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| Semester | fall semester 2013 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Christian Hänggi (christian.haenggi@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Between 1950 and 1975, mass media were thought to have a relatively weak influence on their audiences - particularly when compared to the years before and during World War II. At the same time, this was also a period of government-commissioned surveillance of citizens, which spawned a great number of literary and theoretical texts that are much concerned with the way the media influence us. Important figures in the American literary world were Thomas Pynchon, William S. Burroughs, and Philip K. Dick, all of whom display a certain disquietude or outright paranoia in the face of media in capitalist societies. Their texts invite us to read and interpret signs - never knowing if they mean anything at all or if they are just figments of the imagination. Not content with being on the receiving end, Burroughs in particular makes this fundamental undecidability productive by turning the tables and imagining ways of subverting the existing media system. The simultaneous fascination with and repulsion for mass media link these three writers to a wider body of American literature of the era that can be read as a media critique. This proseminar will bring together a selection of postmodern American writings with theoretical texts in order to contextualize the era's outlook on the media and observe how this outlook is staged by the literary texts themselves. |
| Learning objectives | Students are introduced to a number of canonical postmodern writers' engagements with the possibilities and dangers of the mass media. |
| Bibliography | Thomas Pynchon: "The Crying of Lot 49" (1965) William S. Burroughs: "Electronic Revolution" (1970) Philip K. Dick: "A Scanner Darkly" (1977) Please read the books before the proseminar starts. Additional mandatory readings are made available on ISIS. |
| Comments | I am planning a guest lecture on William S. Burroughs by the American composer and media philosopher Peter Price. |
| Weblink | ISIS |
| Admission requirements | Old BA curriculum (2005): This course may only be taken after successful completion of the first-year module "Learning about Literature". New BA curriculum (2013): It is strongly recommended that this course is taken only after the successful completion of the "Introduction I + II: Literary Studies" proseminars. |
| Course application | Enrol by email to alex.van-lierde@unibas.ch indicating your 1st and 2nd choice proseminar. The first 18 to enrol are guaranteed a place in the course of their 1st choice; others may be shifted to one of the other 4 courses (35013, 35014, 35017) on offer. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Introduction to Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance and participation, short quizzes or group presentations |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |