2016-2017 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2016-2017 Academic Catalog [Archived Catalog]

ENGL 325H - Technology, Postmodernism and Literature


Credits: Four (4)
Prerequisite: Membership in Bascom Honors Program
This course will examine contemporary attitudes towards technology in post-World War II fiction, film, and critical theory, focusing on various visions of a violent past, an imperiled present, and a dystopic near-future. In doing so, we will consider these and other problems: what is postmodernism, and why does every discussion of postmodernism begin by asking what it could possibly mean? How do our novels embody and challenge aspects of postmodernism? And what comes after postmodernism? What do our novels and films say about technology and teleology? About language, readership, and authorship? About the relationship between the human body and the machine? About humanity’s interconnected hopes and fears? About the power of science so often juxtaposed against the need for, or absence of, spirituality? Authors will likely include Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., J.G. Ballard, Don DeLillo, Joanna Russ, Kathy Acker, William Gibson, and Chuck Palahniuk; please note that several of our novels contain potentially offensive content. We will also likely use Star Wars and Blade Runner, taken together, as a case study in postmodern, technology-centered film.