ENGL 7630 - Modernism		Dr. Robinson


A SLAP IN THE FACE OF CRITICAL OPINION

Since this is a comparative literature course, the main research essay
ought to be comparative in nature. Using several writers from at least
two language traditions, create and support a critical manifesto of
Modernism. The manifesto may be a negative one if you wish (e.g., you
might want to label all of these dead writers as passeists, following
the Futurist custom), or it may be a celebratory manifesto. The bottom
line is to make it one or the other, because what good is a
wishy-washy manifesto? In either case, support your claims with
careful readings of modernist texts (and other artworks, if you wish)
and a decent knowledge of relevant critical commentary. If you are
really daring, you could even make this a metacritical manifesto,
passing fierce and unwavering judgment on critics past and present,
while to some extent rescuing modernist writers from these critics'
ungainly and imbecilic clutches. 


THE TIMETABLE FOR REVOLUTION	

A prospectus of this essay is due 22 March 2004 in class.

A working bibliography is due 29 March 2004 in class.

The final draft is due 19 April 2004 in class. You will also provide 
a 5-10 minute presentation based on your manifesto to the class
on that date.


NEW STYLISTIC LAWS

Your manifesto should follow MLA style strictly, unless,
creating your own system lest you be enslaved by another man's (that's
Blake), you decide to fashion an ad hoc but internally consistent
documentation style in keeping with daring stylistic experiments you
propose to undertake. 


LOGON TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER

I wish to make a permanent record of the class's collective 
"manifestation." This will be a Web site that I will keep linked from
my academic homepage. If you have skill at using HTML and its 
cousins, feel free to submit the entire project electronically, 
and keep in mind the technical considerations that I will face when
putting your project online. If you are a print person only (passeist!)
I will be happy to take your print submission and prepare it for Web 
publication. Consult with me early on if you plan to include
multimedia elements in your manifesto. Anything is possible -- but
not fast.