Course Descriptions

Fall 2005

• ENGL 306A: Children's Literature, J. Cummins.
  Reading, analysis, and discussion of classic works of children's literature.


• ENGL 306A and 306W: Children's Literature and Advanced Composition M. Galbraith.
"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." (Mark Twain, Prefatory warning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn )
You are hereby given notice that everyone who takes this double course will be incited to commit two of the three crimes that Mark Twain promises to punish.  My section of 306A is designed as a personal history of children's literature, focusing on the childhood experiences of specific authors and the ways their childhood predicaments are restaged in their works (thus accounting, in my own thinking, for both motive and plot). We will also examine the specific cultural circumstances that give rise to a literature for child readers, and we will debate whether such a literature can be simultaneously disclosing and reassuring.  Further, we will inquire into the process of fictionalizing childhood experiences--if authors are indeed writing out of a well of their own actual childhood experiences, as I will argue, what do they honor about those experiences that makes for immortal fairy tales, classic novels, and great picture books? Authors whose autobiographical fictional works will be covered include (in historical order) Hans Christian Andersen ("The Red Shoes," "The Little Mermaid"), Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre ), Charles Dickens ( David Copperfield ), Mark Twain ( Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn ), Rudyard Kipling ( The Jungle Books ), Beatrix Potter ( Peter Rabbit ), Ludwig Bemelmans ( Madeline ), Maurice Sendak ( Where the Wild Things Are ), Shel Silverstein (The Giving Tree ), Beverly Cleary ( Ramona the Brave ) and Dr. Seuss ( The Cat in the Hat ).
The Advanced Composition segment, English 306W, will be devoted to writing closely argued essays about the literature and ideas discussed in 306A. There will be no penalty for disagreeing with the professor, provided you can convince her of your own line of reasoning.

• ENGL 306A: Children's Literature, P. Serrato.
  Reading, analysis, and discussion of classic works of children's literature.


• 306W: Advanced composition, S. Potts.
  Improvement of student skills through writing assignments based upon reading and work in the lecture section.


• 306W: Advanced composition, K. Shumate.
  Improvement of student skills through writing assignments based upon reading and work in the lecture section.


• ENGL 501:  Literature for Children, A. Allison.
  This class focuses on the literary study of writings for children, using picture books, fables, and fiction.  Aesthetic and textual as well as psychological, sociological, historical, feminist, and reader response perspectives are the basis for class work. By the end of the term, students will have developed a literary vocabulary and methods interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating literature for children.
  English 501 explores diverse kinds of children's picture books, poetry, folklore, and fiction while developing students' critical and expository capacities. You will apply literary language and perspectives to both books and works of criticism. At the end of the session, you will have developed an understanding of the richness of children's literature and the ability to comment confidently and knowledgeably upon it.
  Student papers include library and internet assignments and five 2 pp. analytical papers (study questions) which comprise 30% of the grade; a midterm and final are 30% each. These tests are part objective, part essay. The other 10% of the grade is based on class participation.


• ENGL 502: Adolescence in Literature, P. Serrato.
  Works centrally concerned with an adolescent protagonist. Includes both traditional novelsof development (Bildungsroman) and contemporary young adult novels.

Graduate Courses

• ENGL 627: History of Children’s Literature, A. Allison.
  Roots and development of children’s literature as a distinct field, from oral literature to contemporary explosions of publications.


• ENGL 700: Seminar: Mark Twain, Jerry Griswold
  The Man in the White Suit. "The Lincoln of our literature." Samuel Clemens, the author with the doubled moniker. We'll do close study of the Mississippi writings (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Puddn'head Wilson, and possibly Life on the Mississippi ) as well as one other novel (The Prince and the Pauper). We'll spend an equal among of time on the texts and on literary criticism about the works. Essays on individual works and a theme in Twain. Students are asked to read (before class) Justin Kaplan's biography Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain, which we'll take up the first day and makes fine summer reading.

To see course descriptions for previous semesters, click on the links at the left side of the page.