MATX 601 (Section 001, Schedule #17827)
Virginia Commonwealth University
Fall 2018
Th 4:00pm - 6:40pm :: 330 Hibbs
Prof. David Golumbia
Office: 324D Hibbs Hall
Fall 2018 Office Hours: Thurs 12:30-3:30pm
Texts and Textuality
This course, a core requirement for the Media, Art, and Text (MATX) PhD program, explores current theories of texts and textuality, with some emphasis on the ways they relate to the study of other media and the arts. The course surveys several disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to texts, drawing on writings by major figures from literary theory, cultural studies, visual studies, and media studies. The course is taught by discussion. Evaluation is via course participation and one seminar paper.
Texts
Texts for purchase
- Eliane Glaser, Anti-Politics: On the Demonization of Ideology, Authority and the State (Repeater 2018)
- Alexander Galloway, Eugene Thacker and McKenzie Wark, Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation (Chicago 2013)
- Sayak Valencia, Gore Capitalism (Semiotext(e), 2018)
- Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (Vintage, 1993)
- Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus (Penguin 2009) Please get this Penguin edition, and not one of the earlier University of Minnesota Press versions
- Michelle Murphy, The Economization of Life (Duke 2017)
All other texts will be available electronically on the web, in Blackboard, or via the library.
Assignments and
Evaluation
Evaluation will be based on written exercises and course participation as
follows:
- Paper (60%): students will write a single, publishable-quality, seminar paper, of at least 5000 words, due at the end of the term. Halfway through the term, students will write a draft of about half that length to get feedback. Students may write on any topic appropriate to the class. Specific topics will be developed in consultation with the instructor; for PhD students, students are encouraged to work on material that lies within their area of interest with an eye toward their dissertation
- Course Participation (40%): the instructor will assign a letter grade to each student reflecting their engaged participation in class during the term.
Course-Specific Policies
- Attendance. This course is taught primarily via discussion. Your
attendance and participation are vital to its success. A significant
portion of your grade (40%) depends on your class participation. "Class participation" does not necessarily mean that you have said what everyone thinks is the smartest thing in the world, but has much more to do with whether other students know your name by mid-semester because you contribute to discussion regularly.
- No Late Work. No late work is accepted in this class. Work handed in
late is automatically marked down one-third grade (e.g., a B becomes a B-)
for each day it is late, and after one week becomes a failing grade for
the assignment.
- Class Preparation. You are expected to have done the primary reading and
any other primary course assignments before the beginning of course each
week.
- Honor System. All work in this course is subject to the University's
Honor System. You may work in teams for some assignments, but all
written work must be solely your own, and any reliance on published
work must be properly cited.
- Evaluations. Final grades for the course will not be released until
the entire class has submitted online course evaluations.
Official VCU Policy Statements
Please consult the Provost's official page on topics such as classroom conduct, email, the Honor System, and other important policy issues.
Week-by-Week Syllabus
Week 1. Introduction.
Week 2. Text (I)
- Thurs Aug 30.
- Roland Barthes, "From Work to Text" (1971), in The Rustle of Language (Blackboard)
- Michael Sprinker, "Textual Politics: Foucault and Derrida." boundary 2 8:3 (Spring 1980). http://www.jstor.org/stable/302962.
- Edward Said, "The Problem of Textuality: Two Exemplary Positions." Critical Inquiry 4:4 (Summer 1978). http://www.jstor.org/stable/1342951.
Week 3. Text (II)
- Thurs Sep 6.
- Jacques Derrida, "...That Dangerous Supplement...," from Of Grammatology, pp 141-164 (on Blackboard)
- Jacques Derrida, "Signature Event Context" (Blackboard)
- Henry Staten, "Writing: Empirical, Transcendental, Ultratranscendental." CR: The New Centennial Review 9:1 (Spring 2009). http://muse.jhu.edu/article/270304/pdf.
Week 4. Interpretation
- Thurs Sep 13.
- Edward Said, "The Return to Philology." In Said, Humanism and Democratic Criticism (Columbia UP, 2004). 57-84. (Blackboard)
- Paul de Man, "The Return to Philology." In de Man, The Resistance to Theory (Minneapolis, 1986). 3–26. (Blackboard)
- Geoffrey Galt Harpham, "Roots, Races, and the Return to Philology," Representations (Spring 2009). http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rep.2009.106.1.34.
- Jeffrey Nealon, “The Swerve Around P: Literary Theory After Interpretation.” Postmodern Culture (2007). (web)
Week 5. Glaser, Anti-Politics
Week 6. Morrison, Playing in the Dark
Week 7. No class; instructor away
Week 8. Valencia, Gore Capitalism
Week 9. Reading period; no class
Week 10. Galloway, Thacker, and Wark, Excommunication
Week 11. No class; instructor away
Week 12. Murphy, The Economization of Life
Week 13. Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus
Week 14. Thanksgiving; no class
Week 15. Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus
Week 16. Final discussion
Final paper is due by the end of the final exam period, 6:40pm, Thursday, Dec 14, 2017, per the registrar's exam schedule. The paper should be submitted on Blackboard. No late papers can be accepted for the final paper assignment. There is no other final
exam for the course.
Last updated September 5, 2018.