Note: I still need to finish uploading all the readings, but they should be complete shortly. Except, that is, for the piece of manuscript we're going to read that is still being written. That's right: we'll be reading some brand new thought.
ENL 200 Fall 2013
Introduction to Graduate Studies in English
M 3:10-6:00 120 Voorhies CRN 22565
John Marx Office: 216 Voorhies
jmarx@ucdavis.edu Hours: M 1-3, by appt.
This seminar introduces Ph.D. students to graduate study in English A) by focusing on methods and methodological debates in literary study and B) by considering the state of “English” as an expert discipline. The aim of this course is to prepare new students for advanced work in the field and to orient them in the profession. We will do this by, for example, considering the close analysis of literary texts, examining how literary critics make their arguments, and asking about the status of the “literary” in the English department. You can expect to read, discuss, and write about works that exemplify and/or question important research methods and debates in literary studies.
Discussing and Writing
To succeed in this course, you will need to satisfactorily accomplish the following:
1. Read the assigned essays and participate in class discussion, which will be divided unevenly and unpredictably each week among A. rollicking discussion of the week’s reading, B. non-awkward discussion about the week’s writing, and C. exciting and informative chat with special guests.
2. Execute in adventurously expert fashion the class writing assignments, which in differing ways will require that you write weekly on the course blog (http://enl200f2013.blogspot.com). Some of your writing will be solo material that uses the scholarship we discuss on Mondays to say something smart and counter-intuitive about your self-selected primary work. Some of your writing will be collaborative, and you’ll just have to wait to hear about how that’s going to go. Throughout, your goal will be to put the scholarship we’re reading and your primary work in dialog. Do not think of one as explaining the other; allow both to argue, contest, debate.
3. By Sunday (that is, the day before class) write a non-troll-like comment on (at least) TWO of the previous week’s posts by other people in the class. With any luck, you’ll find yourself wanting to do this anyway. In a perfect world, the blog for this class will be a lively and interesting venue that will make other grad students jealous.
Required Readings:
(All of these materials [which were recommended for you by the English Department faculty] are or will soon be available on the SmartSite session created for this course.)
Patterson, Lee. “Introduction.” Chaucer and the Subject of History. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1991. 3-46.
Dillon, Elizabeth Maddock. “The Secret History of the Early American Novel.” Novel 40.1-2 (2006): 77-103.
Best, Stephen. “On Failing to Make the Past Present.” MLQ 73.3 (2012): 453-74.
Jameson, Fredric. “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.” Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991. 1-54.
Derrida, Jacques. “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.” Writing and Difference. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1980. 278-95.
Colebrook, Clare, “The Context of Humanism.” New Literary History. 42: 4 (2011): 701-18.
Mbembe, Achille. “Necropolitics.” Public Culture 15.1 (2003): 11-40.
Foucault, Michel. “The Mesh of Power.” Viewpoint Magazine 2012. http://viewpointmag.com/2012/09/12/the-mesh-of-power/
Moretti, Franco. “A Tale of Two Cities.” Atlas of the European Novel, 1800-1900. New York: Verso, 1998. 79-140.
Adam Smyth, “‘Shreds of holinesse’: George Herbert, Little Gidding, and Cutting Up Texts in Early Modern England.” English Literary Renaissance 42.3 (2012): 452-81.
Schneider, Rebecca. “Forward - By way of other directions.” Performing Remains: Art and war in times of theatrical reenactment. New York: Routledge, 2011. 1-31.
Anderson, Benedict. “Census, Map, Museum.” Imagined Communities. Rev. Ed. New York: Verso, 1983. 163-85.
Raley, Rita. “Datavalence and Countervalence.” Raw Data is an Oxymoron. Cambridge: MIT P, 2013. 121-46.
Flusser, Vilém. “Line and Surface.” Writings. Ed. Andreas Ströhl. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2002. 21-34.
Scholes, Robert. “The English Apparatus.” Textual Power. New Haven: Yale UP, 1985. 1-17.
Liu, Alan. “The Meaning of the Digital Humanities.” PMLA 128.2 (2013): 409-23.
Kates, Joshua. “Against the Period.” differences 25.2 (2012): 136-64.
Kindley, Evan. “Big Criticism.” Critical Inquiry 38.4 (2011): 71-95.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography.” Selected Subaltern Studies. Ed Guha, Ranajit and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. 3-32.
Armstrong, Nancy. “Gender Must Be Defended.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 111.3 (2012): 529-47.
Milian, Claudia. “Introduction: The Copiousness of Latin.” Latining America. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2013. 1-24.
Goyal, Yogita. "Of Lost Boys and Slaves Next Door: Modern Slavery and the Transnational Reinvention of Form.” Unpublished manuscript, 2013.
Chen, Mel. “Toxic Animacies, Inanimate Affections.” GLQ 17.2-3 (2011): 265-86.
Latour, Bruno. “Networks, Societies, Spheres.” Keynote. INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON NETWORK THEORY. 19th February 2010. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Los Angeles. 1-18.
Spillers, Hortense. “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book.” Diacritics 17.2 (1987): 64-81.
Nealon, Christopher. “Affect, performativity, and actually existing poetry.” Textual Practice 25.2 (2011): 263–80.
Tompkins, Kyla Wazana. “‘She Made the Table a Snare to Them’: Sylvester Graham’s Imperial Dietetics.” Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the 19th Century. New York: New York University Press, 2012. 53-88.
Justice, Steven. “Did the Middle Ages Believe in their Miracles?” Representations 103.1 (2008): 1-29.
Greenblatt, Stephen. “Invisible Bullets.” 1981. Political Shakespeare. Eds. Dollimore, Jonathan, et al. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1985. 18-47.
Class Schedule:_________________________________________________________________________
Monday, September 30 Histories
Patterson, “Introduction”
Dillon, “Secret History”
Best, “Failing”
Jameson, “Postmodernism”
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 7 October Theories
Derrida, “Structure, Sign, and Play”
Colebrook, “Context”
Mbembe, “Necropolitics”
Latour, ““Networks, Societies, Spheres”
Special Feature: How to do Humanities Research at UC Davis
with Roberto Delgadillo and Daniel Goldstein, Humanities Librarians
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 14 October No Class
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 21 October Forms
Moretti, “A Tale of Two Cities”
Smyth, “‘Shreds’”
Nealon, “Affect, Performativity, Poetry”
Anderson, “Census, Map, Museum”
Special Feature: The UC Davis PhD in English and You
with John Marx, Grad Adviser
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 28 October Media
Raley, “Datavalence and Countervalence”
Flusser, “Line and Surface”
Schneider, Forward
Scholes, “The English Apparatus”
Special Feature: English and Writing and Rhetoric
with Carl Whithaus, Director, University Writing Program
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 4 November Institutions
Liu, “Meaning of Digital Humanities”
Kates, “Against the Period”
Kindley, “Big Criticism”
Foucault, “The Mesh of Power”
Special Feature: The Humanities Institute (and maybe a bit of Alt Ac)
with Molly McCarthy, Associate Director, Davis Humanities Institute
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 11 November Veterans Day Holiday
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 18 November Populations
Spivak, “Subaltern Studies”
Armstrong, “Gender Must Be Defended”
Milian, “Introduction”
Goyal, “Modern Slavery”
Special Feature: I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now About Prelims and Quals
with recent survivors of the PhD exams
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 25 November Relationships
Chen, “Toxic Animacies”
Justice, “Middle Ages Miracles”
Spillers, “Mama’s Baby”
Tompkins, “Graham’s Dietetics”
Special Feature: I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now About THE MARKET
with the Job Placement Team, Gina Bloom and Colin Milburn
_________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 2 December
Special Feature: Your Future Revealed
_________________________________________________________________________________
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