Page 113 of Boston College 2006-2007 University Catalog by Boston College University

EN 412 Writing Workshop: Creative Nonfiction (Fall/Spring: 3) Over the past few decades, the best nonfiction being written has expanded to include not only such traditional forms as argument and exposition but also the mixed modes of creative nonfiction. As an intermediate-level course, we will build on the work of the First-Year Writing Seminar and hone the skills needed in advanced writing electives. The Department EN 422 The Self and the City: A Personal Response (Spring: 3) Cross Listed with PL 222 We will explore the many forms of written expression that serve as witness to contemporary urban life. Some of the best writing being produced today in poetry, prose, non-fiction, and journalism attempts to give voice to the citys silent ones, to its tensions and unresolved injustices, as well as to its vibrant grassroots and cultural life. Using published models, and students first-hand experience in urban volunteer settings, students will produce their own works (field sketches, journal entries, creative pieces, and a magazine piece) as we explore writing as a vital form of story telling, healing, and inspiration in public life. Kathleen Hirsch EN 427 British Society and Literature in the First World War (Fall: 3) The First World War (1914-1918) is often understood as a historical watershed that separated nineteenth-century views of society from darker, more fragmented twentieth-century ideas about the self and the social order. This course will explore the British experience of the War and its immediate aftermath, tracing shifts in social sensibilities and literary forms. What changed in the relations between ruling and working classes, in the roles of men and women? What did the experience of war trauma do to concepts of madness and sanity? Such questions will inform our readings of social histories, poems, novels, stories and memoirs. Rosemarie Bodenheimer EN 429 The Filipino American Experience (Spring: 3) Designed as a topic seminar for concentrators in Asian American studies, this course is open to all students. What does it mean to be Filipino American? How is literature, film, and discourse by Filipino Americans integrated into or neglected by mainstream America? In this course, we will seek to understand texts by Filipino American authors, scholars, and filmmakers; write creative nonfiction that reflects students ethnic heritage; and engage in discussion of history and contemporary issues particular to Filipinos in America (such as the U.S./Philippine War, immigration, culture). Possible texts include: Bulosan, Hagedorn, Ascalon Roley, Cordova, and prominent Pinoy poets. Ricco Siasoco EN 431 Contemporary American Poetry (Spring: 3) The aims of this course will be to make students better readers of poetry and increase their understanding of poetrys formal effects, to introduce students to a wide range of major contemporary American poets, and to familiarize students with critical approaches to poetry. Probable poets for discussion will include Rich, Merwin, Olds, Dove, Simic, Williams, Levine, Glück, Collins, and others. Suzanne Matson EN 432 Literature and Society in the 1920s (Spring: 3) The course takes many of its themes from literary and social criticism of H. L. Mencken, examining the carnival of buncombe of the Twenties. Among his interests were the literature of realism, the changing South, the emancipated woman, and the American language. Our other authors (many championed by Mencken) include F. Scott Fitzgerald (Flappers and Philosophers), Willa Cather (The Professors House), Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises), Theodore Dreiser (Jennie Gerhardt), Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Sinclair Lewis (Babbitt), and William Faulkner (Flags in the Dust). Richard Schrader EN 444 Major Irish Writers (Spring: 3) This course surveys the major literary figures of modern Ireland, including William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, James Joyce, Sean OCasey, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland and Nuala N Dhomhnaill. We will study the historical and social background linking nationalism and literature in Ireland. We will examine themes including cultural nationalism, literature and violence, and the relationships between class, gender, religion and identity formation. James Smith EN 446 Early American Travelers (Fall: 3) As explorers, missionaries, or even as prisoners, early Americans were often in motion. Travelers have long shaped and challenged American cultural identity; this course will examine their place in understanding American literature. Well study diverse encounters with the foreign to understand the ways in which crossing borders leads to cultural exchange. We can investigate the implications of different kinds of travel undertaken by different kinds of travelers, primary readings will come from authors such as John Smith, Mary Rowlandson, John Ledyard, Henry W. Longfellow, Margaret Fuller, and Herman Melville. Alisa Iannucci EN 452 Gender Trouble in Irish Culture (Spring: 3) The course considers representation of gender in nineteenth and twentieth-century Ireland. It explores traditional gender identities and then turn to a persistent, and occasionally revolutionary, undermining of such norms. The course begins by looking at nineteenth-century precursors and then considers images of gender in twentieth-century literature, film, and visual art. Readings will include novels, short stories, or drama by writers such as Maria Edgeworth, Sheridan Le Fanu, Oscar Wilde, J.M. Synge, Sean OFaolain, Elizabeth Bowen, Molly Keane, Kate OBrien, Emma Donoghue. We will screen some films and explore imagery by Irish visual artists such as Rita Duffy and Dorothy Cross. Vera Kreilkamp EN 478 Poe and the Gothic (Fall: 3) Working with Poe as a central figure, this course examines the development of English and American gothic fiction from The Castle of Otrantoto The Yellow Wallpaper and beyond. In addition to Poe, we will read work by some of the following writers: Horace Walpole, Matthew Lewis, Jane Austen, C. B. Brown, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charlotte Gilman, H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. Paul Lewis EN 480 Convents, Covens, and Crusaders: Reading Groups of Women (Fall: 3) From the virgin martyrs to the legendary Amazons to the witches of Macbeth, female groups play a central role in literary and non-literary texts. At their worst, they kill men, cast spells, and try to hurt other women; at their best, they confide in, instruct and heal one another. The goal of this class is to examine the patterns of these portrayals in medieval and Renaissance writings and to ask why they carried (and, in some cases, continue to carry) the meanings that they did. Caroline Bicks ARTS AND SCIENCES The Boston College Catalog 2006-2007 113

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