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English: Literature.

B.A. Degree in English (Literature)
Minor in English
Secondary Teacher Licensure in English

Home > Academics > Majors, Minors & Programs > Undergraduate > English: Literature
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English Major (Literature) - Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree

Let your love of literature lay the foundation for your career.

Connect yourself to other times, other places, and other cultures through the literature of great writers such as John Donne, Jane Austen, Henry James, and Toni Morrison. Connect to your inner self through the exploration of poetry and narrative, and connect with your fellow students through dynamic conversations about things that matter, the topics of great literature.

The English Department faculty at Catawba College bring E.M. Forster's directive, "only connect," to life by connecting Literature majors with the world of words. In small classes led by these inspiring faculty who love literature and words as much as their students do, the emphasis is on intellectual curiosity. You can grow your knowledge, your confidence and your mastery of the English language by studying the major writers and works in the British and American literary traditions. Additionally, incoming freshmen students majoring in Literature may be offered a scholarship upon acceptance to the College.

Studying literature helps cultivate skills such as strong writing, perceptive reading, an awareness of the motivations of individuals, the influence of culture, and the complications of language. In short, your pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature at Catawba College can lay the bedrock on which you can build a variety of satisfying careers, everything from business to teaching to publishing-related fields. With the B.A. degree in Literature, students are prepared for graduate or professional study in fields such as literature, professional and creative writing, law, and related academic disciplines.


MINOR IN ENGLISH

In today’s work world, employers are specific about the skills they seek in the college graduates whom they hire. Employers want employees who write well and present strong oral communications. Employers seek to hire individuals who can think critically, analytically solve problems, and who work well in teams. Employers also want employees who are ethical in their judgments and decisions. If you seek to improve your employment prospects after your college graduation by acquiring or enhancing these characteristics that employers seek, consider adding an English minor from Catawba College to any academic major that you pursue.

Offered by the English Department at the college that is ranked #4 among Best Regional Colleges in the South by U.S. News, a minor in English from Catawba will help you grow your knowledge, your confidence and your mastery of the English language.  As you study writers and works in the British and American literary traditions, you will cultivate skills such as strong writing, perceptive reading, an awareness of the motivations of individuals, the influence of culture, and the complications of language. In small classes led by inspiring faculty who love literature and words, the emphasis is on developing and enhancing a student’s intellectual curiosity.

With a minor in English and regardless of their chosen academic major, Catawba College graduates will be well prepared for graduate or professional study in a variety of disciplines.


Secondary Teacher Licensure (9-12) in English

Literature majors who seeking secondary (grades 9-12) teacher licensure in English must satisfy the requirements for the B.A. degree in Literature and the requirements for undergraduate teacher licensure (including the Secondary Education Minor and student teaching) outlined under the heading for the Department of Teacher Education.


Literature Program Highlights

Students are drawn to Catawba College’s Bachelor of Arts in Literature degree program by the magic of words and by knowledgeable professors who share their passion for literature and writing. It also helps that this degree program is offered at a small private college that is ranked 4th among Best Regional Colleges in the South by U.S. News.

Catawba College Students outside on campus
Literature Scholarships.

Several scholarship opportunities are available at Catawba College for Literature majors. Preference for the Olive L. Jenkins Memorial Endowed Scholarship and the Olive and Raymond Jenkins Scholarship are awarded to majors in the English Department. The Charles Turney Award is made annually to a rising senior who excels in the Literature major. 

Apply for this Scholarship
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Literature Internships.

Catawba College Literature majors are encouraged to complete internships to build links to their professional interests, and gain work-world experience, especially in jobs related to journalism, editing and the non-profit sector.

Catawba College students studying abroad
Study Abroad in Literature.

Literature majors who study abroad engage with other cultures and experience first-hand many of the settings they read about in their favorite books. Rising juniors and seniors may apply to be considered for The Gerry and Jim Hurley International Study Scholarship which is open to all students pursuing a Humanities majors, including Literature, at Catawba. This scholarship funds a semester-long study abroad experience, including travel, tuition, room, and board.

Catawba College Students Presenting Research
Undergraduate Research in Literature.

Students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature at Catawba are encourage to pursue extended research projects which allow them to delve deep into a topic of their personal interest. Students can present their research on campus at a well-attended annual Catawba Research and Creativity Showcase or at state and regional professional conferences such as the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Research Symposium.

Related Bachelor Degree Programs

Outcomes

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CAREERS FOR LITERATURE MAJORS.

Literature majors who completed the Bachelor of Arts degree program are building their careers in the following positions:

    • Assistant Principal
    • Lawyer
    • Professor of Literature
    • Public Relations Professional
    • Account Executive at a Creative Agency
    • High School English Teacher
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GRADUATE SCHOOLS.

Catawba College Literature majors have gone on to pursue graduate degrees at the following schools:

    • N.C. State University
    • Auburn University
    • UNC-Greensboro
    • Appalachian State University
    • UNC-Wilmington
    • UNC-Charlotte

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"The professors in Catawba's English department are real people who are readily accessible. They love what they teach and are enthusiastic about their classes. Our resident experts in their fields, like poetry, Shakespeare, and rhetoric, offer engaging classes to stimulate creative minds."

Meagan Kittle Autry '08
English Major; French and Sociology Minors; Currently the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at William Peace University

Literature Facilities

Literature majors and Writing majors can polish their skills with the written word while serving as tutors in Catawba College’s Writing Center. 

The Writing Center

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PARTICIPATE.

Students pursuing Literature majors at Catawba can be part of the staff of The Arrowhead, an annual literary journal published by students in the English Department. Or strive for excellence with membership in Sigma Tau Delta, a national honor society in English. 

Literature students also are immersed in the literature of and conversations with authors who speak at Catawba College’s annual Brady Author’s Symposium.

Faculty

Dr. Gordon A. Grant, Chair and an Associate Professor of English at Catawba College

Dr. Gordon A. Grant, III

Dr. Gordon A. Grant, III, is Chair and an Associate Professor of English.  His main scholarly work is in rhetoric and composition, and he also studies and teaches literary theory and 20th century British literature. He is particularly interested in the philosophy of art as it crosses paths with rhetoric, politics, and economics. He is also an avid student of popular culture.

Dr. Forrest Anderson, Professor of English at Catawba College

Dr. Forrest Anderson

Dr. Forrest Anderson is a Professor of English and also serves as Catawba’s Associate Provost for Student Academic Success. A creative writer specializing in prose fiction, he is interested in teaching first-year composition. His fiction has been a winner of the South Carolina Fiction Project, the James Dickey Award for Fiction, and the Piccolo Spoleto Fiction Open, and has appeared in Blackbird, The South Carolina Review, The North Carolina Literary Review, and The Louisville Review. His essays have been published in Narrative Magazine, The Fiction Writer's Review, The Southeast Review, The Chattahoochee Review, and Yemassee.

Dr. Jamie Lynn Henthorn, Assistant Professor of English and Director of Catawba’s Writing Center.

Dr. Jamie Lynn Henthorn

Dr. Jamie Lynn Henthorn is an Assistant Professor of English and Director of Catawba’s Writing Center.  She teaches courses in writing for the web, composition, and professional writing. Her research focuses on how we make arguments through our everyday use of technology, particularly when playing video games. She regularly conferences at Computers & Writing, the Southwest Pop/American Culture Association (SWPACA), and the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).

Dr. Kerstin Rudolph, Assistant Professor of English at Catawba College

Dr. Kerstin Rudolph

Dr. Kerstin Rudolph is an Assistant Professor of English. An Americanist by training, she teaches composition and introductory fiction classes, as well as early and 19th century American literature and African American literature.  Her scholarly work explores 19th century race and gender relations, especially in the context of sentimentalism.  Her writing on Charles W. Chesnutt and Victoria Earle Matthews has appeared in American Literary Realism and Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers.

Dr. David A. Schroeder, Assistant Professor of English at Catawba College

Dr. David A. Schroeder

Dr. David A. Schroeder is an Assistant Professor of English. His courses center on Romantic and Victorian British literature, science fiction, and gothic fiction, while his theoretical interests include gender criticism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and the interplay between literature and science. Some of his favorite texts include William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Matthew Lewis's The Monk, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. He occasionally lectures on science fiction for a reading program sponsored by the North Carolina Humanities Council.

Dr. Patrick Swaney, Assistant Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence at Catawba College

Dr. Patrick Swaney

Assistant Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence Dr. Patrick Swaney specializes in poetry and 20th century American literature.  He also teaches courses in creative writing, literature, and composition. He has edited and worked for multiple literary journals, including New Ohio Review and Ecotone. In his creative and critical writing, he is interested in poetic strategies that acknowledge and negotiate the gap between the world of the poem and the world of lived events. His poetry has appeared in Asheville Poetry Review, Conduit, and The Southeast Review.

Curriculum

Required Courses for B.A. in Literature
Required Courses for B.A. in Literature

ENGL 2211 Major British Writers 1300-1800

3

ENGL 2212 Major British Writers 1800-1950

3

ENGL 2215 Major American Writers:  Beginnings to 1890

3

ENGL 2216 Major American Writers:  1890-1950

3 

ONE of the following:

ENGL 3319 Shakespeare and Tudor Drama    
OR 
ENGL 3320 Shakespeare and Stuart Drama

3

ENGL 3201 English Grammar

3

ENGL 3803 Literary Criticism

3

ENGL 4101 English Seminar

3

Electives (5 courses):      

  • Maximum of two Creative Writing or Linguistics courses.
  • Maximum of one 1000-level literature course, normally taken by the end of the sophomore year.

15

 

Total:

36
Course Descriptions
Course Descriptions

0103 ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (0 hours)
Workshops and individualized tutoring sessions to provide instruction and practice in composing, revising, and editing.

1101 INTRODUCTION TO COLLEGE READING AND WRITING (3 hours) 
This course provides intensive writing instruction and emphasizes the process of writing. Students compose primarily short informative, comparative, expressive, and/or summative writing. Special attention is paid to organizing essays and paragraphs for clarity and coherence.

1103 CRITICAL READING AND WRITING (3 hours)
An applied rhetoric course focusing on intensive practice in basic concepts of written communication; active reading skills; research strategies; MLA documentation conventions; principles of organization and coherence; prewriting, drafting, and revising practices; and surface correctness of sentences.

1111 INTRODUCTION TO POETRY (3 hours)
An introduction to the basic elements of poetry and their relevance to understanding, enjoying and appreciating the various themes, meters, and forms of poetry.

1112 INTRODUCTION TO FICTION (3 hours)
An introduction to the short story and the novel as art forms.

1114 READING LITERATURE (3 hours)
An introduction to literature emphasizing close reading of a variety of texts. Each section is designed around a topic or theme selected by the instructor.

1421 ANALYSIS OF DRAMATIC LITERATURE (3 hours)
Same as TA 1421. The characteristics and development of major styles and forms in dramatic literature.

2111 READING AND WRITING ARGUMENTS  (3 hours)
The study and practice of reading and writing arguments. Emphasis on the essay with attention to grammar, structure, style, and research skills. Prerequisite: 24 hours of academic credit, including credit for ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1103; or placement.

2150 TUTORING WRITING: THEORY AND PRACTICE  (1 hour)
An introduction to tutoring theory and pedagogy emphasizing applications in writing center tutorials. This course is required of firsttime tutors who have been hired to work in the Writing Center and cannot be used toward General Education or major requirements. Prequisite: Permission of the Instructor. (S-U grading)

2211 MAJOR BRITISH WRITERS: 1300 - 1800 (3 hours)
A study of major British writers from Chaucer to Johnson.

2212 MAJOR BRITISH WRITERS: 1800 - 1950 (3 hours)
A study of major British writers from Wordsworth to Auden.

2214 MAJOR AMERICAN WRITERS (3 hours)
A study of major American writers from the pre-colonial period to the mid-twentieth Century.

2215 MAJOR AMERICAN WRITERS: BEGINNINGS TO 1890 (3 hours)
A study of major writers in the colonial, early republic, and post-Civil War periods.

2216 MAJOR AMERICAN WRITERS: 1890 - 1950 (3 hours)
A study of major American writers of the 20th century, James through Faulkner.

2218 WORLD WRITERS: NON-WESTERN PERSPECTIVE (3 hours) 
A study of world writers in translation, with attention to non-western approaches to “universal” ideas, values, and their consequences, as well as contrasting interpretations of aesthetic experience.

3372 AFRICAN-AMERICAN WRITERS (3 hours) 
A study of major African-American writers from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. (Offered in alternate years.)

3201 ENGLISH GRAMMAR (3 hours)
A study of the terminology and rules of standard English grammar with attention to evaluating speech and text for adherence to standard, representing syntactic structures, and developing syntactic versatility.

3305 CREATIVE WRITING: POETRY (3 hours)
Guidance and experimentation in the processes of producing, revising, and evaluating poetry. Prerequisite: permission of the Instructor.

3306 CREATIVE WRITING: PROSE FICTION (3 hours)
Guidance and experimentation in the processes of producing, revising, and evaluating short fiction and other prose forms. Prerequisite: permission of Instructor.

3307 CREATIVE WRITING: NON-FICTION (3 hours)
Guidance and experimentation in the process of producing, revising, and evaluating non-fiction prose.

3308 PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL WRITING (3 hours)
An introduction to the rhetorical contexts and genres of professional and technical communication, with emphasis on the production, revision, and editing of workplace documents.

3314 MEDIEVAL LITERATURE (3 hours)
A study of the literature of Medieval England, to include the Arthurian legends, Chaucer and the Chaucerians, lyrics, and drama. (Offered in alternate years.)

3319 SHAKESPEARE AND TUDOR DRAMA (3 hours)
An intensive study of Shakespeare’s comedies and histories with some attention to the works of other Tudor playwrights.

3320 SHAKESPEARE AND STUART DRAMA (3 hours)
An intensive study of Shakespeare’s tragedies and romances with some attention to the works of other Stuart playwrights.

3321 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE (3 hours)
A study of representative writers of the 1600’s to include Jonson, Bacon, Donne and the metaphysical poets, the Cavalier poets, and Milton. (Offered in alternate years.)

3327 ROMANTIC LITERATURE (3 hours)
Astudy of the works of representative Romantic writers, with special attention to Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Shelley, and selected prose writers. (Offered in alternate years.)

3328 VICTORIAN LITERATURE (3 hours)
A study of the works of representative Victorian writers, with special attention to Tennyson, Browning, and Arnold and selected prose writers and minor poets. (Offered in alternate years.)

3353 20th CENTURY BRITISH POETRY AND PROSE (3 hours)
A study of modern and contemporary British poetry and prose. (Offered in alternate years.)

3354 CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY AND PROSE (3 hours)
A study of modern and contemporary American poetry and prose. (Offered in alternate years.)

3360 TOPICS IN LITERATURE (3 hours)
A study of selected topics. Topics will change from year to year to meet the needs of the department.

3361 TOPICS IN WRITING (3 hours)
A study of selected topics in writing. Topics will vary to meet the needs of the department.

3370 MAJOR WORLD WRITERS (3 hours)
Astudy of major world writers in translation. Attention to the phenomenon of translation will undergird language study. Guiding questions will focus student attention upon pertinent universal ideas, values, and their consequences. Attention to genres and their elements will emphasize the integrated nature of aesthetic experience.

3803 LITERARY CRITICISM (3 hours)
A study of the criticism focusing on the main theoretical perspectives of the Twentieth Century, beginning with the New Criticism, with an emphasis on both major texts and applied readings. (Offered in alternate years.)

3831 THE ENGLISH NOVEL (3 hours)
A study of the English novel from its inception to the end of the Victorian period. (Offered in alternate years.)

3832 THE AMERICAN NOVEL (3 hours)
A study of selected American novels from Hawthorne through Faulkner. (Offered in alternate years.)

4101 ENGLISH SEMINAR (3 hours)
Reading, discussion, independent research and written reports on a topic selected by the department. Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor.

4201 PRACTICUM (1-6 hours)
Approved projects or field experience following a contractual plan approved by the Department Chair.

4301 INDEPENDENT STUDY IN ENGLISH (1-4 hours)
Self-directed study following a contractual plan initiated by the student and accepted by the staff.

4401 INTERNSHIP (1-4 hours)
A field experience related to English study with the formal evaluation, supervision and direction provided by an outside agency in collaboration with the coordinating professor and student. Prerequisites: formalized plan, permission of coordinating professor and department chair.

4801 LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY (3 hours)
A study of the dialects of English and of the mechanisms by which variants of a language become differentiated over time and space and as a consequence of social, political, economic, and physical barriers.

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