A Hypercontemporary Literature Syllabus! And More!

The first week is already over and I realized I never got around to putting up my syllabi. I’m teaching two classes this semester, an all-Zoom revision of my Tolkien class and an all-Zoom survey of 21st Century Literature that I decided to focus on texts from more or less the last two years. (I also have an independent study on Gender and Sexuality in New Wave SF that’s been terrific; no formal syllabus for that one but we’re reading Le Guin, Russ, Delany, Tiptree, Lem, the Tarkovskys, all your faves.)

Thanks so much to everyone on Facebook and Twitter who flooded me with suggestions for the 21st Century course. In the end I was so overwhelmed by the possibilities I solicited suggestions directly from the students, which allowed me to craft a syllabus that was both inside and outside my usual wheelhouse, hopefully in ways that will be fun for both my students and myself. And we still get to be surely the first class in the world to study Ishiguro’s new book.

The syllabus doesn’t list the films they picked, but our class vote landed on Parasite and Soul for the last two weeks of class, an intriguing dialectic arraying the full possibilities of the human experience…

synchM1/25FIRST DAY OF CLASSsynchW1/27Among Us game and thinkpieces [D2L]asynchF1/29Giorgio Agamben, “What Is the Contemporary?” [D2L]    synchM2/1PLAY/MOVIE: Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me (including bonus material) [Amazon Prime]synchW2/3What the Constitution Means to Me discussion continuesasynchF2/5POEM: Andrea Gorman, “The Hill We Climb” [D2L] and online reactions     synchM2/8SHORT STORY: N.K. Jemisin, “Emergency Skin” [Amazon Kindle]synchW2/10SHORT STORY: Ted Chiang, “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom” [online]asynchF2/12Jemisin and Chiang sandbox assignment    synchM2/15COMIC: Chris Ware, Rusty Brown, Vol. 1, part onesynchW2/17COMIC: Chris Ware, Rusty Brown, Vol. 1, part twoasynchF2/19COMIC: Chris Ware, Rusty Brown, Vol. 1, part three sandbox assignment    synchM2/22COMIC: Chris Ware, Rusty Brown, Vol. 1, part three discussionsynchW2/24COMIC: Chris Ware, Rusty Brown, Vol. 1, part fourasynchF2/26Haruki Murakami, “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey” [D2L]optional: Haruki Murakami, “A Shinagawa Monkey” [D2L]    synchM3/1Haruki Murakami, “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey” discussionsynchW3/3Hades [Steam or Nintendo Switch]asynchF3/5Hades sandbox assignment    synchM3/8Hades discussion continues W3/10UNIVERSITY MENTAL HEALTH DAY—NO CLASSasynchF3/12Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, chapters 1-16
CLOSE READING DUE    synchM3/15Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, chapters 17-30synchW3/17Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, chapters 31-45asynchF3/19Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, chapters 46-60synchM3/22Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, chapters 61-74synchW3/24Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, chapters 75-90asynchF3/26Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, whole book    synchM3/29Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future and responsessynchW3/31Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future and responses F4/2GOOD FRIDAY—NO CLASS    synchM4/5Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (page range TBD)synchW4/7Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (page range TBD)asynchF4/9Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (page range TBD)    synchM4/12Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (page range TBD)synchW4/14Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (page range TBD)asynchF4/16Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (page range TBD)
MINISTRY RESPONSE DUE    synchM4/19CREATIVE NONFICTION: Zadie Smith, Intimations (first half)synchW4/21CREATIVE NONFICTION: Zadie Smith, Intimations (second half)asynchF4/23MOVIE or TV SHOW TBD    synchM4/26MOVIE or TV SHOW TBDsynchW4/28MOVIE or TV SHOW TBDasynchF4/30MOVIE or TV SHOW TDB    synchM5/3MOVIE or TV SHOW TBDW5/5UNIVERSITY MENTAL HEALTH DAY—NO CLASSsynchF5/7LAST DAY OF CLASS
INTIMATION DUE