Fall 2013 First-Year Writing Seminars

MW 08:40-09:55 a.m. Emily Rials 17101 Jane Juffer

ENGLISH 1105 SEM 103

Writing and Sexual Politics: Madwomen

Why do we love the spectacles of profoundly talented and tragic women such as Amy Winehouse, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf? Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar wrote about the figure of the “madwoman in the attic” in nineteenth-century literature; in this course, we will look forward from there toward more contemporary figures. Course texts will include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and poems from Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton. Students will also have an opportunity to write research papers on “madwomen” of other mediums, such as pop music and visual art. Students will be expected to invest in their growth as writers through intensive revision and thoughtfully participating in peer-review processes.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Stevie Edwards 17102 Jane Juffer

ENGLISH 1105 SEM 104

Writing and Sexual Politics: Gender and Native America

This course will explore the role that gender has played in the colonization of American Indians. We will compare the classifications of gender and sexual identity in the Western tradition—such as masculinity, femininity, hetero-, homo-, and bisexuality—with traditional and contemporary American Indian texts. Though we often think of those classifications as universal, we will find that they are relatively insignificant within indigenous systems of knowledge. How, then, did European ideas about gender and sexuality factor into the colonization and genocide of Native Americans? And what alternative ways of thinking can we find in indigenous knowledge? We will practice critical thinking skills by analyzing and writing about the portrayal of gender and sexual identities in the media and in Native American texts.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Lena Krian 17103 Jane Juffer

ENGLISH 1105 SEM 105

Writing and Sexual Politics: The Figure of the Witch

Magic, pointy hats, broomsticks, and black cats: simply a few images people think of when they hear the word witch. Literature, film, and culture are all replete with these images. And even in our modern era, witchcraft continues to keep us spellbound. By closely examining the figure of the witch in various contexts, times, and cultures, we will ask what we can learn about our own cultural norms, politics, history, and identities by critically studying witches and witchcraft. We will pay special attention to what witchcraft reveals about the intersections of fiction, religion, politics, and gender. In our readings, class discussions, and your own research, you will work through a cumulative set of writing assignments over the semester, finishing with an extended research project.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Brant Torres 17104 Jane Juffer

ENGLISH 1105 SEM 106

Writing and Sexual Politics: Medical Mysteries

In this course, we will follow in the footsteps of English doctors, medical students, and patients who sought new understandings of the body in the early modern period. How did they understand such topics as anatomy, childbirth, sexual practices, and mental illness? Keeping in mind the circumstances that made this knowledge possible—for instance, that new anatomical knowledge from dissection was connected to a rise in grave-robbery and that new laws exploiting the poor provided a legal source of cadavers—we will explore the threat and the promise of medical science in this period. We will focus on writing about primary sources, using visual as well as textual materials, and applying what we learn from history to present-day medical thought.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Claire Whitenack 17105 Jane Juffer

ENGLISH 1111 SEM 101

Writing Across Cultures: Tools for Time Travel

Time travel can make trouble: characters get caught in paradoxes, and story-lines get impossibly tangled. But time travel plots remain popular, and experiments with time turn up as often in realist stories as in science-fictional ones. In this course, we will investigate the tools that narrators use to move their readers through time. We will treat those tools and the time-scapes that they generate as analogues for the tools and argument structures in our own academic writing. By the end of the course, students will have the vocabulary and training to describe writing with precision and will have written both formal and experimental essays with the purpose of developing control over their prose.

MWF 08:00-08:50 a.m. Ezra Feldman 17093 Ella Diaz Mukoma Wa Ngugi

ENGLISH 1111 SEM 102

Writing Across Cultures: Afro-Latina Writing and Identity

In this course, we will focus on three strategies of story telling—testimonio, magical realism, and the carnivalesque—central to African-American and Afro-Latina art and writing. What do these three modes tell us about the nature of experience and how have they been used to re-imagine both the female body and the work of art? As we consider this body of contemporary, interdisciplinary texts that exemplify African-American and Afro-Latina identity, we will also pay attention to how tropes such as the supernatural, the body, metaphor, and memory are expressed in each individual work. Students will have the opportunity to advance their own essay writing skills and to document their growth through an array of preparatory writing assignments.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Nancy Quintanilla 17094 Ella Diaz Mukoma Wa Ngugi

ENGLISH 1111 SEM 103

Writing Across Cultures: Medieval Saints and Modern Vampires

The cult of saints needs fresh blood to survive, as do vampires from True Blood to Twilight. Beyond the centrality of blood, what other common elements of saints and vampires exist? In this course, we will examine medieval saints’ lives alongside very contemporary vampire fiction, viewing these texts together with respect to race, sexuality, and gender. Investigating the similarities and differences between such apparently different figures such as Saint Mary of Egypt and Sookie Stackhouse, we will read vampires in literature from Dracula to Edward and Bella, alongside saints from Jacobus de Voraigne’s Golden Legend. In writing exercises that range from short in-class responses to longer research papers, we will compare and contrast these legendary figures and improve our writing style, grammar, and mechanics.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. William Youngman 17095 Ella Diaz Mukoma Wa Ngugi

ENGLISH 1111 SEM 104

Writing Across Cultures: Border Stories

In this seminar, we will read literature that takes the US-Mexico border as its setting and its central concern. We will review the border’s history and politics, analyze its cultural significance, and investigate when it can and cannot be crossed. We will also explore how the border calls into question deep-rooted assumptions about identity and narrative. Possible readings include Ana Castillo’s The Guardians and Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek. Writing assignments will be varied and challenging, calling for creative, analytical, and personal responses both to our readings and to the border.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Nicolette Lee 17096 Ella Diaz Mukoma Wa Ngugi

ENGLISH 1111 SEM 105

Writing Across Cultures: Animated Fantasias

In this class, we will analyze animated films and read a variety of texts including poetry, fiction, and critical writings that focus on imagined worlds, or fantasias, so to speak. We will examine these texts and films in the context of gender, race, history, empire, and ecology. Films will include works by Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon, two masters of “animated fantasias,” and segments of series such as Samurai Champloo and Samurai X. Books will include Engine Empire by Cathy Park Hong, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, Monstress by Lysley Tenorio, and works by other Asian authors. Students will draft and revise critical essays devoted to analyzing the films and literature.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Sally Mao 17097 Ella Diaz Mukoma Wa Ngugi

ENGLISH 1127 SEM 101 Shakespeare from Stage to Screen

Shakespeare has been more popular than any other dramatist—or screenwriter—for more than four hundred years. He is the most quoted poet in the English language, and his dramatic works are the most frequently performed and filmed. What accounts for this enduring appeal? What about the plays has made them at once so permanent and so adaptable? This class will give students the opportunity to work closely with a few of Shakespeare's plays: a total of four or five over the course of the semester. We will look to the playtexts themselves as material and inspiration for the extensive writing we will do. But we will also consult films and performances, even trying out some performance in the classroom.

MW 07:30-08:45 p.m. Kenneth Yuen 17119 Barbara Correll

ENGLISH 1127 SEM 102 Shakespeare from Stage to Screen

Shakespeare has been more popular than any other dramatist—or screenwriter—for more than four hundred years. He is the most quoted poet in the English language, and his dramatic works are the most frequently performed and filmed. What accounts for this enduring appeal? What about the plays has made them at once so permanent and so adaptable? This class will give students the opportunity to work closely with a few of Shakespeare's plays: a total of four or five over the course of the semester. We will look to the playtexts themselves as material and inspiration for the extensive writing we will do. But we will also consult films and performances, even trying out some performance in the classroom.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Matthew Ritger 17120 Barbara Correll

ENGLISH 1134 SEM 101 True Stories

When students write personal essays for college applications, they not infrequently discover just how challenging writing about and presenting themselves to the public can be. In this course, we’ll examine how well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien, and others construct their public, written selves. We’ll consider how an author’s self-presentation affects how readers interpret the experiences, insights, and knowledge presented in each text; we’ll also consider how the style of writing affects how readers understand an author’s personality and motives. Readings will include short essays, possibly some poems, and a few longer works. Together, and writing frequent essays, we’ll explore why and how people write about themselves—for self-exploration, political or social change, purely to practice a form of art, or for other reasons—and we’ll investigate how writing shapes lived experience.

MW 07:30-08:45 p.m. Aricka Foreman 17121 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1134 SEM 102 True Stories

When students write personal essays for college applications, they not infrequently discover just how challenging writing about and presenting themselves to the public can be. In this course, we’ll examine how well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien, and others construct their public, written selves. We’ll consider how an author’s self-presentation affects how readers interpret the experiences, insights, and knowledge presented in each text; we’ll also consider how the style of writing affects how readers understand an author’s personality and motives. Readings will include short essays, possibly some poems, and a few longer works. Together, and writing frequent essays, we’ll explore why and how people write about themselves—for self-exploration, political or social change, purely to practice a form of art, or for other reasons—and we’ll investigate how writing shapes lived experience.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Esmerelda Arrizon-Palomera 17122 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1134 SEM 103 True Stories: Dear Diary

Do you have a diary? Are diaries always meant to be private, or do we sometimes assume that someone else is reading? In this course, we will read several diaries that were written as private reflection, as fictional autobiography, and as public memoir. We will explore each for common themes, such as the diary as a confessional space. We will also examine common diary-writing strategies, like the self-reflexive or informal tone. We will ask how the diary is different than the autobiography. We will also explore how and why diaries become important sources of historical information, such as The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Authors include Harriet Jacobs, Benjamin Franklin, Sherman Alexie, and Leslie Arfin.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Ella Diaz 17123

ENGLISH 1134 SEM 104 True Stories

When students write personal essays for college applications, they not infrequently discover just how challenging writing about and presenting themselves to the public can be. In this course, we’ll examine how well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien, and others construct their public, written selves. We’ll consider how an author’s self-presentation affects how readers interpret the experiences, insights, and knowledge presented in each text; we’ll also consider how the style of writing affects how readers understand an author’s personality and motives. Readings will include short essays, possibly some poems, and a few longer works. Together, and writing frequent essays, we’ll explore why and how people write about themselves—for self-exploration, political or social change, purely to practice a form of art, or for other reasons—and we’ll investigate how writing shapes lived experience.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Daniel Pena 17124 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1134 SEM 105 True Stories

When students write personal essays for college applications, they not infrequently discover just how challenging writing about and presenting themselves to the public can be. In this course, we’ll examine how well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien, and others construct their public, written selves. We’ll consider how an author’s self-presentation affects how readers interpret the experiences, insights, and knowledge presented in each text; we’ll also consider how the style of writing affects how readers understand an author’s personality and motives. Readings will include short essays, possibly some poems, and a few longer works. Together, and writing frequent essays, we’ll explore why and how people write about themselves—for self-exploration, political or social change, purely to practice a form of art, or for other reasons—and we’ll investigate how writing shapes lived experience.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Kimberly Williams 17125 John Lennon

ENGLISH 1134 SEM 106 True Stories

When students write personal essays for college applications, they not infrequently discover just how challenging writing about and presenting themselves to the public can be. In this course, we’ll examine how well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien, and others construct their public, written selves. We’ll consider how an author’s self-presentation affects how readers interpret the experiences, insights, and knowledge presented in each text; we’ll also consider how the style of writing affects how readers understand an author’s personality and motives. Readings will include short essays, possibly some poems, and a few longer works. Together, and writing frequent essays, we’ll explore why and how people write about themselves—for self-exploration, political or social change, purely to practice a form of art, or for other reasons—and we’ll investigate how writing shapes lived experience.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Aisha Gawad 17126 Lennon

ENGLISH 1147 SEM 101 The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course, we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

MW 07:30-08:45 p.m. Christina Black 17106 Stuart Davis

ENGLISH 1147 SEM 102 The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course, we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

MWF 08:00-08:50 a.m. Amber Harding 17107 Stuart Davis

ENGLISH 1147 SEM 103 The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course, we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Valer Popa 17108 Stuart Davis

ENGLISH 1147 SEM 104 The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course, we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Mee-Ju Ro 17109 Stuart Davis

ENGLISH 1147 SEM 105 The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course, we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Jane Glaubman 17110 Stuart Davis

ENGLISH 1147 SEM 106 The Mystery in the Story

What makes a story, and what makes it a mystery story? In this course, we'll study and write about the nature of narratives, taking the classic mystery tale written by such writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler as typical of intricately plotted stories of suspense and disclosure that have been written and filmed in many genres: Greek tragedy, horror tales by Poe and Shirley Jackson, psychological thrillers by Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, neo-noir films such as Memento and Fight Club, and postmodern mystery parodies such as those of Paul Auster and Jorge Luis Borges. We'll look at the way they hold together, the desire and fear that drive them, and the secrets they tell—or try to keep hidden.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Stuart Davis 17111

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 102 American Voices: Paranoid Fictions

This course will explore the psychology of paranoia, as well as its history in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, through novels, short stories, film, television, and other media. Potential works include Freud’s The Schreber Case, Roman Polanski’s The Tenant, selections from Kafka and Borges, Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, Paul Auster’s City of Glass, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), episodes of The Twilight Zone, and various pieces of wartime propaganda. Using these texts, we will investigate and write critically on patterns of suspicion, the problem of “knowing,” and anxieties about the disintegration of the self as they appear as phenomena in recent literary history.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Nicholas Friedman 17136 Dagmawi Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 103 American Voices: Love and Crime

Love and death, sex and violence—these seemingly contradictory impulses have been the subject of artistic creation for hundreds of years. But contemporary writers have combined the two directly, and while the result is often entertaining, it may also be illuminating. In this class, we’ll ask what these texts say about the intersection of competing human desires, and learn to use literary analysis to craft persuasive written arguments. Texts range from classic noir (Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice) to modern pulp (Denis Johnson’s Nobody Move). Films move from vintage thriller (Bonnie and Clyde) to contemporary caper (Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight). Writing assignments will include critical essays, reviews, and some creative work.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. Christopher Drangle 17137 Dagmawi Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 104

American Voices: Performing America

From the drama between brothers in Sam Sheppard’s True West to the family stories in Helena Maria Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus, characters try to understand themselves through conflicts with their families and their sense of place. To express identity through geography, class, race, sexuality, and gender preoccupies many authors. In this class, we will read attentively, write carefully, and think as clearly as we can about such issues as how to locate a sense of self in the U.S. Authors will include Rebecca Harding Davis, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Toni Morrison, and Helena Maria Viramontes. Weekly writing assignments.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Shirley Samuels 17138

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 105

American Voices: Southern Literature

This course surveys Southern American literature from its popular roots in the nineteenth century to present-day examples of the genre. Determining just what constitutes southern literature as a genre—besides obvious geographic demarcations—will be a central topic of the class. Likewise, we will ask how southern literature differs from other regional genres, and to what extent the south’s unique, and uniquely troubled, history and culture has affected and shaped its literature. Writers to be studied will include Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Barry Hannah, and Cormac McCarthy. Classroom analysis of these authors’ texts, and discussion of related topics and themes, will provide the basis for writing several academic essays of increasing complexity.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Adam Price 17139 Dagmawi Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 106

American Voices: A Place Called Home

How does place shape our identity? What do our ideas of “homeland” tell us about our relationships with one another and with our environment? This course will consider the concept of home largely as it relates to the natural world. We will examine how home is portrayed in literature, particularly when our homelands have been lost or rediscovered, through essay, memoir, fiction, and perhaps poetry. Writers may include, but are not limited to, Willa Cather, Scott Russell Sanders, Janisse Ray, John Steinbeck, Wendell Berry, and Anne LaBastille. We will refine our writing skills through critical writing that analyzes the texts, and gain an understanding of our own connections to home through personal essays about our native places and our home at Cornell.

MWF 02:30-03:20 p.m. Caroline Zeilenga 17140 Dagmawi Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 107

American Voices: Apocalypse since 1945

From Christian visions of the rapture to worries about climate change, from race riots to the AIDS epidemic to the bomb, Americans are compelled by fantasies of the end of the world. This course pauses to ask: why are Americans eager to project their anxieties into apocalyptic scenarios? How are national questions about race, class, gender, and sexuality (among others) addressed in apocalyptic fantasies? To explore these questions, we will read a broad spectrum of late-twentieth-century apocalyptic texts by such writers as James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Tony Kushner,HalLindsey,CormacMcCarthy,andwatchthefilm Dr.Strangelove.Writingassignmentswillencourageintellectualengagement with the texts through close reading, essayistic analysis, and, perhaps, parody.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Daniel Sinykin 17141 Dag Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 108

American Voices: Tales from the Hood

We all think we know what the “hood” or the “ghetto” is. We even use these words in our daily vernacular: “That’s so ghetto,” or “She’s so hood.” But what is the contemporary American ghetto really? And how did it become what it is today? By examining a variety of political texts, we’ll compare theories on the origins of today’s American ghettos and the material conditions that created them. We’ll also analyze literature—novels, poems, memoirs, as well as film—that re-creates the “hood” through language. We’ll read the memoir of a former Los Angeles gangster and poems by a former rapper and corner boy. Students will develop their own analyses of the portrayal of the contemporary American ghetto through the writing of persuasive essays.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Aisha Gawad 17142 Dag Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 109

American Voices: Protest Literature

In this course, we will address the rich tradition of written protest in American history, beginning with the American Revolution and concluding with the dissent texts of the modern civil rights movements of the twenty-first century. We will examine each text in its particular historical context. But we will also be comparing the rhetorical, artistic, and social aspects of these works. Class discussions and writing assignments will be based on textual analysis, close reading, and supplemental scholarly articles. Authors may include Thomas Paine, Frederick Douglass, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Allen Ginsberg, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gloria Steinem, Harvey Milk, and Michael Moore.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Danielle Morgan 17143 Dag Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 110 American Voices: Melting Pots

In 1792 Hector St John de Crevecoeur asked, “What then is the American, this new man?” And the question is still relevant today. Looking at texts from the eighteenth century to the present, we will focus on the idea of the American melting pot and examine how authors deal with the mixing of classes, races, sexual expressions, and languages. The first part of the course explores first-contact through the late nineteenth century, and the later part starts with the nineteenth century and moves through contemporary texts. We will use the Norton Anthology of American Literature along with a few other texts. The semester will culminate in an original research paper, with guidance from myself, as well as sessions in the library.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Brant Torres 17144 Dag Woubshet

ENGLISH 1158 SEM 111

American Voices: Beyond The Hunger Games

This seminar explores the trials of characters from the margins of society: orphans, unexpected heroes, and con artists. We will read selected works of fiction, from the notorious early nineteenth-century The Female Marine to the recent bestseller The Hunger Games, that have captivated the imaginations of readers from different generations in the US and abroad. Some of the key issues we will discuss in the seminar include wealth and poverty, race, gender, and sexuality. With the help of secondary literature and a selection of films that we'll study alongside the readings, we'll be learning how to become more attentive readers and better writers. Discussions and writing assignments will supplement each other, giving you the opportunity to learn about style, argumentation, and research.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Kamila Janiszewska 17145 Dag Woubshet

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 101 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

MW 07:30-08:45 p.m. Emily Oliver 17112 Charlie Green

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 102 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Jesse Goldberg 17113 Charlie Green

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 103 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Charlie Green 17114 Charlie Green

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 104 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Isabelle Gilbert 17115 Charlie Green

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 105 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Karen Elterman 17116 Charlie Green

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 106 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. Charlie Green 17117

ENGLISH 1167 SEM 107 Great New Books

Great literature in English goes back several centuries, but some of it is being written right now. What are the great new books, and how do we know? What issues arise, and why? What role do reviews, prizes, book clubs, and movie adaptations play in establishing the appeal and prestige of new literature? These are some of the questions we'll explore as we read, discuss, and write critical essays about several of the most acclaimed books published in the last twenty years. Our readings will include works in a range of genres, from novels and memoirs to poetry and graphic novels.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Hajara Quinn 17118 Charlie Green

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 101

Cultural Studies: Imagining the Law

How does the citizen imagine the law, and how might fiction help us think about what the law is, what it could be, or what it should be? These questions will be in the foreground of our seminar, as we explore legal decisions, essays, and works of fiction that offer a deeper understanding of the complex, imaginative relationship between the law, the individual, and the state. Writing instruction will incorporate legal thinking and literary strategies for analyzing texts, creating interesting claims, constructing coherent arguments, and building a strong body of research. Authors and texts may include Thomas More, Michel de Montaigne, Franz Kafka, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, the U.S. Constitution, selected court cases, Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Dexter, Newsroom, and Deadwood.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Michaela Brangan 17146 Satya Mohanty

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 102

Cultural Studies: The Not So Innocent Tale

Fairy tales and children's books that appear innocent can hide disturbing depths. In this course, we will look at children's fairy tales through adult eyes, analyzing these tales through various critical lenses in order to understand their nuances. We’ve grown up with fairy tales, but we might not be aware of how they have affected us: what assumptions and values do they favor? How are newer adaptations reflective of our place and time? What happens when we compare these adaptations to older versions? We will read the original, darker fairy tales, and revisit their adaptations. To write critically is to think critically; this course will focus on developing these critical skills with a special focus on precision of language and persuasive argument.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. Mandy Gutmann 17147 Satya Mohanty

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 103 Cultural Studies: The Western

This course will explore the myth of the American west—in literature, public discourse, dime novels, art, film, TV, and even video games—in order to understand the pervasive influence of the Western as a genre in American popular and political culture. We will compare representations of the West with historical and other narratives of the settling of the west. And we will also consider contemporary examples of the Western genre. Students will be introduced to the techniques of close reading and analytical writing through the examination of formal, narrative, and thematic elements of the genre, including the cowboy/hero, representations of American Indians, landscape and the frontier, and the doctrine of manifest destiny.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Lauren Harmon 17148 Satya Mohanty

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 104

Cultural Studies: Martial Arts Discipline and Punishment

Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and other martial arts actors portray characters who are physically and spiritually disciplined, but how do their films discipline us as an audience and create in us a social, cultural, and political subject that is just as finely-tuned? This seminar uses the action cinema of Hong Kong as an occasion to think and write about philosophical questions of power, violence, individuality and community, race, gender, and sexuality, law and history. Films will include Lau Kar-Leung’s 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Gordon Chan’s Fist of Legend, and Chang Cheh’s Five Deadly Venoms, among others; we will also consider the Street Fighter game series and a selection of theoretical texts as we work to develop critical thought and writing skills.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Matthew Bucemi 17149 Satya Mohanty

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 105

Cultural Studies: When Word Meets Image

Think that graphic novels are not serious literature? Think again. Some of the most compelling books being written today are graphic novels and memoirs. In this class, we’ll examine the interplay of text and image. We’ll observe how the visual arts—painting, photography, film—and the language arts—poetry, fiction, memoir—can inform and generate each other. The artistic fusion of image and word, in a society saturated with the inartistic use of them, enlarges our understanding of how thought and feeling can be expressed on the page. We’ll read, discuss, and write critical essays about some of the most acclaimed contemporary books. Our readings will feature graphic literature along with non-graphic novels and poetry collections.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Alexander Chertok 17150 Satya Mohanty

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 106

Cultural Stories: Gone to the Dogs—The Culture, Behavior, and Science of the Canine

This interdisciplinary FWS will introduce students to behavioral, ethological, and cultural perspectives on dogs. It will also explore how recent scientific research on canine cognition has the potential to transform the way most humans think about dogs. Texts for the course will include Mark Derr’s A Dog’s History of America; Patricia McConnell’s For the Love of a Dog; Raymond and Lorna Coppinger’s Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution; and Ádám Miklósi’s Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition. Writing assignments will include short essays, a revised longer essay, and in-class writing exercises.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Laura Donaldson 17151

ENGLISH 1168 SEM 107 Cultural Studies: Fanfiction

Warning: it may raise some eyebrows when you tell acquaintances what you are reading for this course. Our subject is fanfiction: notoriously difficult to define, frequently maligned for its lack of literary merit, and often overtly, shockingly sexual in its content. This course takes the following as its starting premise: despite being something of a conversational taboo, fanfiction is worth talking about. In particular, we will explore what fanfiction reveals about what we hope to achieve when we read and write, both creatively and critically. We will be reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Hamlet, as well as published and unpublished works that borrow characters and plots from these texts.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Molly Katz 17152 Satya Mohanty

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 101 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Samuel Nam 17127 David Faulkner

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 102 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

MW 07:30-08:45 p.m. Joseph Neal 17128 David Faulkner

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 103 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable ? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton , Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Ji Hyun Lee 17129 David Faulkner

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 104 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Jessica Abel 17130 David Faulkner

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 105 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. David Faulkner 17131

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 106 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable ? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton , Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

MWF 02:30-03:20 p.m. Emma Perry 17132 David Faulkner

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 107

Short Stories: The Great Pleasures of Short Fiction

In this course, we will closely read a variety of nineteeth- and twentieth-century short fiction, from Poe’s unforgettable tales of horror to Nabokov’s dazzling metafictional puzzles, from Melville’s mysterious antebellum Manhattan to Woolf’s and Joyce’s high modernist gems. Over the semester we will observe the wide variety of styles and shapes that short fiction can assume, and we will focus our critical lenses on what literary effects are achieved by our authors’ formal and narrative techniques.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Kevin Attell 17133

ENGLISH 1170 SEM 108 Short Stories

What is the difference between an anecdote and a short story or a memoir and a short story? How does the short story separate itself from the prose poem, the myth, or the parable? What can a short story do that no other art form can do, including cinematic narrative? This course will focus on the reading and analysis of short stories derived from a range of cultures and time periods, with some emphasis on English-language stories, particularly those from the North American continent. Writers may include but not be limited to: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munroe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Willa Cather, Edgar Alan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Eudora Welty, Louise Erdrich, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Flannery O'Connor, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anton Chekhov. There will be a research component and some workshop discussion of student work.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Kenneth Morrison 17134 David Faulkner

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 101 British Literature: Young Loves

Young love is a veritable set of contradictions; it is liberating yet suffocating, narcissistic yet self-denying, intensely personal yet unavoidably political. In this course, we will consider literary and cinematic representations of first loves, sexual awakening, and homoerotic friendships and ask what it is that makes them so fascinating. By looking at works by John Keats, Emily Bronte, and Vladimir Nabokov among others, we will examine the myths, conventions, and feelings that shape our obsession with young people falling in love. Formal assignments will include analytical essays, creative responses, and an in-class presentation.

MW 08:40-09:55 a.m. Ruoji Tang 17153 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 102

British Literature: Love and Lust in the Eighteenth Century

In this course, we’ll read a selection of eighteenth-century English novels about the desire women and men feel for each other and the plots they devise to get what they want. We’ll think about why these novels seem to reward some schemers while punishing others. How do the

novels use the difference between love and lust to make sense of “happy endings”? Is there a clear difference between love and lust? Do the names “love” and “lust” refer to the way a person feels? Or do they refer to the way a person acts—perhaps in response to a feeling? Students will respond to the authors Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, and Delarivier Manley in formal writing assignments and lively class discussion.

MW 08:40-09:55 a.m. David Aichenbaum 17154 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 103

British Literature: Glasgow to Galway

In Scotland and Ireland, issues of class, gender, and national identity have long been tied up with concerns about language and dialect. Whose language is legitimate or literary? How do the words we choose and the stories we tell shape our understanding of ourselves, our society, and others? We will tackle these questions through the work of contemporary Scottish and Irish writers such as Iain Banks, Roddy Doyle, and Tom Leonard. Students will help shape our class time by leading discussion and giving presentations. Most essays will be based on reading and analysis of these works; other assignments may involve outside research and creative writing.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Lauren Schenkman 17155 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 104

British Literature: (Pre)Modern Social Network

Would Chaucer use Facebook or tweet? Did medieval writers face comparable revolutions in textual production to those we face today with e-readers, Wikipedia, and the rise of social media? In this course, we will try to imagine modern textual production together with medieval authors (and vice versa) reading Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare’s Sonnets together with a selection of blogs and Twitter accounts; constructing ongoing blogs in the personae of Canterbury pilgrims; and creating medieval Twitter exchanges. Through in-class discussions and writing, along with longer essays, we will imagine how late medieval and early modern writing technologies can illuminate various modern textual methods.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. William Youngman 17156 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 105

British Literature: Coming of Age in the 19th Century

This course focuses on representations of coming of age in nineteenth-century British literature. We will investigate the Victorian preoccupation with childhood as well as the ideals of adult subjectivity at a time when scientists and philosophers were reconsidering human development. We will explore not only conflicting notions of childhood, but also the extent to which childhood prefigures an adult’s place in the world. Students will gain experience with reading influential and recent criticism, and writing in response. Readings may be chosen from such works as: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland; Charles Dickens, Great Expectations; Rudyard Kipling, Kim.

MWF 02:30-03:20 p.m. Elisha Cohn 17157

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 106

British Literature: Romantic Writers, Thinkers, and Iconoclasts

In the tumultuous decades during and after the French Revolution, writers in England and Europe newly emphasized how thinking relates to feeling. A new style in the expression of feeling transformed English literature and shaped the course of political and social revolutions in Europe. How could that happen? With this question in mind, we will read works such as William Wordsworth’s account of traveling in France as the Revolution began, Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman, William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and P. O. Enquist’s recent historical novel The Royal Physician’s Visit, about how a doctor came to power in Denmark and wrote Enlightenment ideas into law. We will also view the 1995 film of Persuasion and the 2011 film A Royal Affair. Papers will not always involve describing and interpreting these works, but will sometimes involve arguing with them or imitating (or parodying) them.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Cynthia Chase 17158

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 107

British Literature: Dress, Discipline, and Desire

In a moment of despair over a stolen silver cow-creamer, P. G. Wodehouse’s absurd hero Bertie Wooster muses aloud to his manservant, “There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, ‘Do trousers matter?’” Others disagree: for Virginia Woolf, clothes “change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” Whether in dress or in written expression, “style” is a way of creating a self in relation to others. Through texts like Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Austen’s Persuasion, and Woolf’s Orlando, essay assignments will ask you to consider how cultivating a “style” can be a means of negotiating a relationship with the world. What power does “style” have to determine identity? In other words, do trousers matter?

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Miriam Wassif 17159 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1191 SEM 108

British Literature: Stories of Creation and Apocalypse

Recent attention to the Mayan prophecy for 2012 and the constant production of blockbuster disaster films remind us that myths of origin and apocalypse traditionally bookend our understanding of the world. In this course, we will explore how stories of creation and cataclysmic end times are examined, represented, and revised in English literature. In particular, we will consider the lasting influence of the Genesis accounts of the Garden of Eden and the Fall, the myth of Prometheus, and the Apocalypse and Millennium of Revelation. Through in-class discussions and multi-draftexpositoryessays,wewilldevelopskillsinclosereadingandcriticalthinking.TextsmayincludeJohnMilton’s ParadiseLost, Lord Byron’s Cain, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Percy Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Jane Kim 17167 Ellis Hanson

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 101

Writing About Literature: Apologizing Well from Socrates to Kushner

Public figures are always appearing on TV to say they’re sorry; nations, too, apologize for past misdeeds, often decades after everyone both sinned against and sinning has been safely buried. Some people are chronic apologizers, born to feel guilty if the weather turns rainy. Others can’t say sorry. But apologizing, or refusing to apologize, shines a light on any given cultural moment beyond individual avoidance of blame. An apology can take the form of sincere confession or “spin,” with quite a bit of room between these extremes. We will learn about the rhetoric of apologizing and its connection to the history of literature. We will also work on becoming more persuasive and fluid writers, whether crafting apologies ourselves or arguing in defense of others’ apologies.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Masha Raskolnikov 17160

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 102

Writing About Literature: The Powers of Narrative

This course explores how stories move their readers. It aims to help you respond to the narratives we read with an ever-growing intensity of perceptiveness and pleasure. We’ll begin with short fiction, carefully explored, and move on to one or two of the best romantic novels on offer, also carefully explored: Pride and Prejudice and A Room with a View are the likely choices. Throughout, your own writing will be a subject of sustained attention.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Harry Shaw 17161

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 103

Writing about Literature: Midsummer Night’s Dreams

Why are novelists today writing fresh, contemporary stories based on Shakespeare's old, classic comedy of lovers, fools, and fairies, A Midsummer Night's Dream? In this course, students read and write about this playful and touching play, look into a few of its sources, and explore the recent novels it has inspired. We learn how to keep laughing at a 400-year-old comedy and to understand its continuing appeal in new spin-offs, adaptations, movies, and performances. Short verbal explorations—focused exercises, creative imitations, and puckish tinkerings with the Shakespearean imagination—prepare students to write bold (non-AP-English-style!) essays, reviews, and debates, in compelling, lively, intelligent prose. Readings may include: Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love (2000); Amanda Craig, Love in Idleness (2003); Chris Adrian, The Great Night (2011).

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Debra Fried 17162

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 104

Writing about Literature: Who’s Afraid of Theater?

The media’s continuing attacks on Hollywood film and television are not new: long ago Plato warned against theater when he criticized dramatic imitation. In this seminar, we will examine some representative moments in the history of “anti-theatrical" debates, asking such questions as: How is imitation related to personal and national identity? How does theater compete with family, religion, and education in forming moral character and citizenship? Why do questions of sexual and social transgression become associated with drama? We will pair our study of plays with some anti-theatrical criticism: e.g., Sophocles's Oedipus the King with Plato’s Republic; Shakespeare’s Tempest with contemporary Puritan attacks on theater; Moliere’s The Misanthrope with Rousseau’s Letter to M. D'Alembert; Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera with his own writings on theater.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Neil Saccamano 17163

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 105

Writing about Literature: The Reading of Fiction

We will examine modern fiction from 1870 with an emphasis on the short story and novella. Our writers will include: Conrad, Dostoevsky, Joyce, Kafka, Woolf, Lawrence, Mann, Chekhov, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Welty. We will not only study form and narrative strategies but we will also put these works in the context of intellectual and historical developments, including parallel developments in modern art. Student writing assignments will be mostly critical essays, but there will be one creative assignment. Our goals will be to develop close, attentive, imaginative reading and writing—and to enjoy our reading and writing!!

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Daniel Schwarz 17164

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 106

Writing about Literature: The Autobiography of Someone Else

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was written not by Toklas but by her partner Gertrude Stein, and with her title, Stein mischievously invoked an old conceit in novel writing: this story is not fiction, it is the first-person “true life” of someone else. In this class, we will focus on first-person texts from several centuries and genres in which the purportedly auto-biographical “I” and the figure of the author slip in and out of alignment, honing critical reading and writing skills as we untangle the ways stories, poems, and pictures produce and trouble personal identity. Readings from Montaigne, Aphra Behn, Anna Deveare Smith, Wordsworth, Kafka, Nabokov, and Ann Carson, with self-portraiture from Cindy Sherman, and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Amanda Goldstein 17165

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

ENGLISH 1270 SEM 107

Writing about Literature: The Reading of Poetry

How can we become more appreciative and accomplished readers of poetry, and at the same time better writers of prose? This course focuses on the rich variety of poems written in English from William Shakespeare to Sylvia Plath, John Keats to William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson to Craig Raine and Gwendolyn Brooks. We may read songs, sonnets, satires, villanelles, even riddles and limericks. By engaging in thorough discussions and varied writing assignments, we will explore some of the major periods, modes, and genres of English and American poetry.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Fredric Bogel 17166

First-year students may enroll only if they have taken one First-Year Writing Seminar, scored a “4” or “5” on the Princeton AP examination, received a “700” or better on the English Composition or CEEB tests, or received a “7” on the IB English Lit exam.

FEMINIST, GENDER & SEXUALITY STUDIES 1102 SEM 101 Genders of Sound

In her essay, “The Gender of Sound,” Anne Carson writes that patriarchy has historically silenced women by “[p]utting a door on the female mouth.” Through a broad range of literary texts, from medieval mystical prose to contemporary poetry by Adrienne Rich, we will investigate the power dynamics behind cultural perceptions of vocalization, including pitch, tone, cadence, and language use. We will ask how the idea of “noise” as “sound out of place” contributes to the notion that women—and “feminine” men—are “noise-makers,” and how the boisterous characters and authors of these texts rehabilitate “feminine” noise at both thematic and stylistic levels. Writing assignments will stress composition as a process as we render rough “noisy” drafts into assertive and polished prose, grounded in textual evidence.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Adin Lears 17168 Shelley Feldman

FRENCH 1108 SEM 101

Monstrous Forms: Wild Men and Wicked Women

Monstrosity is a means of marking off and isolating the "unacceptable" other, that which threatens us, often for reasons that we cannot explain. Throughout time, women, people of other races and nations, various species of animals, have all been designated as monstrous. This course will explore the gendering of monstrosity: why is it that monstrous men are described as "wild," as if their monstrosity is natural, while monstrous women are most frequently described as "wicked," as if their monstrosity is a moral failing? We will focus on texts about "wild men" and witches: Yvain by Chrétien de Troyes, Beowulf, Grendel by John Gardner, Ambroise Paré's On Monsters and Marvels, and selected episodes of the X-files.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Kathleen Long 17169

FRENCH 1109 SEM 101

Gangsters, Guns, and Gauloises: French Crime Cinema

The crime film is one of the most lasting genres in French cinema history, but for all the gun shots in rainy streets under the neon lights of nightclubs in Pigalle, crime is seldom what makes it so compelling. Ranging from a mode of political inquiry to a reflection on film history and experimentation with form, the theme of crime is often the backdrop on which other concerns are expressed. Through viewings and close readings of works by directors such as Duvivier, Clouzot, Godard, Melville, Gavras, and exposure to film criticism, students will develop the reading and writing skills necessary to address questions of how we relate to and think about crime in cinema.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Zach Gooch 17313 Marilyn Migiel

FRENCH 1109 SEM 102

Gangsters, Guns, and Gauloises: French Crime Cinema

The crime film is one of the most lasting genres in French cinema history, but for all the gun shots in rainy streets under the neon lights of nightclubs in Pigalle, crime is seldom what makes it so compelling. Ranging from a mode of political inquiry to a reflection on film history and experimentation with form, the theme of crime is often the backdrop on which other concerns are expressed. Through viewings and close readings of works by directors such as Duvivier, Clouzot, Godard, Melville, Gavras, and exposure to film criticism, students will develop the reading and writing skills necessary to address questions of how we relate to and think about crime in cinema.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Zach Gooch 17314 Kathleen Long

FRENCH 1114 SEM 101

The Order of the Day: Terror and Terrorism

Terror and terrorism have so marked modern times that many have dubbed the present the Age of Terror. However, from the French Revolution to the present day, terror and terrorism have continued to raise troubling questions. Who defines terrorism and how? What distinguishes state terrorism from terrorism against the state or the terrorist from the freedom fighter? Through a variety of writing exercises and essays, we will examine political speeches, pamphlets, manifestos, narrative fiction, and film to build a multi-voiced understanding of terror and terrorism from the French Revolution to 9/11.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Cory Browning 17170 Marilyn Migiel

FRENCH 1115 SEM 101

From Gargantua to WALL-E: Excess and Limits of Waste

In this seminar, we will study waste as a paradoxical literary object (Why would literature be anything other than a thing of beauty?). We will think about waste and excess in our own writing (Is everything we write necessary or is it garbage?). Is there any way of thinking about waste that is not a source of anxiety? As our landfills become full, and people consume more, waste makes us anxious about the future of our environment, but in the French Renaissance, for example, Rabelais created a world of gluttonous and excreting giants partaking in joyful consumption. We will view several films about waste and read Rabelais and select French writers.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. Pauline Goul 17171 Marilyn Migiel

GERMAN STUDIES 1104 SEM 101

Dreams of Reason: Exploring the Enlightenment

In this course, we will encounter a diverse company of ghost-seers, pleasure-hunters, and freedom-freaks. Contrary to the cliché of the Age of Enlightenment, irrational enthusiasms flourished next to its official program of reason as the medium of self-emancipation. We will investigate these two sides by exploring the texts of canonical Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant and Voltaire, as well as the fiction and artwork of visionary figures like E. T. A. Hoffmann and Francisco Goya. Guided by the Enlightenment practice of critical discussion, we will refine our analytical writing skills by engaging with questions such as: What were the Enlightenment’s most influential ideas? What were its internal tensions and problems? And what is the significance of the Enlightenment for contemporary debates in politics, science, and education?

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Johannes Wankhammer 17172 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1109 SEM 101

From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny: Exploring the Romantic Consciousness

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children? The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force for social transformation. As Romantics edited older tales for juvenile consumption they wrote new ones for adults. This new fiction created the matrix for modern pop genres like fantasy, science-fiction, murder mysteries, and gothic horror. To understand this paradigm shift in modern culture, we will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts the Romantics collected, composed, or inspired, including poetry and film, in addition to classic fairy tales and academic scholarship on the topic.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Andreea Mascan 17175

GERMAN STUDIES 1109 SEM 102

From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny: Exploring the Romantic Consciousness

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children? The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force for social transformation. As Romantics edited older tales for juvenile consumption they wrote new ones for adults. This new fiction created the matrix for modern pop genres like fantasy, science-fiction, murder mysteries, and gothic horror. To understand this paradigm shift in modern culture, we will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts the Romantics collected, composed, or inspired, including poetry and film, in addition to classic fairy tales and academic scholarship on the topic.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Ekaterina Pirozhenko 17176

GERMAN STUDIES 1109 SEM 103

From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny: Exploring the Romantic Consciousness

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children? The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force for social transformation. As Romantics edited older tales for juvenile consumption they wrote new ones for adults. This new fiction created the matrix for modern pop genres like fantasy, science-fiction, murder mysteries, and gothic horror. To understand this paradigm shift in modern culture, we will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts the Romantics collected, composed, or inspired, including poetry and film, in addition to classic fairy tales and academic scholarship on the topic.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Christine Schott 17177 Douglass Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1109 SEM 104

From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny: Exploring the Romantic Consciousness

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children? The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force for social transformation. As Romantics edited older tales for juvenile consumption they wrote new ones for adults. This new fiction created the matrix for modern pop genres like fantasy, science-fiction, murder mysteries, and gothic horror. To understand this paradigm shift in modern culture, we will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts the Romantics collected, composed, or inspired, including poetry and film, in addition to classic fairy tales and academic scholarship on the topic.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Matteo Calla 17178 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1109 SEM 105

From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny: Exploring the Romantic Consciousness

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children? The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force for social transformation. As Romantics edited older tales for juvenile consumption they wrote new ones for adults. This new fiction created the matrix for modern pop genres like fantasy, science-fiction, murder mysteries, and gothic horror. To understand this paradigm shift in modern culture, we will read, discuss, and write about a variety of texts the Romantics collected, composed, or inspired, including poetry and film, in addition to classic fairy tales and academic scholarship on the topic.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Alexander Phillips 17179 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1170 SEM 101 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary models of critical analysis these thinkers pioneered: historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, and psychoanalysis. This will mean articulating points of contrast as well as convergence. Discussions and writing exercises will focus on texts that created the discursive framework for critiquing society and culture today. Our method will proceed from the premise that critical reading, thinking, and writing are inseparable moments in the same operation of critique. The question that guides that method will be: Do alternative ways of thinking exist in opposition to the ones we view as natural, inevitable, or universal?

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Anna Horakova 17184 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1170 SEM 102 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary models of critical analysis these thinkers pioneered: historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, and psychoanalysis. This will mean articulating points of contrast as well as convergence. Discussions and writing exercises will focus on texts that created the discursive framework for critiquing society and culture today. Our method will proceed from the premise that critical reading, thinking, and writing are inseparable moments in the same operation of critique. The question that guides that method will be: Do alternative ways of thinking exist in opposition to the ones we view as natural, inevitable, or universal?

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Nathan Taylor 17185 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1170 SEM 103 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary models of critical analysis these thinkers pioneered: historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, and psychoanalysis. This will mean articulating points of contrast as well as convergence. Discussions and writing exercises will focus on texts that created the discursive framework for critiquing society and culture today. Our method will proceed from the premise that critical reading, thinking, and writing are inseparable moments in the same operation of critique. The question that guides that method will be: Do alternative ways of thinking exist in opposition to the ones we view as natural, inevitable, or universal?

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Katrina Nousek 17186 Douglas Brent McBride

GERMAN STUDIES 1170 SEM 104 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary models of critical analysis these thinkers pioneered: historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, and psychoanalysis. This will mean articulating points of contrast as well as convergence. Discussions and writing exercises will focus on texts that created the discursive framework for critiquing society and culture today. Our method will proceed from the premise that critical reading, thinking, and writing are inseparable moments in the same operation of critique. The question that guides that method will be: Do alternative ways of thinking exist in opposition to the ones we view as natural, inevitable, or universal?

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Douglas Brent McBride 17187

GOVERNMENT 1101 SEM 101 Power and Politics: Dissent

Do citizens have an obligation to obey unjust laws? This seminar offers students an introduction to political theory by exploring the ways political dissidents, law-breakers, and radicals challenged the perceived injustices of their times. We will study ancient, modern, and contemporary texts of political theory to gain an understanding of basic political concepts such as political authority, freedom, justice and injustice, the rule of law, conscience, and social criticism. This semester we will pay special attention to the writings of the Abolitionists and other critics of slavery in America. Beginning with short single-page response papers and building up to a more substantial argumentative paper by the end of the series, students will engage in a series of revision and rewriting exercises, including submissions of drafts, peer-review, and peer grading exercises.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Alexander Livingston 17191

GOVERNMENT 1101 SEM 102

Power and Politics: Sex and Political Freedom

How have diverse thinkers attempted to think through the nature of sexual difference, and how do the ways that we conceive sexual difference correspondingly shape our ideas about what constitutes sexual and political freedom? This seminar treats these questions by touching on themes of democracy, the biological and cultural bases of sexual difference, utopia, political separatism, the state and the law, and sexual revolution. Students can expect to read a range of material—pamphlets, manifestos, philosophical tracts, fiction—which captures the efforts by thinkers to answer the question, “What is sexual freedom?” The writing assignments aim to cultivate in students proficiency in academic essay writing and to ask them to examine the implications of genre and literary form for philosophical argumentation and public debate.

MW 08:40-09:55 a.m. Kevin Duong 17192 Jason Frank

GOVERNMENT 1101 SEM 103

The Propaganda of the Deed: Thinking about Terror

The aim of this course is to study the way terrorism has come to be imagined and interpreted in American culture. Starting with 19th- and early 20th-century Anarchism, the course will track changes in how the political meaning of terrorism has been understood in literature (and films), history, and in primary writings by advocates of terrorism and terrorists themselves. From anarchism, the course will move on to mid-century left-wing terrorists, American right-wing groups, and will conclude with Islamist terrorism in the 21st century. Writing assignments will cultivate critical thinking skills such as Historical and cross-cultural comparison, literary criticism, and social-scientific analysis.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Vijay Phulwani 17193 Jason Frank

GOVERNMENT 1101 SEM 104

Power and Politics: Gender Politics and Science Fiction

This class will use short stories, excerpts from longer works, film, and television within the speculative fiction genre(s) to explore portrayals and deployments of gender roles and political power in various socio-political contexts—utopias, dystopias, salvation tales, space operas, and historical revisionism—as well as contemporary political theory, queer theory, and writings on gender(ed) politics. Readings may include but will not be limited to: Ursula K. LeGuin, Ann Fausto-Sterling, Samuel Delany, Philip K. Dick, Olivia Butler, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Margaret Atwood, Joanna Russ, and James Tiptree, Jr.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Judith Piotrkowski 17194 Jason Frank

GOVERNMENT 1101 SEM 105

Power and Politics: “The Race of Life”—Citizenship in American Political Thought

Who are “we the people”? This course offers an historical overview of the ways in which American political actors have conceived of citizenship, framed not simply through Supreme Court decisions and the Constitution but through literature, pamphleteering, speeches, autobiography, film, and the internet. Students will examine the political arguments that have both pushed equality and permitted exclusion, focusing on issues of rights, representation, and race associated with American citizenship. Topics will include birthright citizenship, immigration, treason, corporate personhood, etc., with a focus on the political theory that underpins these concepts. Writing instruction will focus on persuasive argument and the development of political positions through research and debate.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Nolan Bennett 17195 Aziz Rana

HISTORY 1144 SEM 101

After the Mughals: Islam and the Economy of Eighteenth-Centuy India

Current stereotypes present “Islam” as the mysterious, stubborn “Other” of free, modern commercial enterprise. But this has not historically been the case. This course offers ways of understanding Islam in terms of its political and economic history in India, during a century of dramatic social change. As the Mughal Empire declined, new political and business organizations sprang up in South Asia. Alongside these changes arose transformations in areas normally thought to lie outside the economy: patterns of devotional practice, pilgrimage rituals, and religious identities. Writing assignments on both primary sources and recent academic approaches will help students build an awareness of how to respond effectively to scholarly literature, as well as trying their own hand at historical writing.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Rishad Choudhury 17173 Durba Ghosh

HISTORY 1148 SEM 101

World Order in the American Century

In 1941, as the United States was on the cusp of war and world leadership, publisher of Time magazine Henry Luce called for the creation of “the first great American Century.” This course examines how Luce and others envisioned global institutions in an era of U.S. preeminence, and how and to what effect those visions were realized. To make this topic manageable, we will focus on three themes: inter-governmental organization, international law, and development assistance. Students will read works by, or about, figures such as Woodrow Wilson, Henry Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt to help them consider the ways in which the twentieth century was an American Century. And they will imagine themselves as speechwriters or columnists to consider how American the twenty-first century might be.

MW 08:40-09:55 a.m. Brian Cuddy 17213 Fred Logevall

HISTORY 1167 SEM 101 [Failed] Revolutions

We know what becomes of successful revolutions: they become the foundational moments of states and governments. But what about failed revolutions—and what does it mean for them to fail? In this course, we will consider the category of “revolution” in European intellectual, cultural, and historical traditions. Of particular interest are questions of legitimacy, the use of media, the role of political violence, the rule of law, and terror. Case studies will include, among others, the French and English Revolutions, the German revolutions of 1848 and 1918, the Nazi/Fascist movements, 1968, and the Arab Spring. Students will hone their writing skills through engagement with primary and secondary historical sources, political theory and philosophy, literature, and film.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. Mary Kathryn Horning 17180 Isabel Hull

HISTORY 1168 SEM 101

History and Myth: The Rise of China

With China’s rapid ascendance, China has been regarded by many people around the world as a formidable economic and political power that has the potential to change the world order. In this course, we will view the “rise of China” by exploring certain events and issues and their legacies for China and the world. Will China change the international order in the future? We will approach this question through unique historical insights and a range of sources including documentaries, photographs, literature, and movies. Readings include works by Jonathan Spence, Martin Jacques, Fareed Zakaria, and Stefan Halper. Through writing assignments based on course materials, we will consider in what sense China’s rise is true, and in what sense it is a myth.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Yuanchong Wang 17220 Jian Chen

HISTORY 1169 SEM 101

Modern Japan in Dialogue with the Pacific World

This course will examine the experiences of modernity in Japan from the perspective of authors both within Japan and around the Pacific World. Topics include Chinese discussions of modernity in Asia and their impact on Japan, as well as critical links between African-American writings on race and the idea of racial equality in Japan. Through analyses of a number of fictional and theoretical texts, students will question categories which were often thought in opposition in the modern world, such as the West and the non-West or the modern and the pre-modern. Particular emphasis will be devoted to developing writing skills and careful analysis of fundamental texts of intellectual history.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Noriaki Hoshino 17181 J. Victor Koschmann

HISTORY 1171 SEM 101

A Short History of Religion and Politics in the USA

Ever wonder why the Founders separated Church and State? Curious about how divisive social issues have taken over so much of the political landscape? This course begins by asking what religion and politics are about, and then looks at sources ranging from the Founders’ letters to Obama’s speeches in order to map out a history of the tensions between secular politics and political religion in America today. While thinking about the political and philosophical issues behind the polarizing headlines, students will move between historical and analytical frames and write essays on the following: the Founders’ concerns, the rise of evangelical politics, three of today’s hot-button social issues, and how secular or religious freedoms can support and/or undermine each other.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Chris Kai-Jones 17182 Naoki Sakai

HISTORY 1172 SEM 101

Making Accidents Happen: A Cultural History

“Accidents happen.” This simple phrase obscures an entire field of cultural history. The accident—an unforeseen event that lacks intentionality—is both an historical and cultural phenomenon. It helps define the boundaries of the natural and social worlds, and the limits of human agency and responsibility. When social, economic, and technological change—including rail travel, industrial production, and finance capital—creates new forms of misfortune, the accident can serve to naturalize these events. We investigate changing ideas about accidents and their intersection with legal and political rights and responsibilities in distinct historical and cultural contexts, while probing the relationship between accidents and “legal consciousness.” Writing assignments and instruction will help to demystify the writing process, as students learn that good writing doesn’t happen by accident.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Quentin (Trais) Pearson 17383 Tamara Loos

HISTORY 1290 SEM 101 The Politics of Noise

Some noises pierce our ears and disrupt both our hearing and our thinking. In contrast, background noises may be loud, persistent, and even harmful to our ears, but they suffuse our everyday lives so fully that we can ignore them. Despite our daily subjective encounters with noise, can noise have a political meaning as well, one that transcends our individual experiences with din and discord, cacophony and clamor? By comparing cultural, literary, and historical examples of noise—from Don DeLillo’s descriptions of suburban noise in his novel White Noise to our parents’ complaints about the music we listen to—this course explores noise’s relationship to the politics of race, class, gender, generation, and religion. By spending the semester writing about noise, we seek to comprehend it rather than contain it.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Duane Corpis 17183

HISTORY 1421 SEM 101 African Novels/African Histories

Novels provide one of the most enjoyable ways to explore the past. Written as fiction, they nevertheless entice us to learn more. This course will explore a number of novels by African men and women as they elucidate the joys and concerns that are specific to particular times and places, but also express how Africans have grappled with and laughed about universal themes. Short written responses to readings will evolve into longer analytical essays that blend artistic and historical insights and arguments.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Sandra Greene 17222

HORTICULTURAL SCIENCES 1175 SEM 101

Storying the Foodshed: Race, Class, Labor, and Food in Tompkins County

Much in the same way we ask if a picture does a scene, or person justice—what does it mean to do a story justice or to do justice with stories? As we think about and seek social justice, what stories must be recognized? Which ones must be reconsidered? Stories of race, class, gender, labor? This course will grapple with these questions as the writing group thinks about struggles for Food Justice in Tompkins County, NY. Course readings will focus on the philosophy, ethics, and practice of storytelling as a political art. However the crux of the course will come as students engage with local communities in creating and publishing powerful stories of the local food system that seek to enliven reflection and action.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. John Armstrong 17386

ITALIAN 1109 SEM 101

Imagining Pinocchio: Education in Italy and Modern Europe

What do Pinocchio and Cinderella have in common, and what do their stories tell us about children and modern education? This course invites students to approach children’s literature, cartoons, and advertisements in a critical way. Primarily focusing on Italy and Modern Europe, we will investigate socio-political representations of children. Readings will include Collodi’s Pinocchio, De Amicis’ Heart, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Advertisements and cartoons (e.g., Walt Disney’s Pinocchio) will supplement literary readings. Writing assignments will consist of reading responses, analytic essays, creative writing, and one research paper.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Sylvia Hakopian 17227 Marilyn Migiel

ITALIAN 1109 SEM 102

Imagining Pinocchio: Education in Italy and Modern Europe

What do Pinocchio and Cinderella have in common, and what do their stories tell us about children and modern education? This course invites students to approach children’s literature, cartoons, and advertisements in a critical way. Primarily focusing on Italy and Modern Europe, we will investigate socio-political representations of children. Readings will include Collodi’s Pinocchio, De Amicis’ Heart, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Advertisements and cartoons (e.g., Walt Disney’s Pinocchio) will supplement literary readings. Writing assignments will consist of reading responses, analytic essays, creative writing, and one research paper.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Sylvia Hakopian 17228 Marilyn Migiel

LINGUISTICS 1100 SEM 101

Language, Thought, and Reality: Biological Foundations of Language

What is so special about the human brain that only it, and no other animal brain, can create language? To consider this question, we will examine the current state of knowledge about the biological substrate for all aspects of language, including the most up-to-date research on phonetics, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. We will look at the heated debates in the research on child language development, aphasia, and brain imaging technology. Students will learn how to read scientific texts about language critically, as they write about these in essays, including reviews, critiques, and research proposals.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Chelsea Sanker 17214 Michael Weiss

LINGUISTICS 1100 SEM 102

Language, Thought, and Reality: Translation and Writing

Translation from a foreign language sharpens the skills that are required for good writing of any kind: a clear grasp of the objectives of a text, an understanding of one's audience, and the ability to control a consistent style. Linguistics is the scientific study of language as it is used. This is not a course in translation: instead it explores the act and practice of translation as a window into communication and language as a whole. In this course, we will discuss the goals of translation in different genres: poetry, film, fiction, and non-fiction. We will examine the differences between languages, the "exotic" in translations, and the translatability of images. Writing assignments will emphasize evidence-centric analysis of the practical realizations of abstract ideas. Readings include theoretical essays on translation, philosophical works on linguistics, and contemporary book reviews. We will also make reference to poems by Catullus, Japanese Manga, teen movies, and plays by David Mamet. No knowledge of a foreign language is required

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Cara DiGirolamo 17215 Michael Weiss

LINGUISTICS 1100 SEM 103

Language, Thought, and Reality: Metaphors We Live By

We typically think of metaphor as a purely literary phenomenon, a rarefied figurative device. This course aims to uncover the pervasive “hidden metaphors” we use in everyday speech and what they reveal about the way we conceptualize ideas, perceptions, emotions, and other abstract categories. Assignments for this course will include linguistic analyses of texts on politics, society, and popular culture, evaluation of the role metaphor plays in historical language change, and exploration of non-linguistic metaphor in gestures, advertising, and cartoons. We will read and write about selections from the work of linguists, philosophers, and psychologists.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Anca Chereches 17216 Michael Weiss

LINGUISTICS 1100 SEM 104

Language, Thought, and Reality: Myths and Controversies

Some say, “English is from Latin” others, “English is from German.” Both are not true: English is from Old English. As for the present state of the language, regretful comments such as “Young people are ruining the language,” or “French is more logical,” are by no means uncommon. Is there any more merit to these complaints then to the above statements on the origins of English? This course addresses common linguistic misconceptions, and provides students with a basis for evaluating assertions concerning language in the popular press. Writing assignments will take the form of short reaction pieces, critique and research papers. Special attention will be devoted to developing ideas, effective organization, and phrasing. No formal linguistic analysis is involved.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Kimberly Will 17217 Michael Weiss

LINGUISTICS 1100 SEM 105

Language, Thought, and Reality: Words and Pictures

This class explores the collaboration of language and image to create meanings at multiple levels. We will discuss and write about popular culture—caricatures, comics, advertising, and puzzles—along with high culture artifacts like paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and ideographic scripts, examining the interplay and analogies between understanding language and interpreting images. We will discuss phenomena that cut across words and pictures: both may represent reality. A sentence may be true or false—can the same be said of a picture? Both language and visual representation are governed by conventions, and would be impossible without them. Information may be foregrounded and backgrounded in both channels, and can be ambiguous, contradictory, nonsensical, or self-referential.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Dorit Abusch 17218

LINGUISTICS 1100 SEM 106

Language, Thought, and Reality: Linguistics and (Pre-)History

How do linguists use language as a tool to discover prehistory? In addition to the more obvious sources of historical data (documents, physical remains, etc.), scholars often make use of linguistic data in constructing theories about (pre-)historical events and patterns. In this class, we will examine and write about four basic questions. First, how do linguists uncover earlier stages of linguistic history? Second, what kinds of inferences can be legitimately drawn from linguistic data for (pre-)historical investigation? Third, how can we distinguish between plausible and implausible uses of linguistic data? Fourth, what role does ideology play in shaping or misshaping historical reconstruction? Some particular topics that may be covered: The Indo-Aryan invasion hypothesis; Ancient Macedonian; The peopling of the Americas and pre-Columbian contact; Egyptian influence in Africa. Students will write critical analyses of proposals evaluating them for logic, attention to contradictory evidence, ideology, and rhetoric. They will also try their hands at constructing both a good and a specious theory.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Michael Weiss 17219

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101 SEM 101

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Words as Weapons—Defending the Self in Medieval Literature

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." In medieval literature, however, spoken and written words were used as weapons to defend the self and injure the opposition. Focusing on how the religious attempted to protect their body and soul from threats of evil, this course will examine the text as a form of spiritual defense. We will read a broad range of medieval works in translation, including the heroic poem “The Battle of Maldon,” the lives of saints Guthlac and Juliana, and Chaucer's “Clerk's Tale.” Class discussions will seek to draw out major themes and historic issues in order to develop the skills for writing informal responses, close readings, and critical essays.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Ruth Mullett 17235 Samantha Zacher

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101 SEM 102

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Brains, and Booze—Writings from and about Medieval Students

Where there are students, one often finds shoddy philosophy, booze, and bawdy poetry. This course will wander through some of the texts, especially the bawdy and casual poetry, produced in medieval educational contexts including Charlemagne’s court, eleventh-century cathedral schools, and the early universities. Themes that will be discussed include the social interactions between students and masters, students and townspeople, and between students themselves. The academic subjects our medieval counterparts studied will appear, but what the students did in their free time will overshadow (and influence) our discussions of the medieval version of hitting the books. Modern students enrolled in this course will write in analytical, creative, and personal styles.

MW 08:40-09:55 a.m. Corinna Matlis 17236 Andrew Hicks

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101 SEM 103

Aspects of Medieval Culture: Law and Order—Improbable Medieval Mysteries

Who dunnit? Miss Scarlet with the wrench in the library? Or Queen Guinevere with the poisoned apples at the dinner party? Mystery stories often expose what a society finds abnormal and dangerous—whether racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual minorities, or atypical relationships, bodies, and gender roles. Mysteries also explore the limits of the knowable, and their resolution reveals what constitutes truth and proof in the Middle Ages. To explore these issues, we will look as such far-ranging sources as heresy and witch trials, murders in romances and sagas, and bizarre cases of mistaken identity. We will compare our medieval sources to the methods of post-Enlightenment detectives like Sherlock Holmes, and to the lurid conclusions of modern procedurals like Chinatown and Law & Order. Such sources wrestle with issues central to writing: evidence, argument, rebuttal, and rhetorical presentation.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Marybeth Matlack 17237 Duane Corpis

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101 SEM 104

Aspects of Medieval Culture: “I Saw Myself As a Man”—Embodying Medieval Holy Women

Pick up any brightly-colored magazine today and you will find yourself inundated with ways to improve your looks, change your clothes,

and get a partner. That Cosmopolitan sensibility is not a modern invention and in fact, pressure to have the perfect body has been around since the days of the ancient Greeks. This class will explore the ways that medieval contemporaries constructed physical identity, focusing primarily on holy women and female saints. As we move between genres—from saints’ lives to medical texts to passionate love letters—we will challenge our own notions of femininity and embodied gender. Formal writing assignments, along with lively class discussion, will strengthen students’ critical thinking and writing abilities.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Hannah Byland 17238 Masha Raskolnikov

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1101 SEM 105

Aspects of Medieval Culture: The Real Old School Gamers—Medieval Gaming and Gambling

The German “Spiel des Jahres” prize for outstanding new board games has only existed since 1979, but it reflects a centuries-long European love of tabletop play. In medieval societies, many aspects of culture were limited to certain classes or professions, but nearly anyone could play games. In this course, students will write analytically about various popular medieval board and dice games, people who played them, and attitudes towards games and players, using texts ranging from courtly poetry to raunchy tavern songs. What themes are common to medieval games themselves and literature about games? Why were some games looked down upon, and others considered wholesome pastimes? Assignments will include short responses, close readings, and critical analyses which seek to expand upon these questions and others.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Amanda Lowell 17239 Cary Howie

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1102 SEM 101

Literature of Chivalry: Cartoons and Culture in the Middle Ages

Bugs Bunny’s classic question, “What’s up, doc?” and Spongebob Squarepants’ piercing laughter are among the animated cartoon’s many contributions to pop culture. An often underestimated art form, cartoons are a shrewd form of subversive commentary designed for immediate and memorable impact. In this class, we will compare the animated cartoon—especially its use of satire, slapstick, and the grotesque—with medieval texts and iconography similarly created to shock, entertain, and instruct. From propaganda to protest, we will consider how image and text express and combat social beliefs and frustrations. Texts include the Robin Hood ballads, Marie de France’s lais, Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale, and lyrical showdowns between Vikings. Through class discussion, writing exercises, and formal papers, students will strengthen their writing and critical reasoning.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Danielle Wu 17245 Samantha Zacher

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1103 SEM 101

Legends, Fantasy and Vision: Vikings and Dragons—Early Heroic Literature in the North

In the film The 13th Warrior, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, a traveler from Baghdad, expresses surprise at his companion's calmness on the eve of battle, but the Norseman responds: “The All-Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won't live one instant longer.” This course will examine medieval texts that inspire such modern representations of heroism. Readings will include Beowul,f The Battle of Maldon, The Saga of the Volsungs, and selections from the Elder Edda. We will strive to appreciate the complexity of the heroic ethos in various forms, in texts from related cultures. Class discussions and a series of papers will encourage clear writing, close reading, and analysis of the texts.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Edward Currie 17188 Thomas Hill

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 1103 SEM 102

Legends, Fantasy, and Vision: Introduction to Oral Tradition and Literature

Literature as usually defined and studied consists of a canon of “authorized” texts—texts written by specific authors and then made public (”published”) in a fixed form. An alternative tradition of literature, however, is “oral”/“traditional” literature, texts such as ballads and folktales which were disseminated orally and which change from performance to performance. This course will serve as an introduction to “oral”/“traditional” literary forms, concentrating on English and Scots ballads and folktales, but giving some attention to literary authors such as Malory and Tolkien who either write in a traditional mode or who imitate “traditional”/“oral” literature in their fictions.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Thomas Hill 17189

MUSIC 1701 SEM 101

Sound, Sense, and Ideas: “Highbrow Meets Lowbrow”—Musical Fusion in Twentieth-Century America

How can music serve to break down barriers between popular and elitist cultures? This course will examine the concepts of “high” and “low” culture in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America through the lens of “fusion,” or the blending of musical genres. Specifically, we will explore how concert venues, instruments, technology, and media help form and reform musical genres and communities. We will focus on Fusion Jazz (from which the term “fusion” emerged in the 1970s) in addition to a variety of musical hybrids created during the 1950s and onwards, covering musicians such as Elvis Presley, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, and Steve Reich. Students will learn to think and write critically about music by reading a variety of music reviews, in addition to writing reviews of their own.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Erica Levenson 17229 Andrew Hicks

PHILOSOPHY 1110 SEM 101

Philosophy in Practice: Stewards or Sovereigns? Issues in Environmental Ethics

When we think about morality, we usually think about obligations we have to other human beings. But we have relationships to all kinds of other things, including non-human animals and the planet we share with them. These relationships raise ethical questions of their own: Do non-human animals have rights? Is the environment valuable in itself or only in virtue of its benefits to humans? How should the burdens of dealing with climate change be distributed? How should we deal with conflicts between our duties to human beings and those we may have to the environment which sustains them? In this course, we will examine these issues with an eye to mastering the skill of critical, argumentative writing.

MW 07:30-08:45 p.m. Jordan Thomson 17231 Theodore Sider

PHILOSOPHY 1110 SEM 102

Philosophy in Practice: Social Change and American Law

Why are federal courts usually the first institution to recognize the rights of minorities? Where is success yet to be achieved in the areas of race, gender, sexuality, and class? What are the future social battles and in what arena will they be fought? This course will examine the

structure of the American system of jurisprudence and how it shapes, catalyzes, and impedes social progress. Students will study past and present political struggles to discover how and why success was achieved in the various branches of government at different times. Readings in the course will include judicial opinions and the writings of political philosophers, critical legal theorists, and jurists; Writing assignments will develop the skills of summary exposition and description, and argument.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Daniel Manne 17232

PHILOSOPHY 1111 SEM 101

Philosophical Problems: Ethics, Human Nature, and Biology

Do fetuses have rights? If so, are they more important than mothers’? Equally? Are fetuses and coma patients really human? Is it okay to test using placebos on people who need real help? Could we steal five organs from someone who might die to save five people who will? Should we pay a little more in taxes to make sure that everyone has health care? The ethics of medical practice, research, and policy is a tricky business. We’ll read arguments from philosophers and scientists discussing these and many other issues. Through writing and editing short papers you’ll learn to assess complex arguments, to produce clear arguments of your own, and to carefully edit your work—skills useful in every discipline.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Ian McKay 17240 Theodore Sider

PHILOSOPHY 1111 SEM 103

Philosophical Problems: Questions about Ethics

Some think that we are obligated to help the less fortunate; others claim that killing is (in all cases) impermissible; and still others believe that we all must observe the Sabbath. But what does it mean to say that an act is obligatory, impermissible, or mandatory? Are there objective facts about this, or is it just a matter of personal preference or convention? And why should we care what morality requires? In this course, we'll survey a number of different answers to these questions. The aim is to teach students to critically evaluate (often very complex and abstract) arguments, as well as how to write about those arguments in a clear, well-organized, and persuasive manner. Students will be required to write a number of short essays, as well as a longer final paper in several drafts.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Eric Rowe 17242 Theodore Sider

PHILOSOPHY 1111 SEM 104

Philosophical Problems: Of God, Humans, and Morality

This course deals with philosophical attempts at answering various questions about morality (and related issues) that are widely discussed by philosophers and non-philosophers alike. Examples include: Does morality depend on the existence of God? And do we have good reasons for believing that God exists in the first place? Or is morality a matter of varying social conventions? What is the relationship between morality and self-interest? Is the morally good life the best life for one to live? Writing assignments will ask students to explain and critically respond to the arguments presented in the readings, which will be drawn from both classic and contemporary texts. The assignments will help students improve their ability to write in a clear, organized, and persuasive way.

TR 08:40-09:55 a.m. Andrea Viggiano 17243 Theodore Sider

PHILOSOPHY 1111 SEM 105

Philosophical Problems: Defining the Undefinable, Expressing the Inexpressible

Thinkers have struggled to define and express important concepts and experiences. This seminar will examine different ways of doing so, as well as the very notions of defining and expressing. We’ll look at attempts to define important things: What’s goodness? What’s love? Can these things be defined? What makes something a definition? Also, we’ll talk about literal vs. non-literal: what’s going on when Romeo says “Juliet is the sun”? Readings include Wittgenstein, Sartre, and Aristotle. We’ll read Proust, Virginia Woolf, and Walt Whitman, and watch films by David Lynch and others. Students will write persuasive essays, as well as attempt, themselves, to define and express things we encounter in course materials. We’ll then critically discuss and write about these attempts.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Eric Epstein 17244 Theodore Sider

PHILOSOPHY 1112 SEM 101

Philosophical Conversations: Minds and Ideas

Is human nature fixed and innate or is it learned and malleable? Why do we act in ways we know are wrong? Is free will compatible with a deterministic universe? How are our minds related to our bodies? Can we construct mechanical minds? This writing intensive course will approach some of the biggest questions about the nature of our minds through the writings of great philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, and Hume. We will use their writing as a springboard for developing our own critical thinking abilities and analytic writing skills. The writing assignments for the course include critical essays where students analyze famous works, argumentative essays where students present novel arguments for a position, and a final research paper.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Zachary Abrahams 17234 Theodore Sider

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1110 SEM 101 Doing it in Public: Sex, Theater, and Performance

Is sex always a private matter? What happens when sex is performed in public? This course asks: How does sex in theater and performance contribute to our understandings of identity, power, and what it means to be “public” and “private”? Grounded in a study of dramatic literature and theatrical spectacles, including the Obscenity Trials of Oscar Wilde, Lillian Hellman’s play The Children’s Hour, and the musical Spring Awakening, this course interrogates how representation of sex in theater and performance contribute to and challenge prevalent understanding of intimacy, and in particular where, when, and how it should and should not be staged, by whom and for whom. With an emphasis on in-class discussion and peer editing, this course helps students develop the particular skill required to write about performance while fostering the ability to produce coherent, concise, persuasive prose in the form of critical arguments.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Stephen Low 17190 Ed intemann

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1112 SEM 101 Fans, Cult Audiences, and Camp

From over-excited Trekkies to reclusive stalkers, "fans" in our society have often been portrayed in a negative light. Recent scholarship, however, has looked deeper into the many ways one can be considered a "fan," and at the complicated relationships between artists and their audiences. This course will use a variety of case studies—from Eighteenth-Century theatre celebrities to cult films to Harry Potter-themed "Wizard Rock"—to generate a workable concept of modern fandom. With an emphasis on in-class discussion and peer editing, this course helps students develop the particular skills required to write about performance while fostering the ability to produce coherent, concise, persuasive prose in the form of critical arguments.

MWF 09:05-09:55 a.m. Seth Soulstein 17196 Ed Intemann

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1113 SEM 101 Playing with/in Space and Time

What is space? What is time? These two basic questions posed by children have left human beings puzzled to this date. Theatre tells us something about the relationship between space, time, and the play through which we understand and experience them. This is why we will take play seriously, as children do. This seminar will examine the theatricality of space and time through close analysis of the spaces and times created by Samuel Beckett, Robert Wilson, Peter Eisenman, and Bernard Tschumi. Alongside these works, readings will include reflections on space and time by Peter Brook, Michel Foucault, Elizabeth Grosz, Gilles Deleuze, and Henri Lefebvre. Course work will emphasize close reading, and developing effective argumentative writing.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Ozum Hatipoglu 17174 Ed Intemann

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1114 SEM 101

Notion, Nation, Violation: The Voice of the Israeli Theater

The Israeli theater is a space rich in emotions and humor. It is loaded with ideology and mythology, and is always controversial. This course is a basic introduction to the major periods and genres in the evolution of the Israeli and Palestinian theaters, and their interactive relations with the political, social, and cultural contexts in which it is embedded. Derived from plays by Sobol, Levin, Najib, and others, the course investigates themes such as the biblical myth, Zionism, the Holocaust, war, violence, peace, ethnicity, feminism, and the Palestinian conflict. With an emphasis on in-class discussion and peer editing, this course will help develop students’ writing skills while fostering the ability to produce coherent, concise, persuasive prose in the form of critical arguments.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Maayan Wayn 17233 Ed Intemann

PERFORMING & MEDIA ARTS 1115 SEM 101 Riot Acts: Public Performance and Protest

What is the relationship between performance and protest? Just as the world of theater has a rich legacy of politically inspired plays, social protest movements have historically turned to acts of public spectacle to amplify the voices of the people. This course will study films, plays, and documentation of some of the most compelling contemporary protest performances across the globe. From Brazil to Egypt, the United States, and Nigeria, students will sharpen their own voices as writers through an investigation of revolutionary speeches, demonstrations, and theories. In-class discussions and peer reviews will help students develop their critical and persuasive writing skills while drafting precise, coherent, and well-structured arguments.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Honey Crawford 17197 Ed Intemann

PSYCHOLOGY 1120 SEM 101

Social and Personality: The Science of Well-Being—Can Psychology Make us Happier?

Does money make people happier? Are religious people happier than atheists? Why does happiness seem to come easy to some people but not to others? The self-help industry grosses over two billion dollars a year, yet surveys repeatedly show that Americans are not getting happier. One reason for this is that most self-help books are not based on research. This course will introduce students to the empirical study of well-being and its surprising findings. Reading research articles in psychology, sociology, and economics, as well as popular press articles, will provide students with tools to critically evaluate research related to happiness. Writing assignments will allow students to come up with their own theoretical ideas, hone their communication skills, and develop a unique narrative in academic writing.

TR 10:10-11:25 a.m. Shai Davidai 17230 Tom Gilovich

PSYCHOLOGY 1140 SEM 101

Perception, Cognition, and Development: How the Mind Works

We begin with the philosophical foundations of cognitive science regarding questions about the duality of mind and body, materialism, idealism, and the case of brain in a vat. We will then continue with a survey of computational frameworks (e.g., Turing machine and artificial neural networks) and discuss their place in our quest to find out how the mind works. Along the way we will draw examples from case studies such as split brain patients and hemineglect. Prior knowledge of cognitive science is not assumed. Students will be given writing assignments about the various topics of the course. These assignments will be assessed based on their clarity in writing and the development of the arguments. I will keep this process as interactive and in person as time permits. One set of assignments will aim to consolidate the material students have read into a coherent summary. Another set will focus on original writing and gives them a chance to practice putting their own arguments into words.

MWF 12:20-01:10 p.m. Reza Shahbazi 17198 Shimon Edelman

PSYCHOLOGY 1140 SEM 102

Perception Cognition Development: The Power of Story-Telling—Cognitive Accounts

We communicate through stories. It is not only narratives and movies; we construct stories around gossip, news, or a simple phone call. Anthropologists claim that stories are—cross-culturally—fundamental to our lives. Cognitive scientists claim that the human mind is a literary mind that comprehends the environment through stories. What aspects of our cognitive system make the story so irresistible? What in the composition of a narrative is so compelling that we can’t give up before finding its resolution? Through close reading and writing, the students in this class will get acquainted with cognitive accounts for our ability to detect story patterns in practically any chain of events. Writing assignments will apply cognitive theories to excerpts from literary and film narratives discussed in class.

MWF 11:15-12:05 p.m. Catalina Iricinschi 17199 James Cutting

ROMANCE STUDIES 1102 SEM 101 The Craft of Storytelling: Decameron

All of us tell stories for a variety of reasons—to entertain, to console, to teach, to persuade—to discover and explore both our inner lives and the world we inhabit. Stories are one of the prime ways in which we make sense of a world that is not always propitious. They serve as instruments by which we seek to shape our future. In this seminar, we shall consider how the craft of storytelling helps us face the task of living: the love and the happiness and the community we seek, the virtues we espouse, our talents and our vulnerabilities. Our principal reading (in English translation) will be a masterpiece of European literature, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (ca. 1349–51), which showcases one hundred stories told by ten young Florentines fleeing the Black Death of 1348. Students will write both analytic and personal essays.

MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m. Marilyn Migiel 17200

SOCIETY FOR THE HUMANITIES 1110 SEM 101 Reporting from Hell

When you’re being bombed, hunted down, or otherwise persecuted, can you objectively report on what’s happening? Is your on-the-spot report on hell superior to testimony you give years later? Is an eyewitness report superior to that of an historian? Is a filmed report superior to a written one? We will address these and related questions through analytic discussion and writing about the legendary Edward R. Murrow's radio broadcasts during the Blitz of London in World War II, written accounts by Jewish children trapped in the Holocaust, and a report smuggled out of a Soviet labor camp for women political prisoners. We will also examine documentary films, oral testimony of Holocaust and Soviet camp survivors, and (if time permits) Internet reports on some recent hells.

TR 02:55-04:10 p.m. Sidney Orlov 17204

SOCIETY FOR THE HUMANITIES 1130 SEM 101 Propaganda

How does propaganda work? Does it necessarily involve lies? Is it compatible with humor? What is its curious relationship to religion? We will explore these and other questions in the context of World War II propaganda for domestic consumption in Soviet Russia, the United States, and Nazi Germany. Our wide-ranging course materials will include propaganda posters; speeches by Stalin; Life magazine advertisements; cartoons by Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss; films from Frank Capra's famous series Why We Fight; propaganda advice from Hitler and his Minister for Propaganda; and Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will—sometimes called the greatest propaganda film ever made. Our essays will be analytic.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Sidney Orlov 17226

SPANISH 1103 SEM 101

Race and Nature in Latin America

Is race socially constructed or a biological fact? Where is “nature” and what is our relationship with it? In this course, we analyze the interplay of race, nature, and geography in Latin America from the first encounters between Amerindians and Europeans to environmental and social justice movements of the 21st century. Primary texts (letters, short stories, poetry, movies, maps, music art) and topics include: Columbus’s descriptions of the “New World,” colonialism, mestizaje, and nationalism (Marti), the cosmic race, South American landscapes, environmental, Americanisms (Neruda), Macondo and Magical Realism (Garcia Marquez), ecofeminism (Ferré), queer ecology, eco-socialsim and “Mother Earth,” and eco-racial imperialism ( Avatar). Students are encouraged to develop their own interests and interpretations through short writing assignments aimed at sharpening critical thinking.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Shawn McDaniel 17225 Marilyn Migiel

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1123 SEM 101 Technology and Society: Users and Their Stories

Every technology you see, whether it be a simple artifact like a pencil or a complex system like a nuclear power plant, is designed with particular uses in mind. This course critically examines the idea of the user, whom designers must take into account. The concept of “user” pushes the boundaries of thinking about consumers of technology and enables a better understanding of technological design, testing, misuse, and reuse. The course will focus on how this conception of the user can be fruitful for writing about technology, from journalistic accounts to book reviews, policy statements, and academic analyses.

TR 01:25-02:40 p.m. Ranjit Singh 17223 Michael Lynch

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1123 SEM 102

Technology and Society: Examining Technological and Natural Disasters

We constantly hear these in the news: oil spills, airplane accidents, nuclear catastrophes, trains colliding, flooded towns, hurricane-ravaged regions, earthquake-triggered disasters, tsunami-wiped coasts, and many more. Why and how did these disasters take place? How have we responded to them? In this course, we will explore the interconnection of society, environment, and technology to gain understanding of the “technological” and “natural” disasters we constantly observe in the media. Through a variety of reading and writing assignments, we will learn how journalists, filmmakers, and scholars depict and explain how and why disasters involving technologies and naturally-occurring phenomena occurred. The choices we make about what technology to develop and use as well as where to build our cities are tightly linked to the meanings we attach to our environment. Consequently, in the world we live in today, ideas about risk, vulnerability, accidents, and catastrophes are often associated with our scientific and technological creations and organizations instead of some mysterious supernatural forces. To examine how all of these are connected, the readings for this course have been carefully selected that will address these topics.

MW 02:55-04:10 p.m. Yulianto Mohsin 17224 Ronald Kline

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES 1126 SEM 101

Science and Society: Patients in Practice—The Making of the Medical Patient

What does it mean to be a patient? Whether for a routine check-up, a specific diagnosis, or a hospitalization, we have all been, will be, or will know someone who is a medical patient. This course explores how the patient has been constituted, constructed, and categorized over time in a variety of medical and non-medical spaces: doctor’s office, operating theater, even online. Written texts are central to this process of construction, so that moving through these spaces will enrich students’ understanding of writing itself through reading responses, comparisons, and a final paper.

TR 11:40-12:55 p.m. Jessica Polk 17221 Bruce Lewenstein / Rachel Prentice

WRITING 1370 SEM 101

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

MW 10:10-11:00 a.m. Jessica Sands 17205

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 102

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.-+

MW 11:15-12:05 p.m. Brad Zukovic 17206

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 103

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

MW 12:20-1:10 p.m. TBA Brad 17207 Zukovic

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 104

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

TR 10:10-11:00 a.m. Darlene Evans 17208

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 105

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

MW 01:25-02:15 p.m. Joe Martin 17209

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 106

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

TR 01:25-02:15 p.m. Jessica Sands 17210

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 107

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

TR 11:15-12:05 p.m. Tracy Hamler Carrick 17211

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1370 SEM 108

An Introduction to Writing in the University

This writing seminar is designed for students who need more focused attention in order to master the expectations of academic writing. The course emphasizes the analytic and argumentative writing and critical reading essential for university-level work. With small classes and with weekly student/teacher conferences, each section is shaped to respond to the needs of students in that particular class.

TR 02:30-03:20 p.m. Kelly King-O’Brien 17212

Do not request this course on a ballot. Students who believe they need this kind of intensive work should fill out a ballot with 5 other preferences and then attend the Writing Consultation on August 25. For further information, contact Joe Martin, . “S/U” grades only.

WRITING 1420 SEM 101

Opening up New Worlds Through Research and Rhetoric

Drawing upon personal or academic experiences and interests, students select their own topics and design research portfolios that highlight significant analytic research. To do this, you will step through the Cornell Library gateway and receive a semester-long guided tour through one of the world’s most amazing research libraries––its vast search engines, its abundant print and electronic collections, its precious special collections and archives. This introduction to college research explores using data bases, evaluating information, and engaging both to produce effective academic writing. Study techniques of analysis for converting scholarly information into thesis, synthesizing and acknowledging sources, developing voice and style, crafting technically and rhetorically sophisticated prose. Readings provide models of interdisciplinary scholarship highlighting researched-based writing in the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. This course is especially appropriate for students who feel they have only just begun developing their academic research and writing skills.

MWF 01:25-02:15 p.m. Darlene Evans 17262

First-year students preferred. Those other than first-year students should contact instructor for permission.