e
will move at light speed in space, time, language,
region, and culture—from 1865 and the Civil War to
2020 and the Border Wall; from “America” as Uncle
Sam’s bastard child to the “United States” as only a
small part of the Americas proper. And we will
consider issues, ideas, and debates across the
spectrum of American literary studies and American
cultural studies . The final roster of authors and
books is “in the works,” as they say, but the class
will be sure to include the magisterial musings of
Toni Morrison, the fractured consciousness of Salvador
Plascencia, the hilarious and painful revelations of
Kurt Vonnegut, and mucho
mas more—also likely to make cameos? Twain,
Dickinson, Faulkner, Baldwin, Steinbeck and others.
But just what is this seductive
American nightmare?
We are, after all, doused in the verbiage of
the "American Dream" from cradle to crave, but what
would be its counterpart, its nemesis, its other?
Finding all this out (or getting lost trying) is part
of the project of the class.
We begin outside the United States inspired by
the jottings of noted post-colonial critic, Homi
Bhabha, who, in speaking of the relationship
between territory and storytelling, asks us to imagine
"Nation
and Narration" as a kind of conjoined
organism--in Bhabha's view (and in this regard he
mirrors/anticipates what comes to be known as New
Historicism here and abroad) there is a direct
connection between the tales a nation tells about
itself (and distributes and disseminates) and the
peoples populating that land. So what might look
like on the surface as a chronological summary of
American literature from the 1860s to the present also
emerges as a form of historical and psychoanalytic
time travel as we relive (through the prism of
delicious writing) vital, compelling, and evocative
episodes from Uncle Sam's hidden, unconscious closet!
For instance when it comes to the
area of comedy, is there something real that links the
vision of Twain, Vonnegut, and (moving into the
present) Steven Colbert? Can we identify an aesthetic
or cultural through-line that fuses the semantic
sketches of an Emily Dickinson and a Toni Morrison?
What about Nathanael West, Orson Welles, and Raoul
Peck (see below).
Needless to
say, our American seductive nightmares will not be
limited to the strictly literary, as we will also
carefully consider American acts of imagination and
cunning that are artistic (Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy
Warhol, Gilbert Hernandez), cinematic (Orson Welles,
Raoul Peck) and photographic (Diane
Arbus, Ana
Mendieta, Francesca
Woodman). These visual narratives will be
dropped into the mix to supplement our reading of
seductive American fictions and to infect our sampling
of vital American poetry.
One final note! Though this class
is designed for Comparative Literature and English
majors, minors and non-majors are welcome to jump into
the fray with us. Class readings and syllabus
updates will be live here soon!
Required
Books
Note: PLEASE NO DIGITAL BOOKS--all
students must bring their delicious literary jewels
made of paper, ink, and glue to our imagination
laboratory / classroom for class discussion!
Also--note that the book links provided below are
included to ensure you pick up the correct edition of
the required books, NOT to make Jeff Bezos more money
at Amazon. All the correct editions are available from
Aztec
Shops Bookstore--and
do beware bargains you may stumble across as the
pagination may be different in older editions and youwon't be able to follow
along during class discussions.*
Are used books
ok? Of course they are--but beware the notes and
scrawls you find in these discarded receptacles of
knowledge (not to mention the sneeze remnants
lurking within their pages!!!
Our review of post Civil War American literature
begins decades after that defining cataclysm; it
comes from the years after the war, and slaps us
in the face with an America still reeling from the
consequences of that war, that pitted brother
against brother, family against family. And, no
surprise, racism and slavery (and its
consequences) had scarred the collective
unconscious of a land that champions itself as a
Republic predicated on freedom. Enter the room
having read the first 33 pages of Mark Twain's
comic masterpieced Puddn'head Wilson. What opens
as a character study of a peculiar auto-didact
detective evolves as a masterclass on race, class,
and more from an author more often associated with
wit and humor than the savage satire that more
aptly describes his writings--our American
Voltaire, our American Jonathan Swift.
Tuesday January 28, 2020
Continue to read Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead
Wilson from pages 34 to 124--a substantial
amount of reading so give yourself time to do
it, perhaps in two sittings. Twain's
Pudd'nhead... But we could also speak of
Clemens's David Wilson... the problem or
conundrum of the double, of doubling, of
mirroring, of the doppelgänger, already being
part of the game of this novel. Mark Twain and
Samuel Clemens, Puddn'head Wilson and David
Wilson, Thomas a Beckett, Tom; and Valet de
Chambre, Chambers. All dance around our heads as
we read the novel. And then, the novels
themselves, doubled: Those Extraordinary
Twins and Pudd'nhead Class.
In class we will do close readings of
significant moments from your careful readings
to date . Come to class with a passage typed
that you view to be the most striking cluster of
sentences in your 90 pages of reading. On the
reverse side of the typed passage, write a 250
word, one page, justification for the selection
of that passage. It should have a catchy title,
interwoven direct quotes from the passage, and
your best writing.
Thursday January 30, 2020
Enter class having finished your reading of
Puddn'head Wilson. Go online to Project
Muse and/or JSTOR
and find an article on Puddn'head Wilson, Mark
Twain, or both that catches your eye... bring to
class a printout of the first page of that
article and, perhaps highlighted, the portion of
the argument that caught your attention. You DO
NOT have to print out or read the entire
article--I just want you to start firing up your
literary research superpowers early in the
semester. Bring this printout to class.
Tuesday
February 4, 2020
Enter our seductive den of literature having
totally devoured The Essential Emily Dickinson--edited
and
with an introduction by Joyce Carol Oates (read
that carefully as well). Dickinson's deceptively
short lyrics emerge, upon closer inspection, to be
universes of meaning that teach us much about
Dickinson and her psyche, but also about America
and women in the United States, both before and
after the Civil War--note: in having opened the
semester with Twain (in lieu of Dickinson), your
professor has revealed his rather weak (thx
Mason!) command of chronology.
As an experiment in time travel, also begin to get
to know the photography, performance art, and
"sculpture" of these three American originals: Diane Arbus, Ana
Mendieta, and Francesca
Woodman. I have a sneaking suspicion that
there will be evocative resonances across the
centuries (and across the media) between these
four artists.
IN CLASS EXTRA CREDIT Opportunity
Would any of you like to memorize
and perform a poem or two in class today? Let me
know via email to bnericci@sdsu.edu
Lastly, be sure to screen this "Nerdwriter"
seminar, by ace hermenaut Evan Puschack before
class!
Thursday
February 6, 2020
We are back to the deep South but move in time and
space to the year 1930 with William Faulkner's AS
I LAY DYING. Enter the room having read to page 73
in your edition--this is the most infamous (and
short) chapter in American literary history! "My
mother is a fish."
A remarkable achievement of international
Modernism, Faulkner's feat in AS I LAY DYING
is to immerse you in the different singular
consciousnesses that make up the Bundren family --
embarked on a bizarre odyssey with calamities of
biblical proportions. If you are familiar with the
Book of Job from the Old Testament, you will be
right at home with the Bundrens.
As I Lay
Dying, 1st edition click to
expand
Tuesday
February 11, 2020
Today you walk into our fugly #seductiveamericannightmares
room, SSW 2501, having immersed yourself in
Faulkners's AS I LAY DYING (1930)--that's a
fancy way of saying FINISH reading the novel.
Each chapter is a kind of test for you as you
must adapt yourself to the mindset of the
different characters -- for instance, Cash can
be seen to have a obsessive compulsive
disorder, a mania for precision, that may or may
not be a masking deeper feelings; Darl has a
"second sight" seemingly able to see things he
could not have witnessed and intuit others
telepathically. Vardaman, the child, is either
an idiot or a loving youth in shock--I lean on
the latter as a distinct possibility. And Jewel,
well let's just say that's complicated--we will
leave our discussion of Jewel and Addie, for
class.
Check out this
page for how serious Faulkner scholars map
(literally) the world he created in his fictions
-- some limited references to AS I LAY DYING are
made.
click to expand
Thursday February 13, 2020
Read
Nathanael West's MISS
LONELYHEARTS (1933), 1-58. Short, sweet,
riveting, hot, and with the bite of a
rattlesnake, Nathanael West's searing portrait
of an East Coast newspaper writer is one for the
ages. A bitter satire and a disturbing
meditation on faith in the 20th century, West's
nightmare portrait of America shows a nation
poised between the medieval and the modern,
between the reassuring tales and traditions of
Christianity and the post WWI and pre WWII
realities of the modern era. Try to read
in one sitting--you'll thank me later.
{Concerned about how much
reading we are doing? Come talk to me in
office hours--there's a method to the madness}
Tuesday
February 18, 2020
Still reeling from West's savage satire with
MISS LONELYHEARTS, you turn to John Steinbeck
perhaps expecting an easier time of things;
for today OF
MICE AND MEN (1937), 1-107 -- a novella by a native
Californian, Steinbeck, that routinely
turns up on secondary school reading lists.
Well, forget about that and keep your guard
up. If you read OF MICE AND MEN in high
school, you won't find the same book you
read now. On the surface, this is a
deceptively simple tale of a friendship
between two drifter friends, Lenny (a
mentally challenged mountain of a man) and
George (his friend and keeper of sorts). But
what emerges upon a slower, closer reading,
is a deep dark meditation on poverty and
desperation on the margins of American
society--what I called in a previous class,
an
erotic neurotic America. A brilliant
micro-epic, Steinbeck's novella delves into
the hearts and minds of men (and one woman),
great and small, and in the process divulges
us new un-nerving revelations concerning our
unfolding Seductive American Nightmares.
OF
MICE AND MEN, 1st edition
click to expand
Thursday February 20, 2020
click to expand
From
Lenny and George, and Steinbeck's tale of
triumph, survival, and tragedy, we hop back to
Nathanael West. Read DAY OF THE LOCUST (1939),
pp 59-121. And you are in for a treat, as West's
searing vision (all too evident in MISS
LONELYHEARTS) is even more acute here with
'LOCUST. Arguably the most accurate portrayal of
the darkside of Hollywood, West's tale, filled
with American archetypes (and stereotypes!), is
a literary vivisection of an America gone mad
for distraction, entertainment, celebrities,
fame, glory, and more. You think you had it bad
with Honey Boo Boo and Khardasians... they ain't
got nothing on 1930s Hollywood.
The
Day of the Locust, 1st edition click to
expand
Tuesday
February 25, 2020
Finish reading West, DAY OF THE LOCUST, pp. 121 to
185 + Lethem's intro, vii-xi and the afterword by
John Sanford, 187-191.
Come to class ready to share two or more passages
from the reading that you view to be essential to
the novel--passages/quotations that carry within
them what you view to be the DNA of the novel.
Thursday
February 27, 2020
Read pages 15-38 in TEXTMEX--these comprise the
Introduction and Seductive Hallucination Gallery
One from my magnum opus; also read pages 39 to 46,
the first few pages on Orson Welles's TOUCH OF
EVIL In class we will screen the first part of
Welles's movie and then move to a brief discussion
of this magnificent example of noir cinema.
Tuesday March 3, 2020
Finish reading the TOUCH OF EVIL Chapter in
TEXTMEX--if you can, start reading the next
chapter on Rita Hayworth, one of Welles's many
wives (Welles, one of Hayworth's many husbands).
Thursday March 5, 2020
In class we will finish TOUCH OF EVIL and begin
Y NO SE LO TRAGO LA TIERRA. You are welcome to
read the book either in Spanish or in
English. If you read the English, read
pages 75 to 105; in the Spanish, pages 1 to 31.
With Rivera's narrative, we are very near the
border regions, in a space akin to Welles's
TOUCH OF EVIL, but we are also very much in a
space of its own, a region with a history of its
own.
In class, before we begin our closing discussion
on TEXTMEX and TOUCH OF EVIL, and our opening
discussion of Y NO SE LO TRAGO LA TIERRA, we
will likely have an in-class assignment. Be
prepared. Know the authors, titles, and major
characters from all works we have read this
term.
Tuesday March 10, 2020
Portrait of
the Artist as a Young Man--Tomas Rivera
Edition
Finish reading Tomas Rivera's Y NO SE LO TRAGO
LA TIERRA--also read my piece on Frida Kahlo and
Gilbert Hernandez in TEXTMEX: SEDUCTIVE
HALLUCINATION OF THE "MEXICAN" IN
AMERICA--before you do so, read this graphic
narrative biography of Frida Kahlo by Gilbert
Hernandez here.
Note this was our final face-to-face class of
the semester owing to the nefarious workings of
the coronavirus!
Thursday March 12, 2020
More sadness wrought by the coronavirus storm!
Today is a special field trip class! Do not come
to SSW 2501! Instead, head across campus to
Peterson's Gym Room 153--there, our group of 32
English and Comparative Literature majors will
join with 200+ Religious Studies undergraduates
in Dr. Roy Whitaker's class for a lecture by
yours truly focused on the work of Daniel Olivas
and his SDSU Press title THINGS WE DO NOT TALK
ABOUT. It is available here, but I
advise you to pick up your copy from the campus
bookstore as it is a little bit cheaper there.
To prepare for this special class, you will have
read pages 11-55 in Olivas's book--these are
brief essays written by the
LA-based author. Also read the
following interviews: Martínez, 61; Urrea, 74;
Gurba, 80; Plascencia, 89; Arellano, 101;
Quinones, 125; Tobar; 136; Grande, 192; and
Blanco, 197.
Post Coronavirus
Updated Syllabus
Tuesday March 17, 2020
It is a brave new world as we continue our
semester--utterly shattered by the unruly dark
magic of coronavirus fever, we take a deep
breath and try to brace for the new, the
unpracticed, the unexpected.
So, do not walk into SSW 1501--stay home and
read Susan Sontag's ON PHOTOGRAPHY.
Before you begin your reading, listen to
Seductive American Nightmares Podcast #1--here
is the
link. Or hit this Soundcloud
graphic-link now:
... THEN watch this video--an Orson
Welles (!!!) narrated version of Plato's
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE ... then do
the readings below!
Do you have to read ALL
of the book? Only if you wish--to help kill
the time between news updates regarding the
virus. Seriously, you are only responsible for
the following: read "In Plato's Cave" and
"America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly."
pp3-48. After reading these pages, think about
what Sontag's main arguments are; even better,
as you read, try to get inside her head--try
to "become Sontag."
Updated owing to
survey
monkey suggestions!
Thursday March 19, 2020
You have the day OFF! Relax!
Drink some wine! Sleep in! Go for a
walk--unless you are in lock down!
No reading today--well,
maybe a little if you
ignored the assignment above
for Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
Ok, here is your assignment.
Hunt through these
photographs by Diane
Arbus, Ana
Mendieta, and Francesca
Woodman.
Find TWO (2) Photographs
that you think BEST help you
"become Sontag"--that is the
two photographs that you
think you can analyze
applying a Sontagian method
or actually using/adapting
Sontag's logic and methods.
Write a 250 word (one page,
double-spaced) riff on each
photograph for a total of
500 + words as you'll want
to craft a nifty brief intro
and a killer, catchy
conclusion; a groovy title
for your writing would be
good too.
Email this work to me as a
word.doc or google.doc by 12
midnight today March 24,
2020. Whatever you do,
DO NOT USE MORE TIME THAN
OUR CLASS PERIOD to author
your masterpiece!
As a treat when you are
finished, check out this
documentary on HBO on the
life and work of Sontag; the
trailer is here.
Don't have HBO? Don't
fret--watch this interview
with Sontag for free! and
here's
her list of 50 best
films! This show, from
1983, may at first seem
dated, but give it a try--a
great meeting of the minds
with Susan
Sontag and John Berger
throwing down word riffs on
storytelling.
Thursday March 26, 2020
Today you will receive your
Imagination Challenge Essay
prompts--Essay due Friday,
April 17, 2020 at 12noon,
emailed to me at bnericci@sdsu.edu.
Spend
your time from 9:30 to 10:45am
today reading this essay by
African American genius James
Baldwin.
For today's class, read this
essay, "Notes
of a Native Son" by
Baldwin. The piece is a new
genre for us, really, that
goes by the name of an
"essay." An essay, of course,
is not a story, not a novel,
and not a poem; rather, an
essay is a cogent, non-fiction
piece of prose that tries to
make an argument or reveal
something new to its
readers. They can be
persuasive, seductive, or
combative--and no two essays
are really alike.
James Baldwin is recognized as
one of our greatest 20th
century American
essayists--and yet, as you
will see with this piece,
storytelling is very much
still part of the "game" or
"cipher" or "puzzle" that goes
by the name of ESSAY. As you
read, note how Baldwin moves
in the essay--are there
signature Baldwinian tactics
that we can add to our own
essays, that we can
incorporate into our
rhetorical strategies? What he
means, is, of course,
important, but I am more
interested in you getting a
feel for how he writes: are
there things he achieves as a
writer that you admire? that
you might like to emulate in
your own writing?
Happy Spring Break--no
class!!!
Note: this canned photo depicts
individuals without any knowledge of our
latest social distancing practices!
Thursday April 2, 2020
Happy Spring Break--no
class!!! Note: Use this photo to guide you towards
contracting COVID-19.
Tuesday April 7, 2020
Perhaps now, after Spring Break, your
mind turns seriously back to the goals
of this class--remember, if you have not
done so already, carefully read the
essay "Notes of a Native Son" located here.
AFTER you read the essay, listen to my
three podcast lectures (#6, #7 &
#8) on Baldwin--as
you listen, have the essay open in
front of you so when I do a page callout
we can be on the same page!
This
week after Spring Break, we continue
your James Baldwin experience--you
spent some time with his awesome
writing on the Thursday before
Spring Break. Now, today, you are
asked to screen Raoul Peck's I AM
NOT YOUR NEGRO--a bracing cinematic
documentary focused on the life and
writing career of James
Baldwin. It is free to you here via
the SDSU Kanopy account.
Finish
reading Kurt Vonnegut's
SLAUGHTERHOUSE- FIVE or THE CHILDREN'S
CRUSADE
If you
can make the time--when you finish the
novel--also read this piece
on Vonnegut written by Salman Rushdie.
Thursday April 16, 2020
No reading for today--also,
remember your Imagination
Challenge Major Essay is due
tomorrow, Friday, April 17,
2020, to me via email,
bnericci@sdsu.edu, by 12
noon!
Friday,
April 17, 2020
By 12noon today please be sure to email me
your essay (to memo@sdsu.edu or
bnericci@sdsu.edu). Do please format the
document single-spaced, not double-spaced, as
I will be printing them, grading them, and the
photographing the graded pages to send back to
you.
It is Saturday and Sunday, April
18 and 19nth--I can't force you to, but I
strongly advise you to catch up on your
listening/reading to your class podcasts. I
can guarantee you that information from the
podcasts will re-appear on your final
exam. Also keep in mind that without
doing the readings first ... of Sontag, of
Baldwin, and of Vonnegut, the podcasts are
useless, and as fun to listen to as watching
paint dry. So please catch up using this link:
Tuesday April 21,
2020
We near the end of our American
adventure and we have saved the best
for last as we venture toward the
striking first novel by Toni Morrison,
THE BLUEST EYE.
By
midnight tonight, read up to page 163--a trigger warning, the last part
of this reading is brutal and potentially disturbing (and yet also,
essential to Morrison's project). On the off chance we all have
different editions. This is page 164 in my edition of the book. It
may seem like a lot of pages, but I
doubt you will be able to put the book
down once you get into it.
We will NOT HAVE A ZOOM
CLASS TODAY! To give you more time
to read and listen to the
podcasts, I am bumping our next
Zoom class to Thursday, April 23,
2020.
Thursday April 23, 2020
Finish Morrison's outstanding novel for
today's class.
We are very likely to have an online quiz/writing assignment at the
beginning of class at 9:30am sharp. So have your zoom open, but also
have a browser window open with an email to bnericci@sdsu.edu ready to
send to me! What will you put in that email? You will find out at
9:30am sharp. One hint!? It will help to be all caught up with your podcasts.
Tuesday April 28, 2020
Plascencia readings for this week are
optional--use the extra time to catch up
on the other required books for the
semester in preparation for the exam
next Thursday
Thursday April 30, 2020
Plascencia cancelled. Or, better put,
optional--a remarkable contemporary
American novel by an equally remarkable
American writer.
For today--focus on Warhol; specific
pages forthcoming.
Zoom session today likely.
Tuesday May 5, 2020
Final Exam Review via zoom!
Note!
I can't change the
time of this exam as it is
your final.
Thursday
May
7, 2020
Final Imagination Challenge, aka
the Final Exam
Today, at 9:30am, I will email you
an exam--you will have until 11am
to email it back to me. Good
luck! I hope you do
amazingly well.
Note: PLEASE NO DIGITAL BOOKS--all
students must bring their delicious literary jewels
made of paper, ink, and glue to our imagination
laboratory / classroom for class discussion! 
Are used books
ok? Of course they are--but beware the notes and
scrawls you find in these discarded receptacles of
knowledge (not to mention the sneeze remnants
lurking within their pages!!!
e
will move at light speed in space, time, language,
region, and culture—from 1865 and the Civil War to
2020 and the Border Wall; from “America” as Uncle
Sam’s bastard child to the “United States” as only a
small part of the Americas proper. And we will
consider issues, ideas, and debates across the
spectrum of American literary studies and American
cultural studies . The final roster of authors and
books is “in the works,” as they say, but the class
will be sure to include the magisterial musings of
Toni Morrison, the fractured consciousness of Salvador
Plascencia, the hilarious and painful revelations of
Kurt Vonnegut, and 
But just what is this 
So what might look
like on the surface as a chronological summary of
American literature from the 1860s to the present also
emerges as a form of historical and psychoanalytic
time travel as we relive (through the prism of
delicious writing) vital, compelling, and evocative
episodes from Uncle Sam's hidden, unconscious closet!
Updated owing to
survey 
Spend
your time from 9:30 to 10:45am
today reading this essay by
African American genius James
Baldwin.
Tuesday
Thursday
Tuesday
Thursday
