English Major and Minor
Courses Satisfying the English Major Requirements
In addition to University Core Curriculum requirements and requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree, English majors must complete a total of 15 courses distributed according to the specifications below. However, this list is not binding: students are required to consult with their advisors and with quarterly departmental listings to determine whether a particular section of a course meets the new English major requirements.
Although many courses fulfill more than one of these requirements, students may count each course only once except that one of the 15 courses must be in gender or sexuality studies and another of the 15 courses must be in ethnic or global studies.
Students in the teacher preparation program (for those planning to teach high school) have additional requirements. These students must meet with Jill Goodman Gould, the Credential Program advisor, to make sure they meet the additional requirements.
The Minor in English requires two foundation courses (ENGL 20 and 21) and five electives, four of which must be upper-division courses.
* indicates that this course may be repeated if topics differ
** indicates that this course may be repeated for credit
Two Foundation Courses:
ENGL 20
ENGL 21
Five Historically-Grounded Courses:
(at least one must be American and at least one British; at least two must be upper division)
One Medieval
41 Survey of English Literature I
141 Studies in Medieval Literature
162 Studies in Comparative Literature
One Renaissance and/or 17th Century
41 Survey of English Literature I
*113 British Drama: Restoration & 18th Century Comedy (Rynes)
116 Shakespeare’s Tragedies (also THTR 116)
117 Shakespeare’s Comedies (also THTR 117)
*118 Shakespeare Studies (also THTR 118)
*131 Studies in Early American Literature
*137 Studies in American Poetry (Elrod)
143 Studies in Renaissance Literature
162 Studies in Comparative Literature
*184E Special Topics: Shakespeare & Elizabethan Literature
*189 Literature and Religion: Vocation – Your Personal Renaissance (Dreher)
One Restoration and/or Enlightenment and/or 18th Century
31 Survey of American Literature I
42 Survey of English Literature II
*113 British Drama: Restoration & 18th Century Comedy (Rynes)
124 Studies in Contemporary American Literature (Burnham)
*131 Studies in Early American Literature
146 Neoclassical Literature
*151 Studies in British Fiction (Rynes); (Garavel, Spring)
*184 Special Topics: 18th Century Novel (Burnham)
One 19th Century/Romantic
31 Survey of American Literature I
32 Survey of American Literature II
35 African American Literature
42 Survey of English Literature II
43 Survey of English Literature III
*132 Studies in 19th Century American Literature
*132G Studies in 19th Century American Literature
*135 Studies in American Fiction (Burnham)
*135G Studies in American Fiction
*137 Studies in American Poetry (Phipps)
147 Romantic Movement
148 Victorian Literature
151 Studies in British Fiction (Garavel, Winter)
166 Pan-African Literature
*184 Special Topics: Yeats & the Irish Literary Revival (Garavel)
One Additional Historically-Grounded Course
Any of the courses in the categories above can instead (but not additionally) be counted in this category; the following courses also count in this category.
25 Reading Film
35G African American Women’s Literature
36 Chicano/a Literature
37 Native American Literature
38 Asian American Literature
66 Radical Imagination
67 US Gay and Lesbian Literature
69 Literature by Women Writers of Color
100 Literature and Democracy
110 Classical Tragedy (also CLAS 181 and THTR 181)
111 Classical Comedy (also CLAS 182 and THTR 182)
112 Topics in Theater & Drama (also THTR 112 or 113) (Garavel)
*113 British Drama (also THTR 111): The Twentieth Century (Garavel)
121 Studies in American Film
*122 Film, Gender, and Sexuality
123 Studies in the History of Literary Theory
124 Studies in Contemporary Literature and Cultural Theory
128 Studies in the Literature of the Middle East and Islamic World
129 California Literature
*130 Studies in African American Literature
*133 Studies in Modern American Literature
*134 Studies in Contemporary American Literature
*134G Studies in Contemporary American Literature
*135 Studies in American Fiction
*137 Studies in American Poetry
*139 Special Topics in American Literature: The Radical Imagination (Bousquet)
140 Studies in Chicano Literature
149 Modern British Literature
150 Contemporary Literature
*151 Studies in British Fiction
153 Studies in Global Gay and Lesbian Cultures
155 Studies in Asian American Literature
157 Postcolonial and Commonwealth Literature and Theory
158 Studies in Native American Literature
158G Native American Women Writers
159 Indian Subcontinental and Diasporic Literature
161 The Bible as Literature
165 African Literature
167 Modern Fiction
169 Non-English Literature in Translation: German Cinema
*184 Special Topics in American Literature
*186 Women in Antiquity (also CLAS 185 or 186)
187 Classical Mythology in the Western Tradition (also CLAS 184)
*189 Literature and Religion: Challenging Religious Assumptions (Rynes)
192 American Theatre from the Black Perspective (also THTR 161)
One Upper-Division Writing/Rhetoric/Language Course
101 Linguistics
102 Theories of Modern Grammar
103 History of the English Language
104 Teaching English as a Second Language
105 Literacy and Social Justice
126 Creative Writing and Social Justice
127 Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
138 Internet Culture and the Information Society
170 Writing for Children and Young Adults
**171 Advanced Fiction Writing
**172 Advanced Poetry Writing
**173 Screenwriting (also THTR 173)
**174 Nonfiction Writing
175 Creative Nonfiction
176 Intensive Writing
177 Argumentation
178 Technical Writing
179 Practical Business Rhetoric
180 Writing for Teachers
183 Writing for Business
*184 Special Topics (Intro to Creative Writing London)
*184 Special Topics: Internet Culture and the Politics of Information (Bousquet)
185 Grants, Proposals, and Reports
191 Literature and Performance (also THTR 109)
*193W Playwriting (also THTR 170)
196 Writing in the Community
197 Practicum in Tutoring Composition
One Upper-Division Theory/Methodology Course
123 Studies in the History of Literary Theory
124 Studies in Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory
c*139 Special Topics in American Literature: The Radical Imagination (Bousquet); The American Gothic (Burnham); (Velasco)
140 Studies in Chicano Literature: Chicano/a Literature II Advanced Critical Analysis & Theory (Velasco)
148 Victorian Literature/New Historicism (Hawley)
150 Contemporary Literature
*151 Studies in British Fiction (Rynes)
*152 Women, Literature, and Theory
153 Studies in Global Gay and Lesbian Cultures
155 Studies in Asian-American Literature: Asian-American Literary and Cultural Criticism and Theory (Chang)
*156 Interdisciplinary Gay and Lesbian Studies
157 Postcolonial and Commonwealth Literature and Theory (Hawley)
159 Indian Subcontinental and Diasporic Literature
162 Studies in Comparative Humanism (Brown)
165 African Literature
184 Special Topics: Internet Culture and the Politics of Information (Bousquet); Theories of the Novel (Burnham)
Three Courses in a Selected Area of Specialization
Selected in consultation with the faculty advisor (e.g., literary history, a literary period, genre, postcolonial/multicultural, a national Lit, gender and sexuality, writing/rhetoric, creative writing, independent). One, with the Chair’s approval, may be taken outside the department; one may be lower division.
Two Electives
(One should be taken outside the selected area of specialization; one may be lower division). ENGL 11, 12, or 13, as well as ENGL 79 can be an elective.
One Senior Seminar
190 Senior Seminar
The following two requirements can be met through two of the 15 courses.
One Gender/Sexuality Studies Course
67 US Gay and Lesbian Literature
68 Literature and Women
69 Literature by Women Writers of Color
79A Writing about Literature and Culture: Film, Fiction, and Gender in India and its Diasporas (Hawley)
79G Writing about Literature and Culture: Identity and Culture in Contemporary Ethnic Literature of the United States (Quinn)
*122 Film, Gender, and Sexuality: Queer Cinema (Garber); (Nanda)
125 Feminist Literature Theory and Criticism
*132G Studies in 19th Century American Literature
*134G Studies in Contemporary American Literature: (Chang)
*135G Studies in American Fiction: Domesticity, Publicity, and Literature of Social Change (Elrod)
*152 Women, Literature, and Theory
153 Studies in Global Gay and Lesbian Cultures
*156 Interdisciplinary Gay and Lesbian Studies
158G Studies in Native American Women Writers
162 Studies in Comparative Literature: Comparative Humanism (Brown)
**168 Women and Literature
*186 Women in Antiquity
188 Senior Seminar: (Garber); Race, Popular Culture, and Psychoanalysis (Chang); Virginia Woolf (McIsaac); Emily Dickinson and Her Culture (White); Jane Austen-19th Century Novels/20th and 21st Century Celluloid (Frisbie)
One Ethnic/Global Studies Course
35 African American Literature
36 Chicano/a Literature
37 Native American Literature
38 Asian American Literature
39 Multicultural Literature of the United States
69 Literature by Women Writers of Color
79A Writing about Literature and Culture (Hawley)
79G Writing about Literature and Culture: Identity & Culture in Cont. Ethnic US Literature (Quinn)
128 Studies in the Literature of the Middle East and Islamic World: Contemporary Literature and Film of the Arab World (Mahamdi)
*130 Studies in African American Literature
*132 Studies in 19th Century American Literature: American Literary Realism at the Turn of the Century-Questions of Identity (Elrod)
*134 Studies in Contemporary American Literature: Short Fiction (Edelstein)
*134G Studies in Contemporary American Literature (Chang)
140 Studies in Chicano Literature
153 Studies in Global Gay and Lesbian Cultures
155 Studies in Asian American Literature
157 Postcolonial and Commonwealth Literature and Theory
158 Studies in Native American Literature
158G Native American Women Writers
159 Indian Subcontinental and Diasporic Literature
165 African Literature
166 Pan African Literature (Hawley)
188 Senior Seminar: Multicultural Lit and Theory (Edelstein); Postcolonialism (Hawley); Contemporary Native American Novels (Burnham)
192 American Theatre from the Black Perspective (also THTR 161)
