91¶ÌÊÓƵ

English 6510

Selected Writings of E. L. Doctorow

Syllabus

 

Please understand that this syllabus is provisional and may need to be compressed/ shortened for reasons of time (= first block).

 
Week 1

General Introduction: E. L. Doctorow - A Life of & in Letters

  • Bruce Weber, and NYT Author Page
  • Adam Kelly, , LARB, Oct 2015 (perhaps to be repositioned)
    *** Please come prepared to have read the first third of Ragtime. Thank you ***
Week 2

Ragtime- The Cliches are Having a Ball

  • Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)
    Here is a in lieu of the (full) essay
  • Angela Hague, "Ragtime and the Movies" (Critical Essays)
  • Focus Questions - Ragtime
     
  • E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime (1976) _________________________________
    • (sign-up for student presentation/seminar facilitation, perhaps in teams of two)
Week 3–4

Gothic Gotham, or, Batman in the Geriatric Ward

The Waterworks
Week 5–6

City of God / City of Bits: Signs, Signals, Networks

City of God (2000)

  • A. O. Scott,, NYT
  • Walter Kirn,, NYTM
  • Michael Wutz,, Weber 29, 1: 2-15.
  • Option: Reading, Thus, 5 Oct, SUB #312, 6 PM

  • City of God I ______________________________________     City of God II ______________________________________
Week 7–8

Utah on the Brain - Narrative, Cognitive Science, and the Late Age of the Humanities

Andrew's Brain

  • Andrew's Brain Focus Questions
  • LARB
  • E. L. Doctorow,
  • E. L. Doctorow, (excerpt)
  • Marco Roth, , n+1, Sept 2009; ; Jonah Lehrer,
  • Useful Background: , , ()
  • (Ted Talk)
  • , 92Y, 17 Jan 2017
     
  • Andrew I _______________________________________      Andrew II _______________________________________

    Of Topical Interest

Should you have time for additional readings, beyond the limits of our course, let me please suggest the following: (a)The Book of Daniel (1971); (b) The March (2005); (c) Collected Short Stories (2017). I will try to integrate these texts and selections into our discussion, as appropriate.

Below are additional links to useful websites on E. L. Doctorow's work - to be enlarged.  Please stay tuned! :)

  • ELD links on CALPAL, including ELD on video
  • Sam Jordison, (Guardian, 8 Sept 2015)
  • MSU, (2012), including an interview
  • NYU,
  • Joseph G. Ramsey, ""
  • Ben Siegel, Ed. Critical Essays on E. L. Doctorow. G.K. Hall & Co, 2000.
  • Bruce Weber, "
  • Bingel, Hannah. “Fictional Narratives and Their Ways of Spiritual Worldmaking: (De-) Constructing the Realm of Transcendence in City of God by Way of Metafiction and Multiperspectivity.” Nünning, Vera, Ansgar Nünning, Birgit Neuman, et. al., eds. Cultural Ways of Worldmaking. Media and Narratives. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2010, 287-306 (print source only).
  • Doctorow, E. L. Citizen Doctorow, Notes on Art & Politics: The Nation Essays 1978-2015.  Ed. Richard Lingeman, Afterword by Victor Navasky.  New York: The Nation Co., 2015.

Concluding Note

 

The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. My door is always open, and if it is not open, please knock; I will answer if I am there. Please don't hesitate to stop by.

Let's Connect!


mwutz@weber.eduPhone  801-626-7011
Skype  michaelwutz007

Lebenslauf – Curriculum Vitae
Weber – The Contemporary West

Mailing Address

 

Michael Wutz, Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor
Editor, Weber - The Contemporary West
Department of English, 1404 University Circle
91¶ÌÊÓƵ
Ogden, UT 84404-1404 USA