AJL27076 Conspiracy and Paranoia in American Fiction and Culture

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 16:00–17:40 G31, except Mon 13. 11.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 19/25, only registered: 3/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 19 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course will examine ways in which conspiracies, conspiracy theories, and what one leading historian famously called "the paranoid style" have helped shape American culture and have been expressed in American events and cultural products, especially but not only novels and films. Readings, film viewings and class presentations will provide an overview of leading conspiracy theories and of works dealing with these or imagining others. Topics to be discussed include the various uses of conspiracy as an artistic device; how a feeling, mentality or political attitude like paranoia has been and might be artistically expressed; how particular themes and character types recur and are transformed in different periods and for different purposes; and how fictions have responded to and at times anticipated real events.
Learning outcomes
By successfully completing the course, students will achieve a better understanding of American culture and politics, of certain “classic” and other thematically related works of American fiction and film, and of differences in modes and methods of storytelling in different media. They will gain further experience in analyzing imaginative works and relating them to historical events and contexts, and will become acquainted with an array of topics that could serve as the eventual basis for a thesis.
Syllabus
  • WEEK 1
  • Course introduction; American conspiracy theories and theorists of the past and present
  • WEEK 2
  • Read: Jesse Walker, "The United States of Paranoia," chapter 1; Jack Finney, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," chapters 20-21
  • View: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; "Red Nightmare"
  • WEEK 3
  • View: "North by Northwest"; "The Manchurian Candidate"
  • WEEK 4
  • View: "Seven Days in May"; "Dr. Strangelove"
  • WEEK 5
  • Read: "The Warren Commission & JFK Assassination Theories" (posted)
  • View: "Conspiracy Theories: JFK to Pizzagate" (posted video)
  • View: "JFK" (feature film)
  • WEEK 6
  • Read: Walker, United States of Paranoia, chapter 7 excerpts (posted)
  • View: "The Parallax View"; "The Conversation"
  • WEEK 7
  • View: "All the President's Men"; "Three Days of the Condor"
  • WEEK 8
  • View: "Chinatown"; "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
  • WEEK 9
  • Reading Week -- NO CLASS MEETING
  • WEEK 10
  • Read: Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
  • View: "Rosemary's Baby"; "The Stepford Wives"
  • WEEK 11
  • View: "2001: A Space Odyssey"; "The Shining"
  • WEEK 12
  • View: "Mirror Image" and "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" (episodes of "The Twilight Zone"); "Duel"
  • WEEK 13
  • Read: Schwartz, "Infamous 'War of the Worlds' Broadcast"; Horton, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"
  • View: "The X-Files," pilot episode; "The Americans," pilot episode
Literature
    required literature
  • PYNCHON, Thomas. The crying of lot 49. 1st Perenial Fiction Library. New York: Harper & Row, 1986, 183 s. ISBN 006091307X. info
    recommended literature
  • A companion to the crying of lot 49. Edited by J. Kerry Grant. 2nd ed. Athens [Ga.]: University of Georgia Press, 2008, xviii, 188. ISBN 9780820340760. info
  • The United States of paranoia : a conspiracy theory. Edited by Jesse Walker. 1st ed. New York: Harper Collins, 2013, 434 s. ISBN 9780062135551. info
  • Conspiracy and paranoia in contemporary American fictionthe works of Don DeLillo and Joseph McElroy. Edited by Steffen Hantke. New York: P. Lang, 1994, 191 p. ISBN 9783653022124. info
  • Film noir and the cinema of paranoia. Edited by Wheeler W. Dixon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009, viii, 198. ISBN 0748624007. info
  • Enemies withinthe culture of conspiracy in modern America. Edited by Robert Alan Goldberg. New Haven: Yale University, 2001, xiv, 354 p. ISBN 0300090005. info
  • FENSTER, Mark. Conspiracy theories : secrecy and power in American culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999, xxii, 282. ISBN 081663243X. info
  • Knowledge goes popfrom conspiracy theory to gossip. Edited by Clare Birchall. English ed. New York: Berg, 2006, xiv, 185 p. ISBN 9781847883162. info
  • Conspiracy theory in America. Edited by Lance DeHaven-Smith. 1st ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013, x, 260 p. ISBN 9780292749115. info
  • Conspiracy theories. Edited by Robin Ramsay. Harpenden: Pocket Essentials, 2000, 96 p. ;. ISBN 1903047307. info
  • Even paranoids have enemiesnew perspectives on paranoia and persecution. Edited by Joseph H. Berke. New York: Routledge, 1998, xiii, 233. ISBN 0415155584. info
  • Conspiracy in Camelotthe complete history of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Edited by Jerome A. Kroth. New York: Algora Pub., 2003, xv, 342 p. ISBN 9780875861968. info
  • Terrorism, media, and the ethics of fictiontransatlantic perspectives on Don DeLillo. Edited by Peter Schneck - Philipp Schweighauser. London: Continuum, 2010, viii, 255. ISBN 1441113738. info
  • Technology and postmodern subjectivity in Don DeLillo's novels. Edited by Randy Laist. New York: Peter Lang, 2010, x, 212 p. ISBN 9781453904848. info
Teaching methods
Lecture/discussion, class presentations, readings, film/video viewings.
Assessment methods
85% final exam (date during the exam period TBA); 15% ungraded "Section Review" postings (following instructions on ELF).
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
Assigned works (or alternative instructions) will be posted to ELF.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2022, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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