Assignments

English 4850/5850: Special Topics: Single Author (Don DeLillo), Fall 2011

Section 01 (CRN 80870/80871): M 5:30-8:15PM, Arts & Sciences 353

In Class Activities

1. Significant Passage Roundup

To guide our discussion of The Names as well as to prepare for the significant passage paper, spend five minutes on your own finding a key quotation or page that addresses the topics and questions Chris Dulaney mentioned in his journal entry. We'll share and analyze as many passages as possible in large group discussion.

2. Comparing and Contrasting Recurring Themes

Now that we have read three DeLillo novels, let's compare and contrast what themes each of the books convey regarding his recurring topics. Break into five groups to discuss the following questions regarding your group's assigned topic.

 

Topics

  1. War and Violence
  2. Death
  3. Language
  4. Myth of America
  5. Television, Film, and Media

Questions

  1. What is the theme for this topic in Americana?
  2. What is the theme for this topic in End Zone?
  3. What is the theme for this in The Names?
  4. Compare and contrast the themes (how are they similar? different) among all three novels.

3. The Structure of White Noise: Waves and Radiation

Everything is concealed in symbolism, hidden by veils of mystery and layers of cultural material. But it is psychic data, absolutely. The large doors slide open, they close unbidden. Energy waves, incident radiation. All the letters and numbers are here, all the colors of the spectrum, all the voices and sounds, all the code words and ceremonial phrases. It is just a question of deciphering, rearranging, peeling off the layers of unspeakability. Not that we would want to, not that any useful purpose would be served. This is not Tibet. Even Tibet is not Tibet anymore. (White Noise 37-8)

 

Smeared print, ghost images. In the altered shelves, the ambient roar, in the plain and heartless fact of their decline, they try to work their way through confusion. But in the end it doesn't matter what they see or think they see. The terminals are equipped with holographic scanners, which decode the binary secret of every item, infallibly. This is the language of waves and radiation, or how the dead speak to the living. And this is where we wait together, regardless of age, our carts stocked with brightly colored goods. A slowly moving line, satisfying, giving us time to glance at the tabloids in the racks. The tales of the supernatural and the extraterrestrial. The miracle vitamins, the cures for cancer, the remedies for obesity. The cults of the famous and the dead. (White Noise 326)

White Noise is arguably driven less by plot than by "cultural material" and "psychic data." Today, let's break into four groups to collect the "smeared print" and "brightly colored goods" that populate the novel. Specifically, each group should

  1. name the major events and focal points of their assigned part, then
  2. argue how those situations are instances of waves and radiation, and finally
  3. comment on the individual Part's relationship with the other two Parts as well as within the novel's overall structure.

Here are the groups:

 

Part I Waves and Radiation, Chapters 1-20 (1-105)

Part II The Airborne Toxic Event, Chapter 21 (106-67)

Part III Dylarama, Chapters 22-32 (168-241)

Part III Dylarama, Chapters 33-40 (242-326)

4. Annotating DeLillo Criticism

In order to bring scholarly criticism into our discussion of DeLillo as well as to prepare for the annotated bibliography component of the group project, let's read, take notes on, and be prepared to summarize two interpretive essays for class on Monday, October 3:

  1. Kathryn Dee, Chelsee Dickson, Chris Dulaney, Jennifer Dykes
    • Tom LeClair, "Closing the Loop: White Noise" (387-411)
    • Thomas J. Ferraro, "Whole Families Shopping at Night" (online)
  2. Amelia Esguerra, Jessica Friday, Stephen Hundley, Charles Kinamon
    • John Frow, "The Last Things Before the Last: Notes on White Noise" (417-31)
    • John N. Duvall, "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise" (432-55)
  3. Garret Korn, Garlaine Luc, Chelsea Marsten, Samantha Severin
    • William G. Little, "(Mis)spelling Disaster: Faith in White Noise" (online)
    • Cornel Bonca, "Don DeLillo's White Noise: The Natural Language of the Species" (456-79)
  4. Matt Jurak, Drew Smith, Drew Thomas, and Sal Talluto
    • Arthur M. Saltzman, "The Figure in the Static: White Noise" (480-97)
    • Paul Maltby, "The Romantic Metaphysics of Don DeLillo" (498-516)

In class, groups will collectively compose a 100-word annotation of the essays by

  1. identifying the issue or question that the source is investigating,
  2. defining the source's thesis or main idea relevant to White Noise, and
  3. explaining how the source helps your understanding of the work

5. Underscoring Underworld

Now that we have finished reading Underworld, let's break into small groups to explore its seven main themes. After groups report their individual findings to class, we'll (attempt to) determine the novel's uber-thematic statement.

 

Here are the group topics:

Here are the group goals:

  1. Discuss the assigned topic.
  2. Select a significant quote from the Epilogue that addresses this issue.
  3. Articulate the specific idea that the novel advances regarding this topic.

Reading Journal and Wikipedia Entry

Your will keep a reading journal comprised of 11 entries:

  1. Americana*
  2. End Zone*
  3. The Names*
  4. White Noise*
  5. Libra*
  6. The Day Room
  7. Mao II*
  8. The Body Artist*
  9. Cosmopolis*
  10. Underworld
  11. Underworld (it's a big novel so write on it twice)
  12. undergraduate: group presentation novel (Great Jones Street, Ratner's Star, Players, Running Dog, Falling Man, Point Omega) or graduate: DeLillo monograph

*You may skip the reading journal for any one of these novels, thus reducing your total entries to 11.

 

Each entry should be approximately 2 double-spaced pages in length and demonstrate your active reading, emergent understanding, and critical questioning of the text. Besides showing that you've read the work through character and plot, think about its issues and themes as well as compare and contrast it with other DeLillo works when warranted. If you keep a handwritten journal, bring it to class; if you keep a journal on computer, be ready to upload it to GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Reading Journal when asked.

Due Dates

The journal will be collected 9-12, 10-24, and 12-5. If we discussed a work in class and you do not submit an entry during the following journal collection, then you will receive a zero for that entry.

Journal Entry: Novel Sign Up Sheet

One journal entry will be shared with the class using the following sign up sheet. Be prepared to read your entry aloud on the day of class.

 

Week

Due

Novel

Student

Week 2

M, 8-22

Americana, Parts Three-Four

Jordan Dozier

End Zone, Chapters 1-23

Sal Talluto

Week 3

M, 8-29

End Zone, Chapters 24-30

Emily Kennedy

Week 5

M, 9-12

The Names, Chapters 1-7

Chris Dulaney

Week 6
M, 9-19

The Names, Chapters 8-14

Amelia Esguerra

Week 7

M, 9-26

White Noise, all

Charles Kinamon

Week 8

M, 10-3

The Day Room, all

Garlaine Luc

Week 10

M, 10-17

Libra, Part One

Stephen Hundley

Week 11

M, 10-24

Libra, Part Two

Chelsee Dickson

Mao II, At Yankee Stadium-Part One

Drew Thomas

Week 12

M, 10-31

Mao II, Part Two-In Beirut

 

Underworld, Prologue-Part 1

Kathryn Dee

Week 13

M, 11-7

Underworld, Parts 2-4

Jessica Friday

Week 14

M, 11-14

Underworld, Part 5-Epilogue

Garrett Korn

Week 15

M, 11-21

The Body Artist, all

Samantha Severin

Week 16

M, 11-28

Cosmopolis, all

Chelsea Marsten

Wikipedia Entry: Short Story Sign Up Sheet

In addition to keeping a reading journal, you will submit a short story entry to Wikipedia explaining the plot, central characters, conflicts, and themes of the story—following Wikipedia guidelines and emulating the style of Wikipedia entries on DeLillo's novels. The entry is due on Wikipedia by the start of class on the scheduled day (you'll "unveil" your entry during class).

 

Week

Due

Short Story

Student

Week 3

M, 8-29

"The River Jordan" (1960)

Amelia Esguerra

"Take the 'A' Train" (1962)

Charles Kinamon

Week 5

M, 9-12

"Spaghetti and Meatballs" (1965)

 

"Coming Sun. Mon. Tues." (1966)

Chelsea Marsten

Week 6
M, 9-19

"Baghdad Towers West" (1967)

 

"The Uniforms" (1970)

Samantha Severin

Week 7

M, 9-26

"In the Men's Room of the Sixteenth Century" (1971)

Garlaine Luc

"Total Lost Weekend" (1972)

Chelsee Dickson

Week 8

M, 10-3

"Creation" (1979)

Chris Dulaney

Week 10

M, 10-17

"Human Moments in World War III" (1983)

Garrett Korn

Week 11

M, 10-24

"The Ivory Acrobat" (1988)

 

Week 12

M, 10-31

"The Runner" (1988)

Stephen Hundley

Week 13

M, 11-7

"The Angel Esmeralda" (1995)

Sal Talluto

Week 14

M, 11-14

"Baader-Meinhof" (2002)

Drew Thomas

Week 15

M, 11-21

"Midnight in Dostoevsky" (2009)

Kathryn Dee

Week 16

M, 11-28

"Hammer and Sickle" (2010)

Jessica Friday

Comparison/Contrast Paper

Undergraduates: In the first undergraduate-level paper, you closely read a significant passage from a DeLillo work. In this paper, you will compare and contrast an issue or idea in two works by DeLillo on the syllabus through Monday, 10-24, but not a work on which you wrote your first paper. The comparison and contrast paper should demonstrate, through textual analysis, your understanding of how a prominent subject is treated both similarly and differently across DeLillo's works.

 

Graduates: In the first graduate-level paper, you will you will either compare and contrast an issue or idea in two works by DeLillo on the syllabus through Monday, 10-24 or compare and contrast an issue or idea in a work by DeLillo and a text by a contemporary novelist of your choice. The comparison and contrast paper should demonstrate, through textual analysis, your understanding of how a prominent subject is treated either both similarly and differently across DeLillo's works or by DeLillo and one of his contemporaries.

Research Paper

The reading journal asked you to actively read DeLillo's fiction. The significant passage paper asked undergraduates to closely read a key passage, and the comparison/contrast paper asked undergraduates to analyze similarities and differences in an issue between works by DeLillo or DeLillo and a peer. The research paper will afford you the time and space to perform a sustained and sourced discussion of a significant issue in DeLillo's work, but not a text previously written on in the significant passage or comparison/contrast paper. Your thesis-driven paper should employ textual analysis and support its interpretation of the issue with scholarly criticism.

 

Undergraduates: You will write a 7-9 page research paper, incorporating at least 5 scholarly articles, on a DeLillo work but not one formally written on previously.

 

Graduates: You will write a 12-15 page research paper on a DeLillo work or issue that enters, engages, and advances the scholarly discourse of DeLillo criticism on a DeLillo work or topic selected by you and approved by the professor. Your essay should be worthy of being presented at a conference, integrate at least 6 interpretive sources, and apply at least 2 theoretical articles on postmodern literature.

UndergraduateS Only

Significant Passage Paper

Select a key passage from any DeLillo novel or short story on the syllabus through Monday, 9-19. The short, close reading of a significant passage paper should demonstrate how a nuanced and rigorous reading of the selection not only broaches the key issues and core conflicts of the literary work but also points to the text's overall thematic meaning. What are the key ironies and paradoxes, tensions and ambiguities? Into what idea or theme do these conflicts resolve (or fail to resolve)?

Group Presentation

Groups of three or four will choose one of the following novels to read and research on their own and then present and teach to the class:

Written Component

The 10-15 source (5 sources per group member, 75-100 words per MLA formatted citation entry, identify the issue or question that the source is investigating, define the source's thesis or main idea relevant to the DeLillo novel, and explain how the source helps your understanding of the work) annotated bibliography of scholarly criticism on the novel in particular and Don DeLillo in general is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Group Presentation by 5:30PM on the day of the presentation. Your presentation will be graded and returned in the same dropbox one week after submission.

Presentation Component

Groups will be responsible for a 25-30 minute presentation, approximately 15-20 minutes (15 for 2-member groups, 20 for 3-member groups) presenting and approximately 10 minutes in question and answer. The presentation should include a discussion of the novel's key issues and themes as well as significant scholarly criticism that informs the group's understanding of the work. Groups are encouraged to use the audiovisual resources of the classroom, for instance, projecting a group website and annotated bibliography, PowerPoint or Prezi presentation, or video clip.

Sign Up

Individuals will sign up for a group on Monday, August 29; groups will confer outside of class and make a first choice and second choice novel selection (from the books above) by Monday, September 12.

 

Group Student

Great Jones Street (1973)

Garlaine Luc

Chelsea Marsten

Samantha Severin

Players (1977)

Charles Kinamon

Drew Thomas

Running Dog (1978)

Chelsee Dickson

Amelia Esguerra

Falling Man (2007)

Kathryn Dee

Chris Dulaney

Garrett Korn

Point Omega (2010)

Jessica Friday

Stephen Hundley

Group Policy

Each group member is expected to attend meetings, respond to group communication in a timely manner, and complete the work delegated to her.

If a group member fails to attend meetings, keep in contact, and/or do her share of the work, a fellow group member may confidentially request that the professor speak to the group about group member responsibilities. If that does not resolve the issue, a group member may confidentially request that the group grade be made individual. In that case, the professor will ask each member to submit an evaluation of her personal performance in the group as well as her fellow group members' efforts and use these self and peer evaluations to determine individual member grades.

GraduateS Only

Individual Presentation

For the 30 minute presentation, you will select an article that helps the class understand a novel, then teach the article and novel to the class. Let me know the article you're going to use at least one week before your presentation so I can distribute it to the class.

 

Presentation Due Date Reading Student
M, 9-19

The Names

 
M, 10-24

Libra

Sal Talluto
M, 10-31

Mao II

  
M, 11-14

Underworld

 
M, 11-21

The Body Artist

  
M, 11-28

Cosmopolis

  

Annotated Bibliography

To prepare for the research paper, you will compile a 15 source annotated bibliography. The citations should be in MLA format; the annotations should be 75-100 words. 11 sources should be on DeLillo (identify the issue or question that the source is investigating, define the source's thesis or main idea relevant to the DeLillo work, and explain how the source helps your understanding of the work); 4 sources should be on postmodern literary theorists, like Hutcheon and Federman, mentioned in Connor and Lewis's articles. The annotated bibliography is due by the start of class in TurnItIn > Graduate Annotated Bibliography on Monday, November 21. Your graded bibliography will be returned to you in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Graduate Annotated Bibliography by Monday, November 28.

 

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