ENGLISH 124 - Writing & Literature - Fall 2003

Dime Fiction: Pocket Novels, Pulp Writing
& the Psychology of Cold War Culture

                Instructor: Phillip Crymble                                 Office: 5211 Angell Hall
                e-mail: pcrymble@umich.edu                             Office Hours: MWF - 2:30 - 3:30

COURSE MATERIALS: available at Shaman Drum

· Red Scared! - The Commie Menace in Propaganda & Popular Culture - Barson & Heller

· Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Jack Finney

· I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

· The Essential Incredible Hulk: Vol. 1 - Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

· The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson

· One Lonely Night - Mickey Spillane

· Pulp - Charles Bukowski

· Junky - William S. Burroughs

· Daddy Cool - Donald Goines

20% - Weekly Quizzes/Writing Assignments
15% - Essay One (5-6pp)
15% - Essay Two (5-6pp)
25% - Essay Three (7-8pp)
10% - Seminar Presentation
15% - Participation & Attendance

All written work must be typed or word-processed (double-spaced) in black ink. Page margins should be no larger than one inch. Number your pages, staple them together and use an easy to read, 12 point font (i.e.: courier, times, bookman). The first page of all essay assignments should carry your name, course, section number and the date of submission. If you turn an essay in late, it will be docked a half letter grade per day.

It is often said that those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. As we navigate our way through the next fifteen weeks, it should become clear to you that our current cultural situation has a great deal in common with the Cold War Culture of the 1950's, a culture in which widespread paranoia was openly encouraged and the 'Communist Threat' was blown drastically out of proportion.

The 1950's was an era of conformity and consensus thinking. Individuals were terrified of being labeled as different, as difference was often equated with dissidence. Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Commission (H.U.A.C.) conducted what was ostensibly a televised witch-trial wherein 'so-called' communist conspirators were singled out as Fifth Columnists working to undermine democracy. In many cases, the accused individuals had few if any verifiable communist affiliations.

The 1950's was also the age of 'Atomic Despair.' Having witnessed the wholesale destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but a few years earlier, Americans were now aware of the potential consequences involved in the event of a Soviet nuclear strike. Paranoia surrounding the Atom Bomb, fueled by Ministry of Defense films like Survival Under Atomic Attack and You Can Beat the A-Bomb worked hand-in-hand with communist paranoia in general to create a repressed and insular culture, a culture in which fear of the unknown and fear of difference worked to cripple and stultify any impulse to individuality.

These cultural preoccupations are evident in the literature of the day - Pulp Writing in particular, as it was designed for and marketed to the masses. And while there is always a degree of intentionality in any given work of fiction, in many cases, the writer can be considered a medium through which cultural concerns fuse seamlessly and often unconsciously with his or her individual artistic vision to create a narrative peculiar to a given historical moment.

The films, pocket novels and other media we will be analyzing in the course all deal, in one way or another, with the cultural psychology of the Cold War era. It is up to you to determine the relationships that an individual narrative might have to its cultural moment and the relationships it might have to other narratives of the day. It is also crucial that you wrestle with the predilections and preoccupations of your own cultural moment, in part, by using the Cold War model as a lens through which to conduct your investigation.

Each student is responsible for delivering a 7 to 10 minute seminar presentation in class that conducts a substantial analytical investigation into one or more of the course texts. During the week prior to their presentations, students are required to email a one paragraph breakdown to me outlining the approach they intend to take. Students are also required to devise a list of three questions designed to further or extend class discussion concerning their particular inquiry.

During the course of the semester you will have the opportunity to workshop the rough draft of one of your essays before the entire class. A sign-up sheet will be passed out. Make sure to bring 18 copies of your rough draft to class THE DAY BEFORE your scheduled workshop.

In order for you to truly benefit from the workshop experience it is imperative that you labor to make your rough draft as complete as it possibly can be at this stage. You cannot expect your peers to help you polish and refine a formless and carelessly written draft.

It is crucial that a standard of etiquette be observed during workshop sessions. Try to be as objective as possible in your workshop critiques. We are here to help each other as writers. Insensitive or misplaced criticism is of no value. Speak only to the issue of intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. Criticism is never pleasant, but if thoughtful and objective, it will help you improve.

If you come to see me in advance concerning a legitimate absence I will be inclined to look upon it more favorably. Only an official doctor's note or religious holiday counts as a legitimate excuse. If you should have more than two absences, your grade will be affected. Five absences or more will seriously jeopardize your chances of being awarded a passing grade in the course. Also, if you are habitually late for class, expect to have every two latenesses recorded as an absence.

Absolutely anything taken from another source - words, ideas - must be cited. Your own writing style will quickly become familiar to me, and any departure from it will most definitely pique my curiosity. You will be afforded plenty of time to write, take advantage of it. The blank page may be daunting, but not nearly as daunting as an F Grade in the class and possible expulsion from the university.

ESSAY DUE DATES

While you are required to write three papers in this class, you will only have time to workshop one. The term is essentially broken down into five sub-sections. After a short introductory section where you will be afforded the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the cultural moment in question we will begin a sequence of four three week units:

1. The Communist Menace in 50's Science Fiction

2. Identity Dissonance and the Age of Anxiety

3. Hard Boiled Detective Fiction - Paradigm, Pastiche & Parody

4. Other Voices - The 50's & Beyond

The first two units (including the introduction) constitute the first half of the course, the second two units constitute the second half. You are required to write one paper in each half term, so think carefully before you decide which texts or sections you might prefer to write about, and even more carefully before deciding which paper you would like to have looked at in the workshop.

After you have workshopped your paper, you will have one full week to revise and submit a polished draft. Your non-workshop paper will be due to me one week after we have concluded the respective half-term. The final paper is a term paper that will be submitted to me at the end of the semester.

READING SCHEDULE:

Cold War Overview

September:

Week 1: Course Introduction

W03 & F05

Week 2: Red Scared - Barson & Heller, 2001

M08 - F12

Unit One: The Communist Menace in 1950's Science Fiction

Week 3: Invasion, USA - Alfred E. Green, Dir., 1952

M15 - F19

Week 4: Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Jack Finney, 1954

M22 - F26

October:

Week 5: I Am Legend - Richard Matheson, 1954

M29 - F03

Unit Two: Identity Dissonance and the Age of Anxiety

Week 6: The Essential Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1 - Stan Lee & Jack kirby 1962 - 67

M06 - F10

Week 7: The Manchurian Candidate - John Frankenheimer, Dir., 1962

W15 - M20

Week 8: The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson, 1952

W22 - M27

Unit Three: Hard Boiled Detective Fiction - Paradigm, Pastiche & Parody

Week 9: One Lonely Night - Mickey Spillane, 195?

W29 - M03

November:

Week 10: The Long Goodbye - Robert Altman, Dir., 1973

W05 - M10

Week 11: Pulp - Charles Bukowski, 1994

W12 - M17

Unit Four: Other Voices - The 50's & Beyond

Week 12: Junky - William S. Burroughs, 1953

W19 - M24

December:

Week 13: Forbidden Love - National Film Board of Canada, 1985

M01 - F05

Week 14: Daddy Cool - Donald Goines, 1974

M08 & W10

All films will be screened outside of class time in an on-campus media room. Screening dates and venues will be forthcoming.

LINKS