Schedule of Readings and Assignments for English 236
The first four classes of the course focus on selected readings designed to start students thinking about the relation between literary interpretation and other paradigms of research. These classes will run in normal discussion mode. From Class 5 on, the course will enter workshop mode where everything is geared toward facilitating–and keeping the rest of the class informed about--team projects. Some of the workshop classes will feature presentations of projects-in-progress; others will be "studio" sessions giving team members a chance to work side by side.

= Solo assignment

= Team assignment
Section 1: Theory
Class 1 (January 10) — Introduction: Literature+ [Class 1 Notes]
- Sir Thomas Wyatt, "They Flee From Me" (1557) [commentary by Ian Lancashire]
- John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)
- Archibald MacLeish, "Ars Poetica" (1926)
- Cleanth Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" and "Keats's Sylvan Historian," from his Well Wrought Urn (1947) [in course reader]
- Lisa Samuels and Jerome J. McGann, "Deformance and Interpretation," New Literary History 30, No. 1 (Winter, 1999): 25-56 (access from UCSB campus or use Library Proxy server)
- Jerome J. McGann, "Rethinking Textuality" (also available in print as chap. 5 of his Radiant Textuality: Literature After the World Wide Web [Palgrave, 2001]
Class 2 (January 17) — Graph, Map, Tree [Class 2 Notes]
- Franco Moretti, Graphs, Maps, Trees (Verso, 2005)
Create a bio for the course wiki, including your intellectual interests. (For details, see Assignments)
Class 3 (January 24) — Model, Text-Analyze, Simulate, Demo [Class 3 Notes]
Teams to be formed in class on this date. [Students may choose instead to work individually on projects supporting their dissertations.]
- Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (MIT Press, 2004): [in course reader]
-
- pp. 29-37
- pp. 71-83
- pp. 94-99
- pp. 101-5
- pp. 11-13
- pp. 106-15
- pp. 363-419
- pp. 490-501
- Ivanhoe (familiarize yourself with the concept of this literary role-playing/interpretation "game")
- Reprise: Literature ++
-
- Review readings for Class 1
At least one team-meeting outside class by this date to begin brainstorming. (For details, see Assignments)
Section 2: Practice
Class 5 (February 7) — Project Idea Presentations [Class 5 Notes]
Choose a literary work (or part of a work) that the team will "interpret." Present to the class your team's rationale for choosing the work and at least two initial project ideas. (For details, see Assignments)
Extra: Ray Siemens of the University of Victoria, BC, is giving a Transliteracies Paradigms Lecture on Friday, Feb. 8th, on "Converging Knowledge Domains and the Study of the Electronic Book." Students from English 236 are strongly encourage to attend.
Class 6 (February 14) — Workshop [Class 6 Notes]
Write annotated bibliography. (For details, see Assignments)
Class 7 (Feburary 21) — [No class with instructor this date; teams can workshop independently] [Class 7 Notes]
Write 4-page research report on one of the items in your annotated bibliography. (For details, see Assignments)
Class 8 (February 28) — Workshop [Class 8 Notes]
Class 10 (March 13) — Final Presentations [Class 10 Notes]
Formal presentations of team projects. (For details, see Assignments)
(March 17)
"Interpretive" essay or commentary due. (For details, see Assignments)
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