Schedule | Spring 2017

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F 1/13

Homework

Obtain the Books

See the syllabus

Day 1. Introduction to Literacy, Technology, and Society

Syllabus and Course

prehistoric tribe around fire

Literacy, Technology, Society

Timeline and Phases of Society/Identity

Terms to Remember

  • "society" as the entire complex of conditions, practices, and structures that makes up the norms of given way of life: economic, legal, technological, bureaucratic, cultural, geographical, etc. (in contrast to the term culture): the example of the car with a cluster of structures and conditions around it.
  • literacy
  • technology
  • historical timeline of the class: 1500 BC through 2015 AD.

Resources

 

F 1/13

Homework

Read and Be Prepared to Answer

Read Walter Ong, Chapter 1 using the principles of Active Reading, and come in prepared to answer the Reading Questions.

Don't answer the questions on the handout in sentences and paragraphs, however. Instead, answer them in the margins of the book with word tags, arrows, stars--whatever symbols seems useful.  

Photocopy and Bring in

After you've read and marked your text, choose a two-page spread from the book that best shows your active reading and engagement with Ong and one of more of the questions above.  

Photocopy (a.k.a., scan and print) that two-page spread, write your name in the upper right on the paper, and bring it to class next time to turn in.  

Read and Bring Back

The handout from class "Jay David Bolter: The Cathedral and the Book"

 

 

Day 2: Ong C1, The Orality of Language


Review from Last Time

  1. Literacy, Technology, and Society: the interrelationship of these terms, and how it rolls through history producing changes. 
  2. This course tells an historical story of these interrelationships, and this story is a history of the present moment: a moment when technology is changing who we are and how we live. 
  3. Active Reading: you are not just absorbing what the book has to say.  You’re using a pencil to have a conversation with the text in the margins.  You’re a partner in making the book mean something.  Your part of the conversation doesn’t have to be in words: lines, arrows, symbols, circles, pictures, diagrams. Idiosyncratic. 
  4. Read on paper, class is a device-free zone

Goals Today

  1. Explain what the "orality of language” is, and why it is interesting and relevant to writers, and to those of us who live in a literate culture
  2. Appreciate and understand the differences between oral and written cultures 

Terms to Remember

  • the orality of language
  • oral culture
  • "oral literature"
  • oral poetry (video)
  • "pristine human consciuosness"

Resources

 

WEEK 2
M 1/16
 

MLK Holiday: No Class Meeting

W 1/18

Homework

Read and Be Prepared to Answer

Read Walter Ong's Chapter 2, pages 16-30.

After using the principles of Active Reading to mark your text, come in prepared to answer the Reading Questions for Ong's Chapter 2.

Don't answer the questions on the handout in sentences and paragraphs, however. Instead, answer them in the margins of the book with word tags, arrows, stars--whatever symbols seem useful.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

Please log only quotations that you contributed to discussion out loud.  Post one message for each quotation using the format of this example:

M 3/14: Orwell, The Labyrinthine World of Doublethink
His mind slid away...contradictory, to know/not know, memory, unconsciousness, forget. 35.3

This format of each message includes:

  • a header (including the date of class, the work's author, and a word or phrase that sums up the topic or point of the quotation),
  • a string of key words from the quotation, especially from the beginning and end, to help us find the passage on the page,
  • the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page). 

 

Day 3: Ong C2, The Discovery of Primary Orality

Review from Last Time


Turkish bards performing in the video Homer: Singer of Tales

Homework Questions

1. What is “The Homeric Question” and why is it significant in understanding the differences between oral and written (that is, chirographic) culture?

2. What was Milman Parry’s discovery concerning Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey

3. How does the oral tradition define “great poetry” differently from the ways written cultures do? 

4. How have the “prejudices” of literate (written) culture made it more difficult for us to understand Homer and ancient, oral tradition from which he emerges?  cultural chauvinism 18.6

Terms to Remember

  • Homeric Question
  • Discovery of Primary Orality

Resources

 

F 1/20

Homework

Read and Mark

Read Ong's Chapter 3, "Psychodynamics of Orality" and come in prepared to answer the Reading Questions for Chapter 3

Answer The Reading Questions in Writing (Bring on Paper)

Answer each of these questions in writing: a paragraph, a list, a chart, or map, etc. Make your answer "thing-like" (Ong 11), and be sure the "thing" specifically refers to particular pages and passages in Ong's Chapter 3.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

Please log only quotations that you contributed to discussion out loud.  Post one message for each quotation using the format of this example:

M 3/14: Orwell, The Labyrinthine World of Doublethink
His mind slid away...contradictory, to know/not know, memory, unconsciousness, forget. 35.3

This format of each message includes:

  • a header (including the date of class, the work's author, and a word or phrase that sums up the topic or point of the quotation),
  • a string of key words from the quotation, especially from the beginning and end, to help us find the passage on the page,
  • the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page). 

 

Day 4: Ong C3 Psychodynamics of Orality


Nick Cave on stage and Turkish bards performing in the video Homer: Singer of Tales

Goals for Today

  1. Memorize and understand the 9 Psychodynamics of Orality
  2. Explain the significance of Ong's distinction between sight and sound (sight isolates, sound incorporates, interiority)

Psychodynamics of Orality

A
A
R
C
L
A
E
H
S

38-Year-Old Wheat Farmer
(9: Situational Rather than Abstract)

wheat farmer

Terms to Remember

  • the nine psychodynamics of orality
  • "you know what you can recall"
  • "sight isolates, sound incorporates"
  • agonistic (6th of 9 psychodynamics of orality)
  • 38-Year-Old Wheat Farmer as example of oral consciousness
  • 7 brothers becoming 5 brothers as example of oral "homeostatis"
  • bards (oral tradition of poetry)

Resources

M 1/23

Homework

Read and Mark

Read "Ong Chapter 4 "Writing Restructures Consciousness." Mark and, using the techniques of Active Reading, make marginal notes, especially with the question below in mind.

When you get to Ong's discussion of Plato, read over the passage "from Plato's Phaedrus" on the handout I gave you in class. See if you can find in Plato's passage (from an imagined dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus) the attitudes and ideas about writing which Ong attributes to Plato.

Write, Print, and Bring

Write a 500-word "Preparation Sheet" titled "Ong Chapter 4" which answers the following question:

"According to Ong, how does the technology of writing "restructure consciousness" and how does this restructuring affect human society, individual identity, or the sense of history?"

This preparation sheet should

Bring

Bring your Ong book and be sure you have the handout "from Plato's Phaedrus"

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

Please log only quotations that you contributed to discussion out loud.  Post one message for each quotation using the format of this example:

M 3/14: Orwell, The Labyrinthine World of Doublethink
His mind slid away...contradictory, to know/not know, memory, unconsciousness, forget. 35.3

This format of each message includes:

  • a header (including the date of class, the work's author, and a word or phrase that sums up the topic or point of the quotation),
  • a string of key words from the quotation, especially from the beginning and end, to help us find the passage on the page,
  • the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page). 

 

Day 5: Ong C4

Writing Restructures Consciousness

Review: Sight Isolates, Sound Incorporates

spectator
Concert spectator from the video "Dream Baby Dream" (Bruce Springsteen, The Wrecking Ball tour)

See Ong page 71.4-6, 72.6-9

"The Sense of True Writing" (Script)

  • page 83

Plato

Terms to Remember

  • sight isolates, sound incorporates
  • "true writing" (a "script") as the "representation of an utterance," rather than of "things" (Ong).
  • "writing restructures consciousness"
  • Plato's criticism of writing: from Plato's Phaedrus

W 1/25

 

Homework

Moodle Posting

Set-Up

In the Walter Ong book, we've read about the deep and varied changes, from 800 BC onward, which literacy brought to society, identity, the sense of history, the nature of consciousness, etc. 

In the handout, "Jay David Bolter: The Cathedral and the Book", we learned a little about the changes wrought by a different revolution: the explosive rise of printing starting in the 1440s AD. 

Consider these statistics: in the 59 years between 1440 and 1499,

  • the number of printed books went from zero to estimated 15 million books.
  • the number of European cities with printing presses went from zero to 2,500.

Since we know very little about the historical effects of printing, let's try to use what we know about revolution in literacy (from the Ong chapters) to compose a question about the consequences of the revolutionary rise of print in some particular aspect of society, identity, history, consciousness, etc. 

What to Post (by noon today)

In a reply to the Moodle forum "The Print Revolutioin," write a question that speculates on the possible effects of the print revolution starting in 1440.  Be sure your question focuses on some particular aspect of society, identity, history, consciousness as suggested by either Ong or Bolter. 

Include in your question what idea or passage from Ong or Bolter suggested the basis of your question (with page number if it comes from Ong).

You do not necessarily need to know the answer. The point is to pose a thought-provoking and possibly productive question for exploring the some specific effect of print as a social and cultural phenomenon.

Example

Ong observes that literacy changed the individual's very means of conceiving of him or her self (54). Did the rise of print provide new means of conceiving and describing the individual self?

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 6. The Machine that Made Us 1(Gutenberg's Press)

machine that made us: paper

Resources

Return of Preparation Sheets

F 1/27

 

Homework

The Print Revolution

In the Moodle forum "The Print Revolutioin," you asked a numbers of questions about the long-term consequences of the explosive rise of printing in the 15th century.

1. Look Over

Read over the questions that you and your classmates posed about print culture.

2. Read Carefully

For answers, read Walter Ong's Chapter 5, "Print, Space, Closure, " pages 115-135. Use the principles of Active Reading (new version!) to mark your text and leave a record of your reading experience.

3. Post to Moodle

Choose two questions to answer in a replies to those messages.

In each reply, write a substantive paragraph which includes at least two quotations, with page numbers, from Ong (at least one of those quotations from Chapter 5).

Note that Ong may not directly answer your classmates' questions or speak specifically to their topics, but the context and analysis Ong provides might enable you logically to make an informed argument about the nature and effects of print culture.

4. Print

Print the two questions and your paragraphs and bring them on paper to class for use in discussion. (No laptops or devices.)

Day 7. The Machine That Made Us 2

machine that made us: press

 

WEEK 4
M 1/30

 

Homework

Read

Paul Cobley, Narrative, Chapter 1 "In the Beginning, The End," pages 1-27.

Use the principles and techniques of Active Reading to mark your text and record (externalize!) you reading experience.

Reading Question:

Cobley argues that the power of narratives comes not simply from their content, but from their form: that is, not the story itself, but the telling of the story.

This power of narrative telling, Cobley says, is fundamental to human experience and consciousness. This means that the conbcept of "narrative" much more than just a way of organizing a piece of writing.

Choose three specific, key quotations from Cobley's chapter which suggest the source, nature, and/OR consequences of this narrative as a powerful principle in society, culture, and history.

Come to class prepared to read and explain your choices.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 8: Narrative and Consciousness
Paul Cobley's Chapter 1

Terms and Lines from Cobley C1

  • story, plot, narrative 5
  • storytelling impulse illustory? 7.9
  • bewteen beginning and ending 9.2
  • Iser, Carr: real events v stories (representation) 8.5
  • Mickey Spillane: reading for the ending 12.10
  • representation 8, 14.5
  • emplotment 17
  • phylogeny, ontogeny 19, 27

 

 

February

     
W 2/1

Homework

Read Cobley Chapter 3

Read Cobley, Chapter 3 "The Rise and Rise of the Novel" using the techniques of Active Reading.

Reading Question:

Cobley argues that how you choose to tell a story creates a "problem of representation" and a potential crisis of social authority. Identify three passages (with page numbers) from the chapter that suggest why the telling of a story has such an effect on the story's meaning and consequence.

Post In Moodle (Before 11 a.m.)

Choose one of those passages and, in a reply to the Moodle forum, "Cobley C3,"

  1. Type in the quotation from Cobley
  2. Include a page-number citation at the end of the quotation
  3. Write a paragraph analyzing your quotation and explaining how Cobley sees narrative as playing a role in consciousness, society, identity formation, etc. and why that role is controversial or problematic.

Writing down or printout a copy of your answer and bring it to refer to in class.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 9: The Problems of Representation

(Cobley C3)

Romper Stomper

Russell Crow from the film Romper Stomper (1992)

Resources

  • Romper Stomper (film trailer)
  • Aristotle vs. Plato
  • Plato's Allegory of the Cave
  • mimesis: showing through imitation vs. telling (as in "to mimea song" or "a mime pretending to walk a tightrope")
  • diegesis: telling vs. showing ("di-" means "to guide or pass through/between," as in the word dialogue)

F 2/3

Homework

Read Cobley Chapter 4

Read Cobley, Chapter 4, "Realism" using the techniques of Active Reading.

Reading Questions

1. Make a List

According to Cobley, what are some characteristics of "realist" representation? What ideas, attitudes, philosophies, or goals do works of realism share?

Make a list of at least four characteristics with page numbers.

2. Three Quotations that Challenge the Realist Solution

Conventionally, "realistic" representation is assumed to be objective, scientific, and apolitical. This idea presumes to solve the problems of representation.

Throughout this chapter, however, Cobley argues otherwise: that realism represents another style of representation, rather than offering unmediated access to reality.

Identify at least three of Cobley's reasons, ideas, examples, or arguments (with page numbers) that show how realist narrative is not pure or uncontroversial in its representation of reality or truth.

Post In Moodle

Choose one of those passages and, in a reply to the Moodle forum, "Cobley C4,"

  1. Type in the quotation from Cobley
  2. Include a page-number citation at the end of the quotation
  3. write a paragraph explaining how the quotation from Cobley argues that realism is not ultimately a way around the problems and controversies of representation.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 10

Cobley C4: Realism

List

Ideas, Attitudes, Philosophies, Goals Shared by Works of Realism

Resources:

WEEK 5
M 2/6

Homework

Read

Read Cobley Chapter 5, "Beyond Realism"

Reading Question (3 Passages):

In Chapter 4, Cobley argued--citing Terry Eagleton--the 19th and 20th centuries saw a transformation in the scale of economic life (i.e., "capitalism") through three phases (88). These phases had profound effects on both the form and focus of narratives, and on contemporary models of individualism or identity.

In Chapter 5, Cobley is describing the last phase of economic development: the global or "imperialist" stage.

Identity at least three passages or examples from Chapter 5 that demonstrate the characteristics of this third phase, and how those characteristics resulted in "modernist" narrative style and a "modernist" identity.

In a reply to the Moodle forum "Cobley C5" (by 11 a.m.), give the page number, a brief quotation, and two or three sentences of explanation for each of your choices.

Bring your reponses (or at least notes about them) to class on paper.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 11: Cobley C5 (Global Modernism)


From Juan Gris' Picasso.

Resources:

 

W 2/8

Homework

1. Read

Read the following from The Picture of Dorian Gray:

  • Preface
  • Chapters 1-9 (pages 1-86)

2. Answer a Reading Question in Moodle

Art (Representation) and Life

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a book about the relationship of art and life--or, more generally, of representation and life.  

(Remember, "representation" includes writing, visual art, music, performance, or any other way of "externalizing" and preserving experience.)

Wilde's novel is an example of a narrative/literary style of the 1890s called "Aestheticism," which was partly a reaction against Realism and the conventionalized "common sense" that accepted forms of realism expressed.  

Post to Moodle (by 11 a.m.)

In a message to the Moodle forum "Wilde Dualisms," identify 2 quotations with page numbers which demonstrate the novel's ongoing preoccupation the relationship of art and life and its opposition to common-sense realism, which appears in dualisms like the following:

  • morality vs. sensuality
  • philosophy vs. art
  • beauty vs. genius
  • emotion vs. intellect
  • pretend vs. real
  • the senses vs. the soul
  • etc.

Write a paragraph under these quotations explaining how the two quotations, together, might suggest a philosophy or position concerning the relationship of representation and life.  In what ways might representation be the foundation of a life founded on "aestheticism"?  

Bring your reponses (or at least notes about them) to class on paper.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 12: Picture of Dorian Gray 1:


Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde from the film Wilde (1997)

Narrative Levels (Cobley 125 - )

Cobley cites Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan (1983) for these ideas:

  • Actual Author (for example, the actual Oscar Widle as he lived)

  • Implied Author (an "assumed" Oscar Wilde that you infer from reading The Picture of Dorian Gray)

  • Narrator

    ----------------------------------------------

  • Narratee (an imagined figure to whom the narrator is speaking)

  • Implied Reader (an "assumed" you that you become to read the book as you are apparently intended to read it)

  • Actual Reader (the actual you)

Resources

 

W 2/8

Homework

Finish Reading The Picture of Dorian Gray

Answer 3 Questions about the "Problems of Representation" Posed By This Novel

Contemporary criticisms of Picture of Dorian Gray charged:

  • that the book is immoral
  • that the characters are callow "puppies," not worthy of our attention
  • that the book is little more than a "self-advertisement" for Wilde's self-created cult of personality and wit

Wilde responded to these criticisms in his "Preface" to The Picture of Dorian Gray.  

-- Is the book immoral?  How do we decide? Are the characters shallow? Is Wilde using the book only as a vehicle for his ironic wit and personal style?  

-- How does Wilde answer these accusations in specific lines of his cryptic Preface?  

--What might Wilde say about a film such as Romper Stomper and the controversy surrounding its release (as described by Cobley (60-61)?

Come in with notes, on paper, that point to particular passages in the novel and explain answers to these three questions.

Read to Understand "Aestheticism"

Read the brief excerpts from Walter Pater's The Renaissance. These are two classic statements of aestheticism (in short, the assertion of art's and literature's independence from social requirements to teach, inspire, or otherwise be socially useful).

Mark on the handout lines and ideas that appear to agree with--or at least speak to--Wilde's apparent vision of art, writing, and representation and its relationship to life and society.

Note that Pater was a professor of art history at Oxford when Wilde was a student there.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 13: Picture of Dorian Gray 2

Detail from a Strand Magazine illustration of Sherlock Holmes

Gothic Genre

I will give youi a copy of the handout "Notes on the Gothic Genre."

Resources


Shot from Tim Burton's Gothic film Edward Scissorhands (1990)

WEEK 6
M 2/13

Homework

Read in Dracula

  • the "Introduction," pages 9-25
  • the beginning of the novel itself from pages 29-94 (through Chapter 5)

What to Prepare for Class

On paper, make a list of at least five quotations from the reading in Dracula in response to the two questions below.

Rather than copying the entirety of longer quotations, write down a few key words from the passage (what we'll call a "word tag") and the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page: for example "30.3").

Under each word tag/page number, make notes to yourself about how that quotation illustrates or implies answers to the question, and what that says about how Stoker is constructing geography and history to suggest meaning.

Question 1. East and West

During Jonathan Harker's journey to, and stay with, Dracula at his castle, Stoker suggests contrasts of East and West (Transylvania and Britain). Write down the page numbers of two specific phrases, passages, or descriptions where Stoker characterizes (or even just implies a characterization of) differences between East and West. ...What role do literacy and technology play in shaping those respective societies?

...In what ways do Dracula and Jonathan exemplify their respective societies?

Question 2. Past and Present

Note down the location of three passages (with page numbers) that contrast past and present in the novel Dracula. What ideas does Stoker associate with the past or the present? with their differences?

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 14: Dracula 1


Shot from Tim Burton's Gothic film Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Decadence (1890s)


Gothic Genre

I will give you a copy of the handout "Notes on the Gothic Genre."

Resources

W 2/15

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Make Notes on the Handout

Since we didn't have time to talk about the handout "Notes on the Gothic Genre" last meeting, please take a few minutes to read the handout carefully. Mark anything you don't understand.

In the left margin, make notes about the following:

What aspects of The Picture of Dorian Gray exemplify any of these characteristics of the Gothic?

Bring your handout to class, ready to discuss your observations.

Read

Read Dracula pages 95 - 215 (Chapters 6- 13)

Make Notes in the Margins

As you read, make notes in your margins concerning the following three topics: 

Gender and Sexuality

In what ways does the novel define, affirm, transform, or transgress roles of gender and standards of sexuality? Use the norms suggested by the text itself to determine what is transformational or transgressive.

Information Technologies and Knowledge

Notice that the narrative of Dracula is composed of documents, rather than the voice of a single narrator. This way of telling the story highlights the role of information technologies: letters, journals written in short hand, phonographs, typewriting, etc. How is the handling of information and knowledge critical to the batte again Dracula.  In what ways is this the story of a “knowledge team.”  

The Gothic Genre

In what ways does Dracula use conventions of the Gothic genre as a vehicle for social anxieties of the time (gender, politics, imperialism, science, medicine, 

Put on Paper and Bring

Under the heading for each these three topics, write a page number (with tenths) for a relevant, revealing and interesting passage.

For one of the topics of your choice, add two more passages for a total of three.

Under each page number, write down some key words from the passage and then some talking points for yourself to explain the relevance and significance of your choices of passage.

Be prepared to turn these notes in at the end of class today.

 

Day 15: Dracula 2

Connetions Between Wilde and Stoker

  • both Irish
  • both attended Trinity College Dublin, though Stoker was there earlier
  • They were friends in Dublin
  • Both were Irishmen in who moved to England
  • Wilde went to Magdalen College, Oxford
  • After getting a degree in science, Stoker pursued a more Bohemian life in London, became a theater manager and agent for Britain's most famous actor, Henry Irving
  • Stoker married the celebrated beauty Florence Bascomb, who had once been engaged to Oscar Wilde (Stoker met Bascomb through Wilde's mother)
  • Wilde married Constance Lloyd in 1884, became fashionable London couple, 2 children, separated in 1895 but never divorced.  
  • in 1891, Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosey), soon after publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • Wilde and Stoker were both part of the literary, artistic, theatrical world of London in the 1880s and 90s
  • Stoker began writing Dracula one month after Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency" in 1895
  • Stoker was one of a few of Wilde's friends who did not entirely turn away from him
  • Scholars have noticed that Stoker erased all references to Wilde in his published and unpublished journals, etc.

Resources

 

F 2/17

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Read

Read Dracula pages 216 - 299 (Chapters 14 - 19)

Social Anxieties and Social Order

As you read, continue to track our three topics from the last homework:

  • Gender/Sexuality
  • Information Technologies, Knowledge, and Science
  • The Gothic

On paper--or in a way you can print for class--make note of page numbers for each topic, and then write a few talking points at the bottom of the page about how social anxieties/social order are represented in these quotations as a group.

Bring your notes on paper to class and be prepared to turn them in. Don't worry if your notes are not in a form or style that anyone else will understand.

Day 16: Dracula 3


Winona Ryder as Mina Harker in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

WEEK 7
M 2/20

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Read

Read Dracula pages 300 - 419 (Chapters 20 - 27)

Literacy, Technology, and/or Society in Dracula (Moodle and Print)

Post the following to the Moodle Forum, "Literacy, Technology, or Society in Dracula" by 10 a.m. today.

Choose a passage from Dracula and use it to analyze how Stoker's presents literacy, technology, or society as a theme in Dracula.

1. Start by choosing a character or plot event in the novel, which seems to feature literacy, technology, or society as a theme.

2. Look closely at Stoker's language in some passages from the novel which represent what happens to that character, what the character does, or how the plot event unfolds.

3. In a substantial paragraph in which you quote from Dracula to describe what you see Stoker saying about the

  • promise or dangers of technology
  • the power or limitations of literacy
  • the strengths or limitations of modernity as embodied in the structures and norms of modern "society."

Be sure to quote from the novel at least twice in your paragraph, and to do a "close reading" of the language of those quotations in your own analysis.

Print out your Moodle posting to refer to in class and to turn in at the end.

 

Day 16: Dracula 4


Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker in the Francis Ford Copolla film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Resources

 

W 2/22

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Bring Dracula

Please bring your Dracula book again to class.

Marx

Print, number the paragraphs, and read Karl Marx's "Preface" to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (starting with the fourth paragraph, which begins "Although I studied jurisprudence,....")

As you read the Marx piece, select and arrange six or seven key quotations from the reading (each represented by a "quotation tag" composed of the paragraph number and a few keys words) on the Base and Superstructure diagram.

With your placement of these quotation tags on the diagram, you're indicating which quotations show Marx talking about:

  • what the base is or what the base is composed of?
  • what the superstructure is and what it's composed of?
  • how the "base shapes the superstructure" (up arrow)
  • how the "superstructure maintains and legitimates the base" (down arrow)

For example, you would place a quotation about the "means of production" in the base, or a quotation about education in the superstructure. (You might need write your paragraph numbers and key words arround the edges and use arrows to show where they go in the diagram)

Bring your handout to class prepared to turn it in at the end of the meeting.

Day 17: Marx, Materialism, Realism

Resourses

 

F 2/24

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Immanuel Kant

Print, number the paragraphs, and read Immanuel Kant's "What is Enlightenment?"

Print the Preparation Sheet and, under each question, note down two paragraph tags (that is, a paragraph number and a few key words each) for passages from the reading that suggest answers to each question.

Bring your completed Preparation Sheet to class.

Day 19: Marx, Kant


"...the freedom to use reason publicly in all matters" - Kant

Resourses

WEEK 8
M 2/27

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Write and Post 5 Questions for the Exam

Write an exam question for each of kinds of knowledge covered on the exam. You can use any of the three question formats for any of the capacities.

See the handouts "What to Remember, Understand, and Be Able to Discuss for the Exams" (5) and Format for the Exam (21)

The Format of the Questions

Write each of those questions in your choice of three formats:

  1. Matching
  2. Fill in the Blank
  3. Essay.

By 10 a.m. today, post your questions to the appropriate Moodle forums in the section "Midterm Exam."

Bring to Class

Bring to class all books, handouts, and notes from the first half of the course.

Day 20: Midterm Exam Preparation

Resourses


March
     
W 3/1

Homework: Take-Home Portion of the Midterm

Take-Home Portion of the Midterm
(8 a.m. Tuesday - noon Wednesday)

In a time window between 8 a.m. Tuesday and noon Wednesday, you will spend 90 minutes writing responses to two of the three questions on the take-home portion of the Midterm Exam.

We will use the couse Moodle site to make the questions available, and to enable you to write and submit your responses online.

You have a choice of when and where you write the Take-Home Portion, but you will need to plan to complete it within one 90-minute block of time, which you complete no later than noon Wednesday.

Directions for the Take-Home Portion

During the time window above, open the Moodle quiz "Midterm Exam Take Home Portion."

Your will find three questions with text boxes under each.

Remember to answer only two of the three options.

Advice: Write Outside of Moodle and Paste

As a precaution, be sure to write each answer in text-editing software and save it in a file on your computer.

After you have completed each answer, copy the text into that question's text box in Moodle.

What If Moodle Goes Down?

If you have technical problems with Moodle during the exam time, please complete writing the exam, and then copy the text of your answers into an email and send the email to me no more than 90 minutes after the time you started the exam.

If you are using Firefox and have trouble typing into a text box, use the handle grip in the lower right of the text box to enlarge it slightly.

For technical questions about Moodle, call the ITSS Help Desk at 726-8847 during office hours.

Come Prepared

Come to class prepared to take the In-Class Portion of the Exam (composed of the Matching and Fill-in-the-Blank formats).

Bring two pens that you trust. There is no need to bring books or notes.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 21: Midterm Exam: In-Class Portion

 

F 3/3  

No Class Meeting

 

M 3/6  

Spring Break

W 3/8  

Spring Break

F 3/10  

Spring Break

WEEK 9
M 3/13

Homework

Read

Read Cobley C6: "Modernism and Cinema" pages 132 - 154. Before you do, though, be sure to see the directions below:

Cluster for Answers and Patterns

As you read the Cobley chapter, look for at least 8 passages or phrases that help you answer the questions below.

Compose "quotation tags" (1-5 words and a page number with tenths) for those passages on a sheet of paper in the form of a cluster. Read carefully my directions for clustering. Be sure to follow each step, especially the final one.

Choose quotations that speak to the questions below, but also use the clustering technique to look for patterns and relationships that you might not otherwise notice or think about.

Questions to Be Thinking About Making Your Cluster

1. According to Cobley, what are the features of modernist narrative (for instance, how does it differ from realist or Romantic narrative)?

2. What are the features of a modernist self or identity, according to Cobley?

3. In what ways does Cobley say that cinematic narrative differs from print narrative? What are some of cinematic narrative's features and techniques?

4. According to Cobley, what are some ways that cinema naturally expresses modernist ideas and attitudes?

What are some examples Cobley uses, or that Cobley makes you think about?

Consider Adding Tags from Cobley's Chapter 5

Cobley's Chapter 5, "Beyond Realism" is also about Modernism.

Consider adding to your cluster several tags of passages you marked in Chapter 5 as important or interesting to give you a fuller picture of Modernism. Be sure to include page numbers.

Day 22: Cobley C6 Modernism and Cinema

Resources

 

W 3/15

Homework

Read

Read 1984, pages 1-81

Write a Paragraph Using 3 Quotations

What are some ways that the government controls society in 1984?

How do these different ways work toether to make the society of 1984 a kind of closed system?

Identify three quotations that help describe these methods and their effects.

Write a long paragraph that uses the three quotations to answer the questions.

Print the paragraph and bring it to class.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 23: Orwell's 1984 (1. Techniques of Tyranny)


Photo from protests against immigrant travel ban at JFK Airport, January 27-29, 2017

Resources

 

 

 

F 3/17

Homework

Read

Read 1984, pages 81 - 156

Five Quotation Tags on a Handout

As you read this section of 1984, have your Modernism handout at your side. Print it out if you don't have it on paper.

1. Look over the quotations, characteristics, causes, and conditions our Modernism handout. (Print this out if you don't have one on paper)

2. Consider these two questions:

  • How does the novel 1984 represent a modermist kind of society?

  • How does the novel express modernist ideas and assumptions in its cultural representation of that world?

3. As you read, note down the location of at least five quotations from 1984 which suggest answers to these questions.

4. In the margin of the handout, write quotation tags (a few key words and the page number with tenths) for each passage from 1984, and then draw a line to connect the tag with the point about modernism.

Write and Print a Paragraph

Think about the connections you've made on the handout.

Write and print out a paragraph that analyzes these connections between modernism and 1984, showing how Orwell's novel:

  • describes a modernist "society" (institutions, relationships, practices) and

  • represents this world in a modernist style.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 24: Orwell's 1984 2 (Modernism)

ministry of truth

Resources

 

WEEK 10
M 3/20

Homework

Read

Read 1984, pages 156 - 218

What Went Wrong With History?

In the dystopian world of 1984, it is more than just one society that has gone wrong. The very process of history itself has been halted. Progress is impossible because change is not possible. History has stopped.

Choose a passage from 1984 that seems to demonstrate or comment on this freezing of the historical process.

Look back to some of our previous readings and discussions that concerned the process of history:

  • Walter Ong's account of literacy and information technologies as a driving force of history
  • Paul Cobley's various descriptions of narrative consciousness (realist, modernist, etc.)
  • Karl Marx's model of historical materialism (Base and Superstructure diagram)
  • Kant's idea about enlightenement and the Public Sphere

Cluster to Answer

On a piece of paper, start a cluster with a quotation tag for your chosen passage at the center. (See my explanation of clustering as an analytical technique.)

With your cluster, try relating key ideas, terms, quotations from the theorists above to your passage from 1984. Add quotation tags for more passages from 1984 as they occur to you.

Bring the cluster to class.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 25: Orwell's 1984 3 (Modernism; What Went Wrong with History?)

Resources

 

W 3/22

Homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Read

Read 1984, pages 218 - 298

Love in 1984

The conflict between the individual self and the social order is a characteristically modernist theme.

One way an author like Orwell can present an individual self like Winston or Julia is through the idea of love.

Orwell represents many kinds of love in 1984: brotherly, motherly, fatherly, romantic, sexual, marital, patriotic.... Can you find others?

Find at least 5 examples or passages where Orwell represents or talks about love, in one form or another, in 1984. Note down the page numbers with tenths and a few key words from the quotation (a quotation tag).

Write a Paragraph

Write a paragraph in which you quote and analyze at least two of the passages you found to

  • characterize how Orwell presents the relationship of the individual self to the social order in 1984.
  • describe how Orwell shows love functioning in Ocenana, either in rebellion against or alligience to the Party
  • suggest how different kinds of love might relate to each other in Orwell's narrative, either in conflict or coordination.

 

Day 26: 1984 4 (Love)

Resources

 

F 3/24

Homework

Read

Cobley, Chapter 7 "Postmodernism"

Annotate the Postmodernism Handout

I gave you a copy of the handout, "Postmodernism," which distills and summarizies six characterics of postmodernism (mostly drawn from Cobley).

Annotate your paper copy of the handout with 12 quotation tags (2 per characteristic, on average) pointing to particular statement or examples in Cobley's chapter.

Then, for each of the six characteristics, write a sentence or two on your handout that clarifies how the quotations illuminate, add to, or enrich your understanding of each of the handout's summaries.

Bring your handout to class with your name on it.

Moodle Discussion
(In Lieu of Friday's Class Meeting )

After reading the Cobley chapter and annotating your handout, do the following by Sunday everning,

1. Choose one characteristic from the "Postmodernism" handout to illustrate with an example in any medium of representation (e.g., song, television show, movie, online news source, Twitter hashtag, video game, etc.).

2. Do a web search for an image or video that typifies the postmodern aspect of your example, and highlights the characteristic you've chosen.

3. Capture a screen shot of the image, or a still from the video, and save it to your computer (when you take the screen shot, be sure the image you're capturing is no wider than two hand widths).

4. In a reply to the Moodle forum "Postmodernism," upload the screenshot into Moodle by doing the following:

After you click "Reply" to my message at the of the forum,scroll down in the "Your Reply" screen of Moodle and find the "Attachment" section with an window labeled "Drop Files Here to Upload." 

Drag your screen-shot image file from your desktop (or wherever you saved the file) into this box. 

5. In your message, write a paragraph that interprets the example as a whole (and the image as a visual representation of it) using ideas and words specifically from the handout and Cobley's chapter.

In you paragraph, be sure to use a quotation from Cobley's Chapter 7.

6. Post your message to the "Postmodernism" forum before midnight on Sunday.

See below for Monday's homework

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 27: Cobley C7 Postmodernism (No Class Meeting)

"Real Dogs Have Fun, Mostly Inside"

dog inside

 

WEEK 11
M 3/27

Homework

Read Hayden White

1. From Moodle, download, print, read, mark and bring to class

  • the first page of Hayden White's Introduction to The Tropics of Discourse
  • the first four pages of Hayden White's chapter "Fictions of Factual Representation" (pages 121-125) from his book Tropics of Discourse
  • the first two pages of Hayden White's chapter "Interpretation in History" (pages 51 and 52)

See the Moodle site for links to these PDFs.

Thought Questions

  • How is Hayden White's work an argument against history as a science?
  • If the writing of history isn't a science, what is it instead, according to White?

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 28: Hayden White; History and Historiography.

Resources

 

W 3/29

Homework

Reply to the "Postmodernism" Moodle

Revisit Postmodernism Moodle forum.

Read through all the posts, and decide on one to respond to with an additional quotation from Cobley to add to the poster's argument. 

Transcribe an additional quotation from Cobley (with page number) to show

  • how the the example illustrates a different characteritic of postmodernism, or
  • how that additional statement from Cobley supports and extends the argument of the original post. 

In your reply, write a paragraph that explains how your quotation adds to the understanding of the example as postmodern. 

Read Bridget Jones' Diary

Pages 1 -74

Postmodern Satire

1984 and Bridget Jones' Diary

Strangely enough, both 1984 and Bridget Jones' Diary are satires.

They were both also chosen by readers of the prestigeous British newspaper The Guardian as two of the 10 Books That Defined the Twenieth Century.

If 1984 is modernist in both the world it represents and the ways it represents it, could we say that Bridget Jones' Diary is postmodern in subject and style?

In what ways are postmodern ideas, attitudes, and assumptions expressed in Fieldings's development of characters and her humor?

Notes on Your Handout

Make notes in the margins of your Postmodernism handout (or print out a new one if you need more room), connecting particular lines or details from BJD to specific items on the handout.

Also try stepping back: are there general aspects of the book that you can associate with postmodernism? For instance, the diary format, the voice, the language, ongoing themes, plot lines, etc. On your handout, connect these general observations to particular ideas about postmodernism, and try to find a particular instance that you can point to on a particular page.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 29: Bridget Jones' Diary 1; Postmodernism, Character, and Humor

38-year-old wheat farmer (from Ong) and Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones.

Resources

 

F 3/31

Homework

Read Bridget Jones' Diary

Pages 75-195

Thought Questions: Media and Information Technologies

In the novel Dracula, information technologies--including writing, transcription, duplication, electronic media, etc.--were the salvation of modernity when it was threatened by dark forces of the past.

In 1984, information technologies (television, radio, newspapers, books) were modern tools of oppression and the obsolence of consciousness itself.

How does Fielding represent information technologies, media, and various literacies in Bridget Jones' Diary?

  1. What role do they play in the plot?
  2. How do they figure in the relationships between characters?
  3. How do they affect and inform what we call "modern life"?
  4. What effects do they have on personality and consciousness as represented by Bridget?

Three Passages, One New Understanding

Come in with page numbers for passages that answer at least three of the questions above. Be sure to label what passages answer which questions.

Be Ready to Write a Paragraph in Class

Be ready to write a paragraph in class about how your three chosen quotations, together, create an understanding of Fielding's use of media in Bridget Jones' Diary than any one of the psaages alone does not offer.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 30: Bridget Jones' Diary 2

Resources


April
     
WEEK 12
M 4/3

Homework

Read Bridget Jones' Diary

Pages 196 - 271

Memorize the 5 Characteristics of Posmodernism

Try using the mnemonic nonsense phrase "Real Dogs Have Fun, Mostly Inside" (RDHFMI). See the Postmodernism handout.

1984 and Bridget Jones' Diary

1. The Set-Up

Readers of the prestigeous British newspaper The Guardian chose 1984 and Bridget Jones' Diary as two of the 10 Books That Defined the Twenieth Century.

The two novels, however, come from very different ends of the century: Orwell's from the 1940s and Fielding's from the '90s. Comparing and contrasting the two novels distinguishes two very different modes of "society" (one of our course's key words): modes we might call

2. A Three-Column Comparison

Open the Word file "Three-Column Comparison."

In the middle column, fill in vertically at least eight terms that could be used to compare 1984 and Bridget Jones Diary. Here, for instance, are 17 you might choose from:

  • television,
  • the news,
  • drinking,
  • London,
  • romance/sex,
  • technology,
  • reality vs. media,
  • female gender roles,
  • male gender roles,
  • bosses,
  • politics,
  • ex-wives/husbands,
  • parents,
  • diaries,
  • social/economic classes,
  • law,
  • history, etc.
  • please suggest your own....

In the left column labeled, "1984," write a few words that characterize Orwell's representation of that theme or type in 1984. You might list an example or two from the novel as well.

In the right column labeled, "Bridget Jones' Diary," do the same: type in examples and characterizations of how that theme or type is represented by Fielding.

3. Rank Your Top 3 and Have Page Numbers

Which points of comparison best illustrate the differences between modernist and postmodernist modes of society? of consciousness?

Rank your top three and be ready to discuss why.

What passages from Bridget Jones Diary best illustrate the postmodern, '90s side of your top three differences? Have page numbers for each of the three

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 31: Bridget Jones' Diary 3

Resources

 

W 4/5

Homework

Print, Read, and Make Notes On

Print, read, and annotate Chapters 2 and 3 of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics" available from the Moodle site.

Comment

McCloud's Chapter 2 provides an introduction to "visual styles." McCloud's point is that the choice of style is not a matter of mere decoration, but fundamental to how an images means.

The climax of the chapter is McCloud's monumental, two-page diagram on pages 52-53, which probably won't make much sense until you've actually read the chapter before and after the diagram.

Two Explanatory Panels (Chapter 2)

First, choose two panels from the chapter that could help us understand all that's going on in that key diagram on pages 52-53.

Come to class prepared to point to those panels and relate them to some aspect of the big diagram to help explain it. Refer to your panels by page, row, and panel numbers: for instance, page 12, row 2, panel 2.

Memorize the Six Transition Types (Chapter 3)

1. Memorize McCloud's 6 Types of panel-to-panel transitions. (You might come up with a mnemonic nonsense phrase if it helps to recall the first letters of tbe transition types.)

Write a Paragraph

But so what? In what ways does the rest of McCloud's Chapter 3 make clear why these transitions are profoundly significant in understanding how visual "sequential art" forms like comics work on readers and viewers?

Choose two or three terms, examples, or panels from Chapter 3 which answer the question above, and use them in a paragraph of explanation. Be sure to cite McCloud using just the page number.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 32: Scott McCloud Understanding Comics C2 and C3:

Visual Styles and Transitions

Resources

 

 

F 4/7

Homework

Print, Read, and Make Notes

Print, read, and annotate Chapters 4 and 6 of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics" available from the Moodle site.

Moodle Forum Posting (C4)

In a reply to the Moodle forum "McCloud's C4: Time Frames," use ideas and examples from McCloud's Chapter 4 to analyze how an image that you've found frames time.

The image might be a panel of a drawn comic, a photograph, a still shot from a film, a piece of art, etc.

1. Download or scan a copy of your chosen image so you have it as a digital file.

2. In a reply to the opening message of the Moodle forum, type a title for your message.

3. insert the digital file of your image into your Moodle post:

Scroll down in the "Your Reply" screen of Moodle (after you click "Reply" to my message at the of the forum), and find the "Attachment" section with an window labeled "Drop Files Here to Upload."

Drag your screen-shot image file from where it is saved and into this box.

4. From the PDF of McCloud's Chapter 4, take a screen shot of a panel (or perhaps a set of panels) which suggest language and ideas for analyzing the framing of time in your chosen image (Step 1).

5. Write a paragraph in the Moodle post which applies the ideas and examples from McCloud to an analysis of time in your image.

Thought Question:
Choose Two Panels (C6)

How does McCloud's Chapter 6 "Showing and Telling" make the argument for "visual literacy" and against the idea that only verbal communication can be literate? What differences does he recognize between verbal and visual literacies?

Come in with at least two panels identified (by page, row, and panel number) which, in their different ways, you think best illustrate and explain the terms of McCloud's argument.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 33: Scott McCloud Understanding Comics C4 and C6

Resources

 

WEEK 13
M 4/10

Homework

Read Persoplis

Read the entirety of Perspolis: the Introduction and pages 3-153.

Moodle Post: The Uses of Visual Literacy (McCloud and Satrapi)

In the Moodle forum "Visual Literacy (McCloud and Satrapi), you will find 6 posts. By 10:30 a.m. today, please reply to at least 3 of these.

These 6 posts highlight 6 key ideas about visual literacy from McCloud (chapters indicated in parentheses):

  1. visual style (three corners of pyramid: photorealism, simplification, expressive abstraction) (C2)
  2. amplification through simplification (C2)
  3. identification/otherness (C2)
  4. closure between panels (6 types) (C3)
  5. time in visual literacy: sound or motion (C4)
  6. word/image relationships (C6)

In each of your 3 replies, post a screen shot from both McCloud and Satrapi which together illustrate how McCloud's technique serves a writer's (like Satrapi's) purpose.

Note that you can easily find digital copies of images from Persepolis by Googling the title and page number (e.g., "Persepolis page 4") and clicking "Images" from the menu at the top of the screen.

In the text field of each of your posts,

1. explain in a sentence or two how your illustration helps us understand the possibilities of McCloud's technique and how it works, and

2. in another sentence or two, describe how Satrapi uses the McCloudian technique(s) to create and heighten the effects and meaning of her story.

Print out the Moodle posts--try copying and pasting the images and text into a Word file to print--and bring the printout to class.

Reminder about Inserting Images in a Moodle Post

Insert the digital file of your image into your Moodle post:

Scroll down in the "Your Reply" screen of Moodle (after you click "Reply" to my message at the of the forum), and find the "Attachment" section with an window labeled "Drop Files Here to Upload."

Drag your screen-shot image file from where it is saved and into this box.

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

 

Day 34: Persepolis

Resources

 

W 4/12

Homework

How Do We Decide Whether Persepolis is Realist, Modernist, or Postmodernist?

Is the character and world of Marjane and the style of the book Persepolis more modernist or postmodernist

To decide, we must determine whether the imagined world of Persepolis, Marjane’s style of consciousness, and Satrapi's means of presentation express realist , moderist , or the postmodernist thinking. Looking at the handouts for the respective -isms, how do we make up our minds?

In a reply to the Moodle forum "Persepolis as Modermist or Postmodernist?" post 3 screen shots of particular panels from Persepolis which illustrate your argument that the characters, world, and/or literary style is realist, modernist, or postmodernist in nature. 

Note that you can easily find digital copies of images from Persepolis by Googling the title and page number (e.g., "Persepolis page 4") and clicking "Images" from the menu at the top of the screen.

Look over the previous posts so you don't repeat the same screen shots.

Write a paragraph that closely analyzes these 3 panels and explains the realist, modernist, or postmodern attitudes, ideas, styles, ideologies demonstrated in these panels.

Looking at those three panels, can you also explain how Scott McCloud's critical vocabulary and graphic techniques can help us understand how your chosen -ism is expressed using visual literacy?

Make references to particular pages/panels from McCloud.  

Log Your Classroom Contributions 

In replies to the the Moodle forum "Classroom Contributions," please make note of any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class last time.

See the full directions on the syllabus.

Day 35: Film Literacy

Resources

  • The Tragic Wit of Psycho (Donald Spoto)
  • Dziga Vertov's The Man with a Movie Camera
  • Title Sequence of Orson Wells' Touch of Evil (1958)
  • Opening Sequence, Better Call Saul, Season 2, Episode 8 "Fifi" (2016)
  • Classical Hollywood Cinema
  • Quotation Expressing Modernist Ideas of Literary Writing and Reading (Virginia Woolf on Anton Chekhov):

    "These [Chekhov] stories are inconclusive, we say, and proceed to frame a criticism based upon the assumption that stories ought to conclude in a way that we recognize,” Virginia Woolf would later write about Chekhov. “In so doing we raise the question of our own fitness as readers. Where the tune is familiar and the end emphatic—lovers united, villains discomfited, intrigues exposed—as it is in most Victorian fiction, we can scarcely go wrong. But where the tune is unfamiliar . . . as it is in Tchekov, we need a very daring and alert sense of literature to make us hear the tune, and in particular those last notes which complete the harmony.” ("Love in the Time of Numbness" New Yorker, 4/11/17)

 

F 4/14

Homework

Read

Read the handout: The Tragic Wit of Psycho (Donald Spoto)

Choose a Theme

Choose a particular theme or effect described by Spoto to look for as you watch the film

Five Pages Prepared for Taking Notes

Come in with five sheets of paper divided into four columns for taking notes on the four parameters of film: Cinematography, Editing, Mise en Scene, Sound.

You can create these five sheets by hand or feel free to print out copies of the Word file, "Film Notes Format: Four Formal Parameters."

Be prepared especially to take notes on the narrative of the film (as opposed to the story or plot), paying particular attention to how the film's technique serves a meaning and effect that Spoto talks about (and the meaning and effect of the film generally).

Essentially, we want to pay attention to how technique (narrative) is deployed not for its own sake, but for larger social, cultural, political, aesthetic purposes.

Day 36: Psycho 1

Taking Notes on Film

Today in class, I will ask you to take notes on the film using the four-column-entry format I explained as part of your homework for today:

  1. Turn a piece of paper so it is oriented landscape
  2. Divide the page into four columns
  3. At the top, label each column 
    Cinematography
    Editing
    Mise-en-Scene
    Sound

Resources

 

WEEK 14
M 4/17

Homework

Your Theme in the Film's Opening Scenes (Paragraph)

How does the opening of the film (including the title sequence) introduce and begin to develop the theme from the handout "The Tragic Wit of Psycho" which you have chosen to watch for?

Look carefully at your notes from the first day of viewing, and try to find specific ways that Hitchcock is using the four parameters of film as means of getting us to think about that theme and to feel it as an effect.

If your theme is not obvious in the opening, try reading more closely to interpret small details. (To review what we've seen, you can usually find particular scenes or screen shots available in online videos by doing a web search.)

Write and printout a paragraph that describes how cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, and sound advance your theme.

Optionally, if you can find an image or take a screen shot, please paste it into your document to illustrate your discussion.

Five Pages Prepared for Taking Notes

Come in with five sheets of paper divided into four columns for taking notes on the four parameters of film: Cinematography, Editing, Mise en Scene, Sound.

See the handout Film Notes Format: Four Formal Parameters.

Be prepared especially to take notes on the narrative of the film (as opposed to the story or plot), paying particular attention to how the film's technique serves a meaning and effect that Spoto talks about (and the meaning and effect of the film generally).

Essentially, we want to pay attention to how technique (narrative) is deployed not for its own sake, but for larger social, cultural, political, aesthetic purposes.

Day 37: Psycho 2


Klaus Kinskiin in the Werner Herzog film Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Taking Notes on Film

Today in class, I will ask you to take notes on the film using the four-column-entry format I explained as part of your homework for today:

  1. Turn a piece of paper so it is oriented landscape
  2. Divide the page into four columns
  3. At the top, label each column 
    Cinematography
    Editing
    Mise-en-Scene
    Sound

W 4/19

Homework

Post to Moodle in "Psycho Themes"

In a reply to the forum "Psycho Themes," write a long paragraph that does the following:

1. Start Your Paragraph with a Quotation

Begin by quoting Spoto about one theme or idea that he observes in Psycho from the handout "The Tragic Wit of Psycho."

Some of the themes or ideas Spoto mentions incude

  • Gothicism,
  • the American Dream,
  • "horror and tyranny" of "impulses"
  • decay, death
  • sex,
  • wit, humor, fun
  • sadness,
  • madness,
  • mothers, sons
  • wasted lives
  • spiritual, moral disarray
  • bathrooms,
  • audience manipulation,
  • tragedy,
  • economy of style
  • (Even this is not a complete list)

2. Complete Your Paragraph

Then do the following in your paragraph:

A. describe a scene, shot, or sequence in the film that illustrates Hitchcock's introduction or handling of that theme or idea,

B. analyze how Hitchcock employs one of more of the narrative "parameters of film" to develop this theme or idea in your chosen scene or shot (cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, sound),

B. Then, explain how that same scene or shot suggests a relationship or association between your chosen theme or idea and another one that Spoto mentions, or perhaps one that you've observed. (For example, how a particular scene relates

  • "bathrooms" and "wasted lives," or
  • "Gothicism" and "mothers/sons," or
  • "American Dream" and "birds").

3. Optional Image or Screen Shot from Psycho

If you are able to find an image online from that scene (or take a screen shot from an online clip form the film) to illustrate your paragraph, feel free to insert it into your post.

To insert the image file of your screen shot into your Moodle post:

Scroll down in the "Your Reply" screen of Moodle (after you click "Reply" to my message at the of the forum), and find the "Attachment" section with an window labeled "Drop Files Here to Upload."

Drag your screen-shot image file from your desktop into this box.

Five Pages Prepared for Taking Notes

Come in with five sheets of paper divided into four columns for taking notes on the four parameters of film: Cinematography, Editing, Mise en Scene, Sound.

See the handout Film Notes Format: Four Formal Parameters.

 

Day 38: Psycho 3

Resources

Scene Times

  • Opening scene in hotel room (Marion and Sam) 3:10
  • Real estate office scene (the money) 4:09
  • Norman cleaning up the scene 11 minutes

 

F 4/21

Homework

Reply to Someone Else's Post to "Psycho Themes"

Respond to someone else's Moodle posting, exploring and explaining in a substantive paragraph some connection or parallel between the observations in that posting and those of your own post.

In your paragraph, be sure explicitly to mention scenes and shots from our most recent day's viewing to update the discussion.

In essence, we're using one scene or shot from Psycho to enable us to see how Hitchcock is using the Four Formal Parameters of Film to relate together some of the themes and ideas Spoto talks about (for example, Gothicism, mothers/sons, bathrooms).

Five Pages Prepared for Taking Notes

Come in with five sheets of paper divided into four columns for taking notes on the four parameters of film: Cinematography, Editing, Mise en Scene, Sound.

See the handout Film Notes Format: Four Formal Parameters.

 

Day 39: Psycho 4


John Gavin and Vera Miles in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Consider a Minor in
Digital Writing, Literature, and Design

WRIT 1506 is one of the required courses for the Information Design minor, which, next fall, will become the minor in Digital Writing, Literature, and Design--pronounced "D World" for short.

Please see this description of the minor, which also compares its requirements to those of the Information Design minor.

Current students in Informaton Design can choose whether to follow requirements of the new or old version of the minor.

 

WEEK 15
M 4/24

Homework

Post a Screenshot, Link and a Paragraph

1. Find online a video clip or screen shot from a film or television show (or other work that uses film literacy) which demonstrates a particularly effective use of one or more of the Four Formal Parameters of Film Technique.

Think about how that example of film-literacy technique compares and/or contrasts to Hitchcock's use of that same technique in Psycho.

2. In a reply to the Moodle forum "An Example of a Film Parameter at Work,"

  1. include a screen shot from your chosen film or show that illustrates its use of one of the parameters,
  2. post a clickable link to that clip or image and,
  3. write a substantive paragraph analyzing how cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, and/or sound are used to make that scene or sequence effective or notable. In your paragraph, be sure to compare/contrast your example to a particular shot or sequence from Psycho where that same parameter/technique is used.
  4. Optionally, you can include a screen shot from Psycho to illustrate your comparison/contrast.

The kinds of questions you might consider in your comparison/contrast:

  • Does your example demonstrate a similar use of the film-literacy technique?
  • Is the technique used for an effect or mood similar to Hitchcock's use of it, or for a different effect or meaning? If different, what is that effect, mood, or meaning?
  • Does the comparison/contrast suggest that this technique tends to be used at similar points in a story or scene? or for similar purposes in terms of moving the story forward or strategically slowing its pace?
  • How does your example give you insight into Hitchcock's use of the technique? Does your example suggest how that technique can be taken further? Or does Hitchcock employ the technique in a more extreme or obvious way?
  • In your chosen scene or shot, how does the parameter/technique that you're focusing on (for example, cinematography) work with one or more of the other three parameters (for instance, mise-en-scene) to achieve the intended effect? How does this relationship of different areas of technique compare to Hitchcock's ways of making these same techniques to work together?
  • Generally, what does your comparison/contrast help you realize about film technique or the Four Formal Parameters?

How to Insert Images into Moodle

To insert the image file of your screen shot into your Moodle post:

Scroll down in the "Your Reply" screen of Moodle (after you click "Reply" to my message at the of the forum), and find the "Attachment" section with an window labeled "Drop Files Here to Upload."

Drag your screen-shot image file from your desktop into this box.

Day 40: Psycho 5

lunch
First line in Psycho: "You never did eat your lunch, did you."

Resources

  1. -- What are some key scenes or shots that express that theme (those themes)? 

  2. -- Why are those scenes/shots key? 

  3. -- How do the Four Parameters of film work in these scenes or shots to help make the film "say" what they say to you (or to Spotto)? 

 

W 4/26

Homework

Download, Print, Read, and Mark

From the Moodle site (under "Readings"), download and print Lev Manovich's article, "The Poetics of Augmented Space."

Watch, Apply, Bring In Page Numbers

Watch the two videos below.

How can Manovich's ideas be applied to readings (interpretations) of the physical experiences recorded in these two videos?

For each of the videos, come to class with page numbers (and tenths) of two quotations from Manovich which describe or contextualize the augmentation of reality being shown in that video?

Write a Paragraph Relating Manovich to Postmodernism

In what ways are Manovich's literacies or "poetics" of augmented space realizations of postmodernist ideas and attitudes?

Identify at least three passages and/or examples from Manovich that you can relate to the characteristics and causes described on the Postmodernism handout.

WRite a paragraph relating these three passages/examples from Manovich to ideas from the postmodernism handout (and/or Cobley's Chapter7)

Day 41: Postmodern Literacies, Augmented Space

Resources

F 4/28

Homework

Exam Preparation: Two Copies of Cluster

1. Do a cluster of at least ten items from our semester's readings and discussions. (See these directions on clustering.)

This cluster should have as its central starting point one "stimulus word or phrase": a particular object, example, symbol, person, etc. from a single text from our class.

In that cluster, then try to associatively conntect to that central starting point as many items as you can from the entire semester as you can. These conntected items can be titles, examples, abstract ideas, characters, scenes, phrases, distinctions, passages, key terms, etc.

Examples of the cluster's central object, example, etc. could be

  • the memory hole in Winston's office from 1984,
  • the 38-year-old wheat farmer from Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy,
  • the 11-minute scene of Norman's cleaning up the motel room from Psycho.
  • Mina's typerwriter from Dracula
  • Cobley's reading of Heart of Darkness in the Modernism chapter of Narrative.

All items should include have page numbers.

2. Make a second copy of your completed cluster and bring both to class.

 

Day 42: Final Exam Prep and Conclusions

Resources


May
     
FINALS WEEK:
F 5/5
 

Online Final Exam
Friday 5/5
Start Times: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In a time window today between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., you will spend 2 hours writing responses to two of the three questions on the Final Exam.

To give yourself the entire two-hour period, you should start the exam no later than 3 p.m.

We will use the couse Moodle site to make the questions available, and to enable you to write and submit your responses online.

You have a choice of when and where you write the Final Exam, but you will need to plan to complete it within one 2 hour block of time, which you complete no later than 5 p.m.

Directions for the Online Final Exam

During the time window above, open the Moodle quiz "Final Exam."

You will find three questions with text boxes under each.

Remember to answer only two of the three questions.

Advice: Write Outside of Moodle and Paste

As a precaution, be sure to write each answer in text-editing software and save it in a file on your computer.

After you have completed each answer, copy the text into that question's text box in Moodle.

What If Moodle Goes Down?

If you have technical problems with Moodle during the exam time, please complete writing the exam, and then copy the text of your answers into an email and send the email to me no more than 90 minutes after the time you started the exam.

If you are using Firefox and have trouble typing into a text box, use the handle grip in the lower right of the text box to enlarge it slightly.

For technical questions about Moodle, call the ITSS Help Desk at 726-8847 during office hours.