Whether you’re an avid reader, aspiring writer, or somewhere in between, Seattle University’s English Department has a place for you. With courses in literature, creative writing and writing studies we prepare you to read, write and create in a powerful way, while providing you a foundation to pursue and be successful in a variety of careers.
Through the study of different perspectives and voices in literary texts, you will develop a broad and deep understanding of a range of human experiences and expressions, so you can make a difference. With a passionate and dedicated faculty as well as several student-run organizations and study abroad opportunities, you will find both a support system and the tools to achieve your goals.
Designated a UNESCO World City of Literature, Seattle booms with passionate readers, writers and thinkers. With a campus nestled in the heart of Capitol Hill, you are just steps away from cinemas, theaters, iconic literary sites and more. Grab coffee at a local café as you study before a poetry reading or support a local author by buying their book at Elliott Bay Book Company.
Investigates various forms of the marvelous as they appeared throughout the Middle Ages. While we certainly deal with dragons, griffins, and lion-headed men, we also deal with marvelous encounters that are more intimate: the ways in which the category of the monstrous was used to define women as opposed to men; the miraculous visions and powers of saints; the interactions between the living and the dead in both "real life" and in dreams.
On a journey to other galaxies and others' worlds, you will meet strange beings, fight cosmic battles, view the end of time and the afterlife, and discover ultimate horizons and hopes. Texts and films include H.G. "Wells's War of the Worlds," Arthur Clark's "2001," Walter Miller's "Canticle for Leibowitz," Walker Percy's "The Thanatos Syndrome," Doris Lessing's "Memoirs of a Survivor," Terence Malick's "Tree of Life," Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," as well as "Elysium," "The Day After," and "Enders Game."
Murderous monkeys, cursed diamonds, drug addiction, bigamy, wicked half-brothers and step-mothers, genocidal alien-ghosts, and satanic hellhounds: detective fiction, like the detective him/herself, is a product of the nineteenth century. This course examines the history and evolution of the detective story. Together we will investigate the premise that detection—solving puzzles, uncovering crimes, revealing secrets—allowed authors to investigate such weighty issues as immigration, capitalism, and the rising voice and power of women. We will also discover that detection supplied a potent metaphor for the vexed relationship between readers and writers.
This course focuses on literary works from contemporary India to explore such topics as the emergence of English language writing in India, the formation of a postcolonial nation, shifting borders and boundaries, questions of socio-economic inequities, and globalization. We will study the history of English fiction in India within the context of political and social history and pay particular attention to questions of gender, religion, caste and class.
Writing effective fiction is about more than developing stories: It’s about creating a proxy for life. The challenge is, life slips around; it’s not easy to pin down. Becoming a fiction writer, then, means learning to encounter the ways that life contradicts itself. Moreover, it means learning to consider your audience carefully, as stories work best when both reader and writer can agree on a particular imagined view of the world.
Dive into cultural and literary inquiry as you grapple with the complex questions of justice and value that arise from a range of texts spanning various historical periods and the globe.
We take the stance that good readers make better writers. With a curriculum that blends literature and creative writing together, become both as you encounter literary inquiry and engage with contemporary writers.
Discover how writing expands past the classroom. With this minor, develop a deep sense of rhetorical awareness as you study different genres, forms of argumentation, rhetorical traditions and the impact of technological advancement, all underwritten with an understanding of how language, literacy, culture and identity impact structures of power.
Meet your peers, develop your writing (creative and academic) as well as editing and/or research skills, or help other students develop their own.
Established in 1958, we annually publish the best literary and visual art of the Seattle U community. Students can submit work, join the staff, or volunteer. Copies are available in the English Dept.
Developed to highlight undergraduate research, Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal publishes peer-reviewed student work, offering editorial apprenticeships in a credit-bearing program.
Kudos to our 2017-18 faculty and student award winners! Awards 17-18
Check out SU's Spring Internship Fair on Tuesday, April 17, in the Campion Ballroom from 11 AM - 2 PM.
Join us in the Popko Lounge on February 12 to commemorate Charles Darwin's birth.
Creative Writing to Host Book Launch and Panel Discussion Events in Winter 2018.
Learn about our 2017-18 Visiting Writers.
