Honors Courses

ENGL 105: Honors Intro - Modern Medievalism

Instructor: Misty Schieberle
18596 | TuTh 11:00-12:15 PM | Wescoe 1009 – LAWRENCE

Why does medieval literature remain such popular fodder for modern adaptations? What medieval texts and topics led to works by Tolkien, G. R. R. Martin, and Margaret Atwood? This course uses medieval texts (in modern translations) and selected short modern adaptations to examine what it means to adapt foundational stories into works for new audiences. Coursework will consist of two short essays, one longer essay, and several short writing assignments, some involving creative and playful approaches; there will be occasional quizzes and, I hope, frequent lively discussions. Texts: Heaney, Beowulf; various King Arthur and Merlin narratives; two medieval werewolf stories; Margaret Atwood's “Impatient Griselda”; and selected excerpts from modern film and TV adaptations. We will use these works to practice writing in a variety of genres, including a traditional essay, analysis of an adaptation, and a researched project. Course requirements will also include class participation and short, informal assignments that lead up to the major essays.

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ENGL 105: Honors Intro - Nature Writing

Instructor: Randall Fuller
22350 | TuTh 1:00-2:15 PM | Wescoe 4023 – LAWRENCE

In this course we will read--and create our own--nature writing. Among the works we will explore, whether in excerpts or in their entirety, are Thoreau's Walden, Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass, Olivia Laing's To the River, and Helen MacDonald's H is for Hawk. We will also keep a writing journal and make frequent forays into natural spaces, with the goal of producing several pieces of polished nature writing of our own.

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Leaf next to brown notebook on green background

ENGL 105: Honors Intro - What We Do When We Read

Instructor: Ann Rowland
22979 | TuTh 2:30-3:45 PM | Wescoe 4068 – LAWRENCE
This course will investigate the question of what we do when we read. As an introduction to English studies, we will discuss and practice how to read, analyze, interpret, and write about poetry and fiction. But we will also investigate and discuss the psychological, social, and cognitive processes of reading, paying attention to the experience that literary reading offers and thinking about why we read in a media culture that offers so many alternatives.

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ENGL 105: Honors Intro - Telling & Retelling

Instructor: Doug Crawford-Parker
19361 | MW 11:00-12:15 PM | Wescoe 4021 - LAWRENCE
22997 | MW 12:30-1:45 PM | Wescoe 4021 – LAWRENCE

What might move a writer to answer, retell, or even rewrite a previous work? How do new literary works relate to older ones? This class will examine such questions by examining a select group of instances where authors rewrite, extend, or answer the work of an earlier writer.

How do writers relate to writers who have come before them? Why might a writer “rewrite” the work of an earlier writer? In this class we will explore multiple instances of writers responding to the works of earlier writers, beginning by reading two essay pairs written decades apart but which share the exact same title. We will then focus on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from 1818 and a number of the countless responses to that novel since then.

As we work our way through these texts, reading them closely and discussing them analytically, we will also engage how to write the kind of argumentative, analytical assignments that are often central in college classes. Coursework includes three papers, a final project where students will have their own opportunity to do a rewrite, weekly posts in Microsoft Teams, and other regular short writing exercises in and out of class.

This course satisfies KU Core Goal 2, learning outcome 1 (Written Communication).

LIKELY TEXTS
• Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Norton Critical Edition, Third Edition. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 2021. ISBN: ‎0393644022
• Gray, Alasdair. Poor Things. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive, 2002. ISBN: ‎1564783073
• Ackroyd, Peter. The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: A Novel. Anchor, 2010. ISBN: 0307473775
• Jones, Stephen, ed. In the Shadow of Frankenstein: Tales of the Modern Prometheus. Pegasus, 2017. ISBN: 1681775336
• Winterson, Jeanette. Frankissstein: A Novel. Grove, 2020. ISBN: ‎0802149391

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Collage of various pop culture images of Frankenstein

ENGL 105: Honors Intro

Instructor: Paul Outka
23340 | MW 3:00-4:15 PM | Wescoe 4023 – LAWRENCE

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ENGL 205: Ways of Seeing

Instructor: Mary Klayder
23860 | MWF 10:00-10:50 AM | Wescoe 4020 - LAWRENCE
18561 | MWF 11:00-11:50 AM | Wescoe 4020 - LAWRENCE

The course will focus on the concepts of perception, perspective, and vision in literature. How do we see things? How do we view the world? How does literature show our different ways of seeing? We will consider different perceptions of art, nature, gender, race, and culture; we will investigate various cultural and personal perspectives; and we will address the notion of vision as a metaphor in literature. In addition to literary texts, we will look at how other disciplines intersect with literature regarding these issues. There will be three critical papers, a final exam, a perception project, and assorted playful response assignments throughout the semester. Texts: Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By; Donne, Selected Poetry; Dickinson, The Collected Poems; Edson, Wit; Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Woolf, To The Lighthouse; Haig, The Midnight Library; and selected essays and poetry handouts.