AJ25046 Decadence in America in the late twentieth century

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2011
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
each even Wednesday 17:30–19:05 G24
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
On various aesthetic, social, and intellectual levels, Decadence challenges many of the assumptions of the dominant society, as much so in late 20th-century America as in late 19th-century England, and this course will accentuate those dynamics through close readings of a number of representative American texts, namely Kathy Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School, Guy Davenport’s The Jules Verne Steam Balloon, Dennis Cooper’s Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period (2000). Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, and Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse. At the end of this course, students will be able to evaluate critically the issues, textual and cultural, surrounding Anglo-American Decadence, discuss the writing of others with sensitivity and appreciation, and have a greater understanding of the contexts of late 20th-century America.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Introduction: “The Flagrantly Transgressive” (Late 20th Century Decadence) seen through the filter of “The Flippantly Transgressive” (Late 19th Century Decadence). Weeks 2-3: Read Kathy Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School (1984). Weeks 4-5: Read Guy Davenport’s The Jules Verne Steam Balloon (1987). Weeks 6-7: Read Dennis Cooper’s Closer (1989) and Frisk (1991). Weeks 8-9: Read Dennis Cooper’s Try (1994), Guide (1997), and Period (2000). Weeks 10-11: Read Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho (1991). Week 12: Read Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse (1996). Week 13: Closure.
Literature
  • Davenport, Guy. A Table of Green Fields: Ten Stories (New York: New Directions, 1993)
  • Cooper, Dennis. Closer (New York: Grove, 1994)
  • Cooper, Dennis. Guide (New York: Grove, 1997)
  • Acker, Kathy. Essential Acker: The Selected Writings of Kathy Acker (New York: Grove Press, 2002)
  • Cooper, Dennis, Smothered in Hugs: Essays, Interviews, Feedback, and Obituaries (New York: Harper Perennial, 2010)
  • Davenport, Guy. The Jules Verne Steam Balloon (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993)
  • Davenport, Guy. Selected Letters: Guy Davenport and James Loughlin (New York: W. W. Norton, 2007)
  • Cooper, Dennis. Try (New York: Grove, 1994)
  • Cooper, Dennis. Frisk (New York: Grove, 1992)
  • Pitchford, Nicola. Tactical Readings: Feminist Postmodernism in the Novels of Kathy Acker and Angela Carter (Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 2002)
  • Brite, Poppy Z. Exquisite Corpse (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996)
  • Scholder, Amy, et al. Lust for Life: On the Writings of Kathy Acker (New York: Verso, 2006)
  • Cooper, Dennis. Period (New York: Grove, 2000)
  • Acker, Kathy. Blood and Guts in High School: Plus Two (London: Picador, 1984)
  • Ellis, Bret Easton. Imperial Bedrooms (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010)
  • Cooper, Dennis. All Ears: Cultural Criticism, Essays and Obituaries (London: Turnaround, 1999)
  • Ellis, Bret Easton. American Psycho (London: Picador, 2006)
Teaching methods
Seminars, 1½ hours per week.
Assessment methods
Attendance will follow whatever is officially established by Department policy. Class participation is a must. This course will be comprised of 45-minute lectures followed by 45-minute discussions, and all materials covered are provided in the ELF system. An academic essay will serve as the only graded assignment. This essay (3,000 words, typed, double-spaced) must include a close reading of passages from one of the texts covered during this course; however, the passages given a close reading must be different from the passages covered during the lessons (another reason why attendance is necessary).
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět si nemohou zapsat studenti Bc. studia AJ
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2012, Spring 2016.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2011, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2011/AJ25046