Stuff and Nonsense: Writing and/or Meaning from Absurdism to Zaum
COL 338
Spring 2015 not offered
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Avant-garde writers throughout the 20th century have challenged readers with texts organized by principles other than traditional notions of sense: texts that appear at first to be simply incoherent, but that also claim to cohere in unusual or unexpected ways. This class will look closely at a selection of French-, Russian-, and English-language texts that cohere though by means other than meaning--means that may be unconscious or nonsentient; formal or formless; allegorical, aleatory, or algorithmic. We will discuss ways to read these nonsense (or non-sense) texts and ways to use them as tools for examining our notions of poetry, language, authorship, plot, and meaning. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (COL)(ENGL) |
Major Readings:
Possible readings include texts by Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Jarry, Gertrude Stein, Guillaume Apollinaire, Velimir Khlebnikov, Tristan Tzara, Andre Bereton, Daniil Kharms, Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, John Cage, Jackson Mac Low, George Perec, Louis and Celia Zukofsky, Lyn Hejinian, Christian Bok and Harry Matthews.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly response papers (roughly 350 words); 15-minute class presentation; final paper (10-12 pages) |
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