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Special Topics (ENGLISH 113) SPRING 2026

Catalog course ENGL 113 consists of multiple topics of focus that vary each semester. Current and/or forthcoming descriptions are listed below. To see course details, including dates, times and professors, please use the .

ENGL 113.01 YOUR LANGUAGE, YOUR CULTURE
All writers begin with what the poet and theorist Ellen Bryant Voigt calls their 鈥渇undamental language鈥�: the language learned during the early stages of our language development, most often during infancy and our toddler years. This is often considered the basis of a writer鈥檚 core cultural identity. As adults and across different writing experiences at home and out in the world, we all manage to communicate with success. We even write differently from one place to another, depending on the context and goals 鈥� where and when we write, who we write to and why we鈥檙e writing. This course will help us to explore:

1. Different contexts in which we use writing
2. Choices we make when we鈥檙e communicating in writing
3. How our abilities as creative people help us manage those different contexts

We will ground ourselves in our fundamental language, consider how we can adjust our goals as writers according to different cultural contexts and establish a solid base for writing at the college level.

ENGL 113.02 Writing the Self:  Identity, Culture and Voice
In this course we will examine how identity is communicated through writing. Focusing on the intersections of who we are and how we write, students will not only explore how established writers communicate their identities and cultures, but students will also develop their individual voice while considering how their identity is informed by larger cultural contexts.The course aims to cultivate strategies for personal expression and foster critical discussions on the relationship between identity and culture through writing. Additionally, we will analyze various writing genres to understand how identity influences and is represented in each.

ENGL 113.03, 05 Stephen King: Trash or Talent?

鈥淚 think with the best writing you can actually feel the writer鈥檚 joy, the writer鈥檚 vision, or something like that.鈥�
鈥擲tephen King

Stephen King is a contemporary literary phenomenon: Since the beginning of his career in the 1970s he has averaged at least one new title per year, and his books continue to sell like candy corn at Halloween. Some people dismiss his work as trash, just low-quality pop cult horror stories; even King has jokingly referred to himself as a 鈥渟alami writer.鈥� But other readers insist that throughout his page-turner fiction King addresses serious, even urgent concerns. What are we afraid of, both as a society and as flesh-and-goosebumped individuals? What are the problems of family life and interpersonal relations? How does American society deal with racial prejudice? What about the scourge of alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse? How has our history made us what we are as a nation? What explains our perennial attraction to the supernatural, even in its more ghoulish manifestations? How has the literature of the past 鈥� especially the Gothic tradition, spawned in 1764 and still proliferating 鈥� infiltrated the literature of the present?

These are some of the questions we will address in a course that is at its core an introduction to college-level writing: how to form sentences in a variety of modes, how to incorporate appropriate punctuation, how to compose a coherent and interesting academic essay, and how to produce a research project you can be proud of. King鈥檚 novels The Shining (1977) and The Green Mile (1996) will be our foundational texts, accompanied by a selection of shorter fiction that demonstrates his relation to other works of the supernatural. And we will also contemplate the transmogrification of his scenarios into film and other media (comic books, cartoons, even opera). 

ENGL 113.04, 08 Analyzing Empathy
In this course, we will use the complex and sometimes controversial concept of empathy as a basis for the study of the conventions and possibilities of academic writing. Through a variety of readings 鈥� primarily essays and short fiction 鈥� we will explore the challenges that face writers endeavoring to define empathy and to determine how it can contribute to contemporary society. We will begin with texts that depict or challenge common methods, such as personal observation and storytelling, that allow us to engage with the feelings and experiences of others. We will then turn toward more specific cases, including works of historical drama and speculative fiction that attempt to give readers access to thoughts and emotions that might be drastically different from their own experiences. Throughout the course, we will think critically about this subject matter and the questions about it that our readings might raise: What are the limits of empathy? When might an empathetic approach create harm instead of helping? To what extent is it the responsibility of writers to create an easy sense of connection for their readers, and to what extent is it the responsibility of readers to engage with perspectives that differ from their own? Is empathy valuable as an abstract feeling, or does it only take on value when it translates into action?

ENGL 113.06, 16 The Rhetorics of Science
In this class we will use reading, writing and research to explore the place of science in American society. We will think and write about the ways in which science helps us to know the world, while also reflecting on the possible limits and authority of that knowledge. The course will also encourage students to reflect on their reasons for pursuing knowledge and the ways they hope to put their knowledge to work in the world. 

ENGL 113.07, 11 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
This writing course explores how language creates and interprets culture. We will learn about how our attitudes about language shape our realities and about how language mediates the way we understand ourselves and our cultures. Readings and projects will cover a range of topics including the ways that language and culture influence one another, the rhetoric of social media, and analyses of cultural phenomena. Students will also develop research projects in an area of personal interest.

ENGL 113.09, 13 College Pressures: Rethinking Education, Purpose, and Flourishing
Who are you? What are you called to do? How do you know? How does your calling intersect with justice and community and global problems? What does it mean to flourish as person, a student, a professional, a citizen?

Too often, college doesn鈥檛 open us up to such transformative questions or provide the education necessary for developing answers to them. Instead, it forces us to narrow ourselves into preplanned lives, makes us 鈥減anicky to succeed,鈥� exhausted and anxious about the future. Is college just stress, debt and pressure? 

In order to take a hard look at what college is, what it should do and bust some myths about why we go to college, we will explore readings ranging from the ancient world to contemporary fiction. We will also examine why so often even faith-based, liberal arts colleges fail to provide the type of transformative education that empowers students to live lives of hope, resilience and innovative career success in the midst of our complex, 21st century global realities. Special emphasis will be placed on rhetoric, the art of persuasive and critical writing, as the foundational academic discipline.

If you are interested in discerning your calling, getting the most out of your education, understanding what it means to flourish, and learning to tell the story of your education well to future employers, this class is for you.

ENGL 113.12 Writing as Self Discovery
This course will orient you to the world of expository writing and will provide a solid preparation for the written assignments you will encounter throughout your course work at 91自拍论坛. Our work together will emphasize writing as a process and it will focus on exploring, planning and organization of complex ideas, editing and revising of drafts, and developing writing skills through effective means of organization, support and justification of ideas. As such, students will read intellectually intriguing essays, engage in writing workshops that focus on developing a clear and coherent expository style of writing, craft individual and critical responses, construct unified and coherent paragraphs, and contribute to the dialogue about writing that would emerge from our classroom responses. By the end of the semester, you should have generated at least 28 pages of polished prose.

ENGL 113.14, 18, 19  Writing as Self-Crafting
In this core course, we will focus on writing as a tool for inquiry, expression and, above all, self-discovery. The word 鈥渆ssay鈥� comes from the French for 鈥渢o try鈥� 鈥� an essay is an attempt to get to the heart of a difficult matter. As we put words on the page and subject our opinions to various tests, we often realize that our views on a given subject are more complex than we previously thought. Sometimes we even find that we hold two seemingly contradictory beliefs at the same time, and that there is much 鈥渦npacking鈥� to do. In this sense, expository writing serves not only as a way to explain ourselves to others, but also as a way to explain ourselves to ourselves. And just as writing is never finished (only due), the self is never finished with the process of its own (re-)creation. Writing can be an important part of that process, and can help us become more conscious of it and intentional about it. 

This semester, we will explore the connections between writing and human development, often focusing on coming-of-age experiences. As a student, you will hone your academic writing skills, with the particular goal of learning to ask probing questions and to craft complex, well-supported arguments that matter in academic contexts. Working closely with your peers and instructor, you will develop your essays through workshops and extensive revision. The specific questions that you pursue in your essays will be guided by your own interests related to themes of coming-of-age and self-crafting.

 ENGL 113.15 IMAGINING THE OTHER
One of the keys to good writing is to imagine your audience. Artificial intelligence can鈥檛 do it, at least not yet, but we do it all the time in successful communication. While this course helps you develop the tools of academic writing, we will explore how language and imagination enable us to cross the gap between ourselves and others. We will pay attention to what happens when we read. Reading some fiction will stretch us to imagine people, and even intelligent aliens, very different from ourselves. We will explore how the English language changes as different communities use the same language to express their identity and experience.

ENGL 113.17 Writing About Writing
Writing is something we do but it is also a technology with its own history, research and theories. This course aims to sharpen your writing skills through writing practice and also through the study of writing鈥檚 history and key ideas, including how to use artificial intelligence ethically and effectively. We will ask questions like: What counts as writing in a world where text is so often combined with images and video? What makes writing good? Why do some messages succeed while others miss the mark or cause confusion? How can we use AI tools like chatGPT to improve our writing while also using them ethically? Through expository essays and research-based arguments, you will learn to make claims, examine evidence and engage differing viewpoints with care and clarity.

Special Topics (Anchor Plan and Upper Level Courses) SPRING 2026

Current and/or forthcoming descriptions are listed below. To see course details, including dates, times and professors, please use the .

ENGL 110.01 Apocalyptic Anxieties
This course covers literary texts that reflect fears about the end of the world. We will place fiction, poetry and drama about monsters, natural disasters and other catastrophes into conversation with descriptions of the real-life wars, technological developments, medical challenges, political conflicts and religious anxieties that inspired these visions of the apocalypse. After exploring the British Romantic period as a starting-point for modern apocalyptic literature, we will turn to modern and contemporary American literature, focusing on both the challenges that our texts depict and the strategies for hope and resilience that they reflect. Readings may include works by Mary Shelley, T. S. Eliot, Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Emily St. John Mandel and Joy Harjo. Analysis of these texts will center on the ways in which the study of literature can enable us to process some of the most difficult elements of human experience. 

ENGL 110.02 Reinventing Power: Black Science Fiction, Superpowers and the Question of Power
What would you do if you had superpowers? In this course, we鈥檒l explore how Black science fiction uses superhuman abilities, time travel, alien worlds and other speculative elements to imagine new ways of surviving, resisting and thriving. From Octavia Butler to Nnedi Okorafor, from Kindred to Black Panther, Black creators imagine worlds where survival, resistance and community are central, and where power can be redefined. Together, we鈥檒l examine how these stories challenge mainstream science fiction, confront systems of oppression and imagine futures where Black voices, bodies and experiences are at the center. By the end of the course, you鈥檒l see that superpowers aren鈥檛 just fantasy 鈥� they鈥檙e a lens for thinking about real-world power and the possibilities of transformation. 

ENGL 130.01 African Novels, Music and Film
Based on the changing trends in political, social and cultural developments in African societies from colonialism to post-independence, the course explores the literature of Africa on several fronts: the history, implementation of political oppression under apartheid, and indigenous struggles and resistance to it; post-independent corruption and disillusionment; and the current migration of the youth to Western societies in search of better opportunities. Through a combination of writing and artistic expressions as music, songs and dance, the course uses four novels (Mine Boy, Xala, So Long a Letter, and Blue White Red), two documentaries (Amandla! and The June 16 Soweto Uprising), Paul Simon鈥檚 Graceland: The African Concert of 1987, and a movie (Sarafina!) to depict the course of political oppression and economic exploitation and indigenous resistance and eventual liberation from the 1950s to the contemporary situation. Louise Meintjes鈥� paper, 鈥淧aul Simon鈥檚 Graceland, South Africa, and the Mediation of Musical Meaning,鈥� provides additional context for critical analysis and literary engagement of the theme of oppression.

ENGL 156.01 Playwriting
This workshop course introduces students to the art and practice of writing for the stage. We will explore the elements that make playwriting unique, including dynamic dialogue, embodied storytelling and live audience collaboration. By the end of this course, each student will have written three distinct scripts and will be able to articulate their creative processes as a playwright. Cross-listed with Thea 256.

ENGL 210.01 Literature and Medicine
This course explores the depiction of illness, injury, diagnosis and treatment across multiple genres. Through fiction, memoir, drama and poetry, we will encounter the perspectives of doctors, nurses, patients and researchers as they confront issues like the distribution of medical resources, the psychological impact of experiencing or witnessing pain, and the ethical questions raised by medical innovations. Authors may include Mary Seacole, Margaret Edson, Kazuo Ishiguro, MK Czerwiec, Ada Lim贸n, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and John Green. 

ENGL 230.01 Women鈥檚 Voices in Literature
In this course, we will engage with literature that centers women鈥檚 voices and experiences, examining how women are depicted and how their experiences are shaped by intersecting social factors such as race, class, disability, sexuality, nationality, culture and religion. Using literary theory and feminist methodologies, we鈥檒l analyze a diverse range of texts to uncover common themes and understand the complexities of women鈥檚 experiences in the U.S. and beyond. Some authors we will study include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Octavia Butler, Sandra Cisneros and Joy Harjo, among others. By the end of the course, students will be able to apply literary theory and feminist criticism, and craft well-argued papers on topics central to the course focus. 

ENGL 230.02 The Great American Novel
English 230 contemplates the novel as it has emerged in the United States. Selecting texts for a semester course looms as an impossible challenge: who can possibly sift out the 鈥渂est鈥� or 鈥渕ost significant鈥� or even 鈥渞epresentative鈥� texts from the enormous heap of narratives the nation has produced since the Revolution and possibly even before? As a compromise, we look first at two mighty forebears, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James, partly because they consciously exemplify the tension between realism and fantasy in the tradition of prose fiction. We look next at classic works from what might be called the great age of the American novel, from the 1920s until World War II. From there we progress to an important theme laid out in American fiction, the attention to race. We begin with short selections of representative publications, then make our way to classics of the theme: Hemingway鈥檚 memorable war novel, A Farewell to Arms; Sinclair Lewis鈥檚 satire of the American middle class, Babbitt; Jean Toomer鈥檚 novel-in-stories Cane, a jewel from the Harlem Renaissance; John Steinbeck鈥檚 novel of the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath; Faulkner鈥檚 short novel The Bear, included in Go Down, Moses, a tortured retrospective on slavery in the American South; then what is still the most powerful African American sob of protest, Richard Wright鈥檚 ironically titled Native Son. Stephen King鈥檚 Misery actually faces head-on a recurrent question regarding the genre itself, the great divide between highbrow/lowbrow or 鈥渓iterary鈥� versus 鈥減opular鈥� fiction. In addition, we will look at parallel genres, the comic book and the graphic novel 鈥� and we will hear from practitioners of the genre who are at work right among us! 

ENGL 230.03 Global Arab Culture: Literature, Music, Film and Food
For hundreds of years, Westerners have tended to view the Arab world as fundamentally different from their own. From the time of the Crusades, to the age of European colonialism, to the War on Terror, Arabs have consistently been cast in the role of the dangerous, exotic Other. In this class, we will look to Arabic literature, cinema, music and cuisine to paint a more complete picture, and to help answer the questions:

• What does it mean to be Arab?
• In what ways have Arabs contributed to the world鈥檚 major cultural and intellectual developments over the past millennium?
• How real is the dividing line between the Western and Arab worlds?

In this wide-ranging survey course, students will read samplings of pre-Islamic poetry, the animal fables of Kalila and Dimna, and the folk tales of the Arabian Nights. Later, we will delve into modern novels by authors such as Laila Lalami, Ghassan Kanafani and Amin Maalouf, along with films directed by the likes of Annemarie Jacir and Nadine Labaki. Finally, throughout the semester, we will enjoy the delights of Arabic music (pop and classical) and, as often as possible, Arabic food. Ahlan wa-sahlan! (Welcome!) 

ENGL 230.04 Tolkien and Medieval Literature
J. R. R. Tolkien is both the most influential author of fantasy literature and one of the great scholars of medieval literature 鈥� and each of these interests fed the other. This course will weave together the development of medieval English literature with Tolkien鈥檚 career and the chronology of Middle Earth. We will read medieval works that Tolkien studied and was inspired by, including Old English poems such as Beowulf and 鈥淭he Battle of Maldon鈥� and Middle English works such as Sir Orfeo and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And we will read Tolkien鈥檚 The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, much of The Silmarillion and some of his scholarly, incomplete, minor and hybrid works. Seeing how medieval literature inspired Tolkien鈥檚 work will guide us in better understanding both. The many ways in which he responded to the works he loved 鈥� scholarly articles, poems imitating old forms, sequels, translations, reconstructions of fragmentary works, drama and, of course, his own fantasy novels 鈥� will be models for our own responses. All medieval works will be read in modern translations, often by Tolkien himself. The course will be conducted as a discussion-based seminar. Students will write a portfolio of pieces that will include critical writing as well as other interpretive and creative genres. For long-distance readers only.

ENGL 240.01 Intro to Writing in Healthcare Professions
This course is an introduction to writing effectively in a variety of healthcare professions. It is designed for future healthcare practitioners, not what are generally called 鈥渉ealthcare writers鈥� (although it will be beneficial to them as well). Its primary objective is to help future practitioners succeed in professional schooling and during their early years of practice. The course will have students work through basic professional and medically-related writing tasks, both large and small, and produce writing that is clear, organized, correct and effectively communicates its point. An additional course objective is to give students necessary skills for analyzing and composing messages in basic formats such as letters, instructions, resumes and reports. The course also includes a brief review of fundamental grammar, punctuation and stylistic conventions in Standard Edited English.

ENGL 260.01 Harry Potter and Virtue Ethics
The Harry Potter series has been both praised and reviled for any number of reasons, but one thing most readers hold in common is the strength of their opinions: few hold merely neutral positions about it. In this course, we鈥檒l work through the series with a focus on examining its exposition of virtue ethics 鈥� that is, with a goal of seeing how various characters exemplify (or don鈥檛) the living-out of various virtues. To do this, we鈥檒l familiarize ourselves with the tradition of virtue ethics established by Aristotle and we鈥檒l decide for ourselves whether the series will one day stand with other classics in children鈥檚 and young adult literature.

ENGL 330.01 Childhood in African Literature
This course explores the childhood perceptions of three protagonists of the political, social and cultural transformations of Western, Southern and Eastern Africa from pre-colonial to contemporary diasporic encounters. It uses the child figure as principal focalization to examine themes as African mysticism in The African Child, religious hypocrisy in The Poor Christ of Bomba, apartheid in South Africa in Tell Freedom and migrant disillusionment in We Need New Names. Together, the four novels give a detailed exploration of the growth and development of the African child in the face of changing political, social and cultural forces. 

ENGL 370.01 Jane Austen and Film
This course looks at Jane Austen as a great literary writer and a cultural phenomenon. We will read the majority of Austen鈥檚 novels, including such timeless classics as Pride and Prejudice and Emma. We鈥檒l analyze Austen鈥檚 satirical humor, clever plotting and psychological characterization. We'll discuss how she reinvented the English-language novel and investigate how her works reflect social dynamics of early nineteenth-century Britain. Alongside this, the course also explores Austen鈥檚 continued presence in our lives through film and television series. Why are some of films based on Austen's works perennially popular, and why are some controversial? Why has her writing inspired so many remixes, from role-playing games to murder mysteries to Bridgerton? This course offers a primer in film studies; readings include key works of film theory and adaptation studies. Assignments include essays and some creative work. Students will place Austen in her historical context; examine modern takes on Austen through gender, class, race and other lenses; and play around with Austen鈥檚 techniques from the perspective of a writer. DBRL