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Syllabus and Required Readings
2016 Study of the U.S. Institute on Contemporary American Literature
version 5.4.16
** note: the syllabus may be revised to meet Institute objectives **
Program Director: Aaron Jaffe.
Office: Humanities. 317B. Phone: 502-439-9350.
Fax: 852-4182, attn. Aaron Jaffe. E-mail aaron.jaffe@louisville.edu
OBJECTIVES:
1) To offer participants the opportunity to deepen their understanding of U.S. society, culture,
and values through an examination of contemporary U.S. literature.
2) To examine how major writers, schools, and movements continue the traditions of the U.S.
literary canon and at the same time establish new directions for U.S. literature.
3) To place contemporary U. S. literature in historical context and in contexts of contemporary
society and culture.
4) To aid participants in individual research and curriculum development related to the
Institute’s themes.
5) To improve curricula and quality of teaching about the U.S. in universities abroad.
INSTITUTE TEXTS (The following will be provided to participants by the Institute.)
Edward Albee, The American Dream.
Junot Diaz, “The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” (short story version, 2000).
Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad.
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man.
Percival Everett, Erasure.
Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems.
Mat Johnson, Pym.
Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker.
Ben Lerner, 10:04.
Jack Kerouac, On the Road.
Toni Morrison, Beloved.
Harryette Mullen, Sleeping with the Dictionary.
Kiki Petrosino, Hymn for the Black Terrific.
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49.
Ryan Ridge, American Homes.
Vanessa Veselka, Zazen.
Patrick Wensick, Fake Fruit Factory.
August Wilson, The Piano Lesson.
Daniel Woodrell, Winter’s Bone.
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Paula Geyh, et al., eds., Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology.
J. D. McClatchy, ed., The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry.
“Website readings” posted on password-protected website.
Institute Schedule
Notes: Whenever possible, all weekly readings should be completed by Monday of the week
in which they are to be discussed. Read ahead when possible.
Unless otherwise announced, morning sessions run from 10:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.;
afternoon sessions run from 2:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Pre-Institute Readings posted on password-protected website should be read before
arrival.
Unless otherwise announced, Prof. Aaron Jaffe will lead or otherwise participate in all
academic sessions and seminars.
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Arrival, Orientation, Introduction
Readings: online selections sent prior to arrival. Read ahead: next week’s novels.
10 June 2015. Scholars arrive in Louisville. 7:30 pm: welcome reception (informal) at dorms.
11 June. Morning: sleep/acclimate. Noon-4:30: Lunch and general orientation in seminar room.
6pm: group dinner.
12 June. 10:45 am: Group brunch. 1-5:00 pm: academic orientation session #1 in seminar room,
with Prof. David Anderson and Prof. Susan Ryan. 6pm: dinner in the dorms. 7pm: Shopping
Week 1 (Orientation, Introduction continued)
Readings: Ginsberg, Ashbery, Rich.
13 June. 8 am: Computer help. 9:30-12:30: academic orientation session #2 with Anderson and
Ryan. Lunch in seminar room followed by distribution of participants’ funds. Bring passport.
Trip to bank and grocery store. 7:30 pm: Depart for Welcome dinner at University Club.
14 June. 8:30am: depart dorm for Social Security Office. Tour Seelbach Hotel, KY Center for
the Arts, and Humana Building. 12:30 pm: Lunch at Bristol Bar & Grill. 2 pm: University ID
cards followed by library tour. 5:30 pm: depart dorm for electronics shopping.
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15 June. 8 am: Computer help. 2pm: seminar with special guest on the Post-1945 poetry of
Ginsberg, Rich and Ashbery. Afternoon: library and reading time. 6pm: Patrick Wensink
literary reading.
Readings: For Ginsberg, focus on “Howl,” Sunflower Sutra,” “In a Supermarket in California.”
For Rich, focus on "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," "Transcendental Etude," "From a Survivor," "For
Memory," “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children,” “Tear Gas,” "When We Dead Awaken:
Writing as Re-Vision" (Rich 4, 86-90, 59, 93-95, 166-77). For Ashbery, “A Man of Words,”
“Foreboding,” “Mixed Feelings,” “The One Thing That Can Save America,” “Saying It to Keep
It from Happening,” “And Ut Pictura Poesis is Her Name,” “Down by the Station, Early in the
Morning,” “Never Seek to Tell Thy Love,” “Introduction,” “I See, Said the Blind Man, as He Put
Down His Hammer and Saw.”
16 June. 8 am: Computer help. Morning and early afternoon: library and reading time. 2 pm:
begin participant presentations.
17 June. 10 am – 12:30 pm: participant presentations. 2 pm: meet with staff; then finish
presentations. 6 pm: Local public transportation orientation.
Weekend
18 June. 9:30 am: Depart dorm for all-day tour of literary Louisville/Louisville as a
postmodern city, with Anderson, Ryan, and Jaffe. 12:30 pm: Lunch at Qdoba at Paddock Shops,
shopping.
19 June. Free time; reading. 1 pm: Optional visit to 21C the Art Hotel and KY Museum of Art
and Craft. 6:45pm: Optional Shakespeare in the Park: A Winter’s Tale.
Week 2 (From Modern to Postmodern)
Readings: more Post-1945 poetry and Post-1945 Fiction (on Blackboard); Pynchon, The Crying
of Lot 49. Kerouac, On the Road. Ellison, Invisible Man. Everett, Erasure. Ryan Ridge,
American Homes. Read ahead: Daniel Woodrell, Winter’s Bone.
20 June. 10 am: seminar II on Post-1945 American poetry, continued, with Dr. Joshua Adams
on Brooks, Plath, & O’Hara. Afternoon: Library and reading time.
21 June. 10 am: Seminar on Post-1945 fiction including Kerouac with Jaffe and Anderson.
Afternoon: Library and reading time.
22 June. 10 am: Seminar on Post-1945 fiction continues, with Jaffe and Anderson on Ellison
and Everett. Afternoon: Library and reading time. 6:30 pm: Literary Reading and Discussion
with Ryan Ridge.
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23 June. 9:30am: Leave for Bloomington, IN. Noon: Lunch. 2pm: Seminar on Pynchon with
Prof. Edward Comentale. Evening: Possible film screening.
24 June. 10 am: Seminar continues on noir (Chandler, Himes, Highsmith) with Comentale.
1pm: Lunch. 4pm: return to Louisville.
Weekend
25 June. 10:15 am EST: Optional visit to Cub Run Cave (about 1.5 hours from Louisville).
7pm: Dinner at Director’s Home.
26 June. Free time. 1:30 pm: Optional trip to Half-Price Books.
Week 3 (Re/location, Time, and the Space of Literature or is this “Questions of Race and
History week?)
Readings: Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone; Lerner, 10:04; selections and short fiction from Mason,
O’Connor, Kingston, Lahiri, Cisneros, Alexie, Silko, Powers; Read ahead: next week’s
materials.
27 June. 10 am: Seminar on Regionalisms (Mason, Woodrell, O’Connor) with Prof. Tatjana
Soldat-Jaffe and Susan Ryan. 1pm: West Coast orientation. Afternoon: Library and Reading
time.
28 June. 8:30am: Money. 10 am: Seminar on Diasporic Identities (Kingston, Lahiri, Cisneros,
Diaz) with Soldat-Jaffe and David Anderson. Afternoon: free time.
29 June. 10 am: Seminar on Alexie and Silko with Anderson and Mattes. Afternoon: free time.
6pm: Film Screening of Citizen Kane with Prof. Tom Byers at the Speed Museum Cinema.
30 June. 10 am: Study tour begins. 4:50 am: Depart from dorm to fly to San Francisco. Visit
Golden Gate Bridge (weather permitting). 4pm Walk to Martin Luther King Memorial, Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts and/or Contemporary Jewish Museum. Evening: Free Time.
1 July. 10am: seminar at UC-Berkeley with Professor Charles Tung on Lerner and postwar
literature (Richard Powers) and new media; 12:30 pm: Lunch in Berkeley. Evening: Possible
play.
Weekend
2 July. 9 am: Bus tour with expert guide. Sites connected to The Crying of Lot 49; Mission
District murals. Lunch at Mandalay Restaurant near Green Apple Books. Possible addition tour
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of Chinatown and visit to City Lights Books, home of the Beat Movement. Evening: Attend a
play or free time. Special Guest: Tung.
3 July. Bus to San Luis Obispo down PCH 1, stop at Hearst Castle. Evening: Check into hotel.
Week 4 (Study Tour, I: Literary Futures, Forms of Multi-Ethnicity and Environments)
Readings: Native Speaker; Erasure; LA materials.
4 July. 10 am: Leave for Los Angeles. Afternoon: Free Time.
5 July. 10am: Seminar with Prof. Warren Liu on Native Speaker and Asian American Poetry
from website.
6 July. 10 am: Seminar with Percival Everett/LA Materials. 2pm: bus tour of LA; Hollywood
and related sites.
7 July. 10am: Seminar with Prof. Tom Lutz and Dr. Evan Kindley from the L.A. Review of
Books, contemporary book reviewing, and American nonfiction.
8 July. Return to Louisville.
Weekend
9 July. 9:15am: Money. 10am: Grocery. 6:30pm: Dinner at Associate Director’s Home.
10 July. 1pm: Shopping. 6:45pm: Shakespeare in the Park: Romeo & Juliet.
Week 5 (Diverse Voices: Questions of Race and History; D.C. trip)
Readings: Johnson’s Pym; Morrison’s Beloved; Albee; Wilson; Vaselka’s Zazen; Egan’s Goon
Squad.
11 July. 10am: Seminar on Mat Johnson with Anderson and Jaffe. Afternoon: Library and
Reading time. 5pm: book mailing.
12 July. 10am: Seminar on Toni Morrison with Ryan and Anderson. 1:30pm: DC orientation.
6pm: Kiki Petrosino poetry reading.
13 July. 8:30 am: Depart for day trip with Susan Ryan to National Underground Railroad
Freedom Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, in connection with Toni Morrison, Beloved.
14 July. 10 am: Seminar on American Drama, Albee and Wilson with Prof. Judith Roof and
Prof. Baron Kelly.
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15 July. 9:30 am: Depart dorm – fly to DC. 2 pm: seminar on Veselka and Egan with Prof. Janet
Lyon. 7:30 pm: U.S. Army Band at U.S. Capitol (optional).
Weekend
16 July. 9 am: Depart for visit to MLK and Korean War Memorials, Viet Nam War Memorial,
Exterior of White House, and Lincoln Memorial, followed by free time for visits to sites of
individual interest. 7:30 pm: Optional group dinner.
17 July. 10 am: Depart for National Museum of the American Indian. Free time for visits to
sites of individual interest.
Week 6 (Cultural Inscription and Re-scripting)
18 July. Check out of hotel before 9:30. 11a.m. Tour Library of Congress. Afternoon:
Participants meet with State Department Program Officer to discuss the Institute, followed by
possible sightseeing. Evening: return to Louisville.
19 July. Possible Reading/Roundtable with Surprise Guests.
20 July. 10 am: Seminar on African American and avant-garde poetry with Alan Golding and
Harryette Mullen. Afternoon: literary reading by Harryette Mullen; discussion with Mullen and
Golding. 5 pm: grocery shopping.
21 July. 10 am: seminar with Golding and Mullen. 3:30pm: Reading and Library time. 4 pm:
Final book mailing. Evening: Event planned and presented by participants. Program can be
academic or social or both and can be as long or short as participants choose.
22 July. 10 am: Seminar conclusion. Discussion of program. Afternoon: free time, packing.
6:30: Depart dorm for farewell dinner at University Club.
23 July. Participants depart.
Website Readings
I. Secondary Readings
1. Jean-François Lyotard. Selections from The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.
Trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Theory and History of Literature 10.
Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1984. xxiii-xxv.
2. David Harvey. "Postmodernism." The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.
38-65.
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3. Jacques Derrida. "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences." Writing
and Difference. Trans. Alan Bass. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1978. 278-93.
4. Fredric Jameson. "The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism." Postmodernism, or, The Cultural
Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke UP, 1991. 1-54.
5. Andreas Huyssen. From “Mapping the Postmodern.” After the Great Divide: Modernism,
Mass Culture, Postmodernism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1986. 183-206, 216-21.
6. Jean Baudrillard. From “The Precession of Simulacra.” Simulations. Trans. Paul Foss, Paul
Patton, and Philip Beitchman. New York: Semiotexte, 1983. 1-13, 23-26, 38-49.
7. Terry Eagleton. From The Illusions of Postmodernism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. 27-44.
8. Hilton Kramer. “A Note on the New Criterion.” New Criterion 1.1 (September, 1982): 1-5.
9. Hilton Kramer. “Postmodern: Art and Culture in the 1980s.” New Criterion 1.1 (September,
1982): 36-42.
10. Judith Butler. “Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions.” Gender Trouble: Feminism
and the Subversion of Identity. Thinking Gender. New York: Routledge, 1990. 128-41.
11. Henry Louis Gates. “Writing ‘Race’ and the Difference It Makes.” Critical Inquiry 12
(1985): 1-21.
12. Stuart Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference.
Ed. Jonathan Rutherford. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1990.
13. Tom Lutz, selections from Cosmopolitan Vistas: The New New Regionalism and the
Future of Literature. Cornell University Press, 2004.
14. Mark McGurl, “Ordinary Doom: Literary Studies in the Waste Land of the Present.” New
Literary History 41 (2010): 329-349.
15. Chad Harbach , ed., MFA vs NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction. N+1, 2014.
Others to be announced.
II. Primary Readings for Week 4
1. Rigoberto Gonzalez, “Día de las Madres,” from Latinos in Lotus Land: An Anthology of
Contemporary Southern California Literature. Ed. Daniel A. Olivas, Bilingual Press,
2008. (PDF to be distributed)
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2. Jenny Price, “13 Ways of Looking at Nature in L.A.” (read online)
3. Luis Rodriguez, “Concrete River” (poem text; read online first) (video of Rodriguez’s
reading; view after reading poem)
4. Chapters 5 and 6 of Helena María Viramontes’s Their Dogs Came with Them (PDF to be
distributed) (video of Viramontes; view before reading chapters)
5. Tom Lutz, “Future Tense,” LA Review of Books.
III. Readings for Week 6 (others to be announced)
1. Harryette Mullen. “Poetry and Identity.” West Coast Line 19 (1996): 85-89.
2. Harryette Mullen. “The Solo Mysterioso Blues: An Interview with Harryette Mullen.”
Callaloo 19 (1996): 651-69.