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Objectives
Students in this course will take a comparative approach
to a selection of novels that have emerged from two periods of technological
revolution: the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and the
so-called information revolution of the present day. In our attempt to
describe how these novels can be interpreted as responses to rapid changes
in the social order that occurred in conjunction with technological innovation,
we will engage a set of interrelated historical, political, and literary-critical
questions. How, for example, is the development of the novel as a popular
genre itself linked to technological innovations? How does a particular
novel, Hard Times, say, or Neuromancer serve as both popular
entertainment and social commentary? Themes of gender, labor, and class,
which dominate "condition of England" novels and play a different
but significant role in cyberpunk fiction, will receive particular emphasis.
The course will also highlight the striking intertextuality of many works
of cyberpunk novelists and Victorian materials; Gibson and Sterling's
The Difference Engine and Stephenson's The Diamond Age both
self-consciously imitate nineteenth-century literary conventions.
In order to emphasize the comparative nature of the course,
novels from different periods will be grouped into pairs according to
broadly conceived shared themes. Both Gaskell's North and South
and Sterling's The Diamond Age, for example, are preoccupied with
the social geographies and economic disparities that are brought into
being by technological developments. The verbal play and incisive cultural
criticism of Charles Dickens and Kathy Acker likewise suggest possibilities
for productive comparisons. Students will, of course, have the freedom
to do comparative work on any texts they choose, bringing in outside works
as appropriate. When necessary, I will provide historical background on
the novelists and relevant political and technological issues. A class
web site will provide additional historical information.
Required Texts
Acker, Kathy. Empire of the Senseless.
Bronte, Charlotte. Shirley.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer.
Gibson, William and Bruce Sterling. The Difference
Engine.
Stephenson, Neal. The Diamond Age.
a course packet from Campus Copy in the UH-M
Student Center
You will need to have access to the Internet via a current
browser equipped with current plug-ins for Flash, Shockwave, and Real
Audio. The Critique Lab (Kuy 411) is available for your use, but the schedule
of open lab times may be limited. You will also need an active email account.
Assignments
Semester grades will be based on participation
in the collaborative class web site (20%), written responses to the readings
(20%), one class presentation (20%), and two critical essays 6-7 pages
in length (20% each).
Assignments are due on the day on which they appear in
the schedule.
All assignments must be completed to receive a passing grade.
Policy
You are expected to attend this seminar regularly
and on time. If circumstances arise that make it difficult for you to
come to class or to complete your assigned work, please inform me immediately.
Don't wait until the end of the semester, when it will be harder to make
accommodations. You must complete all assigned work to pass the class.
I will give incompletes only in cases of medical or family emergencies,
for which I will require written documentation. I also expect you to adhere
to the Interim Policy for Responsible Computing and Network Access and
the policies of the English Studies Computing Center.
Web Site
Much of the writing you will do in this class
will be part of a collaborate web site that will document our discussions
and the development of (and connections among) the ideas of the seminar
participants. This site will not be open to the public.
Schedule
(subject to change)
January 17
introduction to the course
January 24
Reading
Don Ihde, from Technology and the Lifeworld:
From Garden to Earth (packet)
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, The Difference Engine,
1-216
Assignment
Identify three issues/questions/problems
related to "technology" that concern you. These may be, for
example, practical questions about the implementation of particular technical
devices or systems, ethical questions about the impact of technology on
human beings and huma n relationships, or historical questions about how
particular technologies developed. For each of the three issues, write
a paragraph outlining your interest. Bring your paragraphs to class in
a digital format, either on diskettes or FTPed to your UNIX account.
January 31
Reading
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, from The
German Ideology and Capital (packet)
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, The Difference Engine,
217-429
Assignment
Identify three concepts that are
important to your thinking about technology. Write a paragraph for each
explaining their importance.
February 7
Reading
Joel Mokyr, "The Rise and Fall of the
Factory System: Technology, Firms, and Households since the Industrial
Revolution"
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, 35-209
Assignment
Return to your three concepts and try to
find out about their history. What are their etymologies? What disciplines
do they come from? How has their use changed over time?
February 14
Reading
Francisco Varela, from Ethical Know-How:
Action, Wisdom, and Cognition (packet)
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, 210-530
Assignment
Choose an excerpt from a novel we have already
read and analyze it in terms of any of your issues and/or concepts that
seem appropriate. Develop this analysis in two pages of writing. You might
want to choose a passage from a novel you will be writing about for your
first critical essay.
February 21
Reading
Katie Hafner and John Markoff, from Cyberpunk:
Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier (packet)
William Gibson, Neuromancer
Assignment
Choose an excerpt from a novel you will
be writing about in your first critical essay and discuss it in relation
to at least two different secondardy sources. Cite the sources
using MLA style conventions and include a list of Works Cited.
February 28
Reading
John Stuart Mill, from Utilitarianism
(packet)
Charles Dickens, Hard Times, 1-128
Assignment
Write a page introducing the topic and argument
of your first critical essay.
March 7
Reading
Althusser,from "Ideology and Ideological
State Apparatuses" (packet)\
Charles Dickens, Hard Times, 129-277
March 14
Reading
Mary Flanagan, "Hyperbodies, Hyperknowledge:
Women in Games,Women in Cyberpunk, and Strategies of Resistance"
(packet)
Kathy Acker, Empire of the Senseless
March 21
Reading
Tom Standage, from The Victorian Internet
(packet)
Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, Chapter 14
Assignment
First critical essay due
March 28
Spring Break
April 4
Ridley Scott, Blade Runner
Assignment
Choose an excerpt from a novel you will
be writing about in your second critical essay and discuss it in relation
to at least two different secondardy sources. Cite the sources
using MLA style conventions and include a list of Works Cited.
April 11
Reading
E. P. Thompson, from The Making of the
English Working Class (packet)
Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, Chapter 15 - Chapter 37
Assignment
Write a page introducing the topic and argument of your second
critical essay.
April 18
Good Friday Holiday
April 25
Reading
Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age,
1 -231
Assignment
Establish at least four links between your
section on the class web site and those of other members of the seminar.
May 2
Reading
Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age,
232-455
Monday, May 12
Last day to submit second critical essay
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