Summer Session A, 2011
University of California at Berkeley
Department of Rhetoric
Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday 4.30-7 100 Wheeler May 23-July 1
Dale Carrico dcarrico@sfai.edu
Course Blog: http://interpretatio.blogspot.com/
Attendance/Participation: 30%; 2-4pp. Presentation: 30%; Final 7-10pp. Paper 40%
Course Description
In this course we will survey rhetorical gestures -- logical, topical, and tropological -- through which a selfhood whose substance is construed as narrative is variously conjured up and deployed in a host of (mostly) contemporary graphic serial textual forms from Trajan's great stone self-promotional column to the scattered photographs of the deceased Didier Lefevre organized and supplemented between the covers of "The Photographer." What passes for selfhood -- from the records of notorious historical figures to traces from anonymous everyday citizens, from the voices of reporters and storytellers, from politicians on a mass mediated campaign trail to the ethos of a whole socioeconomic class at a particular historical juncture, to a "living" political document, among many other subjects -- and what matters in and about these selves varies enormously across the range of these works of graphic biography and autobiography, imaginary memoir, advocacy journalism, adapted ethnography and media transcripts we are reading, as well as in a couple of film adaptations we'll watch together. We will devote attention to writings by artists Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, Alan Moore, and Art Spiegelman on both the theory and practice of storytelling and characterization in graphic novelization, but the center of gravity for our conversations will remain our shared and intensive engagements with these extraordinary works over our weeks together. By the end you'll have a story to tell about selves for yourselves.
Our reading list is long and, I fear, dauntingly expensive. I will make a copy of every piece we are reading together available on reserve in the Rhetoric library, and I hope that at least some of us can arrange to trade and share copies as a community to defray some of these costs. Those of you who buy all of the required texts may find you have accidentally embarked on a new and ruinously costly obsession: my apologies. These works will be supplemented by practical and theoretical essays collected in a brief reader
Required Texts
Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Michael Crowley and Dan Goldman, 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail
Howard Cruse, Stuck Rubber Baby
Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefevre, Frederic Lemercier, The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan With Doctors Without Borders
Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell, The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation
Sabrina Jones, Isadora Duncan: A Graphic Biography
Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (film adaptation of Miyazaki's own graphic series)
Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. one
Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, and Frank Stack, Our Cancer Year
Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle, Studs Terkel, Working: A Graphic Adaptation
Joe Sacco, Palestine
Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud, writers and directors, Persepolis (film adaptation of Satrapi's Graphic Novels)
J.P. Stassen, Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda
Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Good-Bye
Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese
Provisional Schedule of Meetings
May
Week One
24 Administrivial Introductions
25 Personal Introductions
26 Barefoot Gen
Week Two
31 Good-Bye
June
1 Deogratias
2 Our Cancer Year
Week Three
7 Persepolis
8 Fun Home
9 American Born Chinese
Week Four
14 Stuck Rubber Baby
15 Palestine
16 The Photographer
Week Five
21 Isadora Duncan
22 The United States Constitution
23 '08
Week Six
28 Working
29 Nausicaa
30 Concluding Remarks and Bacchanal
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Syllabus for Rhetoric 103B: Aesthetics and Politics
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30-5, 126 Barrows
Instructor: Dale Carrico (dalec@berkeley.edu)
Leading Discussion: James Harker, Amy Jamgochian
Course Blog: http://interpretatio.blogspot.com
Just which objects are art and what are art’s objects and how do arts voice objection? Over the course of the term we will think through the conversation, antagonism, and co-construction of the aesthetic and the political, especially as these have played out in some characteristic Marxist and postmarxist discourses.
Grade Breakdown:
In-Class Mid-Term Examination: 25%
Short Paper: 25%
Take-Home Final Examination: 25%
Attendance/Participation: 25%
A Provisional Schedule of Meetings
January
T 16 Introduction (Syllabus/Course Policies)
R 18 Introduction (Some Course Themes)
T 23 Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"
R 25 Marx and Engles: From The German Ideology and Capital, Alienation, Camera-Obscura, Commodity Fetishism
T 30 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle
February
R 1 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle
T 6 Klein, No Logo
R 8 Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
T 13 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Ernst Bloch, "Discussing Expressionism," pp. 16-27; Georg Lukacs, "Realism in the Balance," pp. 27-59.
R 15 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Bertolt Brecht, "Against Lukacs," pp. 68-85, Walter Benjamin "Conversations with Brecht," pp. 86-99.
T 20 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Correspondence from Adorno to Benjamin, pp. 110-133; Benjamin Replies, pp. 134-141.
R 22 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Adorno, "Commitment," pp. 177-195.
T 27 Simon Frith, "Art Ideology and Pop Practice"
March
R 1 Iain Chambers, "Contamination, Coincidence, and Collusion: Pop Music, Urban Culture, and the Avant-Garde"
T 6 Terry Eagleton, "The Critic as Clown"
R 8 Michele Barrett, "The Place of Aesthetics in Marxist Criticism"
T 13 V for Vendetta (in-class screening)
R 15 V for Vendetta (in-class screening)
T 20 Discussion of Film
R 22 In-Class Midterm
27-29 SPRING BREAK
April
T3 Bruce Sterling, Distraction [ISBN: 0553576399]
R5 Bruce Sterling, Distraction
T10 Bruce Sterling, Distraction
R12 Jeanette Winterson, "Art Objects"
Short Paper (4-5pp.) Due
T17 Bill Brown, "Thing Theory"
R19 Jessica Riskin, "The Defecating Duck. or, the Ambiguous Origins of Artificial Life"
T24 Charity Scribner, "Object, Relic, Fetish, Thing: Joseph Beuys and the Museum"
R26 Rey Chow, "Fateful Attachments: On Collecting, Fidelity, and Lao She"
May
T1 Jacques Ranciere, The Politics of Aesthetics, pp. [9]-41.
R3 Jacques Ranciere, The Politics of Aesthetics, pp. [42]-66.
T8 Final Comments, Turn in Take-Home Final
Instructor: Dale Carrico (dalec@berkeley.edu)
Leading Discussion: James Harker, Amy Jamgochian
Course Blog: http://interpretatio.blogspot.com
Just which objects are art and what are art’s objects and how do arts voice objection? Over the course of the term we will think through the conversation, antagonism, and co-construction of the aesthetic and the political, especially as these have played out in some characteristic Marxist and postmarxist discourses.
Grade Breakdown:
In-Class Mid-Term Examination: 25%
Short Paper: 25%
Take-Home Final Examination: 25%
Attendance/Participation: 25%
A Provisional Schedule of Meetings
January
T 16 Introduction (Syllabus/Course Policies)
R 18 Introduction (Some Course Themes)
T 23 Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"
R 25 Marx and Engles: From The German Ideology and Capital, Alienation, Camera-Obscura, Commodity Fetishism
T 30 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle
February
R 1 Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle
T 6 Klein, No Logo
R 8 Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
T 13 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Ernst Bloch, "Discussing Expressionism," pp. 16-27; Georg Lukacs, "Realism in the Balance," pp. 27-59.
R 15 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Bertolt Brecht, "Against Lukacs," pp. 68-85, Walter Benjamin "Conversations with Brecht," pp. 86-99.
T 20 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Correspondence from Adorno to Benjamin, pp. 110-133; Benjamin Replies, pp. 134-141.
R 22 Jameson (ed.), Aesthetics and Politics, Adorno, "Commitment," pp. 177-195.
T 27 Simon Frith, "Art Ideology and Pop Practice"
March
R 1 Iain Chambers, "Contamination, Coincidence, and Collusion: Pop Music, Urban Culture, and the Avant-Garde"
T 6 Terry Eagleton, "The Critic as Clown"
R 8 Michele Barrett, "The Place of Aesthetics in Marxist Criticism"
T 13 V for Vendetta (in-class screening)
R 15 V for Vendetta (in-class screening)
T 20 Discussion of Film
R 22 In-Class Midterm
27-29 SPRING BREAK
April
T3 Bruce Sterling, Distraction [ISBN: 0553576399]
R5 Bruce Sterling, Distraction
T10 Bruce Sterling, Distraction
R12 Jeanette Winterson, "Art Objects"
Short Paper (4-5pp.) Due
T17 Bill Brown, "Thing Theory"
R19 Jessica Riskin, "The Defecating Duck. or, the Ambiguous Origins of Artificial Life"
T24 Charity Scribner, "Object, Relic, Fetish, Thing: Joseph Beuys and the Museum"
R26 Rey Chow, "Fateful Attachments: On Collecting, Fidelity, and Lao She"
May
T1 Jacques Ranciere, The Politics of Aesthetics, pp. [9]-41.
R3 Jacques Ranciere, The Politics of Aesthetics, pp. [42]-66.
T8 Final Comments, Turn in Take-Home Final
Monday, August 28, 2006
Syllabus for Rhetoric 121A, Fall 2006
Rhetoric 121A
Rhetoric of Fiction
“Biopunk and the Bioethical Imaginary”
Fall 2006
Tuesdays, Thursdays, 5.00-6.30, 242 Dwinelle Hall
Instructor: Dale Carrico, dalec@berkeley.edu; dcarrico@sfai.edu
Office Hours: Before and after class and by appointment. 7404 Dwinelle Hall
Course Blog: http://interpretatio.blogspot.com
Course Description
"Biopunk" is a fledgling genre of speculative fiction taking up many of the characteristic themes and gestures of cyberpunk literature but reinvigorating them through a focus on the emerging pleasures and dangers of genetic science and medicine, bioinformatics, biotechnology, and biowarfare. In this course we will explore some of the provocative and unsettling connections between the wild insurgent speculation of biopunk fictions and the presumably more staid and conservative discourses of corporate futurism and bioethical policy making. How do the curious conversations, wary resistances, and imaginative interdependencies between these textual modes produce the argumentative resources available to each?
Course Requirements
Bruce Sterling, Holy Fire
Octavia Butler, Fledgling
Katsuhiro Otomo; dir., Roujin Z
Greg Bear, “Blood Music”
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
Paul di Filippo, Ribofunk
Octavia Butler, Lilith’s Brood
Rudy Rucker, Frek and the Elixer
Your final grade will be based on the following:
Attendance/Participation/Quizzes: 30%
Three short papers, approximately 3pp. each, posted to this Blog: 40%
Final Examination: 30%
Schedule of Meetings
Week One
Tuesday, August 29, Administrative Issues
Thursday, August 31, Personal Introductions
Week Two
Tuesday, September 5, Sterling
Thursday, September 7, Sterling
Week Three
Tuesday, September 12, Sterling
Thursday, September 13, Sterling
First Blog Post Should Be Published By Now
Week Four
Tuesday, September 19, Butler
Thursday, September 21, Butler
Week Five
Tuesday, September 26, Butler
Thursday, September 28, Butler
Week Six
Tuesday, October 3, Otomo
Thursday, October 5, Otomo
Week Seven
Tuesday, October 10, Otomo
Thursday, October 12, Bear
Week Eight
Tuesday, October 17, Atwood
Thursday, October 19, Atwood
Week Nine
Tuesday, October 24, Atwood
Thursday, October 26, Atwood
Second Blog Post Should Be Published By Now
Week Ten
Tuesday, October 31, di Filippo
Thursday, November 2, di Filippo
Week Eleven
Tuesday, November 7, Butler
Thursday, November 9, Butler
Week Twelve
Tuesday, November 14, Butler
Thursday, November 16, Butler
Week Thirteen
Tuesday, November 21, Butler
Thursday, November 23, Academic and Administrative Holiday
Week Fourteen
Tuesday, November 28, Butler
Thursday, November 30, Rucker
Third Blog Post Should Be Published By Now
Week Fifteen
Tuesday, December 5, Rucker
Thursday, December 7, Rucker
Take-Home Final Examination to Be Handed In-Class on Final Meeting
Rhetoric of Fiction
“Biopunk and the Bioethical Imaginary”
Fall 2006
Tuesdays, Thursdays, 5.00-6.30, 242 Dwinelle Hall
Instructor: Dale Carrico, dalec@berkeley.edu; dcarrico@sfai.edu
Office Hours: Before and after class and by appointment. 7404 Dwinelle Hall
Course Blog: http://interpretatio.blogspot.com
Course Description
"Biopunk" is a fledgling genre of speculative fiction taking up many of the characteristic themes and gestures of cyberpunk literature but reinvigorating them through a focus on the emerging pleasures and dangers of genetic science and medicine, bioinformatics, biotechnology, and biowarfare. In this course we will explore some of the provocative and unsettling connections between the wild insurgent speculation of biopunk fictions and the presumably more staid and conservative discourses of corporate futurism and bioethical policy making. How do the curious conversations, wary resistances, and imaginative interdependencies between these textual modes produce the argumentative resources available to each?
Course Requirements
Bruce Sterling, Holy Fire
Octavia Butler, Fledgling
Katsuhiro Otomo; dir., Roujin Z
Greg Bear, “Blood Music”
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
Paul di Filippo, Ribofunk
Octavia Butler, Lilith’s Brood
Rudy Rucker, Frek and the Elixer
Your final grade will be based on the following:
Attendance/Participation/Quizzes: 30%
Three short papers, approximately 3pp. each, posted to this Blog: 40%
Final Examination: 30%
Schedule of Meetings
Week One
Tuesday, August 29, Administrative Issues
Thursday, August 31, Personal Introductions
Week Two
Tuesday, September 5, Sterling
Thursday, September 7, Sterling
Week Three
Tuesday, September 12, Sterling
Thursday, September 13, Sterling
First Blog Post Should Be Published By Now
Week Four
Tuesday, September 19, Butler
Thursday, September 21, Butler
Week Five
Tuesday, September 26, Butler
Thursday, September 28, Butler
Week Six
Tuesday, October 3, Otomo
Thursday, October 5, Otomo
Week Seven
Tuesday, October 10, Otomo
Thursday, October 12, Bear
Week Eight
Tuesday, October 17, Atwood
Thursday, October 19, Atwood
Week Nine
Tuesday, October 24, Atwood
Thursday, October 26, Atwood
Second Blog Post Should Be Published By Now
Week Ten
Tuesday, October 31, di Filippo
Thursday, November 2, di Filippo
Week Eleven
Tuesday, November 7, Butler
Thursday, November 9, Butler
Week Twelve
Tuesday, November 14, Butler
Thursday, November 16, Butler
Week Thirteen
Tuesday, November 21, Butler
Thursday, November 23, Academic and Administrative Holiday
Week Fourteen
Tuesday, November 28, Butler
Thursday, November 30, Rucker
Third Blog Post Should Be Published By Now
Week Fifteen
Tuesday, December 5, Rucker
Thursday, December 7, Rucker
Take-Home Final Examination to Be Handed In-Class on Final Meeting
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