English

Professors S. Cook, P. Delaney (chair), M. McEntyre, J. Sider, R. VanderMey, P. Willis

Associate Professor C. Larsen Hoeckley

Description of the Major. Literature invites us to live in other worlds and experience life in other times and other places. It helps to release us from the narrow experience of our own cultural moment, race, and gender. By reminding us continually that there is more to life than the physical or the quantifiable, imagination can be the beginning of faith.

Just as language is the medium through which we enter those other worlds, so is language the mediator between any individual and the world. The English major develops the capacity for critical thinking and the ability to communicate in clear, cogent prose that articulates significant ideas.

Distinctive Features. The fall semester study tour in England, directed by regular department faculty, combines the study of literature with a program of travel to literary and cultural centers. During the period of residential study students concentrate on major English writers. They also attend theatre performances in London and productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. Students visit Oxford, Cambridge, the Lake District of the Romantic poets, and Hardy’s country in southern England.

The major offers a strong program for students interested in the general study of English, and two areas of concentration. The writing track is for those who desire the benefits, in college and after, of significant exercise in various kinds of writing. The graduate study track is for students who plan to pursue graduate study in literature.

Career Choices. An English major prepares students to enter a wide variety of fields after the college years. Although the choice of major within a liberal arts and sciences education is not often a vocational decision, English majors typically develop abilities—to read closely, to analyze astutely, to write cogently—that equip them particularly well to enter any area requiring professionals who are discerning and articulate.

Students who love literature but also wish to pursue an interest in some other field find it convenient to double major in English and religious studies, biology, economics and business, political science or some other discipline. Graduating majors have entered the fields of teaching, writing, editing, publishing, law, medicine, pastoral and parachurch ministries, missions, drama, film production, information and library science, public relations, real estate, finance, and commercial and industrial management.

Requirements for an English Major: 36 units (20 units minimum upper division)

Students choosing an English major often recognize one another when they find themselves taking as many literature courses as their hearts desire. For institutional purposes, the college recognizes as an English major anyone who completes the following minimal requirements:

Required Core: 12 units

One course in British literature before 1800: 4 units: *ENG 46 Survey of British Literature to 1800 (4); ENG 158 Literature of the English Renaissance 1485-1600 (4); ENG 166 Neoclassic Literature 1660-1798 (4)
One course in British literature after 1800: 4 units: *ENG 47 Survey of British Literature 1800-Present (4); ENG 121 Romantic Literature 1798-1832 (4); ENG 122 Victorian Literature 1832-1900 (4); ENG 170 British Novel 1700-1900 (4)
One upper-division course on a major author: 4 units: *ENG 117 Shakespeare (4); ENG 151 Milton and the Early 17th Century (4); ENG 152 Chaucer and Medieval Literature (4)

In addition to the core requirements, all majors must complete one of the following emphases: 24 units

A. Literature Emphasis:

Three literature courses, 12 units
Three literature or writing courses, 12 units

B. Writing Emphasis:

Three literature courses, 12 units
Three writing courses from the following, 12 units: ENG 87 Introduction to Journalism (4); ENG 90 Literary Analysis (4); ENG 101 Film Studies (4); ENG 104 Modern Grammar and Advanced Composition (4); ENG 111 Screenwriting I (4); ENG 112 Screenwriting II (4); ENG 113 Screenwriting III (4); ENG 141 Creative Writing (4); ENG 142 Workshop in Creative Writing (4); ENG 190 Journalism Practicum (2,2); IS 190 Urban Practicum (4)
(Note: An “*” next to a course indicates it can be substituted with an approved England Semester course.)

Graduate Study Preparation English Major: 54-62 units

Students who wish to pursue graduate study in literature should plan their programs using the following general guidelines.

Required Lower-Division Courses: 12-20 units

ENG 46 Survey of British Literature to 1800 (4)
ENG 47 Survey of British Literature 1800-Present (4)
ENG 90 Literary Analysis (4)
A modern or ancient language at the intermediate level (0-8)

Required Upper-Division Courses: 42 units

ENG 117 Shakespeare (4)
Three of the following: (12): ENG 121 Romantic Literature 1798-1832 (4); ENG 122 Victorian Literature 1832-1900 (4); ENG 151 Milton and the Early 17th Century (4); ENG 152 Chaucer and Medieval Literature (4); ENG 158 Literature of the English Renaissance 1485-1600 (4); ENG 166 Neoclassic Literature 1660-1798 (4); ENG 170 British Novel 1700-1900 (4)
Two of the following: (8): ENG 130 Major American Writers to 1865 (4); ENG 131 Major American Writers 1865-1914 (4); ENG 132 Major American Writers 1914-1945 (4); ENG 133 Major American Writers: Special Topics (4); ENG 135 Faulkner (4)
Two of the following: (8): ENG 134 Ethnicity and Race in American Literature (4); ENG 160 Women Writers (4); ENG 165 Topics in World Literature (4); ENG 195 Seminar (4)
Two of the following: (8): ENG 181 Twentieth-Century Poetry (4); ENG 182 Twentieth-Century Fiction (4); ENG 183 Twentieth-Century Drama (4); ENG 185 Twentieth-Century Irish Literature (4)
One of the following: (2-6): ENG 197 Comprehensive Examination (2) (Written essay exam to be prepared for and taken in the student’s last semester. Students preparing for the exam will be expected to review English and American literary history and theory, meeting for two hours a week with each other and with different department members as appropriate.); ENG 199 Senior Honors Project (6) (Students who elect this choice will be excused from 4 units from the two sets of courses listed immediately above.)

Two of the following: (8): HIS 152 England, 1485 to Present (4); HIS 171 Colonial and Revolutionary America (4); HIS 173 Civil War and Reconstruction America (4); HIS 175 Recent America (4)
One of the following: (4): ART 131 Theory and Criticism in the Arts (4); HIS 142 European Intellectual History, 1650-Present (4); PY 135 Philosophy of Language (4); Any upper-division literature course in a language other than English (4)

Teacher Preparation Track for Secondary Teachers of English: 54-60 units

Students who plan on teaching English at the secondary level in California need to complete the following recommended course of study, which prepares candidates to take the CSET English exam. The CSET (California Subject Examinations for Teachers) English exam requires knowledge in four domains:

literature and textual analysis
language, linguistics, and literacy
composition and rhetoric
communications - speech, media, and creative performance

Literature and Textual Analysis: 32 units

ENG 117 Shakespeare (4)
Two of the following: (4): ENG 46 Survey of British Literature to 1800 (4); ENG 47 Survey of British Literature 1800-Present (4); ENG 121 Romantic Literature 1798-1832 (4); ENG 122 Victorian Literature 1832-1900 (4); ENG 151 Milton and the Early 17th Century (4); ENG 152 Chaucer and Medieval Literature (4); ENG 158 Literature of the English Renaissance 1485-1600 (4); ENG 166 Neoclassic Literature 1660-1798 (4); ENG 170 British Novel 1700-1900 (4)
Two of the following: (8): ENG 130 Major American Writers to 1865 (4); ENG 131 Major American Writers 1865-1914 (4); ENG 132 Major American Writers 1914-1945 (4); ENG 133 Major American Writers: Special Topics (4); ENG 135 Faulkner (4)
Two of the following, including ENG 134 or 160: (8): ENG 44 Studies in World Literature: International Novels (4); ENG 134 Ethnicity and Race in American Literature (4); ENG 136 Jewish-American Literature (4); ENG 160 Women Writers (4); ENG 165 Studies in World Literature: Anglophone Poetry (4); ENG 182 Twentieth-Century Fiction (4)
One of the following: (4): ENG 6 Studies in Literature (4); ENG 44 Studies in World Literature (4); ENG 181 Twentieth-Century Poetry (4); ENG 185 Twentieth-Century Irish Literature (4); ENG 195 Seminar (4); an additional course from the options for British, American, or world literature (above)

Language, Linguistics, and Literacy: 8 units

ENG 106 Language Acquisition (4)
Modern/Foreign Languages (4) - a college-level course in any modern spoken language (e.g., Spanish, French, or German) or ancient language (e.g., Greek or Hebrew)
Composition and Rhetoric: 6-12 units
ENG 104 Modern Grammar and Advanced Composition (4)
One of the following: (2-4): ENG 2 Composition (4) (unless waived by department-approved alternative); ENG 90 Literary Analysis (4); ENG 190B Writer’s Corner (2); COM 6 Messages, Meaning and Culture (4); SP 100 Advanced Spanish (4)

Communications: Speech, Media and Creative Performance: 8 units

Two of the following: (8): ENG 87 Introduction to Journalism (4); ENG 101 Film Studies (4); ENG 141 Creative Writing (4); ENG 183 Twentieth-Century Drama (4); ENG 195 British Theatre [England Semester or London Mayterm] (4); COM 15 Public Speaking (4); COM 125 Mass Communication (4); COM 140 Studies in Communication Ethics (4); TA 10 Acting (4); TA 20 Survey of Theatre Arts (4)

Requirements for a Minor: 20 units

Completion of 20 units of English, which must include: at least 12 units of literature, and at least 12 units of upper-division coursework.

Lower-Division Course Descriptions

ENG 2 Composition (4) Provides practice and critique in a variety of forms and modes of exposition including personal reflection, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Requires six to eight formal papers, including a documented research paper. (Does not apply to the English major.)

ENG 6 Studies in Literature (4) An exploration of the ways of knowing provided by narrative, poetry and drama. The course invites us to see how literature reveals things we cannot know except by inference or by metaphor. Further, by encouraging us to practice compassion by imagining the other, the course involves us in ways of knowing that are inherently ethical. Content varies; faculty usually include selections from historically underrepresented writers. Requires at least four formal papers or the equivalent, involving a minimum of sixteen pages of analytic writing.

ENG 6H Studies in Literature: Honors (4) Prerequisite: By invitation only. An accelerated section of ENG 6.

ENG 44 Studies in World Literature (4) Topics in modern and contemporary literature from around the world. Such topics may include African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American, and Native American writers and range from indigenous work to writing in colonial and post-colonial contexts, including both literature in translation and Anglophone writers. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.

ENG 45 Studies in Classic Literature (4) Topics in literature of the Western World. Such topics as classical mythology, Dante, and the Bible as literature may range from genre studies to courses on individual writers and may range in time from the writers of classical antiquity to modern European authors. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.

ENG 46 Survey of British Literature to 1800 (4) Historical overview of major authors, genres, and developments from the medieval through the Renaissance, seventeenth-century and neoclassic eras.

ENG 47 Survey of British Literature 1800-Present (4) Historical overview of major authors, genres, and developments in the Romantic, Victorian, and twentieth-century periods.

ENG 87 Introduction to Journalism (4) Prerequisite: Completion of the first-year writing for the liberal arts requirement. Extensive experience in newsgathering and feature writing. Consideration given to current issues facing the press.

ENG 90 Literary Analysis (4) Prerequisites: one literature course and completion of the first-year writing for the liberal arts requirement. Intensive exercises in interpretation of drama, fiction, and poetry on topics such as imagery, character, structure, and genre, as preparation for upper-division literature courses.

Upper-Division Course Descriptions

ENG 101 Film Studies (4) Prerequisite: one literature course and completion of the first-year writing for the liberal arts requirement. Consideration of film as a narrative and visual medium. Includes practice in analysis of plot structure, theme, symbolism, and literary sources.

ENG 104 Modern Grammar and Advanced Composition (4) Prerequisite: completion of the first-year writing for the liberal arts requirement. Strategies and practice in writing non-fiction, expository prose. Special emphasis on revision and style. Includes mini-lessons, peer editing, in-class writing, workshops, and oral presentations.

ENG 105 History and Structure of English (4) Prerequisite: ENG 46. History of the language including modern developments in grammar and Anglophone dialects.

ENG 106 Language Acquisition (4) An examination of the basic structures of English usage and the process of acquiring and developing a first and second language. Course includes historical and current theories of language acquisition as well as teaching methodologies.

ENG 111 Screenwriting I (4) Prerequisites: ENG 6, completion of the first-year writing requirement, and instructor consent. Introduction to theory and technique of dramatic writing for film and TV.

ENG 112 Screenwriting II (4) Prerequisite: ENG 111. Fundamentals of screenwriting focusing on conflict and character, structure, scenes, dialogue, and dramatic action.

ENG 113 Screenwriting III (4) Prerequisite: ENG 111. Examination of methods of adapting fiction and non-fiction material to film and TV.

ENG 117 Shakespeare (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. Representative comedies, histories, and tragedies.

ENG 121 Romantic Literature 1798-1832 (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. Poetry, prose, and drama of the major authors of the Romantic period from Blake to Keats.

ENG 122 Victorian Literature 1832-1900 (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. Readings from novelists including the Brontës, Dickens, Eliot, and Hardy; and poets such as Arnold, the Brownings, and Tennyson, along with less-remembered literary figures.

ENG 130 Major American Writers to 1865 (4) Major achievements of the American Renaissance by Hawthorne and Melville in fiction, Emerson and Thoreau in prose non-fiction, and Whitman in poetry.

ENG 131 Major American Writers 1865-1914 (4) Masters of American realism–Mark Twain, James, and Howells; Dickinson and other forerunners of modern poetry; and such early 20th century authors as Wharton and Dreiser.

ENG 132 Major American Writers 1914-1945 (4) Masterpieces of such 20th century novelists as Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Cather; poetry of Frost and Eliot; plays of O’Neill and T. Williams.

ENG 133 Major American Writers: Special Topics (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses or consent of instructor. Intensive study of one topic in American letters such as Southern writers, the expatriate writers, Jewish-American writers, contemporary novelists, or a single author.

ENG 134 Ethnicity and Race in American Literature (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. Explorations of traditions in America’s diverse cultural literatures, and literary representations of relations between and within different ethnic and racial groups. Texts and emphases vary.

ENG 135 Faulkner (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses or consent of instructor. A study of the writer who attracts more critical attention than any writer in English except Shakespeare and Chaucer. The seminar explores the way Faulkner creates a literary world on his postage-stamp of Yoknapatawpha soil in such major works as Absalom, Absalom! As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Go Down, Moses.

ENG 136 Jewish-American Literature (4) An exploration of selected literature related to the history, traditions, and life of Jewish people in twentieth-century America. Emphases include assimilation, the Holocaust, and the changing voice in Jewish-American literature after World War II. Writers studied include Cahan, Singer, West, Roth, Wallant, Salinger, Bellow, Malamud, Ozick, and Potok.

ENG 141 Creative Writing (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses. Theory and practice of writing poetry, fiction, and drama.

ENG 142 Workshop in Creative Writing (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses. Workshop in creative writing in a single genre, such as poetry, prose fiction, drama, or creative nonfiction. May be repeated for credit as genres vary.

ENG 151 Milton and the Early 17th Century (4) Prerequisite: ENG 46 or 117. Poetry, prose, and drama from Jonson to Milton.

ENG 152 Chaucer and Medieval Literature (4) Prerequisite: ENG 46. Old English texts in translation; Chaucer and other Middle English authors in the original.

ENG 158 Literature of the English Renaissance 1485-1600 (4) Prerequisite: ENG 46 or 117. Poetry, prose, and drama from Malory to Spenser, excluding Shakespeare.

ENG 160 Women Writers (4) Writing by women in a variety of genres, arranged chronologically or thematically to focus on questions related to gender, class, race, and spirituality.

ENG 164 Topics in Classic Literature (4) Advanced study of topics ranging from the writers of classical antiquity to modern European authors. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.

ENG 165 Topics in World Literature (4) May focus on major figures or on a special topic in world literature in translation (such as visionary literature), or on an emerging field such as Anglophone poetry or post-colonial fiction. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.

ENG 166 Neoclassic Literature 1660-1798 (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. English literature from the Augustan Age and the 18th century, including Restoration drama, satire, heroic verse, periodical essays, and the rise of the novel, by writers such as Bunyan, Dryden, Behn, Pope, Swift, Johnson, Burney, and Fielding.

ENG 167 Writers’ Corner (2) Prerequisite: by invitation. A course in composition theory and pedagogy that establishes a community of scholar-practitioners among students who work at Writers’ Corner and equips them with the training needed to serve as effective writing tutors.

ENG 168 Student Publications: Horizon (1-4) Prerequisite: ENG 087. Semester-long course of experiential learning in news writing, and perhaps in editing, page layout and production of a student newspaper. The editor-in-chief may receive 4 units per semester, section editors may receive 2 units per semester, and other staff may receive one unit per semester. (A maximum of 4 units of publication credit may apply toward the English major.)

ENG 169 Student Publications: Phoenix (1-4) Supervised experience in editing the student literary magazine, the Phoenix, published in April of each year. The editor or co-editors may receive 2 units per semester and assistant editors may receive 1 unit per semester. Offered spring semester only. (A maximum of 4 units of publication credit may apply toward the English major.)

ENG 170 British Novel 1700-1900 (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. Evolution of the novel in Great Britain, including writers such as Fielding, Austen, Dickens, George Eliot, and Hardy.

ENG 181 Twentieth-Century Poetry (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses or consent of instructor. British and American poetry by such major poets as Hopkins, Hardy, Yeats, Eliot, Frost, Bishop and Williams with some works from more recent poets.

ENG 182 Twentieth-Century Fiction (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses or consent of instructor. British, European, Commonwealth and Third World novelists and short story writers of the 20th century.

ENG 183 Twentieth-Century Drama (4) Prerequisite: one literature course or consent of instructor. British, American and European works by such major playwrights as Ibsen, Chekhov, O’Neill, Beckett, Miller, Stoppard, Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Brian Friel, and Caryl Churchill. Field trips to performances of both new and established plays.

ENG 185 Twentieth-Century Irish Literature (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses or consent of instructor. An examination of Anglo-Irish literature of the 20th century. The post-colonial crafting of a national identity by writers from Yeats, Joyce, and Synge to Heaney and Friel—and the reexamination of that identity by more recent women writers from Eavan Boland to Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Christina Reid and Marina Carr.

ENG 186 British and Irish Theatre I (4) Study of plays available in live production in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Dublin ranging from Shakespeare to modern classics to world premieres. Offered on England Semester in even-numbered years and on London Theatre Mayterm in odd-numbered years.

ENG 187 British and Irish Theatre II (4) Study of plays available in live production in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Dublin ranging from Shakespeare to modern classics to world premieres. Offered on London Theatre Mayterm in odd-numbered years.

ENG 190 Practicum (1-4) Internships related to English at a variety of employers in Santa Barbara or San Francisco (through the Westmont Urban Program). Such experiential learning is set in context through reflection, both in writing and in discussion, on the significance of the experience. Any journalism-related internship has a prerequisite of ENG 87 for students to receive English credit. (A maximum of 4 units of practicum credit may apply toward the English major.)

ENG 191SS Reading in the Community (0) (Co-requisite: enrollment in an upper-division literature course) Students receive help and training in the art of oral interpretation and read selections of the literature they are studying to an elderly or otherwise underserved person or audience for an hour a week. Fulfills the General Education expectation of Serving Society.

ENG 195 Seminar (4) Prerequisite: two literature courses or consent of instructor. Advanced study on a single author or topic such as literary theory, satire, or literature of place. Topics vary. May be repeated for credit.

ENG 197 Comprehensive Examination (2) Weekly seminar in English and American literary history and theory in preparation for written essay exam.