Selected Modern Authors:

Angela Carter and J.G. Ballard

 

Instructor: Rob Latham

 

Course Times: Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, 2:30-3:20 PM, in EPB 208

Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 1-2 PM and by appointment, in EPB 455

Phone: 335-0465 (office); 337-3364 (home); Robert-Latham@uiowa.edu (e-mail)

 

Required Texts (all at Prairie Lights Bookstore and most on library reserve):

By J.G. Ballard:

By Angela Carter:

 

Description: While one of the most influential variants of postmodernist literature in the Americas has been Magic Realism, very few contemporary British writers have produced work which could be so described. Authors such as John Fowles, Iris Murdoch, and Muriel Spark have occasionally dabbled in the form, but only Angela Carter and J.G. Ballard have consistently explored the rich vein of fantasy informing everyday reality. Indeed, in their hands "everyday reality" itself becomes a dubious figment, subject to invasion by instrumentalities of illusion and manipulation by sinister forces; often their work abandons the mundane world altogether in favor of surrealistic mindscapes of dreamlike beauty and nightmarish horror. This class will survey the range of these authors' work by reading a representative sample of their novels. Major themes to be stressed include their imaginative re-visionings of British literary and social history, their provocative cross-pollinations of sexual and technological themes, and their exploitation of paraliterary forms (Gothic romance, science fiction, pornography).

 

Requirements and Assignments: The first requirement is preparation and attendance; you must be here for every class meeting with the day's reading completed. Because we have only 50 minutes per class session, you must also be on time; class will begin promptly at 11:30, and late arrivers will not be admitted. The required writing is as follows: weekly reading journals; five short (5 page) papers; and a final exam. The reading journal should briefly (1 handwritten page) record observations, ideas, questions, and/or criticisms inspired by the assigned texts; these journals are due in class on Wednesdays. No late journals will be accepted, and if you miss handing in more than two of them, your journal grade will be an F. These journals will not be graded individually, but a grade will be assigned to them in toto by semester's end. The five short papers are topical essays focusing on sets of paired texts by the two authors. There are a total of six such pairs on the syllabus, so it is up to you to choose the five you wish to write on. Topic sheets for these papers will be distributed on the Fridays preceding the weeks the papers are due. Papers are due on the Mondays of the weeks they are assigned; late papers will be marked down by 1/2 grade for every day they are late. The text of your papers 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 for typos, misspellings, and minor grammatical errors; 1/2 grade will be deducted for those that are not. The final exam will be given during the final class session and will consist of short answer and identification sections.

 

Grading: Attendance and participation: 15%; weekly reading journals: 15%; five short papers: 10% each; final exam: 20%. 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. Regarding attendance and participation: Students missing more than four class sessions will receive an automatic F for their attendance grade; students missing more than seven sessions will fail the class. I expect all students to contribute, however modestly, to class discussion; if I feel that too many students are consistently remaining silent, I will freely call on people at random.

 

Schedule of Readings:

 

Wed. 1/17:

Fri. 1/19:

Mon. 1/22-Fri. 1/26:

Mon. 1/29-Fri. 2/2:

Mon. 2/5-Fri. 2/9:

Mon. 2/12-Fri. 2/16:

Mon. 2/19-Wed. 2/21:

Fri. 2/23:

Mon. 2/26-Wed. 2/28:

Fri. 3/1:

Mon. 3/4-Fri. 3/8:

Mon. 3/11-Fri.3/15:

Mon. 3/18-Fri. 3/22:

Mon. 3/25-Fri. 3/29:

Mon. 4/1-Fri. 4/5:

Mon. 4/8-Fri. 4/12:

Mon. 4/15-Fri. 4/19:

Mon. 4/22:

Wed. 4/24-Fri. 4/26:

Mon. 4/29-Wed. 5/3:

 

 

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