English Department

This course introduces students to the critical tools and methods of literary study, including close reading and argumentative writing. Students will learn about the history of genres (e.g. poetry, drama, and the novel) and forms of literature (e.g. tragedy, realism). Texts may include the earliest writing in English to more recent works in various media. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 100, ENGL 110 or ENGL 111 and 112. Restricted to students in the Humanities Colloquium. Six credits.

This course provides students with the key skills needed to succeed at university. You will learn how to write argumentatively; how to build a question or problem from a close-reading of a literary work; how to develop that argument by presenting and analyzing evidence; how to engage in scholarly debate; how to do university-level research. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 111, 100 or 110. Three credits.

What does it mean to put bodies into narrative? How does literature figure the body and how have literary forms and figures been taken up in other fields concerned with bodies? To answer these questions, the course will draw both on literature and other fields (medicine, psychology, the use of science to support racialized or racist discourse) that have scripted bodies in a variety of ways. Topics will vary from year to year. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111, 112 or equivalent. Three credits.

This course builds on the skills acquired in first year English. We will broaden our understanding of what literature is and how it works. We will develop our abilities to see how different approaches to texts allow us to understand their formal, gendered, historical, political, psychological, racial and sociological impacts. We will expand our practical skills by: enlarging our critical vocabularies; sharpening our argumentative writing abilities; and increasing our proficiency with sources and databases. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

Horror is closely connected to science fiction and fantasy. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the founding text of science fiction, but its central monster belongs generically to horror. In this course, we will discuss horror’s evolution, the reasons some people love scary stories while others avoid them, and how horror functions as a genre. The course will contain texts that some students may find disturbing, including violence. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

Students will write stories and/or poetry, in a weekly workshop setting, whose audience is children and young adults, using best-selling books in these categories as models for their work. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

This course will consider the rich literature of the Atlantic region with particular focus on the many and diverse voices (including African Nova Scotian, Mi’kmaw, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, and Acadian in translation) emerging in the post-Centennial era of Atlantic Canada. Various genres including poetry, novels and short story along with art and film will be encountered. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

Using the landmark publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a starting point, this course provides a critical survey of children’s literature in Britain, America, and Canada. Students will examine different types of media that may include novels, picture books, graphic novels, comics, and digital content. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 233 or ENGL 234. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

Children’s film and television are highly lucrative and competitive fields. This course will survey landmarks in children’s media across the world, looking at questions of adaptation, suitability, merchandising-driven story, and franchising. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

A prominent literary critic claimed recently that America is defined by its commitments to cultural democracy, political rights, community responsibility, social justice, an equality of opportunity, and individual freedom. In this survey, we are going to examine how the literature of America written during this period of national reconciliation grapples with turning these ideals into reality. Three credits.

Students are introduced to the techniques of writing creatively in the genres of poetry, short stories, drama, etc. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

What defines individualism? How does one become self-reliant? Is selfishness inherently wrong? What do I owe society and what can it demand of me? How are group attachments – national, racial, gendered – formed and maintained? These are questions that novelists, poets, and essayists take up with intensity. This course examines why everyone – from Joe Biden to Donald Trump to philosophers to political pundits – turn to literary works for answers to how best to organize ourselves. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

This course introduces students to theatre and performance studies. Through critical reading, written reflections, and practice-based workshops, students will learn how to analyze and apply performance. Students will study theatre, performance studies, and media as an academic discipline and as cultural practice. Students will also examine how performance impacts social justice, politics, social media, and the world around us. This course includes attendance at a Theatre Antigonish production (on campus with flexible dates/times). Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

This course is a companion to ENGL 215. We will examine how literary forms and genres develop and change over time and in relation to specific historical events and conditions. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.

This course introduces students to current directions and interests in literary and cultural criticism, including eco-criticism, theories of film and visual culture, gender and sexuality, psychology, and digital culture. Besides reading relevant theoretical texts, we’ll examine works of contemporary television and film, literary texts, and contemporary music. Credit will be granted for only one of ENGL 314 or ENGL 445. Prerequisite: 9 credits of ENGL; ENGL 215 recommended. Three credits.

Students will be expected to choose one genre through which they will continue to explore and develop the basic elements of creative writing in ENGL 231. Prerequisite: ENGL 100, 111 or equivalent; three credits creative writing (ENGL 267 or equivalent). Three credits.

How do the struggles feminists engage in inform literary works? An introduction to diverse feminist debates within their historical, cultural and political contexts, this course explores the relationships between particular feminisms and the literary texts that exemplify or extend them. Cross-listed as WMGS 329. Prerequisite: 9 credits ENGL. Three credits.

This course will survey the western, from its contemporary origins in newspapers and dime novels through to the revisionist texts of the 60s-80s, and then to current generic mash-ups (the horror western, the curry western). Texts could include novels (Wister’s The Virginian), radio and TV (The Lone Ranger), film (The Searchers, Pale Rider), and graphic novels (Preacher). Prerequisite: 9 credits ENGL. Three credits.

This course examines the very recent interest in happiness studies. We’ll think about what happiness entails and the difficulties involved in its achievement. Topics discussed will include: sex, money, occupation, marriage, music, family, the quotidian and authenticity. Prerequisite: 9 credits ENGL. Three credits.

The topic for 2026-2027 is Machiavelli and English Drama. See ENGL 491 for course information. Prerequisites: Third year standing and 15 credits ENGL. Three credits.

The topic for 2026-2027 is Tales of Interspecies Migration. See ENGL 492 for course information. Prerequisites: Third year standing and 15 credits ENGL. Three credits.

The topic for 2026-2027 is Digital Methods for Ancient Manuscripts. A practical course on digital methods for processing historical documents. Skills covered include cataloguing, transcription, textual criticism, linguistic markup, translation, annotation, and presentation. Cross-listed as RELS 398. Three credits. Notes: Normally students enrolling in an honours seminar will have third-year standing and have taken a minimum of 15 credits in English. Priority will be given to honours and advanced major students in English.

Honours students write a thesis under the supervision of a faculty thesis director. Students must meet the thesis director in March of the junior year to prepare a topic. Honours students must register for the thesis as a six-credit course in their senior year. The thesis must be submitted no later than March 31 of the senior year. See chapter 4. Six credits.

Explores the techniques of writing prose narrative, poetry, and drama to help students develop their powers of creative expression. Techniques include regular exercises, set assignments, free submissions, parodies, and imitations. Occasional guest writers. Prerequisite: ENGL 100, 110 or equivalent; six credits creative writing (ENGL 267 and 322 or equivalents). Three credits.

The topic for 2026-2027 is Machiavelli and English Drama This is a course in the history of ideas. We will study Niccolò Machiavelli’s influence on English Drama, especially on Shakespeare and Marlowe. Our approach centres on two key words: adopt and adapt. Specifically, how did the English dramatists adapt Machiavelli’s ideas which they had adopted? Prerequisites: Third year standing and 15 credits ENGL. Three credits.

The topic for 2026-2027 is Tales of Interspecies Migration. What might it mean to narrate human and non-human migration together in a way that insists both on the parallels and the interspecies relationships that are involved? How might such narratives propose kinships across the boundaries of kind at a juncture when, as Donna Haraway puts it, “the earth is full of refugees, human and not, without refuge”? We will focus on a selection of contemporary global novels. Prerequisites: Third year standing and 15 credits ENGL. Three credits.

Advanced major students write a thesis as part of the senior seminar. See chapter 4. No credit.