Graduate Courses

We offer between 8 and 11 graduate courses each semester. We have two types of courses: Readings courses and Topics courses. Topics courses are offered on a 3-semester rotation, and cover the major literary areas of English study. The majority of our courses each semester will be Topics courses, which are more focused or specialized courses designed by faculty members, often in their area of current research. Topics courses can be repeated three times for credit, as the content of these courses changes each semester.

For a full listing of graduate-level English courses and brief descriptions, visit the university’s graduate catalog.

Fall Courses 2025

ENGL 601: DHUM (Digital Humanities)

DHUM (Digital Humanities) 601

Katayoun Torabi

MW 4:10 - 5:25 PM, LAAH 503

Digital Humanities (DH) is a field with considerable breadth of research methodologies and platforms. This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the methods and technologies used in the field of Digital Humanities, focusing especially on the history of digital approaches to the humanities and the use of digital technologies for humanities research, publishing, teaching, and communication. The first part of the course is dedicated to introducing students to DH tools, platforms, and methods--digitizing and encoding texts, data mining, computational analysis, network analysis, mapping, and visualization--by completing guided digital assignments. The second part of the course will focus on guiding students as they develop a final project proposal or paper centered around a topic of their choosing. This segment will emphasize refining the student's area of interest, formulating research questions, and constructing a well-organized proposal or paper. There is no disciplinary prerequisite, no extensive technical skills are required for the course, and no one disciplinary approach will be favored. DHUM 601 is cross listed with English 433, History 433, and DHUM 433. DHUM 601 is a graduate-level course on the list of approved classes for the Digital Humanities Certificate.

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DHUM (Digital Humanities) 601

Katayoun Torabi

MW 4:10 - 5:25 PM, LAAH 503

Digital Humanities (DH) is a field with considerable breadth of research methodologies and platforms. This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the methods and technologies used in the field of Digital Humanities, focusing especially on the history of digital approaches to the humanities and the use of digital technologies for humanities research, publishing, teaching, and communication. The first part of the course is dedicated to introducing students to DH tools, platforms, and methods--digitizing and encoding texts, data mining, computational analysis, network analysis, mapping, and visualization--by completing guided digital assignments. The second part of the course will focus on guiding students as they develop a final project proposal or paper centered around a topic of their choosing. This segment will emphasize refining the student's area of interest, formulating research questions, and constructing a well-organized proposal or paper. There is no disciplinary prerequisite, no extensive technical skills are required for the course, and no one disciplinary approach will be favored. DHUM 601 is cross listed with English 433, History 433, and DHUM 433. DHUM 601 is a graduate-level course on the list of approved classes for the Digital Humanities Certificate.

ENGL 602: First Year Seminar

Marian Eide

MW 11:10 -12:25 PM, LAAH 504

This course is designed as an immersion in the academic practices of English studies, its theory and methodology, the motivations and responsibilities of English teacher-scholars, and the practices of humanities research. The primary goal of this semester is to conceptualize research and writing in the field and to formulate approaches to developing original scholarship. In other words, what do we do in English and why and how do we do it? Primarily designed to guide students in their work as scholars and researchers, the course will also have a practicum component that familiarizes students with the expectations, requirements, and goals of this particular doctoral program.

The readings might be described as meta-critical; these texts consider the kind of knowledge English seeks to create and the methods for attaining such knowledge. The readings also present a number of different approaches to the field. The expectation is not that you will embrace each approach, but that you will understand its motivations and be capable of pursuing its practices in the pursuit of intellectual training. Class meetings will be devoted both to discussion of the readings and their implications and also to workshops in academic and professional expectations, genres, and writing practices.

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ENGL 602: First Year Seminar

Marian Eide

MW 11:10 -12:25 PM, LAAH 504

This course is designed as an immersion in the academic practices of English studies, its theory and methodology, the motivations and responsibilities of English teacher-scholars, and the practices of humanities research. The primary goal of this semester is to conceptualize research and writing in the field and to formulate approaches to developing original scholarship. In other words, what do we do in English and why and how do we do it? Primarily designed to guide students in their work as scholars and researchers, the course will also have a practicum component that familiarizes students with the expectations, requirements, and goals of this particular doctoral program.

The readings might be described as meta-critical; these texts consider the kind of knowledge English seeks to create and the methods for attaining such knowledge. The readings also present a number of different approaches to the field. The expectation is not that you will embrace each approach, but that you will understand its motivations and be capable of pursuing its practices in the pursuit of intellectual training. Class meetings will be devoted both to discussion of the readings and their implications and also to workshops in academic and professional expectations, genres, and writing practices.

ENGL: 607 Topics in Medieval Literature and Culture: Early English Drama

English 607, Topics in Medieval Literature and Culture: Early English Drama

Britt Mize

T 12:45 - 3:45, LAAH 463

Major topics this course will address include the nature and extent of the evidence pertaining to medieval English drama; the vexed relationship between that textual evidence and actual performance; auspices and staging; audience participation and reception; medieval plays as an instrument of social critique; and vernacular drama as a site of negotiation between sacred and profane language, transgression and discipline, religious and civic institutions, and theological and worldly concerns. Once studied almost solely in the service of a teleological narrative leading inexorably to Shakespeare, Middle English plays are now appreciated both for their aesthetic interest—some are masterpieces of dramatic construction—and for the kinds of analysis they are uniquely positioned to invite concerning late medieval civic, religious, and popular culture.

The course will be organized into two units. The first half of the semester will be dedicated to surveying the range and types of dramatic materials that exist from the Middle English period. In the second half of the semester, the class will study the entirety of the N-Town “cycle” of plays, a set of 42 playtexts organized and performed in the 15th century, on which I have been doing intensive manuscript work over the past several years.

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English 607, Topics in Medieval Literature and Culture: Early English Drama

Britt Mize

T 12:45 - 3:45, LAAH 463

Major topics this course will address include the nature and extent of the evidence pertaining to medieval English drama; the vexed relationship between that textual evidence and actual performance; auspices and staging; audience participation and reception; medieval plays as an instrument of social critique; and vernacular drama as a site of negotiation between sacred and profane language, transgression and discipline, religious and civic institutions, and theological and worldly concerns. Once studied almost solely in the service of a teleological narrative leading inexorably to Shakespeare, Middle English plays are now appreciated both for their aesthetic interest—some are masterpieces of dramatic construction—and for the kinds of analysis they are uniquely positioned to invite concerning late medieval civic, religious, and popular culture.

The course will be organized into two units. The first half of the semester will be dedicated to surveying the range and types of dramatic materials that exist from the Middle English period. In the second half of the semester, the class will study the entirety of the N-Town “cycle” of plays, a set of 42 playtexts organized and performed in the 15th century, on which I have been doing intensive manuscript work over the past several years.

ENGL 613: Readings in Early Modern Literature

ENGL 613 Readings in Early Modern Literature

Robert Stagg

TR 11:10 - 12:25, LAAH 535

This course will introduce you to English literature (and literature in English) of the early modern period, at an advanced level. We will read widely, from canonical figures like Shakespeare and Marlowe and Sidney through to less well-known authors of the period such as Richard Barnfield and Elizabeth Cary. We'll consider some of the historical, theological and art-historical developments in the period alongside its literature and will pay attention to some of the latest developments in literary criticism by today's early modernists.

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ENGL 634: 19th-century British Literature

19th-century British Literature/ENGL 634/Fall 2025

Nandini Bhattacharya

M 1-4 LAAH 504

This course examines major literary movements and figures in 19th-century British literature. We will explore key themes such as nature and the sublime, industrialization and social change, gender and class dynamics, imperialism, and the aesthetic movement. Readings will include poetry, novels, essays, and critical texts that engage with the literary and cultural shifts of the period.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Analyze major texts of the 19th century in their historical and cultural contexts.
Evaluate key literary movements and their defining characteristics.
Develop critical arguments using close reading and theoretical frameworks.
Engage in scholarly discussions and present original research on 19th-century British literature.

Readings many include but are not limited to:

William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (1798, 1802)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
John Keats, Selected Poems
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Selected Poems
Jane Austen, Persuasion (1817)
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Selected Poems
The Brownings, Selected Poems
Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy (Selections)
George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871-72)
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Selections)

This course fulfills the requirement of One course in any literature, 1800-the present.

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19th-century British Literature/ENGL 634/Fall 2025

Nandini Bhattacharya

M 1-4 LAAH 504

This course examines major literary movements and figures in 19th-century British literature. We will explore key themes such as nature and the sublime, industrialization and social change, gender and class dynamics, imperialism, and the aesthetic movement. Readings will include poetry, novels, essays, and critical texts that engage with the literary and cultural shifts of the period.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Analyze major texts of the 19th century in their historical and cultural contexts.
- Evaluate key literary movements and their defining characteristics.
- Develop critical arguments using close reading and theoretical frameworks.
- Engage in scholarly discussions and present original research on 19th-century British literature.
Readings many include but are not limited to:
- William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (1798, 1802)
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
- John Keats, Selected Poems
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, Selected Poems
- Jane Austen, Persuasion (1817)
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
- Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Selected Poems
- The Brownings, Selected Poems
- Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy (Selections)
- George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871-72)
- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Selections)
This course fulfills the requirement of One course in any literature, 1800-the present.

ENGL 642: Fictions of Discovery; Race, Indigeneity, and the Colonial Imaginary in Science Fiction Pre-1800 Concept/Issue/Theme

ENGL 642 - Fictions of Discovery; Race, Indigeneity, and the Colonial Imaginary in Science Fiction

Pre-1800 Concept/Issue/Theme

Raymond Leonard

R 6 - 9 PM LAAH 535

This course puts 20th century and contemporary Science Fiction in conversation with foundational contact narratives and other genres of New World discovery. The central question the course asks is: to what extent is Science Fiction – with its emphasis on new worlds, alien people, and exploration – an essentially colonial genre? This comparative approach involves "painting” texts together; for instance, reading Captain Smith’s colonial romance The Generall Historie of Virginia (1624) alongside pulp sci-fi magazines from the Cushing archive. We will also read science fiction by Black and Indigenous authors to explore the ways that they subvert many of the fundamental tenets of sci-fi and envision ways that the genre might challenge the colonial and racial imaginary it has traditionally upheld.

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ENGL 654: Ancient Rhetoric: The Pursuit of Eloquence and Wisdom

Curry Kennedy

Friday, 1-4 PM

LAAH 504

This course explores the major texts and interpretations of Greek and Roman rhetoric from about the 8th Century BCE to about the 5th Century CE, with close attention to Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Augustine of Hippo. Two special focuses will mark this course.

First, we will approach rhetoric not as a body of theory but as a way of life, that is, as a life-project that begins with a commitment to speak well and wisely and proceeds by participation in formative practices. Theories play a role in such a project, of course, but as habits of thinking rather than static representations. We will spend time each class period practicing the methods described in our readings and pondering their uses for today.

Second, heeding the constant connection between eloquence and wisdom in these writers, we will closely explore rhetoric’s relation to ethics. Each rhetorical text will be paired with an ethical text. For example, we will read Aristotle’s Rhetoric alongside his Nicomachean Ethics.

This course fulfills the distribution requirements for literature pre-1800 and theory (rhetoric).

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ENGL 654: Ancient Rhetoric: The Pursuit of Eloquence and Wisdom

Curry Kennedy

Friday, 1-4 PM

LAAH 504

This course explores the major texts and interpretations of Greek and Roman rhetoric from about the 8th Century BCE to about the 5th Century CE, with close attention to Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Augustine of Hippo. Two special focuses will mark this course.

First, we will approach rhetoric not as a body of theory but as a way of life, that is, as a life-project that begins with a commitment to speak well and wisely and proceeds by participation in formative practices. Theories play a role in such a project, of course, but as habits of thinking rather than static representations. We will spend time each class period practicing the methods described in our readings and pondering their uses for today.

Second, heeding the constant connection between eloquence and wisdom in these writers, we will closely explore rhetoric’s relation to ethics. Each rhetorical text will be paired with an ethical text. For example, we will read Aristotle’s Rhetoric alongside his Nicomachean Ethics.

This course fulfills the distribution requirements for literature pre-1800 and theory (rhetoric).

ENGL 667: Topics in the History and Theory of Rhetoric: The Rhetoric of Sustainability

667: Topics in the History and Theory of Rhetoric: The Rhetoric of Sustainability

Josh Dicaglio

Wednesday 1-4 PM LAAH 504

This course will examine the articulation and appeals of various manifestations of “sustainability.” It will be organized around the tensions in the idea of sustainability itself, in relation to environmental, economic, political, scientific, and technological discourses. Environmental crisis signals some limit point for whether or not certain ideas and assumptions of modernity, capital, development, and technology can be sustained and what those alternatives or transformations in these systems might be. While this course will focus primarily on contemporary aspects of this tension as seen in various non-literary texts, it will also be designed to be accessible for any student interested in environment, economics, technology, or the problems of modernity. The course will be organized around key organizing discourses related to Sustainability and its critiques: the Anthropocene, Degrowth, Climate Change, Energy Transition, Critical Minerals, Extractivism, Planetarily, Environmental Justice, Accountability Metrics, Environmental Economics, Environmental regulation and management, Recycling and circularity, Ecology as mode of thought, etc. Each of these discourses, while themselves extensive conversations, provides one way of framing the mounting limits of modernity in relation to our collective effect on the planet and our attempt to adjust in response. For each discourse we will select a few representative primary texts as well as secondary analyses of or within this discourse. The task will be to analyze each as a rhetorical framework that sets us in relation to the planet, technology, humans, and non-humans in particular ways.

This course fulfills the distribution requirements for the theory (rhetoric) and topics courses.

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667: Topics in the History and Theory of Rhetoric: The Rhetoric of Sustainability

Josh Dicaglio

Wednesday 1-4 PM LAAH 504

This course will examine the articulation and appeals of various manifestations of “sustainability.” It will be organized around the tensions in the idea of sustainability itself, in relation to environmental, economic, political, scientific, and technological discourses. Environmental crisis signals some limit point for whether or not certain ideas and assumptions of modernity, capital, development, and technology can be sustained and what those alternatives or transformations in these systems might be. While this course will focus primarily on contemporary aspects of this tension as seen in various non-literary texts, it will also be designed to be accessible for any student interested in environment, economics, technology, or the problems of modernity. The course will be organized around key organizing discourses related to Sustainability and its critiques: the Anthropocene, Degrowth, Climate Change, Energy Transition, Critical Minerals, Extractivism, Planetarily, Environmental Justice, Accountability Metrics, Environmental Economics, Environmental regulation and management, Recycling and circularity, Ecology as mode of thought, etc. Each of these discourses, while themselves extensive conversations, provides one way of framing the mounting limits of modernity in relation to our collective effect on the planet and our attempt to adjust in response. For each discourse we will select a few representative primary texts as well as secondary analyses of or within this discourse. The task will be to analyze each as a rhetorical framework that sets us in relation to the planet, technology, humans, and non-humans in particular ways.

This course fulfills the distribution requirements for the theory (rhetoric) and topics courses.

ENGL 669: Topics in African American Literature

Portia Owusu

T 6 - 9 PM LAAH 535

This course offers an in-depth examination of seminal works by women from Africa and the African diaspora. We will begin with slave narratives by women such as Harriet Jacobs and progress to contemporary voices like Jamaica Kincaid and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Focusing on the intersection of race, gender, and identity, we will then explore how Black women’s writing challenges societal norms and provides new insights into their lived experiences. Alongside literary texts, course will also include critical discussions of cultural and literary theories, particularly the works of influential thinkers such as Angela Davis, bell hooks, and Patricia Hill Collins. Students will analyze these texts through political, artistic, and ideological lenses, engaging deeply with the social, cultural, and political experiences of Black women, both historically and in the present.

The class will be taught in a seminar format, with active student participation through discussions and presentations. Though not exhaustive, the course will include works by authors such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Toni Morrison, Nella Larsen, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Jamaica Kincaid.

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ENGL 669: Topics in African American Literature

Portia Owusu

T 6 - 9 PM LAAH 535

This course offers an in-depth examination of seminal works by women from Africa and the African diaspora. We will begin with slave narratives by women such as Harriet Jacobs and progress to contemporary voices like Jamaica Kincaid and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Focusing on the intersection of race, gender, and identity, we will then explore how Black women’s writing challenges societal norms and provides new insights into their lived experiences. Alongside literary texts, course will also include critical discussions of cultural and literary theories, particularly the works of influential thinkers such as Angela Davis, bell hooks, and Patricia Hill Collins. Students will analyze these texts through political, artistic, and ideological lenses, engaging deeply with the social, cultural, and political experiences of Black women, both historically and in the present.

The class will be taught in a seminar format, with active student participation through discussions and presentations. Though not exhaustive, the course will include works by authors such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Toni Morrison, Nella Larsen, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Jamaica Kincaid.

ENGL 681: Seminar in English: Placement Seminar

ENGL 681.600: Seminar in English: Placement Seminar

Wednesdays 2-3pm

LAAH 326

Ira Dworkin

idworkin@tamu.edu

This one-hour course will provide orientation to students who plan to begin seeking employment in fall 2026 or fall 2027 (i.e. Ph.D. students entering their fourth or fifth year in the program). Students will become familiar with the kinds of documents typically required for academic and other professional job searches and will begin producing drafts of those documents in a workshop environment. This is a pass/fail course.

Please note that this course is offered in alternating years and is not scheduled to be offered again until fall 2027.

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ENGL 697: Pedagogy

English 697: Pedagogy

Writing Class

Jason Crider

R 12:45 - 3:45 PM, LAAH 463

This course is designed to help graduate students develop their teaching philosophy and practice. Class readings and discussions will focus on introducing students to a wide range of pedagogical theories and approaches, with an auxiliary emphasis on the teaching of writing and teaching via writing. Writing remains the dominant mode of assessment in English studies, and this course will study the shifting environments (social, cultural, technological) from which writing takes place.

While this class will draw from composition studies at times, it is not a composition class, but rather a seminar for all English graduate students to study, discuss, theorize, and practice the teaching of writing. Rather than a traditional seminar paper, students will develop smaller projects and presentations throughout the semester related to teaching. These include a sample syllabus, teaching technology presentation, and sample assignments, among others. No prior teaching experience required.

From the Graduate Student Handbook: ENGL 697: Pedagogy is offered each fall. This course is not a degree requirement but must be taken in order to hold a teaching assistantship if the student has not already had a comparable course at the MA level. It is taken prior to or concurrently with the first semester of teaching.

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English 697: Pedagogy

Writing Class

Jason Crider

R 12:45 - 3:45 PM, LAAH 463

This course is designed to help graduate students develop their teaching philosophy and practice. Class readings and discussions will focus on introducing students to a wide range of pedagogical theories and approaches, with an auxiliary emphasis on the teaching of writing and teaching via writing. Writing remains the dominant mode of assessment in English studies, and this course will study the shifting environments (social, cultural, technological) from which writing takes place.

While this class will draw from composition studies at times, it is not a composition class, but rather a seminar for all English graduate students to study, discuss, theorize, and practice the teaching of writing. Rather than a traditional seminar paper, students will develop smaller projects and presentations throughout the semester related to teaching. These include a sample syllabus, teaching technology presentation, and sample assignments, among others. No prior teaching experience required.

From the Graduate Student Handbook: ENGL 697: Pedagogy is offered each fall. This course is not a degree requirement but must be taken in order to hold a teaching assistantship if the student has not already had a comparable course at the MA level. It is taken prior to or concurrently with the first semester of teaching.