Catalogue 2011-12

• USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
• English
  • Undergraduate Degrees
  • Graduate Degrees
  • Courses of Instruction

English

Undergraduate Degrees

Undergraduate Programs

With nearly 40 full-time faculty, the Department of English offers courses a broad range of courses in English, American and Anglophone literature of all periods and genres, but also in related areas such as creative and expository writing, literature and visual arts, ethnic literature and cultural studies, the history of the English language and of literary criticism, and literary and cultural theory. Class sizes are kept at 19 to enable full discussion (12 in creative writing workshops), and faculty are available for advisement. Instructors assign extensive reading and writing in order to help students become perceptive readers, critical thinkers and strong writers – skills that are their own lasting rewards and that also help prepare students for several areas of graduate study and for a number of professional and creative pursuits.

Advisement

All students are assigned a faculty advisor with whom they should meet once a semester before registering for courses. Together with the director of undergraduate studies and the department’s undergraduate staff advisor, whom students should consult about such matters as departmental clearances and course substitutions, faculty advisors help students shape their major according to their evolving interests and the major’s requirements.

Major Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in English

Undergraduate majors in English are required to take 10 courses (for a total of 40 units) for a B.A. in English or for a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. The major requirements are flexible enough to allow an in-depth exploration in any field of literary or cultural study – such as American or British literature, Renaissance or African American literature – while providing historical breadth. The creative writing emphasis has several of the same requirements as the B.A. in English, in addition to which students will enroll in at least three, but no more than four, beginning, intermediate or advanced workshops in both poetry and fiction.

All majors must take three introductory survey courses, including at least two among the survey sequence ENGL 261, ENGL 262 and ENGL 263. One of the courses may be a 100-300 level course that introduces students to a particular genre or to the study of literature generally. Students should take at least two introductory courses before enrolling in upper-division electives or creative writing workshops.

In addition to three introductory courses, seven upper-division courses are required. For the B.A. in English, those seven courses must include two courses in literature written before 1800, one course in 19th century literature and one course in American literature. For the B.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing, students must take at least three, but no more than four, creative writing workshops, with at least one in poetry and at least one in fiction. The remaining three or four upper-division courses must include at least one in literature written before 1900 and one in literature written after 1900.

Requirements for a Minor in English

The Department of English offers a minor in English that requires 20 units, or five courses, including at least two introductory courses (among ENGL 261, ENGL 262 and ENGL 263) and at least three upper-division courses. Among upper-division courses, one must be in literature written before 1800 and one in American literature. An English minor may enroll in no more than one creative writing workshop.

Bachelor of Arts in Narrative Studies

Narrative studies prepares students for the development and evaluation of original content for novels, films, theatre and other narrative platforms, but recognizes that the range of professional opportunities in literature and the performing arts is much wider than the roles of author, screenwriter or playwright. To recognize a good story, to critique, help shape, realize and transform it, requires a background in the history of narrative, cross-cultural and contemporary models, and an understanding of the broader context of popular culture.

Narrative Studies assumes that an effective narrative will be adapted from the medium in which it first appears as new media become available. To prepare students for a future in which the platform is likely to change, the Bachelor of Arts in Narrative Studies allows students to study across the current platforms while concentrating on the techniques of effective construction common to them all.

In so doing, it draws upon course work from several schools of art but finds its home in the humanities. To help develop the flexibility necessary to understand how stories change across platforms, students are expected to complete at least three courses in literary and three courses in performance-based media. The remaining three courses may be chosen to reflect the student’s personal preference and initial career aspirations.

MDA 490 Directed Research or MDA 494 Directed Creative Projects are capstone experiences: Students work under the guidance of a faculty member in a relevant discipline or professional field, which may include full-time faculty from the college or the participating schools of the arts. Projects intended for the stage should be done under the direction of School of Theatre faculty.

Requirements		Units
Nine or 10 courses totaling 36 units; no more than two at the 100- or 200-level, selected from the following lists.

Introduction to Narrative Media (choose one course)
COLT 101	Masterpieces and Masterminds: Literature and Thought of the West	4
CTCS 190	Introduction to Cinema	4
CTCS 191	Introduction to Television and Video	4
CTIN 309	Introduction to Interactive Entertainment	4
ENGL 261	English Literature to 1800	4
ENGL 262	English Literature Since 1800	4
ENGL 263	American Literature	4
ENGL 471	Literary Genres and Film	4
ENGL 481	Narrative Forms in Literature and Film	4
FACS 150	Visual Culture and Literacy I	4
PHIL 446	Aesthetics and the Film	4
THTR 125	Text Studies for Production	4
THTR 403	The Performing Arts	4

Writing and Narrative Forms (choose one or two courses, totaling 4 units)
CTWR 412	Introduction to Screenwriting, and	2
CTWR 415a	Advanced Writing	2
ENGL 303	Introduction to Fiction Writing	4
ENGL 305	Introduction to Creative Nonfiction	4
ENGL 405*	Fiction Writing	4, max 8
THTR 365	Playwriting I	4
THTR 366*	Playwriting II	4

Popular Culture and Ethnicity (choose one course)
AMST 200	Introduction to American Studies and Ethnicity	4
AMST 274	Exploring Ethnicity Through Film	4
AMST 285	African-American Popular Culture	4
ANTH 333	Forms of Folklore	4
COLT 365	Literature and Popular Culture	4
CTCS 192	Race, Class and Gender in American Film	4
CTCS 392	History of the American Film, 1925-1950	4
CTCS 393	History of the American Film, 1946-1975	4
CTCS 394	History of the American Film, 1977-Present	4
CTCS 407	African-American Cinema	4
CTCS 414	Chicana/o Cinema	4
ENGL 392	Visual and Popular Culture	4
HIST 380	American Popular Culture	4
MUSC 400	The Broadway Musical: Reflections of American Diversity, Issues and Experiences	4
MUSC 420	Hip-Hop Music and Culture	4
MUSC 460	Film Music: History and Function From 1930 to the Present	4
THTR 395	Drama as Human Relations	4
THTR 405	Performing Identities	4

Narrative in Cross-Cultural Perspective (choose one course)
ANTH 372	Interpretation of Myth and Narrative	4
COLT 264	Asian Aesthetic and Literary Traditions	4
CTCS 200	History of the International Cinema I	4
CTCS 201	History of the International Cinema II	4
EALC 125	Introduction to Contemporary East Asian Film and Culture	4
EALC 332	Korean Literature in English Translation	4
EALC 342	Japanese Literature and Culture	4
EALC 452	Chinese Fiction	4
EALC 455	Japanese Fiction	4
ENGL 444	Native American Literature	4
ENGL 445	The Literatures of America: Cross-Cultural Perspectives	4
FREN 320	French Cinema and French Society: 1900 to the Present	4
GERM 360	20th Century German Prose: Texts and Films	4
ITAL 446	Italian Cinema and Society	4
THTR 210***	Theory and Practice of World Theatre I	4
THTR 211***	Theory and Practice of World Theatre II	4

Western Narrative in Historical Perspective (choose one course)
CLAS 325	Ancient Epic	4
CLAS 337	Ancient Drama	4
CLAS 380	Approaches to Myth	4
COLT 312	Heroes, Myths and Legends in Literature and the Arts	4
ENGL 423*	English Literature of 18th Century (1660-1780)	4
ENGL 424*	English Literature of the Romantic Age (1780-1832)	4
ENGL 425*	English Literature of the Victorian Age (1832-1890)	4
ENGL 426*	Modern English Literature (1890-1945)	4
ENGL 430	Shakespeare	4
ENGL 440**	American Literature to 1865	4
ENGL 441**	American Literature, 1865-1920	4
GERM 340	German Prose Fiction From Goethe to Thomas Mann	4
GERM 372	Literature and Culture in Berlin of the 1920s	4
SLL 302	Modern Russian Literature	4
SLL 344	Tolstoy: Writer and Moralist	4
SLL 345	Literature and Philosophy: Dostoevsky	4
SLL 346	Russian Drama and the Western Tradition	4
SPAN 304	Survey of Fiction (taught in Spanish)	4
THTR 301***	Greek and Roman Theatre	4
THTR 302***	Shakespeare and His World	4

Contemporary Fiction and Drama (choose one course)
AMST 448	Chicano and Latino Literature	4
AMST 449	Asian American Literature	4
COLT 345	Realist Fiction	4
COLT 348	Modernist Fiction	4
COLT 351	Modern and Contemporary Drama	4
COLT 420	The Fantastic	4
COLT 472	Los Angeles Crime Fiction	4
COLT 475	Politics and the Novel	4
EALC 354	Modern Chinese Literature in Translation	4
ENGL 375	Science Fiction	4
ENGL 442**	American Literature, 1920 to the Present	4
ENGL 447	African American Narrative	4
ENGL 455	Contemporary Prose	4
ENGL 463	Contemporary Drama	4
FREN 347	Race, Gender and Power in Francophone Literature	4
SLL 303	Contemporary Russian Literature	4
SLL 348	Nabokov’s Novels: Art and Exile	4
THTR 300	Introduction to Modern Drama	4
THTR 314***	Advanced Topics in Modern Drama	4

Two additional courses (three if CTWR 412/CTWR 414 are chosen) (8 units) at the upper-division 300 or 400 level, from different departments, chosen from the lists above.

Capstone Enrollment:
MDA 490	Directed Research, or
MDA 494	Directed Creative Project	4

Total: Nine courses, including at least seven at the upper-division level, for a total of 36 units.

Minor in Cultural Studies

Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines a broad array of issues of culture, including popular culture, identity, subcultures, nationalism, global culture and ethnography. This minor is designed for students majoring in the humanities or in the professional schools who wish to complement their majors with courses that investigate the politics of culture and cultural negotiation. Students are required to have a minimum 3.0 GPA and the completion of 32 units for admission to the minor.

Required courses		Units
COMM 384	Interpreting Popular Culture	4
CTCS 407	African American Cinema, or
CTCS 411	Film, Television and Cultural Studies	4
ENGL 392	Visual and Popular Culture, or
ENGL 472	Literature and Related Arts	4

Elective courses		Units
Choose three courses from the following. Students must take two electives outside the department of their major. Students may not take any more than two electives from any one department or school.
ANTH 263	Exploring Culture Through Film	4
AHIS 363	Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Art	4
AHIS 469	Critical Approaches to Photography	4
CTCS 406	History of American Television	4
CTCS 407	African American Cinema	4
CTCS 478	Culture, Technology and Communications	4
COMM 339	Communication Technology and Culture	4
COMM 340	The Cultures of New Media	4
COMM 360	The Rhetoric of Los Angeles	4
COMM 370	The Rhetoric of Ideas: Ideology and Propaganda	4
COMM 395	Gender, Media and Communication	4
COLT 365	Literature and Popular Culture	4
ENGL 473	Literature and Society	4
ENGL 478	Sexual/Textual Diversity	4
FACS 350	Art Theory and Criticism	4
FREN 320	French Cinema and French Society: 1900 to the Present	4
GEOG 325	Culture and Place	4
HIST 225	Film, Power and American Society	4
HIST 255	American Popular Culture	4
PAS 400	New Models of Art in City-Space	4
SOCI 342	Race Relations	4

Total Units: 24

For more information or to apply to this minor, contact the Department of English, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Early Modern Studies

This minor brings together the resources of the Departments of English, History and Art History to study the literatures and cultures of Europe and the Americas from the late medieval period to 1800. It draws upon courses from the Departments of French and Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, Philosophy, American Studies and Ethnicity, the Thornton School of Music, and the School of Theatre.

The minor focuses on the interplay of literary and historical methodologies while promoting an area study in a wide context. Majors in any participating department can complement the strengths in their home department with courses in other participating departments; students with majors in most other areas should have room for the 20 units necessary to complete the minor.

The minor includes a capstone course, a senior seminar based on the resources of the Early Modern Studies Institute (a consortium between USC and the Huntington Library), which enables students to learn about current issues in this cross-disciplinary field and about research techniques employed to deal with those emergent issues.

Through its Early Modern Studies Institute, USC has recognized that the study of the literatures and cultures of Europe and the Americas prior to 1800 reaches beyond disciplinary boundaries. English studies are also historical, continental, multinational and multilingual. Historical studies are also literary and sociological. Both studies are enmeshed in art history and music. This cross-disciplinary understanding of early modern studies provides a model for research in many areas of the humanities and social sciences. Students who complete this minor will be able to use both literary and historical analyses to investigate other questions in which they are interested.

The minor requires 20 units. As with all minors, students must include at least four upper-division courses and four courses dedicated exclusively to this minor (not used for credit toward a major, another minor or general education requirements). Students must select four courses outside their major department.

REQUIREments, Lower division		Units
Choose one, 4 units:
AHIS 230	Art and Culture in Early Modern Europe	4
ENGL 261	English Literature to 1800	4
HIST 103	The Emergence of Modern Europe	4

Requirements, Upper Division		Units
Choose at least one course from each of the following four categories:
Literary Studies (4 units):
ENGL 420, ENGL 421, ENGL 422, ENGL 423, FREN 351, FREN 470, FREN 471, FREN 472, ITAL 350, ITAL 430, ITAL 435, SPAN 350, SPAN 352

Historical Analysis (4 units):

AHIS 304, AHIS 343, AHIS 344, AMST 446, HIST 309, HIST 312, HIST 316, HIST 325, HIST 331, HIST 410, PHIL 320

Case Studies in Early Modern Discourse and History (4 units):

AHIS 430, AHIS 433, AHIS 453, AMST 373, ENGL 430, ENGL 444, ENGL 461, ENGL 465, ENGL 469, HIST 307, HIST 318, HIST 349, HIST 351, HIST 370, HIST 408, HIST 470, HIST 473, HIST 474, ITAL 450, MPEM 450, PHIL 421, PHIL 422, PHIL 423, SPAN 455, SPAN 460, THTR 302, THTR 313, THTR 354, THTR 380

Senior Seminar in Early Modern Studies (capstone):
ENGL 497	Seminar in Early Modern Studies	4

Double Majors

The department strongly encourages majoring in both English and in another department in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences or in another school of the university.

English Honors Program

Candidates for the B.A. in English can receive a designation on their transcripts of departmental honors by successfully completing a program of two courses: ENGL 491 and ENGL 496, both of which may count toward the 40 units required for the major, and having a 3.5 final GPA. ENGL 491 is the prerequisite for ENGL 496, but even students not eligible for honors can apply for admission to ENGL 491. The application is due in the spring of the junior year. Students studying overseas can apply online. Students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 overall and 3.5 in English courses can apply for ENGL 496. For additional information, contact a departmental advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Teaching Credential Requirements

Credential requirements in California and elsewhere are complex and changeable. Students interested in preparing for public school teaching should contact the Credentials Office, Rossier School of Education, and the undergraduate advisor in the English department for up-to-date information. The English department usually offers courses that satisfy most, if not all, of these requirements.

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