“Have you ever been hypnotized before?
No.
Well, what I will ask you to do is very simple. To start with I would like you to relax.” (Abish, 251)
And then to read, think, talk, think some more, write, and continue thinking.
In the initial phase of this course, we will be reading a variety of introductory primary and secondary literature and using other media to work towards establishing what ‘postmodernism’ is. We will then focus on two primary texts to further delve into Postmodernism in American Literature: Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 and Walter Abish’s How German Is It. It is absolutely imperative that you do your reading and that you are willing to negotiate the difficult terrain of this topic; otherwise, we’ll all be lost in the labyrinth.
I expect students to have bought Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Butler, Oxford University Press (ISBN 978 – 0 – 19 – 280239 – 2) and the Vintage Press edition of The Crying of Lot 49. Also remember to support your local bookstore. |
