Syllabus - Fiction at the End of the 20th Century


Return to title page

English 232b, Spring 2001 - Jay Clayton, Vanderbilt University

Student Projects

 


Lesley Cobb and Erin O'neil,
"Kidnapped"
Myia Coleman, Jarred Tanksley, and Lindsay Wilson, "Post-Modern Consumer Services"
Ashley Eaton and John Greer,
"Rocker Arrested for Cyberrape"

Dan Green, "The Simulacrums"		  
Jennifer Romans, "Victims of the Modern Age"
(Powerpoint file)


Greg Glasheen, "Machine Madness"

 

Schedule of Assignments

 

Week 1
(Jan. 11)
Week 2
(Jan. 16-18)
Week 3
(Jan 23-25)
Week 4
(Jan 30-Feb 1)
Week 5
(Feb. 6-8)
Week 6
(Feb. 13-15)
Week 7
(Feb. 20-22)
Week 8
(Feb 27-Mar 1)
Spring Break
(Mar. 3-11)
Week 9
(Mar. 13-15)
Week 10
(Mar. 20-22)


Week 11
(Mar. 27-29)
Week 12
(Apr. 3-5)
Week 13
(Apr. 10-12)
Week 14
(Apr. 17-19)
Week 15
(Apr. 24)

 

 

 



Week 1 (Jan. 11) -

Thursday -

Course procedures and requirements

 





Week 2 (Jan. 16-18) - Postmodernism and Simulation

Monday - Garland 220, 7:00-9:00

View Suture (1993), directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel.

Tuesday -

Jean Baudrillard, "The Ecstasy of Communication" (on Reserve - Central Library)

Thursday -

Discuss Suture (1993).

 





Week 3 (Jan 23-25) - Hypertext

Tuesday -

Read Ed Falco's hypertext short story for the Web, "Charmin' Cleary." (This story is presented by the Eastgate Web Reading Room.)

Thursday -

Read Mary-Kim Arnold and Matthew Derby's hypertext, "Kokura." (This story is presented by the Eastgate Web Reading Room.)

Recommended: Browse "HELP" by dane.

Recommended: Browse "Lasting Image" by Carolyn Guyer and Michael Joyce.

 

 

 





Week 4 (Jan 30-Feb 1) -

Tuesday -

Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985)

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 excerpts from Boudrillard's writings, see Baudrillard on the Web, a site maintained by Alan Taylor, University of Texas-Arlington.

 

 





Week 5 (Feb. 6-8) -

 
Tuesday -
Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985)
Thursday -
Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek (1991)

 

 

 





Week 6 (Feb. 13-15) -

Sunday - - Garland 220, 8:15-10:15 p.m.

View Being John Malcovitch (1999), directed by Spike Jonze

Directions for submitting papers via email attachments.

 

Tuesday -

In class: Discuss Being John Malcovitch

Thursday -

Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek (1991)

 

 

 





Week 7 (Feb. 19-22)

Monday -

First paper due (5-7 pages) - 4:00 p.m., as email attachment.

Tuesday -

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation (1992)

An Epistemological Case Study: On Causality and Criminology by Snehal Patel and Samar Sharma. This site is a fictional account of a criminal investigation, based on Philip Kerr's book. It was composed by two students in English 273, a class on Genetics and Literature, in Fall, 2000.

Thursday -

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation (1992)

 

 

 





Week 8 (Feb 27-Mar 1) -

Tuesday -

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon (1999)

Optional: Seminar on webpage design and creating hypertexts - Garland Microcomputer Lab, 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Thursday -

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon (1999)

 

Spring Break (Mar. 3-11)

 

 





Week 9 (Mar. 13-15) -

Tuesday -

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon (1999)

Recommended: Visit these sites devoted to Alan Turing:

The Turing Test Page

Turing Test

"The First Hacker and his Imaginary Machine," by Howard Rheingold - Chapter 3 of his book Tools for Thought (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000). It discusses Turing's contribution to the computer revolution.

Thursday -

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon (1999)

Visit http://www.eruditorum.org/ and explore an actual data haven.

 





Week 10 (Mar. 20-22) -

Tuesday -

Toni Morrison, Jazz (1992)

Chronology of Morrison's Jazz (to be revised by the class).

Thursday -

Toni Morrison, Jazz (1992

Online Resources:

Harlem 1900-1940, An Exhibition Portfolio for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (highly recommended)

Photography of James Van Der Zee

Anniina's Toni Morrison Page

 





Week 11 (Mar. 27-29) -

Tuesday -

Read: Cynthia Kadohata, In the Heart of the Valley of Love (1996)

Class canceled: rescheduled for final week of semester

Thursday -

Finish Cynthia Kadohata, In the Heart of the Valley of Love (1996)

 





Week 12 (Apr. 3-5) -

Sunday - 8:15-10:00, Garland 220

Screening of Timecode (2000), directed by Mike Figgis.

Tuesday -

Read the first half of Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990).

Thursday -

Watch Timecode (2000), directed by Mike Figgis. - Rent the DVD or tape of the movie and watch it before class.

 

 





Week 13 (Apr. 10-12) -

Tuesday -

Finish Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990)

Thursday -

In class: Discuss canon formation
 

 





Week 14 (Apr. 17-19) -

Tuesday -

Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl (1990)

Second Paper topics.

Thursday -

Fredrick Jameson, excerpts from Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (class handout).
 

 





Week 15 (Apr. 24) -

Tuesday -

Present Final Projects. This longer class session will count as the makeup class for the one canceled earlier in the semester.

Second paper (5-7 pages) due - 4:00 p.m., as email attachment.

 





Procedures and Requirements

 

Two papers (5-7 pages each) or one longer project (now posted) will count for 90% of the semester's grade. Topics for papers.

Class participation will count for the remaining 10% of the grade.

All written work should be turned in as email attachments. Directions for submitting papers via email attachments.

 

Jay Clayton
Vanderbilt University