Week 1: Introduction
T 8/24 Student Survey. In-class activity: Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro.” Introduction to The Modernist Journals Project.
R 8/26 Read the April 1913 issue of Poetry Magazine at The Modernist Journals Project, which contains “In a Station of the Metro”: https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr459843/
Pick one other item in the issue that has an interesting relationship with “In a Station” and prepare something to say about it in class. Note the title, author, and page number so that we can all look at it together in class.
In-class writing activity.
Week 2: Introduction to Periodicals and The Modernist Journals Project
T 8/31 Go the Modernist Journals Project – http://modjourn.org – and pick one content item from any of the magazines that is interesting, appealing, or troubling to you. It can be anything: a poem, story, essay, photograph, piece of visual art, or even an advertisement. Note the magazine title, issue date, and page number so that we can put it onscreen in class and talk about it.
In-class writing activity.
R 9/2 Spend at least a couple of hours familiarizing yourself with the Modernist Journals Project – http://modjourn.org. Go through the Journals list and examine a few issues of a few titles, making sure to try the different reader tools. Look at the essays, bibliographies, data visualizations, and other resources.
Read “Description” in the Student Guide to the Writing Program at TU (on Harvey).
Due: Blog Post – Pick one issue from any magazine and write a description of one of its content items that includes the following information. Be ready to share in class.
- Magazine title and date
- Item title and page numbers
- Author
- Form (e.g. poem, story, advertisement, drawing, photograph)
- Description of the item: What, How, Why, Where, When
Mini-lecture on Modernism.
Week 3: Modernism and Periodicals
T 9/7 Bradbury, “Preface” (D)
Scholes & Wulfman, “Modernity and the Rise of Modernism: A Review” (D)
Come to class prepared to say something about the following: What is one way in which one of the magazine content items you picked last week is or is not a modernist response to modernity, and why?
In-class writing activity.
R 9/9 *** Meet in SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, 5th Floor of McFarlin Library (use stairs or take elevator near Library Café). We will have an introduction to the Special Collections department at McFarlin Library and look at some real modernist magazines from 100 years ago. Our Special Collections experience will be informed by your reading of:
Scholes & Wulfman, “How to Study a Modern Magazine” (D)
Due: Blog post:
- Go to the Modernist Journals Project – http://modjourn.org – and pick one magazine that is interesting to you.
- Write a blog post in which you use the MJP’s information on this magazine or your own research skills to fill out the enumerated categories on pp. 146-48 of Scholes & Wulfman from today’s reading (Implied Reader, Circulation, Regular Contributors... all the way to Description). Just do the best you can – the purpose of the exercise is to learn basic bibliographic techniques and ways of thinking about periodicals. Cite all sources for each piece of information that you fill out.
Week 4 Visual Art & Description
T 9/14 Scholes & Wulfman, “Modernism in the Magazines: The Case of Visual Art” (D)
Scan through the following magazines to get a sense of their audience and what they’re about. Pick a piece of visual art from one of the magazines; note the title, creator, magazine, and page number; and be prepared to say something about it in class.
Rhythm: https://modjourn.org/journal/rhythm/
The Tyro: https://modjourn.org/journal/tyro/
Camera Work: https://modjourn.org/journal/camera-work/
Lecture on Vorticism and BLAST magazine.
R 9/16 Teresa Prudente, “Italian Futurism and English Vorticism” https://modjourn.org/essay/italian-futurism-and-english-vorticism/
Read the manifesto sections in the first issue of BLAST (June 1914), beginning to p. 42 (magazine pages, not PDF or viewer pages).
https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr430555/
Due: Blog post (1-2 paragraphs): Pick a piece of visual art in the first issue of BLAST magazine. Discuss specific features of the work in order to argue what makes it an example of Vorticism. Embed the image in your post to aid your analysis.
Week 5 Advertising & Summary
Due: Monday 9/20 by 8:00pm, via email – Short Writing Project: Description of a Visual Art Work
T 9/21 Scholes & Wulfman, “Modernism’s Other: The Art of Advertising” (D)
Find an advertisement from each of these two magazines. Note the issue date and page number of both ads so that we can compare on-screen.
Scribner’s: https://modjourn.org/journal/scribners-magazine/
The Crisis: https://modjourn.org/journal/crisis/
Read the Summary Chapter in Student Guide.
R 9/23 Find an issue from any magazine at MJP and be prepared to talk in class about how the advertisements relate to the editorial content.
Due: Blog post (1 paragraph) – Summarize the advertisement you’ve picked for today, using the principles laid out in the Summary Chapter of the Student Guide.
Week 6 Women’s Magazines, Feminism, & Evaluation
Due: Monday 9/27 by 8:00pm, via email – Short Writing Project: Summary of an Advertisement
T 9/28 Janine Utell, “The Woman Question”
https://modjourn.org/essay/the-woman-question/
Read the first issue of The Freewoman; also, scroll down the magazine’s landing page and take in the lead essay titles from beginning to end of the run. https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr517940/
We will discuss the lead essay, “Bondwomen.” Be prepared to say something about it, and also to bring up one other content item in the issue that is pertinent or different. What patterns do you see in the lead essay titles throughout the magazine’s run?
R 9/30 Find a magazine other than The Freewoman that deals with feminism or women’s issues broadly construed, even if it’s not explicitly a “women’s” magazine, even it’s opposed to suffrage or women’s rights. Find a series or some content items that persist across at least two or three (or more) issues that develop a topic or controversy on a women’s issue. Document the titles, authors, issue dates, and page numbers of the items, and be prepared to discuss them in class.
Read the Evaluation Chapter in Student Guide
Due: Blog post (1 paragraph) – Evaluate one of the items that you selected for today’s class, using the principles laid out in the Evaluation Chapter of the Student Guide.
Week 7 The Crisis, Race, & Rhetorical Analysis
Due: Monday 10/4 by 8:00pm, via email – Short Writing Project: Evaluation of an Argument on Women’s Rights
T 10/5 Read the first issue of The Crisis. We will discuss the lead article, “Along the Color Line.” Find one other item in the issue to discuss in class. How does the item relate to the lead article? What kind of theme or discourse emerges between these items?
Also, scroll down the magazine landing page and look at changes in the cover over time. What details or elements seem important? What do they appear to say about the magazine’s purpose or orientation over time?
https://modjourn.org/journal/crisis/
Read the Rhetorical Analysis Chapter in Student Guide.
R 10/7 Find two or three content items in magazines other than The Crisis that deal with race. The items may be instances of anti-racism or examples of racism itself. The point is to bring to the table a set of material that allows us to explore racial issues in some nuance.
Due: Blog post (1-2 paragraphs) – Write a brief rhetorical analysis of one or two items that you picked for class today, using the principles laid out in the Rhetorical Analysis chapter of Student Guide.
Week 8 World War I
Due: Monday 10/11 by 8:00pm, via email – Short Writing Project: Rhetorical Analysis of Race in a Magazine Item
T 10/12 Andrzej Gasiorek, "The 'Little Magazine' As Weapon: BLAST (1914-15)" (D)
Paul Peppis, "'Surrounded By A Multitude of Other Blasts': Vorticism and the Great War" (D)
Read the second issue of BLAST, “The War Number” (July 1915). Be sure to examine the Table of Content. We will discuss “Editorial” (pp. 5-6), “Note to Public” (p. 7), and “Vortex Gaudier-Brzeska” (pp. 33-34) in class. Find another content item of any kind, in this issue, to bring up during our meeting.
https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr430768/
R 10/14 Read the June 1918 issue of The Crisis. We will focus on the cover, “Editorial,” and “A Letter from General Ballou” (beginning to p. 62). Pick one other item from this issue to talk about in class.
https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr511283/
Due: Blog post (1-2 paragraphs): What seem to be the issues confronting African Americans in World War I? Discuss one item the June 1918 Crisis to illustrate your point.
Introduction to the Final Project.
Week 9 After World War I
T 10/19 Andrew Thacker, "Aftermath of War: Coterie (1919-21), New Coterie (1925-7), Robert Graves and The Owl (1919-23)" (D)
Find an item in Coterie and an item in The Owl or Winter Owl that says or shows something interesting about the aftermath of World War I. Be prepared to discuss it in class.
Coterie: https://modjourn.org/journal/coterie/
The Owl: https://modjourn.org/journal/owl/
Winter Owl: https://modjourn.org/journal/winter-owl/
R 10/21 Find two items from 1919 or later in two magazines other than the ones we read for Tuesday.
Due: Blog post (1-2 paragraphs) – In what ways do the two items you picked for today say or show something about the aftermath of World War I?
Week 10 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
T 10/26 A Portrait in The Egoist (pages TBA)
Due: Final Project Annotated Bibliography
R 10/28 A Portrait, Ch. 1 (pages TBA)
Week 11 A Portrait (con’t)
T 11/2 A Portrait Ch. 2 (pages TBA)
Due: Final Project Tentative Outline
R 11/4 – NO CLASS
Week 12 A Portrait (con’t)
T 11/9 Chapter 3 (pages TBA)
Due: Final Project Rough draft
R 11/11 Chapter 4 (pages TBA)
Week 13 A Portrait (con’t)
T 11/16 Chapter 4 (pages TBA)
Due: Final Project Revised draft
R 11/18 Chapter 5 (pages TBA)
Week 14 – THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 15
T 11/30 Werner and Voss, “Toward a Poetics of the Archive” (D)
Student Presentations
R 12/2 Student Presentations
Due: Final Project