All Courses for Winter, 2025

Our aim in this second segment of the required three-part Literatures in English sequence will be to lay down a solid foundation of historical, terminological, methodological, and pragmatic knowledge in preparation for more advanced study in the major.  The specific focus of this class will be on writing produced between 1700 and 1900 in England, the United States, and a few other parts of the English-speaking world, with emphasis on the major transitions in English cultural and literary history. This is a reading- and writing-intensive course designed to encourage your curiosity about the literature of the past, improve your skills in close reading within historical contexts, and guide you towards fruitful analytic strategies for research in upper-division courses.  The format will be 3 50-minute lecture/discussion sessions per week, plus a more focused 50-minute weekly discussion led by graduate students, all in person.  GE Credit: Writing Experience

The main texts for this course are previous editions of Norton anthologies.  While the current editions of the Norton can be quite expensive, these slightly older editions are practically identical and can be purchased online very cheaply (often under $10 shipped).  Please note carefully the specified editions and ISBN numbers below and try to avoid purchasing the texts from the UCD Bookstore, which will likely mark them up 200-300%.  Although we won't come close to covering all the material included in these volumes, they will serve you well in years to come as valuable resources and references for Anglophone literature in this period.  Consider the modest used cost as an investment in your core personal library as an English major.  The remaining two texts have been ordered in their cheapest current editions but note that these are also widely available for free in various formats online if you wish to procure them that way.  All these texts will be available in digital form on Canvas and through Course Reserves, though it is likely that Equitable Access will offer different editions--a problem we can work around as it arises.

Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume C: Restoration and 18^th Century, 

8^th edition or late (NY: Norton, 2006) ISBN 9780393927191

Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume D: Romantic Period, 

8^th edition or later (NY: Norton, 2006) ISBN 9780393927207

Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume E: Victorian Age, 

8^th edition or later (NY: Norton, 2006) ISBN 9780393927214

Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B: 1820-1865, 

7^th edition or later (NY: Norton, 2006) ISBN 9780393927405

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (NY: Oxford UP, 2007) ISBN 9780192833426

Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (NY: Dover, 1996) ISBN 9780486290737

Grading   

Section Attendance & Participation   10%                             Weekly

Weekly Response Essays (8 entries)  20%                             (0-10pts) due Fs by midnight; 2 lowest dropped

Short Exercises (5 x 4%)                    20%                             (0-10pts) see due dates in Reading Schedule

Project 1          (5pp)                           20%                             (100pts) due via Canvas

Project 2          (5pp)                           20%                             (100pts) due via Canvas

Final Exam                                         10%                             230 Olson

Topic: Latina/o/x Literature and Media 

This class departs from the idea that “literature” and “media” should not be thought of as totally separate categories in relation to Latina/o/x studies. In general, media has become an umbrella term for all the channels of communication and information, whether in relation to tv/film/streaming, social media, or the internet. Meanwhile, literature calls to mind works of creative imagination that may be written or sometimes spoken, including poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, journalism and in some instances, song.

But in Latina/o/x studies and Latinx cultural production, literature has also functioned as a channel of communication, while media frequently also constitutes works of creative imagination. Latina/o/x writers and artists often face obstacles to publishing or exhibiting their writing and art, and many of them turn to media channels to distribute their work. Meanwhile, many Latina/o/x writers and artists produce hybrid texts that incorporate many different kinds of genres – such as memoir, poetry, essay, graphics/comics, and narrative. These writers and artists also frequently use media channels to distribute or publish their work, to gain readership and viewership, and to build different kinds of social communities. In this class, we will read, view, and study texts, films, and other works across all of these different genres, with a particular focus on the hybrid use of literature and media in Latina/o/x cultural production.   

Topic: Adapting Shakespeare for the 21^st Century

Shakespeare occupies a surprisingly central place in the history of media. It seems that whenever a new media form arises, Shakespeare’s plays provide fodder for artists to explore the limits and affordance of new modes of expression. This course examines how 21^st century artists have adapted and appropriated Shakespeare for a range of media on screen (television, film, social media, videogames) and off (comic books, music, board and role-playing games). In addition to reading, viewing, listening to, and playing these various texts alongside the Shakespeare plays they adapt, we will use them to explore theories of adaptation and appropriation. How does adapting Shakespeare for contemporary audiences and different media forms affect the meaning of Shakespeare’s plays? How can Shakespeare help us understand the media that we use every day? What is lost and what is gained when artists wrest authority away from Shakespeare, bringing contemporary perspectives to plays written 400 years ago? In particular, we will consider how transposing the plays to different media forms enable the plays to address wider, more diverse audiences, and to grapple head-on with 21^st century concerns around gender, race, and sexuality.

In this seminar, we will depart from the premise that California has always been portrayed as a land of contradiction: a land of golden dreams, a popular tourist destination, a magnet for immigrants, and a place where adventurers seek fame and fortune; and a land of illusion, a toxic dystopia of environmental injustice, racial tensions and riots, and financial crisis. We will examine the ways that these contradictions have ramped up in the c21, to reflect on historical and contemporary legacies of colonialism, Native American dispossession, migration, urbanization/gentrification, and ongoing patterns of racial and economic inequality amidst changing modes of economic development. We will also focus on the ways these authors emphasize space and placemaking to highlight California’s role as simultaneously both center and periphery.    

Partial Reading list (secondary texts to be added later):

_{Paul Beatty: The Sellout}

_{Joan Didion: Blue Nights}

_{Myriam Gurba: Essays from Creep}

_{Hua Hsu: Stay True}

_{Viet Thanh Nguyễn: A Man of Two Faces}

_{Tommy Orange: There There}

_{Yesika Salgado: Corazón}

Most of us are introduced to history through visual culture, namely films, television, and photography. The past reaches us as archival documents in a variety of media forms, but we also construct a vision of the past through representation. This graduate seminar focuses on the production of film and images of historical, legendary, and imagined pasts. We ask together how historical images are constructed and deconstructed; what are the constitutive elements of 'historical film' (such as spectacle, costume, acting, setting, and event); what distinguishes historical films from documentary; how is history differently represented for different audiences?