UNDERGRADUATE ENGLISH FLYER SPRING 2024
ENG. 1100: LITERATURE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT (14496)
THE NATURE OF EVIL
TF 9:05 – 10:30 AM
Dr. Brian Lockey
Email: lockeyb@stjohns.edu
How do writers of fiction define the difference between good and evil? How do they
perceive sin and sinfulness? Does evil exist, or is the concept of evil only definable
relative to the context in which it arises? What are the characteristics of evil as it is
defined over the past century? Has our collective conception of evil changed and
transformed? If so, why? These are some of the questions we will attempt to answer by
considering four or five works of fiction. We will start with some modernist novels
before moving on to the contemporary period. As you read these works, you will note
both continuities and differences in how this concept is understood, how it functions in
fiction, and what purpose it serves. Among the works we will read are the following:
Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; C.S. Lewis’s That
Hideous Strength, George Orwell’s 1984; Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
ENG. 1100: LITERATURE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT (14432 AND 14505)
ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
Dr. Melissa Mowry
Email: mowrym@stjohns.edu
It is impossible to study literature written in English apart from the geopolitical history of
this small island nation. This section of ENG 1100 looks at some iconic works of early
modern literature written at the moment England was establishing itself as a global power
with wide-ranging political and economic ambitions that plunged it into the Atlantic
slave trade and irrevocably bound its literary undertakings to the regime of racial
representation under which we still struggle.
ENG. 1100: LITERATURE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT (75838)
ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
Dr. Stephen Paul Miller
Email: millers@stjohns.edu
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln remarked that an “electric cord in” the Declaration of
Independence “links the hearts of” people all over the world, so that German immigrants
then had a right to claim” the quality of being American “as though they were blood of
the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration, and so they are.”
This course contains readings in diverse American and world literatures that examine
Lincoln’s premise and how it relates in the past and present to women, African
Americans, Native Americans, and other historically marginalized people. A wide array
of literature will be considered for students to evaluate, respond to, and use as a
touchstone for vigorous and dynamic interactive dialogue with fellow students and the
professor.
ENG. 1100: LITERATURE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT (14508)
ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
W. 1:50 – 4:40 PM
Dr. Stephen Paul Miller
Email: millers@stjohns.edu
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln remarked that an “electric cord in” the Declaration of
Independence “links the hearts of” people all over the world, so that German immigrants
then had a right to claim” the quality of being American “as though they were blood of
the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration, and so they are.”
This course contains readings in diverse American and world literatures that examine
Lincoln’s premise and how it relates in the past and present to women, African
Americans, Native Americans, and other historically marginalized people. A wide array
of literature will be considered for students to evaluate, respond to, and use as a
touchstone for vigorous and dynamic interactive dialogue with fellow students and the
professor.
ENG. 2060: Study of American Literature: (11083)
AMERICAN LITERATURE AND THE MONSTROUS
*PRE-1900*
ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
Dr. Jennifer Travis
Email: travisj@stjohns.edu
This course will examine how representations of witches, vampires, ghosts, and monsters
have shaped American cultural discourse and literary history. Reading may include works
by Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, H.P. Lovecraft, Victor LaValle, Carmen Maria
Machado, and Toni Morrison. We will ask why monsters play such an important role in
our cultural imaginations. How do individuals and societies define themselves in relation
to the monstrous? What is a monster and what can monsters tell us about humanity,
community, and our deepest fears and values? For questions, please email Dr. Travis:
travisj@stjohns.edu.
ENG 3290: SPECIAL TOPICS 18TH – 19TH CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE (15820)
GOTHIC LITERATURE
*PRE-1900*
T. 12:15 – 1:40 PM FACE TO FACE
AND
F. 12:15 – 1:40 PM ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
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,
Edgar Allen Poe’s Pym, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
ENG. 3170: MILTON AND THE LITERATURE OF WAR (15895)
*PRE-1900*
MR 12:15 – 1:40 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. 3730: POETRY WORKSHOP (15834)
EXPRESSION AND EXPERIMENT
*COUNTS FOR WRITING MINOR*
W. 10:40 – 1:30 PM
Dr. Stephen Paul Miller
E mail: millers@stjohns.edu
This course asks you to use your imagination, memory, perceptions, and sensitivities to
write poetry in various forms. We will use models in several poetic modes, in addition to
techniques such as focused and unfocused free-writing and many different prompts to
unlock your creativity and ability to convey the breadth and depth of you inner and outer
experiences. The course will enable students to experience literature first hand as poets.
Within the context of being working poets we will also consider canonical, modern, and
contemporary poetry, in addition to other writing as models.
ENG. 3490: Special Topics in 20th Century Literature (16137)
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
*POST-1900*
TF 10:40 – 12:15 PM
Dr. Brian Lockey
Email: lockeyb@stjohns.edu
Science fiction / fantasy fiction emerged as a major genre of popular and literary writing
during the early 20th century. In this course, we will consider two prominent traditions of
science fiction and fantasy fiction writing. The first tradition emerges from the Greek
myth of Prometheus, taking shape in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and involving
prohibited knowledge or a human invention which threatens to destroy the world. The
second, embodied in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and J.R.R.
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, involves the discovery of a new or parallel world. Among
the questions we will ask are the following: How does speculative fiction respond to the
scientific revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries? How does science fiction register the
19th and 20th century tensions between religion and science? How does speculative fiction
reflect transforming gender roles of men and women, especially given how many
prominent speculative fiction writers have been women? We will read a selection of short
fictional works and view some related films as well: H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine;
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World; H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” and other
short fiction; C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength; Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers;
and Ursula LeGuin’s The Lathe of Heaven.
BUSINESS WRITING AND OTHER ENGLISH ONLINE COURSES
ENG. 1040: WRITING FOR BUSINESS (11294)
ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
Dr. Stephen Sicari
ENG. 2100: LITERATURE AND CULTURE (13523)
RACE IN AMERICA
ONLINE ASYCHRONOUS
Professor: TBD
ENG. 2210: STUDY OF BRITISH LITERATURE (11082)
ONLINE ASYCHRONOUS
Professor: TBD
WITH PERMISSION OF CHAIR ONLY*
ENG. 4903: Internship In English (10989) 3 CREDITS
ENG. 4906: Internship In English (10604) 6 CREDITS
ENG. 4953: Independent Study (13220) 3 CREDITS