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English Courses

When registering for our courses, you will be presented with the following options:

  • Blended (BLEN) courses. Class time is a combination of face-to-face and online delivery. The total course contact hours will remain the same as a traditional in-person course.
  • Online (ONLN) courses. All elements of these courses will be offered online. There are two types of online courses:
    • Asynchronous courses do not have any fixed meeting times. You can do them at the time of your choosing.
    • Synchronous courses will be delivered in real-time via Zoom or other videoconferencing platforms at the times indicated on the York Courses website. Some of these courses will have both real-time and non-real-time components.
  • Lecture/tutorial (LECT) courses. These courses include in-person components and will meet face-to-face.
  • Seminar (SEMR) courses. Classes will meet in person unless otherwise stated in the Course Notes section.

Students are advised to review the Course Notes column in the course descriptions for more information.

Course List

English Course Categories

The Course Category Lists are found in the Academic Calendar. On the Academic Calendar website, select ‘Degree Requirements‘, then ‘Program-specific Degree Requirements‘, and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Time Period Requirement

Students must complete courses in time periods I (pre-1700) and/or II (1700-1900). Please review your degree checklist for specific credit requirements.

Course Outlines: For detailed course descriptions, please visit the LA&PS Course Outlines website.

*Note: Not all courses will be offered every academic year.


AP/EN 1001 3.00
An Introduction to Literary Study

An introduction to the study of, and writing about, literature. Through short readings (essays, stories, poems and plays), students learn to observe, understand and evaluate how literary texts work. Through specific attention to the technical …

AP/EN 1002 3.00
Intertextualities

This course advances students’ training in comparative literary analysis, research and writing. It introduces students to intertextual relationships between old forms and new that exemplify literary movements and influences as well as canon and counter-canon …

AP/EN 1006 3.00
A Writer's Introduction to Literary Forms

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP WRIT 1006 An introduction to the fundamental principles governing the production and reception of four principal literary forms in English: poetry, prose fiction, prose non-fiction and drama. Extensive consideration is given to …

AP/EN 1101 3.00
Literature and Law

This course explores the representation of legal issues in literature, by analyzing how authors thematize justice and injustice (social, economic, political, racial, via depictions of crime, policing, state power and individual resistance). It also explores …

AP/EN 1101 6.00
Literature and Law

This course explores the representation of legal issues in literature, by analyzing how authors thematize justice and injustice (social, economic, political, racial, via depictions of crime, policing, state power and individual resistance). It also explores …

AP/EN 1102 3.00
Literature and Health

This course explores themes of physical and mental health-related issues in literature, the literary conventions and figurative language necessary for their expression, as well as the use of literature in health-related practices. From the conception …

AP/EN 1102 6.00
Literature and Health

This course explores themes of physical and mental health-related issues in literature, the literary conventions and figurative language necessary for their expression, as well as the use of literature in health-related practices. From the conception …

AP/EN 1103 6.00
Literature and Business

Scams, chicanery, insider-trading, dreams of great fortunes, and panics:  fictions of finance take in the whole spectrum of human hopes, values, vices, and anxieties.  This course will explore the literary representation of business-related issues, ethical …

AP/EN 1201 6.00
The Literary Imagination

This course takes a literary approach to a wide range of texts, including not only the traditional genres, poetry, drama and fiction, but also a broad range of less obviously literary texts, such as journalistic, …

AP/EN 1201 9.00
The Literary Imagination

This course takes a literary approach to a wide range of texts, including not only the traditional genres, poetry, drama and fiction, but also a broad range of less obviously literary texts, such as journalistic, …

AP/EN 1202 6.00
Satire

A broad examination of satire in poetry, prose and drama. Students will explore the very beginnings and historical refinements of contemporary satire through close reading of a range of works from the classical – Aristophanes, …

AP/EN 1202 9.00
Satire

A broad examination of satire in poetry, prose and drama. Students will explore the very beginnings and historical refinements of contemporary satire through close reading of a range of works from the classical – Aristophanes, …

AP/EN 2001 3.00
Literary Theory I

Introduces students to early literary theory. We will discuss major developments in the theory and practice of literary representation, from antiquity to romanticism; students will learn the meanings and implications of historically foundational critical terms …

AP/EN 2002 3.00
Literary Theory II

Introduces students to contemporary literary and cultural theory. We will discuss major developments in the theory and practice of literature, from romanticism to postmodernism; students will learn the meanings and political implications of current critical …

AP/EN 2010 6.00
Gender Studies

An examination of how gender mediates the creation, reception and interpretation of literary/cultural texts. It provides students with critical tools for understanding gender in contemporary theory, and reading and writing about gender in literary texts.

AP/EN 2011 3.00
Gender Studies I

What is gender? Is it something biologically determined or socially constructed? Could it be both? Why is it something we can take for granted? And how does sexuality fit in? Issues of race, ethnicity and …

AP/EN 2012 3.00
Gender Studies II

We will survey major theoretical approaches to contemporary gender studies, including what Judith Butler has called new gender studies: bodies marked by various crossings (chromosomal sex, gender, sexuality, race, nation) as well as post-queer heterosexual …

AP/EN 2013 6.00
Race: Writing & Rewriting a Powerful Idea (Race: Theory and Literature)

This course examines responses by various authors who consider race and racism as they inhere across genres in literature and literary study from antiquity to today.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 2014 3.00; AP/EN 2015 3.00.Open to: …

AP/EN 2014 3.00
What Was Race? (Race: Theory and Literature I)

Examines responses by various authors who consider race and racism as they inhere across genres in literature and literary study from antiquity to the opening of the twentieth century.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 2013 6.00.Open to: …

AP/EN 2015 3.00
What Does Race Have to Do With It? (Race: Theory and Literature II)

Examines responses by various authors who consider race and racism as they inhere across genres in literature and literary study from the opening of the twentieth century to today.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 2013 6.00.Open to: …

AP/EN 2020 3.00
English Language, Style, and Literature

A comparison of approaches and methods for studying rhetorical shaping, style, phrasing, and other language-related topics, including different creative ways in which language is adapted to different kinds of communication, including conversation, fiction, poetry, drama, …

AP/EN 2100 3.00
Poetry

Through the close study of poems and relevant critical material, the course aims to develop in the student the ability to read poetry with discernment and pleasure. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 2100 3.00. PRIOR TO …

AP/EN 2100 6.00
Poetry

Through the close study of poems and relevant critical material, the course aims to develop in the student the ability to read poetry with discernment and pleasure. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 2100 3.00. PRIOR TO …

AP/EN 2120 3.00
Prose Narrative

An introduction to the formal techniques and generic patterns that have governed the production of prose narrative in English from the 16th century to the present. Primary emphasis is on fiction but non-fictional narrative is …

AP/EN 2120 6.00
Prose Narrative

An introduction to the formal techniques and generic patterns that have governed the production of prose narrative in English from the 16th century to the present. Primary emphasis is on fiction but non-fictional narrative is …

AP/EN 2130 3.00
The Short Story

Provides an overview of the short story genre from its inception in the early nineteenth century to the present. It provides detailed analyses and theoretical considerations of the form of stories by well-known writers from …

AP/EN 2130 6.00
The Short Story

Provides an overview of the short story genre from its inception in the early nineteenth century to the present. It provides detailed analyses and theoretical considerations of the form of stories by well-known writers from …

AP/EN 2140 3.00
Drama

An introduction to the study of drama, presented from a theatrical as well as a literary point of view, with the emphasis on the changing nature of dramatic convention and the relation of plays to …

AP/EN 2140 6.00
Drama

An introduction to the study of drama, presented from a theatrical as well as a literary point of view, with the emphasis on the changing nature of dramatic convention and the relation of plays to …

AP/EN 2170 3.00
Horror and Terror: Variations on Gothic

The course addresses Gothic as a popular genre eliciting and managing fear, whether accompanied by anticipation and dread (terror) or confrontation and disgust (horror). Attention is paid to Gothic’s 18th-century origins, but the focus is …

AP/EN 2171 3.00
Coming of Age in Fiction

This course examines the sub-genre of prose fiction known as the Bildungsroman or novel of maturation and the variety of forms and approaches evident in examples from the 19th and 20th centuries.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN …

AP/EN 2172 3.00
Apocalyptic Science Fiction

This course surveys apocalyptic themes from the Bible to the present day. It focuses primarily on images of the end of the world in 19th- and 20th-century science fiction, and places the works studied in …

AP/EN 2173 3.00
Children's Literature, 1590-1900

A historical study of children’s literature written between 1590 and 1900. It explores possible ways of reading that literature, taking into account such issues as its cultural context and its audience.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 2303 …

AP/EN 2174 3.00
20th Century Children's Literature

This course is a historical study of children’s literature written in the 20th century. It explores possible ways of reading that literature, taking into account such issues as its cultural context and its audience.Course credit …

AP/EN 2176 3.00
Comics and Cartoons I

From the Yellow Kid to Captain America (1900-Cold War) this course explores the growth of comics and cartoons: creative conflicts, contexts and themes (outsiders, war, ethnicity), Bugs Bunny, Superman, superheroes and Disney, and how they …

AP/EN 2177 3.00
Comics and Cartoons II

From Road Runner to The Simpsons, this course explores trends in post-war comics and cartoons: vigilantism, paranoia, national insecurity, normality and abnormality, Peanuts and MAD, the counterculture, R. Crumb, Spiderman, X-Men and new directions.Course credit …

AP/EN 2178 3.00
The English Detective Novel

Explores the history, conventions, values, popularity and possible limits of the detective novel as expressed by British practitioners of the genre from Arthur Conan Doyle to P.D. James. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 2308 3.00 (prior …

AP/EN 2220 6.00
Canadian Literature

A critical and historical study of the literature of Canada. When relevant, material for the course will be drawn from other literatures.PRIOR TO FALL 2013: course credit exclusion: GL/EN 2550 6.00.

AP/EN 2230 6.00
Intro to American Literature

Provides a broad but selective overview of American literature from the European encounter to the present. It introduces students to the major concepts, issues, contexts, events, and writers necessary for future study in the field.

AP/EN 2231 6.00
African American Literature

An introduction to the African American literary tradition across genres, from its slavery-era origins until today, exploring representations of selfhood, consciousness, solidarity, conflict, power, literacy, voice, heritage, and destiny.

AP/EN 2240 6.00
Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures

Provides a selective overview of twentieth-century and contemporary literature in English from the regions of Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, and the South Pacific. Note that all regions will not be covered in every iteration …

AP/EN 2250 6.00
Intro to British Literature

This course introduces British literature in its historical context, from its Germanic roots and the earliest writings in English to the contemporary period. There will be reading from historical accounts as well as non-canonical writings. …

AP/EN 2260 6.00
Introduction to World Literature

This course surveys a wide range of literary forms and genres (myth, epic, ballad, lyric, drama, romance, novel), from ancient to contemporary times, drawing on literatures from all areas of the globe. The course also …

AP/EN 2261 3.00
Introduction to World Literature 1: Beginnings to the Early Modern Period

This course surveys a wide range of literary forms and genres (myth, epic, ballad, lyric, drama, romance, novel), from the earliest surviving literary texts to the 17th century, drawing on literatures from all areas of …

AP/EN 2262 3.00
Introduction to World Literature 2: The Modern Period

This course surveys a wide range of literary forms and genres (myth, epic, ballad, lyric, drama, romance, novel), from the 18th century to the 21st, drawing on literatures from all areas of the globe. The …

AP/EN 2270 6.00
Modernisms

Representative and influential works by British and American authors, including Eliot, Lawrence, Joyce, Hemingway and Faulkner.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3131 3.00, AP/EN 3130 6.00, GL/EN 3360 6.00.

AP/EN 2280 6.00
Medieval Literature

An introduction to a representative selection of medieval English literature from Beowulf to Malory’s Morte d’Arthur; designed for students, whatever their specialty, who would like to acquire some familiarity with Old and Middle English literature. …

AP/EN 2600 6.00
Introduction to Creative Writing

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 2600 6.0 Introduction to Creative Writing) An introduction to the writing of poetry and prose fiction. The main focus of the course will be the student’s …

AP/EN 2999 6.00
Special Topics

This course provides students with a foundational knowledge base in a special topic by introducing them to its must-read texts, constitutive discourses, and fundamental questions.

AP/EN 2999 3.00
Special Topics

This course provides students with a foundational knowledge base in a special topic by introducing them to its must-read texts, constitutive discourses, and fundamental questions.

AP/EN 3000 6.00
Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory

An introduction to the linguistic and structural analysis of literary texts. Course credit exclusions: GL/EN 3607 6.00, GL/LIN 3607 6.00.

AP/EN 3020 6.00
Psychoanalysis and Approaches to Literature

An Introduction to the fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis and their application to the study of literature. The course’s primary theorist is Freud but the contributions of other theorists may also be considered.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR …

AP/EN 3031 6.00
Diaspora Theory

This course explores theories of Diaspora, exile, transnationalism, dispossession, and borderlands as lenses for thinking through contemporary literary and cultural movements.  This course full integrates academic writing and critical thinking as means of learning complex …

AP/EN 3041 6.00
The Writer/Critic

This course studies work of creative writers who were or are also important critics.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusion: AS/EN 3150 6.00.

AP/EN 3060 6.00
Healing Fiction: Literature and Medicine

An online seminar-workshop course working with texts by various authors who explore the boundaries between imaginative literature and personal or social healing.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3100 Z 6.00 …

AP/EN 3070 6.00
Filming Literature

This course addresses a wide range of literary works and their filmic versions. Attention is devoted especially to translation from one medium to another, the specificity of the verbal and the visual, and narrative form …

AP/EN 3073 6.00
The Small Town in Film and Literature

This course examines representations of the imagined community in literature and film from the Golden Age of classical Greek myth to the master-planned suburb. Particular attention is paid to the strategies of narrative and fantasy …

AP/EN 3126 6.00
The Literature of the First World War

This course examines familiar First World War literature, fine but neglected works written during or shortly after the War and recent treatments of its psychological and physical horrors. The texts are chiefly fiction and poetry; …

AP/EN 3132 3.00
Dada, Surrealism, and Early Avant-Garde Movements

Studies such writers as Breton, Schwitters, Artaud, Stein, Marinetti, and Gauvreau, contemporary to those mentioned for AP/EN 3131 3.00, but more typically described as avant-garde and linguistically experimental. Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3555 3.00.

AP/EN 3140 3.00
Avant-garde Movements Since 1945

Examines literary and artistic movements which arise in the wake of Dada and Surrealism, with a focus on those which are textually-based including Oulipo, Fluxus, Lettrism, Language Writing, Digital Poetry, and Situationism. Notes: AP/EN 3132 …

AP/EN 3150 6.00
Women in Literature: A Comparative Analysis

Examines the changing social and familial roles of women as they have been reflected and popularized in fiction from the 18th century to the present. The approach is comparative and historical, drawing on documents to …

AP/EN 3155 3.00
Recent Women Fiction Writers

Examines the narrative perspectives and strategies of recent American, English and Irish women fiction writers. It does not concentrate on feminist narratology or contemporary theory but the novels invite a variety of approaches.

AP/EN 3160 6.00
Literature of the Fantastic

The nature of the fantastic in 19th and 20th century literature. Studies in comparative theories of the fantastic, especially psychoanalytical, symbolic and mythological approaches and various examples of fantastic fiction: the Gothic, grotesque, uncanny, unreal …

AP/EN 3161 3.00
Rogues, Outcasts, Runaways: The Picaresque Novel in English I

A survey of picaresque novels in English from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, from the picaresque’s establishment as an important form in the British novel to its spread to North American settings.Prerequisites: AP/EN 1001 3.00 …

AP/EN 3162 3.00
Rogues, Outcasts, Runaways: The Picaresque Novel in English II

A survey of picaresque novels in English from the 1900 to the present and in diverse English-language literatures.Prerequisites: AP/EN 1001  3.00 and AP/EN 1002 3.00. Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3163 6.00. Open to: Yr  03 …

AP/EN 3163 6.00
Rogues, Outcasts, Runaways: The Picaresque Novel in English

A survey of picaresque novels in English from the Eighteenth Century to the present, from the picaresque’s establishment as an important form in the British novel to its spread to diverse English-language literatures.Prerequisites: AP/EN 1001 …

AP/EN 3175 3.00
Travel Writing in English

Dealing with 19th- and 20th-century travel writing (British, Canadian, American, African, Asian and Caribbean), this course examines the construction of a travelling/narrating self, its representations of other landscapes, cultures and peoples and the writer’s rhetorical …

AP/EN 3179 3.00
The Art of the Personal Essay

Introduction to the rich variety of narrative and non-narrative prose-writing in English. The approach will include a historical survey, but specific content and format will vary with the instructor.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 2720 6.00, AP/EN …

AP/EN 3180 6.00
Literary Nonfiction

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP WRIT 3180 Literary nonfiction (creative nonfiction; literary, new and personal journalism) melds the accuracy of nonfiction with the dramatic force of fiction. In this course, we read some recent works in the …

AP/EN 3190 6.00
Modern Drama

A survey of European, British and North American dramatists from Ibsen, Chekhov and Shaw to Brecht and Osborne.

AP/EN 3191 3.00
Comedy

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP WRIT 3013 The nature, powers and limits of comedy are explored through reading a selection of comedies from Elizabethan to modern times.

AP/EN 3192 6.00
Tragedy in Western Literature: Ancient and Modern

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP HUMA 3014 A study of concepts of tragedy and tragic themes in literature from antiquity to the present viewed in their cultural and historical contexts as well as in relation to their …

AP/EN 3193 3.00
Studies in Satire

An examination of works that exemplify one of the four major kinds of literature – satire. Students will focus on works of one or two authors, periods, and/or genres, from antiquity to the present.Course credit …

AP/EN 3193 6.00
Studies in Satire

An examination of works that exemplify one of the four major kinds of literature – satire. Students will focus on works of one or two authors, periods, and/or genres, from antiquity to the present.Course credit …

AP/EN 3210 6.00
Modern Canadian Poetry

An intensive study of the modern movement in Canadian poetry.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009:Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 3350 6.00, AK/EN 3860 6.00.

AP/EN 3220 6.00
Modern Canadian Drama

This course focuses on the wide range of English-language drama written and performed in Canada since 1967.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3220 6.00, GL/DRST 3950 6.00, GL/EN 3950 6.00, GL/HUMA 3950 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course …

AP/EN 3230 6.00
Modern Canadian Fiction

A study of selected Canadian novelists, Anglophone and francophone. Contemporary and comparative themes and techniques will be considered, using translations for the francophone works. Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 4255 6.00, GL/EN 4450 6.00.

AP/EN 3231 6.00
Modern Québécois Fiction in Translation

The post-war fiction of Québéc has been varied and lively. Some of its trends include traditional realism, through politically-oriented and nationalist writing, to feminism and post-modernism.

AP/EN 3240 6.00
Racial Minority Writing in Canada

An examination of the meaning of post-coloniality in the Canadian context by focusing on the work of writers of Native, Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds. It would be fruitful to study them together as their …

AP/EN 3241 6.00
Saints' Lives and Black Madonnas: The Literary and Cultural Experience of Italian Canadians

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP IT 3721 The study of the Italian experience in Canada as expressed in representative works from various genres: narrative, poetry, theatre and film. The significance of these works is examined in the …

AP/EN 3252 3.00
Indigenous Knoledge and the Environment

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP REI 3535 Analyzes the history and theories of Canada and the True North from the perspectives of indigenous knowledge and environment. Examines concepts and relationships among history, literature and nature in Europe …

AP/EN 3253 3.00
Indigenous People, Legend and Memory

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP INDG 3536 & AP HUMA 3536 This course examines concepts and relationships among history, literature and nature in Europe and North America.Previously offered as:  AP/MIST 3536 3.00Course credit exclusion: AP/REI 3536 3.00 …

AP/EN 3255 3.00
Indigenous Drama in Canada

This course offers a literary and theatrical study of Indigenous drama in Canada with some attention to critical theory and relevant historical and cultural contexts. It examines the historical and theatrical conditions that led to …

AP/EN 3305 3.00
Native American Literature

Surveys a range of writings by (and occasionally about) Native Americans from the US, beginning with the oral tradition and extending to the present day.Prerequisites: For English Majors/Minors only; AP/EN 1001 3.00 (with a grade …

AP/EN 3310 3.00
American Poetry

A critical examination of the major achievements of American poets writing in the 20th century against the background of earlier poets who may be said to have established the foundations of an American poetic tradition.Course …

AP/EN 3310 6.00
American Poetry

A critical examination of the major achievements of American poets writing in the 20th century against the background of earlier poets who may be said to have established the foundations of an American poetic tradition.Course …

AP/EN 3319 3.00
American Literature Before 1800

Studies texts including but not limited to utopian visions, jeremiads, prescriptive and promotional literature, Indian captivity narratives, slaves’ autobiographies, Salem witchcraft accounts, embryonic feminist explorations, and the earliest American novels, to demonstrate that many themes …

AP/EN 3319 6.00
American Literature Before 1800

Studies texts including but not limited to utopian visions, jeremiads, prescriptive and promotional literature, Indian captivity narratives, slaves’ autobiographies, Salem witchcraft accounts, embryonic feminist explorations, and the earliest American novels, to demonstrate that many themes …

AP/EN 3320 6.00
Literature of the United States: 1800-1865

A reading of selected works by Cooper, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville and others.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 3322 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3762 6.00, AS/EN 3310 6.00.

AP/EN 3321 6.00
American Literature: 20th Century

A study of representative works by major American writers of the 20th century.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 3321 6.00 (prior to Fall 2012), GL/EN 3470 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 2330 6.00, GL/EN …

AP/EN 3322 6.00
American Literature: 19th Century

Selected works of Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Stowe and Whitman.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 3320 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3560 6.00 (prior to Fall/Winter 1994-1995), AS/EN 3310 6.00, AS/EN 3762 6.00.

AP/EN 3323 3.00
American Literature: 21st Century

Explores American literature in the twenty-first century. The course will emphasize emerging literary voices of the new millennium but will also consider how writers who established themselves in the twentieth century adapt to, and write …

AP/EN 3330 6.00
Haunted America

Examines how early US writers transformed terror fiction into a distinctly American sub-genre by focusing on the geographical, demographical, and sociological conditions of their own country. This strategy involved the substitution of Old World Gothic …

AP/EN 3350 3.00
Harlem Renaissance

An introduction to the Harlem Renaissance, a period of unprecedented African-American cultural production in the 1920s and early 1930s, fundamental for understanding later 20th century American and African-American literature. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4350 6.00 …

AP/EN 3370 3.00
American Drama

Through selected texts, this course studies American drama and theatre. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 4370 3.00 (prior to Fall 2012), AP/EN 4370 6.00 (prior to …

AP/EN 3390 6.00
Style and Rhetoric in Prose and Oratory

This course examines the stylistic features of oral and written forms of expression, including all three types of oratory (ceremonial, judicial, deliberative), and their use of logic, rhetoric, and diction.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL …

AP/EN 3391 3.00
Powers of Persuasion: Argument and Prose

Examines how and why writing can be so persuasive that it can change history by altering what people believe to be true. With famous examples of persuasive writing of diverse styles and genres and instruction …

AP/EN 3410 3.00
Caribbean Literature

Examines Caribbean literature in English. The course explores how colonialism, post-colonialism and the lived experiences of the Caribbean people have shaped the novel, short story, poetry and drama.

AP/EN 3420 6.00
African Literature

This course introduces students to some important literary works from the continent of Africa. Texts will be studied in the context of histories of decolonialization of African nation states and how African writers respond to …

AP/EN 3425 3.00
Middle Eastern Literature

This course offers a study of Middle Eastern Literature in English with attention to critical theory and relevant cultural contexts. Readings include the framed tales of One Thousand and One Nights written along the silk …

AP/EN 3430 6.00
South Asian Literature

The course introduces students to the literature and theory currently categorized as Post-Colonial by means of a focus of texts written in English by authors originating in the geographical region known as South Asia (India, …

AP/EN 3440 6.00
Contemporary Literature

A study of literature published since 1950 focusing on writing in English from at least two regions, including Europe and North America.

AP/EN 3506 6.00
Chaucer

A critical reading of Chaucer’s works, with special reference to The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowles, Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales. Course credit exclusion: GL/EN 3210 …

AP/EN 3525 6.00
Renaissance Literature

The literature and culture of 16th-century England, from Sir Thomas More and the early Tudor poets to the Elizabethan world of Sidney, the Countess of Pembroke, Spenser and Marlowe.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 3520 6.00.PRIOR TO …

AP/EN 3535 6.00
Shakespeare

An introduction to the study of Shakespeare’s plays. Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3536 6.00, GL/DRST 3620 6.00, GL/EN 3620 6.00.

AP/EN 3536 6.00
Shakespeare and His Contemporaries

The plays of Shakespeare and such contemporaries as Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Elizabeth Cary and John Webster.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3535 6.00, AP/EN 3545 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3340 6.00, AK/EN …

AP/EN 3540 6.00
Poetry 1600-1700

Poetry of the Metaphysical school of Donne, Herbert, Marvell and Vaughan, Milton, Anne Finch, Aphra Behn and the Cavalier poets.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusion: AK/EN 3410 6.00, AK/EN 3660 6.00 …

AP/EN 3545 3.00
Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama

This survey will familiarize students with the work of Shakespeare and his Elizabethan and Jacobean contemporaries with emphasis on the dramatic language of the periods.Course credit exclusions:  AP/EN 3545 6.00, AP/EN 3536 6.00, AP/EN 4536 …

AP/EN 3545 6.00
Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama

This survey will familiarize students with the work of Shakespeare and his Elizabethan and Jacobean contemporaries with emphasis on the dramatic language of the periods.Course credit exclusions:  AP/EN 3545 6.00, AP/EN 3536 6.00, AP/EN 4536 …

AP/EN 3550 6.00
The Victorians

Introduces students to Victorian literature and culture through a range of forms and genres. The texts engage with some of the cultural, political, scientific, and imperial issues dominating the period between the 1830s and 1901. …

AP/EN 3551 6.00
Studies in Restoration and 18th Century Literature: Drama, Poetry, Prose

An examination of the developments and transformations in four principal literary genres – poetry, drama, non-fictional prose, and non-novelistic prose narrative – in the period from 1660-1780, and of the relations of these to concurrent …

AP/EN 3553 3.00
Restoration and 18th Century Literature: Drama/Poetry

Focuses on representative plays or poems, in their historical and cultural context, in the period 1660-1780.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 3551 3.00 (prior to Fall 2014), AP/EN 3551 6.00, GL/EN 3230 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course …

AP/EN 3555 6.00
18th-Century Novel

This course studies the forms of the early English novel. It explores social and political backgrounds to novels published between 1720 and 1820, but is primarily devoted to reading and accounting for the texts themselves.

AP/EN 3560 6.00
The English Romantics

A study of the period 1780-1830 in English poetry and prose, that is, of the Romantics and some of their contemporaries.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 3625 6.00.

AP/EN 3570 6.00
Victorian Fiction and its Reading Public

A study of some significant novels from the period 1840-1900 (Eliot, Dickens, Thackeray and others), together with some useful fictions by less demanding writers of the time.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit …

AP/EN 3592 6.00
Literary London

London has been an inspiration, both negative and positive, for generations of British writers. Thiscourse, taught in the classroom at York and in London itself, investigates how an understanding ofthe many facets of the city …

AP/EN 3595 3.00
AP/EN 3595 3.00 Romantics en Route: Contexts of Literary Production in England, 1750-1850 (Study Abroad)

In this Study Abroad course students will read key works of Romantic and early Victorian literature and visit important sites in England related to the works. By learning about and experiencing the geographical, biographical, and …

AP/EN 3600 6.00
Creative Non-fiction and Mixed Genre

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 3600 6.0 Creative Non-fiction and Mixed Genre) Introduces a variety of writing models and theoretical writing concepts and concerns in the field of creative writing.Prerequisites: AP/EN …

AP/EN 3610 6.00
Intermediate Prose Workshop: Fiction

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 3610 6.0 Intermediate Prose Workshop: Fiction) A course for students who have demonstrated talent in the writing of prose fiction. Study may be made of the …

AP/EN 3612 3.00
Genre Fiction Workshop

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 3612 6.0 Genre Fiction Workshop) This course offers students the chance to write popular fiction in one of three genres: mystery/crime writing; science fiction/speculative fiction; horror/apocalyptic …

AP/EN 3620 6.00
Intermediate Poetry Workshop

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 3620 6.0 Intermediate Poetry Workshop) A course for students who are seriously engaged in the practice of poetry, and who wish to explore their strengths and …

AP/EN 3999 3.00
Special Topics

This course seeks to provide students with breadth and depth in a special topic by building on introductory knowledge with a focus in more specific approaches, critical issues, and literary periods.

AP/EN 3999 6.00
Special Topics

This course seeks to provide students with breadth and depth in a special topic by building on introductory knowledge with a focus in more specific approaches, critical issues, and literary periods.

AP/EN 4000 3.00
Studies in Literary Theory: Cultural Studies

Explores theoretical and practical approaches to reading texts, images and representations of popular culture/media studies. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4000 3.00 was AS/EN …

AP/EN 4000 6.00
Studies in Literary Theory: Cultural Studies

Explores theoretical and practical approaches to reading texts, images and representations of popular culture/media studies. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4000 3.00 was AS/EN …

AP/EN 4002 6.00
Food and Writing

This course explores the intersections between food, writing, and culture. Topics include depictions of food in literature, film, and cultural theory, as well as how food and eating function in relation to broader discourses about …

AP/EN 4003 6.00
Urban Experience in Victorian Britain

Examines the new narratives of urban existence in 19th century Britain, with emphasis on class, gender, and especially that new-found entity, the crowd, and the responses – outrage, sympathy, voyeurism, revulsion – it inspired. PRIOR …

AP/EN 4004 3.00
Frye and McLuhan

This course explores the point counterpoint Canadian theoretical-critical tradition of Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye in relation to the North American visionary tradition, and considers their continuing impact on current thinkers and writers both in …

AP/EN 4004 6.00
Frye and McLuhan

This course explores the point counterpoint Canadian theoretical-critical tradition of Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye in relation to the North American visionary tradition, and considers their continuing impact on current thinkers and writers both in …

AP/EN 4005 3.00
Literature and Animals

This course takes a critical approach examining and comparing the representation of animals in literary works. Topics under consideration may include the discursivity of animality; the transformation of European literary forms in settler colonies; human-animal …

AP/EN 4010 3.00
Feminist Theory

Through selected texts, this course examines the impact of French feminist theory on Anglophone feminist theory. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit …

AP/EN 4011 3.00
Queer Theory

What is queer? Is queer always contaminated by sexuality? How is “queer” different from “gay”/”lesbian”? This course will consider the historical conditions for the emergence of queer theory and the intellectual/political/cultural uses of and stakes …

AP/EN 4020 3.00
Literature and Philosophy

This course examines the moral grounds of the philosophical description of art in Kant, Hume, Smith, and Rorty. It then turns to contributions the novel has made to the practice of moral philosophy. Novelists include …

AP/EN 4020 6.00
Literature and Philosophy

This course examines the moral grounds of the philosophical description of art in Kant, Hume, Smith, and Rorty. It then turns to contributions the novel has made to the practice of moral philosophy. Novelists include …

AP/EN 4041 6.00
History & Description of English Lang.

The development of the English language to the present time, and a description of Modern English. Course credit exclusions: GL/EN 4606 6.00, GL/LIN 4606 6.00, AP/EN 4041 3.00. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4041 6.00 …

AP/EN 4042 3.00
Narratology

Through selected texts, this course examines theories of narratology. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4100M 3.00 (prior to Fall/Winter …

AP/EN 4050 6.00
The Arts of Memory

Thematically organized around studies in memory, this course traverses literature, philosophy, psychology and the visual arts, from Plato to the digital age, in an effort to understand the interrelatedness of all the arts with respect …

AP/EN 4050 3.00
The Arts of Memory

Thematically organized around studies in memory, this course traverses literature, philosophy, psychology and the visual arts, from Plato to the digital age, in an effort to understand the interrelatedness of all the arts with respect …

AP/EN 4060 3.00
American Captivity Narratives

The course explores the figure of captivity in 19th-century American literature. The prime concern is how American authors theorize agency in relation to sexuality and gender, cultural and ethnic difference, race, class, and history.Course credit …

AP/EN 4060 6.00
American Captivity Narratives

The course explores the figure of captivity in 19th-century American literature. The prime concern is how American authors theorize agency in relation to sexuality and gender, cultural and ethnic difference, race, class, and history.Course credit …

AP/EN 4061 3.00
Environmental Justice Literature

This course complicates the canon of nature writing by examining ways in which environmental justice writing consistently links the exploitation of the environment with human exploitation. Attention is also paid to how environmental degradation unequally …

AP/EN 4070 6.00
Literature and Other Arts

Studies in critical theory and literature’s relationship to the visual arts, music and film. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4070 6.00 was AK/EN 4073 6.00

AP/EN 4072 6.00
Masculinity in American Film and Fiction

Masculinity is not a universal entity, but is instead produced by affective, discursive, social, textual and representational practices. This course seeks to universalize minoritized masculinities (those marked by race and class), as well to particularize …

AP/EN 4080 3.00
Concept of Play

In this course we consider the concept of “play” by reading modern and contemporary plays against various accounts of “play” from philosophy and critical theory. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4080 6.00. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: …

AP/EN 4099 6.00
Honours Thesis/Work Placement

Provides an opportunity for sustained research under the direction of a member of the department on topics not covered in the English curriculum. The research may take the form of either a thesis or a …

AP/EN 4101 6.00
Lyric Poetry from Sappho to Donne

This course examines European lyric poetry from Sappho and Catullus through the troubadours. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4121 …

AP/EN 4113 6.00
Poetry by Women

A selection of work by women poets, viewed in the light of contemporary critical theorising of women’s writing.Prerequisite for all English courses at this level is registration in an Honours program and 78 credits. For …

AP/EN 4115 6.00
Contemporary Poetry and Poetics

Examines some of the dominant trends in contemporary poetry and poetics in English-language poetry. Through analysis of the works of important post-WWII poets and theorists of poetry, the course investigates styles of writing and ideas …

AP/EN 4120 6.00
The Rise of the Novel

Explores the early development of the novel from its partial origins in classical romance through a detour into the Oriental tale to its ultimate deconstruction in the writings of Laurence Sterne. AP/EN 4120 6.00 (new …

AP/EN 4140 3.00
Contemporary Drama

Studies in theatre and drama of recent decades; selected American, British, Canadian and European plays. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4140 3.00. AP/EN 4140 6.00 is based on AK/EN 3930 6.00 and AS/EN 4320 6.00.

AP/EN 4140 6.00
Contemporary Drama

Studies in theatre and drama of recent decades; selected American, British, Canadian and European plays. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4140 3.00. AP/EN 4140 6.00 is based on AK/EN 3930 6.00 and AS/EN 4320 6.00.

AP/EN 4142 6.00
Tragedy and Meta-Tragedy

This course examines and theorizes the life and supposed death of tragedy from Aeschylus to Suzan-Lori Parks, attending particularly to relationships between tragic plot and human agency, form and politics, tragedy and history.Course credit exclusions: …

AP/EN 4143 3.00
Plays and Counterplays

This seminar examines a number of contemporary theatrical interrogations – what Bertolt Brecht termed counterplays – of the plays of two major dramatists: William Shakespeare or Anton Chekhov.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 4143 6.00, AP/EN 4146 …

AP/EN 4143 6.00
Plays and Counterplays

This seminar examines a number of contemporary theatrical interrogations – what Bertolt Brecht termed counterplays – of the plays of two major dramatists: William Shakespeare or Anton Chekhov.Course credit exclusions: AP/EN 4143 6.00, AP/EN 4146 …

AP/EN 4146 6.00
Shakespeare and Contemporary Drama

Examines three Shakespearean plays (Othello, King Lear and The Tempest) and eight contemporary counterplays – dramatic texts which interrogate the originals from the various perspectives of race, gender, sexuality, class and politics. Course credit exclusion: …

AP/EN 4161 3.00
The Theory and Practice of Autobiography

This course will examine the genre of autobiography- the account of the author’s own life- in both historical and contemporary texts.Topics to be examined will included: the creation and discovery of a self or social …

AP/EN 4161 6.00
The Theory and Practice of Autobiography

This course will examine the genre of autobiography- the account of the author’s own life- in both historical and contemporary texts.Topics to be examined will included: the creation and discovery of a self or social …

AP/EN 4163 3.00
Visionary Trauma and Tradition

This course examines the visionary tradition – a heretical medley of trauma, trance, introspection, formal innovation, and apocalyptic speculation – in key poets and prose writers from William Blake to Sylvia Plath and James Merrill. …

AP/EN 4163 6.00
Visionary Trauma and Tradition

This course examines the visionary tradition – a heretical medley of trauma, trance, introspection, formal innovation, and apocalyptic speculation – in key poets and prose writers from William Blake to Sylvia Plath and James Merrill. …

AP/EN 4165 6.00
City Texts and Textual Cities

This course focuses on the complex project of writing the city, in Anglo-American literature, from the 1840s to the late 1930s. The primary concern is prose fiction and poetry, but the works or visual artists, …

AP/EN 4170 6.00
Modernism/Postmodernism

What are the conditions of possibility for modernist and postmodernist literature and culture? What social, political, formal, scientific, and technological developments must be factored into productive encounters with the literature of “”the new””? This course …

AP/EN 4181 6.00
Contemporary Literature: Writers & Drugs

Explores the connections between drugs and writing in contemporary culture, including the intersections between religious, scientific and cultural thought and practice that go into constructing descriptions of drug experiences in our time. PRIOR TO FALL …

AP/EN 4191 3.00
Contemporary Women Writers

A study of the postmodern “hybrid aesthetic” created by recent women writers. Our investigations include how genre is formed by gender; racial, cultural, class and generational issues and how contemporary American novels render home, community …

AP/EN 4192 6.00
Gay Male Literature

This course examines literature which is by or about gay males. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4150E 6.00 (prior …

AP/EN 4200 3.00
Canadian Poetry

Specific topics vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4200 3.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4270C 6.00 (prior to Fall/Winter …

AP/EN 4200 6.00
Canadian Poetry

Specific topics vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4200 3.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4270C 6.00 (prior to Fall/Winter …

AP/EN 4220 6.00
Canadian Graphic Novel

Explores the Canadian graphic novel. It examines the development of this literary form in Canada and analyzes a range of graphic novels. Topics may include: the historical graphic novel, race and representation, and the intersection …

AP/EN 4230 3.00
Canadian Short Story

This course explores the evolution and diversity of the short story as one of the signal achievements of Canadian literature. Taking note of some of its antecedents, we focus primarily on its development as a …

AP/EN 4230 6.00
Canadian Short Story

This course explores the evolution and diversity of the short story as one of the signal achievements of Canadian literature. Taking note of some of its antecedents, we focus primarily on its development as a …

AP/EN 4250 6.00
Canadian Topics: Literary Beginnings

Through selected texts, this course explores the beginnings of Canadian literature. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4250 3.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3753 …

AP/EN 4252 6.00
Canadian Topics: Life-Writing

Life writing raises issues of form voice, structure, selection of detail, persona, invention, context and the publishing process itself. In this course we examine these issues in a Canadian context with reference to wider theoretical …

AP/EN 4253 6.00
Canadian Topics: Fantastic Literature

This course surveys the history of Canadian science fiction and fantasy from the early 19th century to the present day, covering texts by writers working in both English and French (in translation).Course credit exclusion: AP/EN …

AP/EN 4254 3.00
Canadian Topics: Contemporary Writers

With an eye to continuing and emerging themes, issues, and styles, this course examines works produced by Canadian writers over the recent decades. A variety of genres are considered as well as relevant critical approaches …

AP/EN 4254 6.00
Canadian Topics: Contemporary Writers

With an eye to continuing and emerging themes, issues, and styles, this course examines works produced by Canadian writers over the recent decades. A variety of genres are considered as well as relevant critical approaches …

AP/EN 4255 3.00
Canadian Topics: Contemporary Drama

A selection of recent work by Canadian playwrights.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4255 6.00, AP/EN 4255 3.00 (prior to Fall 2012).PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3700 6.00 (prior to Fall/Winter 1999-2000), AK/EN 3963 …

AP/EN 4255 6.00
Canadian Topics: Contemporary Drama

A selection of recent work by Canadian playwrights.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4255 6.00, AP/EN 4255 3.00 (prior to Fall 2012).PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 3700 6.00 (prior to Fall/Winter 1999-2000), AK/EN 3963 …

AP/EN 4256 6.00
Canadian Literature and Ecocriticism

This course explores the relationship between nature, society, and literature under the rubric of ecocriticism by interrogating cultural and political contexts of environmental engagement that contribute to Canadian ideologies of self and nation in early …

AP/EN 4315 3.00
Modern American Women Poets

This course is about American women poets from Emily Dickinson (b. 1830) to Riat Dove (b. 1952). Of many ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds and with diverse understandings of gender, they all renew inherited traditions …

AP/EN 4332 3.00
Edgar Allan Poe

Applying various critical approaches, the course examines Poe’s tales of horror, his detective fiction, his one novel, his lyric poetry, and his critical theories about the short story and poetry. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN …

AP/EN 4333 3.00
Herman Melville

We study a handful of Melville’s many novels, short stories, and poems.  Characteristic topics include cultural relativism, the nature of the universe, slavery, the bachelor (the man of naïve “half-vision”), paradise lost and regained, the …

AP/EN 4335 3.00
Henry James

The course examines representative fiction of Henry James, probably the most influential novelist of the late 19th century. James pioneered the international theme, bridging the gap between American and European cultures, as his narrative experiments …

AP/EN 4352 3.00
F. Scott Fitzgerald

This course studies novels, selected short stories and essays by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Some of the notebook entries, letters, juvenilia and memoirs relating to his theories of writing and his own fiction in particular are …

AP/EN 4360 3.00
Literature of the American South

Surveys a wide variety of novels, plays, poems, short stories and essays from and about the American South.Prerequisites: For English Majors/Minors only; AP/EN 1001 3.00 (with a grade of C or higher) and AP/EN 1002 …

AP/EN 4365 3.00
California in Literature

This survey of California writing considers the state’s polarizing hold on the imagination of various communities and constituents, considering an array of genres, styles, and thematic concerns.’The very name of California is splendor’ enthused poet …

AP/EN 4371 3.00
Contemporary American Drama

This seminar will focus on a range of socially relevant and theatrically innovative plays written and performed in the US. since 1990.Prerequisites: For English Majors/Minors only; AP/EN 1001 3.00 (with a grade of C or …

AP/EN 4384 3.00
20th Century American Humour

This course looks in-depth at American humour in the 20th century. Writers surveyed may include H.L. Mencken, Will Rogers, Dorothy Parker, E.B. White, James Thurber, Frank Sullivan, Peter De Vries, Robert Benchley, Fran Lebowitz, Molly …

AP/EN 4390 6.00
Contemporary American Gothic

This course considers the ubiquity of the ghostly, the resonances of a haunted past, in recent American literature. It examines psychoanalytic, deconstructive, and social theories of gothic and considers persistence of traditional gothic motifs. PRIOR …

AP/EN 4390 3.00
Contemporary American Gothic

This course considers the ubiquity of the ghostly, the resonances of a haunted past, in recent American literature. It examines psychoanalytic, deconstructive, and social theories of gothic and considers persistence of traditional gothic motifs.

AP/EN 4400 6.00
Diaspora Literatures

This course interprets diaspora broadly and addresses recent fiction written by migrant minorities (especially new immigrants who form visible minorities) and national minorities (such as the African diaspora and indigenous/tribal cultures) in Britain, Canada, the …

AP/EN 4402 3.00
Late 20th-Century Black Poetics

This course introduces students to Black poets living and writing in Canada and the United States in the late 20th century. It focuses on developing close reading skills to better understand what poetry is and …

AP/EN 4410 3.00
Caribbean Performance and Memory

This course examines Caribbean literary and cultural production – poetry, drama, fiction, film – in the post-colonial era with particular attention to each text’s contribution to social memory and constructions of community.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN …

AP/EN 4411 3.00
Derek Walcott

The course considers Derek Walcott’s development as a poet and dramatist. It analyses Walcott’s main themes, forms and techniques, and attempts to assess his success in incorporating diverse cultural and technical influences into a distinctive …

AP/EN 4412 3.00
Transnational Writers: Amitav Ghosh

Examines the major novels and other prose works of Amitav Ghosh, one of the most prolific writers of our time. Ghosh’s fiction and prose situate India within a global context as he portrays characters caught …

AP/EN 4420 6.00
African Drama

The course investigates the cultural and linguistic diversities of Africa and the constitutive roles of language, gender, history, the local, and the universal, in the production of African Drama. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4420 …

AP/EN 4421 3.00
African Diasporic Dialogues

Focusing on 20th-century African, Afro-Caribbean and African American fiction, this course explores elements of African cultures that emerge in diasporic writing, and how they have been shaped by historical, geographical and cultural factors that differentiate …

AP/EN 4422 3.00
Wole Soyinka

The course considers works by Wole Soyinka from his earliest play “The Loin and the Jewel” (1959) to his recent memoir “The Penkelemes Years” (1994). The aim is to examine the development of Soinka’s principal …

AP/EN 4425 3.00
Post-apartheid South African Theatre

Examines post-apartheid South African theatre from the birth of the new democracy in 1994 to the present.Prerequisites: For English Majors/Minors only: AP/EN 1001 3.00 (with a grade of C (60%) or higher) and AP/EN 1002 …

AP/EN 4462 3.00
German History and Memory in Comics

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP GER 4752 This course analyzes representations of 20th-century German history in comics produced in Germany, Europe, North America and Japan. Students examine various genres to determine how artists employ comics’ special narrative …

AP/EN 4480 6.00
A History of Reading

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP HIST 4230 This research seminar explores the history of books and their readers from antiquity to the present. Class is held in York’s Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, and includes trips …

AP/EN 4500 6.00
Studies in Old English Literature

A study of selected texts in the literature of Anglo-Saxon England.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusion: AS/EN 4220 6.00. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4500 6.00 was AS/EN 4220 6.00

AP/EN 4504 6.00
Arthurian Literature

A comparative historical examination of the adventure-romances, epics and spiritual narratives written in Medieval Europe about King Arthur and the Round-Table knights. Areas of study include the use of imaginative literature to control attitudes about …

AP/EN 4505 6.00
The Medieval Book

Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4280B 6.00 (prior to Fall/Winter 2003-2004), AS/EN 4282 6.00. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN …

AP/EN 4515 6.00
Early Modern Women Writers

The course addresses the wide variety of literatures, in familiar and unfamiliar genres, produced by women writers under the influence of a century of extraordinary social and political upheaval. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4515 …

AP/EN 4516 6.00
Early Modern Gender & Sexuality

An exploration of representations of gender, and of heterosexual, homosexual and lesbian desire in a wide range of literary and visual texts from the Renaissance.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN …

AP/EN 4520 3.00
Studies in Renaissance Poetry

Through selected texts, this course explores Renaissance poetry. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4520 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AK/EN 4336 6.00, AS/EN 4180B …

AP/EN 4523 3.00
Milton

An introduction to the major poetry and selected prose of John Milton, featuring a reading of Paradise Lost that tracks the origins of this work in the Hebrew scriptures, Classical epic, and Renaissance humanism, as …

AP/EN 4530 6.00
Renaissance Theatre

A study of the drama of the English Renaissance including the literary, cultural and historical contexts in which the plays were produced. The theatrical performance of transgression is emphasized, as well as the marvellous, subversive …

AP/EN 4531 3.00
Renaissance Spectacles

Explores civic and court ceremonies of the Tudor and Stuart era. Particular attention is paid to the spectacular and shifting rituals of power as they are played out in royal entries, coronations, Lord Mayor’s shows, …

AP/EN 4535 6.00
Advanced Shakespeare

Examines Shakespearean texts not normally studied in undergraduate courses on Shakespeare. It also gives attention to some of the more significant theoretical trends in Shakespearean and early modern literary studies. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN …

AP/EN 4536 6.00
Advanced Elizabethan & Jacobean Drama

Selected plays by Shakespeare and other dramatists of the period, such as Christopher Marlowe, Mary Sidney, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson and Mary Wroth as well as plays by the Roman writers who influenced them, such …

AP/EN 4540 3.00
Sonnet Cycles

This course offers a trans-historical exploration of the sonnet form from its flourishing in the Early Modern period to its adaptation in the present.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusion: AS/EN 3131 …

AP/EN 4560 6.00
Studies in the English Romantics

Through selected texts, this course explores the literature of the English Romantics. Authors studied and topics covered vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: …

AP/EN 4561 6.00
Romantic Revolt

The “morbid and dangerous” aspects of pre-Romantic and Romantic writing that mainly antagonized contemporaries, and also made them attack one another. The emphasis is on elements over a period much longer than the statutory Romantic …

AP/EN 4570 6.00
Faith and Doubt in Victorian Literature

This course addresses Victorian literary responses to new understandings of the human, divine, and natural worlds, analyzing how issues of faith and doubt affected both the subject matter and rhetorical form of fiction, poetry, drama, …

AP/EN 4571 3.00
The Brontës

This seminar allows students who have developed an interest in the Brontës to study and discuss all seven novels written by the three Brontë sisters. PRIOR TO FALL 2009: AP/EN 4571 3.00 (The Brontës) was …

AP/EN 4572 6.00
Victorian Poetics

The course explores transformations in19th-century aesthetic thought and practice from Tennyson and Ruskin through Pre-Raphaelitism and the Arts & Crafts movement to the Decadents at century’s end.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit …

AP/EN 4573 3.00
Victorian Ghosts

The course considers the ghost story’s tenacious hold on the Victorian popular imagination despite the period’s empirical philosophy, growing medical, scientific, and technological knowledge, and devotion to industrialism.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course …

AP/EN 4575 6.00
Comic Novel:Dickens & His Contemporaries

This course studies the British comic novel of 1830-1880. The course deals with the development and consolidation of the comic novel by Dickens and novelists contemporary with him, and also considers the late-Victorian decline of …

AP/EN 4576 6.00
19th-Century British Female Tradition

Through selected texts, this course explores the 19th-century British female tradition. Authors studied and topics covered vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR …

AP/EN 4577 3.00
George Eliot

Examines the major novels of George Eliot (Marian Evans), probably one of the two most influential Victorian novelists (along with Charles Dickens). It sets the fiction in the philosophic, political, and cultural context of Victorian …

AP/EN 4578 6.00
Same-Sex Issues in Victorian Literature

How bisexuality, lesbianism, and male homosexuality were marginalized, denied, demonized, censored in Victorian literature; and how some writers struggled to inscribe a positive same-sex identity in their texts.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course …

AP/EN 4579 6.00
Late Victorian Fiction & the 'New Woman'

This course focuses on literature related to the ‘New Woman’ phenomenon on the late-19th century, examining connections between her representations in fiction and those constructed in the periodical press and other literary forms of the …

AP/EN 4580 6.00
19th Cent. Lit.: Victorians into Moderns

A number of Victorian-era poets made innovative uses of form and technique in works that pioneered “modern” themes and sensibilities. This course focuses on poems by Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, …

AP/EN 4581 3.00
Decadence

This course considers how decadence was variously defined and practiced—in creative and critical texts, inlife—from the 1860s to the early 1900s (late Victorian Anglo-Irish literature). This course is open to 4th year honours students only …

AP/EN 4582 3.00
James Joyce

Through selected texts, this course explores the literature of James Joyce. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4582 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4260B …

AP/EN 4582 6.00
James Joyce

Through selected texts, this course explores the literature of James Joyce. Please consult the departmental supplemental calendar for a detailed course description.Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4582 6.00.PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Course credit exclusions: AS/EN 4260B …

AP/EN 4583 3.00
Virginia Woolf

This course concentrates on seven novels by Virginia Woolf, possibly the most celebrated of British women Modernists, and considers her short stories, biographies, essays, diaries and her circle of literary acquaintances. PRIOR TO WINTER 2018: …

AP/EN 4584 3.00
20th Century British Humour

This course looks in depth at British humour in the 20th century (and just a little before). Writers surveyed may include Jerome K. Jerome, P.G. Wodehouse, Kingley Amis, Flann O’Brien, Tom Sharpe, Fay Weldon, and …

AP/EN 4585 3.00
Modernist Fiction

This course examines the fiction (both short stories and novels) of writers from Britain, Ireland, and America during themodernist period (circa 1890 to 1945).

AP/EN 4585 6.00
Modernist Fiction

This course examines the fiction (both short stories and novels) of writers from Britain, Ireland, and America during themodernist period (circa 1890 to 1945).

AP/EN 4591 3.00
Recent Irish Poetry

This course considers the works of Irish poets, both from the North of Ireland and the Republic, from the mid-1960s to the present. Particular attention is paid to the relation of contemporary poets to nationality, …

AP/EN 4595 3.00
Contemporary British Writers

Examines significant literary works by two or more British writers who began publishing in the 1950s or later and uses statements of literary or cultural theory by these authors and/or others  as part of the …

AP/EN 4600 6.00
Senior Mixed Genre Workshop

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 4600 6.0 Senior Mixed Genre Workshop) Building upon AP/EN 3600 6.00 this course examines a variety of writing models and theoretical writing concepts and concerns in …

AP/EN 4610 6.00
Senior Prose Workshop: Fiction

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 4610 6.0 Senior Prose Workshop: Fiction) This course is intended primarily for students who have taken AP/EN 3610 6.00 and demonstrated that they can benefit from …

AP/EN 4620 6.00
Senior Poetry Workshop

(Note: Retired course as of Summer 2021. See AP/CWR 4620 6.0 Senior Poetry Workshop) This course is intended primarily for students who have taken AP/EN 3620 6.00 and demonstrated that they can benefit from advanced …

AP/EN 4720 6.00
Print Culture & the History of the Book

Print Culture and the History of the Book is a vast and continuously developing multidisciplinary field that explores the contribution of writing to the evolution of critical thinking, communication, and social development, from cuneiform-inscribed clay …

AP/EN 4722 6.00
Editing Shakespeare

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP WRIT 4722 This course engages the theoretical and practical problems in Shakespearean editorial scholarship and consequently, in how Shakespeare’s canonicity has been transmitted, received, interpreted, and transformed by generations of literary critics. …

AP/EN 4723 3.00
Theories and Practices of Literary Editing

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP WRIT 4723 This course encourages students to question the “authority” of texts and  the editorial processes that produced them. Course credit exclusions: None.

AP/EN 4750 3.00
Oral Traditions and Professional Writing

Oral composition and performance have existed as professions for some 5000 years. This course surveys the aesthetics, history, techniques, and methods of remuneration of professional oral composition.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR TO FALL 2009:  Course credit …

AP/EN 4751 3.00
The Rhetoric of Science

This course examines scientific texts as rhetorical creations, including how scientific authors seek to persuade by means of appeals to personal credibility, authority, community standards, forensic probability, ethics and utility, and emotion.Course credit exclusions: None.PRIOR …

AP/EN 4851 3.00
Modernism Across the Arts

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP CLTR 4851 Examines literary, musical, and visual arts of the modernist period to explore why there is an inter and multidisciplinary impetus during the period and how such crossovers between and among …

AP/EN 4851 6.00
Modernism Across the Arts

CROSSLISTED COURSE: AP CLTR 4851 Examines literary, musical, and visual arts of the modernist period to explore why there is an inter and multidisciplinary impetus during the period and how such crossovers between and among …

AP/EN 4999 3.00
Special Topics

This course seeks to provide students pursuing the Honours Major with specialized approaches to a special topic by exploring research and advanced methods of inquiry.

AP/EN 4999 6.00
Special Topics

This course seeks to provide students pursuing the Honours Major with specialized approaches to a special topic by exploring research and advanced methods of inquiry.