Thursday, January 12, 7 PM, special introductory class: (1) Karen Finley, "Epilogue" [audio]; (2) Ron Silliman, "Albany" [text, audio]; comment on Silliman's content [link]; (3) John Barth, 2 1/4 pages of "Ambrose His Mark" from Lost in the Funhouse [PDF].
Monday, January 16, 7 PM, at 4616 Osage Avenue (with dinner): (1) Finley, A Different Kind of Intimacy, pp. 1-105; (2) "Pranks!" [link]; (3) clip from KF's appearance on Politically Incorrect [link]; (4) articles & excerpts about NEA controversy [PDFs]; (5) the original version of "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" [link].
Monday, January 23: Finley, (1) A Different Kind of Intimacy, pp. 106 to the end; (2) audio performances from KF's CD album A Certain Level of Denial [link].
Monday, January 30: (1) Finley, George & Martha; (2) Reality Shows, pp. 1-82.
Monday, February 6: Finley, Reality Shows, pp. 83 to the end.
Monday/Tuesday, February 13-14: Karen Finley visits
Monday, February 20: Silliman #1, Radicalism & Dailiness
(1) "Albany" (in The Alphabet, pp. 1-2)
(2) Under Albany
(3) Silliman discusses two of the sentences in "Albany": [audio]
(4) Silliman on the different kinds of sentences in "Albany": [audio]
(5) Silliman's frustration with those who think experimental poetry is abstract: [audio]
(6) The Grand Piano, volume 4
(7) The Grand Piano, volume 10, Silliman's section only [PDF]
(8) Brief commentary on BART [link]
(9) BART (in The Age of Huts, pp. 300-311)
(10) “Disappearance of the Word, Appearance of the World” in The New Sentence (pp. 7-18) & “Contexts” (preface to The New Sentence, pp. 3-4) & “For L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E” (New Sentence p. 57).
Monday, February 27: Silliman #2, The New Sentence
(1) A few excerpts from critical comments on Silliman [link]
(2) Ketjak (in The Age of Huts, pp. 1-102)
(3) Silliman performs the opening pages of Ketjak: [audio]
(4) Andrew Epstein's essay on “dailiness” in Ketjak [PDF]
(5) Bob Perelman on Ketjak [PDF]
(6) Thomas Fink's essay on Tjanting [link]
(7) Silliman’s introduction to Tjanting at Anthnology Film Archive, 1981 [audio]
(8A) Silliman reads a 44-minute passage from Tjanting at the Grand Piano in 1978 [audio]
(8B) Silliman, the opening pages of Tjanting: [link]
(9) “The New Sentence” (New Sentence, pp. 63-93) and/or audio of the original presentation in 1979 at the San Francisco Art Institute [audio part 1 & part 2]
(10) Silliman reflecting on “The New Sentence” in 2007 on his blog [link]
(11) Silliman reflects on the importance of William Carlos Williams and especially Spring and All [links: 1, 2]
Monday, March 5: no class / spring break
Monday, March 12: Silliman #3, The Alphabet & the Blog
(1A) "Quindecagon," The Alphabet pp. 443-440 [audio: intro & poem, intro]
(1B) Silliman talks about "Quindecagon" with Amy King: [audio]
(2) “You” (in The Alphabet), sections 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 52
(3) (R) ["circle R"], The Alphabet, pp. 441-456 [audio]
(4) "Demo" (The Alphabet, pp. 13-36)
(5) "Hidden" (The Alphabet, pp. 59-88)
(6) "Lit" sections 1 & 2 (The Alphabet, pp. 225-238) [audio: sec. 1, sec. 2]
(7) "Jones" (The Alphabet, pp. 113-138)
(8) A few poems from "VOG": "Dogs Love Trucks" (p. 708) [audio], "(G)hosts" (p. 742) [audio], "Of Grammatology" (p. 595) [audio], "For Larry Eigner, Silent" (pp. 607-609) [audio]
(9) Blog comment on his blog and repeated use of the term “School of Quietude” [link]
(10) Blog comment on his blog five years after he commenced it [link]
(11) Blog comment on creative writing and academia [link]
(12) Blog comment on Language poets joining the academy [link]
Monday/Tuesday, March 19-20: Silliman visits
Monday, March 26: John Barth, The End of the Road; "The Bare Bones of Literature in General" (PDF)
Monday, April 2: Barth, Giles Goat-Boy
Monday, April 9: Barth, (1) Lost in the Funhouse; (2) "The Literature of Exhaustion" [PDF]
Monday, April 16: Barth, (1) selected stories from The Development; (2) Every Third Thought. (The Development stories we'll discuss: "Toga Party," "The Bard Award," "Assisted Living," "The End," "Rebeginning.")
Monday/Tuesday, April 23-24: John Barth visits
Wednesday, April 25, 1-3 PM: final words / party / exam review
TBA: comprehensive, personalized, take-home "final" exam
