The Colloquium Comps option for the Senior Integrative Exercise offers students the chance to integrate the skills and knowledge they have acquired as English majors by reading, discussing in small groups, and writing about a list of works organized around a theme, topic, or literary question. The list, provided by the department, draws upon works from the range of the major. The intellectual pleasure and rigor of this comps option balances breadth, close reading, and critical analysis through group and individual work.

The colloquium process begins in the fall with a group proposal arguing for minor modifications to the list (the proposal process is described in more detail below). Students may begin reading and planning over winter break, and then, following a syllabus that each colloquium group devises, will conduct regular, self-directed seminar meetings throughout winter term.

To inform their discussions, students will do supplemental research on the list’s primary texts and critical questions. In the last few weeks of winter term, students individually will compose either one or two comparative essays on topics of their own choosing, with a total count of approximately 5,000 words.  Students who choose to write a single essay should discuss at least three texts from the list.  All students should demonstrate attention to the breadth of the list; e.g., in terms of eras, genres, traditions, and/or critical claims, and make appropriate use of their research. After writing first drafts, students will revise their work through a structured process of peer review.

Finally, in the spring, the colloquium work will culminate in a group presentation given at the departmental symposium.


2024-25 Colloquium Comps

  • Coordinators: Greg Hewett & George Shuffelton

The Body in Text and the Body as Text 

How do we write the body? How do writers imagine the relationship between material bodies and literary form?  How do denigrated/minority bodies enact unconventional modes of expression through physical or non-linguistic utterance? How do authors utilize elements of the grotesque, magical realism, or the supernatural to craft the Othered body in text?  How have ideas of the posthuman, including advances in technology and artificial intelligence as well as renewed interest in the connections between humans and other animals, changed our thinking about embodiment? 

Reading List (Revised):

PROSE

Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin

The Antelope Woman, Louise Erdrich

“Real Women Have Bodies,” Carmen Maria Machado

Beloved, Toni Morrison

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh

The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson

The Italian, Ann Radcliffe

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

Blackouts, Justin Torres

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson

POETRY

‘Ellen West,’ Frank Bidart

“Dedication to Hunger,” Louise Gluck

‘Deer Dancer,’ Joy Harjo

“The Vulture and the Body,” Ada Limon

“A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body,” Andrew Marvell

Sonnet 20, William Shakespeare

“Song,” Tracy K. Smith

“The Lady’s Dressing Room,” Jonathan Swift

“The Reasons that Induced Dr. S. to Write,” Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

“I Sing the Body Electric,” Walt Whitman

THEATER

Dutchman, Amiri Baraka

M. Butterfly, David Henry Hwang

The Changeling, Middleton & Rowley

Machinal, Sophie Treadwell

FILM

Ex Machina, dir. Alex Garland

The Pillow Book, dir. Peter Greenaway

CRITICISM

Bodies that Matter, Judith Butler (Chapter 1, “Bodies that Matter”)

“The Enjambed Body: A Step Toward a Crippled Poetics,” Jim Ferris

The Cancer Journals, Audre Lorde (Introduction and Part 1, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”)

The Body in Pain, Elaine Scarry (Introduction)

A. In the Fall of senior year students submit a written group proposal consisting of:

  1. A list of two or three texts the group wishes to add to the departmental Colloquium list. The group may also propose a subtraction.
  2. A rationale for the proposed additions or deletions. The explanation should address:
    • How these texts contribute to a conversation about the topic;
    • How the list changes as a result of your choices;
    • How the questions that the topic poses can be worked through with your additional texts;
  3. The proposal should be at least two pages long. 

Examples of successful proposals are in Dropbox.

B. The final Colloquium Comps will consist of:

  1. Approximately 5,000 words of essay writing due at the end of winter term of senior year
  2. A public presentation by the group at the English Comps symposium in the spring term on what was learned in the process of constructing a syllabus, discussing the works on the list, and writing the essay(s).

C. What does an ideal Colloquium Comps Essay look like?

  • Successfully addresses a literary, critical and/or theoretical question or problem
  • Articulates a cogent and insightful thesis in answer to this question or problem
  • Develops this thesis into a coherent and illuminating argument
  • Argument is based upon well-chosen evidence
  • Shows the pertinence of such evidence by sophisticated analysis, close reading, and/or careful exposition
  • Shows mastery of a broad range of relevant literary, critical, methodological and/or theoretical concepts and texts
  • Paper clearly exhibits an extremely effective organizing structure
  • Is precisely and/or eloquently written
  • Is almost entirely free from mechanical error

Examples of successful Colloquium Essays are in Dropbox.


Key Dates & Deadlines, 2024-25

Junior Year

Spring Term:

  • Thursday, May 2, Common Time: Mandatory Comps meeting
  • Advising week: Conversation with advisers about Comps options
  • Colloquium list sent to majors and posted on department website

Senior Year

Fall Term:

  • Weeks 1-5: Colloquium students will meet together and discuss ideas for potential additions or deletions to the list.  The group will draft a proposal.
  • Noon on Thursday, October 24: Group proposal due – The proposal should be emailed to Greg Hewett and George Shuffelton. Revisions of the proposal may be required.
  • Tuesday, October 29, Common Time: Research visit with reference librarian Adam Lewis

Winter Term:

  • Weeks 1-6: Weekly readings and discussions of the works on the list
  • 2nd week: Meeting with czars to discuss organization of syllabus
  • 6th week: Meeting with czars to discuss how to develop literary arguments drawing upon the list
  • 7th week: Begin to draft essay(s); group may continue to meet
  • 8th week: Finish drafting essay(s); peer review
  • 9th week: More peer review
  • Last day of classes (Wednesday, March 12): Final essays due by 5 p.m. Check the comps submission guidelines for further instructions.

Spring Term: 

  • Students receive evaluations of their essays. Revisions to essays, if required, due at noon, Monday, April 28 (beginning of 5th week).
  • Saturday, May 10: Group presentation at the English Comps Symposium.