ENG 395-01 - Advanced Special Topic: The History and Future of the Book

4 credits (Spring)

In this course, you will learn many ways of looking at a book as a material object. Often, you will sit down with your classmates to examine a printed text you haven’t seen before, and you will work together to understand it. How was it printed and distributed? Who made it, for what audience? What impact did they want it to have? We will undertake that kind of hands-on investigation of American and British texts of many kinds: medieval manuscripts, early newspapers and almanacs, hand-pressed art books, cheap paperbacks, activist underground newspapers, and self-published digital works. In every case, we learn about the people who produced the texts—scribes and early booksellers, Black and feminist activist communities in the 1970s, contemporary digital publishers—and learn about the technological and social tools that connect texts to readers. In addition to scholarly readings and essay assignments, the course will involve creative assignments that encourage students to create their own texts with a range of print and digital technologies.

Prerequisite: Any 200-level English course with a grade of S, C, or better or third-year standing for a declared Digital Studies concentrator.
Note: Plus-2 Option Available.
Instructor: Simpson