This Year's Courses

English Literatures 1 (ENGL 200A): An introduction to the diverse forms and voices of literature written in English from the Middle Ages to the late 18th century, focussing on key writers and works, including works by women and people of colour. Students will explore literary techniques, historical and cultural contexts, and the question of the canon.

The Bible and Literature 1 (ENGL 202A): A study of the major stories, themes, and literary characteristics of the Old Testament of the King James Bible (also known as the Hebrew Scripture), and of its influence on other English literature.

Designing Digital Images and Interaction (ENGL 203): This course draws on multiple theoretical perspectives to introduce students to the fundamental principles of multi-modal communication design in its social context. Students will analyze, design, and produce images and interactivity for use in a variety of digital platforms, including e-learning and business applications.

Forms of Fantasy (ENGL 208A): A study of fantasy literature, including some subgenres such as romances, fairy tales, fables, and gothic and horror fiction.

Studies in Children's Literature (ENGL 208C): A critical examination of works of children's literature. Specific readings may range broadly, encompassing works as diverse as ancient folk tales and novels and poetry from the 18th century to the present day.

Travel Literature (ENGL 208M): The course examines the forms and functions of travel literature as a genre. Topics will include the representation of travel as adventure, discovery, pilgrimage, and escape; travel and tourism; travel and gender; travel and colonialism.

Genres of Creative Writing (ENGL 210C): This course introduces students to both contemporary and historical forms of creative writing.

Genres of Business Communication (ENGL 210F): This courses explores the genres of communication in business and other organizations, such as reports (of several kinds), letters, email messages, marketing materials, public relations materials, and any other types of organizational communication.

Arts Writing (ENGL 210H): A study of the various forms, processes, and modes of publication of professional writing in the arts. 

Graphic Narrative (ENGL 232): A study of graphic narrative (such as comics, graphic novels, and alternative modes) from the eighteenth century to the present. This course addresses issues such as the history and formal conventions of the medium as well as the unique rhetoric of comics-based storytelling. Topics of interest may include graphic memoir, multimodality, cross-cultural influence, and the comics-as-literature movement.

Literary Theory and Criticism (ENGL 251): What exactly are we doing when we study literature? By examining a selection of critical methods and theoretical approaches, this course will enhance understanding of the many different emphases, values, and priorities critics bring to literature, and the many available perspectives on what constitutes literature's significance.

Global Literatures (ENGL 291): How has border-crossing shaped the field of English literary studies? In this course, students will discuss works of literature from around the world that explore such themes as colonialism, migration, transnationalism, and the global.

Rhetorical Theory and Criticism (ENGL 292): The course inductively defines the fields of Rhetoric and Professional Writing through an exploration of contemporary issues in language, writing, and rhetoric, as those issues are identified and dealt with, in the pertinent scholarly and professional journals, by current researchers and their work.

Introduction to Digital Media Studies (ENGL 293): A study of theories of digital media, including critical, rhetorical, and semiotic approaches, and of the interpretation and creation of digital media artifacts.

Game Studies (ENGL 294): This course introduces students to the field of humanities-based game studies.

Social Media (ENGL 295): This course surveys the popular social media landscape and charts scholarly approaches, both methodological and theoretical, to understanding and analyzing social media texts.

Designing with Digital Sound (ENGL 304): In this course students will be introduced to sound analysis and production. Students will learn to record, edit, and implement sound in a variety of linear and non-linear media forms, with emphasis on film and video games.

Introduction to Linguistics (ENGL 306A): Introduction to linguistics and the principles of linguistic analysis through an examination of English phonology, forms, syntax, and discourse.

Introduction to Semiotics (ENGL 306F): A study of systems of signs, codes, and signification in language, culture, and literature.

Race and Resistance (ENGL 308): An examination of how contemporary literary and cultural texts represent, reconfigure, and resist ideas of race. Analyzing literature, film, art, popular culture, and social movements, this course covers major debates in critical race theory and anti-racist practices.

Rhetoric, Classical to Enlightenment (ENGL 309A): A study of rhetorical theories from antiquity through the Renaissance to the eighteenth century, with an emphasis on how these theories reflect changing attitudes towards language, society, and the self.

Contemporary Rhetoric (ENGL 309C): An examination of contemporary rhetorical theory and its relationships to criticism, interdisciplinary studies, and digital applications.

Non-Chaucerian Middle English Literature (ENGL 310C): Non-Chaucerian English writings during the later Middle Ages; the Middle English romance, including "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"; alliterative literature, such as "Piers Plowman"; and representative examples of Middle English non-Chaucerian verse.

Austen (ENGL 325): A study of selected novels by Jane Austen, including Pride and Prejudice and Emma. 

Topics in Creative Writing (ENGL 332): This course will focus on a selected genre, approach, creative method, or other aspect of Creative Writing. Please see course instructor for details.

Creative Writing 1 (ENGL 335): Aimed at encouraging students to develop their creative and critical potentials, the course consists of supervised practice, tutorials, and seminar discussions.

American Literature Since 1945 (ENGL 347): A study of the movements of American Literature following the second world war. The course will consider the formal and cultural diversity of writing in this period, with attention to topics such as avant-garde experiment, the persistence of realism, counter-cultural politics, feminism and literature, postmodernism, and the emergence of minority writers in the mainstream.

Shakespeare 2 (ENGL 363): A study of the plays written after 1599-1600, including Julius Caesar.

Professional Communications in Statistics and Actuarial Science (ENGL 378): This course introduces students to oral and written communication in the fields of Statistics and Actuarial Science.

Visual Rhetoric (ENGL 392B): This course introduces students to the study of images from a rhetorical perspective, including the interaction of texts and images in such professional writing fields as advertising, book illustration, technical documentation, journalism, and public relations.

Literature of the Romantic Period 2 (ENGL 430B): An examination of the second generation of Romantic writers, including such authors as Byron, P. B. Shelley, Mary Shelley, Keats, and Hemans.

Adapting Literary Works (ENGL 471): Focusing on modern and contemporary adaptation of works of literature in English, this course examines the problems, possibilities, and principles of representing such works in other literary forms and in other media.

Topics in Literatures Romantic to Modern (ENGL 485): American Pulp Magazines (Prof. V. Lamont)
Pulp magazines were the most popular reading material in the early 20th century United States. This course will explore a variety of early 20th century pulp genres, including detective stories, romances, westerns, and science fiction. We will study some of the authors who wrote for the pulps,  pulp readerships and reading practices, the rhetoric of pulps, and the broader cultural contexts in which pulp magazines were written and read. 

Genres of Technical Communication (ENGL 210E): This course explores writing, presentation, and design across various genres of technical communication, with a primary focus on printed and/or online computer documentation.

Genres of Business Communication (ENGL 210F): This courses explores the genres of communication in business and other organizations, such as reports (of several kinds), letters, email messages, marketing materials, public relations materials, and any other types of organizational communication.

Legal Writing (ENGL 210I): A study of the principles, processes, and various forms of writing used in the practice of law and drafting of legislation.

First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Literatures (ENGL 211): This course examines literary works in a variety of genres by First Nations, Metis, and Inuit authors in Canada. Students will study the literature in relation to key concepts that recur in Indigenous literary criticism such as land, teaching, and respect.

Literature for an Ailing Planet (ENGL 248): Can the humanities change how cultures relate to environments and the natural world? This course surveys environmental thought in works of literature and in popular culture.

Literary Theory and Criticism (ENGL 251): What exactly are we doing when we study literature? By examining a selection of critical methods and theoretical approaches, this course will enhance understanding of the many different emphases, values, and priorities critics bring to literature, and the many available perspectives on what constitutes literature's significance.

Rhetorical Theory and Criticism (ENGL 292): The course inductively defines the fields of Rhetoric and Professional Writing through an exploration of contemporary issues in language, writing, and rhetoric, as those issues are identified and dealt with, in the pertinent scholarly and professional journals, by current researchers and their work.

Social Media (ENGL 295): This course surveys the popular social media landscape and charts scholarly approaches, both methodological and theoretical, to understanding and analyzing social media texts.

Designing with Digital Sound (ENGL 304): In this course students will be introduced to sound analysis and production. Students will learn to record, edit, and implement sound in a variety of linear and non-linear media forms, with emphasis on film and video games.

Introduction to Linguistics (ENGL 306A): Introduction to linguistics and the principles of linguistic analysis through an examination of English phonology, forms, syntax, and discourse.

Rhetoric, Classical to Enlightenment (ENGL 309A): A study of rhetorical theories from antiquity through the Renaissance to the eighteenth century, with an emphasis on how these theories reflect changing attitudes towards language, society, and the self.

Contemporary Rhetoric (ENGL 309C): An examination of contemporary rhetorical theory and its relationships to criticism, interdisciplinary studies, and digital applications.

The Discourse of Dissent (ENGL 309G): A study of the social, historical, and rhetorical dimensions of collective action. Topics may include health and welfare movements, civil rights and anti-war protests, and environmentalism.

Modern Canadian Literature (ENGL 315): This course focuses on the varied ways in which 20th-century writers of poetry and prose participate in the shaping of Canadian literary culture, with emphasis on the literature of the middle decades. Also offered online.

History and Theory of Media 2 (ENGL 320): This course explores the social, political, and cultural contexts and consequences of contemporary technologies of representation such as print and visual media, photography and film, audio recordings, computer-mediated communications, and interactive digital media.

Language, Life, and Literature in the Caribbean (BLKST 210/ENGL 326): This course introduces students to the ways in which language shapes and sustains various forms of cultural expressions in the Caribbean region. Students will use the creative output of storytellers, poets, DJs, and playwrights as a lens to investigate and trace the evolution of a distinctly Caribbean identity from the post-colonial period (1960s) up to the present. Students are also introduced to the social dynamics of Creole language use in the Caribbean and an exploration of the ways in which these languages are implicated in diverse cultural art forms.
Note: This course will be cross-listed as ENGL 326 starting in Fall 2023. For Winter 2023, students can enrol in BLKST 210 and the course can be counted as ENGL 326. This course can be counted towards the "Literatures Modern to Contemporary" category for Literature and Literature & Rhetoric majors, and the "Literature" category for RMPC majors.

Topics in Creative Writing (ENGL 332): This course will focus on a selected genre, approach, creative method, or other aspect of Creative Writing. Please see course instructor for details.

Creative Writing 1 (ENGL 335): Aimed at encouraging students to develop their creative and critical potentials, the course consists of supervised practice, tutorials, and seminar discussions.

Creative Writing 2 (ENGL 336): Designed to assist advanced creative writers to develop their skills in various genres by means of workshop processes, supervised practice, and critical discussion of one or more major projects.

Modern American Literature (ENGL 344): A study of American Literature from the early twentieth century through the second world war, emphasizing aesthetic innovation in the modernist movement, and its aftermath in the social writings of the 1930s.

American Literature in a Global Context (ENGL 345): A study of the ways in which movements of peoples and cultures have shaped American literature. Topics may include colonialism, immigration and migration, literary influence across borders and languages, nativism and internationalism, racial and ethnic styles and exchanges. Also offered online.

Global Asian Diasporas (ENGL 346R): This course explores the literature and culture from one or more global Asian diasporas, with particular emphasis on cultures of East Asian origin. Topics may include identity, transnationalism, imperialism, war, labour, migration, and popular culture.

Shakespeare 1 (ENGL 362): A study of the plays written before 1599-1600, excluding Julius Caesar. Also offered online.

Professional Communications in Statistics and Actuarial Science (ENGL 378): This course introduces students to oral and written communication in the fields of Statistics and Actuarial Science.

Information Design (ENGL 392A): The theory and practice of design for print and digital media, including the study of design concepts such as space, colour, typography, interactivity, immersion, motion, and presence.

The Rhetoric of Digital Design: Theory and Practice (ENGL 408C): Students apply a variety of analytic perspectives - design discourse, multimodal discourse, rhetorical theory, social semiotics - to the design and production of a major digital project (or compilation of projects) using professional software and hardware tools.

Eighteenth-Century Literature and Media (ENGL 412): A study of oral, printed, and popular media and literature (such as ballads, fiction, and newspapers) in the Restoration and 18th century. Topics may include the role of women in the rise of print culture, the social role of popular print forms, and the literary reception of new media technologies.

Literature of the Postwar Period in the United Kingdom and Ireland (ENGL 460C): A study of the literatures of the United Kingdom and Ireland after World War II, including such writers as Beckett, Greene, Larkin, Murdoch, Osborne, Pinter, and Spark.

Topics in the History and Theory of Rhetoric (ENGL 492): “The World is but a Word”: Shakespearean Persuasion in Theory and Practice (Prof. M. MacDonald)
Although Renaissance humanism was closely associated with the revival of ancient rhetoric, early modern scholars and artists were not content with parroting classical models of style, persuasion and argument. Instead, they appropriated rhetoric for their own purposes. The plays of William Shakespeare provide a striking example of this transfiguration of classical rhetoric at work. Ranging over the tragedies, histories, comedies, and romances, this seminar investigates how Shakespeare takes up and transforms—“figures and disfigures”—the classical rhetoric drubbed into him as a boy at the King’s New School in Stratford. At the level of practice, it explores how Shakespeare retools ancient rhetoric in the “quick forge” of his imagination, fashioning a new kind of vernacular English eloquence for the London commercial theatre stage. At the level of theory, it examines how Shakespeare rehearses the vexing ethical, political, and philosophical problems rhetoric posed for early modern culture. Over the course of the semester, we will see how Shakespeare—whose whole life was shadowed by epidemics of bubonic plague—dramatizes the arts of persuasion in all their comic and tragic ambivalence: rhetoric can be both toxic and intoxicating, poison the mind with “pestilent speeches” as well as “ravish like enchanting harmony.” 

Texts

Love’s Labour’s Lost; The Winter’s Tale; Richard III; As You Like It; King Lear; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Othello; Macbeth; The Tempest

Topics in Forms of Media and Critical Analysis (ENGL 494): "Rhetoric of the Selfie" (Prof. A. Morrison)
Catch your light and find your angle: This course considers the “rhetoric of the selfie” using interdisciplinary research and an intersectional lens. How does the selfie operate as a means of self-expression, a mode of communication, an artistic object, or an activist practice? Who creates selfies, and for what kinds of audiences and purposes, and in which contexts? Does selfie culture empower or oppress? What is “selfie culture” and is it just one thing? This course has a meta-critical orientation as well: how can we use literary tools on everyday texts? Is the selfie an appropriate object of scholarly scrutiny? How can we ensure ethical uses of primary materials, neither appropriating nor suppressing the expressions of those we would study?