Course
Listings for Fall 2006
For
updated information see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/
More information on many courses available at courseworks.columbia.edu
INTRODUCTORY
1201x. First-Year English: Reinventing Literary History
[For more information see
course
web
site or library
research guide]
Close examination of texts and regular writing assignments in composition,
designed to help students read critically and write effectively. Sections of
the course are grouped in three clusters: I. Legacy of the Mediterranean; II.
The Americas; III. Women and Culture. The first cluster features a curriculum
of classic texts representing key intellectual moments that have shaped Western
culture, as well as excursions to the opera, the theatre, and museums. Offering
revisionist responses to the constraints of canonicity, the last two clusters
feature curricula that explore the literary history of the Americas and the
role of women in culture.—Director and Staff. Required for all
first-year students. May not be taken for P/D/F. 3 points.
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1201x: |
Sec. 01 |
MW 9:10-10:25 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 02 |
MW 10:35-11:50 |
Women and Culture |
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Sec. 03 |
MW 11:00-12:15 |
Women and Culture |
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Sec. 04 |
MW 1:10-2:25 |
Women and Culture |
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Sec. 05 |
MW 1:10-2:25 |
Women and Culture |
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Sec. 06 |
MW 2:40-3:55 |
Women and Culture |
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Sec. 07 |
MW 2:40-3:55 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 08 |
MW 4:10-5:25 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 09 |
MW 4:10-5 :25 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 10 |
MW 4:10-5:25 |
The Americas |
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Sec. 11 |
TTh 9:10-10:25 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 12 |
TTh 9:10-10:25 |
The Americas |
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Sec. 13 |
TTh 11:00-12:15 |
The Americas |
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Sec. 14 |
TTh 1:10-2:25 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 15 |
TTh 1:10-2:25 |
Women and Culture |
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Sec. 16 |
TTh 2:40-3:55 |
The Americas |
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Sec. 17 |
TTh 2:40-3:55 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
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Sec. 18 |
TTh 4:10-5:25 |
Legacies of the Mediterranean |
1202x.
Studies in Writing
Intensive practice in writing, emphasizing drafts, revision, peer response,
and individual conferences. Consideration of the conventions of English style,
usage, and grammar by means of both informal and formal writing, culminating
in expository essays. Recommended for (but not limited to) first-year students
and students whose first language is not English. Permission of the instructor
required.—Director and Staff. 3pts.
| |
Sec. 1 |
M W 9:10-10:25 |
M. Kolisnyk |
| |
Sec. 2 |
M W 2:40-3:55 |
P. Cobrin |
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Sec. 3 |
T Th 11:00-12:15 |
J. Runsdorf |
WRITING
Registration
in each course is limited and permission of the instructor
required. Click here
for the additional requirements for Creative Writing courses. A student is not permitted to
take two writing courses concurrently.
3101x.
The Writer's Process: A Seminar in the Teaching of Writing
An exploration of theory and practice in the teaching of
writing, designed for students who plan to become Writing
Fellows at Barnard. Students will read current theory and
consider current research in the writing process, and engage in
practical applications in the classroom or in tutoring.
Application process and permission of the instructor. 3
points. Sec. 1 Tu Th 1:10-2:25-- N. Piore, Sec. 2 MW 11:00-12:15--
P. Cobrin
ENGL BC3101x does not count for major credit!
3103x.
Essay Writing
English composition above the first-year level. Techniques of argument and
effective expression. Weekly papers. Individual conferences. Some sections
have a special focus, as described. Section 3 is offered Autumn semester for
students whose first language is not English and who seek an upper-level writing
course. 3 points. Essay Writing (3103-3104) can count for major
credit.
|
3103x: |
Sec.
1 |
T
2:10-4. |
P. Ellsberg. |
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Sec.
2 |
Th 11-12:50 |
A.
Schneider |
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Sec. 3 |
W 4:10-6 |
P. Kain |
Creative Writing
Registration
in each course is limited and the permission of the instructor
is required; for courses 3105–3118 and 3120, submit a writing sample in
advance. Departmental application forms are available in the
department office, Room 417 Barnard, and at
www.barnard.edu/English/cwregistration.
The signed forms and writing samples must be filed with the
Director of Creative Writing, Professor Timea Szell (423
Barnard) before the end of the program planning period.
Since screenwriting is considered part of
the Film Concentration, you may apply to screenwriting in addition to
either a poetry or prose course. However, you are
strongly
advised to take only one writing class in any given semester.
Two non-film creative writing courses may not be taken
concurrently.
3105x.
Fiction and Personal Narrative
Short stories and other imaginative and personal writing.—x:
C. Baker.
3 points. x: W 6:10-8.
3107x. Introduction to Fiction Writing
Practice in writing short stories and autobiographical narrative, with discussion
and close analysis in a workshop setting.—x: M. Swann.
3 points. x: M 2:10-4:00.
3110x.
Introduction to Poetry Writing
Varied assignments designed to confront the difficulties and
explore the resources of language through imitation, allusion,
free association, revision, and other techniques.—x:
K. Swenson.
3 points.
x: Th
2:10-4.
3113x.
Introduction to Playwriting
A workshop to provoke and investigate dramatic writing.—E. McLaughlin.
3 points. M 4:10-6.
3115x. Story Writing
Advanced work in writing, with emphasis on the short story. Prerequisite: Some
experience in the writing of fiction. —x: M. Gordon. 3 points. Conference hours to be arranged.
x: T 4:10-6:00.
3117x.
Fiction Writing
Assignments designed to examine form and structure in fiction. Some attention
given to the role of the writer in society.-- A. Hamburger. 3 points. W 4:10-6:00.
Students will have already written
a substantial body of work. Prerequisite: Writing sample and interview with
the instructor.
FILM
(cross listed with Film Department)
FILM 3119x.
Screenwriting.
A practical workshop in dramatic writing for the screen. Through a
series of creative writing exercises, script analysis, and scene
work, students explore and develop the basic principles of
screenwriting. Either a polished short film script or a
preliminary draft of a feature screenplay is the final project.
(Preference given to students concentrating in film.
Since this is a Film Concentration course, it does not count
as a writing course for those with a Writing Concentration.)—
x: D. McKenna.. 3
points.
x: W 2:10-4:00.
Please note: For Prof. Regan's course in the spring,
students must submit a 2-3 page, dramatic
writing sample by December
1st. They may be placed in her box in the English
Department office (417 Barnard Hall).
FILM 3200x.Film Production.
An exploration of basic narrative tools at the filmmaker's
disposal, with a particular emphasis on camera work and editing.
Examines basic cinematic syntax that provides a foundation for
storytelling on the screen.—G. Fletcher. 3 points. x: T 6-9.
Prerequisite: ENGL BC 3201x and permission of the instructor.
Sophomore standing. ENROLLMENT LIMITED TO 12 STUDENTS.
Students must send a one-page application to the
instructor via e-mail (lbe1@Columbia.edu)
explaining why the student wishes to take the course, the
foundation work (whether academic or work-related) in film, video,
the arts, etc. the student has had, and any final project the
student may have in mind. They should also include their
affiliation, year of graduation and major or concentration.
FILM 3201x.
Introduction to Film and Film Theory.
A survey of the history of American and international film and an introduction
to film theory, including feminist, psychoanalytic, structuralist, and post-structuralist
methodologies. Film contextualized through theory and through the lens of popular
culture (advertising, television, music videos) and genre (the Hollywood film,
women’s film, action movies, westerns, sci-fi, documentary, “Third
World,” and “alternative” film, etc.) Weekly screening.—M.
Regan. 3 points.
M
5:40-9:30.
(See
3998y and
Film Department Listings for Film Seminar Courses)
SPEECH
Registration in each course is limited.
Students need to sign up outside the English Department office,
room 417 Barnard Hall.
3121x.
Uses of Speech
An introduction to effective oral presentation, including
interviewing and public speaking. Emphasis on self-presentation,
research, organization, and
audience analysis.—P. Denison. 3 points. Enrollment limited to 14
students. T Th 10:35-11:50.
THEATRE
Registration
in each course is limited. Students may sign up
for theatre courses outside the Theatre office, Room 507
Milbank Hall. See Theatre Department course descriptions for
Theatre History (THTR 3150, 3151), Drama and Film (THTR
BC 3143), Drama, Theatre, and Theory
(THTR 3166), Modernism
and Theatre (THTR 3737), and The History Play (THTR
BC 3750). [For
information about studio courses in theatre, go to the Theatre office, 5th floor Milbank.]
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
3140x.
Seminars on Special Themes. 3 points. Registration
is limited. Sign up on bulletin boards across from the
English Department office, 417 Barnard Hall.
1. Prophets, Women and Social
Change in Renaissance England
Examines the emergence of women
prophets (e.g. Anna Trapnel, Margaret Fell) ---writings by and
about them-- in Civil War England, within the context of the
Bible (and its uses), contemporary male prophets, social
upheaval, the obsession with "the end times," and the
radical desire for social change and justice - Achsah Guibbory.
T Th 9:10-10:25
2. Explorations of Black Literature: 1760-1890
Poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction, with special attention to the slave
narrative. Includes Wheatley, Douglass, and Jacobs, but emphasis will be on
less familiar writers such as Brown, Harper, Walker, Wilson, and Forten. Works
by some 18th century precursors will also be considered.—Q. Prettyman. M
W 2:40-3:55.
3141x. Major English Texts
A chronological view of the variety of English literature
through study of selected writers and their works. Autumn:
Beowulf through Johnson. Spring: Romantic poets through the
present. Guest lectures by members of the department.—x: P.
Ellsberg. 3 points. x:
M W 11-12:50.
3158x.
Medieval
Literature: Paths to Heaven and Hell
Journeys,
-- infernal, quotidian, and mystical -- in selected medieval
texts. The notion of
life as pilgrimage, travel as spatially and metaphorically liminal.
Readings include the Old English "Wanderer,"
Marie de France, "St. Patrick's Journey to
Purgatory," Dante's "Inferno," "The Romance of
the Rose," Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gottfried von
Strassburg's, "Tristan and Isolt," "The Book of
Margery Kempe," "Mandeville's Travels," and
selections from Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."—T.
Szell. 3 points. T Th
4:10-5:25
3159x-3160y. The English Colloquium
Major writers and literary works of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment,
examined in terms of leading ideas in those periods. Required of majors in
the junior year. 4 points.
Students may
substitute 3 courses--from ENGL 3154-3158, 3163-3164, 3165-3169,
or ENTH 3136-3137. This 3140y sec. 2 will also count as a
substitution. Students may also take 1 colloquium and 2
substitutions. At least one of these courses must cover Medieval
or Renaissance material; at least one material of the 17th or
18th Century. One of these will also count toward satisfying the
“before 1900” requirement.
I.
Imitation and Creation
New ideas of the mind's relation to the world. New perspectives, the emergence
of new forms, experimentation with old forms, and the search for an
appropriate style.
x,y: R. Hamilton. x: T 6:10-8; y: W 9:00-10:50.
II.
Skepticism and Affirmation
The development of modern concepts of subjectivity and authority. The rise
of art and the artist. Humanism and education. Rationalism and empiricism.
The tension between belief and doubt. The exploration of the limits and the
limitless.
x: A. Guibbory; y: E. Schmidt. x: Th 11:00-12:50; y: Tu 2:10-4:00.
III.
Reason and Imagination [fall
syllabus] [spring
syllabus]
Humanism, reformation, and revolution: the possibilities of human knowledge;
sources of and strategies for secular and spiritual authority; the competing
demands of idealism and experience.
x: P. Platt; y: C. Plotkin. x: W 2:10-4:00; y: W 4:10-6:00.
IV.
Order and Disorder
The Tension,
conflicts, and upheavals of an era in the arts, religion,
politics, politics, aesthetics, and society.
x: A. Prescott; y: J. Basker. x: Tu 4:10-6:00; y: M 2:10-4.
3163x. Shakespeare I & II
A critical and historical introduction to Shakespeare's comedies, histories,
tragedies, and romances. 3 points.—P. Platt. x: M W 9:10-10:25.
This course requires signing up with the English Department.
3166x.
Seventeenth-century Prose and Poetry
Lyric poetry about love, sex, death,
and God in Donne and others (e.g., Herbert, Lanyer, Wroth,
Herrick, Marvell, Phillips). Prose about science, politics,
religion, and philosophy (e.g., Bacon and Cavendish, Hobbes and
early communists "The Levellers") in what has been called the
"century of revolution."—A. Guibbory. 3 points. T Th 2:40-3:55.
ENGL
W 4301x Age of Johnson.
The works of Johnson, Boswell, and
their contemporaries in historic context; rise of the novel
(Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne); poets from Pope to Blake and
Wordsworth; women writers from Carter to Collier to
Wollstonecraft; working class writers; topics include slavery
and abolition in literature, the democratization of culture, and
the transition to romanticism.—J Basker.
Tu Th 9:10-10:25
3178x.
Victorian Poetry and Criticism.
Poetry, art, and aesthetics in an industrial
society, with emphasis on the role of women as artists and
objects. Poems by Tennyson, Arnold, Christina and D.G, Rossetti,
Swinburne, and Elizabeth and Robert Browning; criticism by Ruskin,
Arnold, and Wilde; paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites and Whistler;
photographs by J.M. Cameron.—W.
Sharpe. 3 points. MW 11:00-12:15.
3179x.
American Literature to 1800 [web
site]
Early American histories, autobiographies, poems, plays, and
novels tell stories of pilgrimage and colonization; private
piety and public life; the growth of national identity;
Puritanism, Quakerism, and Deism; courtship and marriage;
slavery and abolition. Writers include
Bradford, Shepard, Bradstreet, Taylor, Rowlandson, Edwards, Wheatley,
Franklin, Woolman, Brown. 3 points.—L. Gordis. MW 11:00-12:15.
3181x.
American Literature, 1871-1945
American
literature in the context of cultural and historical change.
Writers include Twain, James, DuBois, Wharton, Cather, Wister,
Faulkner, Hurston.—J.
Kassanoff. 3 points.
T Th 10:35-11:50.
3185x. Modern British and
American Poetry
The poetry of three decades, 1915-25, 1955-65, and 1991-2001.
Poems by Yeats, Eliot, Williams, Millay, Larkin, O'Hara, Rich,
Hughes, and others.—W. Sharpe. 3 points. MW 9:10-10:25.
3191x. The English Conference: The Lucyle Hook Guest Lectureship.
Enrollment limited: sign up in the Department office.
Special topics presented by visiting scholars in courses that will meet for
two to four weeks during each semester. To be taken only for pass/fail. 1 point. To
receive credit for this course students must attend all lectures. Information
will be available online.
Fall: (ENGL
BC 3191x) Fall: (ENGL
BC 3191x). "John Ruskin"
This course will examine selected writings of the great
Victorian sage, John Ruskin. We will pay special attention to
how Ruskin's thinking about aesthetics--in particular, why the
world looks the way it does--forced him to become an unwilling
social critic and the consequences of this radical reorientation
for Ruskin's writing, for social-reform movements of his day,
and for Ruskin personally.
—R.
Gurstein. W 6:10-7:25 on October 4, 11, 18, and 25th.
3193x.
Literary Criticism and Theory [sample
web site]
The purpose of the course is to provide experience in the reading and analysis
of texts and some knowledge of conspicuous works of literary criticism. Frequent
short papers. Required of all majors before the end of the junior year. Sophomores
are encouraged to take it in the Spring Term even before officially declaring
their major. Transfer students should plan to take it in the Autumn Term. Registration
in each section is limited. Please sign up on the bulletin board between rooms
403 and 405 Barnard Hall. 4 points.—Members of the Department.
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3193x:
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Sec. 1
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Th
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4:10-6:00
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C.
Brown
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Sec. 2
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Tu
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4:10-6:00
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M.
Spiegel
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Sec. 3
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W
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12:00-1:50
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E.
Schmidt
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Sec. 4
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Tu
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2:10-4:00
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D.
Swift
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Sec.
5
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W
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11:00-12:50
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M.
Cregan
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3194x Critical and Theoretical Perspectives on Literature, Section
2: Literary
Theory
not offered in 2006-07.
3195x.
Modernism
Modernist responses to cultural fragmentation and gender anxiety in the wake
of psychoanalysis and world war. Works by Woolf, Joyce, Yeats, Eliot, Stein,
Hemingway, H.D., Pound, Lawrence, Barnes, and other Anglo-American writers. 3
points.—M. Vandenburg. T Th 1:10-2:25.
ENGL W4502x. British Literature 1950 to the Present.—M.
Spiegel.
English fiction (and a few films), with attention to narrative
drift, history, temporality, memory and current travails of
representation; voice and the status of subjecthood; the
colonial legacy, globalized and “post-national” identities;.
Writers include: Martin Amis, John Banville, Pat Barker, Graham
Greene, Kazuo Ishiguro, James Kelman, Ian McEwan, David
Mitchell, Iris Murdoch, V.S. Naipual, John Osborne, W.G.Sebald.
Films by Carol Reed, Michael Apted, Joseph Losey, Tony
Richardson, Mike Leigh, Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Frears. 3
pts.—M. Spiegel. MW
6:10-7:25.
3199x.
Poetics.
An investigation of philosophies of poetry and
imagination. Selected prose and poetry by Petrarch, Coleridge,
Clare, Dickinson, WIlliams, Celan, and others.—S.
Hamilton. 3 points. M W 1:10-2:25
3996x. Special Project in Theatre,
Writing, or Critical Interpretation
Senior majors who are concentrating in Theatre or Writing and have completed
two courses in writing or three in theatre will normally take the Special Project
in Theatre or Writing (3996x, y) in combination with another course in their
special field. This counts in place of one of the Senior Seminars. In certain
cases, Independent Study (3999) may be substituted for the Special Project. Permission
of the instructor and the chair required. In rare cases,
with the permission of the chair, a special project in conjunction with a course may
be taken by other English majors. Click here
for the form to complete. 1 point.
3992x, 3997x. Senior Seminars: Studies in Literature
Required of all majors, these seminars are designed to deepen knowledge of
periods, writers, works, genres, and theories through readings, discussion,
oral reports, and at least one significant research paper. Written
permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to seniors. 4
points.
ENGL BC 3992x. Senior Post-Colonial Literature
Seminar: The literature of the Middle Passage
not offered in 2006-07.
3997x. Senior Seminars: Studies in
Literature
Required of all majors, these seminars are designed to deepen
knowledge of periods, writers, works, genres, and theories
through readings, discussion, oral reports, and at least one
significant research paper. Written permission of the
instructor. Enrollment limited to seniors. 4
points.
3997x (fall)
1. Body and Language
Interpretation
of femininity in relation to issues of identification, sexuation,
desire, love, and anxiety in various postmodern literary and
theoretical (mainly lacanian) texts.—M.
Jaanus W 11-12:50
2.
Reading and Writing Women in Colonial America
In
April 1645, John Winthrop lamented the sorry state of Ann Yale
Hopkins, "who fallen into a sadd infirmytye, the losse of
her vnderstandinge & reason…by occasion of her giving her
selfe wholly to readinge & writing, & had written many
bookes." Many
colonial women were avid readers and writers, composing and
publishing poetry, autobiographies, captivity narratives,
novels, and commonplace books. Consideration of these texts, including works by Anne
Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson, Phillis Wheatley, and Hannah
Foster, as well as texts that reveal women's reading and
publication practices, such as accounts of Anne Hutchinson and
Milcah Martha Moore's Book.—L. Gordis. W 2:10-4:00.
3. Masterpieces
An inquiry into the historical and theoretical relationship
between grand narratives and masterpieces, this course weighs
the polictical dangers of obeying the laws of canonicity against
the aesthetic risk of defiance. Works by Aeschylus,
Nabokov, Barthelme, and Kincaid.—M. Vandenburg Th 4:10-6
4.
Poets and their Correspondence
How do poets' letters inform our understanding of their
poetry? From the eighteenth to the twentieth century, poets have
used their intimate correspondence to "baffle absence,"
as Coleridge remarked. This course will examine the ways several
masters of the letter (including Cowper, Keats, Dickinson, Eliot,
Bishop, and Lowell, among others) shaped their prose to convey
spontaneity in paradoxically artful ways, illuminating their major
work as poets and making the private letter a literary form in its
own right.—S.
Hamilton. M 4:10-6
5.
Nation and Novel
Interrogates
relationship between nationalism and novel-form in global fiction. Focuses on
issues of cultural and political theory, history, and literary form. Asks: is
the novel the voice of the nation, and it the terrain of the nation adequate for
understanding the novel?—B.
Abu-Manneh. T 2:10-4
6. Fallen Women
We will follow Eve's legacy from the Reformation to
the present. Gendered notions of embodied sin and the acquisition
of knowledge, the emblematic associations with the figure Fortuna
and Natura, the figure of the prostitute and the redeemed or
redeeming women. Readings from the Bible, Augustine, Shakespeare,
and Milton but also Defoe, Flaubert, Brontë, Collette and Rhys.—R. Hamilton. T
4:10-6.
3999x. Independent Study
Senior majors who wish to substitute Independent Study for one of the two required
senior seminars should consult the chair. Permission is
given rarely and only to students who present a clear and well-defined topic of study,
who have a Department sponsor, and who submit their proposals well in advance
of the semester in which they will register. There is no independent study for
screenwriting or film production. Permission of the
Instructor and Department Chair is required.
Click here
for the form to complete. 4 points.
Additional Courses
CLEN G4995x.
Special Topics in Modern Literature: Reading Lacan.
An intensive reading of selections from
the late Lacan: Seminars XIV The Logic of the Phantasm;
XVII Psychoanalysis upside down; XX Encore; XXIII The Sinthome
and selected works by Molière, Laclos, Camus, Duras,
James, D.H. Lawrence, and others. Emphasis on the
relevance of Lacan’s thought to literature and culture, and his
redefinition of sexuation, feminine sexuality, jouissance, love,
and the symptom.—M. Jaanus. 3pts.
T 11:00-12:50
ENGL
W4301x. Age of Johnson.—J.
Basker. see above.
ENGL W4502x. British Literature 1950 to the Present.—M.
Spiegel. see above.
The Guidelines
for Independent Study Projects and the Independent
Study Application are also available.
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