Jason Gladstone’s research and teaching focus on the interrelations of American literature, environments, and media—primarily in the post-1945 period. He is completing the manuscript for his first book, Lines in the Dirt: American Postmodernism and The Failure of Technology, which focuses on a set of postwar works of American literature, visual art, and critical theory.
keywords
Literature and Environment, Literature and Media, Literature and Technology, American Literature, Post-1945 American Literature Art and Film, Nineteenth- Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century American Literature and Culture, Literary Aesthetic and Media Theory
ENGL 1230 - Environmental Literature
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2021
This course explores the conjunctions of literature and environments: natural, built, and/or virtual. Students consider literary confrontations with issues such as ecological crises, climate change, human impact on the planet, technics and indigeneity, non-human animals and inhuman agencies, future natures, and environmental justice. Readings may include novels, non-fiction, short fiction, poems, graphic novels, and more.
ENGL 1240 - Planetarity
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
Focuses on post-WWII American writing and thought about the planet and humanity. We explore how postwar efforts to transform the terrestrial environmental and conquer outer space raise questions about humanity, technology, and nature. We also study how earth and space serve novelists, artists, and film-makers as environments to confront large-scale questions about culture, identity, and power.
ENGL 2102 - Literary Analysis
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Spring 2023
Students will build skills in careful, detailed reading and critical writing. Focusing on poetry, prose, and plays, the course cultivates an understanding of literary forms and genres and introduces techniques and vocabulary essential for the study of literature.
ENGL 2112 - Introduction to Literary Theory
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022
This course introduces students to a wide range of critical theories essential to the study of literature. Critical theories have broad applications because they provide ways to interpret all cultural products, including visual arts, music, and writing. We will investigate some of the major movements relevant to literary studies, which may include, for example, cultural studies, structuralism, feminisms, ecocriticism, critical race theories, postmodern theory, media theories, etc.
ENGL 2212 - Science Fiction
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Fall 2024
This course examines science fiction novels, short stories, and movies, paying close attention to what they teach us about our world. How do these works speculate about the future and alternative realms, and how do they portray our hopes and fears for the promises and limits of technology? Science fiction thinks about ways in which bodies, individuals, and societies might be different, and imagines ways of being and living other than our present.
ENGL 3008 - The Novel After 1900
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Spring 2022 / Fall 2022
This course explores developments in the novel after 1900. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries witness multiple experiments in the genre as the novel keeps being invented anew. Students will learn about a range of different novelistic styles and trends in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which may include: modernism, socialist realism, postmodernism, postcolonialism, proletariat writing, domestic and feminist fiction, queer fiction, autobiography, magical realism, encyclopedic novels, climate change fiction, middlebrow fiction, speculative fiction.
ENGL 3856 - Topics in Genre Studies
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Spring 2021 / Spring 2023
Studies special topics in genre studies; specially designed for English majors. Topics vary each semester. May be repeated for a total of 6 credit hours for different topics.
ENGL 4039 - Capstone in Literary Studies
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Fall 2020
Topic varies by section, but all sections include small seminar discussions and focus on an individualized research project related to the topic. This course will draw on skills from previous courses in critical reading, thinking, and writing and will culminate in high-level discussions and in the final project. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
ENGL 5529 - Studies in Special Topics 1
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Fall 2024
Studies special topics that focus on a theme, genre, or theoretical issue not limited to a specific period or national tradition. Topics vary each semester. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
FYSM 1000 - First Year Seminar
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Fall 2018
Provide first year students with an immersive experience in an interdisciplinary topic that addresses current issues including social, technical and global topics. Taught by faculty from across campus, the course provides students with an opportunity to interact in small classes, have project based learning experiences and gain valuable communication skills. Seminar style classes focused on discussion and projects.
