4000-Level Course Descriptions
FALL 2026 | WINTER 2027
ENGL-4116-050 | Topics in Creative Writing | S. Pool
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
ENGL-4741-001 |Topics in Screen Studies | A. Burke
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
ENGL-4742-001 | Topics in Cultural Theory | C. Lypka
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
ENGL-4841-001 | Old English Literature | Z. Izydorczyk
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
WINTER 2027
ENGL-4211-001 | Romanticism | P. Melville
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course focuses on British literature from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, otherwise known as the English Romantic period. The course will not only consider the Romantic movement as a complex and conflicted response to a shared set of literary and philosophical anxieties, but will also pay close attention to the interplay between the socio-political concerns of the Romantic period and the literature the period produced. We will cover a variety of poems and non-fiction prose (all available online), but primary texts to purchase (new or used) will include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818 version) and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
ENGL-4294-001 | Contemporary Literature: The Graphic Novel | C. Rifkind
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
The graphic novel is one of the fastest-growing forms of contemporary storytelling that has roots in comics and takes influences from (and in turn influences) literature, film, visual art, games, and other contemporary media.
Emerging from the alternative and undergound comix scenes of the late 20th century, 21st century graphic novels continue to draw into view the lives and stories of marginalized subjects and suppressed histories, often experimenting with style, structure, and genre. Graphic novels are therefore complex visual-verbal texts that invite readers to combine literary analysis with approaches from film studies, art history, communications and media studies, cultural studies, graphic design, and object studies.
This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of comics studies through landmarks in North American contemporary graphic fiction that range from realism to surrealism, historical fiction to speculative fiction, and with a healthy dose of gothic/horror linking many of the readings. Topics we will explore include: coming-of-age and family dynamics; race and ethnicity; city and suburb; illness and disability; history and memory; secrets and detection; culture and identity; class and gentrification; gender and sexuality; love and loss.
Students need no prior experience reading or studying comics or graphic novels, but they do need an open curiosity about what the form can do and a willingness to participate actively in a collaborative learning environment.
Additional readings in comics studies and related disciplines will be posted to Nexus. Assignments will include regular reading responses, short presentations, a short textual analysis, and a major research project (academic or creative). No Generative AI tools are permitted in this course in order for students to build essential skills in thinking, reading, and writing within a supportive environment.
ENGL-4717-001 | Indigenous Literature and Culture | P. DePasquale
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
ENGL-4903-001 | Critical Race Studies | K. Sinanan
Course Delivery: IN PERSON