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Modernism
and the Marketplace The very idea of modernism seems to have been founded upon a studied contempt for the mass-mediated literary marketplace, where as Adorno famously claimed, culture itself split into two hopelessly damaged and irreconcilable halves. The highbrow modernists all shared this conviction, and were quick to turn their acid pens upon the vagaries of popular literature, middlebrow art, and "the culture industry." This course will examine the historical and critical conditions of this cultural great divide by examining modernist literature ithrough such rubrics as snobbery, celebrity, advertising, commodification, mass-mediation, and elitism. The goal of this seminar will be to provide you with a general survey of modernist literature while familiarizing you with contemporary and historical scholarly debates about the relationship between highbrow and mass culture. Journal Reports (10%) Each member of the class will present a short (10 or so minutes) summary of a relevant scholarly journal in the field of modernist studies. You will be expected to look through back issues, scan through sample essays, and examine requirements for submission. You should summarize your findings in a brief handout which you will distribute on the day of your presentation. Class Presentation/Participation (15%) This course will make use of the webCT software package available on TU's web servers. During the first meeting you will sign up to initiate an on-line dicussion by posting a 2-3pp position paper on the webCT newsgroup for this course. This should be a well-written essay (not a series of questions) designed to provoke discussion and clarify some of the issues you think we should address in class. This paper must be posted at least 48hrs before the seminar meets. Other seminar members will be expected to post resposes to this postion paper on-line, all of which must be posted at least 4 hours before the seminar meets. When we convene, the author of the position paper for that week will initiate our discussion with a brief presentation. Position Paper (10%) This is a short essay (4-6 pages) outlining the topic you intend to explore in your final seminar paper. The topic is entirely up to you and it need not be based upon your in-class presentation. You will be able to alter the topic of your final paper after handing in this position paper, and I strongly encourage you to consult with me when attempting to settle on a final topic. Please note that paper should also include a tentative research bibliography. Paper Due: November 9 by 4:00pm Final Paper (65%) This is the traditional seminar paper, which should be somewhere between 15 and 25 pages in length. The topic for the paper must be reached in consultation with me, and it must draw significantly on the course's primary text and theoretical concerns with modernism and the marketplace. The finished product should be a substantive piece of scholarship which might be appropriate for publication in a scholarly journal. Paper Due: December 11 by 4:00pm. Attendance This is a graduate seminar which meets only fourteen times over the course of the semester. Attendance is mandatory, so please speak with me in advance if you think you won't be able to make a seminar meeting. Academic Honesty Plagiarism is the unacknowledged borrowing of ideas or quotations for other authors. Whenever you paraphrase another's work or quote directly from it you must document your sources and use quotation marks properly. Because plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the course, I strongly encourage you to contact me with any questions, problems or doubts. Arnold Bennett, The Old
Wives' Tale
FINAL PAPER DUE: December 11 |