English
Faculty
Jesse Donaldson, M.F.A. (Non-Tenure Track)
Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, Ph.D.
Rachel Norman, Ph.D.
Claire O'Connor, Ph.D.
David Sumner, Ph.D.
Joe Wilkins, M.F.A. (chair)
Through its majors in literature and in creative writing, the Department of English seeks to foster in students a sophisticated awareness of literary genres, periods, critical theories, and uses of imagination.
Courses in English offer instruction and discussion aimed at developing the ability to think imaginatively, independently, and in community – abilities necessary for success in various careers or in future study.
For the general student, the Department of English offers study in fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction in the effort to imagine, understand, and critically analyze such works in a variety of ways.
Strong critical thinking and communication skills provide the foundation for all graduate study in professional arenas such as law, medicine, business administration, library, and public policy. That means an undergraduate major in literature or creative writing provides invaluable training for such fields and fosters ongoing success—English graduates have thrived in all of these professions. English remains one of the recommended routes to law school. In some cases (as with pre-med), coursework in other departments is necessary as well, but students who integrate STEM and humanities studies achieve real distinction in applying for medical schools.
Organizations and Honors
The department sponsors the Delta chapter of the international English honor society Sigma Tau Delta. Election for membership can occur throughout the undergraduate careers of literature and creative writing majors as soon as the following criteria have been met:
- completion of at least three Linfield English classes earning an average of B+ or better;
- attainment of a 3.500 overall GPA.
Initiates to Sigma Tau Delta have opportunities to attend national conferences, publish in the honor society’s two journals, and develop programming that fosters an appreciation of the literary arts on campus and within the broader community. Graduating seniors are also honored at Commencement.
The English Department awards departmental honors at graduation to students who meet the following criteria:
Honors in Literature at Graduation
3.750 GPA in courses required for the major; 3.500 overall GPA; submission of thesis project consisting of a research essay approximately 50 pages in length (including bibliography) and approved for honors by a two-person English faculty committee. Honors thesis proposals are due Oct. 15 and consist of three parts (developed in consultation with thesis advisor):
- 5 pp. explaining the research question being undertaken;
- 5 pp. explaining academic sources to be used;
- 5 pp. outlining the project and timeline for completion by early May.
Honors in Creative Writing at Graduation
3.750 GPA in courses required for the major; 3.500 overall GPA; submission of thesis and approved for honors by a creative writing faculty committee. Honors thesis proposals are due April 1 and consist of three parts (developed in consultation with thesis advisor):
- 8-10 pp. of initial thesis material;
- 3 pp. outlining the thesis project, the timeline for completion, and the sources to be used;
- 1-3 pp. letter of application highlighting the reasons honors ought to be bestowed, which may include references to student performance and growth in major classes, engagement with and service to the creative writing program, and the ambitions and merits of the thesis project.
All theses and honors theses must be submitted to the English Department in proper MLA format for binding and inclusion among Nicholson Library holdings.
Paracurricular Courses
Paracurricular Courses
ENGL 020 LITERARY MAGAZINE (1 credit)
Editing the college literary magazine, Camas. Planning, soliciting submissions, making selections, preparing manuscripts for printing.
(EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING)
Creative Writing Courses
CRWR 200 INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING (4 credits)
A beginning course in creative writing. Introduces students to writing in various genres by means of creative exercises and assignments, workshops, and individual conferences. May include poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, and plays/scripts. Students who earned credit for ENGL 200 may not enroll in this course.
Typically offered: Fall and Spring Semesters, Annually
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
CRWR 270 LITERARY EDITING AND PUBLISHING (2 credits)
Introduces students to the dynamic world of professional literary magazines and journals. Students serve as editors the college literary magazine, Camas, and contribute to all steps of the editorial and publishing process. Designed to be taken both fall and spring semester of a given academic year.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
Typically offered: Fall and Spring Semesters, Annually
(EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING)
CRWR 279 PORTFOLIO & PROFESSIONALIZATION SEMINAR (2 credits)
Initial portfolio course for Literature and creative writing majors. Documents learning outcomes of major and provides professionalization skills. May be repeated once for credit when earning two majors in the English Department.
Typically offered: Fall Semester, Annually
CRWR 289 NW ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING (4 credits)
An interdisciplinary field course focusing on the connections between the processes of the natural world and human creative expression. Serves as an introduction to the science of ecology and the art of creative writing. Weekly class meetings and three mandatory weekend-long field excursions to field stations across the region. Check with faculty on field trip dates as they will vary from year to year. (Listed as BIOL 289 and CRWR 289.)
Total Course fees: $300.00
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
Typically offered: Fall Semester, Even Years
(CREATIVE STUDIES, NATURAL WORLD)
CRWR 316 POETRY WRITING (4 credits)
Workshop, conferences, and practice in techniques of poetry writing. Reading of modern poets and study of genre. May be repeated once for credit.
Typically offered: Spring Semester, Annually
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
CRWR 317 FICTION WRITING (4 credits)
Workshop, conferences, and practice in techniques of fiction writing, especially the short story. Reading of modern fiction writers and study of various fictional genres. May be repeated once for credit.
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
CRWR 318 SCRIPT WRITING (4 credits)
Workshop, conferences, and practice in techniques of writing dramatic fiction in script form for films, television, or stage. Conventions of dramatic structure, character development, dialogue, form, and current practice. May be repeated once for credit.
Typically offered: Fall Semester, Alternate Years
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
CRWR 319 NONFICTION WRITING (4 credits)
Workshop, conferences, and practice in techniques of literary nonfiction writing. Reading of modern and contemporary literary nonfiction writers and study of various forms within the genre, including memoir, personal essay, lyric essay, literary journalism, cultural critique, etc. May be repeated once for credit.
Typically offered: Spring Semester, Annually
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
CRWR 389 CREATVE WRITNG MINR PORTFOLIO (1 credit)
Portfolio course for seniors completing creative writing minor. Documents learning outcomes. Satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Students who have earned credit in ENGL 389 may not enroll in this course.
Prerequisites: Senior standing.
CRWR 421 ADV TOPICS IN CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP (4 credits)
Upper-level course in the reading and practice of imaginative writing in one or more genres. Specific topics may focus on a particular genre, such as the lyric poem or the novella; themes such as "Borderlands" or "Parties and Gatherings"; or techniques and methods such as "The Researched Narrative," "The First Person," or "Style in the Imaginative Sentence." Students who have earned credit in ENGL 421 may not enroll in this course.
Prerequisites: CRWR 200, CRWR 289, or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
CRWR 479 PORTFOLIO (1 credit)
Senior portfolio course for creative writing majors. Documents learning outcomes for major. Students should register with departmental academic advisor as instructor.
Typically offered: Spring Semester, Annually
CRWR 484 CREATIVE WRITING: SENIOR SEMINAR (2 credits)
Creative Writing: Senior Seminar Capstone seminar on the writing process and building a writing life. Weekly meetings will also include collaborative work toward initial thesis deadlines, including a project proposal, an annotated bibliography, and the first pages of the thesis itself. Students who have earned credit in ENGL 484 may not enroll in this course.
Prerequisites: Senior standing in the creative writing major.
Typically offered: Fall Semester
CRWR 485 CREATIVE WRITING: THESIS (4 credits)
Completion in conference of a substantial writing project (a collection of poetry, a novel or memoir, a full-length film script, etc.) as the final requirement in the creative writing major. Deadlines include, at minimum, a 50% draft, initial working draft, a major revision of the entire work, and a minor revision of the entire work. Students who have earned credit in ENGL 485 may not enroll in this course.
Prerequisites: CRWR 484 and senior standing in the creative writing major.
Typically offered: Spring Semester
(MAJOR WRITING INTENSIVE)
English Courses
A list of the department’s infrequently taught courses can be found on the Registrar’s webpages.
ENGL 120 LITERARY MAGAZINE (1 credit)
Editing the college literary magazine, Camas. Planning, soliciting submissions, making selections, preparing manuscripts for printing. For departmental majors only. (may be repeated for up to 4 credits).
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
ENGL 125 ENGLISH GRAMMAR (ALSO LISTED AS ELCP 125) (2 credits)
Advanced course focusing on grammar vocabulary used to describe the rules of English grammar as well as practice and application through writing. Focus on understanding parts of speech, parts of a sentence, sentence patterns, tense, modality, punctuation, and more.
ENGL 198 SPECIAL TOPICS: JAN TERM TRAV (4 credits)
Topics vary according to faculty availability and interest. Past topics have included The Brontes, Jane Austen, Irish Literature, Creative Writing in Literary Britain, King Arthur in Britain, The Literary Sea of Cortez, and Politics and Change in Southeast Asia. Offered only as student interest and university resources permit. May be repeated for credit with different topics.
Typically offered: January Term
ENGL 240 HERO(IN)ES, MONSTERS, PROTEST: BRITISH LITERATURE TO 1660 (4 credits)
Writers and works from the Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English traditions, continuing through early modern, Elizabethan, and early seventeenth-century developments.
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
ENGL 241 SEX, LANGUAGE, AND EMPIRE BRITISH LITERATURE FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (4 credits)
Introduction to literature created in English from the Restoration to 1901. Exploration of historical contexts and effects of linguistic and literary change, including writers and works from the Restoration, Eighteenth century, the Romantics and Victorians.
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
ENGL 250 POETRY, PROSE, AND PLAYS (4 credits)
Introduction to literary genres through texts addressing particular theme. Emphasis on developing close reading skills central to literary analysis. Practice in writing effective papers about literature. Repeatable only for non-English Department majors.
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
ENGL 270 WESTERN AMERICAN LITERATURE (4 credits)
Investigation into literatures and cultural issues of the American West. Study of significant western writers. May include Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner, Maxine Hon Kingston, H.L. Davis, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ken Kesey or others.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, U.S. PLURALISM, VITAL PAST)
ENGL 271 PROFESSIONAL EDITING (3 credits)
Students will explore the foundational practices and capabilities needed to write, edit, and revise proficiently. Based on foundations of grammar and usage and builds to a more rhetorically focused approach to comprehensive editing for audience, purpose, and style. OFFERED THROUGH ONLINE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION (OCE) ONLY.
ENGL 272 THEATRE IN PORTLAND (ALSO LISTED AS THTR 272) (4 credits)
(Also listed as THTR 272) Introduction to contemporary dramatic literature and theatrical performance. Activities include reading and discussing plays, creating and performing original work, attending professional productions, meeting theatre artists, writing reviews, and using the Portland campus as a hub to explore the city's culture. Special attention to underrepresented artists and methods of increasing diversity and inclusion in contemporary theatre. $120 ticket fee. Only offered on the Portland Campus.
Total Course fees: $120.00
Typically offered: January Term
(CREATIVE STUDIES, U.S. PLURALISM)
ENGL 275 CRITICAL METHODS OF LITERARY STUDY (4 credits)
Formal initiation of majors and minors in both literature and creative writing to critical and aesthetic analysis of literary texts. Concentrated practice in close reading of major works in various genres, as well as exploration of different critical methodologies. Should be completed before the start of the junior year.
ENGL 279 PORTFOLIO & PROFESSIONALIZATION SEMINAR (2 credits)
Initial portfolio course for Literature majors. Documents learning outcomes of major and provides professionalization skills.
Typically offered: Fall Semester, Annually
ENGL 285 PURITANS TO POSTMODERNS: FIRST CONTACT TO LASTING CONTACT (4 credits)
Introduction to sweep of U.S. literature from its pre-Columbian antecedents to the present, including colonialism, the American Renaissance, Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Emphasis on themes involving nature, modernity, and U.S. literary pluralism. Lecture/discussion.
Typically offered: Spring Semester
(CREATIVE STUDIES, U.S. PLURALISM)
ENGL 298 SPECIAL TOPICS: JAN TERM TRAV (4 credits)
Topics vary according to faculty availability and interest. Past topics have included The Brontes, Jane Austen, Irish Literature, Creative Writing in Literary Britain, King Arthur in Britain, The Literary Sea of Cortez, and Politics and Change in Southeast Asia. Offered only as student interest and university resources permit. May be repeated for credit with different topics.
Typically offered: January Term
ENGL 300 WOMEN WRITERS (ALSO LISTED AS GENS 300) (4 credits)
Examination of literary works by women writing in English across the globe. Study of the relationship between dominant literary traditions and the politics of gender as a source of constriction and aspiration. Exploration of the impacts of race, class, religion, nationality and sexual orientation upon conceptions of the female. Close reading, literary analysis, and exploration of feminist theory. May be repeated once for credit with a different topic.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, GLOBAL PLURALISM)
ENGL 301 GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS (4 credits)
Exploration of major works of world literature dealing with a particular theme, subject, or cultural legacy.
Prerequisites: INQS 125 or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, GLOBAL PLURALISM)
ENGL 303 CHILDREN'S LITERATURE (3 credits)
Literature available in various forms for children. Development of skills in the understanding as well as the presentation and teaching of the literature. OFFERED THROUGH ONLINE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION (OCE) ONLY.
ENGL 304 LITERATURE AND LANDSCAPE (4 credits)
Introduction to the relationship between literary texts and environmental issues. Authors studied may include Annie Dillard, Gary Snyder, John McPhee, Mary Austin, Edward Abbey and Aldo Leopold.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, ULTIMATE QUESTIONS)
ENGL 305 DIVERSE VOICES IN LITERARY EXPRESSION (4 credits)
Literary works addressing issues of race, gender, class, minority experience, or national literatures besides those of the U.S. or England. May be repeated once for credit with different content.
Prerequisites: INQS 125 or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, GLOBAL PLURALISM, ULTIMATE QUESTIONS)
ENGL 307 CONTEMPORARY WRITERS (4 credits)
Exploration of works of contemporary literature dealing with a particular theme, subject, school, or region. An emphasis on reading for technique and reading as writers. Especially recommended for creative writing majors and minors.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
(CREATIVE STUDIES)
ENGL 311 LEADERSHIP, ETHICS, AND PERSUASION (4 credits)
Examines the two-thousand-year-old tradition of rhetoric and addresses the difficult question of ethical argument. Begins with the Greeks, and moves into the twenty-first century. After establishing a theoretical understanding of the important questions and practices, students will consider a variety of speeches by American leaders. Ends with participants creating their own speeches on current topics. Taught as a Socratic, discussion-based seminar. (LISTED AS LEAD 311, POLS 311, AND ENGL 311)
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
(ULTIMATE QUESTIONS)
ENGL 327 INTRODUCTION TO FILM (ALSO LISTED AS JAMS 327) (4 credits)
The tools of visual literacy. Responding to and evaluating cinema as art and as mass communication. The vocabulary of film-making and film criticism. Sample topics: genre analysis, directorial study, international film industry, film narrative.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
ENGL 330 MAJOR FIGURES (4 credits)
Focus on the work of one writer such as John Milton or Virgina Woolf, or two closely connected writers such as W. B. Yeats and James Joyce, or Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath. May be repeated once for credit with different writers.
Prerequisites: INQS 125 and completion of at least one literature course or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, MAJOR WRITING INTENSIVE)
ENGL 340 EPIC & ROMANCE (4 credits)
Writers and works from the Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English traditions, reflecting the medieval outlook from Beowulf to Chaucer to Malory. Prerequisite: INQS 125 or consent of instructor. 4 credits. (VP)
Prerequisites: INQS 125 or cnsent of instructor.
(VITAL PAST)
ENGL 344 SECRET LIVES IN VICTORIAN LITERATURE (4 credits)
Focus on the detective story, the sensation novel, the bildungsroman, and the dramatic monologue, Victorian forms that policed the boundary between public and private selves. Exploration of representative works across literary genres from 1837 to 1901. Psychological and historical approaches to identity inflected by changes in gender, science, and imperialism.
Prerequisites: INQS 125 and one previous literature class or consent of instructor.
(VITAL PAST)
ENGL 345 20TH CENTURY GLOBAL BRITISH LITERATURE (4 credits)
Representative forms and ideas in English prose and poetry of the 20th century.
Prerequisites: INQS 125 or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, GLOBAL PLURALISM)
ENGL 350 SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDIES AND HISTORIES: PERFORMING GENDER AND SEXUALITY (ALSO LISTED AS GENS 350) (4 credits)
Selected comedies and histories in their historical and critical context. Emphasis on comedy as a dramatic form and questions of gender and sexuality as they are represented through performance.
Total Course fees: $40.00
Prerequisites: INQS 125 or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, VITAL PAST)
ENGL 351 SHAKESPEARE: TRAGEDIES AND TRAGICOMEDIES (ALSO LISTED AS THTR 351) (4 credits)
Selected tragedies and tragicomedies in their historical and critical context; emphasis on tragedy as a dramatic form.
Total Course fees: $40.00
Prerequisites: INQS 125 or consent of instructor.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, VITAL PAST)
ENGL 365 RACE, IMPERIALISM, JUSTICE (4 credits)
Exploration of postcolonial literature and theory in English interrogating themes of war, colonization, decolonization, empire, imperialism, law and justice, displacements, migrations and transnational identities, hybridity and globalization. Authors studied may include but are not limited to Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee, Aime Cesaire, Jamaica Kincaid, Zadie Smith, Arundhuti Roy, Salman Rushdie, Tsitsi Dangaremba, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, V.S. Naipaul, and Derek Walcott, Nawal El Saadawi, Edward Said.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, GLOBAL PLURALISM)
ENGL 377 FUNDAMENTALS OF RESEARCH WRITING (3 credits)
Fundamentals of research writing. Bibliographic instruction and practice in writing a substantial research paper. OFFERED THROUGH ONLINE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION (OCE) ONLY.
ENGL 380 ULTIMATE QUESTIONS IN LITERATURE (4 credits)
Literary investigation into concerns fundamental to human existence such as the nature of good and evil; the origins and condition of the human being in the universe; the nature of religious quest and experience of the sacred; ethical inquiry and behavior; utopian social aspiration; the nature of human knowing. May be repeated once for credit with different content.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, ULTIMATE QUESTIONS)
ENGL 385 THE NOVEL IN THE UNITED STATES (4 credits)
Examination of one of the preeminent literary genres in U.S. literary history as a window into recurrent themes linking American fiction writers across decades. A study of aesthetic experimentation within the genre. Topics will vary. May be repeated once for credit.
Prerequisites: INQS 125.
(CREATIVE STUDIES, U.S. PLURALISM)
ENGL 395 DIRECTED READING (1 credit)
Reading and discussion course organized around a writer or theme. Emphasis on close reading, articulate discussion and evaluation of cultural significance of literary and/or popular texts. May be repeated once for credit.
Prerequisites: INQS 125 and one literature course.
ENGL 398 SPECIAL TOPICS: JAN TERM TRAV (4 credits)
Topics vary according to faculty availability and interest. Past topics have included The Brontes, Jane Austen, Irish Literature, Creative Writing in Literary Britain, King Arthur in Britain, The Literary Sea of Cortez, and Politics and Change in Southeast Asia. Offered only as student interest and university resources permit. May be repeated for credit with different topics.
Prerequisites: IDST 098 previous fall.
Typically offered: January Term, Every Third Year Or Less Often
ENGL 439 PEER INSTRUCTION (1-3 credits)
Advanced opportunity for outstanding students to assist faculty members in the classroom or laboratory. Focus on course content and pedagogy.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
(EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING)
ENGL 474 CAPSTONE IN PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION (3 credits)
Integrates the knowledge and skills gained in previous professional communication courses into a project which will represent the best practices of communication theory and rhetorical understandings of context, writing, audience, and style. OFFERED THROUGH ONLINE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION (OCE) ONLY.
Prerequisites: ENGL 271, ENGL 372 and ENGL 373 or instructor consent.
ENGL 479 PORTFOLIO (1 credit)
Senior portfolio course for literature and creative writing majors. Documents learning outcomes for major. Students should register with departmental academic advisor as instructor. May be repeated once for credit when earning two majors in the English Department.
ENGL 480 INDEPENDENT STUDY (1-5 credits)
Program of directed tutorial reading on some topic or problem within the discipline relating to the special interests of the student and supervised by a departmental faculty member.
ENGL 486 SENIOR SEMINAR: LITERATURE (4 credits)
Advanced study of a specialized literary subject in a seminar setting. Completion of a substantial critical paper. A senior level course for students who have previously completed most of the requirements for the literature major.
Prerequisites: ENGL 275.
(MAJOR WRITING INTENSIVE)
ENGL 487 INTERNSHIP (1-8 credits)
Supervised employment in a work setting which draws upon the writing, speaking, oral, and analytical skills developed by literature and creative writing majors. Open to seniors and second-semester juniors with permission from faculty supervisor. No more than 4 credits to be counted toward the major.
(EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING)
ENGL 490 HONORS THESIS, LITERATURE OR CREATIVE WRITING (4 credits)
4 credits.
ENGL 495 PRO-SEMINAR (1 credit)
In-depth investigation of topic covered in a related 300-level literature course, completed concurrently with that course (registration required in both). Allows junior-level literature majors who plan to research and write an honors thesis to initiate the project prior to senior year. Requires reading, research, writing and presentations beyond assignments associated with the related course.
Prerequisites: ENGL 275 and at least two additional literature classes. Concurrent enrollment in the related regular 300-level class is required.
ENGL 498 SPECIAL TOPICS: JAN TERM TRAV (4 credits)
Topics vary according to faculty availability and interest. Past topics have included The Brontes, Jane Austen, Irish Literature, Creative Writing in Literary Britain, King Arthur in Britain, The Literary Sea of Cortez, and Politics and Change in Southeast Asia. Offered only as student interest and university resources permit. May be repeated for credit with different topics.
Prerequisites: IDST 098 previous fall.
Typically offered: January Term, Every Third Year Or Less Often