| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENGLISH 28E | CRAFT OF FICTION | LATIOLAIS, P. | E28E, The Craft of Fiction, should be taken before embarking on the Creative Writing Emphasis. The concentration of the course is the study of writing by writers about the process of writing. How have writers viewed their craft; how have they developed their processes; what have their influences been, and at what point did they shed them? Contrary to popular notions of muses, of inspiration, most writers are very hard working. This course studies the thoughtfulness most writers have about the work of writing. Required prerequisite: satisfactory completion of the lower-division writing requirement. |
| ENGLISH 102C | YOUNG ROMANTICS | JENSEN, I. | This course will examine the work of artists and thinkers in Britain and the United States who are powerfully influenced by, and in some ways reacting directly to, the so-called high Romanticism immediately preceding them. I will be approaching this work through three discreet but entwined themes: politics and revolution, science and nature, and the role of art and aesthetics. We will begin with a brief orientation to the period, particularly in Europe, and the ways in which it helped to shape the high Romanticism of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and its legacy. Following this, we will investigate the major second generation Romantics of Britain: namely, Byron, Thomas de Quincey, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Finally, at the end of the quarter we turn to the influence of British Romanticism on American writers and thinkers, specifically Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. |
| ENGLISH 103 | SHAKESPEARE | STEWART, R. | This course will explore three Shakespeare plays – Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, and The Tempest – through the lens of "adaptation." Of Shakespeare's 38 plays, only 4 are original, and so we will consider how a large part of his literary genius comes from his ability to recognize the potential in pre-existing stories and make them his own. First, using King Lear, we will we analyze how Shakespeare himself adapted the narratives of his source texts into dramatic form. Next, we will consider performance as a kind of practical adaptation of Shakespeare’s written language, carefully and slowly working our way through each play with an eye to uncovering the various performance possibilities contained in various scenes. We will then watch at least two film adaptations of each play to see how different directors have tackled the challenge of translating Shakespeare’s work for new audiences and cultural contexts. Grading in the course will be determined by class participation, contributions to online discussion forums, and two formal writing assignments: first, a critical essay that analyzes and evaluates a Shakespearean film adaptation of the student’s own choosing (4-6 pgs); second, an original adaptation of a chosen Shakespeare scene in the form of a script, screenplay, video project, or live performance (8-10 pgs; or 8-10 mins) with an accompanying essay that explains the creative goals and decisions that went into the adaptation (3-4 pgs). Finally, to maximize our understanding and enjoyment Shakespeare's theater both inside and outside of the classroom, this course will be coordinated with events, performances, and guest lectures organized by UCI's New Swan Shakespeare Festival (http://newswanshakespeare.com/). |