An advanced inquiry into critical questions relating to the development of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature and culture. Focus may include the intensive study of an author, genre, or body of work.
Pre-1900 course

Topics in the literature and culture of the long eighteenth century. Topics vary from year to year and might include a study of one or more authors, or the study of a specific literary or theatrical phenomenon.
Pre-1900 course

An in-depth study of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature together with intensive study of the theoretical and critical perspectives that have transformed our understanding of this literature.
Pre-1900 course

This multi-genre creative writing course, designed around a specific theme or topic, will encourage interdisciplinary practice, experiential adventuring, and rigorous theoretical reflection through readings, exercises, field trips, projects, etc.

Advanced study of the writing of poetry for students who have excelled at the introductory and intermediate levels. Admission by portfolio. The portfolio should contain 15-25 pages of your best poetry and a 500-word description of your project. Please email your portfolio to creative-writing@utsc.utoronto.ca by the last Friday of April (for Independent Studies beginning in either the Fall or Winter semesters).

Advanced study of the writing of fiction or creative nonfiction for students who have excelled at the introductory and intermediate levels. Admission by portfolio. The portfolio should contain 30-40 pages of your best fiction or creative nonfiction and a 500-word description of your project. Please email your portfolio to creative-writing@utsc.utoronto.ca by the last Friday of April (for Independent Studies beginning in either the Fall or Winter semesters).

Advanced study of the writing of a non poetry/prose genre (for example, screenwriting, comics, etc.), or a multi-genre/multi-media project, for students who have excelled at the introductory and intermediate levels. Admission by portfolio. The portfolio should contain 20-30 pages of your best work composed in your genre of choice and a 500-word description of your project. Please email your portfolio to creative-writing@utsc.utoronto.ca by the last Friday of April (for Independent Studies beginning in either the Fall or Winter semesters).

Advanced study of Chaucer’s early writings, from The Book of the Duchess to Troilus and Criseyde. Consisting of dream visions, fantastic journeys, and historical fictions, these works all push beyond the boundaries of everyday experience, depicting everything from the lifestyles of ancient Trojans to a flight through the stars. This course will explore the forms and literary genres that Chaucer uses to mediate between the everyday and the extraordinary. We will also consider related problems in literary theory and criticism, considering how scholars bridge the gap between our own time and the medieval past. Texts will be read in Middle English.

Pre-1900 course.

Topics in the literature and culture of the medieval period. Topics vary from year to year and might include a study of one or more authors.
Pre-1900 course

Medieval authors answer the question “what happens after we die?” in great detail. This course explores medieval representations of heaven, hell, and the afterlife. Texts under discussion will include: Dante’s Inferno, with its creative punishments; the Book of Muhammad’s Ladder, an adaptation of Islamic tradition for Christian readers; the otherworldly visions of female mystics such as Julian of Norwich; and Pearl, the story of a father who meets his daughter in heaven and immediately starts bickering with her. Throughout we will consider the political, spiritual, and creative significance of writing about the afterlife.

Pre-1900 course.

Advanced study of a selected Modernist writer or small group of writers. The course will pursue the development of a single author's work over the course of his or her entire career or it may focus on a small group of thematically or historically related writers.

Topics in the literature and culture of the Romantic movement. Topics vary from year to year and may include Romantic nationalism, the Romantic novel, the British 1790s, or American or Canadian Romanticism.
Pre-1900 course

Advanced study of a selected Victorian writer or small group of writers. The course will pursue the development of a single author's work over the course of his or her entire career or it may focus on a small group of thematically or historically related writers.
Pre-1900 course

This course will explore the portrayal of the human-robot relationship in conjunction with biblical and classical myths. The topic is timely in view of the pressing and increasingly uncanny facets of non-divine, non-biological creation that attend the real-world production and marketing of social robots. While the course looks back to early literary accounts of robots in the 1960s, it concentrates on works written in or after the 1990s. The course aims to analyze how a particular narrative treatment of the robot-human relationship potentially alters our understanding of its mythical intertext and, by extension, notions of divinity, humanity, gender, animality, disability, and relations of kinship and care.

Advanced study of a genre or genres not typically categorized as “literature”, including different theoretical approaches and/or the historical development of a genre. Possible topics might include science fiction, fantasy, gothic, horror, romance, children’s or young adult fiction, or comics and graphic novels.

An in-depth examination of a theme or topic though literary texts, films, and/or popular culture. This seminar course will be organized around a particular topic and will include texts from a variety of traditions. Topics might include, for example, “Disability and Narrative” or “Technology in Literature and Popular Culture.”

This advanced seminar will focus on a selected writer or a small group of writers whose literary work engages with themes of politics, revolution and/or resistance. The course will pursue the development of a single author's work over their entire career, or the development of a small group of thematically or historically related writers, and may include film and other media. Topics will vary year to year.

Advanced study of a selected Canadian writer or small group of writers. The course will pursue the development of a single author's work over the course of his or her entire career or it may focus on a small group of thematically or historically related writers.

Topics in the literature and culture of Canada. Topics vary from year to year and may include advanced study of ethics, haunting, madness, or myth; or a particular city or region.

This seminar will usually provide advanced intensive study of a selected American poet each term, following the development of the author's work over the course of his or her entire career. It may also focus on a small group of thematically or historically related poets.

This seminar course will usually provide advanced intensive study of a selected American prose-writer each term, following the development of the author's work over the course of his or her entire career. It may also focus on a small group of thematically or historically related prose-writers.

Topics might explore the representation of religion in literature, the way religious beliefs might inform the production of literature and literary values, or literature written by members of a particular religious group.

A study of Arab North-American writers from the twentieth century to the present. Surveying one hundred years of Arab North-American literature, this course will examine issues of gender, identity, assimilation, and diaspora in poetry, novels, short stories, autobiographies and nonfiction.

A study of the remarkable contribution of women writers to the development of Canadian writing. Drawing from a variety of authors and genres (including novels, essays, poems, autobiographies, biographies, plays, and travel writing), this course will look at topics in women and Canadian literature in the context of theoretical questions about women's writing.

An analysis of features of Canadian writing at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. This course will consider such topics as changing themes and sensibilities, canonical challenges, and millennial and apocalyptic themes associated with the end of the twentieth century.

Topics vary from year to year and might include Victorian children's literature; city and country in Victorian literature; science and nature in Victorian writing; aestheticism and decadence; or steampunk.
Pre-1900 course

Feminist scholar, Gloria Anzaldua writes in Borderlands/La Frontera, “I cannot separate my writing from any part of my life. It is all one.” In this class, students will engage with a genre-expansive survey of non-linear and experimental forms of life writing in which lived experience inspires and cultivates form. Some of these genres include flash fiction, auto-theory, auto-fiction, book length essays, ekphrasis, anti-memoir, performance texts, and many others. This course is rooted in intersectional feminist philosophy as a foundational tool for interdisciplinary practice. Throughout the semester, we will explore theoretical approaches that center decolonial literary analysis. We will pair these readings with literature that exemplifies these approaches. In this class, “the personal is political” is the fertile center for our rigorous process of writing and craft excavation.

The study of films from major movements in the documentary tradition, including ethnography, cinema vérité, social documentary, the video diary, and "reality television". The course will examine the tensions between reality and representation, art and politics, technology and narrative, film and audience.

A practical introduction to the tools, skills and knowledge-base required to publish in the digital age and to sustain a professional creative writing career. Topics include: the publishing landscape, pitching creative work, and employment avenues for creative writers. Will also include a workshop component (open to all genres).

An intensive year-long seminar that supports students in the development of a major independent scholarly project. Drawing on workshops and peer review, bi-monthly seminar meetings will introduce students to advanced research methodologies in English and will provide an important framework for students as they develop their individual senior essays. Depending on the subject area of the senior essay, this course can be counted towards the Pre-1900 requirement.