ENGLISH 140: CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

The Pennsylvania State University

118 Thomas Building, University Park
MWF 1:25-2:15

PROFESSOR: Matt Tierney (matt.tierney@psu.edu)

OFFICE HOURS: Mondays 2:30-4 / Wednesdays 11:30-1
206 Burrowes Building

DESCRIPTION: When is the contemporary? What is literature now? Rather than provide textbook answers or
dictionary definitions, we will conduct regular discussions of emergent literary themes and cultural concerns, as well as
of the complex relationship of form to politics in the present. Focusing on work in English since the turn of the
Twenty-First Century, we will read intimate stories of everyday life alongside philosophical meditations, stylistic games,
and large-scale responses to rapid planetary changes. Most of our attention will be paid to novels and novellas, but we
will also read verse, stories, a graphic novel, and a book of aphoristic autobiographical fragments. We will discuss the
development and degradation of literary tradition, as well as the impact of literature on society, the global circulation of
print, the relationship of print and image, and the capacity of words to describe, and even change, the world we live in.

BOOKS (available at the Penn State Bookstore and the Student Bookstore):
Geneviève Castrée Susceptible
Lydia Davis Varieties of Disturbance
David Eggers Heroes of the Frontier
Wilson Harris Ghost of Memory
Anne Michaels and John Berger Railtracks (not in bookstore)
Harryette Mullen Urban Tumbleweed
Maggie Nelson Bluets
Zia Haider Rahman In the Light of What We Know

REQUIREMENTS: Principal work for this course will be conducted in seminar, and a high participation grade will
reflect frequent, thoughtful contributions to discussion. Discussion is a difficult skill that is learned over time, through
experience and experiment, and will require patience with yourself and others. I welcome you to intervene with
respectful questions and comments when I lecture, and I expect the same respect when you respond to classmates and
course materials. Additionally, there are two written assignments to be submitted by email or hard copy—one short
capsule review, and one critical essay—and several blog entries to be posted online. The capsule review will be one
very concise paragraph of analytic prose, due in Week 5. The blogging period will begin the following week, Week 6,
and run until Thanksgiving break. Five to eight times during that period, you will post an interpretive argument of one
to three paragraphs, illustrated with details from the week’s reading. Deadline extensions will be offered only under
dire circumstances. Missed classes will damage your participation grade considerably, and you will not pass the class if
you have more than five unexcused absences. Cellphones are unacceptable for reading and notetaking, and are
forbidden in class. Lateness will be penalized. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Come to class prepared to ask questions
or make claims about the reading. All books must be brought to class on the date assigned, and all pdfs must be
printed or, if absolutely necessary, displayed on tablet computers. Feel free to discuss this policy with me—it is
supported by extensive studies (e.g., goo.gl/BnwNiF.). A missing reading counts as one lateness, and three latenesses
count as one missed class. Take detailed notes on what you read.

GRADES: Seminar—35%; Capsule review—15%; Blog—20%; Analytic essay—30%

Please note: The course may be adapted to student needs and interests. It
is your right to have all needs accommodated (see, for example, Penn State’s
Student Disability Resources—goo.gl/IyYgys) and my job to accommodate
additional interests where these contribute to the goals of the course.
SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE):

Week 1: Exordium
August 22 Introductions
August 24 Myung Mi Kim, “Exordium,” “Pollen Fossil Record,” and “Anacrusis”
August 26 Banhu Kapil, “From Humanimal [a project for future children]” and “A Poem-Essay or Precursor”

Week 2: Conceptualism
August 29-September 2 Maggie Nelson, Bluets

Week 3: Contraction
September 7-9 Harryette Mullen, Urban Tumbleweed; Ben Segal, “The Fragment as a Unit of Prose Composition”

Week 4: Constraint
September 12 Harryette Mullen, “Theme for the Oulipians”
September 14 Ursula K. Heise, “Terraforming for Urbanists”; Andrew Epstein, selection from Attention Equals Life
September 16 Begin Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance

Week 5: Analysis
September 19-21 Continue Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance
September 23 (no class—complete writing assignment, due September 24 by noon)

BLOGGING PERIOD

Week 6: Scale
September 26 Finish Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance
September 28-30 Begin Dave Eggers, Heroes of the Frontier

Week 7: Kinship
October 3-7 Continue Dave Eggers, Heroes of the Frontier, Barbara Kingsolver, review of Heroes of the Frontier

Week 8: “The Novel”

October 10 Finish Dave Eggers, Heroes of the Frontier; attend campus visit by Eggers
October 12-14 Begin Zia Haider Rahman, In the Light of What We Know

Week 9: Violence
October 17-21 Finish Zia Haider Rahman, In the Light of What We Know

Week 10: Unknowables

October 24 Joyce Carol Oates, “Witness to the Unknowable” and “Hatefugue”
October 26 Amitava Kumar, “The Banker, the Visitor, his Wife, and her Lover” and “Dead Bastards”
October 28 Edouárd Glissant, “Transparency and Opacity”; Kenneth Burke, “Semantic and Poetic Meaning”

Week 11: Difficulty

October 31-November 4 Wilson Harris, Ghost of Memory; Paget Henry, “Concluding an Envisioning of Infinite Genesis”

Week 12: The Present

November 7 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “A Private Experience” and “The Arrangements”
November 9 Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, “Michael Brown” and “Mikey the Rebelator”
November 11 Claire-Louise Bennett, “Morning, Noon, & Night” and “The Lady of the House”

Week 13: Graphism

November 14-18 Geneviève Castrée, Susceptible; Jan Baetens, “The Graphic Novel and Literary Fiction”

Week 14: Ekphrasis

November 28-30 Anne Michaels and John Berger, Railtracks
December 2 Teju Cole, “Far Away from Here” and “Superhero Photographs of the Black Lives Matter Movement”

Week 15: Movement

December 5-9 pluck! #13, special issue by Black Poets Speak Out

CRITICAL ESSAY DUE BY NOON ON DECEMBER 14