COMPARATIVE
LITERATURE PROGRAM
COURSE
DESCRIPTIONS
Fall 1999
CMLT 488G (ENGL 449) Screen Writing I
0101 Tu 3:30-6:30 pm SQH 2119 Index #10923
Lifton, M.
Permission Required from Professor: (ML26@umail.umd.edu)
This is a course which will introduce the
beginning student to the conventions, problems, and possibilities of the
screenwriting form. It will be
useful--but not necessary--that students enrolling in the class have some
writing experience of whatever kind.
Using a close reading of both the screenplay and the cinematic text of
Dennis Potters The Singing Detective,
the course will proceed by analyzing both texts from the perspective of the
dramatic and cinematic problems inherent in them, and discussing how such
problems have been solved --to the degree that they have--in the screenplay and
in the film. Some of these solutions--and
failures--will then suggest similar strategies for students to use in their
individual writing assignments.
One-on-one interaction with the instructor--known in the profession as
story conferences--will form a significant part of the course.
CMLT 488L Cenres: Advertising and Global Culture
0101 TuTh 12:30-1:45 pm ASY 3207 Index#10933
Robinson, E.
This course examines the role of
advertising and its impact on culture, particularly global culture. It will examine how culture is shaped by its
effect on consumption, and how consumption is used to establish cultural
identity. The focus will be on mass
media images, consumption locales where images can be purchased, and an
examination of the architecture of lifestyles and consumption cultures. Of special importance will be how to
decipher the advertising image using visual and photographic techniques. Since the advertising message is able to
cross the great cultural divide via the new technology, the power of the image
becomes even more intense, thereby forcing new constructs and new techniques to
understand and read the image. The
changing status of those previously excluded from the advertising mix will be
examined and the means by which they are seduced into the new consumption ideology
will be explored. Thus the social
function of advertising with regard to gender, race, class and ethnicity will
have a major role in exploring "neofeminism" and the mediated gaze.
CMLT 498C (ENGL 479F/WMST498G) Selected
Topics in Comparative Studies: Virginia Woolf in comparative Context
0101 Tu 1:00- 4:00pm HBK 0109 Index
#10943
Fuegi, J.
We will explore examples of Virginia
Woolf"s readings in history, psychology, economics, and in classical Greek
literature ( particularly drama) as well as her readings in modern French,
German, Russian, American and British literature. We will read two basic
biographies of Virginia Woolf and several of the major novels, Mrs.
Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, and Orlando, and at
least two volumes of her criticism, particularly Three Guineas
and A Room of One's Own. We will also examine film versions of
Virginia Woolf's life as well as the lives of her major contemporaries,
particularly Winston Churchill, Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey, and Vita
Sackville-West. The Course will provide a comprehensive overview of Virginia
Woolf's contribution to modern thought, politics, and letters.
CMLT498D (FREN489) Selected Topics in Comparative Studies: The
Short Story from George Sand to Le Clezio: Short Fiction in French form the 19th
and 20th Centuries
0101 TuTh 12:30-1:45 pm JMZ
1120 Index #10953
Hage, M.
This course will examine a large
selection of short stories written by women and men in English and in French
(some from the 19th century but most from the 20th) to establish the boundaries
of the genre in its relationships to other fictional forms. It will also examine whether and how gender
and culture are inscribed into the texts.
Grading method: Weekly notes,
one critical paper (8-10 pages), a midterm and a final plus participation in
class discussions. This course is in
English and uses a comparative approach.
(Students who wish to read material and write in French should register
for 499S to count course towards the French major).
CMLT 498G (ARTT 489G) Selected Topics in Comparative Studies:
Digital Narrative
Students who have taken “Digital Strategies”
(CMLT498G) are not permitted in “Digital Narrative.”
0101 Th 3:30-6:00pm CSS 1410 Index
#10963
Lifton, M.
It’s sometimes hard to tell if we are all
drowning in information, or simply awash in claims and
counter‑claims about the alleged
Information Age. The whole concept of the so‑called Information Age
of course pivots around digitized
information: the popular contention is
that digitization is what makes this alleged wealth of information available.
While one cannot vouch for the general
cultural effect or even veracity of all this yet‑‑it is simply too
soon to tell‑‑one thing is certain: digital strategies will become‑‑indeed, have already
become‑‑increasingly significant in the structuring of on‑screen
narratives.
This course will explore, in a hands‑on fashion, the various emerging
strategies for creating narrative digitally. At the end of the semester,
students can expect to have constructed a sample of their original work using
digital work stations exclusively.
Accordingly, students enrolling should be computer literate and
preferably be conversant with programs such as QuickTime, Adobe Premiere,
Infini‑D and/or Strata, Poser and so on.
Please note that though the course will
of necessity consider theoretical and methodological issues, the main emphasis
will be on creative rather than critical work.
CMLT 498L Selected Topics in Comparative
Studies: Sexuality in the Cinema
0101 TuTh 9:30 -10:45am SQH
2121 Index #10973
Robinson, E.
An examination of how sexuality is
exploited by cinema. The course
analyzes the sexual images in popular and nonmainstream cinema. An investigation of the sexuality of the
so-called “Love Goddesses” from the perspective of the “Masculine gaze.” Will
analyze how cinema deals with sexual politics and explore cinematic discourse
in homosexuality and alternative lifestyles.
CMLT498P (ENGL467) Selected Topics in Comparative Studies: The
Computer and the Text
0101 TuTh
2:00-3:15pm EGR 3140 Index #10983
Kolker R.
This course combines theory and practice
in creative computing. We will
investigate the cultures of the computer and the new textualities that occur
when word, image, sound, and design are joined for the purposes of scholarly
and creative expression. We will also
create these texts in collaborative projects that make use of stand-alone and
networked authoring technologies. Class
takes place in an interactive computer theater.
CMLT498V
(ENGL379C) The African
Novel.
0101 TuTh 12:30-1:45 pm EAB
0307 Index #53625
McKnight, R.
(Not available
at this time)
CMLT498W (PORT378) Selected Topics in Comparative Studies:
Brazilian Cinema (in Translation)
0101 MW 1:00‑
2:50pm JMZ 2120 Index#10993
Peres, P.
We will view and discuss Brazilian films
from the late 1950s to the present as both aesthetic expressions and markers of
social realities and transformations.
The Cinema Nova movement of the late 1950s to early 1970s will be
studied in the context of New Latin American Cinema and the region-wide calls
for new film aesthetics. A partial list
of films includes:
Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus)
Terra em Transe
Vidas Secas (Barren Lives)
Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês (How Tasty
was my Little Frenchman)
Bye-bye Brazil
Eles Não Usam Black-Tie (They Don’t Wear
Black Tie)
Pixote
A Hora da Estrela (The Hour of the Star)
Que Bom Te Ver Viva (How Nice to See You
Alive)
Quatro Dias em Setembro (Four Days in
September)
Bananas is My Business
Central do Brasil (Central Station)
and others...
Films will be accompanied by critical
readings on Brazilian cinema and film makers.
We will also be reading Vidas Secas (Graciliano Ramos) and A Hora da
Estrela (Clarice Lispector) to compare literary and film narratives.
Graduate students interested in this
class should speak with Prof. Peres about a PORT699 option.
CMLT498Y (ENGL379R) Selected Topics in Comparative Studies:
Continental Renaissance & English Literature
0101 TuTh 9:30am‑10:45am SQH 1119 Index#
53498
Coogan, R.
(CANCELED) D
CMLT600 (PermReq) Introduction to
Critical Theory
0101 M 3:30pm‑
6:00pm SQH 2122 Index#11003
Conroy, M.
Prerequisite: permission of department. This course
aims to equip students with the conceptual vocabulary and the methodological
awareness that they need in order to participate in the fields of literary and
cultural studies at the graduate level.
The first part of the course will center on the theoretical debates that
surround some key terms in literary and cultural studies: the text, the author,
the critic. From there, we will go on
to survey the issues and practices that define several main approaches to
literary studies, including feminism, Marxist criticism, and cultural
studies. We will conclude with a
consideration of some recent analyses of the institutionalization of literary
and cultural studies in the university.
CMLT679C (ENGL738A) Topics in Comparative
Studies: Film and Video Across the Curriculum
0101 M 6:30pm‑ 9:00pm
SQH 2123 Index#11013
Fuegi, J.
Increasingly advanced graduate students
are being asked at job interviews about their ability to work not only with
print but with film, video, and various forms both of left and right brain
communication. In a world where Nobel
Prize level writers (Beckett, Mahfouz, and Marquez for example), and prominent
scholars (such as Laura Mulvey and Janet Murray), have become just as at home with working on and for the screen,
the curricular relationship of “other media” to long-dominant print culture
warrants fundamental re-examination.
This course will be taught by John Fuegi an internationally known
scholar both in print and non-print culture.
CMLT679D (ENGL759A) Topics in Comparative Studies: Text and Pre‑Text:
Caribbean Literature in Multi‑Cultural Perspective
0101 Th 3:30pm‑
6:00pm SQH 4116 Index#11023
Collins, M.
In this seminar, we will discuss selected
texts and the multiciplity of cultural
influences on the development of Caribbean literature. Multi‑cultural is hyphenated to
disassociate our approach on the course
from a notion of multicultural which suggests a dash of what has come
to be regarded as "the
ethnic" in an otherwise un‑ethnic world. Pre‑text focuses on
the texts and ideas which are said to have contributed to the
creation of our selection. Among
texts and themes to be considered are Jean
Rhys' WIDE SARGASSO SEA and Charlotte Bronte's JANE EYRE; Jamaica Kincaid's ANNIE JOHN and Milton's PARADISE LOST, Shakespeare's
THE TEMPEST and its influences on Caribbean texts and critical thought on Caribbean literature, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez' ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE
and the multiplicity of influences on its creation, the Caribbean calypso and
its origins in African traditional poetry.
On the course we will discuss how the literature suggests a constant
dialogue between cultures.
CMLT679Z Topics in Comparative Studies:
The Art and Science of Digital Narration
0101 W 3:00pm‑ 6:00pm ASY 3311E Index#11033
Lifton, M.
Permission Required from Professor
(ML26@umail.umd.edu
Digital narrative is the product of
digital and computing technologies as story-telling methodologies and devices.
Students enrolled in the course will
participate in the advanced stages of the development and creation of a major, on-going
digital narrative projects. The
original project includes film material, digital imaging, and a very high
degree of innovative and sophisticated interactivity.
The film material, which will be shot
off-campus in a professional production setting, will be under the direction of
a major international director. The
class will be structured as a typical science research project, though
obviously creativity and the interplay of creative impulses and technological
skills will be very much at the forefront of our efforts.
This advanced, interdisciplinary course
is open to students who have had course work or other relevant experience in
the conception, design, and/or construction of digital narratives. It is otherwise open to students who are
pursuing any relevant major, such as computer science, the literatures(with an
emphasis on film), design, and so on.
Advanced undergraduates may enroll with special permission.
The completion of the project will in all
likelihood span more than one semester.
It is anticipated that the completed project will be released as a DVD
offering, though there are no guarantees in this regard.
Students participating in the project
will be given full screen credit in a form yet to be determined, and they will
be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement. The University of Maryland copyright policy will of course apply
in the event of commercial exploitation of the project.”
CMLT702 (SPAN798C) Cultures of Theory
Prerequisite: an
introductory course in critical theory. An exploration of the socio‑historic,
material, and cultural contexts of various theoretical practices and
traditions.
0101 M 4:30pm‑ 7:00pm JMZ 2120 Index#11071
Peres, P.
“Cultures of Theories” for Fall 1999 will
concentrate on “Theories of Atlantic Cultures” and will explore the extent in
which one can theorize and write about common Atlantic spaces where languages,
cultures and modes of discourse intersect, influence and create resistence to
each other. Through primary and critical
readings, this course will look at the systems of exchanges that developed as a
result, in part, of imperial venture
and colonial adventures and continue with the so-called post-colonial world.
The course will
be organized and taught by Prof. Peres, with guest faculty from the College of
Arts and Humanities to elucidate the complexity of Atlantic exchanges.
The course will
be taught in English with readings in English.
Students may do readings in Spanish (when available) and can do all
writing in Spanish.
Topics include:
The Creation of Atlantic Space; the Literature of first Encounters and the
Formation of the Hispanic Atlantic; Literature of Empire and Its Discontents;
Atlantic Roots of Afro-American and Afro-Brazilian Cultures; Theorizing the
Atlantic - Gilroy and Beyond; Vanguard Black Atlantic Space; Creating African
Atlantic Political Spheres; Contemporary Hispanic African Cultures;
Post-Colonial Critical Discourses and Atlantic spaces; Contemporary Atlantic
Diasporas and Narratives.
CMLT768 (PermReq) Comparative
Perspectives on gender and sexuality
0101 W 3:30pm‑
6:00pm SQH 1111
Index#11072
Lanser, S. (SL43@umail.umd.edu)
Current scholarship makes startlingly
clear that sexuality, sex, and gender are contingent categories configured
differently across time and place, carrying different forms of (in)significance
and interacting differently with other social categories and marks of
"identity."
Grounding our inquiry in both
contemporary theory and historical research, and working with discourses that
range from medical writings to poetry to ethnography, this course will
emphasize shifting European constructions of sex, gender, sexuality from the
early modern to the
postmodern age. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which
representations of gender and sexuality are reconfigured to accommodate‑‑and
sometimes to interrogate‑‑both the imperial
expansionism and the domestic
gentrification that underwrote Europe's changing social economy. As we approach the contemporary period and
explore the impact of psychoanalytic paradigms and movements of liberation, we
will also confront global "gender troubles" within and across
cultures with disparate understandings of gender and sexuality.
CMLT798 (PermReq) Critical Theory
Colloquium
0101 F 1:00pm‑
3:30pm SQH 3109
Index#11091
Wang, O.
Meeting five times a semester, this one
credit colloquium offers graduate students participating in the theory
certificate program and interested faculty from departments across the university an opportunity to discuss key
texts that probe the cultural and theoretical foundations of their
disciplines. In order to satisfy
critical theory certificate
requirements, students must
accumulate three credits of CMLT 798. For more information contact Orrin
Wang (ow5@umail.umd.edu)
PLEASE NOTE: (Information for Graduate
Theory Courses)
Graduate students interested in courses
on critical theory for the Fall 99
semester can look at the list of courses
posted on the Critical Theory
Certificate Website. The Website also contains information about
the
Cultures of Theory certificate core
course offered for Fall 99, "Theories of
Atlantic Culture" taught by Prof.
Phyllis Peres (SPAN). Students can get
to
the Website by going to the CMLT Website
and clicking "Critical Theory."
Orrin Wang
ENGL/CMLT
des.f99
Rev. 6/21/99