In this introductory university writing course, students will develop their abilities in critical reading and thinking, analysis, and clear written expression. Students will read, analyze, and respond in writing to various texts and topics. They will apply a multi-step writing process to a series of writing projects, including a research paper. This course will also introduce students to research methods, including finding, evaluating, integrating, and documenting sources.

Level: UG

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS, WRIT

Students will apply the principles of effective reading, writing, and thinking in a variety of assignments intended to prepare them for the practical demands of working as educational assistants. They will develop personal and professional literacy skills, both generally and for application in the workplace.

Level: UG

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will engage in writing-intensive activities as they explore literary texts related to a topic selected by the course instructor. Students will also learn to analyze literature through close reading, informed discussion, and formal writing.

Level: UG

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS, WI

Students will engage in writing-intensive activities as they analyze the conventions of poetry, drama, and fiction in selected literary texts. They will apply skills of literary analysis to literature through close reading, informed discussion, and formal writing.

Level: UG

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS, WI

Students will study select film, television and online narratives, ranging from mainstream and independent cinema to network and web television, as well as personal blogs and story-telling sites. This course may also include the analysis of cinematic and digital adaptations of poetic, dramatic, or fictional works of literature. Students will develop critical reading and writing skills by analysing film, television and digital media narratives through classroom discussion and written assignments.

Level: UG

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS, WI

Students will develop their critical reading, writing, and thinking skills while furthering their research and argumentation abilities. They will engage in the critical analysis of different forms of writing, such as essays, articles, and narratives from a selection of disciplines. Topics will reflect current issues across the Social Sciences and the Humanities, and students will write at least one major research paper.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 3 credits of English at the 1100 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Mythology has often been a source and an inspiration for writers. From the Middle Ages to the present, tales, characters, and plots from myths and legends continue to live on. In this course, we will read a selection of mythological and biblical narratives before exploring the ways that these narratives have been received and reimagined in modern literature and culture. We will also find time to survey some of the afterlives of mythology in the products of contemporary popular culture, such as movies and comic books.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will develop key reading strategies while exploring and applying a variety of critical approaches to works of literature. Each version of the course will identify a major literary work as a main object of discussion, analysis, and interpretation. The main text and the critical approaches studied will vary by instructor. Note: This course is strongly recommended for students intending to Major or Minor in English.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher.

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Digital technologies have changed the ways we produce, consume, and share information. This course explores multimedia writing and research strategies in both theory and practice. Through an engagement with digital content — which could include podcasts, film, music, tweets, and blog posts — students will build skills in media analysis, visual rhetoric, multimedia composition, and online research and citation.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and any 1200-level ENGL course

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS, WI

Stories – oral, written, re-written, and re-claimed – have shaped the territories we currently call Canada. Spanning the history of this land to the present day, this course will explore how writers and storytellers have mapped this place through language and sought to define, challenge, and re-imagine Canadian identity. We will examine texts from a variety of genres, time periods, and geographies to answer questions such as: what stories do we know about Canada? What stories are missing or disavowed? And, what happens when we start telling different stories?

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will read literature outside of the Euro-American canon in order to expand their understanding of what literature encompasses and to explore the narratives, identities, borders, and biases that formulate our worldviews. By critically analyzing literary and cultural texts in English (or translation) from at least three regions around the world and from a variety of genres, students will refine their literary analysis and research skills and practice cross-cultural engagement. While developing a greater appreciation of the field of World Literature, students will study diverse forms of expression and will consider issues such as colonialism and imperialism.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study representative American literature drawn primarily from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from a variety of genres. They will focus on major figures and themes in American literature and will respond to these works through discussion and written assignments.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher.

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study representative works of literature that demonstrate the scope and depth of the comic voice. They will focus on the theory, conventions, and practice of comedy. Students will respond to these works through discussion and written assignments.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher.

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

What does it mean to live in an increasingly interconnected world? In such a world, how can one country form its own literary identity? These questions loomed large for the people of Britain during the medieval and Renaissance periods, who were grappling with rapid social change, the aftermath of a global pandemic, and a fraught political and economic landscape. In this course, we will consider these questions through surveying a broad selection of medieval and Renaissance literary works. Through these texts, we will explore such topics as the fate of the soul, the power of language, desire and romance, exploration, justice, and the supernatural.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

What is the relationship between power and culture? With the dawn of the Age of Reason, increased colonial expansion, and a growing interest in individual rights, British literature underwent dramatic transformations. Experimentations with form in every literary genre brought new opportunities for imagining and challenging Britain’s role as a world power. In this course, we will consider the impact cultural changes had on the aesthetic and formal transformations that occurred across more than three centuries of literary works. Through analysis of literary texts published since 1660, we will explore such topics as industrialization and nostalgia, the supernatural, the enfranchisement of women and enslaved people, imperial power, religious crisis, and changing expressions of sexuality.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Poems, with their patterns, get in our bodies and stay with us. Through the combined effects of form and content, poems make meaning for us to play with, parse, and challenge. In this course, we will study how poems from different times and socio-cultural contexts work, paying attention to how they look on the page, sound out loud, engage with convention, and reflect and shape their readers and the world around them.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Dramatic performance may be ephemeral, but we can read its script anytime we want. In this course, reading these written records is exactly what we’ll do. We’ll notice how dramatic texts meant for performance envision where actors will place their bodies and how they’ll say their lines, how real people will represent imaginary people, and how performed actions will represent real actions. These texts lay out the strategies that groups of collaborating artists, including actors, directors, set designers, and costume makers, use to turn the stage into a world for audiences. We will read plays from many times and places and let these words—which are both left over from past performances and ready to make new ones—transport us into the worlds they create again each time someone revisits them.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study various fictional forms. They will study works from a wide variety of genres such as romance, realism, science fiction or fantasy, the mystery or gothic novel, the modern, postmodern, or cyberpunk novel, drawn from different times and different socio-cultural contexts.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200-level or higher.

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Aliens. Sorcerers. Time travel. Mythic quests. Why do these motifs recur in the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy? In this course, we will survey a range of historical and contemporary Science Fiction and/or Fantasy texts written over a period of at least a century in order to trace the literary development of these speculative and fantastical writings. We will learn to identify and write about genre conventions from a variety of critical perspectives with an eye toward deciphering the socio-cultural messages intertwined in the arts of worldbuilding and speculation. The texts will cover multiple historical periods and may be drawn from several forms such as novels, short stories, graphic novels, pulp magazines, films, TV, or digital narratives.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will survey a selection of graphic novels and/or comic book literature from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In addition to studying developments in the medium of comics and exploring the unique formal properties of graphic novels and comic book literature, students will consider the position of graphic novels and serialized comics within world literature and popular culture.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study select films from the silent era to the present day, paying particular attention to the formal elements of film as a narrative art form. They will focus on representative films from different historical periods and genres and will respond to these films through discussion and written assignments.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher.

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study select film adaptations of classic works of literature. In addition to exploring the relationship between literature and film, they will consider what makes a work of literature a classic and what is involved in translating these works from one medium to another.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) ENGL 1100 and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will undertake a survey of literature written for and read by children and young adults spanning at least a century to understand how children’s literature developed over time. They will apply relevant critical and theoretical perspectives to this literature.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) ENGL 1100 and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

This course will familiarize students with the development of fairy tales and folklore through history, across geographical places and cultures, and in modern adaptations. Students will examine the interrelationship between media, technology, and popular literature through a number of critical approaches to fairy tales and folklore. While the focus of the course will be on literary texts, instructors may include visual texts such as films.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Critical theory is an approach to humanities and social sciences that seeks to understand and explain how forces like power, conflict, and language shape societies, literatures, and social lives. It is a key tool used by scholars to interpret literary works and to connect their analyses to broad questions about these forces. In this course, we will study representative works from select theoretical schools, such as Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Postcolonial Theory, while attending to how these ideas developed in philosophical and aesthetic thought from the Classical period forward. Students will learn how theorists critique and challenge ideologies and power structures in culture and society by analyzing critical texts and excerpts of literature, film, or media.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Stories were foundational to building, complicating, and resisting Canada before 1900. These stories were diverse, including the oral stories and histories that have been passed down in Indigenous nations and communities since time immemorial, the personal accounts of immigration and hardship that characterized settlement, and the sweeping cultural narratives of expansion that fuelled colonization. Through a close engagement with key literary texts — which could include poetry, prose, speeches, and oral stories — we will examine competing identities, values, and goals associated with the establishment of Canada and consider how stories can help to build nations.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Canadian "multiculturalism" is critically debated in Canadian literature. Together, we will unpack this defining yet contested national characteristic in relationship to Canadian literature spanning the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The course will focus on major figures, critical theories, and historical developments like the passing of 1988’s Official Multiculturalism Act. We will respond to works from multiple genres with an emphasis on themes of identity, racialization, (de)colonization, and intersectionality.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Literature from the territories we currently call Canada has evolved and diversified alongside changing social, cultural, and political landscapes. This course will explore Canadian literature from 1900 to present day through a close engagement with key literary texts, which could include fiction, poetry, film, speeches, and drama. We will examine how writers and storytellers grapple with geographical differences, respond to national and global conflicts, articulate relationships with the natural world, and re-imagine Canadian history and culture in ways that have — and continue to — define, challenge, and expand Canadian national identity.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students study Canadian drama in English written primarily after 1967. They examine the relationship between form and content in a selection of dramatic works from different decades, regions, and cultures. Students respond critically to these plays through discussion, written assignments, and at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material. They undertake informal or formal stagings of portions of these dramatic works, and/or performance analysis, as appropriate.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL

Attribute: ARTS

Film theory formally began in the 1920s and is an evolving framework of scholarly approaches developed to analyze film. In this course, we will study select topics chosen from the history of film theory to understand film’s changing relationship to reality, art, spectatorship, and society. Theoretical frameworks may include, but are not restricted to, silent film theory, auteurism, feminist/psychoanalytic theory, third world cinema, genre film, queer theory, and post-cinema/digital cinema. We will consider theories in their historical, cultural, and political contexts and learn to analyze and apply critical and theoretical perspectives to select films from the silent era to the present day.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

The United States formally declared its national independence on July 4th, 1776, but whether it had a distinct national culture reflected in its literature was an issue that preceded nationhood and remained contested throughout the nineteenth century. From the colonial period through the Revolutionary era, the crisis of the Civil War, and the dashed hopes of post-war Reconstruction, the development of American literature to 1900 responded to and shaped debates about national identity. In this course, we will explore how literature contributed to cultural negotiations over the meaning of "America," whether by celebrating the spirit of the nation or by amplifying the diverse voices that traced the country's failures in living up to its founding values.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

The United States after 1900 is a country becoming a world power, but it is also a place where authors increasingly question traditional American myths, like the American Dream. It is a time of growing social movements that challenge traditional beliefs about race, class, gender, and sexuality. New literary movements, such as Modernism and Post-Modernism, tried to capture the complexities of contemporary society, while many writers fought to give voice to the diverse experiences and identities that make up American culture. Focusing on selected works that may include poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction, we will analyze post-1900 American literature through a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Despite the Declaration of Independence's promises of liberty and equality, many Americans have had their rights curtailed due to racial discrimination. Racialized authors in the U.S., however, have produced vibrant literary traditions that fight against such discrimination, speak back to oppressive racist power structures, and give expression to their unique cultures. In this course, we will read literature, criticism, and theory dealing with issues of race in America, with a focus on works by racialized writers.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

This course aims to introduce students to a selection of literary works (myths, epics, poems, novels and plays) in translation across various cultural, national and linguistic boundaries. The course will focus on analyzing world literature from a global/comparative perspective in relation to their socio-cultural, historical, and political context. Reflecting the depth and diversity of various cultures, the texts in this course are studied in English translations.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including 6 credits from courses in ENGL

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study the diverse ways in which Shakespeare’s plays speak to contemporary audiences through adaptations, appropriations and afterlives in television, film and literature. In addition to exploring the relationship between theatre, film, television and literature, they will consider the unique place that Shakespeare occupies in world literature and what is involved in translating his plays from one medium to another.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits from courses in ENGL

Attribute: ARTS

Students will undertake an extensive study of the works of one or two major authors of literature in English. Emphasis will be placed on taking the time to grasp thoroughly the writers’ perspectives, concerns, and ideas as well as their development and influence. Students may also explore the cultural conversation revealed by comparing the work of two complementary or contrasting writers.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

From the collapse of the Roman Empire at the end of the fifth century to the upheaval of the fifteenth-century Wars of the Roses, the people of medieval Britain experienced wave after wave of foreign invasion, plague, and political unrest. Through the chaos, however, medieval Britain saw a vibrant period of literary innovation that allowed its people to understand and tell stories about themselves and their realities in new ways. In this course, we will analyze a selection of literary texts from medieval Britain and its global contexts that focus around a specific theme, such as rebellion, the supernatural, gender and sexuality, or the environment. Along the way, we will consider the production and reception of these literary works in a multicultural and multilingual Britain, as well as their legacies in our current moment.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attribute: ARTS

Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in fourteenth-century England in the midst of plague, the Peasant's Revolt, the Hundred Years War, and other social upheavals of the late Middle Ages, processed and reflected this tumult in The Canterbury Tales. In this course, we will explore the way Chaucer engages with the world around him through this series of funny, tragic, magical, and harrowing stories, as well as selections from his other works and those of others who inspired or respond to him. We will consider these works in their historical, cultural, and literary contexts and consider a number of themes, including social class, gender and sexuality, religion, the tradition of courtly love, and global connections.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study influential texts that have helped shape Western culture, imagination, and intellectual history. They will read texts drawn from philosophical, political, scientific, religious, and literary discourses. Students will respond to these works through discussion and written assignments and will write at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

We will study the works of William Shakespeare and consider the shape of the playwright's career, his role in the development of Renaissance drama, and his enduring influence on literature and popular culture. In addition to considering the unique relationship between Shakespeare's plays in print and performance, we will engage the historical and cultural contexts of their production and reception and contend with the major themes in Shakespearean literature, such as gender, sexuality, race, family, love, authority, and violence.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

From the infancy of the commercial theatre to the aftermath of the theatres closing in 1642, influential playwrights made Renaissance drama an epicentre of creativity and cultural commentary. Shakespeare is the dominant model of authorship in the period, but our challenge is to confront and work past his shadow; this means rethinking matters of authorship, literary production, canon formation, genre, and audience. These plays come alive as we encounter opulent court life, deviant city-goers, and bloodstained hands. Note: Shakespeare is not covered in this course. Students interested in learning about Shakespeare are encouraged to take ENGL 3320.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attribute: ARTS

In this course, will explore the shifting literary terrains found in the poetry and prose of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, unearthing textual artifacts that will appear both strange and recognizable. Self-fashioning through media, humanity's relationship with the natural world, urbanization, imagined alternative futures, passionate claims of national identity, deadly illnesses upending the social order--these urgent modern issues were also explored in the Renaissance, a period of tremendous literary production and experimentation.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

In this course, we will study a selection of British literature of the "Long Eighteenth Century” (1688-1815), a period that bore witness to the consequences of imperialism and early globalization, which deeply influenced the era’s greatest writers and writings. This era experienced an explosion of print culture and literary evolution, including the emergence of the modern novel. We will explore how a variety of genres, such as the romance, the confession, the travelogue, and the Oriental tale, were interwoven into the novel’s history, while also studying works of other genres such as poetry and drama. Engaging with these works, we will explore key socio-political movements and events, including those impacting our modern understandings of race, gender, and class, that shaped the course of British literature.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Romantic literature (1750-1850) influenced and was influenced by the radical tenor of its time—from the seismic shift of the Industrial Revolution to critical issues of social justice to political upheaval on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In this course, we will study selected literary and cultural texts which helped to shape the British Romantic period. Romantic texts consider the importance of the individual, the sublimity of nature, and the mystery of the supernatural. These themes are famously found in the Romantics’ formative and groundbreaking poetry; such poetry will be united with other works of Romantic literature to uncover and highlight what defines the period. Not only will this class grapple with the meaning of and motivation behind the chosen texts, but we will also consider the production, circulation, and reception of English literature from this period.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

A founder of the modern novel, Jane Austen helped facilitate the rise of the genre—moving it from a lowly literary form to the centre of cultural consciousness. Austen’s texts meaningfully engage with early feminist ideas and critically examine the social norms of Regency publics (1780-1830). We will explore how these and other historical, political, economic, and social contexts are reflected in Austen’s works. While Austen made a considerable impression during her lifetime, the enduring effect of her texts on our contemporary media landscape is almost unrivalled. Taking up a rich blend of manuscripts, published novels, and adaptations will reveal Austen’s immense impact on literature and culture.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attribute: ARTS

Students will study literature written for and read by children and young adults with a focus on specific sub-genres and/or themes. Students will analyze primary works, which may be drawn from poetry, fiction, drama, pedagogical texts, life writing, graphic novels, and film. Materials may include Young Adult Literature, Children's Fantasy, dystopias, and/or children's and young adult fandoms.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including 6 credits from courses in ENGL

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study a range of texts and media to understand how Young Adult Literature has developed into today's forward-looking and massively popular genre. Among other topics, students will explore the roles of diversity, fandoms, and adolescent agency in coming-of-age narratives. They will apply relevant critical and theoretical perspectives to the texts studied.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher.

Attribute: ARTS

Poetry was central to how Victorians understood themselves. By capturing the spirits and stresses of its time and uplifting previously excluded voices, Victorian poetry reimagined cultural identities. In this course, we will study selected poetic works by major poets of the period and may also study texts by lesser-known writers to determine how the formal features of their works reflect thematic concerns with topics such as the duality of progress, the role of the artist and poet, or the advances of industry and empire. Line-by-line, the Victorian period’s various and profuse poetry built the cultural identities of an increasingly literate and educated audience that demanded works which mirrored their transforming understandings of class, gender, and race.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Victorian writers faced unprecedented changes in an age in which cities and industries expanded and the British empire reached its limits. The narratives that these storytellers produced for an increasingly literate audience shaped what Victorians understood about themselves and their place in this rapidly modernizing world. Selected narratives from this vibrant print culture will reveal how the period’s social upheavals and cultural transformations catalyzed literary experimentation and new genres. We will primarily focus on fiction, which could be supplemented by other genres from the period. Such texts may contend with some of the era’s pivotal themes and topics such as the impact of new technologies, the "Woman Question," the effects of Darwinism and burgeoning religious doubt, the Victorian Gothic, nation- and empire-building, and the struggle between classes.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Postcolonial studies aims to achieve a more just world. In this course, we will read literature and theory that grapple with colonialism as a global force that shapes politics and culture. At the same time, these readings will enable us to recognize traditions of anticolonial resistance as a powerful counterforce that produces change. In studying a variety of texts from regions such as the Caribbean, Africa, and South Asia, we will consider literary practices that can transform our world.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Moving to new and unfamiliar places changes our identities, our traditions, and our connections to our communities. It forces us to seek out new forms of belonging even as we remain attached to what we, our parents, or our ancestors left behind. In this course, we will read diasporic literature or literature that contends with migration and separation from one’s homeland. We will consider literature that responds to the political, socio-cultural, and personal consequences of no longer being “at home.”

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study literary works and their cinematic interpretations. They will focus on film adaptations of literary works drawn from a variety of genres, periods, and cultures. Students will respond to these works through discussion and written assignments, and will write at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study literary works by Modernist writers in English. Students will focus on literature that reflects the political, moral, philosophical, and psychological concerns of the first half of the twentieth century. They will consider the aesthetic innovations that emerged in response to the complexities of the modern period. Students will write at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

The period 1900-1950 was a time of momentous social and political change as Britain left the relative stability of the Victorian period to enter a period of disruption and dislocation resulting from—among other things—two devastating world wars and the loss of empire. In this course, we will explore the interplay between these changes in British literary culture and broader social and cultural transformations. Literature selections may include writers from former colonies and other expatriates writing in the British Isles.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Embodied. Collaborative. Happening now. Dramatic texts written for performance are all of these things, and when we study plays together in this course, we will bring them to life in our collective presence. We will read plays from the period of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to see how characters’ actions create worlds, how characters also develop through their endeavours with others and their environments, and how environments are often characters in their own right.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Poems are like spells, experiences that can leave you enchanted and even transformed. This course showcases reading poetry as an embodied and social experience—not just a struggle with intimidating riddles that we often associate with the poem. We will read poems drawn from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, paying attention to what kind of poetic work they do in their contexts and in the context of our classroom reading community.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attribute: ARTS

Students will study British fiction since 1945. They will study literature in its socio-historical context with respect to issues such as class, gender, individual and communal identities, and changing demographics. Students will respond to these works through discussion and written assignments, and they will write at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Women have always been active participants in the writerly sphere, but for hundreds of years their works were erased, pirated, minimized, and dismissed. This course centres literary and cultural texts written by women, with particular attention to the diversity and uniqueness of their subject positions. We will define the idea of womanhood broadly and consider it critically—with particular attention to sociohistorical and cultural constructions of gender and sexuality, historical conceptions of gender, intersectionality, and gender essentialism. The selected course texts may curate women’s writing from a distinct historical period, on a specific literary tradition, or in response to a chosen theme. We will examine how women’s identities, creativity, and experiences shaped and were shaped by literary, political, social, and cultural institutions.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Nature has often formed a background to human-centred concerns in literature. However, in response to climate change and other environmental crises, many contemporary writers and scholars reconsider and renegotiate human relationships to the natural environment. Instead of as setting or metaphor, nature often appears as a physical reality that humans belong to and seek to understand through creative engagement. In this course, we will explore the connections between literature and the natural environment, with a particular emphasis on the many innovative ideas and directions emerging in literary scholarship and the Environmental Humanities.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attribute: ARTS

Students will study the history and development of Hollywood cinema from the silent era to the present day, focusing on film as a narrative art form. The main aims of the course are to situate Hollywood cinema within changing social, historical and cultural contexts and to trace the influence of important technological developments and competing aesthetic and commercial interests upon Hollywood film.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Life is messy. What happens when writers try to sort it out or represent its messiness for readers? In this course, we will study life writing. This nonfiction writing recounts aspects that make up a person’s life, like experiences, memories, and perspectives. Despite this categorization as nonfiction, accounts of lives inevitably have complicated relationships with truth. While life writing can cross the border between fiction and nonfiction and can take many forms, such as letters, journals, memoirs, poems, or biographies, what unites the genre is the idea that readers will glimpse the sometimes-intimate details of another person.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study works of popular writing and culture. They will analyze the primary texts in relation to literary criticism and/or theory, examining how these primary works reinforce or challenge dominant ideology, the conventions of genre, and mainstream cultural, social, political, and aesthetic values. Students will respond to these works through discussion and written assignments and will write at least one major research paper that incorporates critical source material.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100-level or higher, including 6 credits of ENGL at the 1100-level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Horror elicits disgust, fear, but also fascination. Though its roots are in Gothic literature, works of horror has grown into a distinct and evolving field of study. In this course, we will study horror to discover why it is still a pervasive genre in popular culture despite the desire of many to dismiss it as 'low art'. We will explore the pull of such narratives and learn how works of horror demonstrate a unique capacity to endorse or critique the social, political, religious, and cultural norms of their times historically and contemporarily.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100 and 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attribute: ARTS

Since time immemorial, Indigenous stories have been central to social, cultural, and political life on the territories we now call North America. Through a close engagement with key texts, we will explore the relationships between Indigenous storytelling and topics such as history, gender, identity, resistance, (de)colonization, self-determination, and the more-than-human world. Together, students, instructors, and guests will consider how Indigenous critical perspectives, methodologies, and stories can promote different ways of knowing and inform our work within and beyond the classroom.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) 18 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including ENGL 1100, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 1200 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

What does the study of English look like in an age of open access, virtual spaces, and knowledge proliferation, the core elements of the digital humanities? In this course, we will engage this question by mobilizing literary knowledge in digital and public contexts. We will synthesize theories of writing and editing, critique scholarly practices, curate digital artifacts, and create a major project to be showcased at an open scholarship event. We will engage with disciplinary debates in the rich and robust field of digital humanities, and digital literary studies in particular, and foster the skills necessary for us to participate meaningfully in public scholarship both within and beyond the university classroom. Note: Students would benefit from some knowledge of the digital humanities, such as the learning covered in ENGL 2300, and/or be confident using basic digital tools and resources.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 45 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including 6 credits from courses in ENGL at the 3000 level

Attribute: ARTS

In this course, we will study a particular topic in film studies, such as a theme, a filmmaker, a genre, or a time period, as selected by the instructor. We will analyze the topic and films from a selection of relevant critical perspectives. Seminar students will actively engage in the learning community of the classroom by giving and responding to presentations on the topic at hand. Students may take part in a symposium. In addition to attending class regularly, students may be required to attend scheduled film screenings outside of regular class time. See the English Department website for past, current, and future topics. Note: Students may take this course more than once for credit, provided the topic is different. Students are expected to have some knowledge of the critical language of film studies. If they do not, they should consult with the instructor before registering for this course.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 45 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, and 6 credits from courses in ENGL at the 3000 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

In this course, we will explore and engage with the instructional side of English, beginning with the history and development of English as a discipline specializing in the teaching of reading, writing, and rhetoric. Students will gain practical experience planning lessons, creating teaching materials, and developing teaching strategies for use in the English classroom. Students will also plan and deliver two short lesson modules in first-year English classes under the supervision of English faculty.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 45 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, including 6 credits from courses in ENGL at the 3000 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study a topic (or topics) in Canadian literature in one or more genres as chosen by the instructor. They will trace this topic through several texts, discussing it in the broader context of Canadian literature and culture and considering it from various theoretical perspectives. In addition to continuing to develop their own ability to analyze, discuss, and write about individual texts, students will also read relevant literary criticism and will write at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material. Notes: The specific topic for this course will be available on the English department website when the course is being offered. Students may take this course more than once, provided that both the instructor and the topic are different.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 3000 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will study topics related to the literature of the United States, which may include the pre-national period. Students will analyze primary works, which may be drawn from various genres (e.g. poetry, fiction, drama, sermons, personal essays, aboriginal writing, life writing). They will read recent scholarship of primary works, as well as literary and cultural theory relevant to the selected topic. This may include a consideration of the relationship between the political categories of race, gender, and class and the themes, characters, events, and language of the works studied, as well as newer approaches such as transnational approaches to American literature. Students will engage with the topics through integrative study of materials that contextualize the primary literature, in-class presentations, discussion, and written assignments. They will write at least one research essay that incorporates current critical responses to the literature under consideration.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 3000 level or higher

Attribute: ARTS

Students will study a selection of British literature through a topic chosen by their instructor. They will explore and develop this topic through a selection of primary and secondary material, including scholarly critical resources. Students will discover how the topic alters, deepens, or problematizes our understanding of British literature, history, and culture. In addition to developing their own ability to analyze, discuss, and write about primary texts, students will also read relevant literary criticism and will write at least one research paper that incorporates critical source material.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 3 credits from courses in ENGL at 3000 level or higher

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

In this seminar course, we will engage in the study of a particular topic in literary studies as selected by the instructor. We will analyze the topic from a selection of relevant critical perspectives, engaging with literary and cultural theory. Seminar students will actively engage in the learning community of the classroom by giving and responding to presentations on the topic at hand. Students may take part in a symposium. Note: Students may take this course more than once for credit, provided that the topic is different. See the English Department website for past, current, and future topics.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): 45 credits from courses at the 1100 level or higher, and 6 credits from courses in ENGL at the 3000 level

Attributes: ASTR, ARTS

Students will propose, develop, and create a thesis project on an original research question while working closely with an English faculty supervisor who has expertise in the area. The thesis will be a written research essay of substantial length (approximately 5000 words) or a research project of equivalent length designed in consultation with the supervisor. Students will share their honours thesis project in a public presentation. Note: For more information on the Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Major in English program and the Honours Thesis Project option, please see the English Department website. Only declared Honours students are eligible to take ENGL 4990. Students must approach a potential supervisor before the semester begins.

Level: UG

Prerequisite(s): All of (a) ENGL 3300 or ENGL 3305, and (b) 3 credits from courses in ENGL at the 4000 level

Attribute: ARTS