2013
Visuality and Literature
Pencil of Nature Plate VIII, A Scene in a Library,
William Henry Fox Talbot, 1844-46
Professor Jennifer Cayer
jac438@nyu.edu
Office Hours:
Course Description:
In this course we will examine twentieth-century and contemporary essays, novels, and plays
that are preoccupied with the visual, perform visually, or employ images within narrative. Some
of these works respond directly to pieces of visual art, others include photographs or analyze
forms of seeing. This is a writing-attentive course. While actively discussing the course
materials, we will consistently and frequently engage them in critical and creative, formal and
informal writing. One of our goals will be to deepen our own practices of seeing and using
visual evidence as a method toward writing personal, persuasive, and exploratory essays.
Objectives:
The goal of this course is to become more aware of your own writing processes, and to explore
a variety of writing situations. My role is to facilitate this process by offering a range of
strategies, practices, and exercises. Some will work for you, while others will not. You are
encouraged to take risks and adapt these strategies. The readings are designed to provoke both
your own writing and our in-class discussions. We will explore writing not only as a way to
represent our thinking but also as a means to produce our ideas and experience. Both reading
(the course materials, and each other’s work) and writing skills will be addressed on a weekly
basis.
Readings:
The following are required texts:
Mark Doty, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon (also an e-book)
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
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Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus I and II
Yasmina Reza, Art
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others
Andre Breton, Nadja
Additional required readings will be available as e-reserves. If you opt to read online, be sure to
print out and bring to class for our discussions.
Requirements:
You are invited to write everyday, both in and out of class and to reflect upon the readings and
your writing process. It is important to read all of the assigned course material in advance of
our meetings so that you can fully engage in discussions and writing exercises. It is necessary
to bring these materials to class. After the mid-semester break, you will be invited to volunteer
as a discussion starter for one class meeting. This will entail preparing two thoughtful, focused
and provocative questions for the class prior to our meeting.
You are also invited to be thoughtful readers of one another’s writing. This course is designed
in parts as a workshop. Because we will rely on each other for routine feedback, regular
attendance and arriving to class on time is essential. Two or more unexcused absences will
negatively affect your final overall grade. Six or more absences constitutes failing the course.
By the end of the semester, you will have compiled a portfolio of writing prompts, freewrites,
think pieces, a narrative collage, and responses to the course materials. In addition, there will
be four graded 4-5 page essays: a personal object essay, a persuasive textual analysis, an
exploratory essay combining familiar evidence with textual and visual analysis and a final
essay revision of your choice. Other short writing exercises will be assigned to facilitate
discussion and feed into your larger essays. The specific due dates and times will be determined
closer to the dates, depending on our collective pace. Once determined, unexcused late papers
will not receive credit and any late submissions will not receive feedback. Any delays must be
discussed with me in advance of the due date. It is crucial to keep apace. Submit papers as a
word (.doc) attachment with the following title: YourNameAssignment.doc (ex.
CayerObjectEssay.doc).
Course evaluation will be based on attendance, participation, a midterm check-in, the revised
essays, the final portfolio and a cover letter on your writing process and progress throughout
the semester. Plan to schedule at least 2 individual conferences with me. Begin a commitment
to writing everyday, and save all of the writing that you do for this class in a notebook, binder,
and/or computer file.
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Schedule of Readings:
(* = Reading is available on e-reserves)
Week 1: Introductions
September 7
Course & Class Introductions
September 9
*Annie Dillard, “Seeing” in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York: Harper &
Row, 1985, c1974, p. 16-36
 Letter of Introduction: Due via e-mail as a word attachment by 10:00 AM Friday, 9/10
You are invited to write a 1-2 page letter introducing yourself to me. Provide a portrait of
yourself as a writer. What does writing do? Do you consider yourself a writer? What are
your strengths/challenges? What are your goals, hopes, needs for this course? What do
you want to get out of it and what can you contribute? What makes you nervous or
anxious? What makes a good teacher of writing? What are some of the most
helpful/unhelpful things that teachers have done? Remember that this is not writing for a
grade; this is writing to honestly communicate where you are right now. Please be
candid and aim to offer insights that will be useful for our work together this semester.
Week 2
Writing Ourselves: Memory and Memoir
September 14
*Hampl, Patricia, “Memory and Imagination” in I could tell you stories:
sojourns in the land of memory (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999).
September 16
*Hampl, Patricia, “Memory and Imagination” in I could tell you stories:
sojourns in the land of memory (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999).
 Revise your piece of in-class freewriting. Then, choose another art or ordinary object
that is important to you (photograph, painting, sculpture, everyday object, etc). Re-create
your object in writing so that your reader may see the object the way you see it. First
freewrite, then do a focused freewrite, then revise for shape, tone, voice, etc. You should
have evidence of at least three drafts of this brief piece. Due in class on Thursday 9/16
bring -one- printed copy. You may also bring the image or object to class on Thursday, if
applicable or possible.
Week 3
Visual Art and Objects as Inspiration
September 21
*Mark Doty Still Life with Oysters and Lemon. Boston: Beacon Press,
2001. [in print, and also available as an e-book]
September 23
*Mark Doty Still Life with Oysters and Lemon
 Object Essay Draft Due in Class 9/23; bring -one- printed copy for workshop
Week 4
Art Making & Writing
 Object Essay Revision Due via e-mail as a word attachment by 10:00 AM Mon. 9/27.
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September 28
Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse, part 1
September 30
Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse, finish
 Introduction to Persuasive Textual Analysis Essay + Exercise 1 Due
Week 5
Art Making & Writing
October 5
Anne Carson Autobiography of Red: a novel in verse. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1998.
October 7
Anne Carson Autobiography of Red: a novel in verse. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1998.
 Exercise 2 Due
Weeks 6
What does Art do?
October 14
Yasmina Reza, Art. trans. by Christopher Hampton. New York:
Dramatists Play Service, 1999.
 Textual Analysis Draft + Argument Due
Week 7
Photography
October 19
* Felix Nadar, Gaspard Felix Tournachon, “My Life as a Photographer”
October, Vol. 5, Photography (Summer, 1978), pp. 6-28
October 21
* Felix Nadar, Gaspard Felix Tournachon, “My Life as a Photographer”
October, Vol. 5, Photography (Summer, 1978), pp. 6-28
 Textual Analysis Essay Revision Due
Week 8
Photography
October 26
Roland Barthes Camera Lucida: reflections on photography. trans. by
Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982. Part One, p. 1-60
October 28
Roland Barthes Camera Lucida, Part Two, p. 63-119
 Introduction to Exploratory Essay + Exercise 1
Week 9
Surrealism
November 2
Andre Breton, Nadja (to page 71)
November 4
Andre Breton, Nadja (finish)
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 Exercise 2 Due
Weeks 10
Photography & The Politics of Seeing
November 9
*Julio Cortazar "Blow-Up" in Blow-up, and other stories translated from
the Spanish by Paul Blackburn. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), p.
114-131.
November 11
*Agee, James and Walker Evans, Let us now praise famous men (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941). Preface (including images)- page 52.
 Exercise 3 Due
Week 11
Public Spectatorship
November 16
Susan Sontag, Regarding the pain of others. New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2003.
November 18
Susan Sontag, Regarding the pain of others. New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2003.
**screen Waltz with Bashir, written, directed + produced by Ari Folman,
Culver City, Calif. : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, (2009)
 Exploratory Essay Draft Due in Class 11/18; bring -one- printed copy for workshop
THANKSGIVING BREAK! NOVEMBER 20TH-28TH
Weeks 12
Comics, Graphic Novels, and Artists Books
November 30
Scott McCloud Understanding Comics ( up to page 161)
Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus, Pt. 1
December 2
Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus, Pt. 2
Film screening t.b.a.
 Exploratory Essay Revision Due via e-mail as a word attachment by 10:00 AM Fri. 12/3.
 Over the weekend review your writing and choose one essay to revise. Plan to meet with
Professor Cayer to discuss your individual goals and ideas for the final essay revision.
Week 13
Comics, Graphic Novels, and Artists Books
December 7
Artists Books Seminar
December 9
*Oliver Sacks, “The Minds Eye” in The New Yorker, July 28, 2003.
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Week 14:
Course Conclusions & Class Readings
December 14
Student Readings & Celebration!
For our last meeting we will share pieces from our final portfolios
 Final portfolios (all course writing, one significant essay revision, and cover letter) will be
due on Friday December 17th by 10:00 AM. I cannot accept late submissions.
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