Fall 2008 Course Descriptions

ENGL 343 - Textual Media

ENGL 343 is devoted to the critical study of texts produced and consumed in a digital environment. Hypertexts, blogs, digital stories, interactive fiction, and videogames are just a few examples of the kinds of textual media we will encounter in this class. These new media works are often innovative, evocative, and sometimes, simply puzzling. They often challenge commonly held assumptions about reading, writing, and narrative, and they raise intriguing questions about the cultural production of meaning. As we explore the relationship between new media and so-called old media -- literature, film, television, art, and advertising -- we will also consider the creative and political implications of digital media.

ENGL 414: American Postmodernism

Experimental form, a breakdown between high and low culture, and hyperbolic self- referentiality are just a few of the hallmarks of postmodernism, a notoriously slippery concept that is the focus of this Honors Seminar. But what else is postmodernism? Is it a literary movement? A moment in history? An economic condition? A state of mind? We may not arrive at a definitive answer to these questions, but the novels and theoretical texts we will encounter in this seminar suggest that postmodernism is marked by a fundamental shift in our relationship to technology, mass media, and pop culture. We will closely study novels, graphic novels, and films that revel in, critique, or even resist these elements of postmodernism, including works by Don DeLillo, Jessica Hagedorn, Toni Morrison, and Mark Z. Danielewski.