The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

 Registration for fall 2026 opens on March 16th! Fall 2026 Course Descriptions ENG 8 000           What’s Hot? Introduction to Literary Theory         Dr. Michael Dowdy ENG 8460           Serious Whimsy          Dr. Joseph Drury ENG 8560           Victorian Publics & Populations         Dr. Mary Mullen ENG 9720-002     Literatures of US Empire         Dr. Yumi Lee ENG 9720-001     Climate Fiction         Dr. Heather Hicks ENG 8000 What’s Hot? Introduction to Theory Across the Discipline of English Dr. Michael Dowdy CRN 22734 Tuesday 7:30-9:30 pm This course will be run as a seminar in which each week, a different graduate faculty member will introduce you to a body of theor...

  ENG 8260: Medieval Romance Dr. Brooke Hunter CRN 34350 Thursday from 5:20 pm to 07:20 pm Romance—the mode of literature that tells stories of chivalry, ladies, and love—shaped medieval ideas about everything from racial and cultural identity to best practices for flirting. Focusing on the romances of King Arthur and other English heroes, this course will consider three main questions: how romances structure the experience of love, sexuality, and gender; how romances shape the practice of religion and notions of religious and racial otherness; and how romances construct ideas about peoples ( nationes ) and political power. Half of the course reading will be in Middle English, including the cannibalistic crusader sieges of  Richard Coer de Lyon , several works by Geoffrey Chaucer, and a selection from Thomas Malory’s exhaustive collection of Arthuriana,  Le Morte d’Arthur . We will also read several works of early Arthuriana in translation, including Geoffrey of Monmo...

  Fall 2025 Course Descriptions ENG 8000 What’s Hot? Introduction to Theory Across the Discipline of English Dr. Michael Dowdy CRN 27943 Tuesday 5:20-7:20 pm This course will be run as a seminar in which each week, a different graduate faculty member will introduce you to a body of theory that is particularly important within current discussions in their field of specialization. What are some of the major theoretical approaches in medieval studies today? Early modern studies? What about 19th-century American literature and British literature? Modernism? Postcolonial Studies? Irish Studies? Contemporary literature? This class is an attempt to bring you immediately into dialogue with a wide variety of theories that are shaping literary study today. The course is intended to be a lively opportunity to meet most of the English faculty members who teach at the graduate level and to engage in dialogue about and analysis of the contemporary state of literary theory. Assignments wil...