Welcome to the web of
Franz Burnier
Department of Liberal Arts/English
Office: IC 3089f Phone: 630-942-3958
email: burnier@cdnet.cod.edu
Your Western heads here cast on money,
You are the two that fade away together,
Partners in the mist.
Lunging buffalo shoulder,
Lean Indian face,
We who come after where you are gone
Salute your forms on the new nickel.
You are
To us:
The past.
Runners
On the prairie:
Good-by.
-Carl Sandburg, Chicago Poems
-Kiowa ghost dance song for the resurrection of the buffalo
As the above poem suggests, Illinois has a rich history, exemplified by such towering figures as Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, and a literary landscape dominated by two contrasting images: the prairie and Chicago.
-for more information on the Illinois prairie, click here.
- for more information on Chicago history, click here,
or explore other links to Chicago.
English 1101:
the first of two courses in the one-year composition sequence, introduces
students to college-level writing as a process of developing and supporting a
thesis in an organized essay.
review the textbook Rereading America, 7th edition.
English 1102: the second course in the two-course composition sequence. Students continue to develop experience in reading, thinking, and writing critically by writing essays that demonstrate ability to analyze and evaluate the ideas of others and integrate them into their own writing. Reinforces student experience with the conventions of standard written English and the conventions of documentation, while developing student ability to carry out independently the proper method and responsibilities of research.
review the textbook Literature: The Human Experience, 9th edition.
For more information on issues related to writing and research,
check the St. Cloud handbook or MLA style.
English 1150: preview the textbook Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary.
In English 1150, selected short stories will be read and
discussed to increase students' understanding and enjoyment of this literary
form. The course will enhance
students' reading skills for analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of short
fiction. 3 credit hours.
English 2226, Masterpieces of World Literature will offer opportunities to learn about other cultures, other people, society, history, politics, and the inner working of the human heart and mind. Course readings will range from the classics of ancient Greece to Shakespeare, and from modern masterpieces by authors such as Melville, Dickens, and Tolstoy to twentieth century winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. 3 credit hours.
For more information about literary periods and history, try this site.
Interested in literature and landscape? Click here.
Interested in solving the mystery of the white whale? Click here, or view Melville's house.
Do you like to read for pleasure and knowledge? Do you like to travel around the world--without ever leaving your chair? Do you need a class for credit in HUMANITIES? If so, then check the College of DuPage catalog, and register for English 1130, Introduction to Literature; English 1150, Short Fiction; American Literature, listed as English 2223, 2224, and 2225; or English 2226, Masterpieces of World Literature.
Why literature? When the 19th century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was told, during a heated parliamentary debate, that a wise man learns from experience, Bismarck replied, "No, a fool learns from experience. A wise man learns from the experience of others." While Bismarck was never known for his literary talent, his comment has important meaning for students of literature...
simply because literature is a timeless "window to the world," and offers unlimited opportunities to learn from the experience of others. There is almost nothing one may experience in the world that has not already been experienced by someone, some where, who has written about his or her experience in captivating language.
Even the titles of just a few popular works illustrate the breadth and depth of human experience as portrayed through literature: War and Peace, Love and Intrigue, Hard Times, The Confidence Man, The Clown and even Much Ado about Nothing. Sound familiar? To paraphrase Nike: just READ it!
Don't be a STOOGE...
If you value EDUCATION, send us your views! Auf Wiedersehen..