COURSES: MASTER OF ARTS
Browse the Summer & Fall 2008 English Graduate Program Course Descriptions or search the UMB Course Database to find courses offered by the English Dept.
The program offers:
- A focus on the close reading of text, whether the texts have been produced by those traditionally defined as the major writers of British and American tradition; by writers whose work was overlooked or excluded from that tradition; by freshman writers or other speakers and writers of non-literary genres; by student poets and fiction writers.
- An interest in reexamining traditional boundaries with reference to the relationships between different aspects and types of language, writing, and literature; between canonical and non-canonical literature; between colonial and post-colonial literatures; between "professional" and student creative writing.
- A significant attention to the reading and writing produced by graduate students, with a genuine interest in students' development as writers and critical readers at a graduate level and offering careful responses to students' writing, seminar presentations, and workshops for creative writers.
Courses in the literature concentration may focus on particular writers (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison); on periods (Medieval, Modern) or redefinitions of those periods (“Refiguring the American Renaissance”); on genres (Poetry, Fiction); or on categories outside of those traditional rubrics (“Working Class Literature”, “Urban Literature”). Many of these courses draw on a variety of critical approaches, including feminist theory and cultural criticism, while others explore the history of literary criticism and the impact of current literary theory and criticism. Some courses reflect the department’s interest in pedagogy ("The Teaching of Literature"; "The Teaching of Composition"). We do not offer survey courses at the graduate level, and we recommend undergraduate courses (not for graduate credit) for students who are seeking general coverage of broad areas of literature.
Courses in the composition concentration examine composition theory and pedagogy, the history of composition studies, rhetorical theory, the composing process, composition research, linguistics and literacy. Other courses focus on students’ personal and professional writing for different audiences and purposes: practical writing, autobiographical writing, writing for the public.
Courses in theory and in linguistics are “cross-over” courses and are counted in both the composition and literature concentrations. They offer an overview of influential current theory, an introduction to the history and structure of the English language, and opportunities for the application of the theoretical perspectives and the systematic study of language to both literary and non-literary (including spoken) texts
Courses in the creative writing concentration use intensive reading of literature (poetry, fiction, poetry in translation) as a basis for the writing of original poetry or fiction, or for the translation of poetry, as well as mixed graduate/undergraduate creative writing workshops.