The Course Catalog

War and Freedom in the Mississippi Valley War and Freedom in the Mississippi Valley

This course is an introduction to emancipation in the Mississippi Valley, which will include the State of Illinois and the critical town of Cairo in the South. Students will be exposed to a variety of...

What are Islands for, in Novels? What are Islands for, in Novels?

This course covers classic and more recent ‘island novels’ with a view to asking what the island affords the novel. Not what the island means, but rather what kinds of stories the island enables the...

White Gold: Global Histories of Porcelain, Pleasure and Power White Gold: Global Histories of Porcelain, Pleasure and Power

This course explores the entangled histories of porcelain and the people who created, traded, admired, collected and died for it, its beginnings in China, its development as a coveted trade commodity...

Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White

The “woman in white” of the title is a mysterious young woman in distress whom art teacher Walter Hartright attempts to help. Much like The Moonstone, the story is an early detective novel told by...

Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations

Intensive Reading Course

A close, intensive reading of (topically) selected sections of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. Topics include: the nature of philosophy, the problem of meaning...

Women of Euripides--Women of Troy: The Trojan Women, Hecuba, and Andromache Women of Euripides--Women of Troy: The Trojan Women, Hecuba, and Andromache

This class will explore three of Euripides' plays which feature major heroines, in this case the heroines of the Trojan side of the Trojan war, all considered with respect to their positions at the...

Writing the Braided Essay Writing the Braided Essay

In her Creative Nonfiction essay “The Braided Essay as Social Justice,” Nicole Walker argues: “The braided essay isn’t a new form. In fact, I think nearly every essay uses a kind of braiding…perhaps,”...

Writing the Young Adult Novel Writing the Young Adult Novel

The Young adult novel is one of the fastest-growing, exciting genres in publishing these days. With complex young characters, realistic dialogue, and gripping prose, readers of all agescan't get...