English

This course deploys literary-critical thinking and attention to literary forms in order to interrogate the narrative of the ‘raw material’, and the histories that have emerged from it. From vital materialist accounts of the agencies and powers of nonhuman things, to Marxist analyses of the hidden labor that produces the ‘raw’ material before it can even be said to exist, students consider the ways in which the Victorian invention of raw materiality contributed to violence, environmental destruction, and ideologies of domination over the earth and its species. 

This course aims to develop students' understanding of short fiction writing. More specifically, the course focuses on the core concepts of fiction writing such as theme and plot. In addition, students produce a piece of fiction using original characters and viewpoints. The course goal is to develop students' ability to express their ideas through creative use of language.  

This course is open to ELA students who have completed their freshman ELA requirements and non-native English-speaking JLP track students who wish to further develop their English language skills. 

This course examines the city in history as represented in fiction in the particular case of Edinburgh, from the historical fiction of Scott, Hogg, and Stevenson to the genre fiction of the last two decades. It examines the construction of the city in these texts as a site of legal, religious, economic, and cultural discourse. The extent to which civic identity both contributes to and competes with national identity is a central theme, as is the internal division of the city along lines of religion, gender, and, especially, class. In addition to the skills training common to all English Literature students (essay-writing, independent reading, group discussion, oral presentation, small-group autonomous learning) this course develops the student's understanding of: (i) the ways in which urban space is constructed in the various discourses of the novel as a genre; (ii) the relation of civic identities to national identities as the novel brings them into relation; (iii) a broad understanding of the history of the novel in Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This course explores the representation of revenge across a wide selection of literary texts, some of which are read in translation. Among the topics investigated are tensions between the vengeance of the individual and the operations of law, the moral and emotional transformation of the revenger, the haunting presence of the dead, and ideas about pollution and expiation. Starting with plays from the classical period which form an essential background to revenge tragedy of the 16th and 17th centuries, students study a range of tragedies, relating individual texts to dramatic ideas of genre, to traditions and conventions of stage representation, and to the historical contexts of the period. 

This course introduces the broad literary genre of science fiction, with a particular focus on postwar American science fiction from the classics to cyberpunk. The first part of the course focuses on BLADE RUNNER and analyzes excerpts from various science fiction films of the period, including Ridley Scott's 1982 film adaptation. The second part of the course focuses on BURNING CHROME. The course strengthens literary analysis through close reading and considers how the thematic components of science fiction have developed over time. 

As well as a range of familiar and less familiar works by Shakespeare, this course covers comparative works of drama, poetry, and prose from before, during, and after Shakespeare's time, from literatures both English and foreign. It invites students to relate these to the Shakespeare works as examples of literary forms and genres such as tragedy, pastoral, history play, sonnet, and to consider the importance of form and genre in literature. 

This course is specialized for international students and designed specifically for native English speakers to practice advanced literary translation from and into French. It works on a corpus of short texts chiefly from the 19th and 20th centuries. The “prose” section of the course provides a chance to test and improve knowledge of French syntax and idioms, and become familiar with the stylistic requirements of written French. The French texts that are translated into English are by major French authors. The course also explores the various mechanisms involved in translation (such as modulation and transposition), working from the hypothesis that translation and literary analysis are indissociable.

The course introduces and develops an understanding of American modernism, both in terms of the particularities of American culture in the early 20th century, and in relation to its complex relationship with Europe. Particular attention is paid to concepts of race/ethnicity, gender, politics, and social activism as ways of emphasizing the plurality of American modernism, as well as the diverse aesthetic forms which give it expression. In its geographical reach, the course encompasses writing from the American West, rural Wisconsin, New York (from Harlem to the Jewish American community of the Lower East Side), and expatriate experience in post-war Britain. At the core of the course is an exploration of the complex, shifting and dynamic nature of American Modernism, both in terms of the creative output of its writers, and in relation to the critics and theorists who attempt to define it.

The course outlines media history with an accent on the 17th, 18th, and the first half of the 19th century. The broad themes are the formation of a mediated public sphere and the emergence of media markets in relation to the growing industrial capitalism. The course takes a closer look at oral and written news media, the freedom of speech and censorship, the postal system, and the popular culture of chapbooks.