English Major with Literature Concentration

The English Major with Literature Concentration (40 hours) includes a thorough overview of classical, British, and American literature and then allows for individual choices within a range of categories from historical context courses, genre courses, author courses, and deep exploration courses around a theme/idea or on praxis that helps students prepare for life beyond Wheaton. All students take a senior seminar, which focuses on the interrelationship of literature and theory from a Christian perspective.

The English Major with a Literature Concentration requires a minimum of 40 hours, but students may count up to 52 hours in English toward graduation. Additional hours are encouraged for students planning graduate work.

Requirements

Note:  These are new requirements that will apply to incoming new majors effective Fall 2022.  Please contact us at english@wheaton.edu if you have questions.

Foundational Courses (12 hours):

ENGL 155: Reading Writers: Introduction to Literary Studies
or ENGL 156: Reading Writers: Introduction to Literary Studies (Shakspeare)
or: any 100-level ENGL course with an LE tag
ENGL 215: Literary Traditions through Time: Classical and Early British
ENGL 221: Contemporary Literary Conversations

Historical Context Courses (12 Hours):

Select 4 credits in each category

Pre-18th century
ENGL 329: Old English Language and Literature
ENGL 331: Medieval Literature
ENGL 336: Renaissance
ENGL 337: Seventeenth-Century Literature
18th and 19th centuries
ENGL 338: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature
ENGL 341: Early American Literature
ENGL 352: Transatlantic Crossroads in Modern Literature
ENGL 355: The Romantic Period
ENGL 361: Victorian Literature
20th and 21st centuries
ENGL 342: American Modernism/Global Modernism
ENGL 343: American Literature after 1945
ENGL 344: Diverse Traditions in 20th-Century American Literature
ENGL 364: British Modernism: 1900-1939
ENGL 365: British Literature after 1939
ENGL 366: British Black and Asian Literature
ENGL 367: Postcolonial Literature
ENGL 371: Modern European Literature

Literature Concentration (16 hours)

Deeper Focus Courses (12 Hours):

Select 4 credits in each category

Genre
ENGL 421: American Literature: Beginnings to Romanticism (4)
ENGL 422: American Literature: Realism to Modernism (4)
ENGL 423: American Literature: after 1945
ENGL 424: Science Fiction (2)
ENGL 425: Fairy Tales (2)
ENGL 426: Children's Literature
ENGL 427: Young Adult Literature
ENGL 428: Magical Realist Literature and Film
ENGL 431: Christianity and Fantasy
Exploration
ENGL 415: The Archeology of Texts: Bibliographical Investigation
ENGL 433: Varied Literary Topics (2 or 4 Credits)
ENGL 434: Modern Literacy Theory
ENGL 435: History of Literary Critcism
ENGL 442: History of the English Language
ENGL 443: Literature of the Bible
ENGL 444: Christianity and Crime
ENGL 445: Literature and Place
ENGL 446: Advanced Research and Writing
ENGW 471: Teaching and Writing
Authors
ENGL 388: Jane Austen in Her Time and Ours
ENGL 461: Selected Authors (2 credits)
ENGL 462: Selected Authors (4 credits)
ENGL 463: Shakespeare
ENGL 469: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
ENGL 471: Emily Dickinson
ENGL 472: Herman Melville
ENGL 473: Louisa May Alcott
ENGL 474: T.S. Eliot
ENGL 475: William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens
ENGL 476: Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes
ENGL 478: Flannery O'Connor
ENGL 481: James Baldwin
ENGL 482: Cormac McCarthy
ENGL 483: David Foster Wallace
ENGL 485: Achebe and Adichie
 ENGL 486: Studies in Wade Center/Special Collections Authors (2 Credits)
ENGL 486: Studies in Wade Center/Special Collections Authors (4 Credits)

Integrative Senior Seminar:

ENGL 494: Senior Seminar in English

 Total Credits: 40