Department of English, University of Wisconsin

[photo] Method Man as Calvin Wagstaff in The Wire

Theorizing The Wire

Very rarely does a course come along that assigns, “Watch all 5 seasons of HBO’s The Wire” as a pre-requisite. However, in Caroline Levine’s and Lew Friedland’s fall faculty seminar entitled “Representing Culture in the Age of Networks,” the Baltimore-based police drama is a central part of the syllabus.

Noam Chomsky Makes Surprise Visit to UW Linguistic Community

On April 6, 2009, linguist Noam Chomsky was in Madison to deliver talks on US foreign policy—his favored subject of recent years. A group of thirty or so members of the UW community were privileged to a surprise appearance...

English Ph.D. Candidate, Mukoma wa Ngugi's Nairobi Heat to be released

"When a beautiful blonde girl is found murdered on the porch of an African university professor in Maple Bluff, Madison, USA, hard-working detective Ishmael Fofona knows immediately that it will be the news event of the year."

The Curse of Beowulf is Dead!

The curse of Beowulf has finally been laid to rest, reports UW – Madison Professor of English John D. Niles. Ever since the third, revised version of Frederic Klaeber’s scholarly edition of Beowulf appeared in print in 1950, the same story has repeated itself with terrifying regularity.

“Whad’Ya Know?” “Not Much, You?”

A widely syndicated Associated Press article about DARE by reporter Ryan Foley last March resulted in quite a barrage of publicity for the project: Chief Editor Joan Houston Hall was asked to do radio interviews for stations in Portland, Dallas, Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Marais, Minnesota, and Concord, New Hampshire...

Features

Assistant Professor of 20th/21st Century British and Irish Literature.

The English Department is searching for an outstanding teacher-scholar specializing in post-1945 British and Irish literature, with complementary expertise in Anglophone literatures, and/or 20th century modernism.

Assistant Professor of Composition & Rhetoric

The English Department is searching for an outstanding teacher-scholar in composition & rhetoric, at the beginning to advanced assistant professor rank.

Composition@UW

English 201: Intermediate Composition

The English 201 web site provides information and resources for 201 teachers and students, both prospective and current. Our resources will also be useful for other teachers who focus on writing and for student writers in other classes.

Below are more writing resources for students, instructors and the community:

Giving Back

Through the generosity of our alumni and other donors to the department, we’ve been able to provide resources to our students to support their work inside and outside of the classroom, and to our faculty to support innovative teaching and cutting-edge research.

Upcoming Events…

Nov 14

Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi - Book Launch

Mukoma wa Ngugi, English Ph.D. candidate, returns to Madison for the debut of his first novel: 2:00 pm at the Rainbow Book Cooperative.
Nov 16

Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium

(Some of) What a Writing Center Director Needs to Know

Chair’s Corner

The Fall semester has gotten off to an exciting beginning. Despite the H1N1 specter all our classes are meeting. Just as some of our students are reading for the first time of the Canterbury pilgrimage, each of us has begun a pilgrimage through a set of readings and written assignments that will change and enlarge our minds and sensibilities. Walking across campus in brilliant sunshine, among the hum and buzz of students, one can’t help feeling glad—as I did this week--for the privilege of spending an hour or so talking with class members about T. S. Eliot’s Prufrock character...

Department of English

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