Modern Fiction/Nonfiction Summer Reading Assignment.
Welcome to Modern Fiction/Nonfiction! In this course we will consider two closely
related cultural movements, Modernism and Postmodernism. Although we will spend
much of our time considering written texts, both of these movements embrace all of the
arts---visual, literary, musical, etc. Therefore, over the summer, you are asked to
consider a variety of such texts that incorporate modernist/postmodernist philosophy.
NOTE: If you can’t access some of the links below, go to Mrs.
Danielle Walsh’s SchoolWires site. Those links will open.
Requirements:

Read a combination of the texts listed below. Links to each text have been
provided. You must read/engage a minimum of three (3) short
stories/poems, one (1) nonfiction essay, and a combination of three
(3) visual media. You may add additional works of your own selection, as well,
if you wish.

Annotate your selected written texts and take notes on the visual texts
by selecting quotations, images, or other elements that interest you;
identifying ideas/themes/motifs that seem important; and recognizing
patterns and correspondences that appear across all of the texts. Write
questions and comments about things you don’t understand or elements that
make you think, feel, or wonder. Also try to identify how the authors/artists make
their points.

At the beginning of the school year, you will be asked to analyze your notes and
come up with a hypothesis regarding what you think modernism and
postmodernism are, based upon your experiences with your selected texts. You
will use your notes to help you specifically support your hypothesis.
Selections:
Short Stories/Poems. Choose a minimum of three (3)!

“Alphabet” by Catherine French - poem

"Answers to a Questionnaire" by J.G. Ballard

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“Axolotl” by Julio Cortázar

“Easter, 1916” by William Butler Yeats - poem

“Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood

“Howl” by Allen Ginsberg - poem

“Perl, the First Postmodern Computer Language”

“She” by Charles Kaufman

"The School" by Donald Barthelme

“The Transfer of Patient Twenty-Seven” by Hugh Cook

“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot - poem

“Waiting” by Peggy McNally

“Zombie” by Chuck Palahniuk
Nonfiction. Choose a minimum of one (1)!

The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan

Electronic Revolution by William Burroughs

From Here On by Clément Chéroux, Joan Fontcuberta, Erik Kessels, Martin Parr,
and Joachim Schmid Berlin.

Present Shock (excerpt) by Douglas Rushkof

"Gaga over Gaga: Lost in the Funhouse of the (Reified) Real" by Virginia Konchan
Visual Media. The following sites are galleries that provide many different artists
and their works. Choose one work from a minimum of two (2) different artists
to consider. You might want to print out the works you engage; you must note the
name of the artist, and the title and date of the work in your notes!

Art *Setter

Artspan Collections

Museum of Modern Art

Saatchi Gallery

The Tate Gallery
We look forward to seeing in September. Enjoy your summer!