Syllabus 2007-08
Seminars: Thursdays 11-1
Because the module isn't organized chronologically, there are independent syllabi for each tutor’s seminars.
You must have the entire year's texts in your possession BEFORE the term begins.
We'll order the texts through the campus bookshop, but in some cases it's easiest and cheapest to get them
from Amazon, so we've provided the relevant links for each title. Handouts and audio items will be provided
in class. Some readings are accessible online, as indicated below. We welcome you reading the works in advance,
but if you do, try to read them within the context of their ‘term’ appearance.
Week 1: (Joint lecture) Introduction
Lawrence (Weeks 2-5 or 7-10)
Week 2/7
Slavoj Zizek, “Welcome to the Desert of the Real”
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/south_atlantic_quarterly/v101/101.2zizek.html
Susan Willis, “Empire’s Shadow” (handout)
George Trow, Within the Context of No Context (Avalon)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0871136740/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239
Week 3/8
Rick Veitch, Can’t Get No (Vertigo)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1401210597/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239
Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers (Viking)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0670915416/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239
Week 4/9
Deborah Eisenberg, Twilight of the Superheroes (Picador)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-Superheroes/dp/033044459X/sr=8-1/qid=1157376333/ref=pd_ka_1/026-7248781-0529215?ie=UTF8&s=gateway
Week 5/10
Walter Benjamin, “On the Concept of History” (handout)
Samuel Delany, “Three, Two, One, Contact: Times Square Red,”
from Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (handout)
[Week 6: Reading week]
Shapiro (Weeks 2-5 or 7-10)
Week 2/7
David Foster Wallace, Oblivion (Abacus)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0349116490/202-8874818-8759051?v=glance&n=266239
Week 3/8
Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections (HarperPerennial)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1841156736/202-8874818-8759051?v=glance&n=266239
Week 4/9
George Saunders, Pastoralia (Bloomsbury)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pastoralia-George-Saunders/dp/0747553866/ref=sr_1_1/203-3487261-2965538?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181666029&sr=1-1
Week 5/10
Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude (Faber)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fortress-Solitude-Jonathan-Lethem/dp/0571219357/ref=pd_bowtega_1/203-0053971-6448725?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178103114&sr=1-1
Week 1: Joint lecture on David Harvey, The New Imperialism (Oxford)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0199278083/202-8874818-8759051?v=glance&n=266239
Shapiro (weeks 2-5 or 7-10)
Week 2/7
Jehane Noujaim (director), The Control Room (Noujaim Films)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391024/
(in seminar viewing followed by discussion)
Week 3/8
Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (Pan)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0330419129/202-8874818-8759051?v=glance&n=266239
Week 4/9
Vadim Perelman (director), House of Sand and Fog (DreamWorks SKG)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315983/
(in seminar viewing followed by discussion)
Week 5/10
Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (Vintage)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099478560/202-8874818-8759051?v=glance&n=266239
[Week 6: Reading week]
Lawrence (weeks 2-5 or 7-10)
Week 2/7
Wallace Shawn, The Fever (Grove)
Wallace Shawn, The Designated Mourner (FSG)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0374525269/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239
Week 3/8
Juliana Spahr, This Connection of Everyone with Lungs (California UP)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0520242955/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239
Eliot Weinberger, What I Heard about Iraq (Verso)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1844670368/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239
Week 4/9
DJ Shadow, Entroducing … (Universal Records); The Private Press (Island Records)
Matthew Barney, The Order (from Cremaster Cycle 3) (video)
Week 5/10
Fredric Jameson, “The Politics of Utopia” (handout)
Charles Burns, Black Hole (Jonathan Cape)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0224077783/202-0968599-1675852?v=glance&n=266239