Courses
Fall 2026 Courses
ENGL 6480: Introduction to Critical Theory
Prof. Justin Carpenter
Tu/Thu 2:00 – 3:20PM
LNCO 3870
Description
This course will examine the historical and theoretical contexts which contributed to current notions of critical theory and “Theory” more generally. Beginning with the earliest examples of Critical Theory found in the writings of Frankfurt School thinkers—Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Ernst Bloch, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and so on—we will examine the Frankfurt School’s theoretical premises, particularly their blending of aesthetics and politics. With this context at hand, we will proceed chronologically, outlining the trajectory and dynamics of reception surrounding the Frankfurt School’s eventual move to America, observing how their ideas were understood and adapted to the context of the American University. Parallel to this development, we will also discuss the introduction of French Structuralist and Post-Structuralist thinking into this same environment, both of which greatly structured the eventual “Cultural Turn” of the 1980s with the introduction of British Cultural Studies.
By engaging with the historical development and the general dilemmas surrounding the transposition of theoretical ideas from one context to another, students will be capable of understanding the development of “Theory” as an unfolding process within a given ecosystem, helping students reconcile earlier aesthetic theories with the contemporary theoretical paradigm they are entering as graduate students today. In particular, this course will help students develop a larger picture of the establishment of cultural, political, and aesthetic approaches to “Theory” which have persisted and have come to define much of the literary field.
ENGL 6670: 19th Century American Literature
Prof. Stacey Margolis
Mo/We 3:00 – 4:20PM
LNCO 3870
Description
This course focuses on the rise of American realism and naturalism at the end of the nineteenth century. We will read works like William Dean Howells’s The Rise of Silas Lapham, Frank Norris’s McTeague, and Henry James’s The Spoils of Poynton, which track the class conflicts generated by the post-war economic boom; Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which investigates the cultural, legal, and economic restraints placed on women; and Charles Chesnutt’s “conjure” stories, which confront the effects of racial segregation in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
ENGL 6700: American Cinema
Prof. Angela Smith
Wednesdays 4:35 – 7:30PM
LNCO 3875
Description
This course will examine theories of the horror-film genre, diverse critical approaches to horror cinema, and the content, form, effects/affects, and meanings of several significant American horror movies. We’ll particularly consider how horror movies engage cultural and social fears, anxieties, and desires in relation to gender, sexuality, race, and disability. Possible films include Bride of Frankenstein, Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Carrie, Get Out, Nanny, I Saw the TV Glow, and The Substance.
ENGL 7030: Fiction Workshop
Prof. Rone Shavers
Mondays 4:35 – 7:25pm
LNCO 3875
Description
Student material—short prose and excerpts from novels—will be the primary focus of this course. We will study characterization, plot, point of view, syntax, and other elements of craft, as well as analyze a wide range of literary texts, all to better explore the aesthetics of creative writing. However, our approach to evaluating successful fiction will not be prescriptive. That is, we will not learn the “rules” of “good writing,” but instead our goal will be to recognize the different possibilities available when constructing a narrative, so that you may then be able to make informed choices when producing your own creative work.
ENGL 7040: Poetry Workshop
Prof. Paisley Rekdal
Tuesdays 4:35 – 7:25pm
LNCO 3875
Description
In this class, each student will create a poetic project that focuses on a specific and personally meaningful location, either through researching a particular biological feature, notable person, field of industry, or architectural site that represents this place; through writing about its flora or fauna; or through examining the history of how this site itself was mapped—or through all these lenses. The end result will be a series of poems that take a kaleidoscopic look at how an environment evolves, utilizing a variety of poetic forms (conventional or self-invented) to create an extended poetic meditation of place.
