English 4980, Numerical Imaginings, Autumn 2003 MWF 10-10:50 am, EN 2108Dr. Eric W. Nye, Office Hours: MWF 8:30-9:30 am, or by appt., Hoyt Hall 310, 766-3244 
Philosophy with book and scepter presiding over the seven liberal arts, with the church Fathers above, representing divine philosophy, and Aristotle and Seneca below, representing natural and moral philosophy (from Gregor Reisch's encyclopedia Margarita Philosophica [Strasbourg, 1504]).*
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Syllabus 1: Literary Culture and its Transformations |
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Wed., 3 Sept.: Introduction, books, course outline, mathematics and the seven liberal arts . Short exercise 1 assigned, due Mon., 8 Sept.
Fri., 5 Sept.: Humanities computing. Hypertext, the World Wide Web. Geoffrey Nunberg, "Introduction," Future of the Book (FB), pp. 9-20. Umberto Eco, "Afterword," FB, pp. 295-306 Paul Duguid, "Material Matters: the Past and Futurology of the Book," FB, pp. 63-102. See Paul Klee's Angelus Novus (1932).
Mon., 8 Sept.: Luca Toschi, "Hypertext and Authorship," FB, pp. 169-208. George Landow, "Twenty Minutes into the Future," FB, pp. 209-38. Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author," (1973), The Book History Reader (BHR), pp. 221-24. Short exercise 1 due. Short exercise 2 assigned, due Wed., 10 Sept. `As We May Think' and the Memex : Future of the Web. Ted Nelson and Project Xanadu. The Original Hypertext Project. Essays by Matt Kazmierski & Bill Kennelly.
Wed., 10 Sept.: Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," (1936; rpt. in the collection Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt [1968] and another copy preserving footnotes. Michel Foucault, "What is an Author?" (1969), BHR, pp. 225-30. Short exercise 2 due.
Fri., 12 Sept.: Robert Darnton, "What is the History of Books?" (1990), BHR, pp. 9-26. D. F. McKenzie, "The Book as an Expressive Form," (1986), BHR, pp. 27-38.
Mon., 15 Sept.: James J. O'Donnell, "The Pragmatics of the New," FB, pp. 37-62. Geoffrey Nunberg, "Farewell to the Information Age," FB, pp. 103-38.
Paper 1 assigned, due Fri.., 26 Sept.
Wed., 17 Sept.: Carla Hesse, "Books in Time," FB, pp. 21-36. John Brewer, "Authors, Publishers, and the Making of Literary Culture," (1997), BHR, pp. 241-49.
Fri., 19 Sept.: Régis Debray, "The Book as Symbolic Object," FB, pp. 139-52. Patrick Bazin, "Toward Metareading," FB, pp. 153-68. George Steiner, "'Critic'/'Reader,'" NLH 10 (1979): 423-52.
Mon., 22 Sept.: Kate Flint, "Reading Practices," (1993), BHR, pp. 316-23. Jonathan Rose, "Re-reading the English Common Reader: A Preface to the History of Audiences," (1992), BHR, pp. 324-39. Richard Altick, "The English Common Reader: From Caxton to the Eighteenth Century," (1957, rev. 1998), BHR, pp. 340-49.
Wed., 24 Sept.: Jerome McGann, "The Socialization of Texts," (1991), BHR, pp. 39-46. D. F. McKenzie, "The Sociology of a Text: Orality, Literacy, and Print in Early New Zealand," (1984), BHR, pp. 189-218
Fri., 26 Sept.: Walter Ong, "Orality and Literacy: Writing Restructures Consciousness," (1982, rev. 1987), BHR, pp. 105-17. Roger Chartier, "The Practical Impact of Writing," (1989), BHR, pp. 118-42. Elisabeth Eisenstein, "Defining the Initial Shift: Some Features of Print Culture," (1979), BHR, pp. 151-73. Jan-Dirk Müller, "The Body of the Book: The Media Transition from Manuscript to Print," (1994), BHR, pp. 143-50. Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel" (1945).
Paper 1 due.
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Printer's workshop, typesetters in background (1568).
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Syllabus 2: The Geometry of the Book |
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Mon., 29 Sept.: Early technologies of text production. D. C. Greetham, "Introduction," and "Finding the Text: Enumerative and Systematic Bibliography," in Textual Scholarship: an Introduction (1992): 1-12 and 13-46. Foyer: Is it a Book?
Wed., 1 Oct.: D. C. Greetham, "Making the Text: Bibliography of Manuscript Books," Textual Scholarship (1992): 47-76. Terry Belanger video: Format in the Hand-Press Period (1991).
Fri., 3 Oct.: Imposition and the format of the printed book. D. C. Greetham, "Making the Text: Bibliography of Printed Books," Textual Scholarship (1992): 77-152. Descriptive bibliography, the collation formula, and textual criticism: linear regressions and the collation of texts. BBC's Animated History of Books. Mon., 6 Oct.: From type to ASCII, modern technologies of the electronic text (binary and hexadecimal code): D. C. Greetham, "Reading the Text: Typography," in Textual Scholarship (1992): 225-70.
Paper 2 assigned, due Mon., 20 Oct. Wed., 8 Oct.: Stan Nelson video: From Punch to Printing Type: the Art and Craft of Hand Punchcutting and Typecasting (1985). Spend some time browsing the archives of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing ( SHARP ). University of Florida: History of Typography. Gary Frost video: How to Operate a Book (1986). Fri., 10 Oct.: Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (1996, 2nd edn.), pp. 9-74. Short exercise 4 assigned, due Wed., 22 Oct. Mon., 13 Oct.: Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, pp. 75-142. Microsoft Typography, typoGRAPHIC, Myfonts.com, Book History and Design Wed., 15 Oct.: Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, pp. 143-98 Fri., 17 Oct.: Meet in Toppan Library (rare book room at American Heritage Center), host Anne Marie Lane. Midterm essay exam distributed, due Wed., 22 Oct. Mon., 20 Oct.: Web style and typography. Source code. Standard Generalized Markup Language. Paper 2 due. Wed., 22 Oct.: Midterm Exam, Part 1 (take home essays) due Short exercise 4 due. Midterm Exam, Part 2 (in class) Mon., 27 Oct.: Geometry of the Letterform Wed., 29 Oct.: Geometry of the Letterform
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Astrologer |
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Syllabus 3: The Elusive Ends of Stylometry |
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Margarita Philosophica of Gregor Reisch (1508)
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Syllabus 4: History of Numerology |
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Mon., 1 Dec.: Video: Jacob Bronowski, "The Music of the Spheres," from The Ascent of Man (1974). Consult History of Mathematics Website (St. Andrew's Univ., Scotland)
Wed., 3 Dec.: Ancient and medieval number mysticism, cosmologies. Christopher Butler, "Numerological Thought," in Alastair Fowler, ed., Silent Poetry (1970): 1-31. Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio in classical architecture and nature .
Fri., 5 Dec.: Numerological criticism: some cautions. Symmetry. R. G. Peterson, "Critical Calculations: Measure and Symmetry in Literature," PMLA 91 (1976): 367-75.
Mon., 8 Dec.: Biblical numerology, acrostics, Cabala John MacQueen, "Acrostics, Numbers, and the Bible," in Numerology (1985): 1-25.
Wed., 10 Dec.: Renaissance numerology. Pascal. Milton's Lycidas, John MacQueen, "The Renaissance and its Aftermath," in Numerology (1985): 100-125. Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." Melancholia . The Nine Muses: Calliope. George Herbert, "Easter Wings."
Fri., 12 Dec.: Ideas of Order and Disorder, ancient and modern.
Remember that the Final Exam will be in our usual classroom: Weds., 17 Dec., 10:15-12:15
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The tree of Philosophy with the liberal arts as its seven branches (woodcut by Master D. S., 1508).* |
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* From Donald R. Kelley, Renaissance Humanism (Boston: Twayne, 1991) |
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Last updated Thursday, 11 December 2003