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Independent Study in Nonfiction Writing
Tutorial instruction oriented toward some work in progress by the student. Requires submission of a written proposal to a faculty supervisor. Section numbers vary by instructor. Instructor permission required. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Jackson
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Breton
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- DeBoer-Langworthy
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Foley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Readey
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Stanley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Taylor
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Stewart
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Schapira
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Ward
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Hipchen
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Undergraduate Independent Study in Medieval and Early Modern Literatures
Tutorial instruction oriented toward a literary research topic. Section numbers vary by instructor. Instructor permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Bryan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Foley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rabb
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Redfield
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rambuss
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Kuzner
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Scozzaro
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Undergraduate Independent Study in the Enlightenment and the Rise of National Literatures
Tutorial instruction oriented toward a literary research topic. Section numbers vary by instructor. Instructor's permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Egan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Khalip
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gould
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Nabers
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rabb
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rooney
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Redfield
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Anderson
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Parker
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Undergraduate Independent Study in Modern and Contemporary Literatures
Tutorial instruction oriented toward a literary research topic. Section numbers vary by instructor. Instructor's permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Armstrong
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Bewes
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Egan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Foley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- George
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Katz
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Kim
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Murray
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Nabers
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Reichman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rooney
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rambuss
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gandhi
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Smailbegovic
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Quashie
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Ramirez D'Oleo
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Graduate Independent Study in Medieval and Early Modern Literatures
Section numbers vary by instructor. May be repeated for credit. Instructor's permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Bryan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Egan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Foley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rabb
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Redfield
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rambuss
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Kuzner
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Scozzaro
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Graduate Independent Study in the Enlightenment and the Rise of National Literatures
Section numbers vary by instructor. May be repeated for credit. Instructor's permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Egan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Khalip
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gould
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- McLaughlin
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Nabers
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rabb
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rooney
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Redfield
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Anderson
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Parker
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Graduate Independent Study in Modern and Contemporary Literatures
Section numbers vary by instructor. May be repeated for credit. Instructor's permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Armstrong
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Bewes
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- George
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Katz
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Kim
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Murray
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Nabers
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Reichman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rooney
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Stanley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rambuss
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gandhi
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Smailbegovic
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Quashie
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Ramirez D'Oleo
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Preliminary Examination Preparation
For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing for a preliminary examination.
- Schedule Code
- E: Graduate Thesis Prep
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Thesis Preparation
For graduate students who have met the residency requirement and are continuing research on a full time basis.
- Schedule Code
- E: Graduate Thesis Prep
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Terrible Births: the Novel out of Romanticism
A new world struggled to be born at the turn of the nineteenth century, as Europe was consumed in revolutionary wars, the Industrial Revolution spawned new powers and violence, and the age of Romanticism envisioned a Promethean spirit unbound in poetry. We will be reading the novels that defined this tumultuous age and those that came in its wake. We will read Shelley's "Frankenstein," Brontë's "Wuthering Heights," and books by Walter Scott, Charlotte Brontë, and Charles Dickens.
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Black Poetics
This course is interested in poetic thinking: how a poem inclines toward a certain kind of knowing; how a poem’s imagining invites philosophical considerations (as in, what is being, and how to be); how a poem’s language and its formal qualities sustain such thinking. We are interested, also, in how poetic thinking reckons (with) blackness.
Primary lecture W/F and select ONE Monday Conference Section. Information about instruction (timing, manner) is included in the syllabus uploaded on
[email protected]
- Primary Instructor
- Quashie
- Primary Instructor
- Quashie
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Ben-Meir
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Ciccone
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Holman
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Sobande
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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Fantasies of Milton
Paradise Lost has served as the basis for numerous fantasy novels. Even Comus has become a (supposedly inappropriate) children's story. How can a seventeenth-century poet's treatment of temptation, disobedience, reason and self-regard come to seem relevant in the present? What do contemporary writers feel compelled to preserve and to change? How might we reimagine Milton? Enrollment limited to 20.
Weekly synchronous session, online and in-person (depending on circumstances). One or two individual consultation sessions over Zoom to discuss individual research projects. Some asynchronous engagement (weekly short writing assignments or discussion posts for students). In-person attendance capped at 19.
- Primary Instructor
- Kuzner
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American Renaissance
A course focusing on the writings of the Transcendentalists, reform literature, antislavery and Native American and Indigenous rights. The subjects of history, the capitalist market, Nature, and the development of modern authorship and literary professionalism. Emerson, Thoreau, Douglass, Alcott, as well as Harriet Wilson, William Apess, and magazine writing.
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Reading New York
This course explores narratives of New York City in a variety of genres, from the early 20th century to the present. Topics include immigration, mobility, cosmopolitanism and the neighborhood, cruising, gentrification, post-9/11. Work by John Dos Passos, Nella Larsen, E.B. White, Jane Jacobs, Frank O’Hara, Samuel Delany, Patti Smith, Nan Goldin, Ernesto Quinones, Teju Cole. Prerequisite: one previous literature course.
Primary lecture M/W and select ONE Friday Conference Section.
- Primary Instructor
- Katz
- Primary Instructor
- Katz
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Marsh
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Rasch
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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Metaphor/Matter/Time: Literature and the Changing Earth
In this collaborative seminar we will consider the flickering edge between metaphor and materiality in the shadow of the Anthropocene. Weekly discussions will be built around a series of “threshold sites”—including Sea, Sun, Silk, Plastic, Forest, Photograph, Shell, Horse, Whale—in which "matter" and "figure" may be seen to be simultaneously in relation and at odds. We will endeavor to think metaphoricity as the imbrication of materiality and semiosis, and in its relationship to ecological time, through readings from Lucretius, Melville, Coleridge, Ponge, Moore, Bervin, Barad, Haraway, Derrida, Ricoeur, among others. Enrollment limited to 15.
- Primary Instructor
- Smailbegovic
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Bakhtin and the Political Present: Literature, Anthropology, Dialogue
This collaborative humanities graduate seminar explores the revolutionary ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin, considering their influence in two disciplines, literary studies and linguistic anthropology. The primary historical context of the course is our own political present, characterized by linguistic homogeneity, the unification of power, and the rise of authoritarian governments. How effective are Bakhtin's theories of dialogue, polyphony and carnival as principles of resistance to the challenges of the current moment? Instructor permission required. Enrollment limited to 15.
This course will have occasional IN-PERSON discussion sections on a project-by-project basis held during the regularly scheduled seminar time. In order to adhere to social distancing guidelines, students will be assigned groups by the instructor at the beginning of the semester.
- Primary Instructor
- Bewes
- Primary Instructor
- Bewes
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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Suspicion and Its Others
From the hermeneutics of suspicion to post-critique, a range of thinkers and theories have positioned suspicion as a central critical disposition of the modern age. In this collaborative seminar we will explore the concept and practice of suspicion both in relation to the classic objects over against which it emerged—morality, religion, and tradition—and through the lens of other modes of engagement more recently proposed, including charity, reconstruction, attunement, quiet, resonance, and reparative practices of reading. Readings will be drawn from philosophy, critical theory, race and ethnicity studies, gender and sexuality studies, and literary theory and criticism.
This course is being offered both by English (ENGL2901N) and Religious Studies (RELS2110C).
- Primary Instructor
- Anderson
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The Medieval King Arthur
Where did stories of King Arthur come from and how did they develop in the Middle Ages? We will read the earliest narratives of King Arthur and his companions, in histories and romances from Celtic, Anglo- Norman, and Middle English sources, to examine Arthur's varying personas of warrior, king, lover, thief. Enrollment limited to 19 first-year students.
This seminar will proceed by synchronous online meetings via Zoom at the assigned course hour, Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 to 10:20 a.m. EDT/EST, and there will be additional course activities including discussion boards on the Canvas site. These synchronous class discussions are where we collectively make sense of each of the course readings (which can sometimes be a little strange even though strangely familiar). The synchronous Zoom class discussions will be recorded and available in Canvas, and students who cannot participate "live" online should watch each recorded class that they miss.
The grade for the course will depend primarily on writing three essays, each of which culminates a set of "Arthurian issues" in one-third of the course. Each essay will involve one individual writing conference via Zoom with the instructor. Students will have the option to write a final take-home exam.
- Primary Instructor
- Bryan
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Hawthorne and James
An introduction to a pair of writers whose work continues to shape our understanding of American literature and American identity. Focusing on much of their most important work, our aim will be to understand how their conceptions of the relationship between writing and history both complicate and complement each other. Limited to 19 first-year students.
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
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Shakespeare
We will read a representative selection of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances, considering their historical contexts and their cultural afterlife in terms of belief, doubt, language, feeling, politics, and form. Students should register for ENGL 0310A S01 and may be assigned to conference sections by the instructor during the first week of class.
This class will be conducted asynchronously through twice weekly CANVAS online written discussions due Tuesdays and Fridays by midnight, an online class journal on weekends, online film streaming, and optional ZOOM open house sessions.
- Primary Instructor
- Foley
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Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
Middle English narratives by Geoffrey Chaucer's band of fictional pilgrims, read in their 14th-century historical and literary contexts. Prior knowledge of Middle English not required. Not open to first-year students.
This class will proceed by synchronous online meetings via Zoom at the assigned course hour, Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 - 2:20 p.m. EDT/EST, and there will be additional asynchronous discussion boards on the Canvas site. The Zoom meetings will mix lecture and discussion about each of the Canterbury tales, and students' active attendance via Zoom will help them become familiar with the rhythms of spoken Middle English as a way into Chaucer's poetry. The synchronous Zoom class discussions will be recorded and made available in Canvas, and students who cannot participate "live" online should watch each recorded class that they miss.
The grade for the course will depend largely on two substantial written essays -- one original critical essay and one research essay -- on a selected Canterbury tale, although participation in a variety of class activities, including Canvas discussions on Chaucer's literary sources and analogues, an oral reading in Middle English (via Zoom), and a small group discussion (via Zoom) in lieu of final exam, will also enter in to the final grade.
- Primary Instructor
- Bryan
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Modern African Literature
This course considers themes, antecedents, and contexts of modern African literature and related forms. Our readings will include fiction in English or in translation, traditional oral forms like panegyric and festival poetry, and some films. We will examine how these diverse materials explore the interplay of ethnicity, nationality, and race. We will also address the issue of "tradition" in contexts where nationalisms of various stripes are becoming stronger, even as the world becomes more interconnected through trade, immigration, and digital technology. Authors will include Achebe, Adichie, Dangarembga, Kourouma, Ngugi, Salih, Soyinka, Wicomb. Films by Kouyaté, Loreau, Sembène.
Primary lecture M/W and select ONE Friday Conference Section.
- Primary Instructor
- George
- Primary Instructor
- George
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Chowdhury
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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History of Criticism from Plato to Postmodernism
A survey of the major theorists of literature in the western tradition, from the Greeks to the contemporary period. Recurrent issues will include the definition of literary value, the distinctiveness of the aesthetic experience, and the moral and social uses of literature. Enrollment limited. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval.
- Primary Instructor
- Armstrong
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Senior Honors Seminar in English
Weekly seminar led by the Advisor of Honors in English. Introduces students to sustained literary-critical research and writing skills necessary to successful completion of the senior thesis. Particular attention to efficient ways of developing literary-critical projects, as well as evaluating, incorporating, and documenting secondary sources. Enrollment limited to English concentrators whose applications to the Honors in English program have been accepted. Permission should be obtained from the Honors Advisor in English. S/NC
- Primary Instructor
- Armstrong
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Postcolonial Theory
In this introduction to postcolonial theory we will consider key Western sources (Hegel, Marx, Lacan, Levi Strauss, Emmanuel Levinas); anticolonial manifestos (Gandhi, Fanon, Césaire, Memmi); political and ethical practices (civil disobedience, armed struggle, friendship). In addition to canonical critics (Said, Bhabha, Spivak), the course will review new interests in the field (transnationalism, non-western imperialisms, the environmental turn).
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Writing Science
This course explores how science, as an academic way of thinking and a method, affects our critical thinking and expression of culture. Readings examine the various dialects of scientific discourse. Students write three major research essays on self-selected scientific topics from both within and outside their fields of study. Enrollment limited to 17. Writing sample may be required. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- DeBoer-Langworthy
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The Artist in the Archives
While artists can benefit greatly from archival work, they are not typically given the tools to make use of these institutions. This writing intensive course takes a two pronged approach to the problem: embedding students in archives both at Brown and RISD to produce creative, lyrical, and multi-media essays; and exploring how artists have used these institutions for information and inspiration. Enrollment limited to 17. Writing sample may be required. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Stewart
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Digital Nonfiction
In this class, we will join the host of other artists, activists, and writers that have used Twitter bots, iPhone apps, virtual reality experiences, and more to tell compelling stories. No previous digital writing experience is necessary, however, as an advanced creative nonfiction class, Digital Nonfiction requires students to have completed ENGL 0930 or any 1000-level nonfiction writing course. Enrollment is limited to 17. Instructor permission required. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Stewart
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Further Adventures in Creative Nonfiction
For the advanced writer. A workshop course for students who have taken ENGL 0930 or the equivalent and are looking for further explorations of voice and form. Work can include personal essays, literary journalism and travel writing. Readings from Ian Frazier, Joan Didion, David Sedaris, John McPhee and others. Writing sample required. Prerequisite: ENGL 0930 or any 1000-level nonfiction writing course. Class list will be reduced to 17 after writing samples are reviewed during the first week of classes. Preference will be given to English concentrators. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
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Senior Honors Seminar in Nonfiction Writing
This course is designed for students accepted into the Nonfiction Honors Program. It will be run in workshop format, and will focus on research skills and generative and developmental writing strategies for students embarking on their thesis projects. Weekly assignments will be directed toward helping students work through various stages in their writing processes. Students will be expected to respond thoughtfully and constructively in peer reviewing one another's work. Open to seniors who have been admitted to the Honors Program in Nonfiction Writing. Instructor permission required. S/NC
- Primary Instructor
- Schapira
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Seminar in Pedagogy and Composition Theory
An experimental and exploratory investigation into writing as a preparation for teaching college-level writing. Reviews the history of writing about writing, from Plato to current discussions on composition theory. Against this background, examines various processes of reading and writing. Emphasizes the practice of writing, including syllabus design. Enrollment restricted to students in the English Ph.D. program.
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Critical Reading and Writing I: The Academic Essay
An introduction to university-level writing. Students produce and revise multiple drafts of essays, practice essential skills of paragraph organization, and develop techniques of critical analysis and research. Readings from a wide range of texts in literature, the media, and academic disciplines. Assignments move from personal response papers to formal academic essays. Enrollment limited to 17. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Jackson
- Primary Instructor
- Stanley
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Journalistic Writing
This course, taught by a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, teaches students how to report and write hard news and feature stories. Students learn to gather and organize material, develop in-depth interviewing techniques, use public records to report stories and become better observers of everyday life. The first half of the semester focuses on hard news and investigative reporting -- crime, government and court news. The second half is devoted to feature writing -- profiles and the art of narrative storytelling. Class list will be reduced to 17 after writing samples are reviewed. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
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The Teaching and Practice of Writing: Writing Fellows Program
This course prepares students for their work as Writing Fellows. Course readings, activities, and assignments introduce students to: post-process writing theory and pedagogy; data-based investigations of the revision habits of experienced and inexperienced writers; and effective methods for responding to student writing and conferencing with student writers. Enrollment is restricted to undergraduates who have been accepted into the Writing Fellows Program in the preceding July. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Jackson
- Primary Instructor
- Jackson
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Independence and Modern Literature
Words like "freedom" and "independence" are central to modern global history. This course introduces students to modernist and postcolonial poetry and fiction, exploring individual and collective self-determination. We address questions of aesthetic autonomy and form, and collective aspirations along disparate lines of nation, race, gender, and sexuality. Readings from Achebe, Bulawayo, Conrad, Eliot, Hurston, Joyce, Kincaid, Lamming, Walcott, and Woolf. Students should register for ENGL 0101A S01 and may be assigned to conference sections by the instructor during the first week of class.
Primary lecture M/W and select ONE Friday Conference Section.
All ENGL 0100s will be temp capped at 100 with reserved seating/registration as follows:
For the FALL term: semester-level F2= 20, semester-level 03 = 25 each; and 01/02/04 = 5 each yielding: 60 total
(40 remaining spots for upper-levels: seniors/juniors)
- Primary Instructor
- Katz
- Primary Instructor
- Katz
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- George
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Adhikari
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Quirk
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Rowe
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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In Excess: Rossetti, Hopkins, Wilde
This seminar will be a focused close reading of three late Victorian writers whose works might be described as radically excessive insofar as they transgress and push beyond the limits of social, ethical, aesthetic, sexual, and political conventions. What does it mean to describe a text as excessive, and how can excess be considered as a constitutive part of its form? We will concentrate on poetry, plays, and theoretical texts, putting our authors into conversation with contemporary thinkers of excess. Enrollment limited to 20.
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Blackness and Being
Through reading criticism, theory, literature, we will think about the representational, aesthetic, and, philosophical (ontological, epistemological, ethical) questions that shape blackness as a conceptual notion. Our study will think through feminist and queer studies, as well as through diaspora and American and ethnic studies, and will consider the historical trajectory of various critical turns in theorizing (literary) blackness. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Instructor permission required. Class list will be finalized after the first day of classes. Please email the professor to add your name to the potential roster.
Information about instruction (timing, manner) is included in the syllabus uploaded on
[email protected]
- Primary Instructor
- Quashie
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Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
Designed to familiarize students with the techniques and narrative structures of creative nonfiction. Reading and writing focus on personal essays, memoir, science writing, travel writing, and other related subgenres. May serve as preparation for any 1000-level nonfiction writing course. Writing sample may be required. Enrollment limited. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Stanley
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Toni Morrison
This course is an advanced introduction to the oeuvre of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. Reading her novels and nonfiction, we investigate concerns that shaped our world in the last century and haunt the current one, foregrounding Morrison’s writing as a key site of trouble and of transformation.
- Primary Instructor
- Abdur-Rahman
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Senior Honors Thesis in English
Independent research and writing under the direction of a faculty member. Permission should be obtained from the Honors Advisor in English. Open to senior English concentrators pursuing Honors in English. Instructor permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Armstrong
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Senior Honors Thesis in Nonfiction Writing
Independent research and writing under the direction of the student’s Nonfiction Writing honors supervisor. Permission should be obtained from the Honors Advisor for Nonfiction Writing. Open to senior English concentrators pursuing Honors in Nonfiction Writing. Instructor permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- Schapira
-
Courses of Interest to Students Concentrating in English
These courses, offered in other departments, are cross listed with the English Department and do not require advisor approval to count toward the concentration for English concentrators. Please refer to the primary department for registration details.
Gender and Sexuality Studies
GNSS 1711 Speech and Silence, Trust, Rage and Fear: An Inquiry into the Possibility of Intimacy
Modern Culture and Media
MCM 2120P Photography on the Picket Line: Unlearning Imperial Formations of Photography
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American Modernism and its Aftermaths
An interdisciplinary study of the rise of modernist aesthetic theory in the United States, its dissemination across various aesthetic (poetry, fiction, various plastic arts) and intellectual (economics, sociology, political theory) fields, and its persistence in United States intellectual life in the various permutations of postmodernism that have succeeded it. Authors to be considered include: poets such as Eliot, Williams, Bishop, Brooks, and Ashbery; novelists such as Faulkner, Hurston, O'Connor, and Didion; aesthetic theorists such as Greenberg, Rosenberg, Fried, Baraka and Kraus; and social theorists such as von Neuman, Rawls, Cavell, Kuhn, Samuelsohn, Drucker, and Friedman. Enrollment limited to 20.
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Investigative Reporting: The Opioid Crisis in Rhode Island
This advanced reporting class will bring journalism students together with computer science concentrators who together will spend the semester investigating and writing about the opioid epidemic in Rhode Island, a public health crisis that has taken thousands of lives. We will produce a series of eye-opening stories -- to be published in a newspaper of general circulation -- based on data sifting, documents and in-depth interviews. Prerequisite ENGL 1160F. Not open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required.
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Stories of the Future Past
What does the future hold? What might tales of the past tell us about what’s to come? Readings will transport us into the past, future, or both to explore, challenge, or re-enforce many cultural norms. Possible readings: Butler, Kindred, Erdrich, Future Home of the Living God, Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, St. Mandel, Station Eleven, Shelley, Frankenstein. This course is offered fully online. Students do not need to be on Brown's campus to participate in this course. Learn what it is like to take an online course at Brown and view technical requirements at: http://brown.edu/go/whatisonlinelike.
This course will be conducted asynchronously. We will not meet together as a class or in sections. We'll use announcements, assignments, forum posts, and elements drawn from online and tabletop games (including but not limited to a story that ties all course elements together, avatars, quests, etc.) to form a class community and get to know one another. For more information, please see the course syllabus.
- Primary Instructor
- Egan
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Shakespeare's Girls
From his witty comic heroines to his misogynist stereotypes, Shakespeare's relationship to the "woman question" has long been debated. Taking Shakespeare's plays and poems alongside key texts from feminist reception history, this course asks: what can Shakespeare teach us about feminism? And what can feminism teach us about Shakespeare? We will address issues including race, power, sexuality, and the body.
Weekly synchronous session, online and in-person (if circumstances allow). All sessions recorded for asynchronous students. One or two individual consultation sessions over Zoom to discuss individual research projects. Some asynchronous engagement (weekly Canvas discussion posts for students). All readings available on the course Canvas. In-person attendance capped at 19.
- Primary Instructor
- Scozzaro
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The Invention of Policing in the English Novel
How did the police, the carceral state, new definitions of crime, and state authority shape the English novel? The focus is on how representing these social facts determined the course of novelistic form. We will read mystery and detective fiction, sensation novels, and their predecessors. Authors may include: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie.
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Eighteenth-Century Novel
The 18th century marks the beginning of the novel as we know it. This course considers the "rise" of fiction during the "long" eighteenth century. Beginning with Behn, Haywood and Defoe, readings include works by Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Smollett, Lewis, and Godwin.
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Narrative
This course offers a broad exploration of the many kinds of essays you can write in creative nonfiction. We will be looking at how authors structure their pieces and the range of narrative techniques they often use. You can expect workshops, in-class prompts and readings by Jamaica Kincaid, John McPhee, David Foster Wallace, Annie Dillard, David Sedaris and others. Enrollment limited to 17. Writing sample required. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
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Writing for Activists
How can writing support and further change? In this course students will practice grant applications, budget narratives, mission and strategy statements, press releases, position papers, op-eds, and other writing strategies with practical application in activist work. We’ll read examples and theoretical grounding, and guest speakers will introduce us to writings and needs specific to a range of fields. Prerequisite: ENGL 0930 or any 1000-level nonfiction writing course. Class list will be reduced to 17 after writing samples are reviewed during the first week of classes. Preference will be given to English concentrators. Instructor permission required. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- Schapira
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Lifewriting
Features theoretical and practical study of lifewriting's various forms--memoir, diary, essay, and autobiography-- and the crafting of personal narrative. Students read books, view films, and keep an electronic diary and paper notebook. Requirements include a personal critical essay and autobiography.
Writing sample required. Prerequisite: ENGL 0130, 0160, 0180, 1140, 1160, 1180, or 1190. Class list will be reduced to 17 after writing samples are reviewed during the first week of classes. Preference will be given to English concentrators. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
- Primary Instructor
- DeBoer-Langworthy
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Satire and Humor Writing
For the advanced writer. This course will introduce students to the practice of writing satire and humorous essays. Readings will include works by Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Garrison Keillor, Bill Bryson, David Foster Wallace, David Sedaris, and others, and students will develop skills in analyzing, writing, and workshopping in the genre. Prerequisite: ENGL 0930 or any 1000-level nonfiction writing course. Class list will be reduced to 17 after writing samples are reviewed during the first week of classes. Preference will be given to English concentrators. Banner registrations after classes begin require instructor approval. S/NC.
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Americans in Paris
For many American artists, particularly in the years following the first world war, Paris promised artistic freedom; for others, particularly in the years following the second world war, it promised something closer to actual freedom. This class explores the relationship between these two conceptions of liberty, ranging widely over fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays, dance, music, painting, and photography.
Primary lecture M/W and select ONE Friday Conference Section.
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
- Primary Instructor
- Burrows
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Halstead
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Pisanelli
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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Law and Literature
This seminar explores the conceptual, psychological and rhetorical connections between literature and law, examining how both disciplines shape the imagination but also aim to elicit response and responsibility. We will consider how literary works, legal writings, and legal opinions inform each other, but also illuminate each other’s blind spots. Looking beyond trial scenes, the course invites students to think about how principles and notions in law structure, and are structured by, literature and language. Authors include Walter Benjamin, Joseph Conrad, Albert Camus, Rebecca West, and Chinua Achebe; legal texts by Holmes, Bentham, Cover and a number of judicial opinions. Limited to 20 senior English concentrators.
- Primary Instructor
- Reichman
