In this Spring 2010 seminar, students will explore the concept of code as both a figure in and function of postmodern literature. The texts we examine in the course of this intensive study will either treat code thematically or figuratively, or they will literally involve the reader in decoding content. Taken together, the texts in this class will reside within the realm of the literary postmodern, broadly considered. Readings will also include relevant critical theory that informs our study.

The major project of the seminar will be a long paper. Students will also be expected to blog and lead class discussion on selected readings or topics.

NOTE: Students will, in the progress of this seminar, encounter and write simple computer programming. This, however, is not something to be feared. Moreover, no prior experience in programming will be expected, and students with prior experience will have no advantage over those with none. Above all, this is a seminar in literature, not computer science.
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This course is about media and it is about writing. The operative preposition through comprises the key, two-fold premise of this seminar: that new media technologies offer new literacies and that these literacies depend to some extent on using media technology to communicate effectively. In this advanced writing course, students will balance theory with practice, and the successful student will leave with technical, working knowledge of some New Media technology. She will also be familiar with what it means to think critically with and through these technologies. In this case, the final output of the seminar will be a portfolio-style website – built on the UMWBlogs platform – around which students will build their digital identities.

Objectives

• Gain practical experience in new media technology, including web design, image manipulation and video
• Use effective design principles in service of writing to best take advantage of the affordances of various media
• Make use of “Web 2.0” technology to craft a digital identity

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For the Spring 2010 semester, I will once again be teaching a Graphic Novel course, and I'm very much looking forward to it. What follows is my general course description and list of texts. I thought long and hard about which comics to use, and although I ended up favoring a more inclusive approach than the last time I taught it, there were still several I decided to leave out. I also regret that the text list lacks an overarching thematic unity, but I hope that the process of ferreting out and mapping overarching themes will be a productive aspect of the class as we move through each of them.

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ENGL 375TT: The Graphic Novel

MWF 11:00 - 11:50, Combs 004

In this class, we’re going to study visual storytelling as it is accomplished through the combination of images and text. The graphic novel will be the primary genre under consideration, but other specific forms (comics, comic strips, webcomics, etc.) will be examined as well. Indeed, the term “graphic novel” will be interrogated for its cultural significance and relevance to specific works, especially in light of the fact that creators of these works often eschew the term. Primary readings will include the works listed below, and these will be supplemented by relevant literary theory and comics-specific criticism and theory. This may include work by such authors as Donald Ault, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Thierry Groensteen, Jan Baetens, Will Eisner, and Scott McCloud. The goal of our study will be to understand the formal structures of comics in the context of a long history of medial shifts. Accordingly, the question we will attempt to answer by the end of the semester is: What is the future of comics in and through New Media?

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