Registration is now open for fall (and summer) 2025. I mention fall first only because the majority of our students don’t take summer courses. If anyone has questions about the courses below or your overall progress toward the degree, please contact cloots@mercy.edu

SUMMER 2025

• ENGL 506 – History of Poetic Forms (Dr. Kilpatrick)

The course will study the major forms and conventions of poetry that have developed from classical models to the present. Wherever possible, particular poems from different historical contexts will be compared and analyzed to demonstrate how these forms and conventions have developed and been adapted to specific personal, ideological, or cultural pressures and contexts. Fulfills the Writing & Literary Forms requirement or an elective, but can work as a Lit Group 1 or 2 requirement upon request.

• ENGL 517 Advanced Creative Writing (Dr. Sax)

Advanced Creative Writing, despite the name, is open to anyone in the MA English program no matter how much or little previous experience you’ve had with creative writing. If you are interested in expressing yourself creatively through words, you are welcome and encouraged to enroll. The form of writing emphasized in the course changes depending on the preferences of the instructor running it. Fulfills the Writing & Literary Forms requirement or an elective, but can work as a Lit Group 1 or 2 requirement upon request.

FALL 2025

• ENGL 500 – Theory & Practice of Literary Criticism (Dr. Kilpatrick)

An introduction to some of the major movements and figures of the theory of criticism. The question “what is literature?” is a primary concern of this course. Such an inquiry necessarily engages other, closely affiliated signifiers such as work/text, writing, reading, interpretation, and signification itself. After brief encounters with ancient antecedents and seminal moderns, influential contemporary approaches to the question concerning literature and its cultural significance are engaged. An assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of current trends in the practice of literary criticism, and their theoretical groundwork, is the ultimate objective of this course.

NOTE: All students must complete ENGL 500. The course runs once each fall semester, so if you’re aiming to graduate at the end of fall 2025, spring 2026, or summer 2026 and have not yet completed 500, you must enroll in this course for fall 2025. The next instance of the course will be fall 2026. For this reason this course is registration-locked and requires a permit (contact Lydia Yearwood in our PACT advising office at lyearwood@mercy.edu for help with a permit). Anyone not on pace to graduate in the semesters noted above can request a permit but will only be given one if seats remain after everyone who must have the course during this fall 2025 instance gets a seat.

• ENGL 515: Magic in Literature (Dr. Sax)

This course examines alchemy, together with related activities that now impress us as “magical,” as a virtually all-inclusive discipline which laid much of the foundation for later literature, art, and science. It looks at the beginnings of alchemy in the ancient world, and how these developed, along with the revival of Classical learning, in the Renaissance. Finally, it looks at the continuing influence of magic in Romantic, Modern, and Post-Modern literature and culture. Past readings have included works by Hesiod, Ben Johnson, Shakespeare, E. T. A. Hoffmann, J. K. Rowling; and the Frances Yates work The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. Some or all of these writers/works might be included in this next instance of it, as might other authors and works. Fulfills an elective by default but can work for the Writing & Literary Forms requirement, upon request.

NOTE: The MA program cycles numerous different courses under the catalog codes of 514, 515, 540, and 560. Students can take multiple instances of 514, 515, 540, and 560 courses as long as the title of the course is not the same as before. So if you’ve taken other 515 courses, you can take this one too as long as you haven’t already taken a course specifically titled Magic in Literature.

• ENGL 522 Humanism in Renaissance Texts (Dr. Fritz)

This course will focus on humanism and the concepts arising from it in relation to the production and appreciation of literature during the Renaissance. The revival of interest in the arts and ideas of Greco-Roman antiquity and the dependence of Renaissance thought on classical themes will be among the issues discussed. Readings could include (but aren’t limited to) works by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Machiavelli, More, Spenser, among others. 3 credits. Fulfills a Literature Group 1 requirement or an elective.

• ENGL 545 – Literature of the Left Bank, Paris (Dr. Loots)

This course examines some of the people, culture, and writings of the expatriate community of the Parisian Left Bank during the modernist movements of the early- and mid-twentieth century. Authors/figures covered could include Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, James Baldwin, Hilda Doolittle, Andre Breton, Richard Wright, Mina Loy, Nancy Cunard, Zelda Fitzgerald, among others. In the course of our studies we will consider the significance of Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare & Company bookstore and lending library, of clubs such as Ada (Bricktop) Smith’s Chez Bricktop, and of intellectual and artistic salons such as those of Natalie Barney and Gertrude Stein. An emphasis will be placed on studying the historical context of modernism in Paris, as well as on the cultural geography of Paris which attracted so many of the world’s great writers and artists, and gave rise to some of the most profound writings ever created. Fulfills a Literature Group 2 requirement or an elective.

Currently we have one summer offering on the schedule, ENGL 517 Advanced Creative Writing. Despite that word “Advanced” this course is open to anyone, no matter if you’re just beginning your journey this summer as a creative writer, or if you’re well experienced in creative writing. In recent years we haven’t had too much demand for summer offerings. Last year we ran two summer courses and while one filled up, the second one only had a couple of students in it. So, the MA program is looking to hear from our students about whether or not a second summer course is wanted. Those who want or perhaps need two summer courses, please send feedback to cloots@mercy.edu to say so.

General registration for spring 2025 opens on October 30. It normally opens at or around 9am eastern. Priority registration, which includes veterans and active military, opens earlier. Students who know that they qualify for priority registration, or who would like to know if they do, should contact the graduate English PACT advisor Lydia Yearwood at lyearwood@mercy.edu for help arranging your priority registration. Any student in need of help with registration should contact Lydia. If anyone has any questions about any of the courses below, please contact the Program Director at cloots@mercy.edu. Note that the descriptions below might change a bit as professors work more on their courses during the fall, but these descriptions basically express the spirit of each course. Book orders will be shared later in a future blog post.

ENGL 510 Theory and Practice of Writing (Dr. Proszak)

• In this course, students learn about how writing has been studied and theorized across writing studies and related disciplines. The course specifically focuses on cultural issues endemic to writing and how race, ethnicity, gender, and class enter into conversations on writing instruction and assessment. Students who take this course will understand how writing functions across contexts and communities, including within higher education. All course texts will be scanned or available online. Readings will likely include chapters from A Short History of Writing Instruction; Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies and chapters from texts on the open-access WAC Clearinghouse, including Situating Writing Processes; Writing Assessment, Social Justice, and the Advancement of Opportunity; Genre in a Changing World. Fulfills the Writing & Literary Forms field requirement or an elective.

ENGL 515 Murder, Mystery, and Suspense (Dr. Dugan)

• The genre of the murder-mystery novel is often viewed as “escapist “or “diversionary,” but in addition to it being entertaining for many, the genre rather offers insights into the social, cultural, and historical context from which the stories emerged. This course will trace the development of the murder-mystery genre from the 19th century to present-day, with a focus on, among many other things, the question of why stories of this genre have been and continue to be so interesting to so many people. 3 credits. Fulfills an elective by default but can instead fulfill a Literature Group 2 requirement upon request. Note that this last ran as ENGL 560; if a student took that instance or any earlier instance of this courses titled “Murder, Mystery, & Suspense,” they cannot take this course again.

ENGL 521 Themes & Genres of Medieval Lit (Dr. Fritz)

• This course is designed to cultivate students’ awareness of the themes, genres, and issues related to medieval literature and to the study of medieval literature. Students will explore the major genres of medieval literature, including epics, lays and romances. Fulfills a Literature Group 1 requirement or an elective.

ENGL 540 Shakespeare (Dr. Kilpatrick)

• Students in this course will critically study and discuss select Shakespeare works. During the course of this study students will gain familiarity with the syntax and lexicon of Shakespeare’s language, and develop a basic understanding of the cultural and intellectual background in which Shakespeare lived, and out of which his drama emerged. Fulfills a Literature Group 1 requirement or an elective.

ENGL 560 Hemingway / Modern Cryptography (Dr. Loots)

• This course follows Ernest Hemingway, through his writings, from his early days in Paris to his final moments in Ketchum, Idaho. Readings will include many of his major novels and short stories, and some non-fiction. By exploring Hemingway’s travels and writings we will experience through his eyes the rise of modernity; the unprecedented way that the world changed forever in the early twentieth century; and the relationship of modern literature and art to modernity. We will as well consider the interrelated effects of Hemingway’s self-engineered celebrity status—as the rugged bearded “macho man” world traveler—which coincided precisely with the rise of modern media technology, exceeded his literary fame even within his lifetime, and belied the complexity, gentleness, and queerness of the man. We will as well consider how Hemingway’s groundbreaking style exemplifies a type of modernist code, a type of literary cryptography, requiring of us delicate work to interpret/intuit/decode what secrets and subtle meanings weave through the writings of this giant of 20th-century American literature, arguably the most influential American writer of all time. Fulfills a Literature Group 2 requirement or an elective. Note that this last ran as 514; if a student took that instance or any earlier instance of this course titled “Hemingway / Modern Cryptography” they cannot take this course again.

ENGL 599 Master’s Thesis

• 599 doesn’t actually appears on the schedule in Connect. The way to enroll in a 599 Master’s Thesis tutorial is to follow the instructions here. Students need to take 599 as one of their courses during whatever is their final semester in the program (so if spring 2025 is not your final semester in the program, then you won’t be able to enroll in a 599 tutorial in the spring). Contact cloots@mercy.edu if you have any questions about this, and/or if you need assistance establishing a thesis mentor for your 599 in spring 2025.

General registration for spring 2024 is scheduled to open on Wednesday November 1. Priority registration, which in the graduate program tends to apply only to veterans, is scheduled to open a week earlier on Wednesday 10/25. These dates could change if the Registrar needs more time, but as of now, those are the dates. Registration usually opens at 9am eastern. The following five courses will be on the spring schedule. Each will begin with 14 seats, and once a course is full, students will need to pick from whatever other courses still have seats. So, if you see particular courses you hope or need to take, set an alarm!

• ENGL 508 – History of Drama in English (Dr. Kilpatrick)

This course will study select dramatic works with an eye to the cultural and historical contexts from which those works emerged. It will use a chronological approach, exploring for example the development of drama in medieval English mystery cycles and morality plays; moving on to the emergence of secular drama in the 16th and early 17th century; proceeding to precursors and contemporaries of Shakespeare; moving onward into Restoration drama, and the development of sentimentalism; then exploring the adaptation of drama to an increasingly middle class audience in the 18th Century; and finally tracing the further development of drama through the 19th and 20th centuries. Fulfills the Writing & Literary Forms requirement or an elective.

• ENGL 515 Hispanic and Latino Literature (Dr. Reissig-Vasile)

The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” refer to people living in the United States who have roots in Spain, Mexico, Latin America, South America, and/or Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. In this course we will experience the literature of various Hispanic and Latino/a authors, and through such study will explore some of the many themes, styles, and social concerns of such authors. Among other things, we will consider what these works have to say about gender, race, class, diaspora, bilingualism, violence, and community. Our readings will focus on short stories and poetry, but could also include novels. All such works will emerge from various Hispanic and Latino/a groups, including Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Dominican Americans. Fulfills an elective by default but can work as a Literature Group 1 requirement if needed, upon request.

Note that students who are taking ENGL 515 Latin American Literature this fall can take this ENGL 515 course in the spring because although the titles look similar, they are in fact two different courses; read the notes at the bottom of this blog post for more on this.

• ENGL 524 From Reason to Imagination (Dr. Sax)

This course studies a range of literature emerging first during the Enlightenment, and then during the subsequent Romantic era, with attention to Neoclassicism, among other things. Students will explore and consider some of the tensions between and informing these different eras and literary movements, will consider ways that these eras and movements relate to one another, including how the Romantic era and its emphasis on imagination emerged to some degree as a response to the Enlightenment and its emphasis on reason. As such, particular attention will be paid to the historical contexts from which the literature of these eras emerged, and to the role of reason and imagination in literature, history, and life. Fulfills a Literature Group 1 requirement or works as an elective.

• ENGL 541 Search for Identity in American Lit (Dr. Loots)

This course will study the search for identity, individually and collectively, as it manifests in American (United States) literature from Colonial times through the turn of the twentieth century. Attention will be paid to the rapidly changing historical/cultural contexts from which such literature emerged, as well as to different literary movements emerging in America over the eras studied (e.g. Colonial, Revolutionary, Romantic, Realist, Modern). Part of the goal of the course is to provide students with a foundation of American literature, and with an understanding of the foundations of literature in America. Another goal is to recognize just how vast and diverse the literature of America is, as well as how vast and diverse are the definitions of what it has meant, and means, to be “American.” Readings will likely include works by Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Olaudah Equiano, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Paine, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Phillis Wheatley, Philip Freneau, Poe, Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Henry James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Charles Chestnutt, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and Zora Neale Hurston. Fulfills a Literature Group 2 requirement or works as an elective.

• ENGL 546 Working Women in the USA: 1865 to Present (Dr. Gogol)

This course will examine writings about and by working women from the post-Civil War era to the present. We will review key changes in the American work force, as well as some of the relevant social, economic, and racial factors since 1865, with attention to movements leading up to and informing the cultural and social changes happening between 1865 and today. We will use literature to help us deconstruct the definitions of “women,” “working,” and even “The United States.” We will inquire into the shifting definitions of the term “gender” and explore the differentials of power and opportunity within the word and concept. One of the course’s goals is to explore some of the contradictions and tensions involved in such an inquiry, as well as to explore the history and benchmarks of major events in the lives of women in the USA since 1865. Fulfills a Literature Group 2 requirement or works as an elective.

• A few notes about ENGL 515 and ENGL 599:

ENGL 515 is what we call a shell number, meaning we run a variety of coursework under that same number. Students can take multiple instances of ENGL 515 as long as they’re not taking the same course with the same title twice. So for example a student could take ENGL 515 Hispanic & Latino Lit, and ENGL 515 Latin American Lit, and ENGL 515 Animals in Lit, because those are three different courses, indicated by their three different titles.

ENGL 599 Master’s Thesis is not listed on the semester schedule and students do not enroll in it in the normal way. All students need to take 599 during their final semester in the program. If spring will be your final semester, click here to read up on how you enroll in a 599 section.

Registration opens today, 3/20. Below are a few registration notes. This list will be updated as necessary during the registration window:

• UPDATE: 506 History of Poetic Forms is now active on the summer schedule. The summer ENGL 506 History of Poetic Forms course is not appearing on the schedule. That is an error and will be fixed today, asap, so expect 506 to appear on the schedule soon.
• ENGL 500 is permit locked per the information shared in this earlier post. In order to receive a permit to register for the 500 course, you must (1) be on track to complete your MA degree prior to fall 2024, and (2) receive a permit from the program director by contacting cloots@mercy.edu.
• ENGL 599 Master’s Thesis doesn’t appear on the schedule, since the way you register for the tutorial is unique. Consult this post for instructions and guidance for getting into a 599. After reading that post, contact cloots@mercy.edu with any further questions.
• Summer registration has been brisk right from the start (one class is already full with registration having been opened for just two hours). The 506 course will appear soon to provide more options. Depending on demand, we might schedule another course. The way students can signal whether or not another course is needed is by getting on the waitlist for full courses. If those waitlists climb to the point where we can see that a lot of students are waiting for seats, then another course will appear. If those waitlists don’t fill, then that signals to us that the existing schedule is adequate and has absorbed the expected amount of summer students.

Update 5/2: 515 Latin American Lit is no longer a zoom course.

Update 2/24: students can take multiple instances of courses numbered 514, 515, 540, and 560, as long as the courses running by those numbers are different. So for example you could take ENGL 540 Ulysses and ENGL 540 Fairy Tales because these are two different courses.

Update 2/21: to learn about how to enroll in an ENGL 599 master’s thesis tutorial, which every student must take during their final semester in the program, click here.

Summer and fall 2023 registration will open soon. We’re running three graduate English courses this summer and six in the fall (many students don’t take courses over the summer, which is one reason why summer schedules are always smaller than fall and spring schedules). Each course will have 15 seats, so students interested in taking any of these courses should be online as soon as registration opens to claim seats in your preferred courses.

Please note that if you’re using any of the dubious “schedule planning” tools recently launched in Connect, courses running by the numbers 514, 515, 540, and 560 won’t show up there by the unique titles shown below or listed in Connect itself. They’ll instead show up with generic titles such as “topics in British Literature” or some such thing. Ignore those generic titles, as they don’t necessarily bespeak the nature of the course actually running by that number. Use the numbers, titles, and descriptions below as your guide.

The descriptions below are subject to change.

SUMMER 2023

• ENGL 506 – History of Poetic Forms (Dr. Kilpatrick)

The course will study the major forms and conventions of poetry that have developed from classical models to the present. Wherever possible, particular poems from different historical contexts will be compared and analyzed to demonstrate how these forms and conventions have developed and been adapted to specific personal, ideological, or cultural pressures. (Fulfills the Writing & Literary Forms requirement or an elective.)

• ENGL 540 – Fairy Tales (Dr. Boria Sax)

This course looks at the discovery, history, intellectual interpretation, and literary adaption of fairy tales. Such tales have been variously viewed as, among other things, a font of primeval wisdom, a guide to growing up, or a response to the stresses of modernity; and students will consider such views while exploring what else fairy tales might be, and why else fairy tales might exist. The semester will begin with a study of classic collections of fairy tales such as those of Perrault and Grimm; will examine permutations of fairy tales over time; and will conclude with a discussion of the continuing popularity of fairy tales in contemporary films such as Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Universal Studios’ Shrek. (Fulfills an elective by default. Can fulfill a Literature Group 2 requirement upon request.)

• ENGL 560 – Murder, Mystery & Suspense (Dr. Sean Dugan)

The genre of the murder-mystery novel is often viewed as “escapist “or “diversionary,” but in addition to it being entertaining, for many, the genre rather offers insights into societal values and attitudes including racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. This course will trace the development of the murder-mystery genre from the 19th century to present-day, with a focus on, among many other things, the question of why stories of this genre are so interesting to so many people. (Fulfills either a Literature Group 1 requirement or an elective.)

FALL 2023

• ENGL 500 – Theory & Practice of Lit Criticism (Dr. David Kilpatrick)

An introduction to some of the major movements and figures of the theory of criticism. The question “what is literature?” is a primary concern of this course. Such an inquiry necessarily engages other, closely affiliated signifiers such as work/text, writing, reading, interpretation, and signification itself. After brief encounters with ancient antecedents and seminal moderns, influential contemporary approaches to the question concerning literature and its cultural significance are engaged. An assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of current trends in the practice of literary criticism, and their theoretical groundwork, is the ultimate objective of this course.

NOTE: All students must complete ENGL 500. The course runs once each fall semester, so if you’re aiming to graduate at the end of fall 2023, spring 2024, or summer 2024 and have not yet completed 500, you must enroll in this course for fall 2023. The next instance of the course will be fall 2024. For this reason this course is registration-locked and requires a permit from the Program Director. Anyone not on pace to graduate in the semesters noted above can request a permit but will only be given one if seats remain after everyone who must have the course during this fall 2024 instance gets a seat. All students who need or want a permit for 500 should contact cloots@mercy.edu to request one.

• ENGL 507 – Narrative Strategies in the Novel (Dr. David Fritz)

This course studies the novel and various narrative methods used in the novel over the centuries and across the British and American traditions. 3 credits. (Fulfills either the Writing & Literary Forms field requirement or an elective.)

• ENGL 515 – Latin American Literature (Dr. Celia Reissig-Vasile)

*THIS 515 CLASS INCLUDES A REQUIRED WEEKLY LIVE ZOOM SESSION ON THURSDAY NIGHTS, 7:00-8:20pm EASTERN*

Our theme this semester will be Protest and Resistance in Latin American Literature. Literature in Latin America has long been a vehicle for explorations of interpretations of social history and cultural identity. Latin American literature has gained international respect for its ability to present social criticism through works of imaginative creation. The Latin American writer uses language to engage readers in the polemics and complexities of the Latin American experience; literature in Latin America is thus not just art, it is also social commentary. In this course we will examine a variety of mediums of protest and resistance in Latin American literature. We will examine texts by the Mexican writer Nellie Campobello, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, the Argentine writer Luisa Valenzuela, and the Cuban filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. We will also focus on examining the relationships between aesthetics, politics, and history. (Fulfills an elective by default, but can fulfill a Literature Group 1 requirement upon request.)

*NOTE: this course was scheduled as a zoom, however due to lack of enrollment it has been switched to an asynchronous online course in the usual style.

• ENGL 540 – Literature by Women (Dr. Miriam Gogol)

This course is an exploration of women’s writing in a variety of genres, such as story, poetry, memoir, and essay. Students will experience and analyze writings by women through a variety of different perspectives, e.g., through the lens of feminist theory, psychology, history, etc. We will as well consider some of the social and cultural forces informing the lives of the women writers we study, and will consider how these forces might intersect with and inform the literature created by women. 3 credits. (Fulfills a Literature Group 1 requirement or an elective.)

• ENGL 545 – Literature of the Left Bank, Paris (Dr. Christopher Loots)

This course examines the diverse people, culture, and writings of the expatriate community of the Parisian Left Bank during the modernist movements of the early- and mid-twentieth century. Authors covered typically include Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Hilda Doolittle, Andre Breton, Mina Loy, Nancy Cunard, Zelda Fitzgerald, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin, among others. In the course of our studies we will consider the significance of Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare & Company bookstore and lending library, and of intellectual and artistic salons such as those of Natalie Barney and Gertrude Stein. An emphasis will be placed on studying the historical context of modernism in Paris, as well as on the cultural geography of Paris which attracted so many of the world’s great writers and artists, and gave rise to some of the most profound writings ever created. 3 credits. (Fulfills a Literature Group 2 requirement or an elective.)

• ENGL 560 – African & Caribbean Literature (Dr. Donald Morales)

This survey course of cross-generational writers from Africa and the Caribbean will take as its focal point the theme of “Justice and Human Dignity in Africa and the African Diaspora.” The course looks at writers whose works address the idea of justice and human dignity in the domestic, political, religious and moral arenas. Some possibilities include Nobel Laureates Naguib Mafouz [Egypt], Wole Soyinka [Nigeria], V.S. Naipaul [Trinidad], J.M. Coetzee [South Africa], Nadine Gordimer [South Africa] and Derek Walcott [St Lucia]. Other options are Chimamanda Adichie [Nigeria], Jamaica Kincaid [Antigua], Edwidge Danticat [Haiti], Mariama Ba [Senegal], Tsitsi Dangaremba [Zimbabwe] and Athol Fugard [South Africa]. As a group these writers look critically at their societies, with, at times, grave consequences but nonetheless seek a just life for themselves and their fellow citizens. 3 credits. (Fulfills either a Literature Group 2 requirement or an elective.)

NOTE: Dr. Morales plans to update the readings for this course after attending and considering ideas presented at conferences this summer. So some of the authors/works listed above could be studied, but some will likely be replaced with different authors/works. The spirit of the class will remain the same as described here.