AJL15082 Beyond Postmodern Fiction: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Filozofická fakulta
podzim 2020
Rozsah
0/2/0. 6 kr. Ukončení: zk.
Vyučující
Richard T. Stock, Ph.D. (přednášející), doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (zástupce)
Mgr. Tereza Šmilauerová (pomocník)
Garance
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Kontaktní osoba: Tomáš Hanzálek
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Předpoklady
AJL01002 Anglický jazyk II
Omezení zápisu do předmětu
Předmět je nabízen i studentům mimo mateřské obory.
Předmět si smí zapsat nejvýše 12 stud.
Momentální stav registrace a zápisu: zapsáno: 0/12, pouze zareg.: 0/12, pouze zareg. s předností (mateřské obory): 0/12
Mateřské obory/plány
předmět má 11 mateřských oborů, zobrazit
Cíle předmětu
This course will focus on one of the most important novels in the American tradition in the last two decades of the 20th century. This was a time when postmodernism seemed to have faded, but a consensus on what was to follow was lacking. This caused a particular type of cultural concern. This concern endures today; we don’t know whether to discuss the current period as postmodernism, “post-postmodernism”, or something else (or nothing else). After the turn of the millennium and September 11th, the cultural situation changed. Infinite Jest operates both as a force to bring culture beyond postmodernism and an example of that effort before September 11th and the advent of the 21st century. In lieu of a summary: Infinite Jest is about the near future, a radically different politics and nation, tennis, addition to drugs and other things, recovering from addition, entertainment, government, artistic film, depression, adolescence, revolution, intelligence, psychology, violence, education, community, leading and following, patience, reading, urban legends, humor, and more.
Výstupy z učení
The unifying theme of the course will be the novel’s attempt to push beyond postmodernism and postmodern fiction. Within that framework, several important topics will be covered: • Science fiction • Narratology, novel theory, and unnatural narratology • Wallace’s other works, Wallace Studies, relevant biographical issues • Contemporary writers and novels and the immediate cultural context of the novel and its origin • The novel’s diagnosis of current American problems related to addiction, entertainment, politics, and technology • Source texts and personalities that structure parts of the novel • Gender, race, and class. Infinite Jest is a long and difficult novel. In addition to the above topics, part of the course will address understanding the various plots and characters within the novel. A short guide to reading the novel will be provided for students. This will not be a short heads-up for how to approach the novel so that the reader gets the most enjoyment out of the first read of the novel. If one is properly prepared, Infinite Jest can be very fun to read. Since the novel is so long, no secondary materials will be required reading. However, several different sources will be summarized and used in the course itself. In this way the student will have a fair knowledge of not only the novel but the criticism surrounding the novel without reading that criticism for the course itself. The course will take place four hours a day each over five days in one week.
Osnova
  • Expectations of Students Each student should read the whole novel before the start of the course. The novel is over 1000 (long) pages long. During class meetings, students are expected to participate actively. This includes both whole-class discussions and activities as well as small group work. It is possible that individual and/or small-group presentations will be prepared and performed during class time. After each of the first four days of the course, students will write and submit a Reflection Essay. Each essay will be written according to a prompt. Reflection Essays will be 300 to 600 words long and will both reflect on the class of the day and look forward to the topic of the next day. After the course, within one week, students will write and submit a Literary Analysis Essay. This essay will make a supported academic argument for a particular reading of a particular facet of Infinite Jest. Students will be encouraged to discuss (in person or by email) their preliminary ideas for the Essay with the instructor. The Literary Analysis Essay will be 900 to 1800 words long.
Vyučovací jazyk
Angličtina
Informace učitele
About the Instructor Richard T. Stock, Ph.D. grew up in the U.S. and has lived in the Czech Republic since 1998. He holds a BA in Education and an MA in Literature and Theory, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the U.S. He also has a MA TEFL from the University of Reading. He gained his Ph.D. from the Charles University Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures in 2011. Rick has taught in and worked for various international education organizations in Prague and was an Assistant Professor at the Department of English Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of South Bohemia for four years. His main areas of research and teaching are later American literature, literary theory and philosophy, narratology, the novel, Native American literature, and Franz Kafka. He lives in a village near Prague with his wife and three daughters and apart from literature and teaching enjoys various sports and spending time with his family.
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