English Department Home Page
 

Courses in English
Courses in Literature
Courses in Film
 

*The following information should always be double-checked in the official John Jay College literature.*
 

ENGLISH
ENG 012 and 013 are reserved for students whose native language is not English and whose placement scores indicate their need for the intensive preparation these courses provide.
ENG 012. English as a Second Language
In this high intermediate course, students review sentence structure and work toward perfecting English paragraph composition. Additionally, they begin to learn to draft simple narratives. Journals are required in response to all readings, which are carefully selected literary pieces on social topics. The course stresses grammar, reading, and writing skills development, along with test taking, using readings that emphasize sociological themes, situations and terminology. Prerequisite: Direct placement through testing by the ESL Resource Center. 9 hours, 3 credits. 9 lab hours per semester.
ENG 013. English as a Second Language
This advanced ESL course prepares students for English 100 and 101 by offering intensive instruction in grammar, reading and writing skills development, and test taking. In bringing students to competence in college level work, the course incorporates reading with criminal justice themes in its English language curriculum and asks students to analyze these readings both orally and in writing. In the latter, students will move from simple to more sophisticated narrators and will ultimately learn to write argumentative essays. Prerequisite: English 012 or direct placement through testing by the ESL Resource Center. 9 hours, 3 credits. 12 lab hours per semester.
ENG 099. Elements of Writing
Intensive study of the basic elements of composition, including developing coherent paragraphs and structuring short essays.  The course focuses on basic English grammar, usage and sentence structure. Prerequisite: By placement examination only. 3 hours plus conferences, no credits.
ENG 100. Introduction to College Composition
An introductory course reviewing the conventions of standard written English. Special emphasis is given to writing short essays in response to readings. Instruction in summarizing, forming thesis statements, writing coherent paragraphs and editing. Prerequisite: By passing English 099 or by placement examination. 3 hours plus conferences, 1 credit.
ENG 101. College Composition I
The fundamentals of composition, including sentence and paragraph development, diction and style. Examination of essay structure and development. Assigned themes introducing such rhetorical forms as description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, argumentation. The  incorporation of quoted material in essays. Prerequisite: By passing ENG 100 or by placement examination. ENG 101 is a prerequisite for all courses at the 200-level. 3 hours plus conferences, 3 credits.
ENG 102. College Composition II
Continuation of ENG 101 using rhetorical forms in written analysis of a variety of short works. Emphasis on interpretation and critical evaluation of written texts. Introduction to the library through the assignment of several short themes or one term paper stressing basic research techniques. Prerequisite: English 095 or 101. English 102 is a prerequisite for all courses at the 300-level or above. 3 hours plus conferences, 3 credits.
ENG 215. Poetry Writing and Reading
Students learn to write poetry through reading and imitating the techniques of the great poets of the past and present. Use of fixed forms like the limerick, haiku, and sonnet to generate poetry. Variations on standard genres like the nature description, seduction poem, or aubade. Imitating catalogues, extended metaphors, tone of voice. How to publish poetry. Prerequisite: ENG 102. 3 hours plus conferences, 3 credits.
ENG 216. Fiction Writing
Supervised practice in the writing of fiction, including popular fiction, with classroom analysis and discussion of student work. Strong emphasis on dialogue and characterization techniques. Depending on student interest, specific types of fiction may be considered, such as mystery novels, Gothic romances, and science fiction. Prerequisite: ENG 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
ENG 235. Writing for Management, Business, and Public Administration
Development of the writing skills required for careers in law, business, civil service, or public administration. Extensive practice in the various forms of correspondence, interoffice memos, informal reports, minutes of meetings, summaries, briefings, and presentations. Preparation of job application letters and resumes. Practice in proofreading, revising, editing. Development of reading comprehension through close study of business-related writings. One or more sections of English 235 will be designated as Computer Laboratory sections. Students who enroll in these sections have the opportunity to learn word processing techniques and are required to spend approximately two extra hours per week in the laboratory, outside of class time, to complete their assignments on the computer. Prerequisite: ENG 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
ENG 245. Advanced Expository Writing
A non-specialized follow-up to the required composition courses. Nonfiction writing that explores the interaction of structure and content, purpose and audience. Use of prewriting techniques, self-editing, peer criticism. Prerequisite: ENG 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
ENG 250. Writing for Legal Studies
A course which expands on fundamental training in library research, critical reading for analysis, and basic argumentative writing.  The course will focus on writing for legal and administrative purposes in American public and private life. Prerequisite: ENG 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
ENG 255. Argumentative Writing
An advanced course in distinguishing and writing four kinds of argument: classification, causation, evaluation, and recommendation. Arguing for friendly, neutral, and hostile audiences. Explicit and implicit reasoning. Use of evidence, analogy, and accommodation. Prerequisite: ENG 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
ENG 335. Advanced Writing for Management, Business, and Public Administration
Continuation of English 235. Practice in advanced forms of management writing: evaluation, proposals, and fund-raising documents, policy papers, investigative reports, annual reports, technical reports, training manuals. Analysis of writing technique. Discussion of topics in advanced management communication, such as computer applications, whistle-blowing, liability and copyright issues, verbal concealment and self protection, writing for culturally diverse audiences, and influencing organizational writing practices. Prerequisite: ENG 102 & 235. 3 hours, 3 credits.
ENG 340. Desktop Publishing
Practice in the theories and techniques of desktop publishing; typography, page and document design, graphical elements, layout, and proofreading. Analysis of audience and organizational needs influencing design and production strategies. Work on advanced issues in editing for desktop publishing; discussion of design principles, ethics, and copyright concerns. Prerequisite: English 102. In addition: English 235 or permission of the section instructor. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LITERATURE
Prerequisite for all literature courses on the 200-level are English 101 and 102. Prerequisites for all literature courses on the 300-level are English 102 and Literature 231, Literature 232 or Literature 233 unless otherwise noted. Prerequisites may be waived only by permission of the Chairperson of the Department of English.
LIT. 212. Literature of the African World
Literature of the African World is a critical examination of exciting literary voices from Africa, the Caribbean and North America. Authors such as Wole Soyinka, Ngui wa Thiong’o, Buchi Emecheta, Derek Walcott, Leopold Senghor, Michelle Cliff, Louise Bennett, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, Reginald McKnight, and August Wilson, give the course its unique flavor. The readings in short fiction, prose, poetry, and drama--which explore thematic concerns such as tradition vs. modernity, colonialism, rites of passage, and oral narrative traditions--enable students to gain an indispensable diasporic perspective that will enlarge their view of themselves, their world and literature. Prerequisite: ENG 101 & 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 220. Sex Roles in Literature
Examination of the role of gender in works of literature from the classical period to the present. The differences between  heroes and heroines, passivity and aggression, creativity and destructiveness, as seen in literary stereotypes of sexuality. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 223. African-American Literature
A study of the writing of African-American from colonial times to the present, with special attention to influential African-American writers such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Toomer, Hughes, Wright, Brooks, Ellison, Baldwin, Baraka, and Malcolm X. Readings in novels, plays, autobiographies, short stories, poems, folktales, and essays will explore a wide range of African-American aesthetic responses to life in the United States. (Same course as African-American Studies Literature 223). Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 230. Classical Literature
Study of early or fundamental literature in a variety of cultures. Close readings and analysis of epics, dramas, and sacred texts, with an eye to literary form and style as well as content. Discussion of appropriate literary concerns, such as heroism, divinity, sacrifice, duty, and justice. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 231. Medieval and Early Modern Literature
Study of literature from 600 enough the 17th century. Close readings and analysis of sagas, romances, plays, and poetry, with an eye to literary form and style as well as content. Discussion of appropriate literary concerns, such as faith, courtly love, loyalty, power, and loss. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 232. Modern Literature
Study of literature from the 18th century to the present. Close readings and analysis of fiction, drama, and poetry, with an eye to literary form and style as well as content. Discussion of appropriate literary concerns, such as reason, freedom, idealism, materialism, and alienation. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 233. American Literature
Study of American literature from the beginnings to the present. Close readings and analysis of American fiction, and poetry, with an eye to literary form and style as well as content. Discussion of appropriate literary concerns, such as liberty, individualism, race, and success. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 269. Alcohol and Literature
Understanding the changing experience of alcohol dependency through the study of literary masterpieces. From religious ecstasy to pleasurable release to isolated self-destruction in Euripides’ Bacchea, Zola’s L’Assommior, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, Yeat’s Disturbing the Peace, Kennedy’s Ironweed, and other short stories and poems. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 290. Special Topics
A single-semester course dealing with an announced topic, theme, or author. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 313. Shakespeare
A study of representative plays typifying each period of Shakespeare’s development. Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 315. American Literature and the Law
The course will bring together American literary and legal texts in order to examine the ways in which the two can illuminate each other. It will focus on the works of American literature that take law as their central theme; works that include trials or are inspired by famous cases; works that have lawyers as protagonists; and works that address issues of law and justice. Students will also bring methods of literary analysis to bear on the study of important cases or legal decisions in order to understand the rhetoric of law, the understated assumptions contained in it, and the voices excluded from it. Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 327. Crime and Punishment in Literature
A study of works treating the theme of crime and related matters, such as motivation, guilt, and responsibility. Works are considered from the psychological, sociological, and philosophical points of view, as well as from the purely literary standpoint. Authors include Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Dostoevski, Poe, Melville. Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 340. The African-American Experience: Comparative Racial Perspectives
An examination of African-American life through the works of both African-American and white writers. The course will look at the inter-relationship and differences between African-American and white perspectives. Authors such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Melville, Wright, Baldwin, Mark Twain, Faulkner, Ellison, Welty, and Baraka will be read. (Same course as African-American Studies Literature 340.)Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 352. New Fiction
Writers today try to make sense out of the moral, culture, political, and social changes in the world since World War II. A study of novels and short stories written in the past several decades by major international authors such as Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, Mailer, and Borges. Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 360. Mythology in Literature
Examination of mythological themes like the creation of the world, the loves of gods with morals, the descent into the underworld, and the heroic quest as they appear in such writers as Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Yeats. Greek, Roman, Teutonic, Indian, and African myths are among those studied. Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 362. The Bible as Literature
A nondoctrinal introduction to the Bible. Selected books from the Old and New Testament approached as literary and historical documents. Structure, characters, themes, and archetypes. Modern translation to be used. Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 390. Individual Reading
Submission of a project of reading and research for approval by the instructor. A paper and periodic conferences are required. Special arrangements may be made to do this work over the summer. Prerequisites: English 102 and junior standing or above. 3 credits.
LIT 401. Special Topics
Specific study of a topic chosen by the instructor and students. Prerequisite: Any 300-level Literature curse. 3 hours, 3 credits.
Film Courses
LIT 275. The Language of Film
This course is an introduction to the “reading” of film, acquainting students with the language of film and providing them with the tools to understand the meaning of film. Through the screening of landmark works and films by major filmmakers, the “reader”/viewer gains and increased awareness of the ideological and aesthetic concerns of the cinema. The course provides students with the means to see film with a trained eye. Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
Special Topics in Film
These courses are a survey of significant films, major filmmakers, or a special topic in film, through an examination of the cinema as an art form shaping and reflecting the changing perception of its society.
LIT 283. New York City in Film
Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 284. Film and Society
Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 285. The Rebel in Film
Prerequisites: English 101 and 102. 3 hours, 3 credits.
Film Genres
Students will undertake an in-depth study of the evolution and aesthetics of a major film genre or comparison of two major film genres (such as the gangster film, film noir, the science fiction film, road movies) through an examination of conventions of motivation, character, action, locale, and iconography. The course will emphasize the genre’s film treatment of the fundamental cultural conflicts that exist in society.
LIT 323. The Crime Film
Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 324. Road Movies
Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 325. Science Fiction Film
Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
Filmmakers
Student will undertake an intensive study of the work and vision of major filmmakers or comparison of two filmmakers through an examination of theme, style, structure, and view of cinema. Special emphasis will be placed on the recurrent artistic concerns as well as the philosophic and political concerns that identify the work of an important cinematic author.
LIT 330. Alfred Hitchcock
Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 331. Steven Spielberg
Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.
LIT 332. Martin Scorcese and Spike Lee
Prerequisites: Literature 230 or 231 or 232 or 233. 3 hours, 3 credits.