ENGL 407 Studies In 20th Century Lit: Hypertexts and New Media
"I link therefore I am" –Mark Amerika
Instructor: Crystal Alberts Office: Merrifield 1D
Office Hours: T/TH 2-4 and by appt. Phone: 7-2393
E-mail: crystal.alberts@und.nodak.edu
Required Texts:
Victory Garden, Stuart Moulthrop
Patchwork Girl by Mary/Shelley & Herself, Shelley Jackson
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Selections from the Electronic Literature Collection, vol. 1 available at http://collection.eliterature.org/
Selections from the Electronic Literature Directory (ELD)
http://directory.eliterature.org/
Grading:
Attendance/Participation: 10%
ELD Literature Entries 20%
(note, these entries will be used by the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO); the guidebooks for writing entries is available at http://directory.eliterature.org/entry-guidelines)
Essay 1 20%
Essay 2 25%
Essay 3 25%
Course Objective:
Email, Facebook, Twitter, Google—we live in a world that relies on being able to communicate with anyone and/or find information via the Internet anytime anywhere. What many people don’t realize is that authors are also using emerging technologies to create new forms of literature. Electronic literature (e-lit) is defined as "born digital" texts that were never intended to appear in print. In fact, as many of these works involve sound, motion, and image, as well as text, they CANNOT be represented on a paper page. In this class, we will learn about the various genres of e-lit, such as hypertext, interactive fiction (IF), flash poetry, stir fry texts, and chatterbots. We will interpret works by the pioneers of this field, including Shelley Jackson, Stuart Moulthrop, Deena Larsen, and Mark Amerika. In addition, we will read works that explain e-lit by N. Katherine Hayles, Joseph Tabbi, and Nick Montfort, among others. Fortunately, a number of these e-lit authors will be on campus for the 2010 UND Writers Conference, giving students a chance to speak directly to these creators. Consequently, part of the class requirements will be to attend conference events.
Course Requirements:
Completion of Work: PLEASE NOTE, ALL PAPERS AND EXAMS FOR THIS COURSE MUST BE COMPLETED AND SUBMITTED ON TIME TO RECEIVE CREDIT.
Attendance, Participation, and Punctuality: Your attendance and participation in class discussion is essential for the success of the class. Please note that 3 or more unexcused absences will negatively affect your grade and that more than 5 unexcused absences constitute grounds for failure of the course. Note that three unexcused tardies is equivalent to an unexcused absence. Also, I will consider a tardiness of more than 20 minutes an absence. If you do miss a class, please see me during my office hours to find out what you missed, including important handouts, changes in the syllabus, etc.
Essay Format: Essays are due at the beginning of the class in which they are due. In other words, essays e-mailed to me later in the day will be considered late. Essays handed in after the class meeting will be deducted a 1/3 of the letter grade for each day that they are late. For instance, if you get a B+ on the essay, but you hand it in on Thursday instead of Tuesday, your grade will drop to a B-. If there is some reason why you are unable to hand in the essay on time, you must discuss this with me before the due date. For this class, all essays must be written using the MLA format. I will distribute handouts from the MLA Handbook to help you with this. In addition, all essays must be typed using Times New Roman 12-point font. Also, please use a one to one and a quarter inch margin and title your essays. Everyone is strongly encouraged to meet with me to discuss your paper topic.
S-U Option (aka Pass/Fail): If you wish to take the course under the S-U option, please consult the registrar’s office for UND’s policies available at: http://www.und.edu/dept/registrar/catalogs/catalog/ugdept/more.htm.
Scholastic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism, or any other form of scholastic dishonesty, is a serious offense and will be subject to official university policy and punitive action as found in the "Code of Student Life" available at http://sos.und.edu/csl/index.php?main=1&pg=s3&subpg=3-3.
Please remember that you must cite all quotations, summaries, paraphrases and ideas of others. If you have even the slightest doubt about whether or not you should cite a source, err on the side of caution and cite it.
WARNING: I have a ZERO TOLERANCE policy. If there is any academic dishonesty, it can constitute failure for the course, period.
Class Schedule
(the large print giveth, the small print taketh away…schedule subject to change)
1/12: Introduction; Syllabus; "One Hundred Thousand Billion Poems" (Oulipo),
Raymond Queneau (handout)
1/14: Print Predecessors "The Library of Babel," Jorge Luis Borges (handout), "The Literature of Exhaustion," John Barth (handout)
1/19: "The Garden of Forking Paths," Borges
Texts/Authors/Readers in the Digital Age: "Death of the Author," by Roland Barthes (handout)
1/21: "From Work to Text," by Roland Barthes (handout)
1/26: "Rhizome" by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (handout)
1/28: "Ergodic Literature" by Espen Aarseth (handout)
2/2: Excerpts from Hypertext 3.0 by George Landow (handout)
2/4: Hypertext Adaptations: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, through Volume II, Chapter 4
2/9: NO CLASS
2/11: Finish Frankenstein
2/16: Patchwork Girl by Mary/Shelley & Herself by Shelley Jackson; "body of text"
2/18: Patchwork Girl "journal" and "crazy quilt"
2/23: Patchwork Girl "story" and "graveyard"
2/25: "Cyborg Manifesto" by Donna Haraway available at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html, "Stitch Bitch: the patchwork girl" by Shelley Jackson (available at http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/papers/jackson.html); "Stitch Bitch: The Hypertext Author as Cyborg-Femme" by Mark Amerika (available at http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/ artikel/3/3193/1.html) (optional)
3/2: Hypertext fiction/The Storyspace School: Victory Garden, Stuart Moulthrop
Under "Paths to Explore" read "Norman," "ABW," and "Grand the Grand Tour"
3/4: PAPER 1 DUE
Hypertext fiction/The Storyspace School: Victory Garden, Stuart Moulthrop
Under "Paths to Explore" read "Confidence," "Grand the Big Story," and "Oneiric"
3/9: ELD Entry 1 DUE
Hypertext fiction/The Storyspace School: Victory Garden, Stuart Moulthrop
Under "Paths to Explore" read "Lifestory," "Country," and "Workout"
3/11: Hypertext fiction/The Storyspace School: Victory Garden, Stuart Moulthrop
Under "Paths to Explore" read "Pathways," "Seemly," "Twisted," and "Walkabout"
3/16-3/18 NO CLASS--SPRING BREAK
3/23-3/27 UND WRITERS CONFERENCE "Mind the Gap: Print, New Media, Art" (Schedule available at http://www.undwritersconference.org/wc-schedule.htm)
3/30: Writers Conference Redux
Interactive Fiction (IF): Excerpts Twisty Little Passages by Nick Montfort; Adventure by Will Crowther (download available at http://www.wurb.com/if/game/1)
4/1: Winchester’s Nightmare (http://nickm.com/if/winchester.html) by Nick Montfort
4/6: Finish IF Unit
4/8: NO CLASS
4/13: PAPER 2 DUE
Poetry: Flash/Generative/Stir-Fry/Text Movies: "Dakota" Y0UNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (available at http://www.yhchang.com/DAKOTA.html); "The Strategy of Digital Modernism: Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’s Dakota," Jessica Pressman (Modern Fiction Studies, 54.2 (Summer 2008): 302-326) (available through Project Muse)
4/15: "Myst" available at http://www.mystworlds.com/us/; "reach, a fiction by Michael Joyce" available at http://www.uiowa.edu/~iareview/tirweb/hypermedia/michael_joyce/ReachTitle.html; "RedRidinghood" available at http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/leishman__redridinghood.html; "I, You, We" available at http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/waber_pimble__i_you_we/index.html
4/20: ELD ENTRY 2 DUE
"When I was President..."; "evidence of everything exploding"; Inanimate Alice
4/22: Nio; Canyonlands; Mass Effect 2; The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion;
4/27: Remembering Bogle Chandler; Strings; Desfocado
4/29: "crowds and power"; "Storyland; "Apartment"; "Urbanalities
5/4: "XYLO"; "Carrier"; "Dreamaphage; “Inanimate Alice, Episode 4: Hometown”
5/6: "Rice"; "Dr. Sbaitso"
PAPER 3 DUE BY NOON MAY 11
