Course Times: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:05-2:20 PM
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:30-4 PM
EPB room 455; phone 335-0465
Required Texts (available at Prairie Lights Bookstore):
Description: While the capacious, encyclopedic metafictions of authors like Barth, Coover, Gaddis, and Pynchon are generally perceived as forming the mainstream of postmodernist American literature, this course foregrounds instead the work of writers who have pursued a sparer aesthetic, narrowing rather than expanding the scope of the novel. Though extremely diverse in approach and outlook, these minimalists have largely favored schematic narratives, sketchy and/or disintegrating characters, and a stripped-down, flat-affect style. For all these self-imposed limitations, the minimalist text has proven quite pliable as a mode of representing contemporary experience, exposing--sometimes starkly, sometimes playfully--its pervasive restraints and deficiencies. Usually, this has involved a process of mapping the depleted topographies of the text onto geographic and other spaces: the Old West, the modern city and suburb, the nations of the "Third World," even outer space. We will analyze the aesthetic and social implications of this "double horizon" of minimalism in fiction by various North American authors. Happily, these being minimalists, most of the texts are short; taken together, they could probably fit between the covers of a mainstream postmodernist text like The Sotweed Factor or Gravity's Rainbow, with room to spare.
Requirements/Grading: Students are expected to have done all the required reading by classtime; a series of unannounced pop quizzes will test this preparation. The grading will be as follows: 10% quizzes; 30% mid-term exam; 30% final exam; 30% topic paper. All grades will be numerical; the final grade will average and convert these to letter form, on the following scale: 97-99 = A+; 93-96 = A; 90-92 = A-; 87-89 = B+; 83-86 = B; 80-82 =B-; 77-79 = C+; 73-76 = C; 70-72 = C-; 67-69 = D+; 63-66 = D; 60-62 = D-; below 60 = F. Final grades will be rounded up on a .5 scale (for example, a final grade of 82.6 would be a B rather than a B-); however, students who have contributed substantially (in terms of quality, not simply quantity) to class discussions will be rounded up more generously--specifically, on a scale of 2.5 rather than .5 (so that, for example, a final grade of 87.6 would be an A- rather than a B+).
Explanation of Assignments: The quizzes will feature brief objective questions relating to the text under discussion; there will be 10 quizzes over the course of the semester, of which the best 8 will count towards the final grade. Quizzes cannot be made up, and students who miss more than two quizzes will be hurting their final grades. The mid-term and final will include objective and essay sections. The topic paper is a 6-8 page paper focusing on a subject of your choosing (in consultation with me, and only with my prior approval). The structure of the paper is open: you may choose to synthetically discuss several of the assigned texts, or to closely analyze an individual text, or to use the text(s) as a point of departure permitting you to bring in other relevant works, ideas, or materials of interest to you. This paper will be due during Week 14, or just prior to the Thanksgiving break.
Rules for Topic Paper: Text must be double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11-inch unruled paper, with one-inch margins all around and no font size larger than 12-point type. The papers must be proofread.
NOTICE: I encourage differently abled students who may require modification of seating, testing, or other class arrangements to speak with me so we can work out alternatives.
WARNING: This course is likely to include "unusual and/or unexpected" material, so if you don't care to be unpleasantly surprised, you should reconsider taking this class.
Week 1.
Tues. 8/22: Introduction
Thur. 8/24: John Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse" (handout)
Week 2.
Tues. 8/29: Ondaatje, Billy the Kid
Thur. 8/31: Ondaatje, cont'd
Week 3.
Tues. 9/5: Didion, Play It As It Lays
Thur. 9/7: Didion, cont'd
Week 4.
Tues. 9/12: Reed, Mumbo Jumbo
Thur. 9/14: Reed, cont'd
Week 5.
Tues. 9/19: Reed, cont'd
Thur. 9/21: Abish, Alphabetical Africa
Week 6.
Tues. 9/26: Abish, cont'd
Thur. 9/28: Barthelme, Dead Father
Week 7.
Tues. 10/3: Barthelme, cont'd
Thur. 10/5: Barthelme, cont'd
Week 8.
Tues. 10/10: Mid-term exam
Thur. 10/12: McElroy, Plus
Week 9.
Tues. 10/17: McElroy, cont'd
Thur. 10/19: McElroy, cont'd
Week 10.
Tues. 10/24: McGuane, Panama
Thur. 10/26: McGuane, cont'd
Week 11.
Tues. 10/31: Acker, Blood and Guts in High School
Thur. 11/2: Acker, cont'd
Week 12.
Tues. 11/7: Acker, cont'd
Thur. 11/9: Ellis, Less Than Zero
Week 13.
Tues. 11/14: Ellis, cont'd
Thur. 11/16: Beattie, Distortions
Week 14.
Tues. 11/21: Beattie, cont'd
Thur. 11/23: Thanksgiving Break
Week 15.
Tues. 11/28: Tillman, Motion Sickness
Thur. 11/30: Tillman, cont'd
Week 16
Tues. 12/5-Thur. 12/7: Wrap up and Review