Courses
View courses in
- All Departments
- All Departments
- African American Studies
- African Studies: Culture (in English)
- African Studies: East African Languages: Kiswahili (Swahili)
- African Studies: East, West & South African Languages: Amharic, Igbo, isiZulu
- African Studies: South African Languages: isiXhosa
- African Studies: West African Languages: Akan Twi, Wolof
- African Studies: West African Languages: Hausa
- American Studies
- Anthropology
- Arabic: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Archaeology
- Asian Studies
- Astronomy
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Chinese: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Cinema & Media Studies
- Classical Studies: incl. Classical Civilization and Tradition (in English), Ancient Greek, and Latin
- Classical Studies: Modern Greek
- Comparative Literature
- Computer Science
- Core Curriculum
- Earth & Environment
- Economics
- Editorial Studies
- English
- First Year Experience
- French: Language, Literature, Linguistics, Culture (including courses in English)
- German: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Hebrew: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Hindi-Urdu: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- History
- History of Art & Architecture
- International Relations
- Internships
- Italian: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Japanese: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Korean: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Linguistics
- Marine Science
- Mathematics & Statistics
- Middle East & North Africa Studies
- Natural Sciences
- Neuroscience
- Persian (Farsi): Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Political Science
- Portuguese: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Psychological & Brain Sciences
- Religion
- Russian: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- SEA Semester
- Senior Year Development
- Sociology
- Spanish: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Turkish: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
- Writing
-
CAS EN 126: Jewish Literature
How do changing notions of ethnicity and race, religion, and gender, as well as geographical place define Jewish family and community? Topics include immigration, diaspora, and national culture; patriotism, antisemitism, and multiculturalism; Jewish identities and gender; conversion, assimilation, and acculturation. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-intensive Course. -
CAS EN 127: Reading American Literature
Readings may include works of fiction, poetry, or drama composed in America from the colonial period to the present. Attention to a wide range of literary works and historical and cultural contexts. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-intensive Course. -
CAS EN 128: Representing Boston
The literary and cultural geography of the city of Boston, from Puritan sermons to modern crime fiction. Readings by Winthrop, Wheatley, Hawthorne, Alcott, King, Malcolm X, Lowell, and Lehane; required fieldwork in graveyards, war memorials, the MFA, and Fenway Park. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. -
CAS EN 129: Introduction to African American Literature
What is the African American literary tradition? How does it change over time? This course is to introduce you to the cultural, political, and historical contexts of the African American experience through readings of literature. We will read poetry, slave narratives, essays and speeches, tales, short stories, and novels, and as we examine these texts, we will consider how culture, politics, and history shape African American literature. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
CAS EN 130: Science/Fiction
Through readings in British and/or American literature, an exploration of some of the following topics: science and technology as literary themes; historical construction of science and art; similarities and differences between literary and scientific methods; the development of science fiction. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning, Writing- intensive Course. -
CAS EN 141: Introduction to Fiction
Introduces critical concepts for analyzing works of fiction. Readings in different periods, genres, and traditions, ranging from canonical masterpieces to unheralded literary gems, aimed to cultivate an appetite for the pleasures, and rigors, of narrative art. Topics vary by instructor. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same number that was previously titled "Literary Types: Fiction." Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning. -
CAS EN 142: Introduction to Poetry
Introduction to the understanding, interpretation, and appreciation of a wide range of poetry. Focus on poetic form, genre, and style, with explorations of cultural and aesthetic contexts. Particular emphasis on close, careful reading and discussion. Topics vary by instructor. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same number that was previously titled "Literary Types: Poetry." Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Oral and/or Signed Communication. -
CAS EN 150: Children's Literature: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Imaginary Spaces
What stories do we tell about children? What guidance do we imagine them needing? Examines fairy tales; the Golden Age of Children's Literature (1860- -1920); fantasy; genre and adaptation. Authors include Grimms, Bronte, Lewis Carroll, Tolkien, Le Guin, Pullman, Sendak. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation. -
CAS EN 155: The Myth of the Family in Classical American Literature, Film, and Television
Blood bonds, criminality, violence, and language as they emerge across American cultural forms. Works include novels by Twain, Faulkner, Morrison, and Junot Diaz; films such as The Godfather and Boys Don't Cry; serial television such as Breaking Bad and The Wire. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS EN 163: Reading Shakespeare
A critical introduction to Shakespeare through intensive analyses of six or seven plays. Possible attention to such topics as literary sources, early modern stagecraft, performance history, and contemporary film adaptation. This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area(s): Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
CAS EN 164: Reading Shakespeare
Representative tragedies, comedies, and histories. Primarily for students not concentrating in English. CAS EN 163 not prerequisite for EN 164. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. -
CAS EN 170: The Graphic Novel
Examination of the rise, nature, and status of the contemporary book-length graphic novel. Topics include graphic vs. traditional novel, word and image, style and space, representations of subjectivity, trauma, and history. Authors may include Spiegelman, Bechdel, Nakazawa, Sacco, Satrapi, Backderf. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation. -
CAS EN 175: Literature and the Art of Film
Provides an overview of fundamental concepts for the analysis and understanding of film. Films are screened weekly and in conjunction with works of literature. Students must register for screening, discussion, and lecture. Also offered as CAS CI 201 and COM CI 201. 4 cr. either sem. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression. -
CAS EN 177: Introduction to Asian-American Literature
Explores Asian American literature from the early twentieth century until today. Addresses questions of identity, immigration, national belonging, diaspora, war, and global capitalism. Authors include John Okada, Maxine Hong Kingston, Chang-Rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Monique Truong, and Ha Jin. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-intensive Course. -
CAS EN 180: Post-Apocalyptic Narratives
Why is contemporary culture drawn to stories of zombies, social collapse, and environmental disaster? What fascinates us about dystopia? Stories, novels, graphic novels, film, and television all examined to explore questions of narrative, interpretation, genre, politics, "high" vs. "popular" culture. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning. -
CAS EN 195: Literature and Ideas
How does literature relate to philosophy? How do poems and stories explore philosophical beliefs? Readings may include novels, epics, dialogues, sermons, theoretical treatises, and poetry, all engaging with broad questions about meaning, selfhood, divinity, politics, community, value. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking. -
CAS EN 220: Seminar in Literature
Fundamentals of literary analysis, interpretation, and research. Intensive study of selected literary texts centered on a particular topic. Attention to different critical approaches. Frequent papers. Limited class size. Required of concentrators in English. Satisfies WR 150 requirement. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing, Research and Inquiry, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS EN 221: Major Authors
Introduction to the major works of ancient and medieval literatures that influenced later Continental, English, and American literature: the Bible, Homeric epic, Greek tragedy, Vergil's Aeneid, and Dante's The Divine Comedy. Required of concentrators in English. This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area(s): Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-intensive Course. -
CAS EN 306: Introduction to Playwriting
Students write and discuss their plays in a workshop setting. Individual conferences. Limited enrollment. -
CAS EN 313: Variation in Dialects of English
Exploration of how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into British dialects. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects. Also offered as CAS LX 365.
