200 Level English

Courses at the 200 level introduce students to a diverse range of theories and methods relevant to literary and cultural study. These courses typically combine literary and theoretical readings, with an emphasis on key concepts, paradigms, and debates. You do not need to take 200 level courses in your second year - but because the theories and methods you encounter in these courses will likely inform perspectives and approaches at the 300 and 400 levels, you may want to consider taking at least one 200 level course early in your program.

Please consult the University Calendar for a full listing of our ENGL courses, not all of which are offered in a given year. Our department also offers Film Studies and Creative Writing courses.

English students: are you interested in theories of linguistics and the use of language? You can take LING 299 in Winter 2024 and have it count towards your English BA. Course information: LING 299 Special Topics in Linguistics: Metaphor in Language and Mind MWF 9:00-9:50 Instructor: Herb Coulston. Contact Craig Soars at efsadvsr@ualberta if you are interested.

fall 2024

ENGL 206 LEC A1: Introduction To Poetry
R. Brazeau

ENGL 207 LEC A1: Introduction To Narrative

ENGL 215 LEC A1: Reading Literature Across Time
C. Sale

ENGL 217 LEC A1: Intro Literary & Critical Theory
M. Litwack

We are, after all, talking about words, as we realize that by their efficacy we are damned or saved. –Hortense Spillers, "Interstices: A Small Drama of Words"

You can never be too sure what a word will do. –George Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin

This course introduces participants to the theoretical foundations of contemporary literary and cultural criticism. We will consider a breadth of critical concepts and arguments from the nineteenth century to the present that have shaped practices of reading in the humanities and that you will likely encounter throughout your studies in English. Reading closely and situating texts in their intellectual contexts, participants will become fluent in a variety of frameworks for thinking rigorously and creatively about language, writing, rhetoric, interpretation, subjectivity, desire, difference, culture, historicity, and politics.

Throughout our collective inquiry into histories of modern and contemporary theory, a question posed by Louis Althusser—“what is it to read?”—will oversee our work. This question will bear directly on one of the objectives of this course: to learn to appreciate the pleasures and frustrations, the insights and surprises that accompany the pursuit of reading and rereading complex theoretical texts.

This course consists of three units: (I) Language, Signification, Writing; (II) Subjects, Ideologies, Antagonisms; (III) History, Representation, Fabulation.

ENGL 220 LEC A1: Reading Gender And Sexuality
N. Hurley

ENGL 221 LEC A1: Reading Class And Ideology
M. Simpson

ENGL 222 LEC A1: Reading Race and Ethnicity
O. Okome

ENGL 223 LEC A1: Reading Empire and Postcolinial

ENGL 250 LEC A1: Intro Canadian Literatures
D. Fuller

winter 2025

ENGL 206 LEC B1: Introduction To Poetry
C. Bracken

ENGL 215 LEC B1: Reading Literature Across Time
P. Sinnema

ENGL 216 LEC B1: Introduction to Indigenous Literary Methods

ENGL 217 LEC B1: Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory
K. Ball

ENGL 220 LEC B1: Reading Gender And Sexuality

ENGL 221 LEC B1: Reading Class And Ideology
E. Kent

ENGL 222 LEC B1: Reading Race And Ethnicity

ENGL 223 LEC B1: Reading Empire & Postcolonial
L. Harrington

Previous Offerings

2023-24 Fall and Winter Term Courses
2022-23 Fall and Winter Term Courses

Fall 2021

Course Offerings Fall 2021
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 207 A1 How Stories Work: Introduction to Narrative C. Bracken MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 212 LEC 800 Critical Approaches to the English Literature L. Schechter TR 1400-1520
ENGL 215 A1 Reading Literature Across Time: "ROMANCE" and its Others C. Harol MWF 1500-1550
ENGL 217 A1 Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory K. Ball TR 1230-1350
ENGL 220 A1 Reading Gender and Sexuality J. Rak MWF 1200-1250
ENGL 221 A1 Reading Class and Ideology P. Sinnema TR 0930-1050
ENGL 223 A1 ReadingPolitics:  Empire and the Postcolonial E. Kent TR 1100-1220
ENGL 299 LEC 800 Essay Writing for Education Students L. Ouzgane TR 1400-1520


Winter 2022

Course Offering Winter 2022
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 206 B1 How Poems Work: Introduction to Poetry B. Bucknell MWF 1400-1450
ENGL 207 B1 How Stories Work: Introduction to Narrative B. Bucknell MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 216 B1 Introduction to Indigenous Literary Methods J. Abel MWF 1500-1550
ENGL 220 B1 Reading Gender and Sexuality C. Harol TR 1100-1220
ENGL 222 B1 Reading Race and Ethnicity A. Spallacci TR 0930-1050
ENGL 223 B1 Reading Empire and the Postcolonial T. Tomsky MWF 1100-1150
ENGL 250 B1 Introduction to Canadian Literatures D. Fuller TR 1400-1520
ENGL 299 B1 Essay Writing for Education Students L. Robertson TR 1230-1350

 

Winter 2020

Course Offering Winter 2020
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 208 B1 Histories: History of the Book G. Kelly MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 209 B1 Reading Histories: Making Readers S. Brown TR 1400-1520
ENGL 210 B1 Reading Histories:Histories in Texts S. Krotz MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 212 B1 Introduction to the English Language J. Considine MWF 1200-1250
ENGL 220 B1 Reading Politics: Gender and Sexuality L. Rasmussen TR 1100-1220
ENGL 221 B1 Reading Politics: Class and Ideology E. Kent MWF 1400-1450
ENGL 222 B1 Reading Politics: Race and Ethnicity L. Harrington TR 0930-1050
ENGL 223 B1 Reading Politics: Empire and the Postcolonial O. Okome MWF 0900-0950
ENGL 223 X50 Reading Politics: Empire and the Postcolonial C. van der Marel W 1800-2100
ENGL 299 B1 Essay Writing for Education Students L. Schechter TR 1230-1350


Spring 2020

Course Offering Spring 2020
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 219 A1 Narrative Theory and Poetics CANCELLED

 

Fall 2020

Course Offering Fall 2020
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 209 A1 Histories of Reading D. Fuller MWF 1100-1150
ENGL 212 A1 Introduction to the English Language R. Fowler MWF 1300-1350
ENGL 218 A1 Textualities: Reading and Interpretation C. Bracken MWF 1200-1250
ENGL 219 A1 Textualities: Narrative Theory and Poetics CANCELLED TR 1230-1350
ENGL 220 A1 Reading Politics: Gender and Sexuality J. Rak TR 1100-1220
ENGL 221 A1 Reading Politics: Class and Ideology R. Brazeau TR 0930-1050
ENGL 222 A1 Reading Politics:  W. Agorde MWF 1400-1450
ENGL 223 A1 Reading Empire and the Postcolonial T. Tomsky MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 299 A1 Essay Writing for Education Students L. Ouzgane TR 1400-1520

 

Winter 2021

Course Offering Winter 2021
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 208 B1 History of the Book G. Kelly MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 209 B1 Reading Histories: Histories of Reading: "Contested Readings" A. Hasenbank TR 1400-1520
ENGL 210 B1 Reading Histories: Histories in Texts R. Prusko MWF 1000-1050
ENGL 212 B1 Introduction to the English Language L. Schechter MWF 1200-1250
ENGL 219 B1 Textualities: Narrative Theory and Poetics Cancelled MWF 0900-0950
ENGL 219 B2 Textualities: Narrative Theory and Poetics R. Brazeau MWF 1400-1450
ENGL 220 B1 Reading Politics: Gender and Sexuality J. Sheckter TR 1100-1220
ENGL 221 B1 Reading Politics: Class and Ideology M. Kosman MWF 1400-1450
ENGL 222 B1 Reading Politics: Race and Ethnicity U. Umezurike TR 0930-1050
ENGL 299 B1 Essay Writing for Education Students L. Robertson TR 1230-1350

 

Spring 2021

Course Offering Spring 2021
Course Title Instructor Time
ENGL 220 A1 Reading Gender and Sexuality J. Sheckter MW 0930-1220

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