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Course Info for ENGL - 325 - 01, Spring 2026
Class number: 2710 Title: Postmodernism in Film & Lit Department: English
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 15 Current enrollment: 8 Available seats: 7
Start date: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 End date: Friday, May 8, 2026 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: M: 6:30PM-9:00PM, 115V - 103 Instructor(s): Rosen, David
Prerequisite(s): None
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Note: For undergraduate English majors, this course fulfills the requirements of a post-1800 course/elective/critical reflection/additional literature or film course. This course fulfills the requirements toward the film studies major. Wednesday evening meeting time is for screenings only.
Course Description:
“Postmodern” is the term used most often to describe the unique features of global culture (art, architecture, philosophy, cinema, literature) since the 1970s. And yet there is practically no agreement about what those features might be: is postmodernism ironic or serious, flat or deep, real or hyper-real, alive or defunct? In this course we will examine competing and often contradictory views of postmodernism, with the goal of developing a historical perspective on the contemporary world we live in now. Texts will be divided evenly between philosophy/theory (Lyotard, Baudrillard, Jameson, Fukuyama, Hutcheon), cinema (possible films: Bladerunner) and literature (possible authors: Borges, Pynchon, Barthelme, Murakami, Foster Wallace). The seminar will culminate with a field trip to New York City. English 425 and English 825 are the same course.