postmodernisms

UVSC, spring 2005
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t Phone: 863-6288
e-mail: gosherjo@uvsc.edu
Office Hours: MW 1:30-3:00

As Linda Hutcheon writes in The Politics of Postmodernism (1989): “Few words are more used and abused in discussions of contemporary culture than the word ‘postmodernism’.” Over the semester we will explore the manifold meanings and uses of postmodernism(s), figured both as a set of critical practices which develop primarily in the 1970s and 1980s, and as aesthetic strategies which emerge as early as the Eighteenth century.

Although most students will have some background in basic theoretical moves from English 2890, critical theory may still look like a foreign language. Class time will be spent in fleshing out complex theoretical work around our central theme, and I hope students will discover that engaging with the relationship between literary and critical texts is among the most rewarding experiences in the study of literature. We will be doing a lot of reading over the semester, and, due to the complexity of course materials, we will never be able to cover every element of every text, whether literary or critical. Students are expected to complete all required readings, and to direct class discussions through informed questions, discussion, debate, etc.

Assignments include periodic response papers, a take-home midterm, and a final paper, which will include a significant research component.

Using reading skills and argumentative strategies learned in courses such as Engl 2890 and 2010, students are expected, from the opening of the course, to be prepared to actively, critically engage literary texts, primarily through writing and discussion. This course will add to those skills and strategies through the engagement with current critical approaches of responding to literature, moving from learning about theory to doing theory.

Students should either be familiar with, or plan to familiarize themselves with basic research strategies. The ability to use 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. We will have a general overview on research early in the semester and, later, a research project workshop, both of which will assist you in refining your skills and strategies.

Diderot, Denis. Jacques the Fatalist. Oxford, 1999. ISBN: 0192838741

Twain, Mark. Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins. Norton, 1981. ISBN: 0393950271

Johnson, Charles. Middle Passage. Scribner, 1998. ISBN: 0684855887

Lyotard, Jean François. The Postmodern Condition. U of Minnesota, 1984. ISBN: 0816611734

Baudrillard, Jean. The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Indiana, 1995. ISBN: 0253210038

J.A. Cuddon. Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 2000.
ISBN 0140513639

Don DeLillo. “The Most Photographed Barn in

America

” (excerpt). White Noise 12-13.

Brian McHale. “Some Ontologies of Fiction.” Postmodernist Fiction 26-40.

Eric MacPhail. “Diderot and the Plot of History.” New Literary History 30 (1999): 439-52.

Linda Hutcheon. “Representing the Postmodern.” The Politics of Postmodernism 1-29.

Roland Barthes. “Dominici, or the Triumph of Literature” Mythologies 43-46.

Eric Sundquist. “Mark Twain and Homer Plessy.” Representations 24 (1988): 102-28.

Bruce Michelson. “The Markers of the Self” (excerpt).

Barbara Z. Thaden. “Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage as Historiographic Metafiction.” College English 59.7
(1997) : 753-66.

Felman and Laub. “Bearing Witness” and “An Event Without a Witness” Testimony 57-92.

Gilles Deleuze. “Many Politics.” Dialogues II 124-47.

Avital Ronell. “Support Our Tropes.” Finitude’s Score 269-91.

Brief (2-3 page) response papers will be assigned periodically throughout the semester. While this paper is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should work to develop a cogent, well-written argument. The best responses 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—an entire novel or other extended text—into your response, since this leaves you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination is rather difficult.

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 strong thesis, but also by your incorporation of specific material from the texts (both literary and critical); that is, present details, such as dialogue or other citations. This is in keeping with that old adage of “showing” rather than “telling” as you work out your argument/position.

Consider also addressing questions you have about the reading—perhaps centered on a critical concept or an example from a critical text, a scene, event, character, etc. from a literary text How do specific questions or parts of the essay, book, novel/essay/poem inform the significance of the whole? You may also think about developing connections between works—how do formal characteristics, topics, characters, etc. resonate across our focus topic, across national, gender, and/or ethnic boundaries? How are those characteristics treated differently and why?

Plan to put your growing critical apparatus into practice. Develop the research and response strategies which will be required for success on your term project. Articulate your agreement or dissention with critical responses we read, or pursue critical readings on your own which will allow you to enter into an informed conversation on literary, cultural, and theoretical concepts.

The final response paper, a narrative self-and-course evaluation, is due on the last day of class.

The course website (http://research.uvsc.edu/goshert/uvsc389c.htm) will direct students toward additional resources for research, documentation, and bibliographic conventions. Sample student papers will also be archived, as available, throughout the semester.

See two sample response papers from January 20, 2005.

Response papers: 30%
Take-Home Midterm: 20%
Term Project: 30%
Attendance/Participation: 20%