Part I: Introductions

Week 1: Introductions to the class
August 26: Introduction to the class

August 28: Introduction to the class & each other

Week 2:  Books as Media
September 2: Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel” (short story, 1941) PDF
—SLIDES from class

September 4: Mark Marino, Marginalia in the Library of Babel (digital hypertext, online) (2007)
SLIDES from class

Additional Reading/Grad Students: Rita Raley and Russell Samolsky, “Borges and AI” in Poetics Today (2024), Jorge Luis Borges, “Borges and I” (1960)

Week 3: Book Studies as Media Studies
September 9: Special Collections & University Archives Lab: Introduction  (These sessions will all be held in Love Library Room 150)
-Michelle Levy and Tom Mole, “Introduction” to The Broadview Introduction to Book History (Broadview Press, 2017): xiii-xx. [PDF]

September 11: Jessica Pressman “Old/New Media” in The Johns Hopkins Guide to New Media (2022)
SLIDES from class

Additional Reading/Grad Students): Michelle Levy and Tom Mole, The Broadview Introduction to Book History (Broadview Press, 2017). On Reserve at Circulation Desk for 4 hour reading period.

PART II: The Book– History & Theory

Week 4: Book as Object
September 16: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – The Coming of the Book
-Amaranth Borsuk, The Book, chapter 1

September 18: Amaranth Borsuk, The Book, chapter 1
SLIDES from class

Week 5: Book as Content
September 23: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – The Hand Press Era  (Rosh Hashanah- Professor Pressman absent)
-Amaranth Borsuk, The Book, chapter 2

September 25:  Amaranth Borsuk, The Book, chapter 2
-Watch UCSB’s Transcriptions project, “In the Beginning was The Word” video
SLIDES from class

Additional Reading/Grad Students): Leah Price, What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading (Basic Books, 2019)

Week 6: The Life of a Book
September 30: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – Biography of a Book workshop
-Read: https://bibsocamer.org/about/what-is-bibliography and the “further reading” page: https://bibsocamer.org/about/what-is-bibliography/further-reading 
Worksheet for your Biography of a Book workshop

October 2: Yom Kippur- no class meeting

Additional Reading/Grad Students): Further Reading , Edited by Matthew Rubery and Leah Price (Oxford UP, 2020)

Week 7: Book as Idea
October 7: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – The Art of the Book
Amaranth Borsuk, The Book chapter 3

October 9: Excerpt from Johanna Drucker, The Century of Artists’ Books (1995), Chapter 1: “The Artist’s Book as Idea and Form” (pp. 1-20)
-View examples of bookwork art. Brian Dettmer’s bookwork on his website, Doug Beube’s bookwork on his website
– Read interview with Brian Dettmer and Doug Beube, by Jessica Pressman, “Bookwork and Bookishness” (2018)
SLIDES from class

Additional Reading/Grad Students: 
Johanna Drucker, The Century of Artists’ Books (1995), Chapter 2: “Conceptualizing the Book: Precedents, Poetics, and Philosophy” On Reserve at Circulation Desk for 4 hour reading period.
-Heyenga, Laura, editor, Art made from books : altered, sculpted, carved, transformed (2013). On Reserve at Circulation Desk for 4 hour reading period.

Week 8: Book as Interface
October 14: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – Machines and Modernism
Philip Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, chapters 13, 15 & 16, PDFs Ch. 13, Ch. 15, Ch. 16
(You can access this entire eBook through your library account)

October 16: excerpts from Bonnie Mak, How the Page Matters (2011): Introduction and Chapter 1: “Architectures of the Page”
Peer review of thesis statement for analytical part of midterm essay – bring print out of thesis to class
SLIDES from class

-Additional Reading/Grad Student Reading:Alan Liu’s archival work on William Gibson’s Agrippa files and his chapter 4 “Remembering Networks” in Friending the Past: The Sense of History in the Digital Age (University of Chicago Press,. 2018)
Bonnie Mak, How the Page Matters (2011)

Week 9: Methods of Studying Book as/in Networks & Media Archeology 
October 21: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – Experimental Literature and Book Objects
Amaranth Borsuk, The Book, chapter 4
–view https://t-h-e-b-o-o-k.com/definitions/

October 23: Robert Darnton, “What is the History of Books?” (1982)
-Erkki Huhtamo and Jussi Parikka, “Introduction: An Archaeology of Media Archeology” (2011): pp. 1-21 [PDF] online library access
SLIDES from class

Additional Reading/Grad Student Reading: Jessica Pressman, “Jonathan Safran Foer’s Tree of Codes: Memorial, Fetish, Bookishness” (2018)

*MIDTERM project “Biography of a Book” DUE Sunday 10/26 at midnight, posted to the blog**

Week 10: Digital Literature 
October 28: DH Center & Electronic Literature Studio visit– **MEET IN DH CENTER** (L61, lower level of Love Library)
– Watch Professor’s lecture on Electronic Literature and Patchwork Girl(from Fall 2024).
-Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse, Between Page and Screen (2005, Augmented reality work) [view in Elit Studio in DH Center or using copy on reserve at Circulations]– watch video on the work’s website
SLIDES from class

October 30: Scott Rettberg, “Electronic Literature” in The Johns Hopkins Guide to New Media 
-Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse, Between Page and Screen (2005, Augmented reality work) [view in Elit Studio in DH Center or using copy on reserve at Circulations]
SLIDES from class

Additional Reading/Grad Student Reading:
-N. Katherine Hayles, “Electronic Literature: What is it?” (2005)
-Or, Jessica Pressman, “Reorienting Ourselves toward the Material: Between Page and Screen as Case Study” Comparative Literature (2018) 70 (3): 317-336. 

Week 11: Archives & Design
November 4: Special Collections Lab (LL 150) – The Larry McCaffery Papers and the literary archive
-Katherine Bode and Roger Osborne, “Book history from the archival record” in The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book (2015), ch. 13: 219-236

November 6:  Project Design/Tools Workshop (led by Dr. Pam Lach) in DH Center — **MEET IN DH CENTER**
-Jean-Christophe Cloutier, excerpt from Shadow Archives: The Lifecycles of African American Literature (Columbia UP, 2019): Introduction, “‘Not Like An Arrow, but a Boomerang,’ or The Lifecycles of African American Literary Papers” (1-37) PDF
Dr. Pam Lach’s workshop slides

Week 12: Archival Theory
November 11: Veteran’s Day—no class

November 13:  -Jean-Christophe Cloutier, excerpt from Shadow Archives: The Lifecycles of African American Literature (Columbia UP, 2019): Introduction, “‘Not Like An Arrow, but a Boomerang,’ or The Lifecycles of African American Literary Papers” (1-37) PDF
SLIDES from class

**NOTE: NEW DEADLINE– Midterm project revisions due, Sunday 11/16 at midnight—email professor**

PART III: Making–Final Projects

Week 13: Bookishness & “Unpacking” what we learned
November 18: Jessica Pressman, excerpts from Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age (2020): Introduction and Chapter 1 
SLIDES from class

November 20: Walter Benjamin, “Unpacking my Library” (1931)
SLIDES from class

NOTE: NEW DEADLINE: **Final Project proposals due Sunday 11/23 at midnight, posted to blog**

Week 14: Thanksgiving Week—No in-person class meetings
(BLOG prompt: What you still need to learn for your final project)
November 25: No class meeting. Asynchronous peer review of thesis statements, in Google docs

1. INSTRUCTIONS: Post a draft of your thesis and plan for the final essay; thesis statement (2-3 sentences)  before or at the beginning our class time (before 12:30 pm). You can add more content about your planned media format, if you want feedback on that too!
2. During class time, add comments on at least one peer’s abstract– but hopefully every one– by Tuesday, November 25 at midnight.
   

November 27: No class meeting. Thanksgiving

Week 15: Workshopping & Presenting Final Projects
(BLOG prompt: What you learned/are learning from making your final project)
December 2: Workshopping projects in DH Center — **MEET IN DH CENTER**
SLIDES from class

December 4: Workshopping final projects in classroom

Week 16: Conclusion
(BLOG prompt: What you learned in this class– final take-away/So What!)
December 9: NO CLASS MEETING– Office hours– come see me during our classtime! AL 261

December 11: Concluding Conversation
*extra credit blogs due by end of last class period**

*FINAL PROJECT due, Sunday, December 14, at midnight, posted to the blog**