I hope you are well, my dear students.
As you know, due to the coronavirus quarantine we are shifting to a fully online modality. Fortunately, we have been operating as a hybrid course, so we are all well trained on Google Classroom and in commenting on each other’s work. This already developed set of skills and workflow will be the foundation for our course redesign, which will be organized in the following three units:
Sound and Videopoetry
We will conclude the unit on sound and lyrics from the past few weeks with an exploration of videopoetry, an experimental literary and artistic practice that pushes the boundaries of how we use video by turning it into a space for writing.
Timeline:
- Monday, March 23: unit assigned.
- Wednesday, March 25: Essay #1 returned. Essay #2 assigned.
- Wednesday, April 15: Essay #2 due.
V for Vendetta, Comics, and Cinematic Language
This unit will explore how the work V for Vendetta functions as a comic and as a film. Understanding Comics will offer us a critical vocabulary on how to read and analyze comics, and V for Vendetta will be our case study. We will end on some basic formal elements of cinema and apply them to the film adaptation of the work.
Timeline:
- Wednesday, April 15: Essay #3 assigned
- Wednesday, April 29: Essay #3 due
Electronic Literature
This final unit will look at ways in which digital art and literature converge in a series of case studies of e-literary works that use the capabilities of computers and digital media to create uniquely digital experiences.
Final Exam: Wednesday, May 6
Next Steps
I will be sharing the units with you over the next few weeks. Your work will be partly self-paced and there will be a weekly discussion component.