(E-mail: gmanning@arts.uoguelph.ca)
Graduate co-ordinator - Diana Brydon (416 MacKinnon, Ext. 3252) (E-mail: dbrydon@uoguelph.ca)
Graduate secretary - Betty King (427 MacKinnon, Ext. 3882) (E-mail: bking@uoguelph.ca)
Christine Bold MA Edinburgh, PhD University College London - Associate Professor
Peter A. Brigg BA Bishop's, MA, PhD Toronto - Associate Professor
Susan I. Brown BA King's College and Dalhousie, MA Dalhousie, PhD Alberta - Associate Professor
Diana Brydon BA, MA Toronto, PhD Australian National University - Professor
Daniel Fischlin BFA, MA Concordia, PhD York - Assistant Professor
Kenneth W. Graham BA Royal Military College, M Phil, PhD London - Professor
James Harrison BA, M Litt Durham - Professor Emeritus
Ajay Heble BA Innis College (U. of Toronto), MA Dalhousie, PhD Toronto - Associate Professor
Patrick J. Holland BA Victoria (Wellington), MA Auckland, MA, PhD McMaster - Associate Professor
Helen Hoy BA, MA, PhD Toronto - Associate Professor
Michael H. Keefer BA Royal Military College of Canada, MA Toronto, DPhil Sussex - Associate Professor
Catherine Kerrigan BA, MA Toronto, PhD Edinburgh - Professor
Tom King BA, MA Chico State, PhD Utah - Associate Professor
Janice Kulyk Keefer BA, MA Toronto, DPhil Sussex - Professor
Douglas Killam BA British Columbia, PhD London - Professor
Gerald F. Manning BA, MA Alberta, PhD Queen's - Associate Professor
Daniel O'Quinn BSc, MA Western, PhD York - Assistant Professor
Donna Palmateer Pennee BA, MA Guelph, PhD McGill - Assistant Professor
Constance M. Rooke BA Smith College, MA Tulane, PhD North Carolina - Professor
Mary H. Rubio BA DePauw, MA Illinois, PhD McMaster - Professor
J.R. (Tim) Struthers BA, MA, PhD Western Ontario - Associate Professor
From the Department of Drama:
Alan D. Filewod BA York, MA Alberta, PhD Toronto - Professor
Richard P. Knowles BA, MA, PhD Toronto - Professor
Harry Lane BA Durham, MA, PhD Toronto - Associate Professor
Paul A. Mulholland BA, MA Toronto, PhD Birmingham - Associate Professor
Judith Thompson BA Queen's, Cert. National Theatre School -- Associate Professor
Ann Wilson BA, MA, PhD York - Associate Professor
From the Department of French:
Daniel Chouinard BaSp, MA, PhD Montréal - Assistant Professor
Dana Paramskas BSL, MSL Georgetown, PhD Laval - Professor
François Paré BA Montréal, Collège Edouard Montpetit, PhD SUNY, Buffalo - Professor
Special Graduate Faculty
Cherry Clayton BA Capetown, MA Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), PhD Natal, Durban (South Africa) - Sessional Lecturer
Associated Graduate Faculty
Leon Rooke - Writer
M. Elizabeth Waterson BA Toronto, MA Bryn Mawr, PhD Toronto
- Professor Emeritus
Admission Requirements
The normal requirement for admission to the MA program is the equivalent of an honours degree in English studies from a recognized institution with at least a high second-class standing (78% or higher) in the last two years of study. Students with an exceptional academic record but without an honours degree in English studies may be allowed to do qualifying undergraduate courses at the University of Guelph prior to beginning graduate study.
Students wishing to enter the program normally do so in September. (Only under exceptional circumstances may students be considered for admission in either January or May.)
Non-Canadian applicants whose first language is not English are required to submit evidence of proficiency in the English language or pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A minimum score of 580 is required.
Degree Requirements
Candidates for the MA degree may choose between two courses of study. They may undertake a degree by thesis which involves successful completion of four courses plus a thesis of approximately 25,000 words (100 pages); or they may complete their degree by course work alone by taking six courses, and an extended research project. Approved applicants may be given the option of a creative thesis or a creative research project. All students are required to take two prescribed courses, Theory for Literary Studies and Research Methods. In addition, all candidates must demonstrate an ability to read material relevant to literary studies in a language other than English prior to graduation. (This requirement is intended to ensure that the candidate is capable of carrying out mature research in her/his chosen field of research.)
Students are normally expected to graduate at the end of three or four semesters of full-time study.
The Department of English participates in the Collaborative International Development Studies (CIDS) program. Please consult the International Development Studies listing for a detailed description of the collaborative program including the special additional requirements for each of the participating departments.
Scottish Studies Interdepartmental Group
The Department of English participates in the activities of the Scottish Studies Interdepartmental Group. Those faculty members whose research and teaching expertise includes aspects of Scottish studies may serve as advisers and examiners of MA students specializing in Scottish studies areas and registered in the Department of English.
Please consult the Scottish Studies listing for a detailed description of the Scottish Studies Interdepartmental Group.
- 3706001 Theory for Literary Studies (1.0)
- This team-taught course surveys selected materials in post-Saussurian theories of
cultural representation relevant to the study of literary and, more broadly, cultural texts. Modules
of the course, taught by different instructors, will include readings in deconstruction,
psychoanalysis, discourse analysis, postcolonialism, and gender and cultural studies. The course
is writing- and seminar-intensive.
NOTE: 3706001 is offered over the fall and winter semesters. Students must register for both the fall and winter offerings of this course. They will receive an INP at the end of the fall semester and a grade at the end of the winter semester.
- 3706011 Research Methods (0.25)
- An introduction to advanced research which will orient the graduate student to the
following: archival research; textual, bibliographical and editorial methods; preparation of the
electronic manuscript; electronic research and communications; and current departmental
research projects and research opportunities.
- 3706201 Topics in Canadian Literature (0.5)
- A course to be offered at least once every academic year. This course in Canadian
Literature may focus on cross-genre study or on single genres such as poetry, biography, the
short story, literary memoir and/or autobiography, and poetic prose. The focus may be on such
topics as the literary and general cultural production of a time-period, an age group (such as
children's literature), or a specific region (such as Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, or the West
Coast), or may bring together texts from two or more categories to allow for a comparative study.
Other possible topics include: post-modernism and the creation of an ex-centric Canadian canon;
multiculturalism and the transcultural aesthetics of Canadian writing; the construction and
reinvention of a national identity and literature; and literary history, influence, reception and
critique.
- 3706209 Topics in Commonwealth/Postcolonial Literature (0.5)
- A course to be offered at least once every academic year. A comparative study of
postcolonial literatures in English. Topics may include a focus on a single area, such as India, the
Caribbean, Africa, Australia, or New Zealand or may focus on the comparative study of some of
these literatures, considering the construction of Third World, diasporic, or settler-invader
colonies, or writing and reading practices in colonial, neo-colonial, and postcolonial
environments.
- 3706002 Topics in the History of Criticism (0.5)
- This course deals with various aspects of the field of literary criticism, focusing
on a specific problem or question each time it is offered. Topics may include the investigation of
a specific critical debate - the debate between the Ancients and the Moderns, for instance - or the
various ways in which a particular concept - such as didacticism or intentionality - has been
treated or is being treated in literary studies.
- 3706003 Problems of Literary Analysis (0.5)
- Variable in content and practical in orientation this course seeks to familiarize the
student with particular critical techniques and approaches by applying specific examples of those
approaches and methods to particular topics (e.g., cultural studies and renaissance literature,
discourse analysis and the Victorian novel, computer-mediated analysis and the theatre of the
absurd).
- 3706412 Topics in Medieval/Renaissance Literature (0.5)
- A examination of the literature of Britain between the 17th century and the latter
part of the 18th century. Topics may focus on a single author, a specific genre, or relationships
between the literary and the cultural.
- 3706421 Topics in Eighteenth Century and Romantic Literature
(0.5)
- An examination of the literature of Britain between the restoration of the Stuart
monarchy and the accession of Queen Victoria. Topics may include focus on a single author, the
consideration of a specific genre, or the probing of the interface between the literary and other
cultural aspects of the period.
- 3706431 Topics in Nineteenth Century Literature (0.5)
- A study of the literature of Britain from the late 18th century until the start of the
First World War. Topics may focus on a single author, a specific genre, or a central critical
question.
- 3706441 Topics in Modern British Literature (0.5)
- A study of the literature of Britain in the twentieth century. This course includes a
consideration of the interaction between literature and culture in the period - sometimes through
the examination of a specific author, sometimes through the study of a particular genre or
issue.
- 3706451 Topics in American Literature (0.5)
- Topics may include a focus on a single region, such as the American West, on a
single time period, such as the Civil War, on a specific genre, such as the novels of frontier
women, or other issues in American literary studies.
- 3706611 Topics in Women's Writing (0.5)
- In the past the course has dealt with Victorian women poets, with the place of
women in the literature of the American West, and with other issues of interest to students of
women's writing and the broader issues of feminist theory.
- 06621 Topics in Children's Literature (0.5)
- Past offerings have involved a focus on a specific author - such as Lucy Maud
Montgomery - or on a specific kind of writing for or by children.
- 3706641 Topics in Scottish Literature (0.5)
- Courses under this rubric are concerned with the various literatures produced by
Scots both within and beyond the boundaries of Scotland. The course could involve the study of
a specific genre, the investigation of a specific theme, or the examination of a particular author
over the course of her/his career.
- 3706691 Interdisciplinary Studies (0.5)
- Designed to provide the opportunity to explore alternative fields and modes of
critical inquiry, this variable-content course will study the relationship between literary study and
other forms of intellectual inquiry such as the relationship between literature and sociology,
between critical theory and psychology, between literary history and historical fact.
- 3706801 Reading Course I (0.5)
- An independent study course, the nature and content of which is agreed upon
between the individual student and the person offering the course.
- 3706802 Reading Course II (0.5)
- An independent study course, the nature and content of which is agreed upon
between the individual student and the person offering the course. Subject to the approval of the
student's advisory committee and the graduate committee.
- 3706803 Research Project (1.0)
- An independent study course, the content of which is agreed upon between the
individual student and the person offering the course. Subject to the approval of the student's
advisory committee and the Graduate Committee. This course is designed to provide the student
with the opportunity to conduct an extended research project that, while not as complex or as
extensive as a thesis, still provides the student with training in research methodology.
- 3706811 Special Topics in English (0.5)
- Depending on the research interests of the instructor, courses under this rubric
explore topics in the study of literature that do not fall neatly under the rubrics above. In the past
the course has dealt with literature and aging, and with issues in the field of popular
culture.
