UAB English course offerings go far beyond composition and surveys of literature that are part of students' university core. In addition to familiar subjects such as Shakespeare, creative writing, and business writing, course offerings include less familiar subjects as well as special topics that change every term.
Copies of course descriptions will be available prior to registration for each semester in the English Information Center outside Humanities Building room 215A.
Special Topics Courses
Summer 2008
Major Writers: Nathaniel Hawthorne • EH 491/591, Dr. Gale Temple
In this course we will survey the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the most widely read, yet arguably most misunderstood writers in early American literature. Throughout the course we will connect Hawthorne’s fiction with the political, social, and economic debates and discourses with which it was in dialogue, and we will also think about how the issues in Hawthorne’s writings still resonate in American life today. Hawthorne was fascinated with themes such as shame and guilt—both individual and collective—the possibility for social reform in a seemingly fallen world, and the often inexplicable meanderings of the human psyche. We will explore themes such as these in Hawthorne’s novels—The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun—as well as in his short fiction, journals, and personal correspondence. Course assignments will include one short essay, a researched term essay, and a final exam.
Fall 2008
Postcolonial Literature • EH 492/592-3B, Dr. Sue Kim
“I think that if all English literatures could be studied together, a shape would emerge which would truly reflect the new shape of the language in the world, and we could see that English Literature has never been in better shape, because the world language now also possesses a world literature, which is proliferating in every conceivable direction.—Salman Rushdie
In this course, we will read literatures in English from formerly colonized nations and examine their historical contexts. We will also study major trends in postcolonial studies. Some questions we will consider include: Why do these writers write in English? What literary forms do they use? How do they negotiate between colonial and indigenous cultural traditions—and why/how does that binary begin to break down? How are literary form and postcolonial politics related? What are some problems with the very term “postcolonial”?
Course requirements will include one short close-reading essay, one longer research essay, an in-class midterm and final exam, and one class presentation. Students will also be required to post weekly comments on the course WebCT discussion board.
Required Texts
- Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchable (1935)
- Anita Desai, Clear Light of Day (1980)
- Salman Rushdie, Shame (1983)
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958)
- Ngugi wa Thiong’o, A Grain of Wheat (1967)
- Bessie Head, A Question of Power (1974)
- Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions (1988)
- George Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin (1953)
- Merle Hodge, Crick, Crack Monkey (1970)
- Epeli Hau’ofa, Tales of the Tikongs (1983)
- Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (1992)
Shakespeare for High School Teachers • EH 637, Dr. Rebecca Bach
Intensive study of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and, perhaps, other Shakespeare plays and poems (students will choose based on their teaching needs)
We will talk about:
- why students may loathe Shakespeare and how to encourage them love his texts.
- how to teach reading comprehension of Shakespeare’s texts.
- successful and unsuccessful pedagogical strategies.
- the uses of acting and film in the high school Shakespeare classroom.
This will be a discussion class. Students may present problems in current classroom situations.
Requirements include: four short response papers, presentations, and an exam.
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