Web Site of the Department
Head of Department : Aslı Tekinay
Associate Department Head: Ayşe Naz Bulamur Baypınar
Professors : Kim Fortuny, Matthew Gumpert, Cevza Sevgen†, Aslı Tekinay, Ayşe Naz Bulamur Baypınar
Associate Professors : Özlem Görey, Özlem Öğüt
Assistant Professors : Burcu Kayışcı Akkoyun, Başak Demirhan, Jameson Kısmet Bell
Instructors : Dr. Aylin Alkaç, Dr. Cihan Yurdaün
*Part-time
† Professor Emeritus
MASTER OF ARTS PROGRAM
The MA Program in English at Boğaziçi University is designed to be a rigorous education in modern English literature and an exploration of the very idea of the modern – one that has its roots, it goes without saying, in the literature and culture of the past. Building upon the broad base of an undergraduate education in literature or the humanities, the MA in English focuses upon the major genres of English literature, while at the same time demanding a thorough training in the most significant and influential critical approaches to the literary text.
Courses in critical theory, fiction, poetry and drama offer students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of particular modes, historical moments, or motifs in modern literature. The 25-credit program is composed of six 4-credit courses – two courses of theory, one of fiction, one of poetry, one of drama and one elective course – and a 1-credit course on methods of research, proposal and paper writing. The coursework requires intensive reading and research as well as seminar reports and discussions. Upon completion of the 25-credit coursework, students write a thesis supervised by their academic advisor. They defend their theses in front of a committee. Students who graduate with an MA in English will be ideally placed to begin a doctoral program in any number of fields in the humanities and the social sciences, including programs in English language and literature, comparative literature, and cultural criticism.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM
The aim of the Ph.D. program in English Literature is to prepare students to be productive scholars, intelligent critics of literature, and competent academics.
Candidates for admission must fulfill the requirements specified in the regulations of the Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences.
The program requires the successful completion of 25 credits, followed in turn by a qualifying examination, the formal proposal, the writing of a dissertation and its defense.
The student chooses three areas of concentration, building upon his/her master's background, and then focuses upon a field of interest which may be a historical period, a genre, or literary theory and criticism. The qualifying examination tests knowledge in-depth of the areas of concentration and also awareness of the methods of critical interpretation. Each student submits a dissertation in a form approved by his/her dissertation director and by a committee appointed by the department.
The major areas of concentration are Medieval Literature, Renaissance Literature, 17th and 18th Century Literature, Romantic and Victorian Literature, Modern English Literature, and Theory of Criticism.
Each student must take one course in three of these areas followed by two special study courses or doctoral seminars in his/her area of special interest designed to give an early focus to his/her work on the dissertation.
A final public oral examination is given after the candidate's dissertation has been read and approved. The following topics are to be covered in the examination: a justification of the subject treated and the methods chosen, an account of any new contributions made. The student must develop and answer a series of questions growing out of subjects presented in the dissertation.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
EL 500 Medieval English Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Ortaçağ İngiliz Edebiyatı)
A study of medieval English literature with reference to specific authors such as Langland, Gower and Chaucer and to selected texts in Middle English.
EL 501 Poetry and Prose of the English Renaissance (4+0+0) 4
(İngiliz Rönesansında Şiir ve Düzyazı)
A study of the development of English lyric poetry and the sonnet form with special reference to the works of Sidney and Spenser; the main prose works of the period, reflecting the literary, social and cultural trends of the age.
EL 502 Earlier English Drama (4+0+0) 4
(İngiliz Tiyatrosunun İlk Devri)
A study of the rise of English drama; miracle and morality plays; history plays of the sixteenth century with special reference to Marlowe and Shakespeare; textual criticism of selected plays.
EL 503 Drama of the Elizabethan Period (4+0+0) 4
(Elizabeth Devri Tiyatrosu)
The study of the works of major playwrights with reference to the conventions of the Elizabethan stage.
EL 504 Crosscurrents in English Literature of the Seventeenth Century (4+0+0) 4
(Onyedinci Yüzyıl İngiliz Edebiyatında Başlıca Akımlar)
The Metaphysical poets; the poetry of John Milton; the prose works of the period with reference to the philosophical and scientific works of Thomas Hobbes, Isaac Newton and the Cambridge Platonists.
EL 505 Eighteenth Century English Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Onsekinci Yüzyıl Edebiyatı)
A study of the significant literary works of the age, with reference to contemporary philosophical and cultural trends in Europe.
EL 506 Early Nineteenth Century English Literature (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Ondokuzuncu Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında İngiliz Edebiyatı)
The works of Coleridge and Wordsworth, and also study of the critical thought of the age. The rise and development of the English Romantic movement, the poetry of Shelley, Keats and Byron.
EL 507 English Literature of the Later Nineteenth Century (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Ondokuzuncu Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında İngiliz Edebiyatı)
The greater Victorian poets, prose writers and thinkers (Thomas Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold) and the major novelists (Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray).
EL 508 Studies in Modern English Drama (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Modern İngiliz Tiyatrosu)
Main currents in modern English drama from Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw to the English theater of the 1950's and after.
EL 509 Studies in Modern Criticism (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Çağdaş Eleştiri)
Main currents in modern and contemporary criticism; theory and its application to selected works.
EL 510 Shakespeare (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Shakespeare)
A critical and historical approach to the dramatic and non-dramatic works of Shakespeare.
EL 511 Seminar in Modern English Literature (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Modern İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
An intensive study of selected works by major contemporary poets, novelists and/or playwrights.
EL 512 The English Novel and its Poetics (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(İngiliz Romanı)
The central English tradition, with an examination of the novel with emphasis on problems of form, structure and genre theory.
EL 579 Graduate Seminar (0+1+0) Non-credit ECTS 5
(Lisansüstü Seminer)
Seminars offered by faculty, guest speakers and/or graduate students designed to widen students' perspectives on specific topics of interest and to expand their range of scientific research techniques and publication ethics.
EL 580-588, 590-599 Advanced Topics in English Literature (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(İngiliz Edebiyatında İleri Düzeyde Seçme Konular)
Advanced study in literary genres, movements, forms or authors. Topics vary from year to year.
EL 589 Readings in English Literature (1+0+0) 1 ECTS 5
(İngiliz Edebiyatında Okumalar)
Supervised reading in areas in areas of special interest to the student.
EL 601 Beowulf (4+0+0) 4
(Beowulf)
Intensive study of the Old English epic, including questions of interpretation, prosody and oral presentation.
EL 602 Chaucer (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Chaucer)
A study of Chaucer's works including his French and Italian periods, and his later English phase. The critical problems implicit in his works are to be given special emphasis.
EL 603 Allegory and Romance (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Alegori ve Romans)
A study of complaints, dream-visions and romances of the medieval period. Works to be discussed include "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", "Piers the Ploman", "Mort D' Arthur" and "The Pearl", as well as Boethius' "Consolation" and "The Romance of the Rose".
EL 611 Shakespeare's Tragedies (4+0+0) 4
(Shakespeare'in Tragedyaları)
A study of the major plays, with emphasis on special problems related to interpretation.
EL 612 Shakespeare's Comedies (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Shakespeare'in Komedyaları)
A study of development, form and content in selected comedies, with emphasis on the ways dramatic conventions are employed.
EL 613 Spenser (4+0+0) 4
(Spenser)
A study of the "Faerie Queen" in the context of classical and humanist thought and against a background of epic and romance.
EL 614 Milton (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Milton)
Close reading and critical study of "Paradise Lost", with attention to "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes".
EL 621 Poetry from Donne to Marvell (4+0+0) 4
(Donne'dan Marvell'e Şiir)
An examination of the major poets of the period, analyzing significant areas of style and content on the one hand and of intellectual and cultural traditions on the other.
EL 622 Seventeenth Century Prose (4+0+0) 4
(Onyedinci Yüzyılda Düzyazı)
Classical traditions, beliefs, the new science and the literary imagination as reflected in the works of major prose writers including Bacon, Donne, Johnson, Bunyan and Dryden.
EL 623 Augustan and Eighteenth Century Satire (4+0+0) 4
(Onsekizinci Yüzyılda Hiciv)
Tradition and innovation in formal and prose satire with readings in Dryden, Pope, Swift and Dr. Johnson. Satirical works by others including Gay and Burns will also be noticed.
EL 624 Comedy from 1660 to 1800 (4+0+0) 4
(1660'dan 1800'e Komedya)
Selected major drama from the reopening of the theaters to the end of the 18th century; plays by Restoration dramatists (Wycherley, Etherege, Congreve and Farquhar), Sheridan and Goldsmith.
EL 625 The Eighteenth Century Novel (4+0+0) 4
(Onsekizinci Yüzyıl Romanı)
The rise of the novel, followed by a discussion of complex interactions of the novel with other forms and with the social context. Readings include works by Richardson, Fielding, Sterne and others.
EL 631 English Romanticism (4+0+0) 4
(İngiliz Romantikleri)
A generic study of Wordsworth and Coleridge, concentrating upon the romantic view of poetry, criticism, nature and the self. The work of art in its relation to experience, sensation and personal history will be at the center of the intensive study of major poems.
EL 632 The Victorians (4+0+0) 4
(Viktorya Döneminde Şiir)
A study of the works by Tennyson, Browning and the pre-Raphaelites with special attention to the persistence and permutations of Romantic forms and motifs. Topics will include Victorian Medievalism and Hellenism, poetic texture and form, the relation between poetry and painting.
EL 633 Victorian Prose (4+0+0) 4
(Viktorya Döneminde Düzyazı)
Readings in the representative essays and selected works of Carlyle, Arnold, Ruskin, Pater and Newman with emphasis on the relation of the writer to society, and the relationship between aesthetic values and beliefs.
EL 634 The Victorian Novel (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Viktorya Döneminde Roman)
Literary and social concerns in the novels of Thackeray, Dickens, Trollope, and George Eliot with attention to the central English tradition.
EL 641 Joyce and the Modern English Novel (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Joyce ve Modern İngiliz Romanı)
Intensive study of major works by Joyce, as well as by Woolf and D.H. Lawrence in the context of the intellectual and aesthetic trends of the early 20th century. The course will concentrate on stylistic and philosophical differences between the works to be discussed.
EL 642 Yeats and Eliot (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Yeats ve Eliot)
A course on modernism in poetry; stress will be put on the styles of metrical construction, poetic structure and philosophical understanding which produce the specific character of these poets respectively.
EL 643 Fiction and Meta-Fiction (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Kurgu ve Meta-Kurgu)
A course on postmodernist trends in the novel focusing on the consciousness of the fictional nature of fiction and of the literary nature of criticism. Selected readings will include Fowles, Barth, D.N. Thomas and others.
EL 651 Contemporary Literary Theory: From New Criticism to Structuralism (4+0+0) 4
(Çağdaş Yazın Kuramı: Yeni Eleştiriden Yapısalcılığa Kadar)
A course on the role of criticism in 20th century intellectual history, and the theoretical analysis of its basic assumptions, with readings from I. A. Richards. T. S. Eliot, Frye, Jacobson and Culler.
EL 652 Contemporary Literary Theory: From Structuralism to Post Structuralism (4+0+0) 4
(Çağdaş Yazın Kuramı: Yapısalcılık ve Yapısalcılık Ötesi)
The problems of signification, subjectivity, meaning and communication will be discussed, with readings from Barthes, Iser, Holland, Fish and Derrida.
EL 680-688, 691-699 Special Studies in English Literature (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(İngiliz Yazınında Özel Konular)
A group of courses designed for doctoral students, involving research and writing in a restricted field not covered in other courses or seminars.
Doctoral Seminars:
Tutorial courses in topics of special interest for the individual doctoral student, involving extensive research and written/oral reports closely supervised by the instructor.
EL 670 Seminar in Medieval English Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Ortaçağ İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
EL 671 Seminar in Elizabethan Literature (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Elizabeth Dönemi Semineri)
EL 672 Seminar in 17th Century English Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Onyedinci Yüzyıl İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
EL 673 Seminar in 18th Century English Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Onsekizinci Yüzyıl İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
EL 674 Seminar in Romantic and Victorian Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Ondokuzuncu Yüzyıl İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
EL 675 Seminar in Modern English Literature (4+0+0) 4 ECTS 10
(Modern İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
EL 676 Seminar in Post Modern English Literature (4+0+0) 4
(Postmodern İngiliz Edebiyatı Semineri)
EL 677 Seminar in Contemporary Literary Theory (4+0+0) 4
(Çağdaş Yazın Kuramı Semineri)
EL 689 Special Studies in English Literature (1+0+0) 1 ECTS 5
(İngiliz Edebiyatı Çalışmaları)
Guided readings on topics related to the individual research interests of the student.
EL 690 Research and Thesis ECTS 60
(Araştırma ve Tez)
The thesis is an essential requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature. Students are required to carry out careful research on an approved topic and to produce a substantial piece of scholarly writing under the supervision of their advisors. A comprehensive oral examination, which may also cover other areas in the graduate program not directly connected with the topic of research, will be part of the defense of the thesis.
EL 700 Graduate Seminar (0+1+0) 0 ECTS 5
(Lisansüstü Seminer)
Seminars offered by faculty, guest speakers and graduate students designed to widen students' perspectives on specific topics of interest and to expand their range of scientific research techniques and publication ethics.
EL 790 Doctoral Dissertation ECTS 120
(Doktora Tezi)
