The coursework turns from the early-modern to the modern when Damrosch discusses the work of philosopher Charles Taylor, who writes about "the senses of inwardness, freedom, individuality and being embedded in nature which are at home in the modern West."

Damrosch says he will present the idea that the "self" is conditioned as a product of society, so true freedom of action isn't much of a reality.

Sounds a bit trendy. But Damrosch says he'll make sure the class sticks to its traditional English roots.

"Modern theorists have much to tell us about this subject," he writes in the syllabus, "but rather than permit the interpretation of texts to be controlled by recent theoretical paradigms, the course will go back behind them to consider the seedbed from which modern concepts originally grew."

Papa. Puh-pah. Pappy.

Linguistics 80: "Dialects of English" studies all varieties of English spoken in the world today, both American and international.

"I decided to develop the class four years ago, when it became clear to me that there was a lot of interest among the undergraduate population as a whole in language and the study of language," says Bert R. Vaux, an assistant professor of linguistics. "But we were not addressing this interest in our departmental course offerings."