Graduate-level literature courses fulfill requirements for the M.A. program in Literature and Language. Graduate-level linguistics courses also fulfill the language requirements for the M.Ed. degree with ESL certification offered by the School of Education and Human Services. Some of the following courses are cross-listed as Humanities courses and may be taken as requirements or electives in the M.A. in Humanities program.
EN 501 Building Textual Interpretation
This literature course familiarizes students with the processes of critical analysis and scholarly research at the graduate level by examining texts — both the read and the written — as constructed texts. It emphasizes two skill sets necessary for graduate-level work in literature and cultural studies: the first set focuses on the key building blocks of critical and textual analysis; the second relates to bibliographic and research methodologies, drawing — where possible — on the wealth of resources in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. (Also listed as HUM 501.) (3)
EN 502 The Transformation of Literary Study
This course involves a study of the major contributions to modern literary theory in Europe and the United States. (3)
EN 522 Out of the ’30s
The years of the Great Depression saw the rise of a new generation of writers who confidently attempted to combine literature and social advocacy. This course examines two groups of writers: one is predominantly Northern, urban, and progressive; the other is predominantly Southern, agrarian, and conservative. (3)
EN 524 Myth, Symbol, and Language
This course involves an investigation of the various interpretations of myth as representative of the struggle toward conceptual thought; the interpretation of myth and symbolic form is explored. The latter part of the course focuses on Noam Chomsky’s work Language and the Mind. (3)
EN 527 Dante’s Florence and the Divine Comedy
The Comedy masterfully treats the enduring issues of sin and retribution, worthy and unworthy love, forgiveness and redemption, but it emerged out of Dante’s deep involvement with the problems of political and ecclesiastical corruption that beset his own time and place. Through an intensive study of Dante’s major text in its political and cultural contexts, this literature course seeks to heighten students’ ability to use close textual analysis as ways both of responding to the rich complexities of Dante’s poem and of gaining historical insight into the medieval world. (Also listed as HUM 527.) (3)
EN 528 Visions of Freedom in the Modern World
This course examines the diverse concepts of “freedom” that bear upon the individual in the 20th century. By contrasting literary and philosophic figures who worked in relative awareness of each other but who arrived at opposing stands on freedom, the elusive character of the concept is revealed. (3)
EN 533 Shakespeare: Text and Performance
This literature course conducts an intensive study of several Shakespearean plays in both text and performance. Each play will be considered as representative of a specific genre (comedy, tragedy, history), and will be examined from both Renaissance/Early Modern and contemporary perspectives. In addition, there will be consideration for the staging and producing of plays through an experiential frame, examining the different methods for dramatic production, whether for stage, film, or television. (Also listed as HUM 533.) (3)
EN 542 Origins of the “Novel”: Text, Context, and Critique
The 18th century, which saw the proliferation of print culture, the inauguration of Enlightenment thought, and the expansion of the British empire, also witnessed the emergence of a new literary form to figure that modern world. This literature course examines the earliest British “novels,” the historical and cultural contexts from which they developed in the 18th century, and important critical thought about the form both before and after Ian Watt’s watershed Rise of the Novel. (Also listed as HUM 542.) (3)
EN 545 Social Upheaval and Dramatic Structure
The Vietnam War, violence in the streets, and the unrest on college campuses in America in the late ’60s worked profound changes in the fabric of American life, reflected in the plays of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. This literature course traces these changes from a background examination of major works by O’Neill, Hellman, Miller, and Williams. (Also listed as HUM 545.) (3)
EN 549 Topics in Counter-Cultural Literary Movements
This is a topics course that will provide an in-depth study of a specific counter-cultural literary movement or time period. The course will examine works from several genres within a given literary movement or time period, and will study these works within their critical and historical context. In particular, the course will examine how recurrent thematic and structural patterns challenge or respond to Western European literary traditions. Specific topics will rotate, and the course may be taken more than once, provided the student selects different literary topics. (Also listed as HUM 549.) (3)
EN 550 General Linguistics
This course involves a study of the basic concepts of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. (3)
EN 551 Composition: Theory and Practice
This course provides a theoretical and practical overview of the teaching of composition. Students read and respond to theories of composition as well as to central debates in the field. They study the composition practices of a single classroom while reflecting on their own experiences as academic writers. The course culminates in a research paper that synthesizes and analyzes current research on one issue in the field of composition and in a teaching portfolio that includes course materials and teaching philosophy. (3)
EN 552 Applied Phonology
This course involves the study of phonetics and phonemics including comparative analysis techniques. Emphasis on phonology and the ESL learner. (3)
EN 554 Applied Grammar: Syntactic Structures
This course involves an analysis of contemporary English grammar that investigates meaning in written and oral discourse. Emphasis is given to the application of English grammar in second-language learning. (3)
EN 558 History of the English Language
This courses traces the development of English from its Anglo-Saxon roots to its present-day form. (3)
EN 572 Canterbury Tales and the Late Medieval World
This literature course explores both the artistic mastery Chaucer exhibits in The Canterbury Tales and the historical context in which his story collection took shape. Chaucer’s life intersected with major historical turning points: the Black Death, the Hundred Years’ War, the Avignon papacy and the Great Schism, the Peasants’ Revolt, the rise of the Wycliffite heresy, the emergence of diplomacy in international politics, the increasing importance of the English language, and the shift from a primarily oral to an increasingly literate culture. The course strives to illuminate both the external world of business and politics and the inner world of philosophic and poetic insight. (Also listed as HUM 572.) (3)
EN 574 Gender, Race, and Empire in 19th Century British Literary Culture
This literature-based course explores the impact of empire in 19th-century England on Victorian literature and culture, with an emphasis on attitudes concerning the “other” in society — women, the working class, and people of color — and the ways in which empire shaped and is shaped by gender roles and race during this period. (Also listed as HUM 574.) (3)
EN 576 Literary Proponents of Culture in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Working from a standpoint established by Matthew Arnold and Lionel Trilling, this literature course examines works by six authors. Goethe, Melville, and Joyce demonstrate the synthesizing activity of the creative imagination faithful to myth and literary tradition. Marx, Freud, and Wittgenstein demonstrate the analytical activity of the rational mind bent on changing society, the psyche, or language. (Also listed as HUM 576.) (3)
EN 580 Independent Study
This course gives students the opportunity to pursue in depth, and under the direction of a faculty member, a topic in literature and/or language for which no formal course is available. (3)
EN 590 Major Author(s)
This course provides an in-depth study of one or two major writers. Author(s) announced in the course schedule. This course may be taken more than once provided that the student selects different authors. (3)
EN 690 Practicum
This course serves as a capstone experience for students pursuing the master’s degree for career enhancement or career change rather than as a basis for further advanced study. It provides students with an opportunity to apply and extend the skills and knowledge developed in their graduate courses and to foster increased self-knowledge and reflection on their career goals and on their strengths and weaknesses. (3)
EN 695 Master’s Project
This capstone course offers the student an opportunity to write a substantial and original critical/interpretive paper in literary and/or linguistic studies and to present its main features to an audience of peers and faculty members. This paper should draw on various aspects of the student’s previous studies. (3)