Syllabus

Aug 26: Introduction

Aug 31: 2-3 minute introductions

Sep 2: Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense" (http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Nietzsche/Truth_and_Lie_in_an_Extra-Moral_Sense.htm)

Sep 7: Nietzsche; Style, Chapter 3

Sep 9: Nietzsche

Sep 14: Whitman (NOTE: poetry packet downloadable HERE)

Sep 16: Whitman, Hughes; Writing Analytically, p. 49-65

Sep 21: Stevens, Frost, Williams

Sep 23: Stevens, Frost, Williams; Writing Analytically, Chapter 7

Sep 28: Jimi Hendrix, "Are You Experienced?" and "Star-Spangled Banner"

Sep 30: Abstract Expressionism; Style, p. 235-239

MONDAY, OCT 4: PAPER 1 DUE BY 3PM IN MAILBOXES, 7408 Dwinelle

Oct 5: Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, p. 1-76

Oct 7: Eyes, p. 77-132; Style, Lesson 5

Oct 12: Eyes, p. 133-184

Oct 12: Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, "Respect"; Writing Analytically, Chapter 14

Oct 19: LeRoi Jones, "Dutchman"

Oct 21: "Dutchman"; Style, p. 82-91

Oct 26: TBD

Oct 28: TBD; Writing Analytically, Chapter 11

Nov 2: Nina Simone and John Coltrane; Writing Analytically, Chapter 6; Draft of Paper 2 due (4 copies)

Nov 4: Peer editing

MONDAY, NOV 8: PAPER 2 DUE BY 3PM IN MAILBOXES, 7408 Dwinelle

Nov 9: Adorno and Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm)

Nov 11: HOLIDAY

Nov 16: Adorno and Horkheimer

Nov 18: Adorno and Horkheimer; Style, Lesson 7

NOV 21 (SUNDAY): "Easy Rider" film screening, room and time TBD

Nov 23: "Easy Rider"

Nov 25: HOLIDAY

MONDAY, NOV 29: Draft of Final Paper Due (e-mailed to members of your group and to both Ben and Amanda by 8pm)

Nov 30: "Easy Rider"; Style, p. 186-201

Dec 2: Wrap up; Peer Edits

MONDAY, Dec 6: FINAL PAPER DUE BY 3pm in MAILBOXES, 7408 Dwinelle

Instructor information

in case you need it later...

Ben Lempert, blempert@berkeley.edu

OH: Tu 1:30-3:00, 354A Dwinelle, or by appt.

Amanda Dennis, amdennis@berkeley.edu

OH: Tu Th 11-12, 354B Dwinelle, or by appt.

Course Description

The goal of this course is to develop the critical reading and argumentative skills necessary for writing college-level papers.

This semester, we’ll do this by examining the ways in which numerous American writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers, social theorists and philosophers have used or adapted the tools of their art to capture (or construct) the allegedly authentic voices of American vernacular. Beginning with Walt Whitman, we’ll move on to explore texts from across the past century and a half or so, including a fair amount of poetry, a novel (Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God), one or two films, a play (LeRoi Jones’ Dutchman), some social theory, and, hopefully, a variety of music from the last 100 years. Along the way, we’ll be asking ourselves: what counts as “authentically American,” or merely “authentic,” in each of these works? Is “America” figured here as a blend of high art and low culture, a clash between them, or some other arrangement? More generally, how have vernacular voices identified by their racial, geographical, gendered or class-based associations come to either assume the voice of America or challenge the dominance or unity of that voice?

As this is a 1A class, we’ll also spend a fair amount of time on writing and argumentation, working on various problems of interpretation, style, clarity, flow, interest, cohesion and analysis. Your writing will improve prodigiously; the experience will be stupendous.