AJ27076 Conspiracy and Paranoia in American Fiction and Culture

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2016
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 17:30–19:05 G24
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course will examine ways in which conspiracies, conspiracy theories, and what one leading historian famously called "the paranoid style" have helped shape American culture and have been expressed in American events and cultural products, especially but not only novels and films. Readings, film viewings and class presentations will provide an overview of leading conspiracy theories and of works dealing with these or imagining others. Topics to be discussed include the various uses of conspiracy as an artistic device; how a feeling, mentality or political attitude like paranoia has been and might be artistically expressed; how particular themes and character types recur and are transformed in different periods and for different purposes; and how fictions have responded to and at times anticipated real events.

By successfully completing the course, students will achieve a better understanding of American culture and politics, of certain “classic” and other thematically related works of American fiction and film, and of differences in modes and methods of storytelling in different media. They will gain further experience in analyzing imaginative works and relating them to historical events and contexts, and will become acquainted with an array of topics that could serve as the eventual basis for a bachelor’s thesis.
Syllabus
  • This is a new course and the syllabus is under construction. Here are the immediately upcoming assignments; the materials referred to are available in the folders at tiny.cc/conspiracyandparanoia unless otherwise noted. Later weeks will be added here as we go along:
  • WEEK 1 (26 September):
  • Course introduction; popular American conspiracy theories of the past and present
  • WEEK 2 (3 October):
  • Read: Richard Hofstadter, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"
  • View: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; "North by Northwest"
  • WEEK 3 (10 October):
  • View: "The Manchurian Candidate"; "Seven Days in May"; "Dr. Strangelove"
  • WEEK 4 (17 October):
  • Read: Thomas Pynchon, "The Crying of Lot 49"
  • WEEK 5 (24 October):
  • View: "Rosemary's Baby"; "The Stepford Wives"
  • WEEK 6 (31 October):
  • View: "The Parallax View"; "Chinatown"
  • WEEK 7 (7 November):
  • View: "Three Days of the Condor"; "Network"
  • WEEK 9 (21 November):
  • Read: Don DeLillo, "Libra," selections posted
  • View: "The Conversation"; "Dick"
  • (for extra credit: "Conspiracy Theory")
  • WEEK 10 (28 November):
  • View: "The Twilight Zone," selected episodes; "The Matrix"
  • WEEK 11 (5 December):
  • View: "Duel"; first episodes of "The X-Files," "24," and "The Americans"
Literature
    required literature
  • PYNCHON, Thomas. The crying of lot 49. Online. 1st Perenial Fiction Library. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. 183 s. ISBN 006091307X. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
    recommended literature
  • A companion to the crying of lot 49. Online. Edited by J. Kerry Grant. 2nd ed. Athens [Ga.]: University of Georgia Press, 2008. xviii, 188. ISBN 9780820340760. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • The United States of paranoia : a conspiracy theory. Online. Edited by Jesse Walker. 1st ed. New York: Harper Collins, 2013. 434 s. ISBN 9780062135551. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Conspiracy and paranoia in contemporary American fictionthe works of Don DeLillo and Joseph McElroy. Online. Edited by Steffen Hantke. New York: P. Lang, 1994. 191 p. ISBN 9783653022124. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Film noir and the cinema of paranoia. Online. Edited by Wheeler W. Dixon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. viii, 198. ISBN 0748624007. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Enemies withinthe culture of conspiracy in modern America. Online. Edited by Robert Alan Goldberg. New Haven: Yale University, 2001. xiv, 354 p. ISBN 0300090005. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • FENSTER, Mark. Conspiracy theories : secrecy and power in American culture. Online. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999. xxii, 282. ISBN 081663243X. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Knowledge goes popfrom conspiracy theory to gossip. Online. Edited by Clare Birchall. English ed. New York: Berg, 2006. xiv, 185 p. ISBN 9781847883162. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Conspiracy theory in America. Online. Edited by Lance DeHaven-Smith. 1st ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. x, 260 p. ISBN 9780292749115. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Conspiracy theories. Online. Edited by Robin Ramsay. Harpenden: Pocket Essentials, 2000. 96 p. ;. ISBN 1903047307. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Even paranoids have enemiesnew perspectives on paranoia and persecution. Online. Edited by Joseph H. Berke. New York: Routledge, 1998. xiii, 233. ISBN 0415155584. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Conspiracy in Camelotthe complete history of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Online. Edited by Jerome A. Kroth. New York: Algora Pub., 2003. xv, 342 p. ISBN 9780875861968. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Terrorism, media, and the ethics of fictiontransatlantic perspectives on Don DeLillo. Online. Edited by Peter Schneck - Philipp Schweighauser. London: Continuum, 2010. viii, 255. ISBN 1441113738. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
  • Technology and postmodern subjectivity in Don DeLillo's novels. Online. Edited by Randy Laist. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. x, 212 p. ISBN 9781453904848. [citováno 2024-04-23] info
Teaching methods
Lecture/discussion, class presentations, readings, film viewings.
Assessment methods
100% final exam, with an essay assignment as the "re-sit." The first sitting of the exam will be on Monday, 12 December, at the usual class time and place.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
http://tiny.cc/conspiracyandparanoia
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2016, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2016/AJ27076