|
|
|
W131 Elementary Composition
W143 Interdisciplinary Study of Expository Writing
W170 Projects in Reading and Writing
W202 English Grammar Review
W231 Professional Writing Skills
W240 Community Service Writing
W270 Argumentative Writing
W280 Literary Editing and Publishing
W321 Advanced Technical Writing
W350 Advanced Expository Writing
L141-L142 Introduction to Writing and the Study of Literature I-II
W131 ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION (3 Cr.)
W131 is a course in academic writing that attempts to integrate critical reading, thinking, and writing about phenomena and issues in our culture. Rather than practicing a set of discrete skills or often unrelated modes of discourse, the course aims to build sequentially on students' ability to read both written and cultural texts closely and critically and to analyze those texts in ways that also engage and problematize students' own experience, the perspectives of "experts," and the world they live in.
W131 aims to show students how the use of sources, agreement/disagreement, and personal response can be made to serve independent, purposeful, and well-supported analytical writing.
In summary, the course offers instruction and practice in the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills required in college. Emphasis is on written assignments that require synthesis, analysis, and argument based on sources.
W131 ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION - BASIC WRITING
The Composition program offers several sections of W131-Basic Writing (BW) each semester as well. In most important respects, the BW version of W131 is no different from other versions of W131: like other versions, the BW sections provide instruction and practice in the fundamental reading and writing skills required in college, emphasizing written assignments that require synthesis, analysis, and argument based on sources. In other respects, however, the BW version of W131 offers eligible students several advantages. For one, BW sections are considerably smaller than other W131 sections to allow for greater interaction between instructor and student. To this end, all BW sections are taught by experienced instructors who are committed to working closely with students. Eligibility to enroll in the Basic Writing sections of W131 is dependent on the student's reported ACT English or SAT Verbal scores. Eligible students are normally contacted by UDIV advising and made aware of this option, however any student who suspects they should be placed in a Basic Writing section of W131 should contact their advisor or one of the individuals below to determine eligibility:
Kristal Arsenault
(812) 855-1430
Department of English; Ballantine Hall 446
Joyce Miller
(812) 855-6768
University Division Advising; Maxwell Hall 101
Jelita Abel
(812) 855-3751
University Division Advising; Maxwell Hall 101
Eligibility is based on the following guidelines:
ACT ENGLISH 1-21 or SAT Critical Reading 200-460
Basic Writing STRONGLY ADVISED
ACT ENGLISH 22 or SAT Critical Reading 470-480
Basic Writing Recommended
Note: The Basic Writing section fulfills the English composition requirement. There is nothing that appears on a student's transcript to indicate that a BW section was taken rather than some other version of W131.
W131 ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION - MULTILINGUAL
ENG W131ML is designed for multilingual writers who might feel disadvantaged in other composition courses due to such factors as level of English proficiency, little experience writing in English, or unfamiliarity with American culture and educational practices. Like other sections of ENG W131, this course offers rigorous instruction in understanding college-level writing and research as a multivocal process. It bears the same amount of credit, requires the same amount of writing, and places the same emphasis on critical thinking, rhetorical moves, analytical writing, and synthesis as does ENG W131; but it encourages students to gain lexical knowledge in a particular issue or topic area, equips them to become more independent writers of English, and provides them with the opportunity to focus on specific linguistic concerns.
ENG W131ML also offers students a smaller class size and a setting that gives extra attention to learning the conventions related to academic writing in western traditions, as well as opportunities to consider how those conventions function cross-culturally. International and multilingual students who feel this section may be appropriate for them should contact either their own advisor or Medy Alfonso from University Division Advising in order to receive consent to register.
W143 INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF EXPOSITORY WRITING (1 cr.)
The study of writing in conjunction with a discipline outside English language and literature. Credit for this course will be available to students who enroll in special sections of non-English introductory courses that include a writing component. May be repeated once for credit.
W170 PROJECTS IN READING AND WRITING (3 cr.)
W170 represents an alternative to W131, satisfying the freshman composition requirement but designed to offer more intensive writing and reading instruction around some theme or question. Open to all freshmen, it typically attracts those who are slightly more serious about reading and writing and more comfortable assuming a greater responsibility for their own learning.
As a reading and writing course, W170 has essentially the same goals as W131. Both courses assume that students will write analytical, argumentative, and investigative academic essays based on sources and that they will take their papers through a full cycle of drafting and revising.
At the same time, while W131 and W170 share goals, there are some differences of emphasis between the two courses:
In W131, the focus is on academic writing in response to various cultural issues and phenomena. Thus, much of the course is organized around strategies of analysis and argument, with readings on various topics serving as material for observation, thinking, and writing.
In W170, the focus is on sustained inquiry (i.e., reading, writing, and critical thinking) concerning a single problem or topic that lasts throughout the semester. Thus, the course is organized around a broad question or problem and various strategies for analysis, argument, and research are taught when they are relevant for the conduct of the inquiry.
Fall '08 Topic Descriptions
TOPIC: The Legacy of the Medieval in Modern Culture
INSTRUCTOR: Bonnie Erwin
14722 MWF 9:05am – 9:55am KH 212
Living in the twenty-first century, we are hundreds of years removed from the close of the Middle Ages, yet the legacy of that distant era remains influential in shaping our ideas about our own culture. From recent bioterrorism warnings that invoke the loss of half of Europe in the medieval Black Death, to the continued use of the phrase “knight in shining armor” to label ideal masculinity, we in the present day often use cultural myths about the Middle Ages to shape our beliefs about our own era. In this class, our sequence of readings will focus primarily on a range of scholarly articles and book chapters, but will also include one novel and some short poetry. Our papers will respond to elements of these readings, but will also incorporate analysis of other cultural artifacts we examine, including film and television, as well as radio, internet media, and exhibits at the IU Art Museum and Lilly Library. Our investigations will be guided by the inquiry question: what do we seek to gain for our modern sense of self when we invoke the Middle Ages in a particular way?
While one major goal of the course will be to pursue a range of answers to our inquiry question, we will focus simultaneously on developing skills for analytical writing, reading, and thinking. W170 is designed to fulfill the University composition requirement; therefore, our sequence of readings and writings will not only introduce you to some key modes of argumentation you will encounter as you continue your college career, but will also help you to develop the skills necessary for success in your future written work.
TOPIC: Richly Informative or Infinitely Empty? Representing Outer Space from Earth
INSTRUCTOR: Michael Lewis
13973 TR 4:00pm – 5:15pm SY 103
Over the centuries—from Copernicus to H.G. Wells, Neil Armstrong to Stephen Hawking—the way humans have pictured the universe has changed significantly. Along the way, the arrangement and movement of celestial bodies and the nature of the space they inhabit have provided fodder for scientific research, religious prophecy, and philosophical inquiry. Depicted as both positive and negative—as the “final frontier” and the “great abyss”—space has been used as a symbol for a variety of ideals and fears. Briefly retracing historical representations of the universe, but focusing on depictions of space from the 20th and 21st centuries, this course will investigate the ways in which the concept of space is used to convey a wide range of unique, sometimes even opposing ideas. Through an analysis of essays, paintings, articles, short stories, cartoons, and films (such as 2001, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Serenity) we will interpret how texts differently depict the universe, why given depictions arise, and how these diverse representations of what is beyond Earth differently affect what occurs on Earth. Does space represent an escape from responsibility or a potential solution to Earthly problems, such as overpopulation? How do various depictions of space shape how we think of our personal, social, or human identity? Are certain kinds of humans, based on race, sex, gender, ideology, or nationality, excluded from both fictional and real accounts of space? As we review representations of space, we will be practicing our ability to read and write analytically, focusing not on finally determining how space ought to be read, but how texts represent the universe, how those representations affect one another, and how we—in our own texts—can comment on those versions in fair, complex, and compelling ways.
TOPIC: The Cultural Politics of Mental Illness
INSTRUCTOR: Kara Kendall
9294 MWF 12:20pm – 1:10pm BH 321
This class will explore the problem of defining (or even labeling) what we commonly call mental illness. On the one hand, a growing body of scientific research indicates that biology does play a significant role in conditions like schizophrenia and manic depressive disorder. On the other hand, some mental health professionals and patients argue that psychiatry’s medical model offers a limited—even misleading—view of these complex phenomena. Rather than settling on one side or the other of this debate, we’ll seek to understand the cultural implications and stakes of how mental illness is understood and represented. How does the concept of mental illness enrich our understanding of the conditions it describes, and how might it limit our perspectives? How is mental illness represented in popular magazines like People and films like Monster? How do people diagnosed with mental illness narrate their experiences, and what are we to make of their reports? Reading assignments will present a wide variety of perspectives on these issues, with authors ranging from psychiatrists to patients to cultural theorists and historians. We will also read about how to write analytically, and students can expect regular quizzes on readings from our composition textbook. Writing assignments, which will form the bulk of the course grade, will ask students to construct arguments about how mental illness is represented in a variety of media including memoir, film, and journalism.
TOPIC: Baseball as a National and Nationalizing Force
INSTRUCTORS: Carter Neal & Robert Arbour
13980 MWF 1:25pm -2:15pm BH 321 NEAL
14724 MWF 3:35pm – 4:25pm BH 319 NEAL
29888 MWF 3:35pm - 4:25pm BH 247 ARBOUR
29889 MWF 4:40pm – 5:30pm BH 240 ARBOUR
“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you,” crooned Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in 1968. In 1889, the poet Walt Whitman wrote that baseball “has the snap, go, fling, of the American atmosphere,” and even today, Americans fondly refer to baseball as the “national pastime.” In 1968, the idea that a baseball star could captivate a nation was nothing new, but in the post-Civil War nation the game hardly even had regularized rules. This course seeks to investigate the connection between the nation and the “national pastime,” asking what it means that baseball is, as Whitman says, “America’s game.” What can we learn about crucial changes in American history, such as the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement, from the changes in the game of baseball? How can examining modern developments like women’s softball, the Hispanicization of modern baseball, or recent problems like steroids help us to understand contemporary issues like immigration, bioethics, and gender? Can baseball help us learn something about America’s future? With a focus on learning the principles of critical reading and analytical writing, this course will draw on contemporary scholarly and popular texts as well as a variety of primary sources, including newspapers, magazines, photographs and film to investigate what it means that baseball has functioned as both a reflection of the nation and a force in the construction of the nation.
TOPIC: Outlaw Country: Representations and Appropriations of Rural American Rebellion and Lawlessness
INSTRUCTOR: Andy Oler
14723 MWF 1:25pm – 2:15pm SY 108
9297 MWF 3:35pm – 4:25pm BH 147
The figure of the outlaw has been central to American culture, appearing repeatedly in literature, popular music, and film. Through critical reading and writing about several outlaw stories and figures, this course will investigate shifts in representations of outlawry and ask: Why does the outlaw matter? How do individuals and society deal with the outlaw? How is the figure of the outlaw important for “normal” people and normalcy? What about the outlaw is figured as national and what as regional or rural? What is the difference between telling a story about an outlaw and claiming to be one? Course inquiry will begin with “dime novels” about Wild West outlaws and will transition into recent films engaging outlaw iconography, such as No Country for Old Men, Brokeback Mountain, Traffic, Thelma & Louise, and Raising Arizona. Finally, we will explore how “outlaw country” artists such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson adopt and adapt outlawry into their music and image.
TOPIC: Food for Thought
INSTRUCTOR: Lindsay Welsch
9301 TR 5:45pm – 7:00pm BH 232
9300 TR 7:15pm – 8:30pm BH 231
Eating is always a cultural act, but it is always also determined by personal tastes, distastes, associations, and desires. Starting out with the idea that food represents one site of interchange between self and society, this course will explore the multiple meanings of eating for the psychological subject. We will practice reading and writing about essays, stories, television shows, and films in order to interrogate the many ways in which food might be more than just fuel. By thinking critically about representations of food and eating, we will consider how this seemingly trivial or straightforward activity might be connected to our conceptions of ourselves - as social animals, as consumers, as desiring subjects, etc. For the food-conscious and the "zone-out" eater alike, this class will encourage you to analyze the various foods and associations with food that surround us all daily. Although we will begin the course with personal reflections about our own relationships with certain foods or ways of eating, we will quickly move away from personal opinions and associations to writing in a scholarly fashion that engages and analyzes textual evidence. Texts for analysis will include Food Network episodes, short stories, the films Ratatouille and Chocolat, and others.
TOPIC: Reality Television: Industry, Cultural Politics and Fans
INSTRUCTOR: Ana Owusu-Tyo
9302 TR 5:45pm – 7:00pm BH 222
With programs on virtually every channel and two networks devoted exclusively to the genre one cannot deny reality television’s popularity -- regardless of how one feels about its artistic merit. The colonizing effect that reality television has had on popular media makes it a rich venue from which to explore larger questions about our national desires and preoccupations. In other words, like it or not, reality TV has much to tell us about ourselves and our culture. In this class we will examine reality televisions links to our national identity. This course will address three aspects of reality television: “genre & industry, cultural politics, and reception.
Since this is a reading and writing course, watching actual programs will occupy a small portion of class time. We will be more invested in the arguments set forth by cultural critics and in developing and writing our own arguments. Students will be expected to complete a substantial amount of reading, weekly quizzes, and several large writing assignments as well a few smaller ones.
TOPIC: “One of Us!”: Freaks, Geeks, and Sideshows in American Culture
INSTRUCTOR: Rebecca Baumann
14726 MW 4:00pm – 5:15pm BU 411
14725 MW 5:45pm – 7:00pm BH 214
Step right up and see the amazing Siamese twins! We’ve got the smallest man in the world and the tallest! The fat lady, the bearded lady, and the mysterious half-man, half-woman! They’re all alive and on the inside for one thin dime! Should you choose to pay your dime and step into the carnival tent of this course, you will meet some of the most unusual and fascinating people in American popular culture. In this course, you will develop critical reading and analytical writing skills through an in-depth, semester-long conversation about people who, for various reasons, have been labeled as “freaks” in American history, literature, and film. What exactly is a “freak” and why has looking at them – whether on film or in carnival sideshow tents – been such a guilty pleasure in American popular culture? We will ask how sometimes disturbing written and visual representations of freaks, such as the 1932 film Freaks and Katherine Dunn’s novel Geek Love, allow our culture to deal with its oft-unspoken fears about the ambiguous distinction between “normal” and “freak.” We will also think about what freaks can tell us about our cultural anxieties about gender, race, sexuality, and the body. By examining some cultural representations of freaks over the last hundred years, I hope our class can explore what it means to be a freak – to be different, alien, outside, alone – and yet to also belong to a special group or family of others who are outside the norm.
TOPIC: War: The Psychological Impact
INSTRUCTOR: Lydia Wilkes
9295 MWF 12:20pm – 1:10pm SY 108
In this W170 we will examine a variety of texts about the United States military. We will move from the psychological transformation of a civilian in the military to the impact combat has on the individual to portrayals of service members in mass media. Beginning with foundational work in the field of psychological by researchers such as Freud, Skinner, and Milgram, we will dwell on the function of operant conditioning in military training to gain an understanding of an individual’s transformation from civilian to service member, examining Thomas Ricks journalistic account of a Marine Corps platoon’s boot camp experience in Making the Corps and Marco Martinez’s personal narrative about serving as a Marine in Iraq in Hard Corps. From there we will move to the effects of armed combat—of what it means to kill and to see others die—with Dave Grossman’s On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society as our guide. These readings provide a foundation for our first unit, which will focus on the traumatic impact of participating in and witnessing combat, and on the degree to which “talk therapy” and writing can ameliorate this trauma. In addition to Martinez’s memoir we will read from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and view some modern classic war films, such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, as well as contemporary documentaries filmed by Operation Iraqi Freedom soldier.
Our second unit will transition to the media’s role in creating cultural beliefs about the military and soldiers. We will critically examine mass media from military enlistment advertisements to war-themed video games, iconic photographs to iconic songs, and major motion pictures to small documentaries, in order to critique the influence mass media has on shared consciousness and the degree to which media makers employ benign propaganda to shape this consciousness. Readings from contemporary psychological studies of mass behavior and Jowett and O’Donnell’s study Propaganda and Persuasion will add a critical layer to our examination of these media.
We will conclude with reflections on the individual’s responsibility to cultivate an analytical posture in an increasingly mediated society, and on what impact an individual can have on large systems like the media and the military. Additionally, we will ask, how can a civilian help combat veterans deal with trauma?, and what responsibilities does a civilian have toward military service members in a time of war?
While this course focuses on a combination of psychology, trauma studies, military studies, and media studies, it is ultimately a composition class, and we will devote several class sessions to developing the analytical reading, writing, and thinking skills one must have to succeed in college. Students should expect an above average level of assigned reading and to write often throughout the semester. Formal essays will comprise the bulk of the grade.
Potential readings and film viewings include: Thomas Ricks, Making the Corps; Dave Grossman, On Killing; Andrew Carroll, ed., Operation Homecoming (excerpts); Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried; Marco Martinez, Hard Corps; Riverbend, Baghdad Burning vol. 1; Paul Rieckhoff, Chasing Ghosts; Saving Private Ryan; Black Hawk Down; The War Tapes; Full Metal Jacket.
W202 English Grammar Review (1 cr.)
This 1 credit, eight-week course will provide a basic understanding of grammatical terms and principles sufficient to enable students to edit their own prose with confidence. Despite the course title, no prior knowledge of grammar will be assumed or required. No authorization is required for this course. Does not count in the major or minor.
W231 PROFESSIONAL WRITING SKILLS (3 cr.)
This course is designed to help students, in any field, develop writing and research skills which will be useful in the professional world and any future writing project. This course concentrates on the writing of concise, informative prose, and emphasizes the importance of writing with a clearly defined purpose and audience.
Assignments will be based on general principles of communication but will usually take the form of writing done in the world of work: letters, memos, summaries, and abstracts, reports, proposals, etc.
Students will often be able to write on subjects related to their field of study. The course requires constant, careful attention to writing and rewriting, and many classes will be conducted as workshops, with writing exercises and detailed discussion of the work of class members.
PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION REQUIREMENT
W240 Community Service Writing (3 cr.)
Integrates service with learning to develop research and writing skills requisite for most academic and professional activities. Students volunteer at a community service agency, write an assignment for public use by the agency, and perform course work culminating in a research paper on a related social issue.
PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION REQUIREMENT
W270 ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING (3 cr.)
Offers instruction and practice in writing argumentative essays about complicated and controversial issues. The course focuses on strategies for identifying issues, assessing claims, locating evidence, deciding on a position, and writing papers with clear assertions and convincing arguments.
PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION REQUIREMENT
W280 LITERARY EDITING AND PUBLISHING (3 cr.)
Principles of editing and publishing literary writing. Kinds of journals, varieties of formats (including print and e-zine), introduction to editing and production processes. Possible focus on genre publishing (fiction, poetry, non-fiction prose), grant writing, Web publishing, etc. May not be repeated for credit.
PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION REQUIREMENT
W321 ADVANCED TECHNICAL WRITING: VISUAL LITERACY AND DOCUMENT DESIGN (3 cr.)
This course investigates the rhetorical principles that inform the composition and design of effective professional writing.
PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF W231 OR INSTRUCTOR'S PERMISSION
W350 ADVANCED EXPOSITORY WRITING (3 cr.)
Advanced writing course focuses on the interconnected activities of writing and reading, especially the kinds of respoinding, analyzing, and evaluating that characterize work in many fields in the university. Topics vary from semester to semester.
PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION REQUIREMENT
L141-L142 Introduction to Writing and the Study of Literature I-II (4-4 cr.)
A & H P: for L142: L141 or equivalent in another department.
Texts selected thematically in the first semester and according to genre or mode (comedy, tragedy, prose fiction, satire, epic, romance, fantasy, etc.) in the second semester provide a subject for expository writing of increasing complexity. Course meets four periods per week; at least five essays are written each semester.
Fall 2008 Topic Descriptions
TOPIC: NIGHTLIFE
PROFESSOR SHANE VOGEL
Lecture:
9068 11:15am – 12:05pm MW SW 007
Discussion:
9069 9:05am – 9:55am TR SB 131
9070 10:10am – 11:00am TR BH 134
9073 1:25pm – 2:15pm TR BH 241
9071 2:30pm – 3:20pm TR BH 018
9072 3:35pm – 4:25pm TR KH 212
In the stretch between sunset and sunrise, whole worlds come into being. Nightlife has been denounced, celebrated, and romanticized; legislated, protested, and reformed; written, acted, and sung. This course will take the time and space of the night as a way to introduce the concerns of humanistic study and pose questions about the uses and possibilities of literature, film, visual art, and performance. We will examine how writers, artists, and performers have imagined nightlife – its people and places, its sounds and sights, its ethics and values, its comforts and fears. What themes and issues become most clear in the darkness of nightfall? What activities and practices flourish while most people slumber? What are the genres, settings, and characters that make up the literature of nightlife? How does nightlife contribute to the formation of communities and identities? What goes on afterhours, either in the saloons and nightclubs of the city or in the dreamscapes of our minds?
In exploring these questions, we will consider a diverse range of creative forms and genres. We will begin by examining nighttime as a space for ethical reflection and the interrogation of moral ambiguity by reading short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne (“Young Goodman Brown”) and James Baldwin (“Sonny’s Blues”). We will then consider the historical sounds and movements of nightlife as they developed in institutions like New York City saloons, Harlem Jazz clubs, and Berlin cabarets. We will read a drama by Eugene O’Neill (The Iceman Cometh), poetry by Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and view two films (Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer and Bob Fosse’s Cabaret). After looking at this social landscape of nightlife, we will then turn to nightlife’s psychic landscape, reading Freud’s study of dream analysis (On Dreams), Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. We will conclude, turning from dreams to nightmares, with F.W. Mernau’s film Nosferatu and Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend.
The course will have two lectures and two discussion sections a week. Students will be responsible for four essays, a mid-term exam, and a final exam, as well as participate actively in the course by reading the assigned materials and contributing to class discussion.
TOPIC: GENIUS
PROFESSOR JUDITH BROWN
Lecture:
13471 11:15am – 12:05pm TR WH 120
Discussion:
13473 8:00am – 8:50am MW BH 233
13472 12:20pm – 1:10pm MW SY 105
13474 12:20pm – 1:10pm MW SY 212
13475 1:25pm – 2:15pm MW M 344
13476 2:30pm – 3:20pm MW WY 101
J.K. Rowling. Matt Groening. Steven Hawking. A recent list of “living geniuses” offered these (and many other) names, citing them for their paradigm shifting, popular acclaim, intellectual power, achievement and cultural importance. But what is a genius? And how do you become one? In this class, we’ll think about the evil genius, the mad genius, the boy (and girl) genius, and the living genius, among others. Who do you consider a genius? Da Vinci? Shakespeare? Einstein?
We’ll read a variety of works, from the Romantics (who made artistic genius a central concept), to the modernists (who shared the fascination with genius), to more recent work that might include the online comic Girl Genius, Dave Eggers’ memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the film Beautiful Mind, and self-help book called How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day.
Is genius born or made? We’ll think about genius as a mark of extraordinary ability and a cultural phenomenon, and see if we can’t get closer to it over the course of the semester.
TOPIC: MONSTERS
PROFESSOR JOSS MARSH
Lecture:
16392 10:10am – 11:00am TR MY 130
Discussion:
16395 8:00am – 8:50am MW BH 322
16393 9:05am – 9:55am MW HP 012
16394 10:10am – 11:00am MW BH 003
16396 12:20pm – 1:10pm MW SW 103
16397 1:25pm – 2:15pm MW SE 240
“Monsters” examines the fears and anxieties that gave birth to three monstrous classics in the nineteenth century, from biographical misery to scientific megalomania and imperialist fantasy: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818/1831), Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). It will draw on short related texts (philosophical, political, scientific, etc.), Romantic poems, short stories, early stage adaptations, private journals, and—most importantly—an international array of films, from Alfred Hitchcock’s dark exploration of doubleness, Psycho (1960), to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), and from F.W. Murnau’s Expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu (1922) to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In doing so it will unravel our strange inheritances from these perennially popular and powerful works, which have become myths by which we still live. Format: Lectures; discussion sections; mandatory evening screenings (M/T, max. 6). Assignments (likely): 2 midterms, 2 papers, cumulative final, quizzes. Writing instruction: Emphasis on brainstorming, analysis, revision—and how to combine all these in polished essays.
|
|
|
|
|
