tradition - Erica Abrams Locklear. This semester we will read widely in American literature, beginning with Christopher Columbus and ending with Gloria Anzaldua. For the majority of the course we will read from the 7th shorter edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature, but we will also read the full-text of Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, as well as Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

LANG 352: History of the English Language and The Teaching of Writing - Amanda Wray. This course provides a historical survey of the English language as well as an introduction to current theories of writing pedagogy. Our aim is to study language as an evolving and negotiated meaning-making practice that shapes and adapts to social, historical, and/or cultural contexts. Students in LANG 352 will propose individual learning projects that could include programmatic curriculum design, teaching portfolio, or linguistic analysis. We will read a range of texts including contemporary composition theory, social justice pedagogy theory, student writing, and literature derived from Old, Middle, Early Modern, Modern, and PostModern English.

LIT 349: Studies in Contemporary Literature – Peter Caulfield. In this course will read and analyze the work of a number of contemporary (mostly living) writers from Canada, Ireland, and Australia: Alice Munro, Alistair McCleod, and Carol Shields (Canada) William Trevor, Colm Toibin, and Clair Keegan (Ireland) and Tim Winton (Australia). Though revered by other writers—e.g.,Cynthia Ozik called Alice Munro “our Chekov,” and Munro and Trevor are often cited together as perhaps the greatest living writers of fiction today—they are not often studied in American English or Literature departments, except for the occasional short story in an anthology. As writers from other English-speaking countries, they also bring the unique cultures of those countries vividly alive in their fiction. They are also extraordinary models for students who aspire to write literary fiction. We will read and discuss significant works by each of these highly regarded authors. 

LIT 379 LSIC: The Culture of Calamity - Kirk Boyle. This course takes its title from a book by American Studies Professor Kevin Rozario. In The Culture of Calamity: Disaster and the Making of Modern America, Rosario wonders why we are drawn to “dramatic images of destruction.” From hurricanes to earthquakes, wildfires to terrorist attacks, disasters fill our screens and consume our imaginations. What do cultural representations of catastrophe say about what we believe, what we know, what (and who) we value as a society? This course tackles such questions through a multi-disciplinary examination of literary and cinematic depictions of disaster. Since one of the primary course goals is to address the nature of liberal studies, we will read a variety of texts from different genres and disciplines. In addition to reading authors Voltaire, Albert Camus, Don DeLillo, Octavia Butler, Haruki Murakami and Patricia Smith, we will view Hurricane Katrina documentaries (Trouble the Water, When the Levees Broke) and Hollywood disaster films (The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Poseidon (2006)). As both a writing and information literacy intensive course, students will compose several short essays on the course texts and write a research essay that analyzes a disaster film of their choice.