English
Faculty:
The study of English has diverse parts, including linguistics, creative writing, and rhetorical theory, and is itself part of European cultural history, general literary studies, and American studies. The study of the literary resources of the language cannot be isolated from the rest of the liberal arts. Students of English need to know how English can be used in other disciplines, and students in other disciplines can profit from study in the Department of English. At Grinnell, the study of English is founded on critical reading and argumentative writing. To establish this foundation, the department offers several courses without prerequisite to accommodate a variety of needs and interests. Advanced courses reveal the department’s particular emphasis on the imaginative literature of England, the United States, and other countries with traditions of literature in English, an emphasis that necessarily invites students to develop a critical understanding of the contexts of those literatures. Advanced courses are categorized by type of literature (short story, novel, poem), by authors (Milton, Shakespeare, Chaucer), or by periods of literary history (medieval literature, Renaissance literature, modern literature). But the underlying purpose remains the same: to enhance the enjoyment of literature by developing ways of imaginatively understanding it. The program for majors provides a general acquaintance with the traditions of English and American literature and encourages special interests in the various fields of English. Majors are required to study one foreign language and are advised to study the materials and methods of history, philosophy, and the arts. Nor should they neglect the physical and social sciences, whose methods provide valuable perspectives on literary study.
A minimum of 32 credits in English, including at least 20 credits in the Department of English at Grinnell. Required are:
- English 120 or 121
- Three 200-level literature courses, including: one course in early literature (223 or 227);
and, in addition to the course used to satisfy the early literature requirement,
- One course in British or Postcolonial literature (223, 224, 225, or 226);
- One course in American literature (227, 228, 229, 231, or 232);
- Three four-credit 300-level courses, excluding individual study, in the English department at Grinnell. At least two must be literature courses.
Also required:
- One four-credit Humanities (HUM) course and
- Knowledge of a nonnative language at a level demonstrated by
1) completion of fourth-semester college coursework in a modern language, or 2) completion of third-semester college coursework in a modern language and Linguistics 114 or English 230, or 3) completion of second-semester college coursework in Latin or Greek or 4) examination showing equivalent competence.
To be considered for honors in English, graduating seniors, in addition to meeting the College’s general requirements for honors, must have breadth in 200- and 300-level coursework in the English department, and make an outstanding contribution at the 300-level in English as certified by two members of the English faculty.
An introduction to the methods and pleasures of literary analysis focusing on skills needed to practice close reading and explication of texts and emphasizing the rich complexities of literary language. Although individual sections vary in genres considered, all prepare students for further work in poetry and prose.
A close study of representative plays from each period of Shakespeare’s career, including comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances.
Advanced course in argumentative or analytical writing with particular attention to style.
Instruction in the techniques and process of fiction writing, with emphasis on the short story. Readings may include published short stories and essays on the art of fiction. Students may also be asked to write in forms related to fiction (journal, autobiography, prose poem).
Instruction in the techniques and process of verse writing. Readings may include published poems and essays on the art of poetry.
Study of English literature from Old English to the early 17th century; may include such works as Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Faerie Queene, and Paradise Lost.
Study of English literature from the Restoration through the Victorians; may include such authors as Behn, Defoe, Swift, Wordsworth, Shelley, Austen, George Eliot, and Dickens.
An introduction to postcolonial literatures and theory from the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific.
Study of English literature of the 20th century; may include such authors as Joyce, Woolf, Beckett, Orwell, Eliot, Winterson, Kureishi, and Walcott.
Study of American literature from Columbus to 1830; may include such authors as Columbus, Ralegh, Bradstreet, Rowlandson, Franklin, Rowson, Irving, Bryant, and Cooper. Features works from a variety of genres, including Native American myths, travel and promotional narratives, journals, poetry, fiction, nonfiction prose, and maps.
Study of American literature from 1830 to 1893; may include such authors as Emerson, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, James, Chopin, Chesnutt, and Zitkala-Sa. Features works from a variety of genres including fiction, poetry, nonfiction prose, and drama.
The emergence and growth of African American literature from slavery to the present.
Study of the history of the English language through examination of phonological, grammatical, and semantic changes in the language from Old English to Middle English to Modern English with attention to “external” history.
Study of American literature from 1893 to today; may include such authors as Crane, Eliot, Faulkner, Hurston, Plath, DeLillo, and Morrison.
Study of the major traditions of American ethnic literatures. Features works from a variety of genres including fiction, poetry, nonfiction prose, and drama.
Study of critical debates in the constructions of gender and sexuality, which may include transnational feminisms, queer theory, and other related topics, and how these debates have shaped, and been shaped by, contemporary feminist and literary theories. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Study of Chaucer’s poetry in Middle English. Option of doing some reading in Latin, Italian, or French. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
An intensive study of three or four plays from various approaches, such as sources, imagery, and critical and theatrical traditions. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of Milton’s poetry and selected prose with emphasis on Paradise Lost, on Milton’s place in the epic tradition, and on Milton’s reputation in English poetry. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
An intensive study of a group of related authors, a mode, or a genre from the period 1500–1600. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of Restoration and 18th-century literature with a focus on specific themes and genres. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of important authors, movements, or trends in American ethnic literatures. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of important poets, movements, or trends in 19th-century American poetry. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Study of major figures in English literature from 1798 to 1830, with attention to Romantic theories of poetry. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of important poets, movements, or trends in 20th-century American poetry. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of an African American literary genre, movement, author, or a group of related authors. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of important writers, movements, or trends in 19th-century American prose. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of important writers, movements, or trends in 20th-century American prose. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Study of major British writers from 1830 to 1900, with emphasis on distinctive approaches to common artistic, intellectual, and social problems. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Historical development of the British novel, formal evolution, methods of publication, and the relation of novels to their cultures. Through the early Dickens (e.g., Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Jane Austen, Thackeray). For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Historical development of the British novel, formal evolution, methods of publication, and the relation of novels to their cultures. From Dickens to the present (e.g., George Eliot, Hardy, Conrad, Lawrence, Forster, Virginia Woolf). For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Intensive study of important modern poets. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Also listed as General Literary Studies 346. Intensive study of important modern fiction. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Also listed as General Literary Studies 349. Study of medieval European literary forms (lyric, epic, romance, allegory, and dream vision) through analysis of major works such as Beowulf, Chretien de Troyes’ poems, Marie de France’s Lais, The Romance of the Rose, The Divine Comedy, The Decameron, Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Book of the City of Ladies, and Malory’s prose. Option of doing some reading in Latin, Italian, or French. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
An intensive study of important writers, movements, or theoretical concepts in postcolonial literature written in English. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
Advanced workshop for students with a strong background in fiction writing.
Advanced workshop for students with a strong background in verse writing.
An intensive introduction to the major schools of critical and literary theory. Readings likely to include foundational texts in formalism, Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis, historicism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism. For specific content, see Schedule of Courses.
* Indicates courses not offered every year.
