Courses & Syllabi
(selected)
LIT 4334: The Golden Age of Children's Literature
University of Florida
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The “Golden Age” of children’s literature tends to be defined as the period from the mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. It marked a shift in the kinds of literature being produced for children from morality tales to texts created with different ideas of what children want and need from their stories, giving more priority to enjoyment and entertainment. Many iconic children’s literature characters from the time still loom large in the cultural imagination, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, L. Frank Baum’s Dorothy, and L.M. Montgomery’s Anne.
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In this course, we’ll examine the defining features of Golden Age children’s literature, put shifting ideas of childhood throughout the time period in context, question how and why such texts became part of the canon, and consider the effects these texts have on how we conceive of children’s literature today. This course will engage with a variety of materials, including but not limited to literature, visual culture, academic scholarship, and cultural commentary.
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Summer 2023
LIT/EUS 4930: From Baba Yaga to Black Widow--Eastern Europe in Western Popular Culture
University of Florida
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When you think about Eastern Europe, what do you imagine? Do you picture the witch Baba Yaga, infamous for her hut with its spindly chicken legs? Do you think about the long, dark winters of the Siberian tundra? Do you envision the Marvel superheroes Black Widow and the Scarlett Witch of Avengers fame? More soberingly, do you think of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Or do you picture something else entirely? Whatever you imagine, whether you realize it or not, your conception of Eastern Europe has no doubt been shaped by how Eastern Europe has been depicted in popular culture over time. As scholars like Larry Wolff and Anita Starosta note, Eastern Europe has historically been depicted as an ‘uncivilized Other’ to Western Europe, something alternately confirmed and subverted in contemporary Western imaginings of Eastern Europe. As the global reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine demonstrates, that perception has real consequences for the lived realities of all Eastern Europeans.
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In this class, we will track how different periods of Eastern Europe’s history have been imagined and depicted in western popular culture and how that depiction affects conceptions of half of a continent often pushed aside or forgotten. We will consider questions like: what stereotypes do these texts perpetuate or subvert? Which countries receive more focus, and which are more often overlooked? Why do so many Eastern Europe based properties illustrate Eastern Europe as a land of fantasy, and how does that depiction affect how we view that portion of the world? How has the region’s fraught history shaped how we show Eastern Europe in the present? In considering these questions, we will examine texts across a range of genres, including realism, fantasy, and nonfiction. We will also explore a variety of mediums, including novels, television shows, films, comics, and even musicals.
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Spring 2023
LIT 2000: Introduction to Literature
University of Florida
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This course examines the role literature has played in individuals’ lives and in society. It is centered on three questions: What is literature? Why do we write literature? And why do we read literature? LIT 2000 introduces students to a diverse range of literary genres, from different national traditions and historical periods.
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Among the primary aims of this course is to help students develop critical skills of literary analysis and interpretation. Students will also learn how formal and stylistic elements as well as historical contexts shape the meaning and significance of literature. By becoming more skillful readers of literature and its contexts, students become better readers of the worlds that literature addresses, develop their ability to decipher meaning from language, and better understand their own relationship to science, technology, media, commerce, and politics.
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Spring 2022​
AML 2410: Let's Talk about Sex...in Children's and Young Adult Literature
University of Florida
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According to the American Library Association, sex is the third most likely reason for a book to be banned (after violence and profanity). Why, then, is so much children’s and young adult literature about sex? As children’s literature scholar Roberta Seelinger Trites noted almost twenty years ago, “teenage characters in YA novels agonize about every aspect of human sexuality: decisions about whether to have sex, issues of sexual orientation, issues of birth control and responsibility, unwanted pregnancies, masturbation, orgasms, nocturnal emissions, sexually transmitted diseases, pornography, and prostitution.” Indeed, since Trites made that claim, sex has only become more commonplace in literature for adolescents. But what, exactly, is the sex in children’s and young adult literature telling young people about sex?
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In this course, we will trace the development of depictions of sex in contemporary children’s and young adult literature over time. We will examine how sex is depicted and discussed across genre, medium, and intended audience. We will consider questions like: how does the depiction of sex and sexuality change, for example, in fiction versus nonfiction, or in realism versus fantasy? What’s the difference between reading about sex in a comic instead of in prose? How has queer sexuality been depicted for younger readers over time? You would likely give a twelve-year-old a different book about sex than you would an eighteen-year-old—but why?
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Assignments may include an in-class presentation, short reading responses, a creative assignment, and two analysis papers. With each assignment, students will use close reading and analytical skills to develop critical arguments and engage with the class theme.
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Fall 2021
LIT 4333: Literature for the Adolescent
University of Florida
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What is adolescent literature? Who is it for? How do ideas about adolescence shape adolescent characters within these texts—and how, in turn, does adolescent literature shape the adolescents who read it? To begin to answer these questions, we will examine literature across a range of genres primarily for and about adolescents, paying particular attention to the political and social history of adolescence both as a concept and a lived experience. Though we will concentrate on what is now called “young adult” (“YA”) literature, we will also read and discuss that material in light of earlier narrative traditions. Throughout our chosen texts, we will address issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, and national identity implicit within both the assigned texts and ideas about adolescence
Potential texts (subject to change) include: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, Ash by Malinda Lo, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, All-American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson, the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, Speak (graphic novel) by Laurie Halse Anderson and illustrated by Emily Carroll, and Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman.
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This course will be conducted as a seminar, and as such, attendance and participation are critical. We will read one YA book a week, supplemented by criticism and theory. Assignments may include: weekly response papers, an annotated bibliography, and two longer essays.
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Spring 2020
ENG 1131: Fiction into Film--Adaptations of Children's and Young Adult Literature
University of Florida
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How does a book get made into a movie? What makes an adaptation “good”? In this class, we will use terms and concepts from both literary studies and film studies to analyze how a story changes when adapted from fiction into film. As we focus on adaptations of children’s and young adult texts, we will consider what makes something children’s or young adult literature, and how the intended audiences may change as these texts are adapted across different media. Our course texts fall across a range of genres—from fairy tales to fantasy to sci fi to realism—so we’ll also discuss how the authors/directors are abiding by or subverting the tropes/conventions of each genre. We will discuss different theories of and approaches to adaptation, and by the end of the course, you will utilize those theories through your own analysis of a text and adaptation of your choice.
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Texts and films include: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by the Grimm Brothers and the Disney adaptation; Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones and the Miyazaki animated film adaptation; Simon vs. The Homo-Sapiens Agenda and the film adaption Love, Simon; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and the film adaptation; Michael Brian Bendis' Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, vol. 1 and the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and the film adaptation Hugo.
Readings will include primary texts, critical and scholarly responses, and theories of adaptation. Since this class is primarily a writing class, we will also be focusing on how to construct persuasive arguments using a close-reading approach. Students will learn to write about textual and visual media using literary and film terms, respectively, and practice argumentative writing skills.
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Fall 2019
AML 2410: From Damsels in Distress to Dragon Slayers--Strong Female Characters in Children's and Young Adults
University of Florida
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What makes a female character strong? What do Anne of Green Gables, Susan Pevensie, and Katniss Everdeen have in common? Each represents a stage in the development of the strong female character in children's and young adult literature. But what makes bow-wielding Susan Pevensie—ultimately barred from the magical land of Narnia for liking lipstick, nylons, and parties a little too much—so different from her more contemporary counterpart Katniss, the archer of Hunger Games fame? What do these characters show us about the cultures in which they first appear? In this class, we will investigate a number of depictions of female characters in children’s and young adult literature as we try to answer these questions. As we follow the progression of the strong female character, we will read a number of texts from children’s and young adult literature across a variety of genres, including realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and horror.
In this course, we will investigate some of the first significant female characters children’s literature in classic novels like Anne of Green Gables and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Then, we will read literature influenced by second wave feminism—which has a tendency to overlook types of diversity beyond gender—with texts like The Hero and the Crown, A Ring of Endless Light, and Ella Enchanted. Next, we will look at the ways in which the strong female characters have become more diverse and with works by and about people of color, like Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales; Shadowshaper; Ms. Marvel; To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before; and The Hate U Give. We will also read texts that feature LGBT characters like Nimona (which also deals with disability) and Jane, Unlimited. Finally, we will end the semester with The Hunger Games in order to compare Katniss Everdeen—who often serves as the contemporary poster girl of strong female characters—with all of her fictional counterparts whom we’ve encountered over the course of the semester.
Spring 2019