A quick re-post of the three summer grad courses the English department is offering online this summer, on starting on May 31 (Trauma Theory with Dr Travis) and two on July 7 (Shakespeare with Dr Mentz, and Writing Pedagogy with Dr Denny).
Please tell your friends about these courses as well — students who are not yet enrolled but thinking about graduate studies in English can take one or more of these courses prior to applying to the program.
St. John’s University Department of English
Summer 2011: Graduate Course Offerings Online
The St. John’s University English Department will offer three graduate seminars online this summer. These courses aim to extend our engagement with literature and our students. We log into dynamic course platforms to engage in discussions, post questions, and communicate with each other. Everyone is welcome; nonmatriculated students can take summer courses and apply to the program next year.
Summer Session I: May 31 – July 6
E. 885: Topics in Cultural Studies: Trauma Studies: Before and After 9-11 (32591)
Dr. Jennifer Travis
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we all live in the aftermath of trauma, politically, socially, and culturally. This course examines how American literary narratives imagine physical and psychological trauma, from slavery, shell shock, and domestic abuse, to 9-11, terrorism, and war. We will read novels, short stories, testimonial literature, and trauma theory by Cathy Caruth, Stephen Crane, Jonathan Safran Foer, Sigmund Freud, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Roger Luckhurst, Toni Morrison, and Joseph O’Neill.
Please email the instructor, Jennifer Travis, for more details: travisj@stjohns.edu
Summer Session II: July 7 – August 10
E. 300: Five Myths about Shakespeare (32631)
Dr. Steve Mentz
We read, teach, watch, and think about Shakespeare inside four hundred years of mythologized biography. This summer seminar tackles the many myths that circulated about Shakespeare’s life. Each student will read one recent Shakespeare biography, and together we’ll explore five myths and five plays. We’ll also see a live performance of Much Ado about Nothing.
Myth 1: He hated Women, especially his Wife: Much Ado about Nothing
Myth 2: He was a Thief: 1 Henry IV
Myth 3. He was a secret Catholic: Antony and Cleopatra
Myth 4: The Earl of Oxford Wrote His Plays: Hamlet
Myth 5: “He Was Not of an Age, but For All Time”: Macbeth
Please email the instructor, Steve Mentz, for more details: mentzs@stjohns.edu
E. 135: Critical Issues in Writing Assessment (32632)
Dr. Harry Denny
Teachers spend countless hours assessing their students’ writing. This course focuses on the history, theory, and methods of writing assessment in English Studies. Students will explore their own experiences and practices and embark on original research that may commingle material from other online courses this summer. For secondary school teachers, we explore how state-mandated exams and the prepping of students for them might be reimagined pedagogically outside received notions of templates and canned rhetoric. Students will respond to critical issues, push one another through discussion threads, and workshop their own writing and scholarship.
Please email the instructor, Harry Denny, for more details: dennyh@stjohns.edu
For information, please contact Lana Umali umalil@stjohns.edu or John Lowney, Director of Graduate Studies lowneyj@stjohns.edu
For a registration form, visit http://www.stjohns.edu/admission/undergraduate/visitsummer/register.stj
For more on St. John’s Graduate Programs in English, please visit http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/liberalarts/departments/english
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