ENGL 2599-001: Routes, Writing, Reggae

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 03:30PM-05:45PM
Njelle Hamilton

When most people think of reggae music, they think of lazing out on a Caribbean beach with a spliff and nodding to the music of Bob Marley. But what is the actual history of the music of which Marley is the most visible ambassador? How did the music of a small Caribbean island become a worldwide phenomenon, with the song “One Love” and the album Exodus named among the top songs and albums of the 20th century? In this course we will trace the history of reggae music and listen closely to Marley’s entire discography to understand the literary devices, musical structures, and social contexts of reggae songs. You will learn to analyze songs, poetry, and film and craft a range of critical and creative responses from album reviews to response (‘diss’) tracks.  You will also engage topical and controversial issues such as: misogyny and homophobia in reggae and dancehall; the place of religion and spirituality (and yes, marijuana) in reggae; reggae’s critique of oppression and racial injustice; cultural appropriation and the global marketplace; and the connections between reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, and reggaetón. (Fulfills: Second Writing Requiring; AIP Discipline).

ENGL 3010-001: History of English Language

In Person
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Stephen Hopkins

This course is part of the Summer Technology Sabbatical: https://summer.virginia.edu/summer-technology-sabbatical

“Tasting HEL: A Language Lab History of the English Language” immerses students in the history of our language, from its origins as a dialect of Proto Indo-European, on through Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English. This journey will help students build up cognitive endurance as we work together to acquire and hone a suite of interdisciplinary skills to become philologists (lovers of language, but also literary linguists)—by tasting each stage of the language and reading them aloud together. We will draw from modern and historical linguistics, literary criticism, book history and paleography, lexicography, and more as we dive deep into each stage of the language to see what made it tick, and what made it different from what we speak now. 

ENGL 3500-001: Hacking for Humanists

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Brad Pasanek

This is a course for English majors (and other students) that introduces the basics of computer programming, text analysis, text encoding, and statistics as experimental methodologies that promote new kinds of reading and interpretation. The aim is to move from "computation into criticism." We’ll work, primarily, with a Shakespeare play, poetry by William Blake, and a Jane Austen novel. No prior familiarity with coding or the language R required: we’ll be moving slowly, covering the basics. Advanced Computer Science majors will not be turned away, but they will be required to recite poetry aloud in front of their peers and show an interest in Emma Woodhouse’s misprisions.

ENWR 2610-001: Writing with Style

In Person
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
Keith Driver

Develops an understanding of the wide range of stylistic moves in prose writing, their uses, and implications. Students build a rich vocabulary for describing stylistic decisions, imitate and analyze exemplary writing, and discuss each others writing in a workshop setting.

ENWR 2700-001: News Writing

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Amykate Sweeney

ENWR 3760-001: Studies in Cultural Rhetoric: The Cultural Work of Stories

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
Tamika Carey

This course will explore how cultural groups develop, use, and remix stories to build and reshape their worlds. With special attention to the social concepts and discursive techniques involved in these processes - concepts and techniques that may include master narratives, rhetorical listening, identification, testimony, and counterstory - we will deepen our understanding of how rhetoric influences the worlds in which we live. Projects may include: a course presentation, a brief analysis activity, and a storywork portfolio.

ENGL 2599-003: American Refugees

In Person
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Joshua Miller

Despite generations of critique, the national narrative of the US as a land of and for refugees is still frequently retold. However, the history and literature of the past century and a half tells a different story. Many different stories, in fact. The history of migration and immigration turns out to be an ongoing crisis of representation itself. 

This course is an introductory seminar in literary studies with no prerequisites or prior knowledge required. It will provide historical and sociological contexts for understanding the rise of mass immigration and the varied waves of political and cultural responses. If we approach 21st-century US refugee fiction as an ongoing crisis of narrative (how to tell the stories of individuals who adopt a new culture and language of consciousness), it emerges as a rich tradition of literary innovation, subtle social critique, and transracial alliance-building. 

After briefly viewing the historical trajectory of US migrant fiction since the 19th century, we’ll focus on contemporary novels that complicate borders, documentation, rights, community, and language. In reading a wide range of genres, we’ll consider recent narrratives that complicate what the term refugee means, the status of undocumented and stateless people, how borders shape literary narrative, migrant time, and the perils of translation. 

This course can fulfill the College’s AIP discipline and second writing requirements.The course also satisfies the English major prerequisite and counts as one course toward the major.

ENWR 2520-001: Walking Nature, Writing Nature

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Cory Shaman

ENWR 3550-001: Professional Communication in a Digital World

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
Heidi Nobles

In today’s professional world, strong communication isn’t just a bonus—it’s a core skill. In this interactive course, you’ll work with your classmates and professor to practice writing and collaborating in the kinds of situations you’ll encounter in your future career: team updates, client proposals, job applications, and more. Along the way, you’ll learn to write clearly, revise with purpose, and adapt your message to different audiences and platforms. We’ll also explore how generative AI tools (like MS Copilot and ChatGPT) can support your writing process—when to use them, how to use them well, and where your judgment as a communicator matters most. Expect daily hands-on activities, team projects, and a final professional portfolio of your own to take with you beyond the course.

ENWR 3660-001: Travel Writing

In Person
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
Kate Stephenson

This course will explore travel writing using a variety of texts, including essays, memoirs, blogs, photo essays, and narratives. We will examine cultural representations of travel as well as the ethical implications of tourism. Students will have the opportunity to write about their own travel experiences, and we will also embark on "local travel" of our own.

ENGL 2599-002: The Vampires We Need

In Person
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Charity Fowler

ENGL 2599-004: The Contemporary Essay

In Person
MTWRF 03:30PM-05:45PM
John Casteen

This course will examine literary prose in contemporary literature, ranging from more topical nonfiction to the personal, lyric, and experimental essay; it will also include two essay-films.  The idea of the essay—the attempt—requires uncertainty and poise.  How do writers and artists use the expressive potential of this elastic form to navigate the situation of the present?  Students will explore critical approaches to the essay and compose new work of their own.

This course satisfies the English Major Prerequisite, the Second Writing Requirement, and the AIP Disciplines Requirement.

ENGL 3559-001: Booms and Busts in US Culture

In Person
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
Laura Goldblatt

ENWR 1510-001: Writing about Science & Tech

In Person
MTWRF 10:30AM-12:45PM
Rhiannon Goad

ENWR 1510-002: Writing about Culture/Society: Writing in Popular Culture

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
Sarah Richardson

This course, Writing in Popular Culture, focuses on how popular culture influences media and writing. We will look at movies, tv shows, songs, newspaper articles and more to see how events and people are discussed and influence our writing.

ENWR 2800-001: Public Speaking

Online Synchronous
MTWRF 01:00PM-03:15PM
John Modica

An inquiry-based approach to the development of a confident, engaging, and ethical public speaking style. Beyond practical skills, this course emphasizes rhetorical thinking: what are the conventions of public speaking? Where are there opportunities to deviate from convention in ways that might serve a speech's purpose? How might we construct an audience through the ways we craft language and plan the delivery of our speech?

ENCW 7310 - MFA Poetry Workshop

Sumita Chakraborty
M 2:00-4:30

In lieu of a traditional course description, I’d like to tell you a brief story. My first published poem is a poem I consider very unsuccessful. I’ve revised it for years post- (and pre-!) publication; it’s never quite right. It is no longer a poem that I try to “perfect.” Instead, it’s become a room in which I go to think and experiment. When I find myself itching to open it again, that means that I want to try out something I do not yet understand or yet know how to do. Very often, particularly as we take steps to professionalize in a discipline or an art, our lives become pitched toward the dream of success: to perfect the poem; to perfect the thesis; to perfect the manuscript; to “perfect,” most insidiously of them all, ourselves. We won’t be able to undo this entirely: after all, this is a poetry workshop in an MFA program, which means that we’re gathering together in an academic context to work on our craft. But through our conversations, readings, and exercises, this workshop will foreground how to embrace the magic of the mistake—the pratfall, the banana peel under the heel, the wrong turn, the swing and a miss—as a cherished companion in your regular writing practice rather than shying away from it as something to be shunned or renounced. Your primary responsibilities will be to write poems, share them with one another, and give each other feedback.

ENCW 7610 - MFA Fiction Workshop

Kevin Moffett
M 2:00-4:30

ENGL 5100-1 -- Introduction to Old English

Stephen Hopkins
TuTh 12:30pm - 1:45pm

In this course (open to undergraduate and graduate students) we will learn to read the Old English language (roughly 500-1100 CE). To arrive at a sound reading knowledge, we will spend the first half of the semester internalizing the basics of Old English grammar and vocabulary, and will practice translating short bits of prose and poetry, from prose works like Bede's history, and later poetry such as the Exeter Book riddles, The Battle of Maldon, The Dream of the Rood, and excerpts from Beowulf. Along the way, we will also study Old English genres, contexts, and critical/theoretical approaches prevalent in the field, with an emphasis on the history of the book and writing technologies. Course work includes weekly translations, midterm and final exams, and a brief research presentation (~10 min) on a topic chosen by each student. Successful completion of this course is required for admission to ENGL 5110 Beowulf and Its Monstrous Manuscript in the Spring. 

ENGL 5500-1 -- Stories of Teaching

James Seitz
MoWe 5:00pm - 6:15pm

This course will examine a variety of ways in which the classroom has been represented through narrative—sometimes by teachers and sometimes by students—in memoir, fiction, scholarship, and film. We’ll work on sharpening both our critical resistance to the shortcomings of these narratives and our critical appreciation of their accomplishments. All narratives of teaching or learning are inevitably partial: nobody can say it all, even when representing a single class, much less when describing what happened during the course of a semester or year. Yet writers do try to portray their experience as a teacher or student over long as well as brief periods of time, and we can learn from their struggle to do so convincingly.

ENGL 5500-2 -- The Conflict of Interpretation in Literature, Law, and Religion

Walter Jost
TuTh 3:30pm - 4:45pm

Ours is an age of communication, and one of its hallmarks is the “conflict of interpretations” among schools of criticism, theory, and cultural study. This course requires no specialized background in these matters, for in fact we all know how to talk, read, interpret, and argue. The question is, how well do we do this, with how much control and discipline? how do we develop our abilities? The philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer once wrote that “Where, indeed, but to rhetoric should the theoretical examination of interpretation turn? Rhetoric from oldest tradition has been the only advocate of a claim to truth that defends the probable, the eikos (versimile), and that which is convincing to the ordinary reason, against the claim of science to accept as true only what can be demonstrated and tested.” Together we will develop a basic but wide-ranging understanding of the arts of discourse called “hermeneutics” and “rhetoric,” through close reading and discussions of selected scholarly texts (chiefly essays and book chapters), testing our learning against literary, legal, and religious works. 

From Rita Felski, The Limits of Critique, pp. 33 and 187: 

“Given the surge of interest in questions of reading . . . the neglect of the hermeneutic tradition in Anglo-American literary theory is little short of scandalous. Surely a correction of the record—and even some vigorous rebranding—is in order. Hermeneutics simply is the theory of interpretation . . . . The subject of this book, then, has been a specific genre of writing: the rhetoric of suspicious reading in literary studies and in the humanities and interpretative social sciences generally. Rather than being synonymous with disagreement, it is a specific kind of disagreement—one that is driven by the protocols of late-twentieth and twenty-first century academic argument. Critique, in this sense, is the hardening of disagreement into a given repertoire of argumentative moves and interpretative methods.”

ENGL 5510-1 -- Arthurian Romances

Elizabeth Fowler
TuTh 3:30pm - 4:45pm

We'll dive into what is probably the most viral fan-fiction canon ever: stories about Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, Gawain, Merlin, the Ladies of the Lake, and their friends and enemies and magical stage props. What makes this kind of narrative work? How do different authors transform it? The late medieval Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory will be at the core of our inquiry, and we'll include texts from Marie de France and Chaucer to contemporary film. We'll be looking to describe how (and why) the romance genre offers us experiences of philosophy, emotion, political thought, spirituality, and wit. This is a graduate course with room for undergraduates who have some coursework in Middle English. We will meet outside under the Scholar’s Tree by Dawson’s Row in camp chairs unless weather prohibits it. Contact Prof Fowler fowler@virginia.edu with questions.

ENGL 5559-1 --  Early Moderns & Throwbacks: Birth-Pangs of Modernity

James Kinney
TuTh 11:00am - 12:15pm

This course will examine the ways in which cultural precursors ancient and medieval can both stall and inspire Renaissance innovation. To make sense of this perplexed cultural legacy we will also explore how Renaissance innovators revise and select from traditional models, especially religious and mythic models. Old and New World traditions confronted complete our survey of how moderns emerge from antiquity.

ENGL 5560-1 -- Contemporary Poetry

Jahan Ramazani
MoWe 3:30pm - 4:45pm

In this seminar, we will read and discuss some of the most influential poetry of the second half of the twentieth century and of the twenty-first century, mostly by American writers from various backgrounds. To hone our attention to poetics, we will focus on several specific genres and forms of poetry, including sonnets, elegies, persona poems, and poems about the visual arts. How do contemporary poets repurpose, transform, and revitalize poetic traditions? What is the value of poetry for writers of diverse ethnicities, races, nations, movements, social classes, and genders? What is distinctive about poetry as a means for addressing preoccupations such as the self, the environment, race, art, nationality, gender, sexuality, grief, violence, and historical memory?

ENGL 5560-2 -- James Joyce's Ulysses

Victor Luftig
TuTh 2:00pm - 3:15pm

This course is designed for first-time readers of Ulysses and is meant to provide a pleasurable introduction to it. We’ll explore the novel’s difficulty and its usefulness, tracking both which of the many available resources for reading it are helpful and what kinds of applications might justify the effort Ulysses summons. Prior to the first class session, please read as much as you can of an annotated edition of Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (The Viking edition with notes by Anderson, which you can easily find used, would be fine.) There will be two papers, one offering the class an account of a resource you’ve sampled and another asking you to think about what contemporary situation you think Ulysses might apply to most meaningfully. There will also be some in-class and/or take-home worksheets focused on contextual information and stylistic particulars. At the end of the course we’ll have a taste of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake to prepare you for future explorations of that book—which too is challenging, rewarding, and “lovesoftfun.”

ENGL 5700-1 -- Contemporary African-American Literature

Lisa Woolfork
TuTh 9:30am - 10:45am

ENGL 5810-1 -- Books as Physical Objects

David Vander Meulen
MoWe 9:30am - 10:45am

We know the past chiefly through artifacts that survive, and books are among the most common of these objects. Besides conveying a text, each book also contains evidence of the circumstances of its manufacture.  In considering what questions to ask of these mute objects, this course might be considered the "archaeology of printing"—that is, the identification, description, and interpretation of printed artifacts surviving from the past five centuries, as well as exploration of the critical theory that lies behind such an approach to texts. With attention to production processes, including the operation of the hand press, it will investigate ways of analyzing elements such as paper, typography, illustrations, binding, and organization of the constituent sections of a book.  The course will explore how a text is inevitably affected by the material conditions of its production and how an understanding of the physical processes by which it was formed can aid historical research in a variety of disciplines, not only those that treat verbal texts but also those that deal with printed music and works of visual art.  The class will draw on the holdings of the University Library's Special Collections Department, as well as on its Hinman Collator (an early version of the one at the CIA)

Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. This course satisfies the Graduate English requirement for the history of criticism or literary theory.

ENGL 5900-1 -- Literature Pedagogy Seminar

Cristina Griffin
TuTh 12:30pm - 1:45pm

“Counterpoint Seminar in Teaching Modern Literature”

This seminar is about how and why teaching literature matters today. How do secondary school and college instructors teach literature in challenging times? How do teachers make tough decisions about what to teach and why? What responsibility do teachers have to promote inclusive excellence through the literature they teach and the methods they use? In this course, we will tackle these big questions together as we explore what it means to pursue a career in teaching literature to middle school, high school, or college students. Each week, we will weave together your existing knowledge of literature and your emerging knowledge of pedagogy. You will be introduced to theories of learning-focused, culturally relevant, and culturally responsive pedagogy, and you will put your newfound knowledge into practice as we work step by step through designing your own teaching philosophy and materials.

This course will bring together students who already have experience as classroom instructors, students who are in the process of teaching for the very first time, and students who have yet to step up to the front of a classroom in the role of teacher. We will build on this variety of experiences, learning together how to bring transformative pedagogies into our present and future classrooms.

ENGL 8380 -- Eighteenth-Century Prose Fiction

Cynthia Wall
MoWe 3:30pm - 4:45pm

Other than that they are (mostly) long to very long prose fiction narratives, eighteenth-century

British novels have little in common, formally speaking. From the dreamlike (or nightmarish)

landscape that is Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, through Haywood’s shrewd amatory fiction, Defoe’s circling first-person narratives, the suffocating epistolarity of Richardson (that’s a compliment, btw), the self-reflexive irony of Fielding, the agonies of sensibility (not to mention punctuation) in Radcliffe, the psychological labyrinths of gothic, and the innovative interiorities of Austen, each new instance defines and patterns itself anew, and none bears much similarity to nineteenth-century descendants. We will look at a variety of historical and cultural contexts, such as emerging genres; changes in perceptions of space, time, things, narrative, typography; and literary criticism from the eighteenth century to the present.

ENGL 8540 -- US Literature and the Politics of Justice

Victoria Olwell
TuTh 11:00am - 12:15pm

ENGL 8560 -- Literature in the Modern Period: Comparative Approaches to Long Modernisms

Joshua Miller
Tu 3:30pm - 6:00pm

Both modernist studies and American studies staked claims to having been made “new” in recent decades, thus participating in the discourse of exceptionality that has led these domains of thought and cultural production to produce both fascinating and, at times, troubling results. The inclusionary expansions of “New Modernisms” and the “New American Studies” fall under several rubrics: comparative studies, global/planetary cultures, new & mixed media, multiethnic literatures, and long modernisms, among others.

We’ll examine key trends shaping multiethnic modernist fiction in a broad historical context, starting with emergent U.S. imperial and racialist modernity, from 1890s views of U.S. immigration and territorial expansion to 1930s and 40s depictions of migration and racialized labor. Then we’ll pursue similar aspects of late-20th and early-21st narrative and transmedia experiments with the novel form to ask if modernisms endure not only in the postmodern period, but also in contemporary Information Age cultures.

We won’t be able to cover comprehensively the full range of methodologies and theoretical formulations that have emerged as exciting directions for modernist studies, so the variety of our readings will reflect the generative (and maddening) instability of this field. The goal of this course is not to develop a particular conception of either modernism or comparativism, but to work collaboratively to formulate original and compelling analytic questions and interpretive strategies.

ENGL 8596 -- Form & Theory of Poetry: Memory & Document

Kiki Petrosino
W 2:00-4:30

In this graduate seminar, we’ll examine what it means to compose poetry responsive to real places, times, events, and experiences. We'll read several works of contemporary poetry that take a variety of approaches to the concepts of "memory" and "archive," broadly (and capaciously!) defined. Readings will include craft texts and critical inquiry on documentary poetics and other compositional modalities. Coursework, including group learning experiences (one self-guided), will give students the opportunity to produce a critical or creative project engaging themes inspired by the course material. Though this is a readings-based course, students should be prepared and willing to participate in writing exercises, to exchange works-in-progress, and to offer constructive critique. These activities, plus attendance, participation, & the final project, will inform the grading policy.

This course is designed for first- and second-year MFA students in Creative Writing. Graduate students from other departments and programs are welcome, pending availability and instructor permission. If you would like to enroll in this course, but are not in the MFA Program, please contact Prof. Petrosino via e-mail (cmp2k@virginia.edu) with a message detailing your interest.

ENGL 8598 -- Form & Theory of Fiction: Vultures & Magpies

Jesse Ball
W 2:00-4:30

For makers, reading is a matter of theft. We may thieve small things as magpies are reputed to do in nestmaking. Or we may thieve in larger ways, as vultures do when at their luncheon.  In this class we will consider how best to steal and where to look for what to take. I don't know yet what we will read, what banks you will be asked to rob. But the class will consist of that: shameless robbery and reuse.  It will thus be a matter of reading and of writing--but with complete attention to our clownish stumbling hungers, and the vanity that brings us to grief. We will refuse to be special, to be original, to be the font of anything; instead we will take what we find where we find it, and use it as well or better than it was used before.

ENGL 8800 -- Introduction to Literary Research

Andrew Stauffer
We 9:30am - 12:00pm or Fr 9:30am - 12:00pm

ENGL 8900-1 -- Writing Pedagogy Seminar

James Livingood
Mo 12:30pm - 1:45pm