Advanced Course Descriptions
3000- and 4000-Level Courses (Fall 2025)
Find the Fall 2025 course descriptions for undergraduate courses below.
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3301.001 Critical Approaches for English Majors—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Octavio Pimentel
Catalog Description: This course introduces the critical methods and practices underpinning rhetorical and literary analysis within various branches of English Studies and develops the skills of reading, writing, and research. It is required for majors and open to minors and should be taken in the first semester of upper division classes.
Satisfies: ENG 3301
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3301.002 Critical Approaches for English Majors—MW 12:30 pm–1:50pm
Instructor: Suparno Banerjee
Catalog Description: This course introduces the critical methods and practices underpinning rhetorical and literary analysis within various branches of English Studies and develops the skills of reading, writing, and research. It is required for majors and open to minors and should be taken in the first semester of upper division classes.
Contact: sb67@txstate.edu
Satisfies: ENG 3301
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3301.003 Critical Approaches for English Majors—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm ONLINE
3301.003 Critical Approaches for English Majors—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm ONLINE
Instructor: Simon Lee
Catalog Description: This course introduces the critical methods and practices underpinning rhetorical and literary analysis within various branches of English Studies and develops the skills of reading, writing, and research. It is required for majors and open to minors and should be taken in the first semester of upper division classes.
Section Description: This fully online course familiarizes students with the concepts, critical practices, and methods central to research across the various branches of English. It surveys the development of literary and critical theory, inviting participants to consider how methodologies of the past produce critical frameworks for the present. In addition, the course will take up issues of genre and form, it will cover the kinds of terminology used in the field, and it will offer several practical strategies for interpreting texts, conducting research, and composing sophisticated interpretations that emphasizes the value of the arts and humanities in society. That is to say that the course will address the sociopolitical implications of the discipline as well as the forces that act against it.
IMPORTANT: Please note that this course is listed as “fully online synchronous.” In effect, it will run as a fully online hybrid course, meaning that part of each week’s content will be in the form of an asynchronous lecture and part will be in the form of a synchronous discussion held through zoom. The dates and times allocated are fixed, but we will—as a group—endeavor to determine a schedule and arrangement that works for us all.
Satisfies: ENG 3301
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3304.001 Document Design—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Sarah Robblee
Catalog Description: This course covers the principles of expository writing adapted for the workplace and prepares students to design documents commonly used in professional settings. Students compile a writing portfolio suitable for a job search or for application to professional school.
Satisfies: Group E; Writing and Rhetoric Concentration; Writing Minor
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3306.001 Writing for Film—TR 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Jon Marc Smith
Catalog Description: This course is an introduction to screenwriting that combines the study of published film texts with workshop practice in writing for film.
Satisfies: Group E; Film Concentration; Media Studies Minor; Writing Minor
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3307.001 Introduction to the Study of Film—MW 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Jon Marc Smith
Catalog Description: This course provides an introduction to basic film terms and concepts, various theoretical approaches to the study of film, and to important debates within film theory. Its focus will include, but is not limited to, theories of spectatorship, the debate between formalism and realism, psychoanalytic and feminist theories, and cultural approaches to film. This course should be taken before other upper-division film courses.
Satisfies: Group D; Film Concentration; Media Studies Minor; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3307.002 Introduction to the Study of Film—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Zoe Bursztajn-Illingworth
Catalog Description: This course provides an introduction to basic film terms and concepts, various theoretical approaches to the study of film, and to important debates within film theory. Its focus will include, but is not limited to, theories of spectatorship, the debate between formalism and realism, psychoanalytic and feminist theories, and cultural approaches to film. This course should be taken before other upper-division film courses.
Contact: zillingworth@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group D; Film Concentration; Media Studies Minor; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3307.003 Introduction to the Study of Film—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Kate McClancy
Catalog Description: This course provides an introduction to basic film terms and concepts, various theoretical approaches to the study of film, and to important debates within film theory. Its focus will include, but is not limited to, theories of spectatorship, the debate between formalism and realism, psychoanalytic and feminist theories, and cultural approaches to film. This course should be taken before other upper-division film courses.
Texts: Kolker, Film, Form, and Culture, 5th edition.
Contact: kmcclancy@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group D; Film Concentration; Media Studies Minor; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3308.001 Advanced Topics in Film—TR 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Topic: Atomic Shadows
Instructor: Kate McClancy
Catalog Description: This course offers a focused examination of film as text, with an emphasis on critical, theoretical, cultural, historical, generic, and/or stylistic aspects. Specific content and focus vary by section and may include the history of classical Hollywood cinema; silent film; world, European, or national cinemas; or the documentary. This course may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Section Description: From the first mushroom cloud that towered over the Jornada del Muerto in New Mexico, the atom bomb has cast a heavy shadow over the United States. This class will explore that shadow, considering films as disparate as official civil defense educational films, nuclear test footage, big bug flicks, superhero movies, and absurdist satire to retrace this dead man’s journey through American culture.
Texts: Gocsik and Monahan, Writing about Movies (5th ed) and assorted critical readings. Films may or may not include The Third Man (1949), Them! (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), On the Beach (1959), Dr. Strangelove (1964), Thunderball (1965), The China Syndrome (1979), WarGames (1983), The Terminator (1984), Goldeneye (1995), Blast from the Past (1999), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Shutter Island (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Oppenheimer (2023)
Contact: kmcclancy@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group B or D; Film Concentration; Media Studies Minor; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3311.001 Practices in Writing and Rhetoric—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Topic: Literacy and Culture
Instructor: Octavio Pimentel
Catalog Description: This course concerns the study and practice of advanced expository writing, with a focus on achieving rhetorical dexterity and effective communication. Specific content and focus vary by section and may include The Essay, Nature Writing, Argument, Writing for the Government, or Online Communication. This course may be repeated once for credit when its emphasis varies.
Satisfies: Group E; Writing and Rhetoric Concentration; Writing Minor; Minor in International Studies; Minor in International Aid and Development
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3311.003 Practices in Writing and Rhetoric—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Topic: Writing about Music
Instructor: Edward Alan Schaefer
Catalog Description: This course concerns the study and practice of advanced expository writing, with a focus on achieving rhetorical dexterity and effective communication. Specific content and focus vary by section and may include The Essay, Nature Writing, Argument, Writing for the Government, or Online Communication. This course may be repeated once for credit when its emphasis varies.
Satisfies: Group E; Writing and Rhetoric Concentration; Writing Minor; Minor in International Studies; Minor in International Aid and Development
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3315.001 Introduction to Creative Writing—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Amanda Scott
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.002 Introduction to Creative Writing—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Christopher Margrave
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.003 Introduction to Creative Writing—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Jason Coates
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.004 Introduction to Creative Writing—MW 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Unassigned Faculty
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.005 Introduction to Creative Writing—MW 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Instructor: Unassigned Faculty
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.006 Introduction to Creative Writing—TBD
Instructor: Sandra Welch
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.007 Introduction to Creative Writing—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Bianca Alyssa Perez
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.008 Introduction to Creative Writing—TR 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Jennifer Riegel
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3315.009 Introduction to Creative Writing—TR 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Stephanie Grossman
Catalog Description: A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles. Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration; Writing Minor
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3318.001 Approaches to Writing and Rhetoric—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Topic: Digital Culture
Instructor: Deborah Balzhiser
Catalog Description: This course focuses on approaches central to the study and practice of writing and rhetoric. Specific content and focus vary by section and may include Composition Theory, Theories of Technical Communication, Chicana/o/x Rhetorics, or Literacy Studies. This course may be repeated when its emphasis varies for up to 9 hours of English credit.
Section Description: The primary goal in this class is that you learn ways to think about “technoculture.” The course will provide frameworks to use for your analyses and some shared examinations of technologies and culture, and you’ll have freedom to explore questions, technologies, and cultures of your choice. You’ll produce both traditional academic and digital writing. Maybe you are interested in memes, deep fakes, misinformation, politics, AI, phubbing, FOMO, remote work, mental health, web sleuthing, radicalization & mobilization of extremism, and any particular case of any such thing? What is your rabbit hole? It doesn’t matter, you can (in most cases) start from there.
Texts: Vincent Miller, Understanding Digital Culture, 2nd E. Victoria Kannen & Aaron Langille, eds, Virtual Identities and Digital Culture, 1st Ed
Contact: dm45@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group E; Writing and Rhetoric Concentration; Writing Minor
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3319.001 The Development of English—TR 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Instructor: Leah Schwebel
Catalog Description: Origin and growth of the English language with particular attention to phonological, morphological, and grammatical changes; history of dialects, spelling, and dictionaries; sources of vocabulary.
Satisfies: Group E; Secondary Education Concentration; Medieval and Renaissance Minor
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3319.002 The Development of English—MW 5:00 pm–6:20 pm
Instructor: Unassigned Faculty
Catalog Description: Origin and growth of the English language with particular attention to phonological, morphological, and grammatical changes; history of dialects, spelling, and dictionaries; sources of vocabulary.
Satisfies: Group E; Secondary Education Concentration; Medieval and Renaissance Minor
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3320.001 Studies in Theory and Criticism—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Topic: Monster Theory
Instructor: Robert Tally
Catalog Description: This course explores one or more theoretical and critical approaches, such as ecocriticism, film theory, trauma theory, or disability studies. It may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Section Description: Monsters are everywhere, not just hiding under our beds, and the most significant thing about monsters is that they are significant. In The Anthropocene Unconscious, Mark Bould writes, “the fantastic expresses our fears and anxieties, out desires and sometimes even our hopes. […] So the first thing you should always ask of a monster is: what does it represent?” Whatever their meaning, based on our critical interpretations of them, they always mean something. As literary theorist Jack Halberstam notes, “Monsters are meaning machines.” In this course we will explore fundamental concepts of modern literary theory and critical practice in relation to what Dr. Tally has called the “Teratocene,” or, the age of monsters. Using classic works of horror—such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu,” among others—as examples, we will look at the ways in which the monstrous has been theorized through literary and cultural productions, while also exploring the burgeoning interest in “monster theory” as an interdisciplinary discourse that offers insight into a wide variety of social, political, cultural, ecological, and global problems today. Within literary studies, the magic and monstrosity of critical reading is fundamental not only for the study of poems, plays, stories, and novels, but also for understanding the worlds we inhabit.
Texts: To be determined, but readings will include works by a range of critics and theorists, as well as some exemplary literary texts, including Frankenstein [ISBN 9780393544060] and Dracula [ISBN 9780141439846].
Contact: robert.tally@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group D
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3321.001 The Short Story—MW 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Suparno Banerjee
Catalog Description: The short story throughout the world since Poe and Gogol.
Section Description: This course will examine the genre of short story in the global context from the 19th century to our contemporary times. We will discuss some of the salient features of the genre, its relationship to other literary genres, and read works by established masters as well as by authors who are more experimental. We will read stories in original English and in translation. Possible authors studied may include Gogol, Poe, Chekhov, Maupassant, Tagore, Kafka, Woolf, Hemingway, Atwood, Lessing, Walker, Murakami.
Texts: Possible text: Bausch and Cassill, The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction 8e
Contact: sb67@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group D
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3327.001 Early Global Drama in English—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Emily Banta
Catalog Description: This course studies examples of global drama from Aeschylus to Ibsen.
Contact: rbw58@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group C; Early Literature; Media Studies Minor; International Studies Minor
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3329.001 Studies in Mythology—MW 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Topic: UFOlogy: Mythology and UFOs
Instructor: James Reeves
Catalog Description: This course examines myths in various contexts, such as ancient and/or contemporary cultures, mythic patterns in modern literature, and myths produced in popular culture. Specific content and focus vary by section. This course may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture; Religious Studies Minor
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3329.002 Studies in Mythology—MWF 9:00 am–9:50 am
Topic: World Mythology
Instructor: Graeme Wend-Walker
Catalog Description: This course examines myths in various contexts, such as ancient and/or contemporary cultures, mythic patterns in modern literature, and myths produced in popular culture. Specific content and focus vary by section. This course may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture; Religious Studies Minor
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3329.003 Studies in Mythology—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Topic: Gods, Goddesses, and Icons
Instructor: Katie Kapurch
Catalog Description: This course examines myths in various contexts, such as ancient and/or contemporary cultures, mythic patterns in modern literature, and myths produced in popular culture. Specific content and focus vary by section. This course may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture; Religious Studies Minor
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3331.001 Black Literature—MW 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Emily Banta
Catalog Description: This course studies selected Black poetry, drama, fiction, and other cultural texts.
Section Description: Early African American Literature: This course traces the emergence and development of an African American literary tradition by examining the wide-ranging contributions of Black writers, orators, and public actors from the mid-eighteenth century to the turn of the twentieth. We will explore the diversity of Black literary production in this early period, moving beyond studies of the slave narrative to consider poetry, sermons, essays, political tracts, short fiction, plays, and novels. Along the way, we will ask how Black writers marshal literary forms to grapple with the central political and cultural conflicts of the early United States: slavery and its enduring legacies, the ongoing struggle for citizenship and equal rights, and the imaginative horizons of freedom.
Texts: Pauline Hopkins, Hagar's Daughter
Contact: rbw58@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group B; African American Studies Minor; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture; Diversity Studies Minor
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3335.001 US Literature, 1865–1945—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Catalog Description: This course examines selected US literature from the Civil War to World War II.
Instructor: John Blair
Satisfies: Group B
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3336.001 US Literature, 1945 to the Present—MW 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Instructor: John Blair
Catalog Description: This course examines selected US literature from World War II to the present.
Satisfies: Group B
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3340.001 Special Topics in Language and Literature—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Topic: Dante
Instructor: Leah Schwebel
Catalog Description: This course covers a variety of topics proposed and taught occasionally by different English faculty members. Specific content and focus vary by section; past emphases have included Early Modern Evil, Sexing the Word, and The Beatles. This course may be repeated twice for credit when its emphasis varies.
Section Description: This course will provide you with an opportunity to read one of the greatest works ever written, Dante’s Divine Comedy. There will be neither quizzes nor exams; I will not ask you to memorize dates or names. Rather, we will spend our time thinking, talking, and writing about a text that remains as relevant today as it was in the late Middle Ages. Special attention will be given to Dante’s classical and contemporary sources, and to the historical, political, and literary context of the figures that populate Dante’s poetic world.
Texts: The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (Oxford, 1997)
Contact: las235@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group C or D; Early Literature; Minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
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3341.001 Studies in Global Literature—TR 9:30 am–10:50 am
Topic: The Works of Olga Tokcarzuk
Instructor: Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler
Catalog Description: This course examines selections from ancient and/or modern literature from around the globe. Specific content and focus vary by section, and the course may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in International Studies; Minor in International Aid and Development
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3342.001 Editing—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Laura Ellis-Lai
Catalog Description: A study of editing, to include instruction in making editorial changes, preparing MSS for typesetter, marking galley and page proof; fundamentals of layout and design (typeface, paper, headlines, etc.); problems and possibilities in desktop publishing; and the current status of electronic publications.
Satisfies: Group E; Writing and Rhetoric Emphasis; Writing Minor
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3342.002 Editing—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Amanda Scott
Catalog Description: A study of editing, to include instruction in making editorial changes, preparing MSS for typesetter, marking galley and page proof; fundamentals of layout and design (typeface, paper, headlines, etc.); problems and possibilities in desktop publishing; and the current status of electronic publications.
Satisfies: Group E; Writing and Rhetoric Emphasis; Writing Minor
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3343.001 The Interdisciplinary Approach to Literature—MW 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Topic: Introduction to Performance Studies
Instructor: Emily Banta
Catalog Description: This course studies a single topic using techniques from various disciplines such as history, sociology, psychology, environmental studies, and/or visual studies. It may be repeated once for credit when its topic varies.
Section Description: This course explores foundational and contemporary interventions in performance studies—an interdisciplinary field that examines performance in all its expansiveness. We will engage with a range of critical approaches across literary studies, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies to study performance both as an object and as a method of analysis. In addition to theater, dance, music, and other “staged” arts, we will consider ritual and ceremony, habits and choreographies of everyday life, and expressions of identity across categories of race, gender, culture, and nation. We will also ask how the methodological insights of performance help us to read aesthetic objects (such as poems, songs, dramas, novels, and more) and events (festivals, public protests, and sporting events, among others).
Texts: All materials will be made available on Canvas
Contact: rbw58@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group B or D; Minor in Media Studies
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3344.001 Chicana/o/x Narrative and Social History—MW 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Sara A Ramirez
Catalog Description: This course examines narratives by people of Mexican descent living in the United States.
Section Description: Chicanx Narratives and Social History considers narratives produced by people of Mexican descent living in the United States. As such, the course offers students an opportunity to enhance their multicultural competence and meets the requirements for an elective in the Latina/o Studies minor. Under the guidance of Dr. Ramírez, this section of ENG 3344 will take inventory of Chicanx narratives of borderlands identity. We begin with Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and lectures about the effects of colonialism in the U.S. Southwest. We will then read Erika L. Sánchez’s popular novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter to examine the ways in which present-day Mexican and Chicano cultures perpetuate colonial ideologies. Our attention then shifts to oft-ignored issues within and amongst Chicanx communities, especially narratives that bring us face to face with historical and generational trauma.
Texts: Anzaldúa, Gloria E. 1987. Borderlands/La Frontera: La New Mestiza. 5th ed., Aunt Lute, 2022. De la Luz, Rios. Itzá. Broken River Books, 2017. Fajardo-Anstine, Kali. Sabrina and Corina: Stories. Random, 2019. Grise, Virginia. blu. Yale UP, 2011. Pelaez López, Alán. Intergalactic Travels: Poems from a Fugitive Alien. Operating System, 2020. Sánchez, Erika L. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. Knopf, 2017.
Contact: sramirez@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group B; Latina/o Studies Minor; Southwestern Studies Minor; Diversity Studies Minor
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3345.001 Southwestern Studies I: Defining the Region—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: William Jensen
Catalog Description: The first of two courses in a broad interdisciplinary survey of geophysical, cultural, social, literary, and political history of the Southwest that emphasizes regional and ethnic expressions of culture in architecture, art, economics, law, literature, philosophy and politics.
Satisfies: Group B; Southwestern Studies Minor; Minor in Nature and Heritage Tourism; Minor in Diversity Studies
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3347.001 American Poetry—MW 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: John Blair
Catalog Description: Study of American poetry from its beginnings to present.
Satisfies: Group B
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3348.001 Creative Writing: Fiction—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm ONLINE
Instructor: Cyrus Cassells
Catalog Description: A seminar for writers of fiction, with emphasis on creativity, criticism, and revision.
Section Description: This is a bi-weekly fiction workshop, with an emphasis on dynamic storytelling, pertinent assigned texts, and permission to speak.
Texts: Acclaimed short fiction and craft articles provided in CANVAS
Contact: cc37@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration (Fiction Track); Writing Minor
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3348.002 Creative Writing: Fiction—MW 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: William Ross Feeler
Catalog Description: A seminar for writers of fiction, with emphasis on creativity, criticism, and revision.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration (Fiction Track); Writing Minor
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3348.003 Creative Writing: Fiction—MW 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Benjamin Reed
Catalog Description: A seminar for writers of fiction, with emphasis on creativity, criticism, and revision.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration (Fiction Track); Writing Minor
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3348.004 Creative Writing: Fiction—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Christopher Margrave
Catalog Description: A seminar for writers of fiction, with emphasis on creativity, criticism, and revision.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration (Fiction Track); Writing Minor
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3349.001 Creative Writing: Poetry—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Cecily Parks
Catalog Description: A seminar for writers of poetry, with emphasis on creativity, criticism, and revision.
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration (Poetry Track); Writing Minor
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3351.001 Early Medieval Literature of the British Isles—MW 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Instructor: Unassigned Faculty
Catalog Description: An introduction to Old English life and writings from early culture through Beowulf (texts in modern translation).
Satisfies: Group A; Early Literature; Minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Minor in International Studies
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3354.001 Shakespeare—MW 2:00 pm–3:20 pm ONLINE
Instructor: Joe Falocco
Catalog Description: Selected plays from the earliest through Hamlet.
Section Description: English 3354 studies representative works of Shakespeare’s early career up to, but not including, Hamlet. Students will read these plays in their entirety, take quizzes on this reading, and prepare paraphrases and textual analyses for key passages from each play. For a final project, students will have the opportunity to either write a three-to-five-page essay or prepare a monologue for performance.
Texts: Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. Seventh Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2014. ISBN: 0321886518. Note: You must purchase a hard copy of this edition of this book and have it with you during class every day. Please don’t ask if you can use another edition.
Contact: jf48@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group A; Early Literature; Single Author; Minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Minor in International Studies
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3354.002 Shakespeare—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler
Catalog Description: Selected plays from the earliest through Hamlet.
Section Description: We know that Shakespeare belongs to World Literature: from the late sixteenth century onward, people throughout the world have studied, performed, and taken inspiration from his plays. Our goal in this course is to understand why this is so. We'll focus on four of Shakespeare's best known early comedies: Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. We'll pay special attention to film interpretations and international performances, accessible through MIT Global Shakespeares: https://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/.
Texts: The Norton Shakespeare: Essential Plays/The Sonnets. 3rd ed.
Contact: es10@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group A; Early Literature; Single Author; Minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Minor in International Studies
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3359.001 British Literature, 1750–1800—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: James Reeves
Catalog Description: This course explores later eighteenth-century poetry and prose and the beginnings of the Romantic movement.
Satisfies: Group A; Early Literature
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3370.001 Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century British Literature—MWF 10:00 am–10:50 am
Instructor: Chad Hammett
Catalog Description: This course examines selected British poetry, fiction, and drama since 1900.
Section Description: Selected works/novels of British literature from about 1901 to present. Many of the readings explore the existing (and changing) social order and the establishment of identities.
Texts: TBA
Contact: ch34@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group A; Minor in International Studies
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3371.001 Queer and Trans Texts—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Topic: The Queer Memoir
Instructor: Geneva Gano
Catalog Description: This course examines texts engaged with LGBTQIA2S+ culture in various media. Specific content and focus vary by section.
Satisfies: Group B or D; Minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
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3372.001 Race and Ethnicity in Texts—TR 9:30 am–10:50 am
Topic: Water and Flight in African-American Literature
Instructor: drea brown
Catalog Description: This course examines depictions, representations, and engagements with race and ethnicity in a variety of texts. Specific content and focus vary by section.
Satisfies: Group B or D; African American Studies Minor; Diversity Studies Minor
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3385.001 Children’s Literature—MW 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Instructor: Nithya Sivashankar
Catalog Description: A survey of traditional and contemporary literature for children with attention to literary history, aesthetic qualities, and critical approaches.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3385.002 Children’s Literature—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Gabriel Duckels
Catalog Description: A survey of traditional and contemporary literature for children with attention to literary history, aesthetic qualities, and critical approaches.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3386.001 Adolescent Literature—MW 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Nithya Sivashankar
Catalog Description: A survey designed to provide a critical philosophy and working repertoire of literature for adolescents.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3386.002 Adolescent Literature—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Graeme Wend-Walker
Catalog Description: A survey designed to provide a critical philosophy and working repertoire of literature for adolescents.
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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3389.001 Teaching English Language Arts in the Secondary Classroom—T 6:30–9:20 pm
Instructor: Cassie Polasek
Catalog Description: This course familiarizes future teachers with the discipline of English as a formal field and the practice of teaching English Language Arts. It is a required part of the student teaching sequence and prepares students for the English TExES (Texas Examination of Educator Standards).
Satisfies: Group E; Secondary Education Concentration
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3393.001 Postcolonial Literatures—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Denae Dyck
Catalog Description: This course examines postcolonial literatures, such as Canadian, Caribbean, African, South Asian, or Australian, with discussion of aesthetic, cultural, and political issues surrounding them. Texts will be in English.
Section Description: This course explores a variety of literatures written in English from formerly colonized nations, situated in historical, cultural, and critical contexts. Spanning the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries, our readings will provide opportunities to consider the literary forms of resistance (or “writing back”) that emerged in relation to the spread, decline, and aftermath of empire. We will focus on key concepts, questions, and debates within postcolonial and decolonial studies. In addition to enlivening our understanding of the history of imperialism and decolonization, our critical and creative work will equip us to analyze complex issues of identity, power, and difference within a global society.
Texts: TBD, but likely to include Mary Seacole’s Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and Columba Bobb, Lee Maracle, and Tania Carter’s Hope Matters.
Contact: denae.dyck@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group C; Minor in International Studies
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4310.001 Modern English Syntax—TR 12:30 pm–1:50 pm
Instructor: Mark Manuel Hernandez
Catalog Description: This course studies English syntax as described by traditional, structural, and transformational grammarians.
Satisfies: Group E; Secondary Education Concentration
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4323.001 Studies in Autobiography and Biography—ASYCHRONOUS ONLINE
Instructor: Geneva Gano
Catalog Description: Selected works in autobiography and biography.
Satisfies: Group D
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4343.001 Approaches to a British Author—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm ONLINE
Topic: Kazuo Ishiguro
Instructor: Simon Lee
Catalog Description: This course examines the works of a British author, e.g. Charles Dickens, Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, or Zadie Smith. Specific content and focus vary by section, and the course may be repeated once for credit when its emphasis varies.
Section Description: This fully online undergraduate course explores the work of the Japanese-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, specifically focusing on his portrayals of memory, identity, obligation, and repression. The course will read much of Ishiguro’s output, including titles like A Pale View of the Hills, The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go, and The Buried Giant. By doing so, the course will focus on Ishiguro’s distinctive style and his exploration of themes like duty, desire, and the effects of technological progress on human relationships and societal structures. To that end, the course will examine how Ishiguro intertwines personal narratives with broader social commentary. By studying Ishiguro’s literary techniques and thematic concerns, participants will gain insights into his contributions to contemporary literature and their relevance for pressing social and technological transformations.
IMPORTANT: Please note that this course is listed as “fully online synchronous.” In effect, it will run as a fully online hybrid course, meaning that part of each week’s content will be in the form of an asynchronous lecture and part will be in the form of a synchronous discussion held through zoom. The dates and times allocated are fixed, but we will—as a group—endeavor to determine a schedule and arrangement that works for us all.
Satisfies: Group A; Single Author
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4344.001 Approaches to a US Author—TR 11:00 am–12:20 pm
Topic: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Instructor: Steve Wilson
Catalog Description: This course examines the works of a US author, e.g. Gloria Anzaldúa, Cormac McCarthy, bell hooks, or Toni Morrison. Specific content and focus vary by section, and the course may be repeated once for credit when its emphasis varies.
Section Description: This section of English 4344 is designed to offer students an introduction to the many avenues through which one can read literature by exploring ways of investigating the writing of 19th-century US Author Ralph Waldo Emerson. A vital literature is one that remains relevant regardless of changes in society. This is certainly true for Emerson's work, and exploring it from a variety of angles—sociological, scientific, queer theory, historical, and psychological, to name but a few possible perspectives—reveals the depth of his writing as well as the sources of its endurance. Emerson is reborn and reread in each succeeding generation, particularly in the US. However, Emerson and his work also receives their share of criticism, and we will examine the nature and sources of these challenges in our class, as well. Thus, our goal in this course will be twofold: 1) to gain a deeper understanding of Emerson and his ideas; 2) to explore the many methods of reading and using literature.
Texts: Emerson, The Portable Emerson; Barricelli & Gibaldi, Interrelations of Literature; Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century; Lemire, Black Walden
Contact: sw13@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group B; Early Literature; Single Author
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4348.001 Senior Seminar in Fiction Writing—MW 3:30 pm–4:50 pm
Instructor: Chad Hammett
Catalog Description: Workshop in writing fiction and evaluating manuscripts. Students produce portfolio of creative work.
Section Description: A seminar for writers of fiction, with emphasis on creativity, criticism, and revision. Prerequisite: English 3315. This course is considered an introduction to fiction, including the practice and process of writing as well as some discussion of theory. Most classes will be operated in workshop fashion, with students providing their peers with feedback/commentary on their manuscripts—each student will have two manuscripts discussed in workshop (either stories or novel excerpts). The course will also involve selected readings from texts and discussion of theory. Your work is distributed to the class on a fixed schedule in order to provide adequate time for student review prior to workshop discussion. We’ll talk about this in more detail soon. Participation in the workshop is essential, required, and expected.
Texts: TBA
Contact: ch34@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group E; Creative Writing Concentration (Fiction Track); Writing Minor
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4350.001 Senior Seminar in Film—MW 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Topic: Greta Gerwig
Instructor: Zoe Bursztajn-Illingworth
Catalog Description: This course integrates perspectives from English film and media studies, including film criticism, history, theory, screenwriting, and practical video skills. Each student will choose a focus, and all students will critique scholarly research, screenplays, and video projects that demonstrate concepts learned. Specific content and focus vary by section, and this course may be repeated once for credit when its emphasis varies.
Section Description: This senior seminar focuses on a recent filmmaker’s small, but distinct oeuvre: the films of Greta Gerwig. Gerwig, whose most recent film Barbie made history as the highest grossing film by a woman director, provides a unique chance to explore the relationship between acting, screenwriting, and directing. While the three films that Gerwig has written and directed (Ladybird, Little Women, and Barbie) will serve as core texts in the course, we will also examine how Gerwig’s experience screenwriting and acting in independent films informs her current status as a popular film auteur. Gerwig’s evolution—from acting in small-budget indie films to directing the epitome of a summer blockbuster—raises questions about the consequences formally, ideologically, and historically of the meeting of arthouse cinema and Hollywood. Ultimately, this course considers not only Gerwig’s filmography, but her network of influences from mumblecore to the French New Wave and everything in between. The method of evaluation for this course may include presentations, papers, and a final critical or creative project (such as a short film, video essay, or screenplay).
Contact: zillingworth@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group B or D; Single Author; Media Studies Minor; Minor in Studies in Popular Culture
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4358.001 Milton—TR 2:00 pm–3:20 pm
Instructor: Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler
Catalog Description: Milton’s longer poems and most important prose writing.
Section Description: Fulfilling the single-author course requirement for English majors, this class provides an overview of Milton’s works and focuses on the construction of the self in both his poetry and prose. Students will learn how even a “major writer” like Milton may be fruitfully studied as a participant in contemporary debates, and how ideas about public action form an important part of Milton’s understanding of the pursuit of truth. Students will also consider the continuing relevance of Milton's public and private concerns and artistry. This is a senior-level class that assumes students have some basic familiarity with literature written before 1800, such as what they have learned in English 2310 (British Literature before 1789) or a similar survey course.
Texts: John Milton, The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose, ed. William Kerrigan et al. Modern Library, 2007. (Kindle edition available).
Contact: es10@txstate.edu
Satisfies: Group A; Early Literature; Single Author; Minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
