Fall 2026 Undergraduate English Courses

Sections 01-90

This course provides an introduction to principal methods and materials in contemporary literary studies. In order to suggest some of the range of the field, ordinarily it includes close attention to works from at least two genres and two historical periods to be selected by the instructor. The course will introduce students to the meaning and use of key terms in literary studies. Its aim is teaching students to pay close attention to significant texts and develop sophisticated spoken and written accounts of those texts. 

This course is required of all English majors, but it is open to all students who have fulfilled the first-year writing requirement or its equivalent.

Attendance is expected and required.

Section H1

This special honors section of "Principles of Literary Study" is designed to give a broad introduction to methods of literary analysis, using short stories, short novels, and poetry of the 19th, 20th, and in one case 21st centuries as our practice texts. We will begin with the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- and then we'll vote on which novels we want to read together. (I'll suggest Dracula, but I want to make sure everybody would be reading it for the first time.) The class will end with an adaptation from film or television, so that we can also discuss adaptations as a particular genre.

This course is designed for all majors, but it is also a requirement for anyone thinking of being an English major. It satisfies two SAS Core requirements: AHp and WCd.

Professor Williams specializes in Victorian literature and culture. She was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004-5, the Warren I. Susman Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1999, and the Scholar-Teacher Award in 2010.