Winter 2025
ENG 518, section 1
English Novel: Victorian Period
CRN: 39684, MW 4-5:20pm Megan Ward
Tracing a life at its most transformational moments, the coming-of-age novel asks what it means to grow – and to be grown-up. Also called the bildungsroman or novel of development, this genre gives us insight into how the Victorians defined growth in terms of gender, sexuality, religion, race, and power. We’ll read a selection of nineteenth-century novels from England, India, and the Caribbean for a global perspective on this personal subject.
ENG 540, section 1
Studies in Modern Irish Literature
CRN 38546, TR 8-9:50 am
Neil Davison
This course will conduct an in-depth study of three of the four major works of the 20th Irish wri suit Catholicism, and fin-de-siècle anti-Semitism will be ter James Joyce. We will examine these works in the contexts of Modernist aesthetics, Irish cultural and political history, and discussions of race, class, gender, and religion as these become essential sites of arguments over empire, nation, and art. On the formalist level of Modernist experimentation with traditional literary conventions, we’ll explore Joyce's progress as a technical innovator of the short story and novel genres. We’ll also examine the critical implications of his work pertaining to cultural assumptions of pre-Holocaust Europe and colonial Ireland—especially as regards the politics of empire, race, and gender. We will focus on these issues through close readings of a selection of stories from Dubliners (1914), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), and Ulysses (1922). By the term’s close, we may also touch on select passages of Finnegans Wake (1939) as well. Contextual readings from sources such as Joycean biography, Irish history, Irish-Je mandatory Canvas file readings. We will also rely on a traditional guide-book study to help us conduct our examination of Ulysses. Students will be evaluated through a take-home essay mid-term exam and a major term-paper that focuses on an episode or two of Ulysses..
ENG 570, section 1
Studies in Poetry: The Bridges to the Lyric Are Laid with the Bricks of Poetics
CRN 37684 F 10-1:50 pm
David Biespiel
Craft
It’s said that to be a poet is to embrace solitude. But none of us writes truly alone. Rattling around in our minds while we try to write any single poem is always the etymological history of words in the language we write in (say, for most of us here, English, with its deep roots in Germanic dialects, Latin, Greek, French, Dutch, and Spanish, and more). Plus, there’s our
contemporary idioms, the thousands of poems dating back before Shakespeare, and the noise of the crowd outside your window, to say nothing of the linguistic cacophony of commerce, politics, religion, mathematics, fine arts, history, economics, philosophy, geography, media, law, archeology, psychology, and theater. To be a "poet in solitude" is to be in a very noisy place. And then there is the noise of the art: our poetics, the study of linguistic techniques, the principles of composition that comprise the distinctive qualities of poetic forms, genres, and modes. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are each of us poets— already — highly influenced by poetics past and present. Or: If not highly influenced, then, more likely, simply, deeply imprinted, like we have a poetry DNA. Does it help you as a poet to write poems without ever formally engaging these poetics, learning what you can and what you come to care about in this long, beautiful conversation overs the poetic arts? There’s only one answer to that question. So: In this craft course we are going to engage poetics by reading essays dating from Wordsworth to the present time. Then, we’ll write poems week by week or so with those poetics as both filter and means of composition — about 5-10 new poems during the course. You’ll make presentations about poetics and offer fresh studies. Finally, you’ll write and present your own poetics essay to define what the principles of composition and linguistic techniques you espouse and value.
ENG 580, section 1
Studies in Literature, Culture and Society:
CRN 37620, MW 12-1:50 am
Tekla Bude
Pre 1800
We in the 21st-century are heirs to intersecting frameworks of gender, sexuality, race, and class that grew out of Enlightenment-era (18th- and 19th-century) imperialism and capitalism. These frameworks include the gender binary, the hypersexualization of black bodies, and the marginalization and criminalization of sex workers. In this class, we will look to the period BEFORE the Enlightenment for a better understanding of how these frameworks came to be, but also to understand other, alternative ways of understanding sex, gender, and sexuality that the premodern offers. What models for gender and sexuality – and their intersections with race and class – do the medieval and early modern periods offer? The answers might surprise you: from queer nuns to cross-dressing sex workers, from female Jesuses to black Madonnas, and from trans heroes of medieval fiction to the all-male casts of Early Modern drama, premodern literature provides us with some startling counterpoints to our received notions of gender, sex, and sexuality.
ENG 585, section 1
Studies in American Literature: First Person Narration
CRN 35594, F 10-12:50 pm
Nick Dybek
Craft
75/25 Hybrid
In this class, we will examine this technically demanding first person point-of-view by closely reading texts that make expert but varied use of this rich perspective. Special attention will be paid to texts that experiment with first-person point-of-view, and attempt to extend the notion of the “I” by creating narrators who transcend expected limitations. By discussing these texts and experimenting with first-person point-of-view in our own writing, we will engage a variety of topics, including but not limited to: unreliable narrators, retrospective narrators, “voicey” narrators, narrators who are placed at a distance from the central action, and narrators who not only inhabit their own stories but imagine or tell the stories of other characters. Though this course is centered on fiction, we will also discuss non-fiction and poetry, and the reading list may be adjusted to suit the expertise and interest of enrolled students.
ENG 585, section 2
Studies in American Literature
CRN 38539, F 10-1:50 pm
Surabhi Balachander
MA Experience
Using a mix of primary literary texts and interdisciplinary theory, this course samples topics related to settler colonialism and its literary representations. Since this is an American literature course, our readings will focus on the United States—mostly on the American West—but settler colonialism occurs around the world and there will be opportunities to speak comparatively in class. A few of the topics covered are: land-grant universities, non-Indigenous people of color and settler colonialism, and extractivism; and a few of the authors on the syllabus are: Deborah Miranda, Haunani-Kay Trask, Candace Fujikane, and Tiffany Lethabo King.
FILM 552, section 1
Studies in Film: Animation
CRN 37196, TR 10-11:20am & R 6-9:50 pm
Jon Lewis
Early experiments in cine-animation coincide with the earliest movies; the very idea of motion pictures was itself a mode or version of animation (of still images into movement, of stationery objects into seeming action). This class will provide an in-depth look at animation history from the early experiments by Lotte Reninger and Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland) and ventures into silent-era narrative (Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan’s Felix the Cat) through the several golden ages at Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Silly Symphonies, Snow White, Pinocchio), the jazz-age cartoons made by the Fleischer brothers (Betty Boop, Popeye, Gulliver’s Travels), and the 35mm short subjects made at Warner Bros. (“starring” Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck). More modern works to include: the hand-painted experiments of Portland, Oregon’s Joanna Priestly and Japan’s Studio Ghibli’s epic watercolors (Princess Mononoke), modern stop-motion (Tim Burton and Henry Selick) and puppetry (Trey Parker and Matt Stone), and computer animation (Pixar). Students can opt out of the final paper and instead produce their own animated videos.
WR 506, section 2
Letterpress Intensive
CRN 34283, Meeting date and time TBA
Karen Holmberg
This 1 credit, 2-day course introduces students to the basic techniques of letterpress printing. During the intensive (providing 10 hours of instruction), students will learn:
· Basic history and terminology of moveable type and letterpress printing;
· Introductory design skills using typefaces, spacing, and ornaments;
· Hand type-setting;
· How to proof and correct;
· Operation of the proofing press and demonstration of the Chandler and Price hand press.
This course is required for students seeking supervised access to the Moreland Letterpress Studio during its open hours for the Winter term.
WR 520, section 400
Studies in Writing: Writing Women's Lives
CRN 35207
Liddy Detar
Ecampus
How can we transform our lives from lived experience into written texts of many different forms: from autobiography, memoir, poetry, fiction, personal essays, and even academic writing? What moves us personally, politically and socially to write the stories of our lives or someone else’s, and how are questions of genre and form related to the stories we need to craft – and the dominant narratives we want to resist? In addition to reading great memoirs and engaging with stories across multi-media platforms, this is a writing course that includes both creative and critical projects, and it hopes to offer you a personal creative practice of memoir writing.
WR 521, section 1
Teaching Practicum, Fiction Writing
CRN 31232, R 6-6:50 pm
Keith Scribner
MFA 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 31688, R 5:30-6:20 pm
Jen Richter
MFA 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 33777, F 5:30-6:20 pm
Justin St. Germain
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 30098, R 2-5:50 pm
Keith Scribner
75/25 Hybrid
WR 524 is the graduate-level fiction workshop for MFA students. Our primary text will be student work. This term we will pay close attention to clarity and precision, essential ingredients
in the creative endeavor, both of which allow truth and beauty to emerge on the page. What can we dial up or tone down in our work to present the most impactful, precisely distilled versions of our stories? In addition to workshopping student work, we will read and discuss one published short story every week. Note: enrollment in this course is limited to graduate students who have been accepted into OSU's MFA in Creative Writing Program for fiction; other MFA students wishing to enroll must have instructor approval in advance.
WR 540, section 1
Advanced Nonfiction Writing
CRN 32233, W 2-4:50 pm
Justin St. Germain
75/25 Hybrid
This course is open only to nonfiction students from the MFA program in Creative Writing; others must have instructor approval in advance 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 31691, T 2-4:50 pm
Jen Richter
75/25 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 in Creative Writing Program for poetry; other MFA students wishing to enroll must have instructor approval in advance.
WR 573, section 1
Thesis and Dissertation Writing
CRN 36008, MW 12-1:20 pm
Dennis Bennett
If you are struggling with writing your thesis or dissertation, this course provides you with a clear roadmap to success. We'll demystify the process by first identifying the expectations for a high-quality thesis/dissertation in your field. Then, we'll analyze how to meet those expectations
through effective writing strategies. Leave the drama behind and craft a compelling piece of scholarly work.
WR 585, section 1
Contemporary Rhetoric Theory
CRN 38545, TR 12-1:50 pm
Ehren Pflugfelder
MA Experience
Is rhetoric an evolutionary trait? Can rhetoric be feral? How do forests think? Is an antelope a document? Do glaciers listen? How is a clam bed like a rhetorical network? This course examines scholars, concepts, and methodologies that are central to recent rhetorical theory, while also touching on key critical theorists who, although may be outside the field of rhetoric studies, impact the ways in which language, persuasion, and communication are currently understood. In this version of WR 585, we’ll focus on a few interrelated areas: animal rhetorics, environmental rhetorics, and rhetorical ecologies.