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CAS EN 120: Freshman Seminar
Limited enrollment. Variable topics. Through discussions and frequent writing assignments, students develop skills in the close reading of literary texts and learn to express their interpretive ideas in correct and persuasive prose. Satisfies CAS WR 120 requirement. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: First-Year Writing Seminar. -
CAS EN 121: Reading World Literature
Study of literature in English or English translation -- poetry, drama, and prose narrative -- outside of British and American traditions. Attention to such topics as cultural self-construction, relationships of historical context to artistic expression, and development of literary forms. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS EN 122: Medieval Worlds
Why does the deep medieval past continue to haunt our dreams? In novels, games, and on TV? Medieval literature and its afterlives. Topics may include Arthurian romance, otherworld visions, monsters and heroes, women's lives and writing, modern medievalism. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS EN 125: Reading Modern Literature
Introduces key concepts for understanding major developments in modern literature. Readings in poetry, drama and fiction from varying traditions, designed to motivate an interest in some of the most engaging, and challenging, works of our time. Topics vary by instructor. For Fall 2020: Modern lives: Turning Points. Explores narratives from the long twentieth century (1890-now) that present initiations or moments of recognition in characters' lives. Authors include Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, George Orwell, Truman Capote, Angela Carter, Alison Bechdel. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. In the 2018-19 Academic year, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing- Intensive Course. In the 19-20 academic year, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Aesthetic Exploration. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-intensive Course. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing- intensive Course. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, The Individual in Community. -
CAS EN 128: Representing Boston
Literary and cultural geography of Boston, from Puritan sermons to modern crime fiction. Readings by Winthrop, Wheatley, Emerson, Hopkins, Antin, Lowell, Lehane and others; required fieldwork, including four Saturday excursions: Freedom Trail, Black Heritage Trail, MFA, and Fenway Park. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
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. In the 18-19 Academic Year, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning, Writing-Intensive Course. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, 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. Effective Fall 2018, 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. Effective Fall 2018, 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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS EN 160: Big Novels, Big Ideas
How do big famous novels explore philosophical ideas about knowledge, selfhood, nature, community? Are fiction and philosophy partners or rivals? Novels may include Moby Dick, Middlemarch, Invisible Man, Infinite Jest, read alongside Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche, Du Bois, Sartre, and others. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking. -
CAS EN 162: The Ethics of Art
Does art make you good? How does it shape our values and sense of justice? Ancient thinkers (Plato, Horace) and modern theorists (Wollstonecraft, Wilde), followed by contemporary case studies. Topics may include propaganda, body aesthetics, animals, disability, pornography, graffiti, censorship. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
CAS EN 164: Reading Shakespeare
Representative tragedies, comedies, and histories. Primarily for students not majoring or minoring 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. Effective Fall 2018, 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. 4 cr. either sem. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression. -
CAS EN 176: Introduction to Film & Media Aesthetics
Introduction to fundamental concepts for the analysis/understanding of film and media. Key concepts of formal composition (e.g. editing, mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and more) over a diverse set of media texts. Foundational skills in analysis appropriate to film, television and moving- image media. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration.
