Course Calendar
Readings not linked to below and not ordered for this class as print books can be found on our Canvas course site. Go to Files > course readings.
The most accurate and up-to-date version of this calendar can be found on this site. Use this online calendar to check on reading assignments and other due dates, rather than the pdf or paper version of our syllabus, since those versions of the syllabus will not be updated throughout the semester.
I reserve the right to change the course calendar as needed; adequate advance notice will always be given of any changes.
Week 1
Thursday, January 23
- We will read/skim the following things in class (no need to read before class):
- Pierre Bourdieu, “The Field of Cultural Production, or: The Economic World Reversed” (1983) from The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature (1993), pgs 37-40
- Elle Griffin, “No one buys books: Everything we learned about the publishing industry from Penguin vs. DOJ,” April 22, 2024, https://www.elysian.press/p/no-one-buys-books
- Erin Kissane, “Against the Dark Forest,” November 22, 2024, https://www.wrecka.ge/against-the-dark-forest/
Unit 1: Literature in the Age of Social Media
Week 2
Thursday, January 30
- Imogen Binnie, Nevada (2013), “Part One: Late October”
- Kate Eichhorn, Ch 1 “A Brief History of Content in a Digital Era” from Content (2022) (available in course readings folder on Canvas)
- Kate Eichhorn, Ch 2 “User-Generated Content” from Content (2022) (available in course readings folder on Canvas)
- We will also read and discuss excerpts from this interview in class (no need to read before class): Jamie Lauren Keiles, “Many Revolutions: Archiving the trans internet with Avery Dame-Griff,” The Baffler July 2023 https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/many-revolutions-lauren-keiles (also available in additional readings folder on Canvas)
- Free write 1 due
Week 3
Thursday, February 6
- Imogen Binnie, Nevada (2013), “Part Two: Late November”
- Imogen Binnie, Nevada (2023), “Afterword” (also available via Canvas, in course readings folder)
- McKenzie Wark, “Toward a Multiple Trans Literature,” The Nation, July 7, 2022
- Kate Eichhorn, and Ch 3 “Content Farms” from Content (2022)
- Free write 2 due
Week 4
Thursday, February 13
- Kate Eichhorn, Ch 4 “Content Capital” from Content (2022)
- Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey (2014), “the hurting,” “the loving”
- Note: I have provided you with the complete Milk and Honey in our Course Readings folder on our Canvas site; you only need to read the first two sections.
- Seth Perlow, “The Handwritten Styles of Instagram Poetry,” September 17, 2019, https://post45.org/2019/09/the-handwritten-styles-of-instagram-poetry/
- Amalia Ulman: Excellences and Perfections, New Museum archives, https://archive.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/2487; Amalia Ulman’s Instagram feed as archived on September 19, 2014, https://webarchives.rhizome.org/excellences-and-perfections/20141014150552/http://instagram.com/amaliaulman
- Amalia Ulman, “Amalia Ulman on her new book and internet performances,” Art Forum, May 18, 2018 https://www.artforum.com/columns/amalia-ulman-on-her-new-book-and-internet-performances-239160/
- Read through the Reception Analysis assignment page.
- Free write 3 due
Week 5
Thursday, February 20
- Patricia Lockwood, No One is Talking About This (2021), “Part One”
- The New Yorker, “Coming Soon: Jennifer Egan’s ‘Black Box’”, https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/coming-soon-jennifer-egans-black-box
- Jennifer Egan, “Black Box,” The New Yorker (2012)
- Walker Caplan, “All the memes in Patricia Lockwood’s No One Is Talking About This, explained,” LitHub, February 22, 2021, https://lithub.com/all-the-memes-in-patricia-lockwoods-no-one-is-talking-about-this-explained/
- Please come to class today prepared to discuss the text you have selected for your Reception Analysis assignment and why.
- Free write 4 due
Week 6
Thursday, February 27
- Patricia Lockwood, No One is Talking About This (2021), “Part Two”
- Brandon Taylor, “i read your little internet novels”, March 23, 2021, https://blgtylr.substack.com/p/i-read-your-little-internet-novels
- Brendan Byrne, “Retweeting Fiction,” Rhizome, April 23, 2014, https://rhizome.org/editorial/2014/apr/23/tweeting-fiction/
- Russell Brandom, “Teju Cole orchestrates his Twitter followers into a collective short story,” The Verge, January 8, 2014, https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/8/5288234/teju-cole-orchestrates-his-twitter-followers-into-a-collective-short
- Note: What remains of Cole’s “Hafiz” is embedded into the article above; not all of the story’s original 33 tweets are still available.
- Free write 5 due
Friday, February 28
- Reception Analysis due
Unit 2: Social Media in the Age of Literature
Week 7
Thursday, March 6
- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970), through page 163 (end with “…the face of her mother looming over her.”)
- Marshall Libraries, “Banned Books 2024 - The Bluest Eye,” https://www.marshall.edu/library/bannedbooks/the-bluest-eye/
- Marcelo S O Goncalves, Isabelle Langrock, Jack LaViolette, and Katie Spoon, “Book bans in political context: Evidence from US schools”, PNAS Nexus 3.6 (June 2024), https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/6/pgae197/7689238 (pdf also available in course readings folder on Canvas)
- Read through the Final Research Paper and Final Project Proposal assignment pages.
- Free write 6 due
- Meetings with instructor about final project this week or next
- Recommended: Hilton Als, “Toni Morrison’s Profound and Unrelenting Vision,” The New Yorker, January 27, 2020
Week 8
Thursday, March 13
- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970), finish the novel
- Goodreads reviews of The Bluest Eye: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11337/reviews
- Read/skim a selection of 5-star reviews
- Read/skim a selection of 1-star reviews
- Melanie Walsh and Maria Antoniak, “The Goodreads ‘Classics’: A Computational Study of Readers, Amazon, and Crowdsourced Amateur Criticism,” Journal of Cultural Analytics, April 20, 2021
- Free write 7 due
- Meetings with instructor about final project this week or previous week
Friday, March 14
- 1-2 page final project proposal due
Week 9
Thursday, March 20
- Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us (2016)
- BookTok videos: Watch at least 1 of the following BookTok compilation videos about Hoover:
- Miller, “The Unlikely Author Who’s Absolutely Dominating the Bestseller List,” Slate, August 7, 2022 https://slate.com/culture/2022/08/colleen-hoover-books-it-ends-with-us-verity.html
- Sarah Brouillette, “Romance Work,” Theory & Event 22.2 (2019): 451-464
- Free write 8 due
Week 10
Thursday, March 27
- Long Le-Khac, Maria Antoniak, and Richard Jean So, “#BLM Insurgent Discourse, White Structures of Feeling and the Fate of the 2020 ‘Racial Awakening,’” New Literary History 53.4 (2022): 667-692
- Select one of the following Wattpad stories (or groupings of Wattpad stories) to read/skim for today’s class; they all focus on #BLM in some way. Click “Start Reading” to read:
- pxpi_3andzz, “THUGS MOTIVATION,” https://www.wattpad.com/user/pxpi_3andzz (Click on “THUGS MOTIVATION” > Read to access the book and toc)
- lanadel_hey, “Anarchy (Spec Ops Guy(s) x Reader,” https://www.wattpad.com/story/228252666-anarchy-spec-ops-guy-s-x-reader
- Read both of these shorter stories:
- deathkawaiichick, “She didn’t have to die - A black lives matter story,” https://www.wattpad.com/story/228011548
- jovinta_Stella, “Khalil, I Fight For You,” https://www.wattpad.com/story/227907152-khalil-i-fight-for-you
- OR: If you are a regular Wattpad reader, come to class ready to discuss your favorite (specific) Wattpad stories.
- Sarah Brouillette, “Wattpad’s Fictions of Care,” July 13, 2022, https://post45.org/2022/07/wattpads-fictions-of-care/
- Free write 9 due
Friday, March 28
- Research synthesis and bibliography due
Week 11
Thursday, April 3: NO CLASS SPRING BREAK
Week 12
Thursday, April 10
- Aja Romano, “The secret behind internet erotica icon Chuck Tingle: his own life may be the best story he’s ever written,” Vox, October 18, 2016, https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/10/18/12775742/who-is-chuck-tingle-fake-explained
- Will Rowan, “Interview: Proving Love is Real with Dr. Chuck Tingle,” York Vision, March 30, 2021, https://www.yorkvision.co.uk/features/interview-proving-love-is-real-with-chuck-tingle/30/03/2021
- Chuck Tingle, Space Raptor Butt Invasion (2016) (please read both tinglers)
- Gregory Goalwin, “Sad Puppies and SJWs: Symbolic Revolution and Challenges to Field Orthodoxy in the Struggle for Control of Science Fiction’s Hugo Awards,” Sociological Quarterly 65.1 (2024): 61-84
- Mark McGurl, Ch 1 “Fiction as a Service,” from Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon (2021)
- Free write 10 due
Week 13
Thursday, April 17
- Kate Eichhorn, Ch 6 “Content Automation” from Content (2022)
- Sheila Heti, “According to Alice,” The New Yorker, November 13, 2023
- Cressida Leyshon, “Sheila Heti on the Fluidity of the A.I. ‘Self,’” The New Yorker, November 13, 2023
- Ted Chiang, “Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art,” The New Yorker, August 31, 2024
- Free write 11 due
Week 14
Thursday, April 24
- Kate Eichhorn, Ch 5 “Journalism and Politics after Content” from Content (2022)
- Helen Young and Geoff M. Boucher, “Authoritarian Politics and Conspiracy Fictions: The Case of QAnon,” Humanities 11.61 (2022)
- Free write 12 due
Friday, April 25
- Final project outline due
Week 15
Thursday, May 1
- Final project presentations