Schedule of Readings and Assignments for English 236

 

The first eight 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 9 on, the course will enter full 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.

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]
• Jerome J. McGann and Lisa Samuels, "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]

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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)

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Class 3 (January 24) — Model, Text-Analyze, Simulate, Demo

• Willard McCarty, "Regularities in Law-less Practices" (posting to the Humanist list, 8 Dec. 2007)
• Willard McCarty, Humanities Computing (Palgrave MacMillan, 2005), pp. 20-72 [in course reader]
• Julia Flanders, "Detailism, Digital Texts, and the Problem of Pedantry," TEXT Technology No. 2 (2005): 41-70 [available as .pdf file]
• Geoffrey Rockwell, "What is Text Analysis, Really?" Literary and Linguistic Computing 18.2 (2003): 209-220 [available as .pdf file through UCSB Library proxy access]
  • Also explore text analysis tools in Toy Chest
• Stephen Ramsay, "Toward an Algorithmic Criticism," Literary and Linguistic Computing 18.2 (2003): 167-174 [available as .pdf file through UCSB Library proxy access]
• NetLogo (downloadable agent-based simulation-building program) [minimum assignment: browse the NetLogo site and learn about the concept] [maximum assignment: download and run the NetLogo program, which comes with many starter simulations]
  • Also look at Shawn Graham's NetLogo simulation study, "City Life: Characterising Information Flow in Ancient Cities" (runs on Java in your browser; first press "Setup" button, then "Go" button)
• Shirley Shor and Aviv Eyal, "DEMOing: An Emerging Art Form or Just Another Digital Craft?" Intelligent Agent 4.1 (Winter 2004)

  [available online as .pdf file] 

Teams to be formed in class on this date. [Students may choose instead to work individually on projects supporting their dissertations.]

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Class 4 (January 31) — Game

• 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

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)

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Class 6 (February 14) — Workshop

Write annotated bibliography. (For details, see Assignments)

 

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Class 7 (Feburary 21) — Workshop

Write 4-page research report on one of the items in your annotated bibliography. (For details, see Assignments)

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Class 8 (February 28) — Workshop

 

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Class 9 (March 6) — Workshop

 

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Class 10 (March 13) — Final Presentations

Formal presentations of team projects. (For details, see Assignments)

 

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(March 17)

"Interpretive" essay or commentary due. (For details, see Assignments)

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