contemporary
american literature:
american postmodernism
English 3540, spring 2003
Instructor: John C. Goshert
Office: GT 409 Hours: T/H 3:00-4:30 and by appointment
Phone: 863-6288 e-mail: jcgoshert@hotmail.com
Course Description
Although every literature course ultimately may be boiled down to “some
books I wanted to teach,” the theoretical/thematic guide for this course
is the analysis of postmodernism as it appears in contemporary American literature.
Each novel, piece of short fiction, and essay may address any number of topics
(race, class, gender, sexuality, history, politics, etc.); however, each is
at some level also concerned and engaged with the ways in which modes of
perception—and fiction prominently among those modes—shape and direct, if
they do not in fact create the world(s) in which we live.
Works from the 1970s include Joan Didion’s indictment of an emergent contentless
American culture in Play It As It Lays (1970), and Ishmael Reed’s cultural/academic
satire Last Days of Louisiana Red (1974). We move into the 1980s
with Kathy Acker’s punk-feminist collage novel, Don Quixote (1986),
and Don DeLillo’s postmodernist treatment of the Kennedy assassination,
Libra (1988). Charles Johnson’s metafictional “neo-slave narrative”
Middle Passage (1991) recasts various experiences of slavery in surprising
ways, while Peter Bacho’s Dark Blue Suit (1997) examines the complex
history of Filipino American (or Pinoy) immigration. Supplemental readings
in criticism (works that deal with the course’s focus novels/authors, as
well as general literary/philosophical scholarship), poetry, fiction, etc.
will be assigned as appropriate.
Assignments include weekly response papers, a take-home midterm, a final
project, and, of course, active participation in class discussion.
Response Paper Guidelines
Each Tuesday, a 2-page response paper will be due. While this paper
is, primarily, an expression of your opinion on course materials, you should
nonetheless form a cogent, well-written argument. The best responses
are often those that take on a specific topic from lecture, class discussions,
presentations (or, of course, from your own reading alone), which is then
worked out in some critical/analytic detail. Avoid trying to fit an
entire week's reading—or an entire novel, poem, or essay—into your response,
since this leaves you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination
is rather difficult. At a reasonable point in the semester, the expectation
for papers generally is that theoretical works/concepts will be incorporated
into arguments.
Avoid summarizing the text and, instead, argue for a particular position,
for a particular “reading.” Your treatment of whatever topic you choose
will be enhanced not only by a cogent argument, but also by your incorporation
of specific material from the texts (both literary and critical); that is,
present details, such as dialogue, significant passage(s), or other citations
from the text. This is in keeping with that old adage of “showing” rather
than “telling” as you work out your argument/position.
These are simply preliminary remarks and guidelines. Feel free to
drop me an e-mail if you have other questions that need to be addressed here,
or bring questions to class.
Grade Distribution/Notes
Response papers: 30%
Take-Home Midterm: 20%
Term Project: 30%
Attendance/Participation: 20%
• If you have a disability that may impair your ability
to successfully complete the course, contact Accessibility Services (BU 145).
Academic accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified documented
disabilities. Services are coordinated with the instructor by the Accessibility
Services Department.
• Plagiarism will result in failure of the course and
the possibility of administrative action.
• Attendance is required. You should plan to attend
and be prepared for each class meeting.
• All writing assignments will follow MLA style guidelines;
late work will not be accepted.
Sample works
cited page
Required Texts and Points of Departure
(in order of assignment)
To be purchased
available—among other places—in the UVSC bookstore
please buy the appropriate edition
Didion, Joan. Play it as it Lays. Noonday Press, 1996.
Reed, Ishmael. The Last Days of Louisiana Red. Dalkey
Archive Pr., 2000.
Acker, Kathy. Don Quixote. Grove Press, 1989.
DeLillo, Don. Libra. Penguin USA, 1991.
Johnson, Charles. Middle Passage. Scribner, 1998.
Bacho, Peter. Dark Blue Suit. University of Washington,
1999.
To be photocopied
Linda Hutcheon. “Representing the Postmodern.” [The Politics of
Postmodernism 1-29]
Rodney Simard. “The Dissociation of Self in Joan Didion’s Play it
as it Lays.” [Narcissism and the Text 273-89]
Banks and Kelley. “Guess Who’s Coming to Academia?” [Multi-America
381-90]
Ishmael Reed. “catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church.” [Seeing
Through Shuck 80-86]
Barbara Smith. “Review [The Last Days of Louisiana Red].” [The
Critical Response to Ishmael Reed 83-85]
Frederick Pollack. “Theses on Intellectuals.” [Representations
39 71-79]
Nicola Pitchford. “Flogging a Dead Language.” [Postmodern
Culture 11.1(Project Muse)]
Jean François Lyotard. “What Is Postmodernism?” [The Postmodern
Condition 71-82].
Lauren Berlant. “The Face of America and the State of Emergency” [The
Queen of America Goes
to Washington City 175-220]
Gonzalez and Campomanes. from “Filipino American Literature.”
[An Interethnic Companion to Asian American
Literature 80-112]
*See the UVSC electronic reserve site: http://eres.uvsc.edu
for downloads; hard copies will also be available for brief checkout.
In addition to assigned texts above, students should either be familiar
with, or plan to familiarize themselves with literary research. Using
research libraries (UVSC students have privileges at both Utah and BYU),
and/or alternative research methods, such as internet resources Project Muse,
JSTOR, and Academic Search Elite, is fundamental for success in the course.
January
7 Course introduction
9 Hutcheon (reserve)
14 Didion ch. 1-33
16 Didion ch. 34-62
21 complete Didion
23 Simard (reserve)
28 Banks and Kelley (reserve)
Last Days ch. 1-9
30 Last Days ch. 10-19
February
4 complete Last Days
6 Reed (reserve)
Smith (reserve)
11 Pollack (reserve)
Acker 1-59 (through “Text 1: Russian Constructivism”)
13 Acker 59-97 (complete “Second Part of Don Quixote”)
18 Acker 101-74 (through “An Examination…”)
20 complete Acker
Pitchford (see Project Muse)
25 DeLillo 1-116
27 DeLillo 117-88
March
4 DeLillo 189-290
6 DeLillo 291-354
11 complete DeLillo
13 Lyotard (reserve)
Midterm assigned
18 Johnson 1-70
20 Johnson 71-119
Midterm due
25 Johnson 120-84
27 No Class
April
1 complete Johnson
Berlant (reserve) 175-200
3 complete Berlant
8 Bacho 1-64
10 Bacho 65-102
15 complete Bacho
Gonzalez and Campomanes 62-80
17 complete Gonzalez and Campomanes
22 Final Exam Period at class time in GT 511b
Final project due; last date to turn in writing assignments