ENGLISH 340

TECHNOLOGY AND CONTEMPORARY

AMERICAN CULTURE

Jeff Pence	Office: Rice 26
Spring 1999	Of. Hrs.: T 1-2:30, W 2:30-4:30; by appt.
TTh, 3:00-4:15	Phone: x8586
King 343	Email: jeffrey.pence

Texts

• Don DeLillo, Mao II
• Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
• all other readings, including videos, on reserve

Course Aims

Contemporary innovations in the nature, capacity and distribution of technology have presented opportunities and challenges to our culture. They have also come to dominate our collective imagination: every question, whether political, medical, environmental, educational or aesthetic seems to have a technological solution or crisis coming over the horizon. In this course, we will focus mainly on communications technology--a broad category including film, video, photography and other visual arts, literature in a variety of formats, computer networks, virtual reality and so on; however, at times other issues, such as biotechnology, will emerge. Our chief goal is not vocational in any sense; that is, this is not a course in using technology. In fact, we might consider this class as a sort of breathing space apart from the mania for application, upgrade, and innovation which surrounds technological development. Instead, our aim here is to attempt to develop an analytical perspective upon technology and to think critically about its implications for cultural life. This is more difficult than it sounds, since the topic is so all encompassing. What often results is an antinomy we might call the Wired/Unabomber dichotomy. Technological changes are seen as promising either a starry futuristic dream (of interactivity, globalization, profit and progress) or a dystopian nightmare (of the destruction of nature, surveillance, inequality and privatization). Our method for negotiating between these opposed positions will involve close analysis of selected works by writers, theorists and other artists who exploit, exemplify or examine important dimensions of technology.

Course Policies and Requirements

Because we meet so few times over the course of a semester, I have a strict policy on attendance. I take attendance and your presence in class is mandatory. You may miss two classes without a viable excuse (official medical excuses and family emergencies are the only ones I have accepted). Beginning with the third unexcused absence, your grade will begin to decline. After five absences, you will "No Entry" the course. Also, consistent late arrivals are disruptive to the class and will adversely affect your grade.

I also require participation. I do this because oral communication in a group setting is an acquired skill, just like writing, and an important one, both in the context of this course and in general. Most people have to talk with other people in order to survive. Good participation isn't solely measured by the sheer quantity of words spoken. It also depends on developing one's ability to listen to others' statements, to incorporate their thinking into your own expressions, to ask questions, to clarify where a discussion has gone and how it could be improved, to make connections between others' statements. Feelings of reticence and discomfort speaking in a class are natural--but, then, so is writer's block. Neither are sufficient reasons for not working through the hesitancy and developing abilities and confidence in the required skills for this course. If you need help figuring out how to enter class discussion, come talk to me for some tips and strategies.

Naturally, readings and viewings are to be completed and considered before the class meeting for which they are assigned. In the case of films, there are multiple copies of each videotape--except, please note, The Draughtsman's Contract-- in the Reserve Room on 48-hour circulation. In addition, each film will be screened in Mudd 456 on the Sunday of its assigned week at 2:00 p.m.

Likewise, written assignments are due at the beginning of the class for which they are assigned. Late work loses a third of a grade per day, beginning with that class. Documented excuses are permissible.

Assignments

Aside from the basic procedures outlined and assumed above, there are three types of assignments for this course. They are listed and described below:

Essays: One reflective midterm essay of 1250-1750 words, due Friday, March 19. Use this as a chance to think critically about your experience in the course thus far. A critical essay of 3000-4000 words, completed in stages over the course of the second module. Initial proposals must be submitted by Friday, April 16. A first draft will be due Tuesday, April 27. A final version will be due at the end of Reading Period, Tuesday, May 18. Collaborative and other projects are also possible, provided I judge them equivalent to the required essay and they include a significant element of writing.

Listserv Discussion: The listserv for this course (named "English-340") is an electronic mailing list to which you have been subscribed upon registering for this course. You are required to post to this list at least twice per week. Don't think of these postings as mini-essays; rather, use them to speculate on some aspect of the reading you'd like to discuss, to highlight some connections or contradictions in the readings, or to engage with the ideas of another class member. I especially encourage postings which reply to other postings. I especially appreciate those which pursue discussions and interactions beyond the minimal requirement. Sometimes, as at the beginning of the semester, I may initiate discussion with a question; normally, I shouldn't have to. As with discussion in class, while there is some correlation between frequency of participation and quality, they are not identical.

Oral Presentations: This is actually a quite informal requirement. In the last week of the course, each of you should be prepared to give a brief presentation on your final project.

Grades

Your grade will be calculated as follows: the two formal essays account for 2/3 of your final; participation, including discussion, Listserv performance and presentations, equals 1/3 of your final.

Schedule

Week 1
	2/9	Introduction
	2/11	Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
Week 2
		Screening: Peter Greenaway, The Draughtsman's Contract
	2/16	Martin Heideggar, "The Question Concerning Technology"
	2/18	Fredric Jameson, "The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism"
Week 3
		Screening: John McNaughton, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
	2/23	Don DeLillo, Mao II (pp. 1-138) Jean Baudrillard, "The Implosion of Meaning in the Media and the Implosion of the Social in the Masses"
	2/25	Don DeLillo, Mao II (pp. 139-241)
Week 4
		Screening: Oliver Stone, Natural Born Killers
	3/2	Bill Nichols, "The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems"
	3/4	Gregory Ulmer, "One Video Theory (Some Assembly Required)"
Week 5
		Screening: Atom Egoyan, Speaking Parts
		Both meetings this week will be at Allen Memorial Art Museum: you'll need to arrive a bit early so you can check your coat and bag and class can begin on time; also, you can only write with a pencil inside the museum proper. And don't forget to thank the kind curators!
	3/9	Kim Veltman, "Electronic Media: The Rebirth of Perspective and the Fragmentation of Illusion"
	3/11	Margot Lovejoy, "The Electronic Era and Postmodernism"
Week 6
		Screening: Katherine Bigelow, Strange Days
	3/16	Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
	3/18	Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
	3/19	Midterm Essays Due
Week 7
		SPRING BREAK
Week 8
		Screening: Chris Marker, Sans Soleil
	3/30	Michael Joyce, "Afternoon: A Story" George Landow, "Hypertext: An Introduction"
	4/1	Michael Joyce, continued Critical Art Ensemble, "Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and Electronic Cultural Production"
Week 9
		Screening: Hal Hartley, Amateur
	4/6	Shelly Jackson, Patchwork Girl Andy Cameron, "Dissimulations: Illusions of Interactivity"
	4/8	Shelly Jackson, continued Richard Grusin, "What Is an Electronic Author? Theory and the Technological Fallacy"
Week 10
		Screening: James Cameron, Terminator II: Judgment Day
	4/13	Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century"
	4/15	Katherine Hayles, "Virtual Bodies and Flickering Signifiers"
	4/16	Proposals for Final Project Due
Week 11
		Screening: Rachel Talalay, Tank Girl and/or Brett Leonard, Lawnmower Man
	4/20	Marguerite Waller, "If "Reality is the Best Metaphor," It Must Be Virtual"
	4/22	Ann Weinstone, "Welcome to the Pharmacy: Addiction, Transcendence, and Virtual Reality"
Week 12
		Screening: Todd Haynes, Safe
	4/27	Kathleen Woodward, "From Virtual Cyborgs to Biological Time Bombs: Technocriticsm and the Material Body" First Drafts of Final Project Due
	4/29	Joan Marks, "The Human Genome Project: A Challenge In Biological Technology" R.C. Lewontin, "The Dream of the Human Genome"
Week 13
		Screening: Atom Egoyan, Calendar
	5/4	Jody Berland, "Mapping Space: Imaging Technologies and the Planetary Body"
	5/6	Arjun Appadurai, "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy"
Week 14
	5/11	Presentations
	5/13	Presentations cont.; Final discussion
	5/18	Final Projects Due