English

This course provides a study of the 20th-century American writer, Willa Cather, with careful investigation of her literary art and of the biographical, historical, and cultural context in which she developed that art. The course identifies, describes, and compares the literary features of a variety of fictional techniques that Cather developed. Students read, discuss, and write about a selection of Cather's short stories and three of her novels: O Pioneers!, Death Comes for the Archbishop, and My Antonia. Students will analyze the themes of these works and the literary artistry through which Cather develops these themes.

Since Aristotle’s Poetics, plot has occupied a central place in the investigation of dramatic and narrative story structure. This course looks at some of the major writing on plot and investigates its importance in the making of successful fiction and film. The course begins with a reading of Aristotle, before considering such important theorists of the plot as Gustav Freytag, Vladimir Propp and Gerard Genette. Then it turns to a consideration of contemporary narrative stylisticians, running from Roger Fowler to Michael Toolan. Representative drama includes Oedipus Rex and The Importance of Being Earnest; representative fiction, James Joyce and James Lasdun; representative films, Psycho, The Talented Mr Ripley, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and Swimming Pool. 

This course examines the practice and techniques of creating, developing, and writing the graphic novel, manga, and other forms of illustrated writing. 

The course examines main points of development in the Anglo-American short story tradition in the 19th and 20th centuries, drawing on central concepts from short fiction theory from Edgar Allan Poe to contemporary theorists. Beyond the much debated question of generic definition, the course takes a variety of approaches to the short story, including: considering the short story in literary history; the impact of modernism and impressionism; the postcolonial short story; varieties of style and narrative technique; and the representation of class, race, ethnicity, and gender in the short story.

This course discusses the most representative British theater productions from the last decade of the 20th century to the present day. It analyzes text from different theoretical-practical perspectives and explores the synergy that occurs between the context of the origin of the work and the work itself.