ENG 545, section 1

Studies in Nonfiction: Style, Imitation and the Sentence

CRN 54425  F 10-12:50p

George Estreich

Craft/Hybrid

In this class, you’ll hone your prose style by imitating the writing of others. Source authors will range from Robert Burton (The Anatomy of Melancholy) to Annie Dillard, along with some “nonliterary” sources. Requirements include active participation, weekly reading and writing, a craft presentation, and a final portfolio essay.

 

ENG 554, section 1

Major Authors: Wilde and Shaw

CRN 59464 TR 10-11:50a

Neil Davison

1700-1900

 

This course will be an in depth study of the two figures who first opened the seams of gender and class reevaluations in British culture at the end of the Victorian era and thus introduced the English speaking world to new 20th-century critiques of industrial capitalism, gender roles, and homophobia. To study Shaw we will engage with his ideas about Modern literature, Nietzschean thought, and how he came to revolutionize the English stage as a Fabian Socialist. We will then study some of his most complex and influential comedy-dramas, including Man and Superman, John Bull’s Other Island, and both an early and mid-career drawing room drama. To study Wilde, we will first focus on the rise of the late-19th-century, neo-Hellenic/late-Romantic movement known alternately as the French Decadent period and then as English Aestheticism; in the latter, we’ll engage in a brief study of Wilde’s most influential teacher, the Oxford lecturer on Hellenism Walter Pater. We’ll then study Wilde’s essays, his only novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray) and one or two of his late plays. Undergraduate grades will be based on an essay midterm and  longer term paper; graduates will take the midterm as well, but write a term paper essay based on the model of the publishable critical article.

 

ENG 582, section 1

Studies in American Literature, Culture, and Environment: Climate Change and Literary Form

CRN 60392 MW 12-1:50p

Ray Malewitz

MA Experience

 

Anthropogenic climate change constitutes a grave threat to the lives and well beings of human and nonhuman populations, requiring swift and decisive changes in myriad national, state, and community policies and behaviors.  Within democratic countries, such changes require immense political will, which can only be achieved through increased “climate literacy”—a phrase that designates not only familiarity with the science of climate change but also its real and potential economic, political, and cultural consequences. To help promote such literacy, several US states have begun to implement large-scale changes to the entirety of their K-12 curricula. Such changes have placed immense pressure upon K-12 ELA teachers, who must rapidly reinvent their curricula to align with new standards. To address this problem, graduate students in this class will first investigate how climate-change has been addressed as a formal problem in literary narratives, drawing upon a rich collection of creative, critical, and pedagogy-centered works from within and beyond the United States.  We will then work together to develop and publish a set of open-educational resources designed to address how literature classrooms might engage with this most dangerous planetary problem.

 

ENG 590, section 1

History of the English Language

CRN 59127, MW 10-11:50 am

Tekla Bude

In 2023, just under 1000 new entries were added to the Oxford English Dictionary’s catalog of nearly 500,000 words in use in English. Among them were “safeword,” “generative artificial intelligence,” and “forever chemical” – proof that English is constantly changing to address the concerns and interests of the present. In this class, we will study the history of the English language over the last 1500 years, examining its syntax, grammar, and vocabulary in its social, political, and artistic context. How do war, trade, globalization, memes, and tourism affect language? How is it that we consider the creole of Papua New Guinea (Mi lukim dok), Old English (Ic seo thone hund), Middle English (Y se the dogge), and Modern English (I see the dog) as belonging to the same language despite their broad differences? How are imperialism, colonialism, racism, and classicism both perpetrated by and perpetuated through language and its varieties? Although we will focus on the whole history of English, this class will pay particularly close attention to Old English, Middle English, and contemporary Englishes from around the world.

 

 

WR 521, section 1

Teaching Practicum, Fiction Writing

CRN 51141, R 5:30-6:20p

Nick Dybek

Pedagogy

This course is restricted to GTAs enrolled in the MFA Program in Creative Writing (in fiction) in advance of teaching WR 224 in their second year. We’ll meet once a week over spring term to build syllabi, discuss teaching strategies and potential ethical issues, and prepare in every way we can for the pleasures and challenges of teaching introductory fiction writing. 

 

WR 522, section 1

Teaching Practicum, Poetry Writing

CRN 53396, R 5:30-6:20p

Karen Holmberg

Pedagogy

WR 522 is the Poetry Teaching Practicum for graduate students who have been accepted into Oregon State University’s Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing and who want to teach poetry writing (WR 241) in their second year.

 

WR 523, section 1

Teaching Practicum, Nonfiction Writing

CRN 54097, W 5:30-6:20p

Elena Passarello

Pedagogy

This course instructs graduate students in the best practices for teaching creative nonfiction. It covers topics such as text selection, assignment structure, course design, classroom management, and grading. Students will design their own WR 240 courses over the course of the quarter.

 

WR 524, section 1

Advanced Fiction Writing

CRN 50239, R 2-4:50p

Nick Dybek

Hybrid

In this graduate level fiction-writing workshop, students will be expected to produce two full-length stories or novel chapters. Students will also be graded on the quality of their written and oral critiques and class participation. We will, in addition, be reading and discussing professional short stories, selected by students, as the term progresses. These stories will constitute the course text. 

 

WR 540, section 1

Advanced Nonfiction Writing

CRN 54140, W 2-4:50p

St. Germain, Justin

Hybrid

This course is open only to nonfiction MFA students; others must have instructor approval to enroll. This graduate workshop will focus on discussing student work and providing feedback to works in progress. Each member of the class will be required to submit original pieces of creative nonfiction for discussion, and provide thoughtful feedback to their peers. The class will also read published works as departure points for discussing specific craft issues.

 

WR 541, section 1

Advanced Poetry Writing

CRN 50814, T 2-4:50p

Jen Richter

Hybrid

WR 541 is the MFA graduate poetry workshop: a course focused on rigorous discussions of student work and in-depth studies of published work as models and inspiration for the thesis and subsequent collections. Note: enrollment in this course is limited to graduate students who have been accepted into OSU's MFA Program in poetry; other MFA students wishing to enroll must have instructor approval in advance.

 

WR 562, section 1

Environmental Writing

CRN 54653, TR 12-1:20p

Ehren Pflugfelder

WIC/Hybrid

If you’d like to alleviate some of the drama and mystery associated with writing your thesis or dissertation, then look no further. This course will assist students who are in the writing stage of their thesis or dissertation (or who might be writing the proposal for this work). We will first identify the expectations of a quality thesis/dissertation in your respective fields, analyze the ways they are met through writing, and execute an achievable plan to meet—and ideally, exceed—those expectations.

 

WR 573, section 1

Thesis and Dissertation Writing

CRN 57316, TR 10-11:20a

Dennis Bennett

If you’d like to alleviate some of the drama and mystery associated with writing your thesis or dissertation, then look no further. This course will assist students who are in the writing stage of their thesis or dissertation (or who might be writing the proposal for this work). We will first identify the expectations of a quality thesis/dissertation in your respective fields, analyze the ways they are met through writing, and execute an achievable plan to meet—and ideally, exceed—those expectations.

 

WR 599, section 1

Critical Race and Feminist Pedagogies

CRN 59126, TR 10-11:50a

Ana Ribero

Pedagogy

This course will introduce students to some of the major feminist and critical theories of teaching, with a particular emphasis on how such approaches apply to the teaching of writing in higher education. Students will have the opportunity to explore practical applications and to draw on their disciplinary knowledge and interests to create tools and materials to apply to their own classrooms.