English and Literary Arts

Office: Sturm Hall, Room 495
Mail Code: 2000 E. Asbury Ave. Denver, CO 80208
Phone:  303-871-2266
Email:  noah.west@du.edu
Web Site: http://www.du.edu/ahss/schools/english

The undergraduate mission of the Department of English and Literary Arts is to help fulfill the University’s commitment to provide a liberal undergraduate education and to contribute to the University’s general education program. For most of its 150-year history, the academic study of English has been the study of literatures written in this language. That is, the focus of English study includes the history, production and interpretation of literature in English with accompanying emphasis on critical reception of texts, on the diverse cultures that contextualize literary writing and on other kinds of “texts.” No single perspective dominates the study of this discipline. Recently, it has also become apparent that even predominantly English-speaking cultures are highly diverse and comprise many different cultures in different languages. In broad terms, then, the discipline of English and Literary Arts at DU includes a) the study of the history of literature in English and in English translation; b) the production of literature as a creative act; and c) the interpretation of literature within the context of aesthetics, which has a complex relationship to social, economic, cultural and political conditions. Like most English departments, we accommodate several different approaches to and emphases on the study of literature and the teaching of creative writing. However, the Department of English and Literary Arts is united in its acceptance of these three broad activities of study as aspects of our mission.