• ENG 101: College Composition
• ENG 129: Topics in English
• ENG 131: The Nature of Story
• ENG 170: The Act of Interpretation

ENG 001, 101: Writing Workshop; College Composition

Prerequisites: Entering students place themselves into either ENG 001 or ENG 101. Guidelines to be used as the basis for this decision are mailed to incoming students several months before the start of the semester. Students with extremely strong backgrounds in writing may attempt credit by examination through Jerry Ellis in the Onward Office.

ENG 001: a course for students who need to develop and practice the basic writing habits necessary for successful university-level writing. Successful completion of this course should enable students to do well in ENG 101. The course grants three semester credit hours, hours that do not count toward graduation but do count toward semester load.

ENG 101: An introductory course in college writing in which students practice the ways in which writing and reading serve to expand, clarify, and order experience and knowledge. Particular attention is given to analytic and persuasive writing. To complete the course successfully, students must write all assignments and must have portfolios of their best work approved by a committee of readers other than their classroom teachers. Especially well-prepared students will be encouraged to submit portfolios before the end of the semester; if their work is of exceptionally high quality they will be granted early completion.

Prerequisites: First-year students only; may be taken before or after ENG 101 or concurrently with permission. Satisfies the general education Writing Intensive requirement.

Recent offerings:

Baseball in American Literature and Film(Spring 2011, Peterson)

In this course, students will examine how baseball fiction and film both reflect and resist key elements of American culture, including values, identity, and economic stability. The course will focus on developing students’ understanding of texts that span most of the Twentieth Century, a time of sweeping change in America and America’s pastime. Along with a close literary analysis of these texts, we will examine their historical contexts to gain insight about the intersection of literature and culture.

Probable Texts:

• Lardner, Ring, You Know Me Al
• Harris, Mark, Bang the Drum Slowly
• Kinsella, W.P., Shoeless Joe
• DeLillo, Don, Pafko at the Wall
• McNally, John (Ed.), Bottom of the Ninth: Great Contemporary Baseball Short Stories
• Willard, Nancy. Things Invisible to See

Probable Films:

• Bang the Drum Slowly
• Field of Dreams
• A League of Their Own

Travelers and Madmen in Literature (Spring 2011, Minutolo)

Travelers are forever abandoning complacent lives in search of experience and adventure.  When their quests turn to obsession, however, what begins as a thrilling journey can turn into a nightmarish reality — and madness.  This fast-paced course in British and American literature explores the remote and unfamiliar lands that fascinated these seasoned travelers, including those whose late-Victorian imperialistic convictions pushed them to ‘civilize’ countries that had otherwise been culturally and geographically out of reach.  We will explore the personal motivations, and the physical, political, and cultural barriers that pit the traveler against the landscape, their companions, family members, and ultimately their own psyche as they try to reach such unknown destinations.  Warning: danger lies ahead for those who seek what’s over the horizon.

Texts

• Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
• M. Butterfly David Henry Hwang
• Mosquito Coast Paul Theroux
• On the Road Jack Kerouac
• Garden of Eden Ernest Hemingway
• Into the Wild Jon Krakauer

Readings will also include excerpts from To the Ends of the Earth, Blue Latitudes, and Anthology of Women’s Travel Writing.

Literature and Theories of Human Nature (Fall 2010, Callaway)

This course will serve as a basic introduction to some of the major theories of universal human identity and to the ways in which literature can be used to enhance and to question our understanding of such theories.  The course will use accessible texts and films selected for their entertainment value, as well as for what they can add to our understanding of the ideas of Plato, Christianity, Sigmund Freud, Conrad Lorenz, Jean Paul Sartre, B.F. Skinner, and Karl Marx.

Required Texts (This is a sample list only, but probable texts might include the following):

• Leslie Stevenson.  Ten Theories of Human Nature
• Flannery O’Connor.  Everything that Rises Must Converge
• Jack London.  The Sea Wolf
• Aldous Huxley.  Brave New World
• Albert Camus.  The Stranger
• John Steinbeck.  In Dubious Battle
• Various short stories, poems, and films provided by the instructor.

Travelers and Madmen in Literature (Spring 2010, Minutolo)

Literature and Theories of Human Nature (Fall 2009, Callaway)

American Culture through Baseball Fiction and Film (Spring 2009, Peterson)

Literature and Theories of Human Nature (Fall 2008, Callaway)

Mystery, Murder, and Detectives in Fiction (Fall 2008, Minutolo)

In this course, students will examine the literature that tempts our fascination with murder mysteries and the detectives who solve them. The course will focus on developing students’ understanding of texts that fall within the genre of detective fiction from 1841, the beginning of the genre, through WWII. We will focus on close literary analysis of the fiction of the time period and work with historical contexts so that students have a better understanding of the literature and the social and cultural influences of the period. Although this is not a course in forensic science, students will walk away knowing “whodunit.”

Reading List:

• Edgar Allan Poe, “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “Marie Roget,” and “The House of Usher”
• Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express
• Susan Glaspell, “Trifles”
• Graham Greene, Brighton Rock
• The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction

Additional A/V materials:

• Murder by Death (film; satire)
• The Adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye (radio broadcast; satire)

Evaluation: Frequent short response papers and longer critical essays, including a final paper.

Introduction to Fiction (Spring 2008, Crouch)

This course will survey a sampling of short stories from diverse cultures written from the 1800s to the present. We will usually read one or two stories each week. The goals of the course are to analyse, write about, and better understand the meanings, techniques, and significance of short fiction, as well as to enjoy ourselves as we enter these diverse creative worlds.

Required Text:

• The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction, by Ann Charters. Compact Seventh Edition.
• Bedford/St. Martins. (Available at the University of Maine Bookstore.)

Evaluation: Student evaluation will be based on several short analytical and response papers, class presentations, as well as discussion in response to study questions provided. There may be occasional reading quizzes.

Spring 2008, Yellow-Robe

This course will survey a sampling of short stories from diverse cultures written from the 1800s to the present. We will usually read one or two stories each week. The goals of the course are to analyse, write about, and better understand the meanings, techniques, and significance of short fiction, as well as to enjoy ourselves as we enter these diverse creative worlds.

Required Texts:

• The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction, by Ann Charters. Compact Seventh Edition.
• Bedford/St. Martins. (Available at the University of Maine Bookstore.)
• The Life of Pi. Yann Martel.

Evaluation: Student evaluation will be based on several short analytical and response papers, class presentations, as well as discussion in response to study questions provided. There may be occasional reading quizzes.

Prerequisite: None. Satisfies the general education Western Cultural Tradition and Cultural Diversity & International Perspectives requirements.

Explores the fundamental activity of why and how we create, tell and read/listen to stories. An exploration of the various ways storytelling enters our lives: through music, art, literature, photography, history, film and song. We’ll use a technology appropriate to navigate through the many ways these arts weave their stories, from swing to blues, from country to classical, from film to novels, from painting to architecture. Using an anthology of world literature as a platform, we shall attempt to illuminate the centrality of storytelling to our culture. In addition to the reading, then, we’ll view films and other visual material and listen to stories in a variety of spoken and musical forms–discussing it all as we enjoy the art of storytelling.

Prerequisite: ENG 101 is strongly recommended for all sections. ENG 170 is a required course for all English majors.

This course is designed as a close reading of literary texts for students preparing to become English majors. We will explore how conventions of genre, form and style work in literature and develop a vocabulary for understanding and communicating ideas about literature. We will write regularly throughout the semester to practice the critical discourse expected of English majors.

Back to Undergraduate Courses