Course listings are taken from the 2006-2008 Wagner College Undergraduate Bulletin. Courses added since this bulletin are partially listed in the Registrar's section of this website.
English Literature
011 Intern Program in Writing for Student Newspaper.Intensive participation in the student newspaper in the area of writing. Students will complete articles assigned by the instructor, who will grade them. Not required of staff members of student publications, but recommended for English majors with a minor in Journalism. May be repeated. Prerequisite: completion of the English composition requirement. Offered fall and spring semesters.
101 College English. An introduction to the writing process and to the requirements of college writing. This course is only to be used to make up for a student’s failure of the freshman RFT writing component. Offered in the spring semester.
110(W) Introduction to Literature. A study of a variety of literary works on a topic chosen by the instructor. Sections of the course taken as part of a freshman learning community may not be used to fulfill the writing intensive course requirement. Offered fall and spring semesters.
111(W)(I) World Literature. An introductory course covering fiction from English speaking countries other than the U.S. and Great Britain such as Canada, India, and South Africa and writing in translation from such areas as Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The course will focus on a specific theme. This course is part of the foundation of the English major and should be taken by the end of the sophomore year. Offered spring semester.
203 The Spiritual Quest in Literature. An examination of some major pieces of literature which draw heavily upon religious themes and concepts for their content. How, for example, do fictional works deal with the issues of guilt, punishment, faith, and the quest for salvation? What is salvation? How, also, are God and Christ conceived in contemporary fiction? (Crosslisted as Religion 203.) Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered fall and spring semesters.
211(W) British Literature Survey. A reading of major works from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century with a focus on their historical context. Readings will be selected from such authors as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Pope, Keats, Austen, Conrad, Eliot, Joyce, and Woolf. The course is part of the foundation of the English major and should be taken by the end of teh sophomore year. Offered spring semester.
212(W) Introduction to Literary analysis and Theory. This course is an introduction to the conventions of literature and to a variety of theoretical approaches to it (Psychoanalytic, Structualist, Marxist, Feminist, etc.). Readings will include poetry (the works of authors such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Emily Dickinson), fiction (the works of authors such ans Nikolai Gogol, Salman Rushdie and Nicola Griffith), and various critical articles and introductory readings on theory. Students will learn the research tools necessary to locate and evaluate literary critical sources. Writing assignments will require the integration of literary interpretation, critical ideas, and theoretical approaches. The course is part of the foundation of the English major and should be taken by the end of the sophomore year. Offered fall and spring semester.
213(W)(I) Hispanic Literature in English Translation. This is a course in English designed to introduce several masterworks of the Spanish and Latin American literary traditions to students who may or may not be ready to read the texts in the original language. Readings include selections from early peninsular works, such as El Cid and the Quixote, pre-Columbian texts, such as the Popul-Vul, poetry from colonial Mexico’s Sor Juana and, finally, contemporary works from both Latin America (Borges,Cortazar, Allende) and Spain (Matute, Garcia Lorca, Arrabal). (Cross-listed as Spanish 213.) Prerequisite: EN212 of permission of instructor. Offered spring semester.
280(W) Writing-Intensive Tutoring. This course trains Writing-Intensive Tutors (WITS) to provide writing support to Learning Communities and to the rest of the campus. Discussion, written response, and staff meetings will draw on the shared experiences in Reflective Tutorials and in the Writing Center, as well as on readings in composition theory. (This course is restricted to selected students.) Offered fall semester.
291 Special Topics. A course dealing with literary topics not covered in the standard courses of the department; its content will be determined by the instructor. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
302(W) Medieval Literature. The course will explore important medieval texts from the tenth through the fifteenth centuries in both the British Isles and the continent. We will cover a range of genres, including epic (Beowulf) and romance (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) as well as allegory, lyric, and drama. Offered as required.
303(W) Chaucer: A study of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Offered spring semester of odd numbered years.
304(W) Renaissance. A study of the non-dramatic literature of the English Renaissance and Restoration periods, with emphasis on discoveries in language, genre, nationality, and the identity of the self. Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
305(W) Crime and Violence in 18th Century Literature. Crime and violence are prevalent features of 18th century English literature, reflecting the sensational crime stories in the newspapers of the day. This course explores criminal and violent behavior in works by authors that may include Defoe, Pope, Swift, Fielding, and Johnson, exploring how the authors confront violence in the context of class and gender conflicts. We will also read selections from factual crime narratives in 18th century media sources and commentaries on the the punishment of crime. Offered fall semester.
306(W) The Romantic Period. We will consider literature of the 18th century both as a precursor to the Romantic period in English literature, as well as in its own right. The link between the two is sometimes oppositional and at other moments integrational. We will study prose writers, poets, and fiction writers as we takeup questions of individuality, the place of rebellion in literary forms and society, and the issues of slavery and women’s rights. Some writers covered in this course may include Edmund Burke, Laurence Sterne, Henry Fielding, William Wordsworth, Charlotte Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and John Keats. The course also emphasizes the use of secondary critical sources in studying literature. Offered fall semester of odd-numbered years.
309(W) Victorian Literature. A study of Victorian prose writers, poets, and some of the most significant issues of the 19th century. Some of the writers to be considered are John Stuart Mill, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browing, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, Charles Darwin, Cardinal Newman, George Meredith, and George Eliot. The “Woman Question,” humanism, and skepticism will be foci of discussion. Offered spring semester of odd- numbered years.
310(W)(I) Literature in Turn-of-the-Century Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Barcelona. A detailed reading of some of the major literary works written in fin-de-siècle Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Barcelona. Along with readings by authors such as Marcel Proust, Colette, Thomas Mann, Rainer-Maria Rilke, and Arthur Rimbaud, this class also addresses the rise of psychoanalysis, the exploration of sexuality, and cafe´ culture. Students will visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a concert at Carnegie Hall. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
311 Modern English and Irish Literature. A study of major English and Irish writers since 1900, including, among others, Yeats, Joyce, Eliot, and Woolf. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
313(I) Contemporary Irish Literature. An examination of the best works and writers from Ireland today. The course considers such areas as the effects of the political troubles and religious differences on the literary artist’s aesthetic vision. Current novels, short fiction, poetry, and plays are examined, with special attention to major contemporary figures such as Seamus Heaney and Edna O’Brien. Offered fall semester of even-numbered years.
314(I) Postcolonial Literature. In this course we will examine how different writers from the colonized and formerly colonized world have discussed the problem of the nation. How do these writers depict colonial and postcolonial societies? How do they confront continuing problems of ethnic, class, and gender divisions? Is nationalism represented as a solution, or part of the problem? While we will focus on African and Asian writers — like Achebe, Aidoo, Chandra, El Saadawi, Gordimer, Ngugi, Rushdie, and Roy — we may also consider Irish, Caribbean, Latin American, and Palestinian texts in order to compare themes and writing styles. Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
315(W)(D) African-American Literature. An examination of the African-American literary tradition, as represented by selected central works of fiction and biography. Major poets of the century will also be considered. The course will observe the continituum from the oral tradition of spirituals and field hollers, dating from the days of slavery and Reconstruction, through the blues/jazz roots of, and influence upon, contemporary African-American writing. Recent efforts by black scholars and literary critics to establish a ’canon’ of African-American writing will be considered. Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
317(W) American Literature: Colonial to the Civil War. Selections from the early colonials through the great flowering of American Romanticism. Includes consideration of the major figures of the mid-nineteenth century: Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, and Melville. Offered fall semester.
318(W) American Literature: Civil War to World War I. Selections from the principal writings of such authors as Dickinson, Whitman, Twain, and James. Other Important writers such as Dreiser, Howells, Wharton, Crane, and London are considered. Offered spring semester.
319(W) American Literature: World War I to the Present. Selections from the principle writings of such authors as Frost, Eliot, Cummings, Stevens, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Bellow, Mailer, Morrison, Plath, and Ginsberg. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
324(W) Victorian Fiction. This course in Victorian Fiction will focus on a few prominent writers of the period. The course will take up authors such as the Brontë's, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Oscar Wilde, and Thomas Hardy. By reading a few authors in depth, the course will help students achieve a greater mastery of narrative devices, perspectives, and forms, and will also enable us to learn about the contexts surrounding each writer and his/her work. The course may take up a different set of writers each time it is taught. Offered fall semester of even-numbered years.
325(W) English Gothic and Detective Fiction. This course focuses on the English novel as it evolves from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Both the gothic strain and the impulse to detection occur in the works of authors such as Horace Walpole, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, and P.D. James. In working with these narratives we will explore the links between the supernatural and criminal as we also take up the variety of structures that English fiction offers us. The course also emphasizes the use of secondary critical sources. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
326 (W) Drama Survey. Romantic struggles, dysfunctional families, madness and violence have preoccupied the drama since its origins. In this course, we will survey selected plays central to the development of Western daram. The characteristics of the genre will be explored, including comic and tragic dramatic structures as well as the concept of the tragic hero in classic and modern plays. We will examine gender issues, and the psychological and socialogical complexities of human behavior represented in dramatic literature. Playwrights may include Sophocles, Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Bernard Shaw, Tennessee Williams, and Marsha Norman. Get ready to read some fascinating plays: no acting required. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor . Offered spring semester.
327(W) Advanced Drama: Renaissance and Modern. Drama, one of the most powerful of artistic experiences, reaches its height in the late English Renaissance and again in the late twentieth century. This course will look first at some of the most compelling of Renaissance non-Shakespearian plays and then at some of the experi-mentation that has made contemporary drama particularly fascinating. Among the authors we may study from the Renaissance are Kyd, Webster, Middleton, Behn, and perhaps Polwhele. The playwrights of today may include Beckett, Hansberry, Soyinka, Puig, and Wilson. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
329(W) Creative Writing. Designed for students who have demonstrated superior ability in one of the forms of composition. Considerable practice will be afforded in the writing of the short story and/or poetry. Offered as reqired.3
330(W) Shakespeare Survey. A study of selected plays representative of Shakespeare’s career as a dramatist. The sourse is required of English major and should be taken by the end of the junior year. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered fall semester.
342 (W) (D) "Growin' Up in Dixie." What's it like to be young and growing up in the land of cotton and kudzu, debutantes and rednecks, coon dogs and bass boats, instant grits and barbecue? Find out how a culture that created jambalaya, catfish pie and Elvis could also produce Strom Thurmond or the Klan and what it would be like to grow up there. Readings will include well-known major Southern authors such as William Faulkner, Alice Walker and Flannery O'Connor, as well as some very droll present-day writers such as Barry Hannah, Ellen Gilchrist and Padgett Powell. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. May not be taken by students who have taken EN 110 Introduction to Literature: "Growin' Up in Dixie." Offered spring semester.
343(W) Major Authors. A study of selected works of one to three important British and/or American authors representing different periods and genres. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester.
344 (W) Modern Poetry. Development of "modernism" in British, Irish, and American poetry, from Whitman, Dickinson, and Hardy to the major figures of the early twentieth century: Yeats, Eliot, Pound, and Stevens. Includes British "war poets," along with important figures of teh '30's, '40's, and '50's, such as Dylan Thomas, Auden, and MacNeice. Concomitant poetics theory, along with seminal criticism of the period. Close reading of poetic texts along with intensive instruction in the areas of prosody--Metaphor and figurative language, stanza paterns, rhythm and meter, verse genres, poetic diction, "voice" and tonal modulation. Essays and research paper, mid-tem and final exams. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. May no be taken by students who have taken EN 291 Special Topic: "Contemporary Poetry." Offered fall semester of odd-numbered years.
345(W) Modern American Literature. A study of selected writers of fiction and poetry since World War I. Offered fall semester.
346(W) Contemporary Poetry. A continuation of EN 344. Follows the movement in British, Irish and American poetry through High Modernism, 'Confessional', Beat, post-modern and contemporary verse. As with EN 344, includes concomitant poetics theory and important literary critics of the period. Emphasis on informed and disciplines readings of difficult poetic text through intensive instruction in the areas of prosody--metaphor and figurative language, stanza patterns, rhythm and meter, verse genres, poetic diction, 'voice' and tonal modulation. Essays and research paper, mid-term and final exams. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. May not be taken by student swho have taken EN 291 Special Topcs:" Contemproary Poetry." Offered fall semester of even-numbered years.
347(W) The Study of Fairy Tales. We will focus on some traditional European tales as well as critical reading and some more modern versions of the stories. “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cinderella,” and “Bluebeard” are a few of the tales we will take up. Angela Carter’s versions of some of these tales as well as McGuire’s Wicked (a version of theWizard of Oz) will also be among the twentieth-century texts we read . Prerequisite: English 212 or permission of the instructor. Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
348(W) (D) Southern Women Writers. This course explores the work of important American writers from the South, including Eudora, Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Katherine Anne Porter, Kaye Gibbons, Doris Betts, Ellen Gilchrist, Carson McCullers, Elizabeth Spencer, Dorothy Allison and Alice Walker. Their regional perspectives--on love and loyalty, independence and work, race and family--underpin a unique sense of place and a rootedness in tradition that permeates their work. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. May not be taken by students who have taken EN 110: Introduction to Literature: "Southern Women Writers." Offered fall semester.
349(W) Women Writers. A study of the writings of British and American women in the past two centuries. Attention will be given to how race, class, and colonial status complicate questions of gender. Writers such as Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Jean Rhys, Virginia Woolf, and Toni Morrison will be included. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
351(W) (I) French Women Writers in Translation. This course explores women’s writing from the unique literary and cultural perspectives of French speaking society. Readings include such authors as Madame de Sevigne, George Sand, Simone de Beauvoir, Colette, Nathalie Sarraute, and Marguerite Duras. The course also includes writings by francophone West African, Caribbean, and Canadian authors. (Cross- listed as French 351.) Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
352(W) (I) The Divine Comedy: Dante’s Itinerary to Divinity. This course focuses on Dante’s imaginary voyage from the depths of Hell to the heights of Heaven, one of the most fascinating journeys in literature. While reading of Dante’s winding paths to divinity, students will be introduced to the richness of medieval culture, including its refined religious mysticism and its earthy popular traditions. Dante’s use of the theological concepts of gender reversal of his time will be among the themes we will explore. Prerequistie: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
354(W) The Western Canon II: Renaissance to the Present. A study of selected texts from Western, non-English, literature that have been designated as “canonical" in the past and that now raise interesting questions about the ways we assess literature. Texts, read in translation, will be selected from continental literatures, and the class will offer the opportunity to address the kind of demanding literature that engages the ideas that give shape to the periods we will be covering: Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, Romantic, Modern, and Post- modern. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
355 (W) (I) Sex and Gender in Medieval French Literature Medieval France saw a new flowering of interest in romantic love, but also a new impostition of control over sexual behavior by the Church. As a result there was an explosion of literature both celebrating and condemning a wide variety erotic attitudes and practices, composed by churchmen, noblemen, and the few women who achieved the education and authority to write. We will read troubadour love lyrics, Arthurian romances, poems debating the merits of same-sex love, and selections from Christine de Pizan, widely considered to be Europe's first feminist. All texts, whether written in French or Latin, will be read in English translation. Cross-listed w/FR 355. Prerequisite EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
356 (I) (F) French Cinema: Retrogrades, Rebels, and Realists. This course introduces students to the major developments in the history of French cinema. The course aims to develop students' skills of analysis and interpretation in order to enable them to read and appreciate film as an art form. The course is divided into three parts which present the three principal moments of French cinematic history: the films of Poetic Realism from the 1920s and 1930s; the films of the New Wave from the 1950s and 1960s and fin-de-siecle films of the 1980s and 1990s. Film-viewings are supplemented by the study of film theory. Taught in English. Cross listed w/FR 356. Offered fall semester.
357 (W) (I) (F) Italian Cinema Italian cineman provides a fascinating portrait of Italy in the 20th century, chronicling such phenomena as the rise of fascism, the tensions between North and South, and the changing role of women. In addition, it has exhibited impressive narrative and technical innovations, whcih has been influential on American filmmakers. Directors such as Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, and Sergio Leone will be studied. Cross-listed w/ IT 357. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester.
358 (W) (I) (F) The Vietnam War in Literature and Film "Is there any aspect of the conflict that is not in itself the subject of a conflict?" Good, critically-acclaimed writing and award-winning movies about Vietnam before, during, and after US military intervention can inform and enlighten or mislead. We will explore how some outstanding fictional narratives--Graham Greene's The Quiet American, Michael Herr's Dispatches, Tim O'Brien's Going after Cacciato, Duong Phu Huong's Paradise of the Blind, Apocalypse Now, Full-Metal Jacket, and more--measure against other perspectives on the war. We will also look at our preconceptions about America, Asians, and the military, and discuss how these stories, as well as poetry and journalism coming out of both sides of the war, challenge or support our views. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester.
359 (W) (I) (F) Asian Cinema An introduction to the major films and directors of Japan, China, and India, with an examination of the emerging cinemas of Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam (shown with English subtitles). Topics include older, pre-film cultural forms; genres and hybrids; the impact of American films and postwar/postcolonial issues of identity; Asian film's unique contribution to world cinema; Bollywood, Hong Kong film; and other contemporary modes. We will read and discuss acclaimed analyses on the history, reception, conventions, and meaning of Asian films in relation to issues of race, gender, class, history, and politics. This course includes visits to Asian film retrospectives and festivals at the Museum of Modern Art, the Japan Society, and similar institutions in Manhattan. Prerequisite: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester.
400 Senior Reflective Tutorial. This course, taken by seniors in conjunction with English 425, combines theory and practice. It presents selected literary theories that pertain to the texts studied in the senior seminar, at the same time that it provides a structure and vocabulary for analyzing the experiential component of the course, whether that take the form of an internship, a research paper, or a creative project. Prerequisite: senior standing in English literature. Offered fall semester.
416(W) (D) American Mosaic: Other Voices. From “melting pot” to “rainbow” to “mosaic”, Americans have espoused self-images that bind commonly shared democratic values to disparate group identities. “American Mosaic” considers the visionary work of writers who are redefining the “American dream” for a new century. Will Americans polarize into fractious tribes, blur into a drab “McCulture”, or light out for the territories of an invigorated heritage, expressing and respecting difference while remaining “We the People”? Readings from leading Native American, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American fiction writers and poets. Offered fall semester of odd-numbered years.
425 Senior Seminar. A culminating experi ence for the senior English major in a class limited to fifteen students. The advanced level will permit an intensive study of the subject, and the seminar format will permit active student participation. Topics may include an author, a genre, or the relationship between the study of literature and another discipline. Prerequisite: senior standing in English literature. Offered fall semester.
593 Independent Study. Supervised independent research projects developed by the student with a faculty mentor. Restricted to advanced English majors. Students planning to write a thesis for the Honors program or departmental honors in English should register for English 593 for the fall semester of their senior year. Prerequistie: EN 212 or permission of instructor. Offered fall and spring semesters.
Journalism Courses
261 (W) Introduction to Journalism. An introduction to newpaper and magazine writing, including news, feature articles, and editorials. Offered fall and spring semester.
363(W) Newpaper Design and Editing. Students will learn the elements of newspaper and magazine design by exploring such programs as Photoshop and QuarkXPress, and will learn how to combine photographs, graphics, and type for a successful page layout. In addition, students will learn editorial technique, including copy editing and headline writing. Prerequisite: English 261 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
366(W) Feature Writing. Preparation for successful writing for both newspapers and magazines. Extensive classroom editorial sessions. Attention to techniques of style, organization, lead writing, use of quotes and attribution, ethical questions, generating article ideas, and surveying contemporary magazine outlets. Emphasis on covering trends in the arts, politics, popular culture and social issues. Human interest stories, interviews, profiles, in-depth investigative and how-to articles also explored, according to student's interests. Attention to proposals and correspondence with editors, and identifying marketing of final copy. Prerequisite: English 261 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester of even-numbered years.
368(W) Reviewing. The art and craft of reviewing theatre, dance, recordings and concerts, restaurants and cuisine, television and film, new books and magazines, exhibits and a variety of culture events. The course will focus on free-lance techniques for devising story ideas, researching publications, proposing story ideas to editors, writing letters of inquiry and completing assignments. Students will contribute articles to the Wagnerian. Prerequisite: English 261 or permission of instructor. Offered sprin gsemester of odd-numbered years.
370(W) Sports Journalism. An introduction to the craft and business of sports writing, with emphasis on conceiving, researching, drafting and revising marketable sports stories. Students learn to prepare feature columns, profiles, interviews and editorials for both newspapers and magazines. Readings in the New York Times, Daily News, New York Post, Sports Illustrated, and other publications, as well as in collections of contemporary sports writers. Assignments include news coverage of Wagner College sports as well as local professional teams and events (live and televised). Emphasis on publishing in Wagnerian and free-lancing for commercial outlets. Prerequisite: English 261 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
372(W) Journalism and Public Relations. An exploration of the codependent relationship between these two fields. Students will learn how news people rely on PR people for story ideas and information, and how PR people rely on news people to bring credibility and success to their concepts. They will learn how to market an idea creatively, prepare press releases from press kits, and deal with reporters and editors from the PR angle. They will also learn how to identify and develop a story idea from a press release, and become proficient in handling "rewrites". Prerequisite: English 261 or permission from the instructor. Offered fall semster of odd-numbered years.
373 (W)Ethics in Jounalism: The National Enquirer to the New York Times. Newpaper editors make tough calls every day, based on a professional code of ethics that differs from newspaper to newspaper. What's un-publishable for one is front-page news for another. This course explores ethical issues including sensationalism, libel and slander, the right to privacy, conflicts of interest, and th blurring line between journalism and entertainment. Prerequisite: EN 261 or permissoin of instructor. Offered spring semester of odd-numbered years.
376(W) History of Journalism. This course traces Journalism from the primitive days of wooden type, invented by the Chinese, to the implications of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press and the computerized complexities of the field today. Students will read articles by some of America's earliest reporters (Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Edgar Allen Poe) and study how writing styles, topics and newspaper design have changed through the centuries. A collection of old newspapers will be used to illustrate the changes. Prerequisite: English 261 or permission of instructor. Offered as required.
397(W) Internship in Journalism. Part-time, on-the-job experience at a New York area newspaper, magazine, television network, or public relations outlet. Prerequisites: English 261, minimum 2.5 GPA in the major, and approval of the advisor to the Journalism minor. This course may be taken for one to two units. Offered as required.
