Chairperson: Heather C. Easterling
Professors: M. Bolton, D. Butterworth, A. Ciasullo, E. Cooley (Emerita) B. Cooney, H. Easterling, J. Eliason, M. Herzog (Emeritus), T. Marshall, J. Maucione, J. Miller, M. Pringle, I. Ranum, P. Terry (Emerita), L. Tredennick
Associate Professors: C. Bollig, J. Dodd, Y. Kang J. Thayer, A. Wadden (Emeritus)
Assistant Professors: M. McLeod , K. Roden,
Senior Lecturers: H. Herrick, M. Pajer
The department offers one major and one minor:
Bachelor of Arts, English major (with a required concentration in either Literature or Writing)
Minor in English
The Gonzaga University English Department is a community of scholars, readers, and writers dedicated to helping students form a deeper sense of themselves and the world through the study and composition of texts. As members of this disciplinary community, we celebrate the beauty and power of creativity, engaging with the ways language and literature reflect and explore knowledges, values, and experiences. We invite students to develop an understanding of self and others by exploring the narratives of our local and global communities: past, present, and future. Our commitment to a sophisticated understanding of a diversity of texts and literacies prepares students for success as professionals and citizens. In alignment with Gonzaga University’s Mission, we develop whole persons devoted to critical thought, reflection, social justice, and life-long learning.
English Department courses fulfill the requirements of the Core curricula of the University and constitute a Bachelor of Arts degree in English; they provide majors in other disciplines with further experience in and appreciation for literature and writing; they offer majors and minors in English engagement with the literary heritage of Western and non-Western traditions; and they develop students’ mastery of the conventions and nuances of written prose.
The University Core curriculum requires three semester hours of Writing (ENGL 101 or ENGL 200) and three semester hours of Literature. Most English 100- and 200-level literature courses will fulfill the University Core Literature requirement.
English majors earning a secondary teaching credential must take one 3-credit multicultural literature course and a writing pedagogy course, either ENGL 390 or ENGL 395.
Because we believe that effective writing is essential for professional, personal, and intellectual development, the English Department directs the operation of a Writing Center open to the Gonzaga community.
Founded on solid introductory writing and literature courses and covering a variety of genres, time periods, and theoretical approaches to texts, the English major offers two areas of emphasis: a Literature Concentration and a Writing Concentration. Students in both concentrations take the same foundational courses, worth a total of 12 credits: a University Core Writing course, lower-division courses on English form and English history, and an upper-division course on literature before 1660. All English majors must also take a course with a multicultural distribution. Once students decide which concentration they will pursue, they study the curriculum specific to each concentration.
Lower Division
This course helps students develop the foundational skills of critical reading, thinking, analysis, and writing. Students will learn a variety of approaches to writing, sharpen critical reading and information literacy skills, and produce formal and informal texts that ethically and persuasively appeal to a range of audiences for distinct purposes.
This course exposes students to a range of literary genres and assists students in developing and articulating ideas about texts in oral and written form.
This course introduces students to literary study through the exploration of a particular theme. This course exposes students to a range of literary genres and assists students in developing and articulating ideas about texts in oral and written form.
This course introduces students to literature through works produced by different minority groups in America and/or by cultures throughout the world. This course exposes students to a range of literary genres and assists students in developing and articulating ideas about texts in oral and written form.
Topic to be determined by faculty. Permission from Department Chair required.
The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces new Gonzaga students to the University, the Core Curriculum, and Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission and heritage. While the seminars will be taught by faculty with expertise in particular disciplines, topics will be addressed in a way that illustrates approaches and methods of different academic disciplines. The seminar format of the course highlights the participatory character of university life, emphasizing that learning is an active, collegial process.
Building upon skills developed in earlier courses that required writing, students will engage in a deliberate study of the art and craft of writing and give special emphasis to building a multi-genre portfolio of their original writing.
The study of poetry, with emphasis on the major elements: imagery, tone, rhythm, etc.; practice in effective critical writing focused on explication and interpretation of poems.
The study of fiction, with emphasis on the major elements of narrative form: plot, character, point of view, etc.; practice in effective critical writing focused on textual analysis and interpretation of short stories and novels.
Equivalent:
WGST 220 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
The study of drama, with emphasis on major elements of dramatic form: action, audience, structure, character, etc.; practice in effective writing focused on close reading and interpretation of plays. Readings will include a variety of types and forms that reflect the traditions of the genre.
An introductory survey of Shakespeare's histories, comedies, and tragedies as well as the sonnets; close textual analysis.
A capstone course for Honors students providing an in-depth study in a specific area of literary approaches. Examples include a specific genre, historical/literary period, theme, author, etc.
Prerequisite:
ENGL 101 Minimum Grade: D
and HONS 190 Minimum Grade: D
This course is a survey of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance literature of the Western tradition.
This course is a survey of the Western tradition in literature since the Renaissance.
This course is a survey of British literature through the 18th Century.
This course is a survey of British literature since the 18th Century.
This course examines a selection of representative American writers from the Colonial period to the present.
This course examines literature produced by different social, ethnic and racial groups within the United States.
This course explores Native Hawai’ian and Alaska Native cultures through their literatures. We will contextualize nonfiction and literary texts alike in the complicated histories of the lands that are now the United States’ 49th and 50th states in terms of their Indigenous cultures and inhabitation, the annexation by the U.S., and the controversial moves into statehood in 1959. We will interrogate historical and contemporary realities and debates within and beyond Alaska and Hawai’i regarding sovereignty movements and U.S. imperialism, positioning these literatures in a trans-Indigenous global context. In this way we will work toward sophisticated understandings of important contributions to contemporary American literatures and the complexities of the contexts that influence literary production in Hawai’i, Alaska, and the world. All of the activities and assignments are designed to demonstrate the role of literature in transnational politics of representation and the importance of formal and informal literary and textual analysis in the development of global awareness and citizenship.
Equivalent:
NTAS 241 - OK if taken since Fall 2023
This course examines selected authors, themes and historical periods in world literature with emphasis on works outside the Western tradition.
This course serves as an introduction to elements of film form and grammar, including narrative, mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound, and acting. Students taking this course will learn how to describe a film’s formal qualities and will use these descriptions to make analytical claims about film.
Equivalent:
FILM 201 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
WGST 221 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
WGST 221 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
This course serves as an introduction to the history of film as a medium, ranging from its original to the current moment. Students taking this course will learn how to situate a film in its historical and cultural contexts and will use these contexts to make analytical claims about film and history.
Equivalent:
FILM 202 - OK if taken since Fall 2022
This course provides special offerings in English literature that may not fit under other 200-level course offering descriptions. Topics will be approved by the Department Chair.
This course provides special offerings in English form that may not fit under other 200-level course offering descriptions. Topics will be approved by the Department Chair.
This course provides special offerings in English history that may not fit under other 200-level course offering descriptions. Topics will be approved by the Department Chair.
Topic to be determined by faculty.
Upper Division
Students will learn how to engage in academic discourse through research-informed writing.
The practice of poetry writing.
The practice of fiction writing.
The practice of writing creative non-fiction.
The practice of writing poetry, fiction, and essays in the context of foreign travel and residency.
A study of writing practices within a focused context. Possible examples include: the intersection of visual media and written texts; ekphrastic writing; nature writing; and/or specific study of the relationship between writing and place.
This course offers students an introduction to design for literary publishing. Students investigate ethical concerns related to presenting content; grow conversant with essentials of typography and print design; gain basic competency with industry-standard software; and produce content for both print and e-book formats. Major assignments will build on one another, and successful students will complete the course with a portfolio of print designs and a complete e-publication.
We all know that good writers benefit from good editors, but we don't necessarily understand what editors do. This course offers a practicum for students who may want to go into an editorial field, who want to serve other writers, or who want to understand publishing more holistically. Students will undertake typical editorial practices, such as using a house style, shaping manuscript submissions, copyediting, and creating indexes for publications. Where possible and appropriate, students will work on--and get named credit for contributing to-active publishing projects.
This course investigates current and historical social movement writing and rhetorics to determine the best practices in advocating for a social cause, producing persuasive public texts, and understanding the rhetorical foundations of advocacy writing. Students will be asked to produce materials in a range of genres associated with writing for social action (e.g., letters, essays, poetry, embodied activism) and actively participate in class discussions and writing workshops. Fall, odd-numbered years.
Prerequisite:
ENGL 101 Minimum Grade: D
or ENGL 103H Minimum Grade: D
or ENGL 200 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
SOSJ 366 - OK if taken since Fall 2018
Colonial American literature to the early Romantic movement of the 1830s and 1840s.
American literature from 1840-1900.
American literature from 1900 to present.
Equivalent:
WGST 326C - OK if taken since Fall 2009
Over 200 years of literature relating to the aspirations and fears of colonists/Americans, from 1620 to 1854.
Literature produced by different social, ethnic and racial groups in the U.S.
Works written in English by writers responding to the impact of Western colonization and imperialism.
This course examines various forms of historical and contemporary literatures written by Chicana/ o / x and Latina/ o / x feminists and explores the importance of these literary works for the development of Chicanx and Latinx feminisms. We will emphasize the similarities and differences between the Chicanx/Latinx experiences; literary constructions of identity in terms of race, gender sexuality, class, ability and language; and the expression of a Chicanx/Latinx feminist collective and solidary identity.
A study of African-American writers.
This course is a general survey of English literature in the Middle Ages. Students will encounter the major texts, themes and genres recorded in Old English and Middle English.
Selected plays and poetry.
Equivalent:
WGST 327 - OK if taken since Fall 2023
British literature covering the period 1500-1700, excluding drama.
Equivalent:
WGST 419 - OK if taken since Fall 2020
British writers of the Romantic period, 1798-1832, with emphasis on poetry.
Writers of the Victorian Era, 1832-1901, with emphasis on poetry.
Major prose, drama and poetry from 1660-1800, exclusive of the novel.
British literature of the Twentieth Century including poetry, drama and prose.
This course will cover a broad sweep of plays from the modern and contemporary eras of drama, emphasizing the beginnings of dramatic modernism in Nineteenth-Century continental Europe (texts to be read in translation), as well as the development of drama in Britain and America from the late Nineteenth Century to the present.
Topic to be determined by faculty. Florence campus only.
This course addresses the centrality of love in the Renaissance literature in its conceptual and aesthetic complexity. Spring, Florence campus only.
This course, a blend of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, is a journey that begins with the Ancient Greeks and somehow also ends with the Ancient Greeks: their culture, their myths, their literature, and their discoveries. Through reading and discussion of some 20th century novels, it will follow the path travelled by modern man and woman by focusing on cultural evolution and attitudes shaped by social context, especially during the 19th and 20th centuries. Fall and Spring, Florence campus only.
Students tutor in the Writing Center under the supervision of the Writing Center Director. May satisfy the English Teach Ed endorsement writing pedagogies requirement usually fulfilled by ENGL 395, with prior permission from Department Chair. Requires written permission from both the instructor and the Department Chair.
Topic to be determined by faculty.
An examination of narrower topics in film which may include: the film traditions of other nations (e.g. France, Italy, Japan, or Russia); periods (silent films of the 1920s; French New Wave; American film of the 1970s); or themes (e.g. the Western from Porter to Eastwood or Shakespeare on film). The course will include significant readings from major critics (e.g. James Agee's reviews and essays) and filmmakers (e.g. Truffaut on the auteur).
Students will demonstrate their ability to research and respond to theories and practices pertaining to composing and to the teaching of writing. They will acquire this ability, in part, by writing about and discussing observations of writers in action, by reflecting critically on their own composing processes, and by reading and responding to writing from a variety of genres. Key specific learning outcomes include translating theory into practice and discussing the politics and assessment of language as applied to written English in a variety of rhetorical settings. Required for students seeking teacher certification.
An intensive exploration of the practice of writing poetry. Specific sections may focus on subgenres including lyrical poetry, narrative poetry, and/or the long poem.
An intensive exploration of the practice of writing fiction. Specific sections may focus on subgenres including the novella, flash fiction, and/or chapters within a novel.
An intensive and challenging exploration of the practice of writing nonfiction. Specific sections may focus on the intersection of nonfiction writing and focused subject matter.
An intensive and challenging study on writing practices within a focused context. Possible examples include: writing and philosophy, writing and questions of social justice, environmental writing, and/or writing and mysticism.
Major American novels of the period 1800-1900.
Equivalent:
WGST 422C - OK if taken since Fall 2020
Selected major novelists of the 20th Century.
Equivalent:
WGST 423C - OK if taken since Fall 2020
American prose and poetry since World War II.
Study of literature produced by Chicana/o/x, Latina/o/x, and Latin American authors from a transnational approach: an approach that considers the continuous cross-border connections across the Americas.
This course is designed to introduce students to several important texts in the multifaceted genre of American Indian literature as well as to invite students into a critical discussion of contemporary issues centering on the relationship between American Indian literatures and contemporary sociopolitical and cultural realities and issues. We will examine the role of American Indian literature in the continual process of cultural maintenance as well as identity (re)construction. Through close reading of texts by writers from various tribes and regions, students will explore the heterogeneity of Native America and the complexities of all attempts to define or shape indigenous nationhood in the United States. We will contextualize these texts in discussions of social justice issues particular to Native America, including but not limited to the five definitions of genocide; geographical and cultural displacements; and "third world" living conditions. We will also be engaged in dialogues about local and national American Indian cultures in cooperation with the American Indian Studies house on campus. Spring, odd numbered years.
Equivalent:
NTAS 321 - OK if taken since Fall 2014
Language and literary study of the Old English period with special emphasis on the anonymous epic poem Beowulf.
Chaucer's principal works in the original language.
The Core Integration Seminar (CIS) engages the Year Four Question: “Imagining the possible: What is our role in the world?” by offering students a culminating seminar experience in which students integrate the principles of Jesuit education, prior components of the Core, and their disciplinary expertise. Each section of the course will focus on a problem or issue raised by the contemporary world that encourages integration, collaboration, and problem solving. The topic for each section of the course will be proposed and developed by each faculty member in a way that clearly connects to the Jesuit Mission, to multiple disciplinary perspectives, and to our students’ future role in the world.
Poetry and prose from the 17th Century with particular emphasis on Milton.
Principal plays 1520-1640, excluding Shakespeare.
Equivalent:
WGST 417 - OK if taken since Fall 2020
The British novel from 1700-1800.
Equivalent:
WGST 416 - OK if taken since Fall 2020
British drama from the re-opening of the London stages in 1660 through 1800.
A study in contemporary American literature inclusive of texts and writers from
Canada, the U.S., and all of Latin America.
The British novel from 1800-1900.
The British novel from 1900 and 2000.
19th/20th Century novel.
Topics to be determined by faculty.
Herman Melville achieved brief literary celebrity in the late 1840s as the author of Typee: the “man who lived among the cannibals.” As his artistic ambition grew, his work became less popular; after the moderate successes of Typee and its sequel, Omoo, Melville’s books lost money and were poorly reviewed. Around 1860, he turned from prose to poetry, eventually withdrawing entirely from the literary marketplace. He died in 1891, an “absolutely forgotten man” (according the obit in his hometown paper, The New York Times). In the 1920s the Melville Revival rescued him from the
dustbin of history, and Moby-Dick is now widely considered among the greatest novels ever written. In this course we will consider his work in the context of the “global” nineteenth century.
This course will examine the period of American literature between the Civil War and World War I. This era marked the emergence of realism and naturalism as an alternative to the romantic and sentimental books which dominated the literary market throughout the nineteenth century. Although realist and naturalist authors varied in their approaches to fiction, their writings shared many characteristics. Our reading and discussion in this class will aim to outline the commonalities of the realists and naturalists, identify their differences, and examine how the cultural milieu of the late nineteenth century gave shape to their work.
Selected authors and themes.
Equivalent:
WGST 460 - OK if taken since Fall 2007
Selected authors or themes.
The course will tie in to the Florence experience and will require reading literature in English or in translation. Topic to be determined by faculty.
Theories about the nature of literature and criticism.
Equivalent:
WGST 403 - OK if taken since Spring 2010
This course will study English Language poetry from Chaucer to present. Focus on the "formal" qualities of poetry.
A directed program of readings and written responses.
Courses which allow the individual student to engage in interdepartmental and interdisciplinary study. Credit by arrangement.
A focused, in-depth study of a literary/cultural topic chosen by the instructor. The course will familiarize students with the critical conversation surrounding the topic, prepare them to engage in this and similar conversations, and have them enter into this conversation through well-informed, well-argued, research-based, critical study that will constitute the written aspect of the Senior Project. Required for English Majors. Senior standing or permission of Department Chair. To be taken concurrently with ENGL 499.
Concurrent:
ENGL 499
This course is required of students pursuing the Writing Concentration in the English major and consists of these chief components: 1) a critical/historical review contextualizing the student's creative work in literary tradition and 2) an original creative manuscript of the student's poetry/prose/drama/non-fiction.
Professional experience in literature- or writing-related field. Students must take the initiative to contact an agency and an English Department faculty member willing to supervise the internship. Does not count towards program electives for the major or minor.
A directed program in which the individual student will engage in approved research activity and submit a scholarly paper or papers.
Academic paper produced in Senior Seminar (ENGL 495). Required for English majors. To be taken concurrently with ENGL 495.
Concurrent:
ENGL 495
Second Language Competency
Competency in a second language (classical or modern) at the intermediate level (courses numbered 201) is required for students continuing in the study of a language. Students beginning study in a language they have not previously studied can fulfill the requirement by completing one year at the beginning level (courses numbered 101-102). Non-native speakers of English who have completed the required English core credits at Gonzaga may petition the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences for a waiver of this requirement.
Additional information on this requirement can be found at
Language Requirement Information