LITERATURE 110: AN INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN CULTURE (LITERATURE AND FILM)
Instructor: Robert Bennett
Office: 2-270 Wilson Hall
E-mail: robert.bennett@msu.montana.edu
Office Hours: MWF 14:00-15:00
Location: AJM 222
Mailbox: 2-176 Wilson Hall
Time: MWF 13:00-13:50
Phone: 994-5195
Mobile Website: http://m.lit110.com: Class Handouts, Study Guides, etc. are available via the mobile website or D2L
Course Description: Every work of art makes its own mark upon the world. In Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman sounds
his “barbaric yawlp” across the rooftops of the world, while Allen Ginsberg’s Howl shakes the foundations of the
cityscape with its “eli eli lamma lamma sabachoni saxophone cry.” Meanwhile, Bob Dylan strives to create “chains of
flashing images,” and Public Enemy try to sound “louder than a bomb.” Each of these artists uses language in a unique
and carefully crafted sense, but why? Why do artists use language—in literature, in music, in film, in the visual arts,
etc.—in these particular ways, and how does each artist’s style help articulate a specific vision of the world. This is the
central question that we will explore in this class: how do artists develop distinct “signature” artistic styles to raise specific
questions about ourselves, our world, and the stories or narratives that we tell about ourselves and our world.
You may think that you know what literature, and literary studies, are, but this course may surprise you. Sure, there is
what professors in tweed suits smoking pipes used to think that literature was—and your high school English teacher
maybe still does—but professors today are rapidly expanding the boundaries of literature to include films, music, art,
photography, video games, and other cultural media. We will still read serious literature. In fact, we will read the three
most important long poems in American literature, but we will also study a lot of other interesting stuff along the way: the
art of Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, the music of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Modernist clothing and architecture,
The Simpsons and zombie movies. So you will go away from this course not just having read some ground-breaking
literature but with a broad understanding of the cultural and intellectual history of the Twentieth Century as a whole,
which in turn will help you better understand the present-day culture in which you live. You will know better where your
own culture comes from, how it works, and what it means.
What we are going to learn is how to really read a text—any text, from a poem or novel to a rock song, or from the
greatest poetry of its day to Lady Gaga’s latest dress. My end goal is not to turn you into a librarian but to teach you how
to read and understand the texts that surround you in your own culture and that you encounter in your everyday life.
Learning Outcomes
 Students will demonstrate an increased understanding of the value and function of literature (and art) in human
societies, including the ways in which art expresses, is shaped by, and responds to its historical context.
 Students will develop the skills to carefully and closely read literary (and other cultural) texts.
 Students will be required to clearly articulate meaningful ideas/arguments about the significance of cultural texts
Assignments
1) In-class Quizzes and Participation (250 pts): You are expected to do two hours of homework for every one hour of
in-class time. This is the official standard set for every course at this university. You are expected to complete every
reading assignment before class, to have thought carefully about the material, and to be prepared to analyze and discuss
the material. There will be one or more daily quizzes (via i-clicker) to test your preparation for class.
2) Three study guides (100 pts each). A hard copy of your study guide responses must be turned in at the time of each
exam. Study guides will not be accepted after the day of the exam.
3) Three non-comprehensive exams (150 pts each). All exams are open book, open note, open electronic devices.
Nota Bene: If an exam must be missed, then that missed exam may only be made up by writing a 10-page paper on a
topic covering the course material as assigned by the instructor—no exceptions whatsoever.
Academic Misconduct: Any student who uses another student’s work or provides work to another student on any quiz or
exam or study guide will immediately receive a failing grade for the course.
Texts:
1. Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. ISBN#1593080832
2. Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems f Langston Hughes. ISBN#0679764089.
3. T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems. Signet Classic, 1998. ISBN#0451526848
4. Christopher R. Weingarten, Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Continuum/
Bloomsbury, 2010. ISBN#0826429130
5. Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems. City Lights, 1956. ISBN# 087260175
6. Mike Marqusee, Wicked Messenger. ISBN#1583226869
7. Nicholas Rombes, The Ramones. ISBN#0826416713
8. Max Brooks, World War Z. ISBN#0307356617
9. I-clicker (available in textbook dept. of MSU Bookstore) Must be registered at
https://www3.montana.edu/iclicker/
COURSE SCHEDULE
PART I. MODERNISM
Jan. 13: Intro: What is Literature?
William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18” (shakespeare on D2L)
Whitman, “Mannahatta” (606-07)
Jan. 15: Walt Whitman and Modernity
F.T. Marinetti. “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” (marinetti on D2L)
Whitman, “Preface” (7-27)
Jan. 18: No Class—MLK, Jr. Holiday
Jan. 20: Walt Whitman and the Modern American Self
“Salut Au Monde!” (294-305)
Jan. 22: Walt Whitman’s Song
Whitman, “Song of Myself” (#1-24; 190-216)
Jan 25: Walt Whitman and the Quotidian Artifact
Whitman, “Song of Myself” (#25-40; 216-236)
William Carlos Williams “The Red Wheelbarrow” and Pablo Neruda “Ode to Things” (williams on D2L)
Jan. 27: Walt Whitman’s Vernacular Poetics: Democracy’s Barbaric Yawlp
Whitman, “Song of Myself” (#41-52; 236-51)
Jan. 29: Walt Whitman and the MC5
Whitman, “One Hour to Madness and Joy” (267-68)
Feb. 1: Langston Hughes
Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Negro” (23, 24); “I, Too” (46); “America” (52-53), “One More ‘S’ in the
U.S.A.” (176-177); “Let America Be America Again” (189-91)
Leonard Cohen, “Democracy” (cohen on D2L)
Feb. 3: Langston Hughes
Hughes, “Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria” (143-146); “Open Letter to the South” and “Good Morning
Revolution” (160-63), “Air Raid Over Harlem (185-88), “Song of Spain” (195-197)
Feb. 5: Langston Hughes
Hughes, “A Song to a Negro Washerwoman” (41-42); “Johannesburg Mines” (43); “The Weary Blues” (50), “Lenox
Avenue: Midnight” (92)
Saul Williams, “Ohm” (Williams on D2L)
Feb. 8: Langston Hughes
Hughes, “Montage of a Dream Deferred” (387-412)
Feb. 10: Langston Hughes
Hughes, “Montage of a Dream Deferred” (413-424)
Feb. 12: Langston Hughes
Hughes, “Montage of a Dream Deferred” (425-429)
Feb. 15: No Class—President’s Day Holiday
Feb. 17: Review for First Exam
Feb. 19: First Exam
PART II. FROM MODERNISM TO POSTMODERNISM
Feb. 22: Alienation
Arcade Fire, “Modern Man” (arcadefire on D2L)
The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby” (beatles on D2L)
T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (5-11)
T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land part I-IV (32-46)
Feb. 24: Intertextuality and The Simpsons
Feb. 26: Fragmentation-Incongruity-Dissonance: The Center Will Not Hold
T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land part V (47-51)
William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” (yeats on D2L)
Feb. 29: Fight the Powers: Texts and Contexts
Weingarten (1-45)
Public Enemy lyrics (publicenemy on D2L. Please bring every day that we study Public Enemy)
Mar. 2: Sampling/Rap Intertextuality
Weingarten (46-90)
Download the “WhoSampled” APP from the I-Tunes APP store and explore some of the samples used on Public
Enemy’s “Rebel Without a Pause”
http://rap.genius.com/Public-enemy-rebel-without-a-pause-lyrics
Jacques Attali, from Noise (attali on D2L)
Mar. 4: Square America and the Post-WWII Corporate City
Ginsberg, Howl Part II (21-23)
Robert Bennett, “Course Notes” and excerpts from Deconstructing Post-WWII NYC (bennett on D2L)
Malvina Reynolds, “Little Boxes” (reynolds on D2L)
Mar. 7: The Post-WWII Counterculture: The Beats and the Squares
Ginsberg, “America” (31-34)
Ginsberg, Howl Part I (9-20)
Henry Luce, “American Century” and Students for a Democratic Society “Port Huron Statement” (porthuron on D2L)
Mar. 9: Allen Ginsberg’s Eli Eli Lamma Lamma Sabacthani Saxophone Cry
Ginsberg, Howl Part I (only 19-20); Ginsberg, Howl Part III and Footnote (24-28)
Jack Kerouac, “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose” and” Belief & Technique for Modern Prose” (kerouac on D2L)
Mar. 11: Bob Dylan’s Politics
Marqusee (1-28, 74-91)
Mar. 14-18: No Class—Spring Break
Mar. 21: Bob Dylan’s Poetics
Marqusee (93-138)
Mar. 23: Bob Dylan’s Highway 61
Marqusee (139-183)
Mar. 25: No Class—University Day
Mar. 28: Postmodernity and incredulity
Rombes (1-25)
Ramones lyrics (ramones on D2L)
Mar. 30: Postmodernism and the Culture of Irony
Rombes (26-62)
Apr. 1: Second Exam Review
Apr. 4: Second Exam
PART III. THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
Apr. 6: An Introduction to Zombies
Walter Benjamin, “On the Concept of History” (benjamin on D2L)
Apr. 8: The Zombie Apocalypse
Brooks (1-44)
Apr. 11: Brooks (45-104)
Apr. 13: Brooks (105-168)
Apr. 15: Brooks (168-227)
Apr. 18 Brooks (227-282)
Apr. 20: Brooks (282-342)
Apr. 22: Watch and analyze World War Z
Apr. 25: Watch and analyze World War Z
Apr. 27: Watch and analyze World War Z
Apr. 29: Final Exam Review
Mon. May. 2 (4:00-5:50 p.m.) Final Exam!! (At the time officially scheduled by the university for a class at this
time)