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| English 220"Eyegiene"{or, An Introduction to Literature} Dr. William Nericcio |
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  Permutations of Subjectivity in the Televisual Age of Sex & Race |
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  irst
it was the Movies--the heralded and infamous wonders of the silver screen; then came
Television, the infamous "boob-tube" that invaded every home in America
and turned us all into a nation of brain-addled, screen-sucking
zombies. Next? Computers and the Internet, with their insidiously
addictive delights--memes that last a day or two but yank on the
collective unconscious like heroin or worse. Last? Smartphones, Twitter,
and Facebook.  So it is that we find ourselves in the Fall of
2011 (the twelve of us left actually reading books), besieged by screen
fantasies, digitized fetishes, and more. Enter EYEGIENE. Think of Eyegiene as an introduction to literature after the conquest of Screen Media Culture--or, if you prefer, literature after being infected with an eyegienic virus. Eyegiene is the title of a new book I am finishing on American visual culture and a methodology for reading 21st century literature in whatever form: books, films, photography, art, street art, graffiti, paintings, etc ; and from whatever genre: fiction, memoir, self-portraiture, short story, poetry, essay, etc.  Eyegiene
is supposed to sound like hygiene, you know: "hygiene n. conditions or practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, esp. through cleanliness; ORIGIN late 16th cent.: via French from modern Latin hygieina, from Greek (art) of health." In our class, Eyegiene is something different: less an "art of health," Eyegiene is a means to survival--a way of reading the world (and literature), that accounts for the side-effects of living through our sensual, distacting, and addictive screen cultures of the early 21st century. 
Planned works include: graphic narrative (ACME NOVELTY
WAREHOUSE by Chris Ware and BREAKDOWNS: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A
YOUNG %@&*! by Art Spiegelman); essays (BEYOND THE PLEASURE
PRINCIPLE by Sigmund Freud); novels (FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk);
film, photography, and more. The class is open to all majors and
presumes no expertise. Junior and senior undergraduate majors in
English and Comparative Literature interested in taking the course for
upper-division credit should contact Professor Nericcio via email at bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu |
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Required Books... |
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Other Requirements!!! 
WRITING AND EXAMINATIONS You will be asked to write 2 (TWO) I/EYE Mindscribe Festivals (aka 3- to 5-page critical essays) during the course of the term. Please note that you will never be compelled to write about something you absolutely loathe. Please see me or your amazing GTA during office hours as brainstormings essay topics is totally cool. There will also be 1(ONE) I/EYE_finalCHALLENGE (aka, "the FINAL") on the last regularly scheduled day of class: Wednesday, December 7, 2011. Your final is comprehensive; it assumes you have read all the books and screened all the movies that are part of our required work. If you do the work, the final is a breeze--even "fun" if you can believe it. If you slack off, you will find the final as enjoyable as a surprise guest appearance as a victim on Dexter. 
QUIZZES AND ATTENDANCEThere will also be a couple of in-class Panic-Inducing Challenges© otherwise known as "check that you did the reading carefully and on time quizzes." You can expect these miserable quizzes from time to time, the number of quizzes depending on how many of you are nostalgic for high school. In other words, if everyone acts like a talented university undergraduate, we will enjoy FEW if any quizzes during our eye-popping semester. The whole point of this class is to work together, the idea being that we convert our boring, somewhat high-tech classroom into a chaotic, unpredictable and exciting intellectual laboratory. Missing class, you miss as well the whole point of the adventure. So please bypass no more than two classes during the term. Miss MORE than two classes during the term and your grade will decay in an ugly way: examples: your hard-earned A- will morph into a B; your "gentleman's C-" will appear on gradeline as a "D." Ditching this class too often will be as fun as a case of the flesh-eating virus.  GRADING INFORMATION 33% In-class "Panic-Inducing Challenges"©, class participation/attendance, tumblr-postings, etc 33% Your two I/EYE Mindscribe Festivals (aka "Essays) 33% I/EYE_finalCHALLENGE (aka, "the FINAL") 1% Chutzpah, ganas, will, and drive.  OFFICE HOURSWhy 'office hours'? I expect you to visit me in office hours at least once during the semester. Additionally, you are encouraged and welcome to visit your GTAs. At SDSU, it's easy to fall through the cracks, to feel that you are nothing but a number or some warm pile of sentient flesh filling a seat. In order to underscore that the person teaching you is somewhat human, please make a point to take the time to introduce yourself in person. My office hours will be on Mondays from to 1 to around 4 or so in Arts and Letters 273. If these hours are inconvenient, do not hesitate to call me at 594.1524 either to schedule an appointment or discuss your questions via telephone. My E-mail address is: memo@sdsu.edu. |
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