Undergraduate Program

Fall Term Schedule for Undergraduate Courses

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Fall 2026

Number	Title	Instructor	Time
ENGL 112-01 Classical and Scriptual Backgrounds Steven Rozenski MW 11:50AM - 1:05PM
Homer, Virgil, and Ovid. Greek tragedy and comedy: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. The Hebrew Bible -- Abraham and Isaac, Moses and Pharaoh, Esther and Judith -- and Christianity's New Testament. The two great traditions studied in this introductory course -- classical and Biblical -- have been pondered by generations of writers and artists for thousands of years. A great deal of literary history is the story of intricately rewriting and adapting the core texts of these traditions; it has been said that the European philosophical tradition is a series of footnotes to Plato. While doing justice to any one of these authors or traditions in a single semester would be a challenge, the goal of this class is to read as much as possible of the classical and scriptural tradition in the short time we have, giving you a solid introduction to some of the key stories and ideas that have generated so much thought, conflict, and human creativity over the past two dozen centuries. First-years welcome! Location (MW 11:50AM - 1:05PM)
ENGL 113-01 British Literature I Gregory Heyworth MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
An introductory study of early British literature, its forms and themes, and the development of our literary tradition. Location (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 115-01 Introduction to American Literature Christian Wessels TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM
Significant achievements by American writers of poetry, fiction, and other prose in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A survey of American literature in English from its origins in early colonial writing through the late-twentieth century. We will study how American literature developed, and in doing so, look at the formation of national identities, attending to dynamic forces of cultural and political influence. We will consider questions of aesthetic and formal development, community formation, race and ethnicity, gender, and power—each as factors in the construction of American literary traditions. By the end of this course, students will be familiar with major authors, periods, and movements throughout the history of American literature. Assigned readings will feature a range of authors, including Toni Morrison, Herman Melville, T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Wallace Stevens, Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner, and Frederick Douglass. Location (TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 117-01 Intro to the Art of Film Jason Middleton TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
As an introduction to the art of film, this course will present the concepts of film form, film aesthetics, and film style, while remaining attentive to the various ways in which cinema also involves an interaction with audiences and larger social structures. Location (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 121-01 Creative Writing: Fiction David Hansen M 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Writing fiction is a way to stay sane and be interesting. In this class, you’ll read weird stories, write a lot, and exchange work with each other. I’ll give you stories by Joy Williams, Donald Barthelme, Lydia Davis, Edward P. Jones, and other excellent weirdos. We’ll talk about how to make interesting characters, eventful plots, and emotionally resonant moments; how to have good taste; the unimportance of literary principles; how to write when you don’t feel like it; the necessity of paying close attention to your life; and lots of other things. Contact dhansen9@ur.rochester.edu for more info. Location (M 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 121-02 Creative Writing: Fiction David Hansen T 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Writing fiction is a way to stay sane and be interesting. In this class, you’ll read weird stories, write a lot, and exchange work with each other. I’ll give you stories by Joy Williams, Donald Barthelme, Lydia Davis, Edward P. Jones, and other excellent weirdos. We’ll talk about how to make interesting characters, eventful plots, and emotionally resonant moments; how to have good taste; the unimportance of literary principles; how to write when you don’t feel like it; the necessity of paying close attention to your life; and lots of other things. Contact dhansen9@ur.rochester.edu for more info. Location (T 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 121-03 Creative Writing: Fiction David Hansen R 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Writing fiction is a way to stay sane and be interesting. In this class, you’ll read weird stories, write a lot, and exchange work with each other. I’ll give you stories by Joy Williams, Donald Barthelme, Lydia Davis, Edward P. Jones, and other excellent weirdos. We’ll talk about how to make interesting characters, eventful plots, and emotionally resonant moments; how to have good taste; the unimportance of literary principles; how to write when you don’t feel like it; the necessity of paying close attention to your life; and lots of other things. Contact dhansen9@ur.rochester.edu for more info. Location (R 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 122-01 Creative Writing: Poetry Christian Wessels M 4:50PM - 7:30PM
An introductory course in the art of writing poetry. In addition to reading and writing poems, students will learn about various essential elements of craft such as image, metaphor, line, syntax, rhyme, and meter. The course will be conducted in a workshop format. Location (M 4:50PM - 7:30PM)
ENGL 122-02 Creative Writing: Poetry Christian Wessels W 4:50PM - 7:30PM
An introductory course in the art of writing poetry. In addition to reading and writing poems, students will learn about various essential elements of craft such as image, metaphor, line, syntax, rhyme, and meter. The course will be conducted in a workshop format. Location (W 4:50PM - 7:30PM)
ENGL 131-01 Reporting and Writing the News Dave Andreatta TR 4:50PM - 6:05PM
A laboratory course on the fundamentals of gathering, assessing, and writing news. The course emphasizes accuracy and presentation, and explores a variety of story structures, from hard news to features and columns. This course will be taught by David Andreatta. If you have any questions please contact him at dandreat@ur.rochester.edu Location (TR 4:50PM - 6:05PM)
ENGL 134-01 Public Speaking Curt Smith TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM
Basic public speaking is the focus. Emphasis is placed on researching speeches, using appropriate language and delivery, and listening critically to oral presentations. ENG 134 contains two quizzes, a final exam, and four speeches to be given by the student. The speeches include a tribute, persuasive, explanatory, and problem-solving address. Material also features video and inaugural addresses of past U.S. presidents. The course utilizes instructor Curt Smith’s experience as a former White House presidential speechwriter and as a Smithsonian Institution series host. Updated title 4.15.20 -CS Location (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)
ENGL 135-01 Intro to Debate Brady Fletcher TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
The purpose of this course is to give students an appreciation for and knowledge of critical thinking and reasoned decision-making through argumentation. Students will research both sides of a topic, write argument briefs, and participate in formal and informal debates. Students will also be exposed to the major paradigms used in judging debates. Location (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 161-01 Introduction to Video Art Pirooz Kalayeh MW 2:00PM - 4:40PM
This course introduces the basic aesthetic and technical elements of video production. Emphasis is on the creative use and understanding of the video medium while learning to use the video camera, video editing processes and the fundamental procedures of planning video projects. Strategies for the use of video as an art-making tool will be explored. Works by artists and directors critically exploring media of film and video will be viewed and discussed. Video techniques will be studied through screenings, group discussions, readings, practice sessions and presentations of original video projects made during the course. Sophomores and Juniors with officially declared FMS and SA majors are given priority registration; followed by sophomores and juniors with officially declared FMS and SA minors. Studio arts supplies fee: $78. To be added to the rolling waiting list, please contact Pirooz Kalayeh at pkalayeh@ur.rochester.edu Location (MW 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 205-01 Dante's Divine Comedy I Donatella Stocchi-Perucchio MW 3:25PM - 4:40PM
The first of a two-course sequence, this class approaches The Divine Comedy both as a poetic masterpiece and as an encyclopedia of medieval culture. Through close textual analysis of Inferno and the first half of Purgatorio, students learn to approach Dante’s poetry as a vehicle for thought, an instrument of self-discovery, and a means to understand and engage with historical reality. The course also provides insight into Biblical, Christian, and Classical traditions as they intersect with Dante’s wide-ranging concerns, spanning literature, history, politics, government, philosophy, and theology. A visual component, including illustrations of the Comedy and other artworks related to the narrative, complements the study of the text. Classes combine lectures, discussion, and a weekly recitation session, with intensive participation strongly encouraged. Dante I may be taken independently of Dante II. No prerequisites; freshmen are welcome. Part of the Dante Humanities Cluster. Location (MW 3:25PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 206-01 Studies in Medieval Literature (Magic Language) Sarah Higley TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM
Varying topics relating to the literature and culture of the Middle Ages. The properties of letters and numbers have been associated with the occult from ancient times on. This course will explore the creative development of this concept from Greek and Hebrew thought in medieval and early modern traditions where language served to hide, protect, conjure, and transform: the letters of the Paternoster that defeat the devil, Odin’s Mead of Poetry, Taliesin’s aretalogies, Germanic runes, riddles, charms, loricae, spells, ciphers (the indecipherable Voynich Manuscript, the banned Steganography by Trithemius of Sponheim), magic and foreign alphabets, deific languages (the Irish “Evernew Tongue”), glossolalia, demonic languages, invented languages (Hildegard of Bingen’s Lingua Ignota), John Dee’s “language of the angels,” Enochian,” adopted by Aleister Crowley for his “Order of the Golden Dawn.” I want to discover what properties in language do more than just signify. Exercises, creative projects, and a final research paper. Location (TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM)
ENGL 209W-01 Performance Studies Anna Rosensweig TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
This course examines the interdisciplinary field of Performance Studies. Situated at the intersection of anthropology, communications, rhetoric, and theater, this field helps us to understand the complex relationships between social and aesthetic modes of performance. Topics will include speech-acts and performativity; performances of gender and race; archives and repertoires; theatricality; spectatorship; and regimes of performance in spheres such as economics and athletics. Readings include: J.L. Austin, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida, Saidiya Hartman, Peggy Phelan, Rebecca Schneider, Hortense Spillers, and Diana Taylor. This course is conducted in English. Location (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 210-01 Shakespeare Rosemary Kegl MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM
A selection of the works of William Shakespeare. Please see public notes for this semesters specific focus. This class explores the full range of Shakespeare's theater, including examples of comedies, history plays, tragedies, and “romances.” We approach the plays from many angles, looking at their stark and extravagant language; their invention of complex conflicted human characters; their self-conscious references to contemporary stage practices; and their meditations on death, love, politics, power, and revenge. We learn about the literary and theatrical conventions that would have been second nature to Shakespeare and his audience over 400 years ago and consider how Renaissance stage practices might help us to better understand his plays and better appreciate why Renaissance audiences found them so compelling. When possible, we consult video of recent staged productions. This course is appropriate for all students, from those in their first semester at the university to senior English majors. No restrictions or prerequisites; all are welcome. It fulfills the pre-1800 literature, the dramatic literature, the pre-1800 dramatic literature, and the 200-level literature requirements for various English major and minor tracks, and it satisfies a requirement in two English Clusters (Great Books, Great Authors; Plays, Playwrights, and Theater). Location (MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM)
ENGL 221-01 Nineteenth-Century British Literature (Victorian Bodies) Supritha Rajan TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
British literature of the Victorian period (1830-1900), including prose, drama, and poetry. This topics course can be repeated (2 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. Please see public notes for specific section titles and course descriptions. This course examines the various ways in which “the body” was represented in Victorian literature. Much like today, the body in the Victorian period was not just understood as a physiological or biological entity but a social and aesthetic one. At a time of increasing democracy and revolt, the “body” was sometimes seen as a threat to established hierarchies and controls, whether political, sexual, or aesthetic—the working class bodies smeared in coal and dust revolting in cities, the racialized bodies of slaves and imperial subjects in the colonies, the sexualized bodies of women at home or strolling through urban streets, the body as a site of erotic and aesthetic pleasure, and the vampiric body. These varied understandings of the body, whether individual or collective, often overlapped with biological understandings of the body: was the body of the working classes, the African slave, or the female body somehow structured in ways that are distinct from the body of the upper-class Englishman? If the body is a source of pleasure and pain, how central is bodily experience to the pleasure we take in art? How can erotic desire, rooted in bodies, be controlled and normalized to fit heterosexual norms of sexuality and family? In considering how writers of the Victorian period engaged with these questions and represented the body, the course will examine a range of authors, from Charles Dickens, Friedrich Engels, and Elizabeth Gaskell to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sheridan Le Fanu. The course is open to freshmen and has no prerequisites. It fulfills the post-1800 requirement for literature and creative writing majors in the English department. Location (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 229-01 Comparative Media Ur Staff TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
What can we learn from comparing different mediums to one another? In this course, we will examine two or more mediums to understand how they converge and diverge, which has become an urgent task in a digital world in which all media are reduced to “content.” Do moving-image media—film, television, video, animation, gaming—work in different ways aesthetically and emotionally than mediums such as painting, sculpture, comics, printmaking, and/or photography? How has the rise of cinema and television affected how novels are written? How do adaptations navigate the relationship between mediums, and what are the different ways in which one medium represents—or remediates—another medium within itself? By engaging with such questions, this course offers students the chance to explore the distinctive affordances of a range of media, and to think about the degree to which what we express is influenced by how we express it. Location (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 230-01 American Literature (American Fiction Since 1980) Stephen Schottenfeld MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
Varying topics relating to the literature and culture of the United States. Please see public notes for specific section titles and course descriptions. This topics course can be repeated (4 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. A study of the recent decades of American fiction. We will examine a wide range of short stories and novels by contemporary authors, and we will track the key aesthetic and thematic trajectories of the past 45 years. Possible author list: Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, David Foster Wallace, Denis Johnson, Cormac McCarthy, Edward P. Jones, George Saunders, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kelly Link, Susan Choi, Alice Munro, Colson Whitehead, and Viet Thanh Nguyen. Location (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 237-01 The Video Essay and Personal Storytelling Joel Burges R 2:00PM - 3:15PM T 2:00PM - 3:15PM
Over the past decade, the video essay has become a digital form that increasingly offers makers a critical and creative means of self-expression. In this course, you will learn how to make a video essay, focusing on personal storytelling through videographic production. Working with a media object that is personally meaningful to you—ranging from a film or television series to a video game or literary text—you will develop the aesthetic and technical skills needed to produce your own video essay by the end of the semester. While we will read theoretical work on the video essay, watch video essays by talented makers, and do some reflective writing, the course is primarily a media production workshop. The first half of the semester will be devoted to a series of videographic exercises that let you develop proficiency in Adobe Premiere Pro through close engagement with your media object. The second half of the semester will be devoted to you making a full-length video essay that uses that media object to tell a personal story. No prior skill with Adobe Premiere Pro or any other non-linear editing software is required, though it is welcome. Instructor Permission Required This course will be co-taught by Joel Burges and Pirooz Kalayeh Location (R 2:00PM - 3:15PM) (T 2:00PM - 3:15PM)
ENGL 242-01 Literary Topics Across Historical Periods (Image, Text, and Technology) Gregory Heyworth MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM
Varying topics tracing themes, ideas, or figures beyond the limits of any single historical period. Please see public notes for specific section titles and course descriptions. This topics course can be repeated (2 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. Image, Text and Technology is an interdisciplinary course in the history of the book as a textual and visual medium, an artistic object, and a technology of communication. We will treat this history not merely in the classroom, but participate in it through a series of hands-on projects. Beginning with Aristotle’s insight that we think in images, we will consider writing as bound up in a theoretical relationship with seeing (aesthetics), perceiving (phenomenology, vision, cognitive science), and historically with technologies of dissemination, both analog and digital (manuscripts, printing, photography, television, the internet). We will explore the limits and conjunctions of visual and verbal media through theoretical and scientific readings in Plato, Lessing, Benjamin, Derrida, and McLuhan, and primary texts including the Bible, the Popol Vuh, and the Precepts of Ptah Hotep. Location (MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM)
ENGL 247-01 Science Fiction Jeff Tucker MW 11:50AM - 1:05PM
With recent advances in artificial intelligence, space exploration, and molecular biology—as well as a variety of social, health, and environmental crises—life in the 21st-century is increasingly Science Fiction-like. Moreover, mainstream contemporary literature increasingly draws from Science Fiction for formal innovations and thematic insights. This course focuses on the Science Fiction short story to introduce students to the history and diversity of this genre, including European literary antecedents, early 20th-century pulp fiction, the Golden Age, the New Wave, cyberpunk, Afrofuturism, and beyond. The course also features works of cultural criticism that demonstrate how the genre has addressed, often in advance, a variety of real-world topics. Course requirements include periodic one-page Reading Responses, an in-class presentation, and a formal paper, as well as class attendance and participation. Location (MW 11:50AM - 1:05PM)
ENGL 262-01 Postwar Italian Directors: Fellini, Antonioni, Cavani Andrew Korn TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM
This course explores three of Italy’s most prominent post-WWII directors, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Liliana Cavani, who developed distinct cinemas and contributed radical representations to key cultural debates. Students will examine each filmmaker’s specific thematic and stylistic innovations, such as Fellini’s carnivalesque and dreamlike states, Antonioni’s use of space and color, and Cavani’s marginal figures and use of flashback. Students will also compare how their works address three of postwar Italy’s and the West’s most critical questions: modernization, the 1968 student protests and the legacy of Fascism. Films include: Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Amarcord; Antonioni’s Red Desert and Zabriskie Point; and Cavani’s The Cannibals and The Night Porter. Assignments include: historical, biographical and critical readings, film screenings, short papers and a final essay. Readings will be in English and films will be shown with English subtitles. Location (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 264-01 Studies in a Director (Major Global Directors) Ur Staff M 4:50PM - 7:30PM
Intensive study of the body of work of a single or multiple film directors. This topics course can be repeated (2 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. Location (M 4:50PM - 7:30PM)
ENGL 266-01 Film Studies (Disaster Cinema) Brady Fletcher TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM
Topics in the study of film. Please see public notes for specific section titles and course descriptions. This topics course can be repeated (2 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. Cinemas and screens have been home to some of the most impactful representations of disaster, both fictional and non-fictional, for more than a century. From alien invasion, to nuclear detonation, to so-called "natural disasters," there are countless examples of films and television as texts where cultural anxieties about social, political, and ecological change have manifested again and again. This course will examine this broad tradition of representations of danger and destruction - from classic disaster cinema fare like Earthquake (Mark Robson, 1974) and Deluge (Felix E. Feist, 1933), to more experimental works like La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962) and Lessons of Darkness (Werner Herzog, 1992), to recent films like Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011), Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, 2013) and The Wandering Earth (Frant Gwo, 2019) - in the hopes of better understanding their history as aesthetic objects and technological achievements, as well as their cultural significance. We will also take the opportunity to question the very meaning of "disaster," often figured in images of spectacular violence but also intelligible in examples of less visible forms of violence like toxic contamination or even economic disaster. Ultimately we will reflect on the cultural and political stakes of disaster cinema in an era of ongoing social and ecological crisis. Location (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)
ENGL 267-04 Intro to Literary Publishing Chad Post MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
This course doubles as an internship at Open Letter Books (no need to apply for an internship separately) and focuses on explaining the basics of the business of literary publishing: editing, marketing, promoting, fundraising, e-books, the future of bookselling, etc. Literature in translation is emphasized in this class, and all the topics covered tie in with the various projects interns work on for Open Letter Books. Location (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 275-01 Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction Stephen Schottenfeld M 2:00PM - 4:40PM
This workshop is for advanced fiction writers who have completed ENG 121 or have permission from the instructor. The course emphasizes the development of each student's individual style and imagination, as well as the practical and technical concerns of a fiction writer's craft. Readings will be drawn from a wide variety of modern and contemporary writers. Students will be expected to write three original short stories as well as to revise extensively in order to explore the full range of the story's potential. Applicable English Cluster: Creative Writing. Location (M 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 277-01 Topics in Screenwriting (Scriptwriting: TV Writing) Pirooz Kalayeh T 11:05AM - 1:45PM
Varrying topics in screenwriting and scriptwriting. This topics course can be repeated (2 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. Please see public notes for specific section titles and course descriptions. Get an overview of what’s happening in scripted television today as you find ways to refine your own pilot and series idea for the market. There is a plethora of new and exciting shows being released in this current television era. For a new writer, the sheer number of genres and the type of shows can be overwhelming, and you might find yourself at a loss in determining the best way to convey the story you wish to tell. In this course you get a brief overview of some current pilots selected across genres, but demonstrate that regardless of the type, setting, and world of a show, the most successful pilots have certain structural and storytelling elements in common. You learn how to formulate and refine an idea for your own pilot script and receive advice on how to survive the inevitable rough spots you will face in a career in television. Location (T 11:05AM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 282-01 Humor Writing Melissa Balmain Weiner W 3:25PM - 6:05PM
What makes The Onion funny? How about the likes of Tina Fey, Mark Twain, Chris Rock, Jonathan Swift, Lord Byron, Mindy Kaling, Dave Barry, Demetri Martin, Ali Wong, and David Sedaris? In this course we’ll seek inspiration from some of the funniest people alive (and dead) while writing our own humor pieces. Students will have a chance to explore a variety of genres, including parodies, opinion pieces, sketches, funny features, personal narratives, and comic poems and songs; to share their work with the class; and to introduce each other to their favorite humorists. Please e-mail instructor with a paragraph describing why you would like to take the course. Location (W 3:25PM - 6:05PM)
ENGL 283-02 Topics in Journalism and Media (Longform Narratives) Jim Memmott M 3:25PM - 6:05PM
Varying topics relating to the intersections of journalism and other forms of media. Please see public notes for specific section titles and course descriptions. This topics course can be repeated (2 times) for additional credit as long as the special topic (section title) is different. Rochester is rich in stories, and throughout the course of the semester, students will look back at key moments, key issues, and key players in Rochester’s history. And students will also each build a longform story focusing on an event, a person, or a moment that shaped life in Rochester. For example, in previous semesters, one student looked at the impact of the bicycle on women’s liberation in Rochester, another examined how the garbage plate became an iconic Rochester food offering. Class discussions will also involve analyzing examples of nonfiction narratives. Location (M 3:25PM - 6:05PM)
ENGL 284A-01 Argument and Evidence Across Contexts Kate Phillips MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM
We will investigate broad models of argument and evidence from the interdisciplinary field of argumentation theory. Students will apply these models to specific academic and social contexts of their choice. Some questions we might ask are: Can argument or evidence be understood absent context? What do arguments in STEM fields have in common with those in the humanities? For instance, is there common ground in how we argue about English literature and how biologists argue about the natural world? How do audience and purpose in disciplines such as psychology, physics and philosophy shape what counts as an argument in their respective fields? Does political argument resemble academic argument? What strategies will enable experts to communicate more effectively with public audiences in fields such as public health and the environmental humanities? Students will write frequent reflections, develop several short papers, and the semester will culminate in the construction of a final project of the student’s own design (for example, a research paper, a website, a podcast…) that can focus on any aspect of academic, professional, or political argumentation. Location (MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM)
ENGL 285-01 Advanced Writing & Peer Tutoring Stefanie Sydelnik MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM
Prepares sophomores, juniors, and seniors enrolled in five-year programs, from the humanities, sciences, and the social sciences for work as writing fellows. Course design facilitates the development of a strong, intuitive writer and speaker in order to become a successful reader, listener and responder in peer-tutoring situations. Ample writing and rewriting experiences, practice in informal and formal speaking, and the critical reading of published essays and student work enhance students' ability to become conscious, flexible communicators. Before tutoring on their own, students observe writing fellows and writing center consultants conduct tutoring sessions. On completion of the course with a B or better, fellows should be prepared to accept their own hours as peer tutors. Prerequisites: Interested students must apply. Minimum GPA of 3.0. YOU MUST REGISTER FOR A RECITATION WHEN REGISTERING FOR THE MAIN SECTION Location (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 285-02 Advanced Writing & Peer Tutoring Stefanie Sydelnik F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
Prepares sophomores, juniors, and seniors enrolled in five-year programs, from the humanities, sciences, and the social sciences for work as writing fellows. Course design facilitates the development of a strong, intuitive writer and speaker in order to become a successful reader, listener and responder in peer-tutoring situations. Ample writing and rewriting experiences, practice in informal and formal speaking, and the critical reading of published essays and student work enhance students' ability to become conscious, flexible communicators. Before tutoring on their own, students observe writing fellows and writing center consultants conduct tutoring sessions. On completion of the course with a B or better, fellows should be prepared to accept their own hours as peer tutors. Prerequisites: Interested students must apply. Minimum GPA of 3.0. YOU MUST REGISTER FOR A RECITATION WHEN REGISTERING FOR THE MAIN SECTION Location (F 12:00PM - 12:50PM)
ENGL 287-03 Studies in Translation Rachel O'Donnell M 2:00PM - 4:40PM
This course introduces students to the theoretical foundations, practical challenges, and creative possibilities of literary translation. We will examine how translators describe their work—what they believe they are doing and why it matters—through close readings of English translations from a range of source texts. Attention will be paid to the strategies translators employ and to the implications of those choices for understanding translation as a literary and political practice, including its intersections with gender and rhetoric. Students will also complete a translation project of their own, using this work to interrogate and practice feminist rhetoric in their writing. By the end of the semester, students will have developed a working knowledge of both the theory and craft of literary translation. Location (M 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 288B-01 The Playful Sentence Deb Rossen-Knill TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM
This course investigates and plays with the sentence, revealing its incredible potential to shape meaning, identity, voice, and our relationship with our readers. Drawing on work in functional linguistics (e.g., Aull, Hyland, Vande Kopple) and voice (e.g., Palacas, Young), we’ll see how different sentence-level choices create different meanings and effects. Assignments will regularly involve analyzing texts chosen and written by students, playing purposefully with language, and testing the effects of different choices. To aid analysis, generative AI (eg., GPT) and our imaginations will be used to generate different versions of the “same” text; An easy-to-use corpus analysis tool (AntConc) will help reveal textual patterns across large amounts of text. Through a final project, students will investigate some aspect of the sentence in a medium and context of their choice or address an interesting theoretical question about the sentence. This course is ideal for those interested in any kind of writing, writing education, or editing. Background in linguistics or grammar is not necessary. Open to undergraduates and graduate students. Location (TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM)
ENGL 311-01 After the Quake: Introduction to Disaster Literature and Cinema in Japan Lin Meng Walsh TR 4:50PM - 6:05PM
This course introduces students to the rich body of disaster literature and cinema in Japan. We will explore how Japanese artists creatively reflected on themes of loss, grief, trauma, survival, and healing; we will critically analyze how disaster writings and films probe the issues of socio-political infrastructure as well as human pain and strength. Described as events that cause “the breach of collective expectations in institutions and practices that make everyday life work” (Curato and Corpus Ong 2015), the “disasters” we encounter in this class include both natural and human-generated calamities such as fire, earthquake, war, atomic bombing, and epidemic. Also covered in this class are writings on “imagined disasters” as found in science fiction and dystopian fantasy (for example, the 1973 novel Japan Sinks by Komatsu Sakyō and its parody “The World Sinks Except Japan” by Tsutsui Yasutaka). Location (TR 4:50PM - 6:05PM)
ENGL 337-01 The Disabled Body in Medicine and Culture Erik Larsen R 2:00PM - 4:30PM
Throughout much of modern medical and cultural history, bodily difference has been categorized as disability—as a problematic deviation from standards of normalcy and health. This legacy has been fiercely debated and contested in recent years, with much disagreement about the category’s usefulness in medical contexts and beyond. This course will explore different perspectives on disability through works of modern culture, and primarily through literature, television, and film. We will investigate the traditional medical model of disability, and explore what changing understandings of disability mean for the future of healthcare and the relationship between healthcare providers and patients. The course is writing-intensive, and requires students to share and workshop their papers with peers. Location (R 2:00PM - 4:30PM)
ENGL 362-01 Scholarly Research as Creative Practice Joel Burges TR 11:50AM - 12:20PM
This course is an introduction to scholarly research as creative practice, with an emphasis on multimodal forms of knowledge production in the digital sphere such as graphic design, data visualization, video essays and academic filmmaking, digital storytelling and art, website construction, user experience, podcasting, artificial intelligence, and other approaches. While we will consider scholarly research as creative practice across the arts and humanities, our emphasis will be on forms that engage the academic and aesthetic affordances of digital media and technology. How might a form such as the video essay allow humanists to work both creatively and critically at the same time? How might the principles of graphic design and practices of collage enable new styles of academic communication in both scholarly and non-scholarly contexts? Can we ethically and thoughtfully use artificial intelligence or visualization software both to produce and present knowledge to various publics? Students will explore answers to these questions not only through readings that theorize research as practice, but through exercises that build to a final project of their own that straddles scholarly research and creative practice. Location (TR 11:50AM - 12:20PM)
ENGL 375-01 Seminar in Writing: Fiction Joanna Scott T 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Read short stories by contemporary writers along with fiction by the students in the workshop, and discuss ways writers can sharpen the conversation between text and reader. Also consider editing and reviewing techniques. Students expected to write and revise at least three original stories or three sections of a longer work of fiction. Location (T 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 376-01 Seminar in Writing: Poetry Jennifer Grotz T 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Poems, as William Carlos Williams once said, are machines made out of words, and in this advanced poetry workshop we will work on making the most gorgeous, gripping, and efficient machines possible. To that end, we will read both one another's poems and poems by established authors, in either case paying attention to the ways in which the authors harness aspects of their medium, the English language: syntax, diction, rhythm. The poems we write may take any shape, any form, but we will work towards understanding why a particular poem must take the shape it has; we will pay attention not so much to what the poems say as to how they say it. Requirements: weekly writing and reading assignments, revisions of assignments, devoted participation in class discussions, a final project. Permission of instructor is required. Students are to submit 3-5 typed poems, along with a letter detailing previous creative writing coursework, to the instructor at Jennifer.grotz@rochester.edu Location (T 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 380-02 Research Seminars (The Real World of Fiction) Supritha Rajan TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM
Advanced seminars focus on a particular body of works (literary or cinematic), a special research topic, or a particular critical or theoretical issue. One or more extended critical essays will be required. Open to junior and senior English majors. Others may be admitted by permission of instructor. Why do we think and talk about fictional characters as though they exist even when we know that they do not? What makes a landscape in a painting, a character in a film, or a description of a room in a novel appear “real” to us? It would seem easy to understand how a visual medium like film imitates aspects of our everyday life, but how do novels, using nothing but words, conjure an entire world in a reader’s mind that feels so real? This course explores these questions and others as it takes up the genre of the realist novel as it developed over the course of the nineteenth century. We will closely read and discuss some of the most exemplary practitioners of the realist novel within the British and Continental tradition, from Jane Austen and Honoré de Balzac to Gustav Flaubert and George Eliot. The course will examine the aesthetics of realism and how realist fiction’s promise to show the reader what the world is like assumed a different form among varied novelists. Students will be exposed to theories of realism, past and present, and will also deepen their understanding of varied canonical novelists. Location (TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM)
ENGL 388-1 Practicum in Academic Publishing and Editing I Ur Staff 7:00PM - 7:00PM
Over this 2-semester course sequence, students will implement the skills of professional copyediting and journal management, including some new AI-integrated publication tools and best practices. This will actively contribute to the publication of an open-access academic journal, Blake Illustrated Quarterly. The course will meet for “Grammar Bootcamp” week 1 and 2 of the semester Tues, Wed, and Thurs from 5-7:30 with periodic meetings through the semester based on participants schedules. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ENGL 390-01 Supervised Teaching Brady Fletcher 7:00PM - 7:00PM
This course offers undergraduate students a structured, credit-bearing opportunity to gain experience in supervised teaching within a college-level classroom setting. Under the mentorship of a faculty member, students assist in course delivery, lead discussions or labs, support instructional design, and participate in pedagogical reflection. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ENGL 391-01 Independent Study – 7:00PM - 7:00PM
This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed through the Independent Study Registration form (https://secure1.rochester.edu/registrar/forms/independent-study-form.php) Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ENGL 394-01 Internship Curt Smith 7:00PM - 7:00PM
This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed through the Internship Registration form ( https://secure1.rochester.edu/registrar/forms/internship-registration-form.php) Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ENGL 394C-01 Washington Semester Internship Curt Smith 7:00PM - 7:00PM
This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Registration for Independent Study courses needs to be completed through the Internship Registration form ( https://secure1.rochester.edu/registrar/forms/internship-registration-form.php) Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ENGL 396-01 Honors Seminar (Author, Editor, Translator, Critic) Jennifer Grotz W 2:00PM - 4:40PM
Special seminar for senior majors accepted into the English Honors Program. Topics vary each year. This honors seminar will concentrate on a wide range of readings in fiction, poetry, theory, and criticism, as well as the practice of writing itself. In the process, we will examine the distinctions and the overlaps of what it means to author, edit, translate, or critique a text as well as how the identity of being a reader or a writer requires skills from each of these roles or activities. By the end of semester, students are expected to have a strong sense of the topic and form of their honors thesis, which they will complete in Spring 2027 under the supervision of a faculty member in the English Department. Creative as well as critical honors theses students are welcome! Readings have not yet been finalized but are likely to include The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, James, by Percival Everett, Practice by Rosalind Brown, Ventrakl by Christian Hawkey, Repetition 19 by Mónica de la Torre, A Giacometti Portrait by James Lord, and Unattainable Earth by Czesław Miłosz. Location (W 2:00PM - 4:40PM)
ENGL 399-01 Washington Semester – 7:00PM - 7:00PM
This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)
ENGL 399-02 Washington Semester Curt Smith 7:00PM - 7:00PM
This course provides undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue in-depth, independent exploration of a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum, under the supervision of a faculty member in the form of independent study, practicum, internship or research. The objectives and content are determined in consultation between students and full-time members of the teaching faculty. Responsibilities and expectations vary by course and department. Location ( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)