About the Program
Professors: James Hala, Sandra Jamieson (Director of Composition and Chair), Wendy Kolmar, Frank Occhiogrosso, Nadine Ollman, Robert Ready, Peggy Samuels, Geraldine Smith-Wright
Associate Professors: Cassandra Laity, Neil Levi
Assistant Professors: Mandakini Dubey, Martin Foys, Patrick Phillips, Charli Valdez, Tiphanie Yanique
Writing Fellows: Kathryn Inskeep, Stan Walker
Literature encompasses the history of human attempts to remain "wide-awake" in response to experience, whether that experience unfolds in the realms of dreams, ideas, nature, urban life, political terror, or sensual pleasure. Literary texts record the questions that people or communities have found urgent, troublesome or exciting. For most human experiences and emotions, there are no adequate words until writers invent them. Therefore, the study of literature cultivates deep attentiveness to and love of language. The production of literary texts is hugely various, criss-crossed continually by movements and borrowings from other cultures and by richly textured relationships between writers and other artists or works of art and new ideas about the purposes of art.
The English major organizes your access to this history by examining texts along both a chronological spectrum (from Anglo-Saxon oral epics to contemporary graphic novels) and a geographical and cultural spectrum (from Celtic to Caribbean, from South African to African-American). As a student of English, you will develop your skills as a reader of literary texts; you will learn various approaches to the study of literature, among them biographical, intertextual, genre study, cultural and historical, feminist, postcolonial; and you will be encouraged to connect your literary study to work in other fields such as history, ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, biblical and classical studies, film studies, performance studies, visual art, theater, religious studies, and philosophy.
Students should plan their majors in consultation with their advisers with an eye to breadth and variety as well as to depth and coherence. By the end of the English major, students will have acquired a breadth of knowledge historically, chronologically and geographically as well as depth of knowledge reflected in a sequence of courses in a particular period, genre, theme or approach. The process of selecting courses for the major and readjusting plans as interests develop is part of the experience of the major; this process advances students' understanding of how the study of literature is organized and helps them to map the landscape of the field for themselves.
The purpose of the major is:
- To provide a purposeful approach to study of literature;
- To strengthen students' skills as readers of literature and as writers about literature;
- To provide a grounding in literary history;
- To provide a grounding in a range of approaches that constitute contemporary literary study;
- To encourage in-depth work in an area.
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Requirements for the Major (44 credits)
Credits distributed among four and two credit courses. The introductory sequence and the sophomore survey course must be taken before any upper-level courses. They may be taken concurrently with each other and with intermediate courses.
Within the courses selected to meet major requirements, students should include:
- Two courses before 1800 (at least 50% of content before 1800)
- Two seminars
- Four upper-level courses
- One global-, ethnic-, or gender-focused literature course
I. Introductory Sequence (2 courses; 6 credits)
ENGL 9/Introduction to Literary Analysis (4)
ENGL 4/Writing in the Discipline of English (2)
II. Breadth-Historical and Geographical (4 courses; 12-16 credits)
ENGL 20a/Mapping the Anglo-American Literary Tradition I: 20th Century (2)
ENGL 20b/Mapping the Anglo-American Literary Tradition II: 19th Century (2)
ENGL 21a/Mapping the Anglo-American Literary Tradition III: 17th and 18th Century (2)
ENGL 21b/Mapping the Anglo-American Literary Tradition IV: Medieval and Early Renaissance (2)
Two additional courses (at least 6 credits) in two different periods at any level
III. Method and Approaches (2 courses; at least 6 credits)
Two courses chosen from among courses designated as "Approaches" courses (ENGL 121-128). For those planning to attend graduate school, the department recommends that one of the courses be in literary theory.
IV. Depth-A Concentration (3 courses, at least 2 of which are upper level; at least 10 credits)
The focus of the concentration-made up of three interrelated courses-should be chosen from the list of options below, though students may propose alternatives. Specific courses to fill the concentration should be selected in consultation with the adviser. Students must present a one-page proposal for the concentration to their adviser.
Concentrations must be approved by the end of the junior year. Alternative concentrations must be approved by the department. Students wishing to propose an alternative concentration must present a one-page proposal for the concentration to their adviser and to the department. Student-designed concentrations might be particularly appropriate for interdisciplinary courses of study such as visual art and literature (e.g., humanities course, literature course, art course), literature and religion/philosophy and for topical and thematic concentrations. Only one extradepartmental course may be counted in any concentration. Majors might consider the ways in which an interdisciplinary concentration could be a bridge between the major and a minor.
Potential concentrations could come from the following categories:
A genre (three courses focusing on a specific literary genre such as narrative, poetry or drama)
A period (three courses focusing on a particular period, such as Medieval, Renaissance, the Long 18th century, 19th century, Modernism or Contemporary)
Literary theory (three courses focusing on in-depth reading in theory or application of theory)
Postcolonial and Anglophone literature (three courses focusing on literatures in relation to competing notions of colonialism, nationalism, and postcolonial cultures)
Race and ethnicity (three courses focusing on literatures that interrogate and/or reinforce notions of race and ethnicity. Students may choose to emphasize a particular tradition [African American, Asian American, or Latino/a] or aspect [such as immigration])
Women's Studies, Gender, and sexuality (three courses focusing on the study of literatures that articulate and contest notions of gender and sexuality. Students may develop an historical focus)
Language and rhetoric (Focus on the history of the language, linguistics, persuasion, or philosophy of language)
Interdisciplinary [requires a proposal to the department] (Possible topics include Interart, Religion and Literature, Philosophy and Literature, History and Literature, and Comparative Literature)
V. Seminars (8 credits)
Two courses (ENGL 170-178) normally taken in the senior year. They must be taken in the department and may not be replaced by any course taken outside the department or by independent study.
VI. Independent work (2-4 credits)
No more than four credits of independent study or an Honors thesis may be counted toward the 44 credit requirement.
No more than two course from among the following may be counted toward the major:
- One upper-level writing course may substitute for one upper-level literature course
- Two courses from a study abroad program may count toward the major as upper-level courses with adviser/departmental approval
- One course from a literature department other than English may count toward the major with the department's approval if the student demonstrates its relevance to his or her course of study
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Requirements for the English Literatures Minor (22 credits)
The purpose of the Drew English minor is to help prepare students who love literature, but who are not majoring in English, for a lifetime of intelligent and enjoyable reading. The analytical and critical skills, written and oral, developed in the minor will also serve students well in their processing of information and their interactions with others in their careers as well as in their role as participant citizens. The English Department has designed its curricular offerings so as to provide an opportunity for students to explore a number of approaches and methodologies for the study of literature: historical, thematic, text-based, author-based, and culture-based. Different approaches to a literary text will yield different results. Accordingly, we urge students in the minor to experiment with some of the many ways in which to engage and appreciate a literary text. At the declaration of the minor, the student should meet with an English Department advisor to plan a coherent approach to course selection.
I. ENGL 9/Introduction to Literary Analysis (4)
II. At least one 2-credit module from ENGL 20-21/Mapping the Anglo-American Literary Tradition.
III. A minimum of 2 courses (at least 4 credits) chosen from “Intermediate Literature Courses”.
IV. A minimum of 12 credits chosen from the “Advanced” English offerings, at least 4 credits of which are an “Approaches” course.
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Advanced Placement (AP) examinations
A student receiving a 4 or 5 on the English Language and Composition examinations may apply that to satisfy the college writing requirement only. AP credit may not be applied to the major or minor in English literature, nor may it be used to fulfill the general education requirement in literature. See pages 15-16 for further information about AP credits.
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Writing Courses
The College Writing Requirement: Each student must demonstrate competence in academic writing by the end of the sophomore year through satisfactory completion of either ENGL 1/ Writing or ENGL 2/Research Writing (see course descriptions for more information).
Students can also satisfy the writing requirement by one of the following methods: 1) receiving a score of 4 or 5 on the AP English language examination; 2) substitution of a writing course transferred from another college or university and approved by the English department.
At the discretion of their advisers, students who scored 620 or above on the old SAT I (taken before March 2005) verbal examination may satisfy the writing requirement by taking ENGL 2/Research Writing. (See the online catalog for updated information on the new SAT I examination.)
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Graduate School Courses
See the Graduate School catalog for Graduate School courses. Qualified juniors and seniors may take certain graduate courses for credit toward the bachelor's degree, with the proper approval.
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Off-Campus Program
Drew London Semester
The London Semester, offered in the spring semester annually, allows students to explore political and social change in Britain. Courses focus on the interplay of British history and politics, and literary and theatrical portrayals of social and political themes. The program is directed by a Drew faculty member, and classes are taught by a continuing staff of distinguished British faculty. Field trips to political meetings, party conferences, theatres, and museums, along with guest speakers from British political, literary, and theatrical life, are a regular feature of the academic program. Students live in apartments prearranged by the program staff. A variety of cultural activities and special events introduce the students to the cultural life of London.
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