Week 1
(Jan. 10)Week 2
(Jan. 14-17)Week 3
(Jan 22-24)Week 4
(Jan 29-31)Week 5
(Feb. 5-7)Week 6
(Feb. 11-14)Week 7
(Feb. 18-21)Week 8
(Feb 26-28)Spring Break
(Mar. 2-10)Week 9
(Mar. 12-14)Week 10
(Mar. 19-21)Week 11
(Mar. 26-28)Week 12
(Apr. 1-4)Week 13
(Apr. 9-11)Week 14
(Apr. 16-18)Week 15
(Apr. 23)
Thursday -
Course procedures and requirements
Monday - Calhoun 204, 7:00-9:00Tuesday -View Suture (1993), directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
Jean Baudrillard, "The Ecstasy of Communication" (Reserve - Central Library)Thursday -Discuss Suture (1993).
Tuesday -Thursday -Read Ed Falco's hypertext short story for the Web, "Charmin' Cleary." (This story is presented by the Eastgate Web Reading Room.)
Terri Ford and Erik Lover, "Story Problem." This hypermedia is from Born Magazine: Art and Literature, Together (2002).
Directions: Before trying to open "Story Problem," right click on this frame and select "Open Frame in New Window." You need a Shockwave Player for this piece. If you don't have a Shockwave player, follow the directions to download a free copy from Macromedia. Read/view/play this short hypermedia piece several times. Experiment with it until you think you have gotten the point.
Read Mary-Kim Arnold and Matthew Derby's hypertext, "Kokura." (This story is presented by the Eastgate Web Reading Room.)
Recommended: Browse "Lasting Image" by Carolyn Guyer and Michael Joyce.
Tuesday -Thursday -Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985)
In class: Discuss The Matrix (1999), directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, in relation to Jean Baudrillard. For additional excerpts from Baudrillard's writings, see Baudrillard on the Web, a site maintained by Alan Taylor, University of Texas-Arlington.
Tuesday -Thursday -Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek (1991)
Monday - - Calhoun 204, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
View Being John Malcovitch (1999), directed by Spike Jonze
First Paper topics. Please submit papers as email attachments.
Tuesday -
In class: Discuss Being John MalcovitchThursday -
Monday -
New paper deadline - Friday, Feb. 22.Tuesday -
Thursday -Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies (1999)
Friday -
First paper due (5-7 pages) - 4:00 p.m., as email attachment.
Tuesday -Robert Stone, Damascus Gate (1998)
Thursday -
Tuesday -Thursday -
"In Camps, Arabs Cling to the dream of Before," New York Times (Sunday 10 March 2002): A1
Toni Morrison, Jazz (1992)
Chronology of Morrison's Jazz (to be revised by the class).
Tuesday -Thursday -Online Resources:
Harlem 1900-1940, An Exhibition Portfolio for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (highly recommended)Photography of James Van Der ZeeAnniina's Toni Morrison Page
Richard Powers, Plowing the Dark (2000)
Tuesday -Thursday -
Monday - Calhoun 204, 7:00-9:00 p.m.Tuesday -Screening of Memento (2000), directed by Christopher Nolan.
Thursday -
Discuss Memento (2000), directed by Christopher Nolan.
Read the first half of Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990).
Tuesday -Thursday -
No class.
Tuesday -Thursday -Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl (1990)
Background on canon formation. Examine the following lists: Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20C and Radcliffe Publishing Course's top 100 Novels of the Century.
Read Fredrick Jameson, excerpts from Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Electronic Reserve - Central Library).
Tuesday -Present Final Projects. This longer class session will count as the makeup class for the one canceled earlier in the semester.
Wednesday -
Second paper (5-7 pages) due - 4:00 p.m., as email attachment. Final projects are also due at this time.
Two papers (5-7 pages each) or one longer project will count for 80% of the semester's grade.
All written work should be turned in as email attachments.
Class participation will count for the remaining 20% of the grade. Learning to speak articulately about cultural issues is a valuable skill, which literature seminars are designed to foster. Pushing oneself to voice an informed opinion in public often forces a person to think more deeply and to respond to others, whereas listening passively can foster the tendency to accept others' ideas rather than work out one's own position. Speaking about specific features of the text also demonstrates that one has read the assigned material carefully.
Class participation grades will be calculated as follows:
Attendance at the great majority of classes will constitute the minimum passing standard and will establish one's participation grade as a D.
Speaking up only a few times during the course of the semester will constitute satisfactory performance and earn a grade of C.
Entering the discussion every couple of weeks will constitute average performance and will earn a grade of B.
Frequent participation, which is intelligent, respectful of others, and clearly oriented toward contributing to the class experience rather than scoring points or showing off, will constitute excellent performance and will earn a grade of A.
If anyone thinks he or she is put at a disadvantage by this policy, please come and speak with me during my office hours. By prior agreement, students may substitute weekly response papers of one-page in length for the class participation requirement.
Jay Clayton Vanderbilt University