Explores modern origin of film experimentation in avant-garde modes such as Expressionism, Surrealism and contemporary results of this heritage. Trying to determine if film is the most resolutely modern of the media, we'll look at cinema as the result of two obsessive concerns: 1) the poetic, dreamlike and fantastic, 2) the factual, realistic and socially critical or anarchistic.

This course will examine contemporary works in the literary and artistic medium of the graphic novel, including works from the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Europe. The course will concentrate on the period bewteen 1978 (when the term "graphic novel" was invented by Will Eisner for the publication of 'A Contract with God') and the present, combined with examination of antecedents to contemporary graphic novels and traditions of visual narrative in the popular and high arts. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)

This course will examine contemporary works in the literary and artistic medium of the graphic novel, including works from the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Europe. The course will concentrate on the period bewteen 1978 (when the term "graphic novel" was invented by Will Eisner for the publication of 'A Contract with God') and the present, combined with examination of antecedents to contemporary graphic novels and traditions of visual narrative in the popular and high arts. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)

This course will examine contemporary works in the literary and artistic medium of the graphic novel, including works from the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Europe. The course will concentrate on the period bewteen 1978 (when the term "graphic novel" was invented by Will Eisner for the publication of 'A Contract with God') and the present, combined with examination of antecedents to contemporary graphic novels and traditions of visual narrative in the popular and high arts. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)

Utopian and dystopian novels. The ability of literature to generate social critique. Readings include works by Huxley, Orwell, Kafka, Atwood, Burgess, Gibson, Piercy, Gilman, Dick, and others. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)

Often referred to as the only indigenous American film style, "film noir" in its very appellation reveals that its major effects (for certain modern conceptions of cinema) lay elsewhere. We will examine film noir in its American heyday (1945-1957) and how it came to be a major propelling force in the new European cinema of the 1960's (Godard, and the Cahiers du cinema).

A seminar on literary criticism east and west, from the classical period to the Renaissance in Europe, as well as in ancient China and the medieval Islamic world. Commonalities in all our texts: what constitutes art and beauty in verbal expression? What is the purpose of literature? Who may have access to literature? What are sacred and canonical texts, and how shall they be approached? What is the connection between literature and truth, literature and morality? What are the proper techniques for composing good literature? What is the function of the study of rhetoric?

Utopian and dystopian novels. The ability of literature to generate social critique. Readings include works by Huxley, Orwell, Kafka, Atwood, Burgess, Gibson, Piercy, Gilman, Dick, and others. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)