Peter C. Herman
AL 265
Herman2@mail.sdsu.edu
Office hours: M: 12-1
English 220, MW 11:00-11:50, PG 153 (main lecture)
Discussion Sections
Section 6: M 10-10:50, ENS 106, Beverly Pascual
Section 7: M 12-12:50, GMCS 306, Natalie Wilson
Section 8: W 10-10:50, NE 172, Eric Magnuson
Section 9: W 12: 12:50, PSFA 413, Adam Bicksler
Section 10: W 10-10: 50, NE 173, Beverly Pascual
Section 11: W 10-10:50, NE 175, Adam Bicksler
Section 12: W 12-12:50, EBA 260, Natalie Wilson
Section 13: W 12-12:50, EBA 412, Eric Magnuson
Teaching Assistants
Adam Bicksler: bicks236@yahoo.com
Eric Magnuson: eric.j.magnuson@gmail.com
Beverly Pascual: bapascual@gmail.com
Natalie Wilson: nataliewilsonsd@gmail.com
The Promise and Perils of Technology
1/21: Course Intro
1/26-28: Oedpus the King
Blog Prompt: What contemporary TV genre does this play resemble? Who is at
fault here? How does the play complicate our understanding of “fault”? Or to put the
matter another way: how many causes can you find for what happens at the
crossroads? Why does Oedipus refer to himself as “the great”? What did he do to
earn that title? What is the role of intelligence in this play? What are the connections
between intelligence and pride, both Oedipus’ and Athens’ (see the speech from
Pericles on Blackboard).
2/2-4: Thomas More, Utopia, Book 1
Blog Prompt: What does Hythlodaeus (whose name means “speaker of nonsense”)
say about the state of England? What sort of a man is Hythlodaeus? What is the
“enclosure movement” and how does it affect your interpretation of Utopia? What is
the “dialogue of counsel” about? Which side is more convincing? Why? How does
More’s Utopia carry on the same themes as Oedipus?
2/9-11: Thomas More, Utopia, Book 2
Blog Prompt: React to More’s depiction of the “best state.” Is this the “best state”? Is
this a state in which you would want to live? What values does this state embody? In
other words, what does it value? How does this contrast or complement your
values? Do you think that More believed that each and every aspect of life in Utopia
is the “best”? How does the ending affect our interpretation of Utopia?
2/16: Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis (Blackboard)
Blog Prompt: How is Bacon’s NA different from More’s Utopia? How is it similar? Is
Bacon responding to More? How do we know that? Which society has the best
approach? Which would you rather live on? What are the fundamental values of
Bacon’s “New Atlantis”? Are they the same as More’s, or is there a crucial difference?
Why do you think both More, who spent his life as a lawyer, and Bacon, also a
lawyer but also inventor of the “scientific method,” decided to use fiction to explore
their views of the ideal society? What does fiction offer them?
2/18: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Blog Prompt: How would you describe Victor Frankenstein’s education? What sort
of “scientists” obsessed Frankenstein at the novel’s start? What is the difference
between “alchemy” and “science”? What changes Frankein’s mind? How does his
approach to “science” differ from or agree with Bacon’s? Which is closer to our own
views about science? How can Frankenstein apply to contemporary issues? Which
contemporary issues
2/23: EXAM 1
2/25: Mary Shelly, Frankenstein
Blog Prompt: What does “the wretch” want? Do you sympathize with him? What
are the parallels between the creature and Walton? What is this novel’s attitude
toward science and scientific progress? How is it applicable to contemporary issues?
3/2-4: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Blog: Prompt How close is this book to our present day? How does Huxley engage
with the previous writers? How is Huxley’s view of technology similar to and/or
different from Bacon’s? How does his view of government overlap with More and
Bacon? How does his view of technology continue or depart from Shelley’s? Would
you like to live in this society?
3/9-11: Huxley, BNW
Blog Prompt: What do you think about what happens to the main characters? Do
you think Mustapha Mond acts appropriately? Is he right about the role of art? Of
independent thought? How does Huxley continue or answer Sophocles on the
intellect? Why is this society the way it is? Why did they create such an order? How
are the economics of this culture similar to our own?
3/16-18: George Orwell, 1984
Blog Prompt: How has Orwell inverted Huxley’s society? In particular, how has he
inverted the role of technology? Does Orwell ever refer to Huxley in this book? What
are the similarities with BNW? How does this book continue the conversation about
the role of technology that starts with Bacon and the role of government that starts
with More? Is there anything about the world of 1984 that’s admirable?
3/23: Orwell, 1984
Blog Prompt: How does 1984 apply to our present circumstances, such as the NSA,
but not restricted to the NSA? How does this book help us to think critically about
our world? If there is one person you would make read this book, who would it be?
Why?
3/25: EXAM 2
3/30-4/3: SPRING BREAK
4/6-8: M.T. Anderson, Feed
Blog Prompt: How closely does Feed reflect our world? How does it continue to the
conversation about technology we have seen developing over the semester? Is there
anything about Feed that seems in accurate to you? How is technology used in Feed,
and to what end? What might be Anderson’s purpose in writing such a book? Do you
think he is successful? What might “success” mean in this case
4/13-15: Anderson, Feed
Blog: Prompt What does Titus have in common with Winston Smith and Bernard
Marx? Why? What does this book say about technology and our reliance on it? How
has this book changed how you think about technology? Has it changed how you
think about how you use technology?
4/20-22: Dave Eggers, The Circle
Blog Prompt: Is The Circle evil? Come up with three instances in which elements
from this book are taken from reality. Is this book a utopia? Or a dystopia? Is this a
world you want to live in? Or a world we already live in? How do the motivations of
The Circle differ or overlap with those of Mustapha Mond in BNW and O’Brien in
1984? How is Mae like Titus, or is she like Titus?
4/27-29: Eggers, The Circle
Blog Prompt: Imagine a conversation between Dave Eggers, Mary Shelley, and Sir
Francis Bacon about technology. What would they say to each other?
5/4-6: Example of “crowd-sourced” digital tech literature (guest lecture)
FINAL EXAM: Monday, May 11, 10:30-12:30, PG 153
Required Texts
The specific editions for each of these books matters, as translations and editorial
decisions can vary widely, if not wildly. Therefore, you must purchase the specific
edition, all of which are commonly available.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
M. T. Anderson, Feed
Dave Eggers, The Circle
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (Harper)
George Orwell, 1984 (Signet)
Thomas More, Utopia ed. Edward Surtz (Yale UP)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (University of
California Press)
7. Sophocles, Sophocles, vol. 1, Three Tragedies
8. iClickers
Course Aims
The purpose of this class is to introduce students to the study of literature, but to do
so in a more pointed fashion that will demonstrate literature’s uncanny ability to
help us think complexly about complex problems. To that end, we will be looking at
how literature deals with the related problems of technology and utopias, because
so often today technology is promoted as a means of achieving a utopia, meaning, a
perfect society. But as we will see, neither the claims made for technology nor the
sense that technology can create an ideal society, are new. This class will start by
looking at a Greek tragedy—Oedipus the King—that will introduce us to the problem
of intellect and to how literature can be used to critique a society’s basic values. We
move on to the revival of the utopian genre by Thomas More, and then to texts that
deal more overtly with technology. We conclude with two books, M. T. Anderson,
Feed, and the very controversial novel by Dave Eggers, The Circuit, that ask us to
reconsider our reliance on the web and computers. The final text will be a piece of eliterature (more on that later).
Class Format: this class meets together as a group twice a week. The third meeting is
a break-out section, and your on-line writing will form that basis of your
discussions. By Friday night, 8 p.m., everybody most post a comment on their breakout section’s blackboard discussion board about the week’s reading, and by Sunday
night, 8 p.m., you must respond to a post. While I have included prompts in the
syllabus, please remember that they are guides, not rules. You are not supposed to
answer each question. Instead, the prompts are meant to suggest possible avenues
for thinking.
Evaluation:
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Exam 1: 15%
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Exam 2: 20%
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Exam 3: 25%
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Blog and Comment Participation: 25%
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Quizzes: 15%
Please note:
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There is no opportunity for extra-credit.
There is no grading curve.
Grades may be explained but are not negotiable.
You must do all the work, meaning, you must take all the exams and complete
most of the blog posts. Missing an exam without previous permission will
automatically result in a failing grade.
Each blog post should be about 250-300 words, and should be some sort of
intelligent observation about the work’s themes. I’ve provided a series of
questions, but they are meant to stimulate thinking, not be answered
seriatim. You are allowed to miss two blog posts or comments. But more
than that, and your grade will drop like a stone. Miss 3, and you lose a half a
grade (so a B drops to a B-); miss 4, the grade goes down a full letter (so a B
drops to a C). Missing 5 will result in automatic failure for the course.
Clickers and Discussion Sections
I will be using clickers for the reading quizzes, taking attendance, and the multiplechoice exams. Please note that attendance is mandatory for both the main lecture
and the discussion sections. So is reading the texts: failing five quizzes (and not
attending will result in a zero for the quiz) or not attending five break-out sections
results in automatic failure.
Blackboard: There will be two blackboard pages for this class: one for the main
lectures, which is where I will post announcements, course documents, exam grades
and the Powerpoints; and one for your individual break-out sections. The second is
where you will go to post your blog posts and comments.
Workload and Academic Expectations
There is a fair amount of reading and writing in this class, and both the large class
lectures and the break-out sections will assume that you have done both. To make
sure, I will also be giving pop reading quizzes, which can happen at anytime, so you
have to bring your clicker to every class. Please be aware that while this class may
be listed as a GE course, I will not “dumb down” the material (having never quite
figured out how to do that). While many summaries of these texts (and more) are
available on the web, they are no substitute for reading the book itself. Students
who rely on Sparknotes and the like generally do not do very well.
Electronics
All forms of electronics that connect to the web, including but not restricted to
laptops, cell phones, smart phones, Blackberries, Blueberries, iPods, iPhones,
iTouches, iPads, Android phones, Blue Tooth headsets, etc. are not allowed in this
class. Calling, texting, or listening to music during lectures and discussions will not
be tolerated. The only exception is if you have written medical excuse to use a
laptop, and then you must sit in the front row. Essentially, if you can turn it on, it
stays off.
My reason for banning these devices is not technophobia, but because
“multitasking” is a myth, as demonstrated in a 24 October 2008 article in the New
York Times summarizing recent studies of productivity in business settings.
Researchers found that after responding to email or text messages, it took people
more than 15 minutes to re-focus on the “serious mental tasks” they had been
performing before the interruption. Other research has shown that when people
attempt to perform two tasks at once (e.g., following what’s happening in class while
scanning your Twitter or Grindr account), the brain literally cannot do it. One has to
give up one of the tasks in order to effectively accomplish the other. For a concrete
example, look at the following illustration:
Is this a duck? Or a
at a time; you cannot see
behind all the hype
sad truth: it makes you
reason alone you should
rabbit? You can see only one
both simultaneously. Hidden
about multi-tasking is this
slower and dumber. For this
seek to avoid the problem of
divided attention when you are in class (or behind the wheel of a car; according to a
recent study, texting while driving increases the chances of a collision by 700%).
But there is another reason: technology often causes us to lose our senses when it
comes to norms of polite behavior and as a result, perfectly lovely people become
unbelievably rude, self-centered, and offensive. Once more, the problem is not my
supposed fear of technology, but behavior that gets in the way of learning. Studies
and much anecdotal evidence have shown that a flashing screen will distract
everyone around you. Surfing the web or checking your Twitter account thus not
only significantly diminishes your ability to learn, it diminishes everyone else’s too.
Anyone caught texting, calling or surfing will have their device confiscated for the
class. Each offense thereafter will result in your grade being lowered by one letter.
Thus a B becomes a C, then a D.
Finally, leaving abruptly in the middle of class because you are bored is incredibly
rude, disruptive to the class, and self-defeating, as you will likely miss something
important. Please do not do it.
E-mail Etiquette
While I usually answer e-mails quickly, please wait 48 hours before resending your
message. Please do not send messages asking questions about issues that are in the
syllabus (e.g., exam dates), and please observe conventional spelling, grammar, and
syntax as well as the conventions of formal communications, such as proper
salutations and the like. Writing something along the lines of “yo prof whassup wht
hppnd n clz 2day anythng important?” will not get an answer.
Nota Bene 1: I will not re-arrange examinations to accommodate vacation plans.
Nota Bene 2: Like the weather, syllabi can be notoriously unpredictable, and
although I will strive to stick to it as closely as possible, be forewarned that there
may very well be some slippage, depending on how quickly we move and how
interesting we find certain texts or passages. Pedagogically, at times it is worth
lagging in order to investigate a particularly thorny problem that engages the class.
You must attend to classes to keep up with shifts in the syllabus since you will be
responsible for whatever changes we make (see above, “Attendance”).
Nota Bene 3: Should you need to miss an exam due to a previous commitment, such
as an athletic event, you must let me know by February 6. Telling me the week
before the exam that your coach has just told you that you have a competition is not
acceptable, and will not result in any accommodation. Missing the exam will have
dire consequences (see “Evaluation” above).
Please note the following:

I will not re-arrange deadlines to accommodate vacation plans.

Like the weather, syllabi can be notoriously unpredictable, and although I
will strive to stick to it as closely as possible, be forewarned that there may
very well be some slippage, depending on how quickly we move and how
interesting we find certain texts or passages. Pedagogically, at times it is
worth lagging in order to investigate a particularly thorny problem that
engages the class. You must attend to classes to keep up with shifts in the
syllabus since you will be responsible for whatever changes we make (see
above, “Attendance”).

Should you need to miss an exam due to a previous commitment, such as an
athletic event, you must let me know by February 5th. Telling me the week
before the exam that your coach has just told you that you have a
competition is not acceptable, and will not result in any accommodation.
Missing the exam will result in dire consequences (see “Evaluation” above).
Nota Bene 4: Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a zero-tolerance offense, and the student who has committed
plagiarism must, according to CSU policy, be reported to the Office of Student Rights
and Responsibilities. Any instance of plagiarism will be punished to the utmost
degree, and failing this course is the least you may expect. If I suspect that
something is not your work, I reserve the right to question you further on it, either
orally or in writing, or both, to see rough drafts, and to take whatever means I deem
necessary and reasonable to ascertain its origins. The following constitutes
plagiarism:
I—Submitting essays, including blog posts, or portions of essays and blog posts,
written by other people as one's own.
II—Failure to acknowledge, through proper footnotes and bibliographical entries,
the source of ideas essentially not one's own.
III—Failure to indicate paraphrases or ideas or verbatim expressions not one's own
through proper use of quotation and footnotes.
IV—Submitting an essay for one course to a second course without having sought
prior permission from both instructors.
Plagiarism and the Web
Unhappily, the web has become not only a source of “information,” but also of
papers that students can download or cut and paste. Therefore, the temptation to
plagiarize is now that much greater, and so, therefore, must our vigilance.
Consequently, be advised that downloading a paper, or pasting ANY amount of text, be
it so small as a phrase, from a website WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION constitutes
plagiarism, under definition I above, and will be dealt with accordingly.
If there is any doubt in your mind concerning plagiarism, consult me before you
hand in your paper.
Cheating
Cheating on the exams constitutes an offence of the same gravity as plagiarism, and
the same consequences apply. So does using someone else’s clicker for the purposes
of attendance or grading quizzes.
Grading Standards for the Objective Exams and Final Grades
97-100%=A+ (A)
95-96=A
90-94=A87-89=B+
84-86=B
80-83=B77-79=C+
74-76=C
70-73=C67-69=D+
64-66=D
60-63=D0-69=F
Required language: This course is one of four Foundations courses that you will take in the area of Humanities and Fine arts.
Upon completing of this area of Foundations, you will be able to: 1) analyze written, visual or performed texts in the
humanities and fine arts with sensitivity to their diverse cultural contexts and historical moments; 2) describe various
aesthetic and other value systems and the ways they are communicated across time and cultures; 3) argue from multiple
perspectives about issues in the humanities that have personal and global relevance; 4) demonstrate the ability to approach
complex problems and ask complex questions drawing upon knowledge of the humanities.