PaRT 1 / THe DiSaSTeR NoVeL
Tuesday, September 1
- Introduction
Thursday, September 3
- Sontag, Susan. “The Imagination of Disaster.” Against Interpretation. New York: Picador, 2001. 209-225. (e-reserve)
- Weisman, Alan. The World without Us. New York: Thomas Dunne Books-St. Martin’s Press, 2007. 15-39. (e-reserve)
- Disaster Ephemera
Tuesday, September 8
- Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Lucifer’s Hammer, pp. 1-129
Thursday, September 10
- Lucifer’s Hammer, pp. 130-197
- Frye, Northrop. “The Archetypes of Literature.” The Kenyon Review 13.1 (1951): 101-110. <http://www.jstor.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/4333216>.
Tuesday, September 15
- Lucifer’s Hammer, pp. 198-320
Thursday, September 17
- Lucifer’s Hammer, pp. 321-401
- Guidelines for the week’s blog post using Google Books Search on Lucifer’s Hammer
- In class links: “Apocalypse Porn” and Lucifer’s Hammer on Google Books
Tuesday, September 22
- Lucifer’s Hammer, pp. 403-525
- du Bois, W.E.B. “The Comet.” Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920. 253-273. (Blackboard)
Thursday, September 24
- Lucifer’s Hammer, pp. 526-629
PaRT 2 / THe PoSTMoDeRN DiSaSTeR NoVeL
Tuesday, September 29
- Don DeLillo, White Noise, pp. 1-105
- Cockburn, Alexander. “Death Rampant! Readers Rejoice.” Stop the Presses, I Want to Get Off. Ed. Richard Pollack. Random House, 1975. 3-17. (Blackboard)
Thursday, October 1
- White Noise, pp. 107-163
Tuesday, October 6
- White Noise, pp. 165-271
- Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. New York: Schocken Books, 1986. 217-51. (Blackboard)
Thursday, October 8
- White Noise, pp. 272-326
- Don DeLillo, “Silhouette City: Hitler, Manson and the Millennium” (e-reserve)
PaRT 3 / aPoCaLYPTiC JouRNeYS
Tuesday, October 13
- No Class: Monday/Tuesday Switch Day
Thursday, October 15
- Parable of the Sower, chapters 1-10
Tuesday, October 20
- Parable of the Sower, chapters 11-20
Thursday, October 22
- Parable of the Sower, chapters 21-25
- Phillips, Jerry. “The Intuition of the Future: Utopia and Catastrophe in Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower”.” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 35.2/3 (2002): 299-311. <http://www.jstor.org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/1346188>.
- Stillman, Peter G. “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities and Human Purposes in Octavia Bulter’s Parables.” Utopian Studies 14.1 (2003): 15. 19 Aug 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com.mutex.gmu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=10461058&site=ehost-live>.
Tuesday, October 27
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 1-79
- Blogging Audit Due
Thursday, October 29
- The Road, pp. 80-167
- Baum, Andrew. “Toxins, Technology, and Natural Disasters.” Cataclysms, Crises, and Catastrophes: Psychology in Action. Ed. Gary R. VandenBos & Brenda K. Bryant. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1987. 31-47. (Blackboard)
Tuesday, November 3
- The Road, pp. 168-287
Thursday, November 5
- Continue discussion of The Road
PaRT 4 / THe DiSaSTeR oF HiSToRY
Tuesday, November 10
- Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, pp. 1-85
- Van der Kolk, Bessel A, and Alexander C McFarlane. “The Black Hole of Trauma.” Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. Ed. Lars Weisaeth, Bessel A. van der Kolk, & Alexander C. McFarlane. New York: Guilford Press, 1996. 3-23 (Blackboard)
- In class links: NASA’s FAQ on 2012
Thursday, November 12
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, pp. 86-173
- Profile of Jonathan Safran Foer in New York Times
Tuesday, November 17
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, pp. 174-259
- “Rereading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Thursday, November 19
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, pp. 260-326
Tuesday, November 24
- Paper Proposals and Annotated Bibliographies Due
Thursday, November 26
- Thanksgiving
Tuesday, December 1
- Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, pp. 1-75
- Supplemental Course Evaluation Questions
Thursday, December 3
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, pp. 76-165
Tuesday, December 8
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, pp. 166-261
Thursday, December 10
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, pp. 262-335
Tuesday, December 15
- Final Paper Due