English 207 - TECHNOLOGY OF READING & WRITIN

Spring
2019
01
4.00
Douglas Patey
MWF 11:00-12:10
Smith College
30133-S19
SEELYE 102
dpatey@smith.edu
30134
Same as HSC 207. An introductory exploration of the physical forms that knowledge and communication have taken in the West, from ancient oral cultures to modern print-literate culture. Our main interest is in discovering how what is said and thought in a culture reflects its available kinds of literacy and media of communication. Topics to include poetry and memory in oral cultures; the invention of writing; the invention of prose; literature and science in a script culture; the coming of printing; changing concepts of publication, authorship and originality; movements toward standardization in language; the fundamentally transformative effects of electronic communication.
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.