Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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- African American & Black Diaspora Studies
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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 Díaz; films such as The Godfather and Boys Don't Cry; serial television such as Breaking Bad and The Wire. 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 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. 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-sc'ne, 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. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking. -
CAS EN 177: Introduction to Asian-American Literature
Undergraduate Prerequisites: None - 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. 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, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS EN 178: Introduction to Latinx Literature
Survey of U.S. Latinx literature that introduces students to the major trends in the tradition. Course emphasizes the historical and aesthetic networks established in the Latinx literary canon that continue into the present, while also exploring the relationship between genre and socio-historical issues. We begin with readings from contemporary scholars who attempt to define what Latinx is and can be, establishing a foundation for thinking about the shifting definitions of "Latinx" in the U.S. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS EN 179: Introduction to Trans Literature
Is there such a thing as trans literature? While "Trans Studies" as a field of study in academia is relatively new, trans literature is not. In this course we engage with a wide-ranging trans literary tradition that spans time, genre, and language. We ask questions about authorship, community, and the social and political conditions which allow and bar the flourishing of trans culture. We will ask: What can the word 'trans' mean, and how does its multiple meanings open space to imagine new ways of becoming? How can literature expand how the world might be, rather than what it is? Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, 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. Effective Fall 2018, 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 201: Introduction to Literary Studies
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASEN 120) or another First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or CASWR 120). - Introduction to literary analysis and interpretation. Variable topics. Through frequent writing assignments and discussion, students develop skills in the analysis of literary texts and learn to express their interpretive ideas in correct and persuasive prose. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS EN 213: The "Odyssey" and "Ulysses"
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - This course consists of a close reading of James Joyce's Ulysses with particular attention to his use of the Odyssey. We also examine the relation of oral and book cultures and other works Joyce takes in, such as the Aeneid, Divine Comedy and Hamlet. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation. -
CAS EN 215: Global Modernist Fiction
A comparative study of five modernist authors from different world cultures: Faulkner, Kafka, Chang, Rushdie, and Murakami. Examines experiments in narrative technique as differently situated responses to the major events and legacy of the twentieth century. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking. -
CAS EN 220: Seminar in Literature
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., EN 120 or WR 100 or WR 120). - 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. Satisfies WR 150 requirement. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing, Research and Inquiry, Research and Information Literacy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing: Research & Inquiry, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS EN 221: Major Authors
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASEN 120 or CASWR 100 or WR 120). - 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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS EN 230: Environmental Humanities and Society
Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Introduces students to Environmental Humanities as an interdisciplinary field exploring our understandings of diverse social, cultural, and aesthetic relationships to lived environments, environmental change, and environmental justice. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive, Ethical Reasoning, Aesthetic Exploration. -
CAS EN 306: Introduction to Playwriting
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - This course teaches playwriting craft through lectures, readings, discussion of dramatic writing, writing workshops, attending theatrical events, individual conferences, and the writing of short plays culminating in a one-act. A portfolio of revised work is due at semester's end. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation. -
CAS EN 322: British Literature I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS EN 120 or WR 100 or WR 120), EN 220, and EN 221. - Beginnings of English literature from Anglo-Saxon period to end of the seventeenth century. Topics include the development of various poetic forms, medieval romance, and British drama. Authors may include Chaucer, Kempe, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, and Milton. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
