Course Schedule:

Week 1

Thurs, 08/23:

Introductions and Course Overview

Week 2

Tues, 08/28:

Paul Auster—“The Art of Hunger”

Murakami Haruki—“Tony Takitani”

Rainer Maria Rilke—“Letters to a Young Poet”

Thurs, 8/30:

Thomas Nagel—“The Absurd”

The Holy Bible—Ecclesiastes

Film—Tony Takitani (2004), Dir. Ichikawa Jun

Week 3

Tues, 09/04:

Albert Camus—The Myth of Sisyphus, Part 1: “An Absurd Reasoning”

Thomas Bernhard—The Loser, thru p. 69

*Paper #1 Topics assigned

Thurs, 09/06:

Camus—Myth, Part 2: “The Absurd Man”

Bernhard—The Loser, thru p. 140

Week 4

Tues, 09/11:

*No Classes—Rosh Hashanah

Thurs, 09/13:

Camus—Myth, Part 3: “Absurd Creation”

Bernhard—The Loser (Finish)

*Paper #1 Draft and Journal due

Week 5

Tues, 09/18:

Paul Auster—The Invention of Solitude, pp. 1-84

Paul Auster—”Auggie Wren’s Chrismas Story”

Film—Smoke (1995), Dir. Wayne Wang

Thurs, 09/20:

Auster—Solitude, pp. 85 (Finish)

Barrett—Irrational Man, Appendix I: “Negation, Finitude, and the Nature of Man”

*Paper #1 Draft returned

Week 6

Tues, 09/25:

The Holy Bible—Job; Jean-Paul Sartre—No Exit

Thurs, 09/27:

Paul Auster—The Music of Chance, Chs. 1-3

Film—The Music of Chance (1993), Dir. Philip Haas

*Paper #1 Revision due; Paper #2 Paper Topics assigned

Week 7

Tues, 10/02:

Auster—Music, Chs. 4-6

Bernd Herzogenrath—An Art of Desire: Reading Paul Auster, Ch. 8, “Unresolved Harmonies: The Music of Chance”

Film—The Music of Chance (Finish)

Thurs, 10/04:

Auster—Music, Chs. 7-9

*Paper #1 Revision returned

Week 8

Tues, 10/09:

Franz Kafka—The Castle, Chs. 1-6

Gilles Deleuze—A Thousand Plateaus, Introduction: “Rhizome”; Plateau 6: “How Do You Make Yourself a Body Without Organs?”

Thurs, 10/11:

*No Classes—Fall Break

Week 9

Tues, 10/16:

Kafka—Castle, Chs. 7-18

Thurs, 10/18:

Kafka—Castle, Chs. 19-25

*Paper #2 Draft Returned; Paper #3 Topics assigned

Week 10

Tues, 10/23:

Luke Rhinehart—The Dice Man, Chs. 1-20

Deleuze—Plateaus, Plateau 10: “Becoming-Intense, Becoming-Animal, Becoming-Imperceptible,” 233-260

Thurs, 10/25:

Rhinehart—The Dice Man, Chs. 21-50

Deleuze—Plateaus, Plateau 10, 260-286

*Paper #2 Revision due

Week 11

Tues, 10/30:

Rhinehart—The Dice Man, Chs. 51-86

Deleuze—Plateaus, Plateau 10, 286-309

Thurs, 11/01:

Bruce Lee—Tao of Jeet Kune Do: “On Zen” thru “The Formless Form”

*Paper #2 Revision returned

Week 12

Tues, 11/06:

Herman Hesse—Siddhartha, “The Brahmin’s Son” thru “Amongst the People”

Dōgen—“Mountains and Rivers Sutra”

Thurs, 11/08:

Hesse—Siddhartha, “Samsara” thru “Govinda”

*Paper #3 Draft and Journals due

Week 13

Tues, 11/13:

Lao Tzu—Tao Te Ching; Selections from I Ching

Nishida Kitarō—Absolute-contradictory Self-identity, Pt. 1

*Paper #3 Draft returned

Thurs, 11/15:

Natsume Soseki—Kokoro, “Sensei and I”

Week 14

Tues, 11/20:

Natsume Soseki—Kokoro (Finish)

*Paper #3 Revision due

*Final Paper Topics and Working Theses due

Thurs, 11/22:

*No Classes—Thanksgiving Break

Week 15

Tues, 11/27:

Presentations and Peer Feedback

*Paper #3 Revision returned

Thurs, 11/29:

Presentations and Peer Feedback

Week 16

Tues, 12/04:

Presentations and Peer Feedback

Thurs, 12/06:

Presentations and Peer Feedback

Week 17

Tues, 12/11:

*No Class—Finals Week, 12/10-14

Thurs, 12/13:

*Final Paper due by email at 6pm

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