Course Descriptions

Spring 2006

• ENGL 501: Literature for Children. Prof. P. Serrato. Class meets MW 15:30-16:45 in SH-260.
  This semester we will traipse through some classics, frolic with some contemporary works, and wrestle with some particularly edgy books for children. Among other things we will attend to issues of gender, race, sexuality, Gothicism, the body, borders, and brats. To facilitate our appreciation (or condemnation) of the books that we will read, we will invoke and apply a number of critical approaches and theoretical tools, including psychoanalysis, deconstruction, existentialism, feminism, and Marxism. Current List of Required Texts:
  
  • Heinrich Hoffman, Struwwelpeter (Dover 0486284697)
  • J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan (Dover 0486407837)
  • A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh (Dutton 0525444432)
  • Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Puffin 0141301155)
  • Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking (Puffin 0140309578)
  • Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Goes on Board (Puffin 0140309594)
  • Franklin Dixon, Danger on Vampire Trail (Grosset & Dunlap 0448089505)
  • Gloria Anzaldúa, Friends from the Other Side (Children's Book P 0892391308)
  • Gloria Anzaldúa, Prietita and the Ghost Woman (Children's Book)
  • Francisco Jiménez, The Circuit (U of New Mexico P 0826317979)
  • Sebastian Rook, Vampire Plagues: London, 1850 (Scholastic 0439799023)
  • Laurence Yep, Dragonwings (HarperTrophy 0064400859)
  • Beatrice Gormley, President George W. Bush (Aladdin 068984123X)
  • Thura al-Windawi, Thura's Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq (Puffin 0141317698)
  
  For the finalized list of required texts, please email the instructor in mid-December.

• ENGL 503: American Regionalism and Child Lit. Prof. J. Cummins-Lewis. Class meets W 15:30-18:10 in BA-412.
  In this course we will study children's books from various regions of the United States. We will closely examine how children characters in these books develop a sense of their own identities as well as how the narratives within them construe the idea of being American. How do ethnicity, immigration, migration, and other topics influence this idea? Dividing the United States into regions and reading books from different locations and time periods, we will explore whether American identity is ultimately a fluid or fixed idea.

• CLT 561: European Children's Fantasy Fiction. Prof. J. Farber. Class meets T 19:00-21:40 in HH-210.
  Let's define terms. "Fantasy" here is to be understood in the broad sense: not just epic fantasy, but fantasy in general. "European": we'll be reading fiction from Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Austria. "Children's": Ah, well . . . where do I start? Even though children's literature has become an important and respected area within literary study, I still feel that there is something like a "secret" that most of us who study literature have to learn (perhaps re-learn) for ourselves: great children's fiction is great fiction. Period. But that doesn't mean that this is some sort of connoisseur's course that simply appropriates children's fiction for adult reading. We'll be reading these works in the context of the history of children's literature and in relation to some of the principal issues that have been raised in the academic study of children's literature. I hope that this will be a worthwhile course both for people who are pursuing a specialization in children's literature and for people who are just looking for a really good comparative fiction course.

Graduate Courses

• Engl 607. The Picture Book. 15:30-18:10. M. AH3153. Prof. C. Scott
  Some people think that picturebooks are short, simple books, usually with big pages, written for the youngest children and very easy to understand. In fact they are often an extraordinarily complex form of children's literature and, for me, an endless source of fascination. Some are aesthetically beautiful and capture the attention of artists and art critics; some are beautifully written and capture the attention of poets and lovers of literature. Pictureboooks also share with artists' books innovative modes of presentation including graphic experimentation, non-traditional use of materials, cut-outs, three-dimensionality and non-linear presentation of event.
  Because they combine verbal and graphic communication techniques in a wide variety of relationships, ranging from the harmonious to the dissonant, it's important to understand how pictures and text interact to form an "iconotext." Harmonious forms expand and complement each other, while dissonant effects come from counterpointing or even contradictory relationships - for example when a verbal text may be realistic while the pictures present fantasy. Irony and humor are often the outcome of dissonance, but sometimes we are posed mysteries and deep psychological ambiguities. In these cases they offer a wealth of perspectives and interpretation - and will lead to a great deal of discussion about how each of us navigates the puzzles to come to a solution.
  There will be a core book list which we will use to learn the technical vocabulary for describing and analyzing picturebooks, and to sharpen our ability to "read" the iconotext as we examine such features as format, layout and graphic style, adult/child address, point of view and narrative stance, humor and irony, setting, characterization, time, change and causality.
  These core books will be supplemented not only by a variety of picturebooks on reserve in the library, but by power-point and other visuals shown in class. Picturebooks from other countries are hard to get and expensive, so I have been making electronic scans to share some of my collection of outstanding international books (yes, we will be in a "smart" classroom). I also have a brilliant wordless book from a famous Swedish illustrator available for each person in the course. In addition to these primary works, there will be some assigned critical readings on picturebook analysis and theory.
  Beginning with simpler texts, we will move on to those involving sophisticated techniques which reflect both literary movements and artistic innovation. Surrealism, gender studies, postmodernism and metafiction are a few of the topics that will be relevant, as well as concepts like dual audience and cross writing which are characteristic of much children's literature and especially significant for picturebooks.
  Since this is a graduate seminar, active participation in discussion is essential, and I will be expecting a research/analytic paper from each student at the end of the semester. Possible topics for these will be discussed with each person individually, to ensure that the work will be motivating and really rewarding. In addition, I will be asking everyone to make in-class presentations, and there will be some writing exercises in class to help you develop your ideas and to gauge your own progress.

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