S.I. UNDERGRADUATE FLYER
SPRING 2020
http://stjenglish.com/
ENG. 1100C: Literature in a Global Context (13551)
W. 1:50 – 4:30 PM
Dr. Stephen Paul Miller
This course will use the lens of comedy to study literature and film in a global context. Students will read Sigmund Freud and Henri Bergson concerning humor and laughter, in addition to writers such as Salmon Rushde, Muriel Spark, and Milan Kundera. Within this context, students will consider films directed by South Korea’s Lee Chang-dong, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi, Italy’s Lina Wertmüller, Israel’s Joseph Cedar, Thailand’s pichatpong Weerasethakul, Frances’ Jean Luc Goddard, German-Americans Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder, and Americans Preston Sturges and Charles Burnett.
ENG. 2100: Literature and Culture (13430)
American Culture, 1965-1972
TF 1:50 – 3:15 PM
Dr. Robert Fanuzzi
Email: fanuzzir@stjohns.edu
Behind the social movements, campus activism, and political conflicts of today lie a pivotal decade of the twentieth century, when feminism, civil rights activism, black power movements, anti-Vietnam protests, and environmentalism not only shook the nation but transformed American culture. In this course, we examine the literature, media, music, and movies that gave voice to these movements and took shape around them, leaving their mark on us today. Our course material includes the writings of James Baldwin and Malcolm X, the films Planet of the Apes, Shaft, and Death Wish, the music of Nina Simone, and the poetry and media campaigns that lead the first Earth Day.
ENG. 2300: Introduction to Literary Criticism and Theory (11504)
MR 12:15-1:40 PM
Dr. Melissa Mowry
Email: mowrym@stjohns.edu
This class is designed to introduce you to Literary and Cultural Theory, an important and dynamic body of work that is still very active and cuts to the very heart of what we think literature is, the way it interacts with other disciplines, and they we read imaginative writing. Borrowing from disciplines like philosophy, psychology, history, and sociology, literary theory is undeniably challenging. It is also richly rewarding and will open up new ways of thinking and talking about literature specifically and representation generally.
ENG. 3170: Milton (14874)
*DIVISION I*
Milton and the Literature of War
MR 10:40-12:05 PM
Dr. Melissa Mowry
Email: mowrym@stjohns.edu
War, unfortunately, is one of the most common human experiences. In 1642, the British Isles were plunged into a brutal series of civil wars predominantly focused on a power struggle between those who supported Parliament and those who supported Charles I. People across the region and on both sides of the dispute experience extraordinary deprivations. In the midst of this turmoil, however, there emerged extraordinary works of literature and imagination. This course focuses primarily on John Milton but will also consider more broadly the way Milton’ s contemporaries responded to the events of the 1640s. Among the writers we will read are Andrew Marvel, Robert Herrick, Anna Trapnel, John Lilburne, Lucy Hutchinson, and Margaret Cavendish.
ENG. 3530: The Gothic (14875)
*COUNTS FOR EITHER DIVISION II OR DIVISION IV*
MR 3:25 – 4:50 PM
Dr. Rachel Hollander
Email: hollanr1@stjohns.edu
This course, designed as a “sequel” to Dr. Mowry’s 18th Century Gothic course, will look at Gothic literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Starting with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, we will pay particular attention to the ways that Gothic literature reflects cultural and political anxieties, especially around gender, sexuality, colonialism, class, and race. We will also think about the development of Gothic literature in relation to the emerging insights of psychology and psychoanalysis in the 19th century. Readings may include: Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
ENG. 3730: Poetry Workshop (14901)
*COUNTS FOR WRITING MINOR*
W. 10:40 – 1:30 PM
Dr. Stephen Miller
Email: millers@stjohns.edu
This course will enable students to experience poetry from the “inside out.” Within the context of students experiencing themselves as working poets we will also consider canonical, modern, and contemporary poetry, in addition to using other writing as models.
ENG. 3820: History of Sound Film to 1975 (14902)
*DIVISION IV*
W. 1:50 – 4:40 PM
Dr. Stephen Miller
Email: millers@stjohns.edu
This course will examine world cinema through the development of particular directors. Directors and films we may study include: Arkira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and Ikiru; Lee Chang Dong’s Poetry and Burning; Preston Sturges’ The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero; and Ernst Lubitsch’s Ninotchka and The Shop around the Corner.