Fall 2013
Dowload complete list Spring 2013
Dowload complete list ENGL 1101
Identity Matters - Prof. Terry Easton
What are the various identity categories that people use to define themselves in the United States? Is one identity category more prevalent or powerful than another? Do identity categories change over time? Do identity categories liberate or confine people? What are the conflicts and negotiations inherent in claiming a particular identity category? In this course we will seek answers to these questions and others as we discuss the multiplicities and complexities of American identities. Drawing from historical, autobiographical, and fictional texts, we explore how race, ethnicity, class, ability/disability, and immigration/citizenship determine how we think about individual, community, and national identity in the United States.
- CRN 1619; M/W 1:15-2:30
- CRN 1679; M/W 2:40-3:55
ENGL 1102
August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle - Dr. Chris Bell
Students will read and write argumentative essays about August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, a ten play sequence that examines the African American experience in the twentieth century. Students will NOT be required to read all ten of Wilson’s plays.
- CRN 1428; M/W/F 8:00 – 8:50
- CRN 1457; M/W/F 9:00 – 9:50
- CRN 1507; M/W/F 10:00 – 10:50
Exploring the Fairytale - Prof. Leverett Butts
In this course, students will explore the function, structure, and themes of fairy tales. We will be using as our texts various essays on fairy tales, several of the most popular tales and variations of them, William Goldman’s novel The Princess Bride, Neil Gaiman’s novel Stardust, and the comic book Fables. For the final research paper, students will explain their own concept of a fairy tale, using criticism and selected tales from the class to illustrate their ideas.
- CRN 1727; online
- CRN 1728; online
Modern Fantasy - Prof. Leverett Butts
In this course, students will explore an emerging form of fantasy literature: modern (or indigenous) fantasy and its subgenres. In this type of fantasy literature, the traditional tropes of fantasy are set in the modern world. We will explore first how a piece qualifies as fantasy (as opposed to magical realism, for instance), next which subgenre of modern fantasy best fits a particular text, and inally what purpose is served by setting fantasy in the modern world. We will use as our primary texts novels by Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, Caitlin Kiernan, and Raymond Feist. For the final research paper, students will pick one novel and write a defense of its place in one or more of modern fantasy’s subgenres.
- CRN 1579; T/H 11:00 – 12:15
- CRN 1606; T/H 12:30 – 1:45
- CRN 1713; M/W 7:00 – 8:15 p.m.
The Vietnam War in American Film and Literature - Prof. Dan Cabaniss (Oconee)
The Vietnam War in American Film and Literature is a course that uses important works of American popular culture as the basis for writing assignments focused on summary, synthesis, analysis, and research. Featured works include Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Oliver Stone’s Platoon, Michael Herr’s Dispatches, and Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.
- CRN 2057; T/H 9:30 – 10:45 (Oconee Campus)
Narrative of Place - Prof. Leigh Dillard
Whether drawn to the bustle of an urban space, the solitude of a rural retreat, or somewhere in between, our circumstances are largely influenced by geographic location. This themed 1102 course explores travel literature and narratives of place as a reflection of society. Primary source material will include a selection of novels, poetry, and visual narrative of the eighteenth century to the present.
- CRN 1583; T/H 11:00 – 12:15
- CRN 1667; T/H 2:00 – 3:15
Law and Order: Special Georgia Unit - Prof. Jürgen Grandt
The law, in Georgia as much as in New York City, tells stories—stories about what’s right and what’s wrong, who’s innocent and who’s guilty, stories designed to implement and/or defend a social and moral order. But the letter of the law tells stories only in the abstract; as the detectives and attorneys on the television crime drama discover every week, the abstractions of legalese often fail to reflect and regulate accurately society’s social, moral, and economic realities. Transposing these stories of law and order, crime and punishment, murder and mystery, condemnation and redemption, to the state of Georgia, we shall investigate in a range of literary texts from the 19th to the 21st century the inherent tensions between the ideal and the real, the abstract and the concrete, the right and the wrong, the true and the false, that the letter of the law seeks to negotiate. These are their stories: DUN-DUN...
- CRN 1577; T/H 11:00 – 12:15
- CRN 1621; M/W 1:15 – 2:30
- CRN 1683; M/W 2:40 – 3:55
- CRN 1702; M/W 4:05 – 5:20
“War Is War Is War Is War Is War”: Combat Trauma and Healing in Literature - Prof. Kristen Kelly
This ENGL 1102 class will examine the literature of past American wars, especially the Vietnam War, through the lens of our current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the heart of the course will be Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (1990) and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979). A crucial element of this special section of ENGL 1102 is a capstone research project that addresses the current epidemic of military suicide.
- CRN 1623; M/W 1:15 – 2:30
From Frankenstein to Count Chocula: Monsters and Modernity - Prof. Anita Turlington
“We live in a time of monsters.” So begins Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s volume of essays on monsters and monstrosity entitled Monster Theory: Reading Culture. We are responsible for creating our monsters. We dream them up, they haunt our nights and our imaginations, and then we do our best to defeat them. But what exactly do they represent? Why do we need them? What kinds of anxieties and fears are embodied in the monsters that seem to preoccupy us right now, in this time and place? In this section of English 1102, we will examine these questions, reading fiction about monsters ranging from serial killers to vampires and zombies. We will also watch films and television shows from time to time that provide other clues about how we negotiate issues in our culture via our definition of monstrosity.
- CRN 1681; M/W 2:40 – 3:55
Our Diverse Literatures - Prof. Stacy Turner
This course will center on literary analysis of multiethnic poetry and prose. Students will draw on the poetry and prose of authors of Asian American, African American, Native American, and Hispanic backgrounds to discuss how immigration, language, ethnicity, and class impact our understanding of what it means to be an American.
- CRN 2165; M/W 2:40 – 3:55
Zombie Fiction - Prof. Cameron Williams
This course will trace the literary evolution of the zombie from some of its earliest manifestations—in the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for example—to the modern day, post-9/11 figure we see in texts such as The Walking Dead. We will examine the zombie as a “cultural body”—what Jeffrey Jerome Cohen calls “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment—of a time, a feeling, and a place”—by exploring the ways in which the figure has historically been used to signify fears of slave rebellion, plague, and apocalypse, or to confront anxieties about science and medicine, communism, and even terrorism. Issues of race, class, and gender will also inform our discussions.
Students will read mostly short fiction and some poetry, along with one novel: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. We will view at least one film during class time. In addition to an essay-based mid-term exam and final project, students will write three out-of-class essays that will each require a substantial research component.
- CRN 1436; T/H 8:00 – 9:15
- CRN 1480; T/H 9:30 – 10:45
- CRN 1671; T/H 2:00 – 3:15
- CRN 1697; T/H 3:30 – 4:45
- CRN 1710; T/H 5:30 – 6:45
ENGL 1502
“Dys”sing the “U” in Utopia: Who Wins in Sci-Fi? - Prof. Mary Mason
What makes a dystopia a dystopia? What makes a utopia a utopia? A great way to begin exploring these questions is through science fiction films. While dystopian fiction concentrates on satirizing our society, dystopian science fiction creates an extension of the problems of our world using science. Science fiction was originally categorized as romance. Exactly what is romantic about sci-fi? In this class we will focus on these questions regarding the genre of dystopian science fiction while watching several films for discovery, such as District 9, Blade Runner, and Children of Men. We will also focus on a brief introduction to filming techniques and terminology, including mise-en-scène, lighting, ideology, and auteurs. We will screen seven films.
- CRN 1711; T/R 5:30 – 6:45
Culture Clash - Prof. Mary Mason
What can we learn when different cultures clash? Certainly, clashes between cultures can be violent, but can a culture clash also signify a chance for learning and a better understanding between different cultures or members of the same culture with differing ideas? In this class we will focus on the connections and disconnects between various cultures while watching several films for discovery about cultural clashes, such as Do the Right Thing, Princess Mononoke, and The Mission. We will also focus on an brief introduction to filming techniques and terminology, including mise-en-scène, lighting, ideology, and auteurs. We will screen seven films.
- CRN 1699; T/R 3:30-4:45pm
Creative Writing Courses
ENGL 2180 – Introduction to Creative Writing - Prof. Dorothy Blais
Introduction to Creative Writing is a course designed to aid students in writing their first short stories, poems, and plays. Class time will be spent in discussion of form and theory, as well as in workshop sessions in which students and the instructor will critique student work.
- CRN 1487; T/R 9:30 – 10:45
ENGL 2183 - Creative Writing: Fiction - Prof. Dorothy Blais
The Fiction course is designed for students who have an interest in producing original creative prose works, especially in the short story. Students will both write creatively and analyze the creative works of others to gain a better understanding of the writing process. Issues related to publication and writing for publication will be a significant focus of the course as well.
- CRN 1675; T/H 2:00 – 3:15
ENGL 2185 – Creative Nonfiction Writing - Prof. Gloria Bennett
The Creative Nonfiction course introduces students to nonfiction genres, which includes personal essay, memoir, literary journalism, nature and travel writing, science writing, cultural criticism, and other forms. Class time will be spent reading and analyzing a variety of creative nonfiction forms, as well as writing creative nonfiction essays and critiquing student work.
- CRN 1535; M/W/F 11:00 – 11:50
Fall 2012
Dowload complete list ENGL 1101
American Myths - Dr. Chris Bell
This course examines various myths about the United States, from education, to family, to the environment, to the meaning of personal wealth. Students will engage in lively discussion and write essays about these and other socioeconomic issues.
- CRN 4269, T/TR, 8:00 am
- CRN 4296, T/TR, 9:30 am
- CRN 4278, M/W/F, 9:00 am
Identity Matters - Dr. Terry Easton
In this course we analyze and discuss the multiplicities and complexities of American identities. Drawing from historical, autobiographical, and fictional texts, we explore how race, ethnicity, class, ability/disability, and immigration/citizenship determine how we think about individual, community, and national identity in the United States.
- CRN 4409, M/W, 2:40 pm
- CRN 4430, M/W, 5:30 pm
- CRN 4426, M/W, 4:05 pm
- CRN 4417, T/TR, 3:30 pm
Reading the War in Afghanistan - Dr. Kristin G. Kelly
This themed class will explore the experience of American soldiers in Afghanistan. Through a variety of genres including war journalism, medical literature, poetry, and documentary, students will bear witness to the current war. Essay topics will allow students to research and explore what it means to engage in combat and then transition to civilian life.
- CRN 4297, T/TR, 9:30 am
- CRN 4368, T/TR, 11:00 am
- CRN 4377, T/TR, 12:30 pm
- CRN 4442, Online
- CRN 4443, Online
ENGL 1101H
Exigence: Writing for Change - Dr. Stacy Turner
In rhetoric, “exigence” refers to the presence or absence of certain events that compel someone to write or speak out. In the midst of changes to higher education, especially here in North Georgia, students are increasingly coming face to face with such exigent situations. This course will encourage students to think about the purpose of higher education and what the new institution will look like after the GSC/NGCSU consolidation. Through a reader which focuses on service learning and writing for change, students will identify and develop essays and group projects intended to suggest improvements for both our campus and the larger community. The course is intended to give students an opportunity to both think critically about the changes on their own campus and to act on them.
ENGL 1102
Exploring the Fairytale - Dr. Leverett Butts
In this course, students will explore the function, structure, and themes of fairy tales. I will be using as my texts various essays on fairy tales, several of the most popular tales and variations of them, the film Pan’s Labyrinth, Neil Gaiman’s novel Stardust, and the comic book Fables. For the final research paper, students will explain their own concept of a fairy tale, using criticism and selected tales from the class to illustrate their ideas.
Law and Order: Special Georgia Unit - Dr. Jürgen Grandt
The law, in Georgia as much as in New York City, tells stories—stories about what’s right and what’s wrong, who’s innocent and who’s guilty, stories designed to implement and/or defend a social and moral order. But the letter of the law tells stories only in the abstract; as the detectives and attorneys on the television crime drama discover every week, the abstractions of legalese often fail to reflect and regulate accurately society’s social, moral, and economic realities. Transposing these stories of law and order, crime and punishment, murder and mystery, condemnation and redemption, to the state of Georgia, we shall investigate in a range of literary texts from the 19th to the 21st century the inherent tensions between the ideal and the real, the abstract and the concrete, the right and the wrong, the true and the false, that the letter of the law seeks to negotiate. These are their stories: DUN-DUN...
- CRN 4310, T/TR, 9:30 am
- CRN 4363, M/W/F, 11:00 am
- CRN 4403, T/TR, 2:00 pm
- CRN 4436, T/TR, 5:30 pm
- CRN 4420, TR 15:30-16:45
Detective Fiction - Dr. Patsy Worrall
These two courses focus on Detective Fiction from its beginnings to the present. During the semester, students will learn about the characteristics of detective fiction through reading selections featuring amateur, private, and police detectives. Students will then concentrate on Sherlock Holmes, reading short stories and the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. The final work will be The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency set in Botswana, Africa.
- CRN 4289, M/W/F, 9:00 am
- CRN 4322, M/W/F, 10:00 am
ENGL 1502
Beyond Noir: The Hard-Boiled detective and Modern Cinema - Dr. Leverett Butts
In the 1920’s a new kind of private detective began to grace the pages of America’s pulp magazines. This new detective was tougher and grittier then his earlier amateur detective counterparts from Europe. Rather than solve intellectual puzzles from the comfort of a sitting room, this new “hard-boiled” detective hit the streets to solve crimes sometimes with, but most often in spite of, the police. He was a loner, vice-filled, tough-guy unafraid to take a fall to solve the crime. This course examines the cinematic portrayal of the hard-boiled detective from the earliest portrayals of the detective in Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Phillip Marlowe in The Big Sleep to later portrayals such as Jake Gittes of Chinatown. We will end the course by looking at the ways in which the hard-boiled detective appears in film genres besides mysteries such Jack Burden in the political drama All the King’s Men, Rigby Reardon in the comedy Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, and Rick Deckard in the science fiction drama Blade Runner.
Culture Clash - Prof. Mary Mason
What can we learn when different cultures clash? Certainly, such clashes between cultures can be violent, but can a culture clash also signify a chance for learning and a better understanding between different cultures or members of the same culture with differing ideas? In this class we will focus on the connections and disconnects between various cultures while watching several films for discovery about cultural clashes, such as Do the Right Thing, Princess Mononoke, and The Mission. We will also focus on narrative writing involving interviewing a member of another culture, documenting visits to unfamiliar cultural venues, and responding to clashes in cultures within the films.
Whodunnit? - Prof. Anita Turlington
This section of English 1502 will examine links between crime, justice, and Western culture as depicted in classic detective films. We will view films based on novels from the Golden Age of detective fiction, hardboiled film noir, and contemporary supernatural thrillers.
- CRN 4364, M/W/F, 11:00 pm
Creative Writing Courses
ENGL 2180 – Introduction to Creative Writing - Professor M. Kluczykowski
Introduction to Creative Writing is a course designed to aid students in writing their first short stories, poems, and plays. Class time will be spent in discussion of form and theory, as well as in workshop sessions in which students and the instructor will critique student work.
ENGL 2182 – Playwriting - Professor D. Blais
The Playwriting course will aid students in developing the skills they need to write stage plays. Class time will be spent in discussion of dramatic form and theory, as well as in workshop sessions in which students and the instructor will critique student work. Issues related to play development and production will be a significant focus of the course as well.
ENGL 2185 – Creative Nonfiction Writing - Professor G. Bennett
The Creative Nonfiction course introduces students to nonfiction genres, which includes personal essay, memoir, literary journalism, nature and travel writing, science writing, cultural criticism, and other forms. Class time will be spent reading and analyzing a variety of creative nonfiction forms, as well as writing creative nonfiction essays and critiquing student work.
ENGL 2801- Magazine Production I - Professor G. Bennett
This course offers students instruction in writing, editing, and designing a creative arts magazine. As a practicum, it allows students the opportunity to work on the production of the annual creative arts magazine.
Spring 2012
Dowload complete list ENGL 1101
Identity Matters - Dr. Terry Easton
In this course we analyze and discuss the multiplicities and complexities of American identities. Drawing from historical, autobiographical, and fictional texts, we explore how race, ethnicity, class, ability/disability, and immigration/citizenship determine how we think about individual, community, and national identity in the United States.
- CRN 2006, MW 13:15 – 14:30
- CRN 2023, MW 14:40 – 15:55
War in Our Time - Dr. Kristin G. Kelly
Students in the War in Our Time themed class will read Sebastian Junger’s War, the nonfiction account of being embedded with Second Platoon for a year in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan, one of the deadliest places on earth at the time of his writing. Students will write about Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom after investigating Junger’s journalism, reading a variety of other print sources, and viewing a collection of documentaries such as The War Tapes and Restrepo.
- CRN 1963, TH 9:30 – 10:45
- CRN 1996, TH 12:30 – 13:45
- CRN 2074 (On-line course)
- CRN 2080 (On-line course)
The Meaning of an Education - Dr. Stacy Turner
In this course, students will explore the meaning of a college education. Through reading and responding to a multiplicity of articles on the subject of learning, students will achieve a better understanding of their own learning processes and develop a personal educational philosophy.
The 1960s - Professor Dan Cabaniss
Students in this course will read primary documents from the 1960s (speeches, essays, manifestos, memoirs, films, journalism) and use them to create thesis-driven essays on the major issues of the era—civil rights, the war in Vietnam, the women’s liberation movement, the student movement, environmentalism, hippies and the counterculture, the new conservatism, and the growing interest in Eastern religions. The rhetorical focus of the course is on fundamental academic writing skills: summary, critique, synthesis, and analysis.
- CRN 1602, TR 9:30 - 10:45 (Oconee Campus)
ENGL 1102
August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle - Dr. Chris Bell
Students will read and write argumentative essays about August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, a ten play sequence that examines the African American experience in the twentieth century. Students will NOT be required to read all ten of Wilson’s plays.
- CRN 1957, MWF 9:00 – 9:50
- CRN 1964, TH 9:30 – 10:45
- CRN 2009, MW 13:15 – 14:30
Exploring the Fairytale - Dr. Lev Butts
In this course, students will explore the function, structure, and themes of fairy tales. I will be using as my texts various essays on fairy tales, several of the most popular tales and variations of them, the film Pan’s Labyrinth, Neil Gaiman’s novel Stardust, and the comic book Fables. For the final research paper, students will explain their own concept of a fairy tale, using criticism and selected tales from the class to illustrate their ideas.
- CRN 1946, TH 8:00 – 9:15
- CRN 1966, TH 9:30 – 10:45
- CRN 1984, H 11:00 – 12:15 (Hybrid)
- CRN 2039, MW 16:05 – 17:20
Black Georgia - Dr. Jürgen Grandt
This themed section of ENGL 1102 will navigate the symbolic territory of black Georgia in a variety of texts and contexts from the 19th to the 21st century: what does this place, “Georgia,” mean to Americans of African descent? How have African Americans delineated the ways in which both the spirit of American Democracy and its corruptions manifest themselves in Georgia? In other words, what does it mean to be human, and what does it mean to be free—what, ultimately, does it mean to be an American?
- CRN 1985, TH 11:00 – 12:15
- CRN 2026, MW 14:40 – 15:55
- CRN 2040, MW 16:05 – 17:20
- CRN 2057, MW 17:30 – 18:55
Werewolves in Literature - Professor Phillip Mitchell
My ENGL 1102 course explores the werewolf motif throughout literature, focusing on the ways the monster embodies cultural anxieties in the western world from the middle ages to today.
- CRN 2073, MW 20:30 – 21:45
- CRN 2081 (On-line course)
- CRN 2082 (On-line course)
Our Diverse Literatures - Dr. Stacy Turner
This course will center on literary analysis of multiethnic poetry and prose. Students will draw on the poetry and prose of authors of Asian American, African American, Native American, and Hispanic backgrounds to discuss how immigration, language, ethnicity, and class impact our understanding of what it means to be an American.
- CRN 1981, TH 11:00 – 12:15
- CRN 2008, MW 13:15 – 14:30
- CRN 2027, MW 14:40 – 15:55
Of Man and Monsters - Professor Karen Redding
We will attempt to describe humankind's "monsters" - and monstrosity - using an interdisciplinary approach to research. We will explore the alien "other" and humankind's inner darkness, even as we try to define the boundaries of human-ness. The course will culminate in a multimedia / cross-genre project that addresses these questions.
- CRN 1626, MWF 8:00 - 8:50 (Oconee Campus)
- CRN 1627, MWF 9:00 - 9:50 (Oconee Campus)
ENGL 1102H
Desperate Journeys - Professor Peggy Strickland
This course will focus on the archetype of the hero undergoing a perilous journey during the course of which s/he comes to have a greater understanding of self as well as the world around him/her. Works from various genre and time periods will be incorporated including The Odyssey, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Road. A particular focus will be on the era of the American Depression as depicted in Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath as well as GTA’s stage version.
- CRN 2002, TH 12:30 – 13:45
Of Man and Monsters - Professor Karen Redding
We will attempt to describe humankind's "monsters" - and monstrosity - using an interdisciplinary approach to research. We will explore the alien "other" and humankind's inner darkness, even as we try to define the boundaries of human-ness. The course will culminate in a multimedia / cross-genre project that addresses these questions. Honors students will work develop a course "Wiki" on our topic.
- CRN 1633, MWF 11:00 - 12:15 (Oconee Campus / Hybrid)
ENGL 1502
Sympathy For A Devil? - Dr. Laura Ng
A large part of the movie experience is rallying behind those sympathetic heroes. We love them. We cheer for them. We identify with them. Right? What happens when our hero is not that sympathetic? What happens when our hero isn’t much of a hero? What does it mean when we laugh in all the wrong places? We’ll explore these questions across a variety of film genres and figure out what it means for us, culturally, to have sympathy for a devil.
- CRN 1993, MWF 11:00 – 11:55
Journey through the Haunted Forest - Professor Peggy Strickland
This course will travel down divergent paths of the American Depression trod by various heroes as they set out on personal quests to find understanding and self-worth amid the threat of dangers lurking around each bend of the road. We will incorporate selected journey narrative films produced between the 1930’s through the 2010’s all set primarily in the 1930’s to focus on some of the hardships/challenges inherent in this era (whether economic, regional, racial, spiritual, etc.) and how various individuals were defeated by, molded themselves to, or triumphed over their circumstances.
- CRN 2036, MW 15:30 – 16:45
Idiocracry and The “Dumbing Down” of Society in Film - Dr. Kya Reaves
This course will explore the representation of social and individual peculiarity of constitution and how these representations affect and are effects of society. This class will look at how contemporary films conceptualize the “idiot.” The class will engage in social, cultural, and pedagogical relevant texts.
- CRN 2527, MWF 9:00 – 9:50