Please note:

English 100, 110, 340, 250, 263, 264, and 247 are normally offered every year.

ENGL 304, 340, 349 and 390 need only ENGL 100, 110 or a six-credit English transfer equivalent for a pre-requisite.

All other courses in the 200, 300, and 400 levels are offered on a rotating basis over a three-year period. The senior seminars are offered exclusively to senior advanced majors and honours students.

ENGL 100 Introductory Survey of Literature in English

This course will introduce students to literature from a range of historical and cultural contexts. Students will study texts from the earliest writings in English to 20th-century works. Possible authors to be studied include the Beowulf poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Milton, Eliza Haywood, Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Brontë, W.B. Yeats, and Margaret Atwood. Students who have received credit for English 110 cannot receive credit for English 100. Six credits.

ENGL 110: Literature in English: Genres, Media and Forms

This course will introduce students to an analysis of cultural and literary texts through the examination of a variety of genres (e.g. the novel, short story, epic) and forms (e.g. the gothic novel, confessional poetry).  The course may also include the study of media such as the graphic novel, film, and television. Students who have received credit for English 100 cannot receive credit for English 110. Six credits.

Note: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent is required for entrance to all other ENGL courses.

ENGL 201 Science Fiction and Fantasy -- The Meta-human

This course will look at the meta- or superhuman, particularly in film and the graphic novel, from the modern origin of the genre (Superman) to late 20th and 21st century parody and deconstruction (Watchmen, Wanted). Issues will include the gendered meta-human, whether the genre is properly science fiction or fantasy, and the problem of vigilante justice. Three credits.

ENGL 206 World Masterpieces I: Classical Antiquity

An introduction to masterpieces in western literature, in translation, focused on ancient Greece and Rome, especially the epics of Homer and Virgil, Greek tragedy, and selections from Catullus, Horace and Ovid. Three credits.

ENGL 207 World Masterpieces II: Medieval and Renaissance

An introduction to masterpieces in Western literature, in translation, focused on medieval and Renaissance/early modern Europe. It will begin with the New Testament Bible and then explore authors and great works of Christian Europe, including The Song of Roland, The Romance of the Rose, Dante Alighieri, Ludovico Ariosto, and Miguel de Cervantes. Three credits.

ENGL 209 Introduction to Film

An introduction to the study of film, this course will focus on formal distinctions and concepts that have evolved in the history of cinema, as well as major cinematic movements and genres. Students will be introduced to the vocabulary of film studies, techniques of analysis, and ways of writing about film. Lectures and discussions will proceed on the basis of critical readings and screenings of cinematic works. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 209 and 297 "Analyzing Film. Six credits.

ENGL 215 Principles and Practices of Literary Criticism

This couse builds on the skills students acquire in ENGL 100. Its aim is twofold. On the one hand, it will concern itself with philosophical questions regarding literariness, form and genre, and schools of critical approach (e.g. rhetorical, historical, sex and gender, sociological, political, psychological, neo-formal). On the other hand, it will develop practical skills by: expanding critical vocabulary; developing abilities to write argumentatively; and increasing proficiency with sources and databases.Three credits.

CREATIVE WRITING COURSES 

Students wishing to enroll in any creative writing course are required to submit a portfolio to the English Department. The portfolio must be submitted electronically to (mgillis@stfx.ca) as an attachment by June 1. For ENGL 231, 322 and 422, the portfolio should consist of 10-15 pages of prose fiction, poetry, drama, or any combination thereof. If in any calendar year a course is to be restricted to a particular genre, the portfolio should consist solely of work in that genre. A portfolio is not required for ENGL 222. Students must clearly indicate the creative writing course for which they wish to be considered and provide a list of ALL English courses previously taken. 

222 Creative Non-Fiction/Memoir

This course will help students acquire the techniques and tools necessary to write creative non-fiction. This involves techniques of dialogue, character development, narration, and style similar to those employed by writers of fiction, though the result is non-fiction. Prerequisites: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent.Three credits.

231 Introduction to Creative Writing

This course teaches students how to write creatively in two genres--poetry and fiction--in a workshop setting.  Students will explore those elements of composition (imagery, dialogue, point of view, characterization, etc.) that make for interesting and challenging writing. Prerequisites: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent; portfolio as described above. Six credits.

322 Intermediate Creative Writing

Students will be expected to choose one genre through which they will continue to explore and develop the basic elements of composition learned in English 231. Students who have received credit for ENGL 331 may not receive credit for ENGL 322.  Prerequisites: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent; 3 credits in creative writing; portfolio as described above.Three credits.

422 Advanced Creative Writing

Explores the techniques of writing prose narrative, poetry, and drama to help students develop their powers of creative expression. Techniques include regular exercises, set assignments, free submissions, parodies, and imitations. Occasional guest writers. Students who have received credit for ENGL 431 may not receive credit for ENGL 422. Prerequisites: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent; 6 credits in creative writing; portfolio as described above. Three credits.

ENGL 229 Women in English Literature

A survey of women writers in their historical contexts. The course will involve study and discussion of poems, stories, novels, plays, and other literary forms by or about women. Cross-listed as WMNS 229. Six credits.

ENGL 233 Children's Literature: 1865 to the Present

Using the landmark publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a starting point, this course provides a critical survey of children's literature in Britain, America, and Canada. Authors to be studied include Carroll, L.M. Montgomery, E.B. White, Roald Dahl, Maurice Sendak, Judy Blume, Kevin Major, Dennis Lee, and Sheree Fitch. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL  233 and ENGL 234. Three credits.

English 240: Literature of the Middle East

This course will introduce students to the rich literary heritage of various countries in the Middle East. Students will read traditional poetry and folk tales, with the main focus on the novel and the short story of the 20th century. Writers to be studied may include Najib Mahfuz, Elias Khoury, Hanan al-Shaykh, Ghassan Kanafani, Tayeb Salih, Muhammad Shukri, and others. Three credits.

English 242: American Literature—Origins to the Civil War

What is an American literature? What does it mean to be American? In this course we will consider the following topics: the Puritan legacy;  the American dream; the status of indigenous peoples; captivity narratives; the role of sympathy; the representation of wounds; nature; individualism; disobedience; solitude; sin; silence; slants of light; sex; slavery; and houses divided.  Authors studied will include Rowlandson, Rowson, Douglass, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson and Whitman. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 242 and ENGL 344. Three credits.

English 243: American Literature—From the Civil War to the Great Depression

A prominent literary critic claimed recently that America is defined by its commitments to cultural democracy, political rights, community responsibility, social justice, an equality of opportunity, and individual freedom.  In this survey, we are going to examine how the literature of America written during this period of national reconciliation grapples with turning these ideals into reality. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 243 and ENGL 344.  Three credits.

ENGL 247 Postcolonial Literature

An introduction to postcolonial literature. The course may include literature from Africa, the Americas, Australia, the Caribbean, India, and the Pacific. Six credits.

ENGL 250 Survey of 20th-Century Literature in English

A study of poetry and fiction of major American, Canadian, British, and European writers. Six credits.

ENGL 253 Coffeehouse Culture of 18th-century England

A course exploring a variety of works through the lens of the 18th-century coffeehouse. Focusing primarily on the periodical literature of the time—The Tatler, The Spectator, The Plain Dealer and The Female Spectator—and novels and poetry, the course will consider themes like conversation, urban space, taste and culture, consumerism, gender fashioning, and the private subject made public. Three credits.

ENGL 254 Topics in 18th-Century Literature

The focus of this course will vary from year to year with changing emphasis on particular themes, genres, or authors of the long eighteenth century. The topic for 2009-2010 is Epistolary Literature including works by Alexander Pope, Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Three credits.

English 263 Canadian Literature I: 18th and 19th Centuries

This course will survey Canadian poetry and prose in the historical contexts of exploration, settlement, and Confederation.  Students will examine early Canadian authors’ engagements with the Romantics and Victorians, and will consider the emergence of a national literature.  Selected authors may include Frances Brooke, Samuel Hearne, John Richardson, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Susanna Moodie, James de Mille, Isabella Valancy Crawford, and Sir Charles G. D. Roberts. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 263 and ENGL 265. Three credits.

English 264 Canadian Literature II: The 20th Century and After

This course examines the major genres of Canadian writing during the 20th and 21st centuries, including fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. The course will emphasize key aesthetic developments within the contexts of modernism, feminism, postcolonialism, regionalism, postmodemism, environmentalism, culture and race.  Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 264 and ENGL 265. Three credits.

ENGL 270 The Romantic Gothic: Poetry and Short Fiction

A study of gothic literature in its historical and philosophical context, this course will explore 19th-century short fiction and poetry as well as a play, some longer fiction, and influential 18th-century literary sources. Authors may include: Jane Austen, Anne Radcliffe, William Wordsworth, Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson, James Hogg, Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Lord Byron, and Joanna Baillie. Three credits.

ENGL 271 Gothic Fiction: The 18th- and 19th-Century Gothic Novel

An examination of the gothic novel and the cultural forces that produced it. The course will explore supernatural tales from the classical and medieval periods which acted as forerunners to the genre. Authors may include: Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew "Monk" Lewis, and Jane Austen; students may also read Frankenstein and Dracula. Three credits. 

ENGL 297 Selected Topics: Forms of Narrative Cinema

ENGL 304 The Early Tudor and Elizabethan Renaissance

A study of literature created between the inception of the Tudor Dynasty in 1485 to the reign of Elizabeth I, in the context of early modern ideas and ideologies. The class will begin with Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur and Everyman, and will include texts by Spenser, Shakespeare, Elizabeth, Heywood, Norton and Sackville. Prerequisite: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent. Three credits.

ENGL 305 The Later Elizabethan Renaissance

A study of plays by Ben Jonson and Cyril Tourneur and of major non-dramatic forms in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period in the context of early modern ideologies and literary theory. The class will concentrate on William Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser and Francis Bacon. Recommended prerequisite: ENGL 304. Three credits.

ENGL 312 17th-Century Literature

A study of the Metaphysical poets, the Cavalier poets, John Milton's Paradise Lost, and the prose of Francis Bacon, John Donne, Robert Burton, Sir Thomas Browne, and Samuel Pepys. Several Jacobean plays will also be read. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Six credits.

ENGL 318 Cultural Theory Through Popular Culture

An introduction to the study of culture as a system of constructing values and identities, primarily through textual production. The course will combine case studies of genre fiction, film, and television with analyses of practicing cultural scholars. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 320 Modern Poetry

A survey of the major modern poets, including W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Six credits.

English 325: The American Novel 1850-1940

After considering current debates on the genre, this course will track the development of the American novel from the American Renaissance to the end of the Great Depression.  Students will read primary texts in combination with recent criticism that reconsiders the novel’s production of the individual; the construction of character; the formation of the social; the illogic of race; and the importance of place. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 329 Studies in Women Writers: Feminisms and Their Literatures

An introduction to feminist theories within historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts, this course explores the relationship between feminist theories and literary texts that exemplify or extend them. Cross-listed as WMNS 329. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 330 Studies in Women Writers: Genres, Cultures and Contexts — Selected Nineteenth-Century Women Novelists and the Gothic Tradition

This course will explore the works of five nineteenth-century women novelists and their engagement with gothic devices and themes. The following texts will be discussed: Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey; Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights; George Eliot, The Lifted Veil; Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret. Students should be prepared for a significant reading load in this class. Cross-listed as WMGS 330. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 340 Shakespeare

An introduction to the work of William Shakespeare: poems, comedies, histories, problem plays, tragedies, Roman plays, and late romances in their social, historical, and literary context. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 340 and ENGL 341. Six credits.

ENGL 343 19th-Century American Poetry

This course will examine the poetry of Anne Bradstreet, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

ENGL 347 African-Canadian Literature

A study of African-Canadian prose, poetry, and drama in the context of contemporary literary-critical debates about canons, national literatures, voice, and cross-cultural influences. Attention will be given to African-Nova Scotian contributions. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

ENGL 349: History of Literary Theory and Criticism

A study of central theoretical statements about literature and its analysis from the classical period to the 20th century.  The first two thirds of the course includes the theory and criticism of Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Sir Philip Sidney, Samuel Johnson,  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Friedrich Nietzsche, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot, and Karl Marx, while the final third of the course focuses on movements in the twentieth century such as new criticism, formalism, feminism, myth criticism, structuralism and post-structuralism. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Credit will be gratned for only one of ENGL 349 and ENGL 345 or 346. Six credits.

ENGL 350 Modern British Fiction

Examines major British novelists of the modern and post-modern periods with emphasis on Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Beckett. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 350 and ENGL 351 and 352. Six credits.

ENGL 355 Restoration and 18th-Century Drama and Prose

A study of several major plays and selected prose works from 1660 to the mid 18th century. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

ENGL 356 18th-Century Novel and Poetry

A study of selected novels and poetry from the major writers of the "long" 18th century. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Three credits.

English 365: Canadian Prose Genres

Highlighting a specific prose genre like the novel, the short story, autobiography, or metafiction, this course will examine the development of this literary form in a Canadian context.  Studied works may include fiction and non-fiction, and the selected genre will vary from year to year.  Attention will be concentrated on Canadian authors writing within the last fifty years. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 365 and ENGL 367. Three credits.

English 366: Special Topics in Canadian Literature I

The focus of this course will vary from year to year. Sample topics might include: the study of a single author; a particular genre; a specific theme; a critical and/or cultural issue; literature from a particular locale. The course topic will be announced in advance. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL.Three credits.

ENGL 367 The Canadian Novel

Students will read novels and short stories in English to develop a sense of thematic patterns, style, and changing narrative strategies in Canadian prose fiction, especially in works since 1930. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Students who have received credit for ENGL 365 may not enroll in this course. Six credits.

ENGL 368 Canadian Poetry

A study of Canadian verse in English with selected examples of French verse in translation, since colonial days, with emphasis on the period since 1920. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 370 English Romantic Literature

A detailed survey of the literature of the Major Romantic poets, this course emphasizes close readings of poetry and prose and the historical and philosophical contexts of the Romantic Movement. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 371 Victorian Literature, 1832-1867

A study of early to mid-Victorian literature encompassing the poetry of Emily Brontë, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, and Matthew Arnold; the prose of Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, and John Stuart Mill; and novels by Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 371 and ENGL 375. Three credits.

ENGL 372 Victorian Literature, 1867-1901

A study of middle- to late-Victorian literature encompassing the prose of John Ruskin and Walter Pater; the poetry of Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Swinburne, and Oscar Wilde; and a novel by George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 371 and ENGL 375.Three credits.

ENGL 376 Modern American Fiction

Examines prose writings in the American tradition since 1900 and the major literary and cultural movements in which selected texts participate. Emphasis will be placed on historical development and the shifting definition of the American canon. The 2011-2012 offering will trace the development from Modernist to Postmodern to post-Fordist literature. Prerequisite: 12 credits in English. Six credits.

ENGL 377 19th-Century Fiction

A study of 19th-century novels beginning with Jane Austen and working through the Victorian Age by exploring the fiction of such writers as Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot, and concluding with authors such as Thomas Hardy and Bram Stoker. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Six credits.

English 378 Themes in Contemporary American Prose

The course will examine American prose from the 20th and 21st centuries, focused around a particular theme or the presentation of a particular aspect of American culture.  The focus will vary from year to year, but may include gender, race, the American Dream, war, or the immigrant experience. Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 379  Movements in Contemporary American Prose

English 388 Heroic Literature of the Middle Ages

Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 388, ENGL 392 or CELT 392. Three credits.

English 389:  Chaucer’s Contemporaries

Chaucer's Contemporaris: "Thebes and Troy." Chaucer and other English authors made use of the legends of these two cities as meditations on human history, the differences between pagan and Christian societies, and the nature of cities themselves. Authors and texts will include Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, and anonymous romances, as well as Greek and Roman background texts.  English 390 (Chaucer) is recommended but not essential; some Chaucer will be studied in conjunction with related works by other authors. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 389, ENGL 392 or CELT 392. Three credits.

ENGL 390 Chaucer

This course explores the major poetry and prose of this seminal figure in English literature. Prerequisite: ENGL 100. Six credits.

ENGL 397 Selected Topics in Literature I

Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

English 398 Selected Topics in Literature II 

Prerequisite: 12 credits ENGL. Three credits.

NOTES: A student must have at least 18 credits of English for admission to a 400-level course. The senior seminars are offered exclusively to senior advanced major and honours students on a rotating basis over a period of years.

ENGL 400 Honours Thesis

Honour students write a thesis under the supervision of a faculty thesis director. Students must meet the thesis director in march of the junior year to prepare a topic. Honours students must register for the thesis as a six-credit course in the senior year. The thesis must be submitted no later than March 31 of the senior year. See chapter 4 of the Academic Calendar. Six credits.

ENGL 445 Seminar on Contemporary Critical Theory

A survey of the background to contemporary theory, focusing in part on earlier critics, and examining the origins of the canon. An exploration of current theories, including semiotics, structuralism, deconstruction, new historicism, modern narratology, feminist theory, and Marxist theory. Required for all honours students in addition to the senior seminar. Six credits.

Advanced major students write a thesis as part of the senior seminar. See chapter 4 of the Academic Calendar or see note on thesis requirement under English Department Guidelines.

ENGL 499 Directed Study

In consultation with the department and with approval of the chair, students may undertake a directed study program in an approved area of interest, which is not available through other course offerings. Three or six credits.