printer friendly pageENGLISH 1C: Comics: More than Words (DLCL 238, FILMEDIA 38)
This research unit looks at Comics from a transnational, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary perspective. Each quarter we organize a series of lectures, reading sessions, and workshops around a main topic. Some previous topics that we have explored are: Postcolonialism and Decoloniality (Fall 2021), Feminisms (Winter 2022), and Superheroes (Spring 2022). This year we plan on exploring topics such as Mangas (Fall 2022), Computer Science (Winter 2023), and Comic Theory (Spring 2023). We gather three times per quarter on Zoom or in person. To earn the unit, students must attend all events hosted during the quarter, do the readings in advance of the meeting, and participate actively in the discussion.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 1
| Repeatable
20 times
(up to 20 units total)
ENGLISH 1G: The Gothic: Transcultural, Multilingual, and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Genre
Description: This course is a research platform for the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of the Gothic literary and cinematic genres. We consider the Gothic to have rich traditions whose contributions to Queer and LGBTQ+ studies, cultural theory, political economy, bio-ethics, and techno-science, remain under-explored. By looking at the world from the peripheralized standpoints of the monstrous, the abject, the dark, the uncanny, and the tumultuous, the Gothic offers unique though often overlooked critical insights into modern societies. Students enrolled in this course will participate in research activities and reading discussions oriented towards crafting interdisciplinary Gothic syllabi for the future and a cross-cultural Encyclopedia of the Gothic.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 1
| Repeatable
5 times
(up to 5 units total)
ENGLISH 5LA: A Perfect World? Utopian Satire in Early Modernity
"Utopia," a word coined by Thomas More in his 1516 book of the same name, can be taken to mean "the good place" or "no place." Since the sixteenth century, "Utopia" as a concept retains this double sense. On the one hand, it is the earnest imagination of better society; on the other, it is an ironic attack leveled at the failings of all societies, past, present, and future. In this course we will examine five works of what might be called "utopian satire" in the early modern period, circa 1500-1700: More's Utopia, François Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, Fernao Mendes Pinto's Peregrinaçao, Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. As we explore the alternative worlds imagined by these authors, we will combine close reading of primary texts with consideration of historical contexts and a selection of influential works of literary criticism from formalist, Marxist, postcolonial, and feminist perspectives. What does each utopia reveal about the dream
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"Utopia," a word coined by Thomas More in his 1516 book of the same name, can be taken to mean "the good place" or "no place." Since the sixteenth century, "Utopia" as a concept retains this double sense. On the one hand, it is the earnest imagination of better society; on the other, it is an ironic attack leveled at the failings of all societies, past, present, and future. In this course we will examine five works of what might be called "utopian satire" in the early modern period, circa 1500-1700: More's Utopia, François Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, Fernao Mendes Pinto's Peregrinaçao, Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. As we explore the alternative worlds imagined by these authors, we will combine close reading of primary texts with consideration of historical contexts and a selection of influential works of literary criticism from formalist, Marxist, postcolonial, and feminist perspectives. What does each utopia reveal about the dreams and nightmares of a generation? How might utopian satire - the endlessly, and often comically, imperfect search for a perfect world - work as an instrument of social critique and perhaps even social change? (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact farrahm@stanford.edu.)
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Holbrook, M. (PI)
ENGLISH 5MA: Black Diaspora(s) Old and New
What connects Black people in Brazil and Kenya? Germany and Ghana? Australia and South Africa? In this course, we will explore the slippery concept of diaspora and the varied meanings it has taken in the Black/African context. As we travel the world, via texts by Yaa Gyasi, Ama Ata Aidoo, Yvonne Owuor, and Cecile Emeke, from the 19th-century Cape Coast to our current moment, we will examine different layers, trajectories, and forms of dispersal and return. Drawing on literary scholar Cajetan Iheka's framework of "Old" and "New" diasporas ("old" referring to the transatlantic slave trade and "new" referring to postcolonial and neocolonial migrations), we will also situate our readings in relation to major arguments in Black Diaspora Studies and their evolution since the field's inception in the late 1980s and 1990s in the work of such theorists as Paul Gilroy and Stuart Hall. Throughout the course we will ask: How does one define diaspora? What makes movement diasporic? And who gets to decide? (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact farrahm@stanford.edu.)
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Osundeko, S. (PI)
ENGLISH 5NA: The Meaning of Newness: Traditions of British Modernism
Good news! After the intervention of a century, it is the 'twenties again - maybe not quite as roaring this time, but still resounding with a sense of impending change. As we celebrate multiple modernist centennials (e.g., those of Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway) in our own decade, there remains something viscerally electrifying about Ezra Pound's famous dictum "Make It New." And yet this line - which, paradoxically, only came to be seen as a modernist slogan in retrospect, after the movement became "old news" - also invites some questions from our historical position: What was the galvanizing power of "newness" as a privileged concept for modernism? Does newness have a stable literary meaning? In this seminar, we examine the historical and formal newness of British modernist literature by tracing its literary ancestry, moment, and legacy. Reading texts by T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, George Orwell, and W.H. Auden, among others, we'll ask: From what ashes of
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Good news! After the intervention of a century, it is the 'twenties again - maybe not quite as roaring this time, but still resounding with a sense of impending change. As we celebrate multiple modernist centennials (e.g., those of Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway) in our own decade, there remains something viscerally electrifying about Ezra Pound's famous dictum "Make It New." And yet this line - which, paradoxically, only came to be seen as a modernist slogan in retrospect, after the movement became "old news" - also invites some questions from our historical position: What was the galvanizing power of "newness" as a privileged concept for modernism? Does newness have a stable literary meaning? In this seminar, we examine the historical and formal newness of British modernist literature by tracing its literary ancestry, moment, and legacy. Reading texts by T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, George Orwell, and W.H. Auden, among others, we'll ask: From what ashes of hegemonic traditions did modernism have to rise in order to pronounce itself new? What new traditions did it beget? To what extent was the newness a fiction, and to what extent was it a reality? Finally, was British modernism itself a single tradition, or plural ones? (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact farrahm@stanford.edu.)
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Liu, T. (PI)
ENGLISH 9CE: Creative Expression in Writing
Primary focus on giving students a skill set to tap into their own creativity. Opportunities for students to explore their creative strengths, develop a vocabulary with which to discuss their own creativity, and experiment with the craft and adventure of their own writing. Students will come out of the course strengthened in their ability to identify and pursue their own creative interests.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
ENGLISH 9CP: Writing Off the Page: Songwriting, Film, and Spoken Word
With recent blockbuster films like Patterson and major prizes being awarded to artists like Bob Dylan and Kendrick Lamar, the borders of what constitutes traditional literature are shifting. In this Creative Writing course we will be looking at literature `off the page,' in songwriting, spoken word, multi-media, and visual art. We will be workshopping our own creative projects and exploring the boundaries of contemporary literature. Artists we'll be looking at include Iron and Wine, Lil Wayne, Allen Ginsberg, Beyonce, David Lynch, Patti Smith, Mark Strand, Anne Carson, Danez Smith, Bon Iver, and Lou Reed.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
Instructors:
Carlson-Wee, K. (PI)
ENGLISH 10F: Intro to English I: The Natural World in Early English Literary History
The first poem written down in English, composed in the 7th century, is about the creation of Earth; this course surveys British literature from then until the 17th century to explore the wisdom, beauty, mystery, and terror in medieval and early modern representations of nature. While following this tradition of writing about the natural world, we will study its connection to the evolution of English literary forms and the interplay between text and culture in this period. Old English riddles that enigmatize earth and sky; beast fables drawing human morality from animal behavior; the varieties of play between love and nature in sonnets; Elizabethan drama's power to conjure wildernesses onstage.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Ashton, M. (PI)
ENGLISH 11A: Introduction to English II: From Milton to the Romantics
English majors must take class for 5 units. Major moments in English literary history, from John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' to John Keats's 'Hyperion'. The trajectory involves a variety of literary forms, including Augustan satire, the illuminated poetry of William Blake's handcrafted books, the historical novel invented by Sir Walter Scott, the society novel of Jane Austen, and William Wordsworth's epic of psychological and artistic development. Literary texts will be studied in the context of important cultural influences, among them civil war, religious dissent, revolution, commercialization, colonialism, and industrialization.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Hoxby, B. (PI)
ENGLISH 11Q: Art in the Metropolis (ARTSINST 11Q, ARTSTUDI 11Q, FILMEDIA 11Q, MUSIC 11Q, TAPS 11Q)
This seminar is offered in conjunction with the annual "Arts Immersion" trip to New York that takes place over the spring break and is organized by the Stanford Arts Institute (SAI). Enrollment in this course is a requirement for taking part in the spring break trip. The program is designed to provide a group of students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the cultural life of New York City guided by faculty and SAI staff. Students will experience a broad range and variety of art forms (visual arts, theater, opera, dance, etc.) and will meet with prominent arts administrators and practitioners, some of whom are Stanford alumni. In the seminar, we will prepare for the diverse experiences the trip affords and develop individual projects related to particular works of art, exhibitions, and performances that we'll encounter in person during our stay in New York. Class time will be divided between readings, presentations, and one studio-based creative project. The urban setting in
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This seminar is offered in conjunction with the annual "Arts Immersion" trip to New York that takes place over the spring break and is organized by the Stanford Arts Institute (SAI). Enrollment in this course is a requirement for taking part in the spring break trip. The program is designed to provide a group of students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the cultural life of New York City guided by faculty and SAI staff. Students will experience a broad range and variety of art forms (visual arts, theater, opera, dance, etc.) and will meet with prominent arts administrators and practitioners, some of whom are Stanford alumni. In the seminar, we will prepare for the diverse experiences the trip affords and develop individual projects related to particular works of art, exhibitions, and performances that we'll encounter in person during our stay in New York. Class time will be divided between readings, presentations, and one studio-based creative project. The urban setting in which the various forms of art are created, presented, and received will form a special point of focus. A principal aim of the seminar will be to develop aesthetic sensibilities through writing critically about the art that interests and engages us and making art. For further details please visit the Stanford Arts Institute website:
https://arts.stanford.edu/for-students/academics/arts-immersion/new-york/
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Berlier, T. (PI)
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