SCHC 353 H01 25985

EngLit, HistoryCiv, Humanities, AIU

Notes:

How have the idea and the form of the modern book changed over the mid-20th and early 21st centuries? This course examines an international selection of postmodern texts (and a few exciting precursors) that have radically redefined the codex and the way it communicates. These texts experiment with typography, page layout, narrative sequence, and illustration, and they offer new perspectives on the relationship between print books and electronic texts. This should appeal to anyone interested in print and digital literature, in postmodern culture, in graphic design and other visual arts, in comics and graphic novels, and in interactive fiction/games. The unit on “bio poetry”—two texts that code a poem into a DNA sequence and then implant it inside a bacterium to truly make a “living poem”—should appeal to students with a biology background and interest in bio-engineering, as well as in the relation between science, science fiction, and poetry. Students will also be encouraged to start class by bringing in additional graphic novels, computer games, and codex experiments related to each course unit. A few of the texts we’ll be examining: Christian Bök’s The Xenotext ExperimentMark Z. Danielewski’s House of LeavesTom Phillips’s A Humument (5th edition)Art Spiegelman’s The Complete MAUSSteve Tomasula’s VAS: An Opera in Flatland (Chicago paperback edition.)Learning Outcomes:1. Learn about the forms and themes of postmodern poems and prose.2. Become familiar with recent genres such as artists’ books, palimpsests, graphic novels, hypertexts, and bio poetry as well as understand their ties to earlier twentieth-century page experiments. 3. Hone close reading analytical skills for the literary essay. Assignments:1. Post one comment or question on the class Blackboard discussion group for each creative book/e-text on the syllabus. 2. One plagiarism quiz. Must receive a grade of 80 or better.3. Two analytical papersa. Paper 1: a 3-page close reading analysis of one primary reading selection for one class day. b. Paper 2: a more focused 5-7 page paper, with a thesis argument and close reading analysis, of one primary reading selection.4. One creative project incorporating or responding to techniques from the class texts.