January Term Courses in the English Department 

January 2003

Tall Tales: The Folk Tradition and U.S. National Identiy (Drs. Todd Martin and Jeff Webb): American folk stories--often referred to as Tall Tales--provide insight into the development of American identity.  Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and Johnny Appleseed entertain children, but they also illuminate the goals, aspirations, values and commitments of Americans in the earliest periods of our identity as it emerged through the 19th and 20th centuries.  They provide a means to assess the importance of folk traditions and cultural myths to the development of group affiliation.

January 2002

From Romance to Reality (Drs. Linda Urschel and Ann McPherren):  Students will study the late Victorian age in the U.S. through examination of period literature, domestic economics, commerce and public policy.  Students will conduct research and present findings in an area of personal interest, i.e. educational reform, religious movements, historical events, scientific discoveries, and political leaders.  At least one day trip to area Victorian restorations is planned.  (see photos of a high tea and read student responses to the course).

The Poetics of Hypertext Narrative (Dr. Del Doughty): We will study the development of the cyber arts including digitally animated narratives and hypertext fiction and poetry.  We will study key texts, discuss issues such as interactivity and immersion, computer lib, the evolution of the human into the user, post-humanism, and the aesthetics of chaos and carnival.  Students will conduct their own work in StorySpace.

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