MA in English Literature: Graduate Course Descriptions

Course Offerings

Wichita State University, English Department

2025 Graduate-level Classes

Spring Courses: Online

Engl 536: Writing by Women

Chinyere Okafor

CRN 24659

Cross-listed as WOMS 536 and WOMS 381C. Explores various themes in critical approaches to literature composed by women writers, especially those whose works have been underrepresented in the literary canon. Genres and time periods covered, critical theories explored, and specific authors studied vary in different semesters. Course includes diversity content. Counts as an elective.

Engl 577: Digital Textual Editing

Fran Connor

CRN 26378

Online seats are limited; there’s an in-person class as well.

First, what this class is not: we're not learning line editing, proofreading, or how to tell an author what 10000 words need to be excised from their manuscript.

This course is an introduction to scholarly textual editing, the foundational practice of literary scholarship. It concerns how texts are created, from an author's mind to a written page to a printed book, all with a particular attention to how texts are reshaped, deformed, re-imagined along the way. Textual editors use this knowledge to create critical editions, which are printed or digital projects in which the editor makes an argument about what a text should be (e.g., demonstrating the author’s intended text, a publisher’s intended text, a text as represented in a particular document, and so on.) Whenever you've read a Norton Anthology, a Penguin Classic, the Oxford Complete Works of [your favorite author], or other such things, you've engaged with the work of a textual editor. In recent years textual editing has moved from a book-ish practice to an electronic one, with many recent scholarly editions being Born Digital.

In this class you will take the first steps to become a scholarly textual editor. We'll grapple with the core issues of textual theory, which we will apply through workshops and coursework as we gradually initiate a short edition of our own design. We'll think about the nature of ERROR, theories of print and manuscript transmission, constructing commentaries and annotations, deciding when spelling and punctuation do and don't matter, deciding when authors do and don't matter, and other such things. To familiarize ourselves with the basic tools of Digital Humanities we'll be gently introduced to XML-TEI, and think about how we can use digital large language corpora in our work.

In short, this course is an opportunity to approach literature with closer attention to its subtleties and complexities than you ever have before, and to develop a better understanding of how meaning is made. Counts as an elective.

Engl 680: Theories and Practice in Composition

Melinda DeFrain

CRN 21959

This course will introduce you to theories of rhetoric and writing, major research questions in the field of composition studies, and best practices for teaching writing in schools and colleges. This course is designed especially for prospective and practicing teachers. Counts as an elective.

Engl 703: Seminar in American Literature I – Early American Methodologies

Rebeccah Bechtold

CRN 26347

In Unsettled States: Nineteenth-Century American Literary Studies, Dana Luciano and Ivy Wilson observe a “renewed vitality” in early American literary studies which they attribute to the increasing prevalence of “minoritarian” modes of inquiry (critical race and ethnic studies, feminist and gender studies, labor studies, disability studies, to name a few). The field’s embrace of varied methodologies certainly has encouraged a “kind of thinking that takes place across, between, and together.” Indeed scholars of early American literature are always “on the move,” looking for ways other disciplines and methodologies can benefit our field of study.

This seminar approaches the study of early American literature through this multidisciplinary framework. Over the course of the semester, the class will “roam the field,” working with several different methodological trends in American scholarship. These critical traditions will become the foundation for our weekly discussions of major nineteenth century American authors—from the sentimental Maria S. Cummins to the salacious George Lippard. Counts as a pre-1900 American literature class or an elective.

Engl 722: Renaissance Literature

Michael Behrens

CRN 24203

The theme of this course is early modern drama. We will examine English drama from the late sixteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth century. Although we will read some Shakespeare, we will also focus on his contemporaries. Authors will include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, and John Ford. We will read these plays alongside a selection of recent literary scholarship on early modern English drama and culture. Counts as a pre-1900 British literature class or an elective.

Engl 733: Contemporary Literature

TJ Boynton

CRN 24037

“Anglophone” literature designates, most simply, literature written in English. Much of the world’s English-language literature, however, is the specific offspring of the entity that brought once ruled roughly three-quarters of the globe: the British Empire. The legacies of empire provided the primary inspiration for much of the literature authored by peoples from Africa to Asia and the Caribbean throughout the mid- to late-twentieth century, as they sought to assert both political and cultural independence from their former rulers. In more recent years, the primary preoccupation of these literatures has shifted somewhat in reflection of the eclipse of imperial influences by a new entity: a globalized capitalism centered in the United States. Not only in terms of simple economic and market forces, but also in terms popular culture, Anglophone societies and their literatures have become increasingly shaped by this ascendancy. This course will focus on this shaping, tracing the profound impact of global capitalism across the Anglophone world through a series of works by major authors hailing from such places as South(ern) Africa, India, and Jamaica. We will attempt to draw connections between these authors and territories—their cultures, their political ideals, their literary styles and forms—and to form in the process a picture of the current state of the Anglophone world and its literatures. Counts as a post-1900 (contemporary) British literature class or an elective.

Spring Courses: In-Person

ENGL 527: Victorian Literature--The Victorian Gothic

Mary Waters

CRN 26372

Mondays 4:30

This class will explore the repurposing of this popular nineteenth-century British literary form during what some call the “second wave” of Gothic literature. In doing so, we will look at how popular fiction constructed British Victorian identity and helped shape social consciousness. Since the course emphasizes novels, students will do a substantial amount of reading in that genre as well as short stories. They will also improve their ability to evaluate and draw upon secondary sources by reading some assigned secondary material and conducting research to draw on additional primary and/or secondary texts in support of carefully constructed and persuasive arguments about literature. As a result, students will improve analytical and writing skills, develop their research skills, and increase familiarity with library resources.

Currently planned reading will include Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell, Silas Marner and The Lifted Veil by George Eliot, and additional readings as assigned. Counts as a pre-1900 British literature class or an elective.

Engl 546: Studies in Ethnic Literature

Jean Griffith

CRN 24686

Wednesdays 4:30

In The Truth about Stories, Thomas King writes: “stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous.” This course in Native American storytelling will use King’s work as a lens through which to explore texts by writers such as M. Scott Momaday, Louis Erdrich, and Sherman Alexie as well as some of the vast oral literature that continues to inform Native American writing. In doing so, we will take up such questions as: why do we tell stories, and how are the stories we tell informed by who we are? What opportunities do written stories—an art form foreign to traditional tribal cultures—hold for Native Americans? How can a “foreign” form of expression articulate Indian sovereignty and self-preservation? How can stories be “dangerous?” Our exploration of such questions will consider the relationships between written and spoken texts, between history and literature, and between tradition and change. Counts as an elective; can be considered a substitute for post-1900 American in special circumstances.

Engl 577: Digital Textual Editing

Fran Connor

CRN 26376

Thursdays 4:30

First, what this class is not: we're not learning line editing, proofreading, or how to tell an author what 10000 words need to be excised from their manuscript.

Engl 582: Studies in Composition

Kerry Jones

CRN 26343

MW 12:30-1:45

This course explores the theoretical foundations and practical applications of writing center work. Students will engage with key concepts in writing pedagogy, collaborative learning, and peer tutoring. Through readings, discussions, and hands-on experience, students will examine the role of writing centers in promoting academic success, fostering critical thinking, and supporting diverse learners. The course provides opportunities to develop tutoring strategies, enhance communication skills, and understand the ethical considerations involved in writing support. Ideal for those interested in writing center careers or enhancing their own tutoring practices! Counts as an elective.

Engl 663: Languages and Language Attitudes in the USA

Mythili Menon

CRN 24655

Tuesdays 2:00-4:30

In this community-based research seminar, we will examine the social, economic, and educational ramifications of various languages and attitudes to these languages in the USA. Some topics we will cover include, the linguistic intersection of race, gender, and social class; comparisons of standardized and Standard English to other dialects such as African American Vernacular English and Spanglish; native American languages, immigrant and refugee languages, and the role of linguistics in the formation of language policy. We will take a hands-on approach and students will be involved in research design and data analysis. Counts as an elective; can be used to fulfill language requirement.

Engl 712: Seminar in Fiction

Katie Lanning

CRN TBD

What is it about the phrase “to be continued” that makes us want to read (or watch or listen) to more? Why do cliffhangers pack such a punch? In this course, we’ll explore the appeal of narrative seriality through a focused study of a particular year in literary history: 1861. We'll study serial literature produced in this year, and what's more, we'll read it serially in installments over the course of the semester to experience the form as it was intended. Because serial fiction has often been brushed aside by scholars as “low brow” and “unserious,” our course will face this critique head-on and study the enduring value of popular literature. In doing so, we’ll study just what makes the serial form so engaging for so many audiences. Counts as an elective.