Reading lists for some fall 2016 courses:

I know that some of you like to get a jump on the fall course readings over the summer, so below you will find the book orders for some of the fall courses (some profs haven’t finalized their reading lists yet, and so those courses aren’t listed here). The list will be updated over the summer as necessary. Some students prefer to wait and read the selections as assigned during the semester, and that’s fine too. Even those in the latter group, though, can benefit from seeing these readings ahead of time and perhaps doing a little preliminary research into the authors and scholarship related to them. All professors will be submitting their book orders to the Mercy bookstore throughout the summer, so that’s where the official reading list for each course can be found.

ENGL 500, Theory/Criticism:

• Leitch, Vincent B., et al, eds.  The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.  2^nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.  ISBN: 978-0393932928.

ENGL 510, Theory/Practice of Expository Writing:

• Miller, Susan. The Norton Book of Composition Studies. New York: W.W. Norton& Co., 2009. ISBN: 978-0-393-93135-8.
• Oates, Joyce Carol, ed. The Best American Essays of the Century. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. ISBN: 978-0-618-155587-3.
• Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2010 (Folger Library Shakespeare). ISBN: 978-0-7434-7712-3.
• Tyson, Lois. Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write About Literature, 2^nd ed. . London: Routledge, 2011. ISBN: 9-780415-6167171.

ENGL 521, Themes & Genres of Medieval Literature:

• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middles Ages. Volume A. 9th Edition. ISBN: 978-0393912494.

ENGL 524, Reason/Imagination:

• Blanning, Tim. The Romantic Revolution: A History. New York: Modern Library Chronicles, 2010. ISBN: 9780812980141.
• Clarke, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. New York: Mass Market Paperback, 2006. ISBN: 0765356155.
• Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: The True History of the Legendary Birds in the Tower of London. London: Overlook, 2012. ISBN: 9781590207772.
• Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Dover, 1994. ISBN: 0486282112.
• Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. 2 ed. New York: Penguin, 2012. ISBN: 0140137440.
  

ENGL 541, Search for Identity in American Lit:

• Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Shorter Eighth Edition. Norton, 2012. ISBN: 9780393918854. [Students do not have to read from this specific text and can procure the various semester readings from other anthologies or texts, if preferred; specific readings will be shared shortly before the semester begins in the syllabus, which will appear when the Blackboard section goes live in late August.]

The 2016 Graduate English Symposium

On Saturday, May 14th, a few MA students, alumni, family members, program faculty, and the Dean of the School of Liberal Arts gathered together at Mercy College for the 2016 Graduate English “Writing Image Text” symposium. The symposium took place in Maher Hall, the headquarters for the School of Liberal Arts on the college’s Dobbs Ferry campus. Below are a few photos from and information about the event.

The two panels of presenters: seated, l-r, Dr. Miriam Gogol, Kit Gower, and Carol Mitchell; standing, l-r, Gloria Buckley, Nicholas Cialini, and Dr. Christopher Loots.

The MA program director, Dr. Loots, opened the symposium with welcomes and remarks, and then led the first panel sharing his research on “Entropy/Negentropy in Cormac McCarthy’s Fiction.” Gloria Buckley followed with her paper on “Whitman’s Free Verse: A Lyrical Embrace Shaped by Oration, Opera, Nature or War?” Nicholas Cialini, a recent alumnus and also now adjunct faculty in English at Mercy College, concluded the first panel with his study of “Eliot, The Eagles, Dylan, The Beatles: Modernism and Rock n’ Roll.”

Following a lunch break, Dr. Gogol led the second panel with a discussion of her forthcoming book project, a collection of essays on Dreiser and his representations of women workers, for which she is the editor and a contributor (Dr. Gogol is the founder of the International Theodore Dreiser Society and a leading scholar in the field). Kit Gower followed with her study of “The Philosopher’s Dog: How Animal Characters in Children’s Literature Act as Guides for Transformation.” Carol Mitchell concluded the day’s research presentations with her paper on “Henry James’ What Maisie Knew and D.H. Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’:The Financial Morality Behind a (Literary) Childhood.”

Below, Dean Jhashi (left) watches the second panel of presenters along with Dr. Dugan and Gloria.

Below, Kit and Carol prepare for their panel to begin. Presenting CAN be fun!

All in all, it was an afternoon filled with collegiality, ideas, good conversation and laughter. All of us here in the MA program and the greater School of Liberal Arts would like to thank all of our panelists and their guests for traveling to come together for this event. We look forward to seeing some and hopefully all of you again, as well as seeing some new faces, at next year’s 2017 symposium.

Modernism course now active on the summer schedule.

Due to student demand/need, we’ve just opened a fourth summer course: ENGL 526 Modernism. This course will be taught by Dr. Boria Sax. The course will meet a Literature Group 1 field requirement or an elective.