Welcome
Welcome to “Word and Image, Past and Present” (for more about the content of this course, please see below). This course will have a lot of student collaboration in it but it will also require you to be able to work independently. To succeed in this course you need to be internet proficient—not necessarily proficient in WebCT, our course venue (although you will have to learn how this system works, but it is really not that difficult after a short while)—to the degree that you know how, at least rudimentarily, to create a website. You also should think seriously about the fact this course will be run in a “distance” format. Distance learning is not for everyone. Some people prefer it but others have a really hard time with it. Again, you will need to be able to work independently and otherwise to be self-directed. So, please make a sober decision about this course. What will be right for you? If you feel that this course will be for you, then, once you are registered for it, go to http://webct.njit.edu and proceed from there.
Well, that’s it for now. If you have any questions, please e-mail me (my eddress is at the top of this page).
- Burt Kimmelman
Course Description
This course will consider how writing is both a visual art used for aesthetic effect and a system of signs used for the narrow purpose of communication, and how lettering works with visual imagery to produce an overall aesthetic and semiotic impression. The course will consider texts from medieval times, the early twentieth century, and the present. Students will analyze the various texts under examination, will write papers about the interplay of word and image, and will produce a website that compares recent and past texts comprised of both imagery and wording. There will be two exams (a midterm and final), essay in format, and a research paper. The entire course will transpire in a “distance” format using WebCT as its venue; exams, however, will be timed and proctored.
Course Texts
The Aberdeen Bestiary. http://www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/besttest/alt/comment/best_toc.html
Bolter, J. David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. 2nd Ed. Mahwah, NJ and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.
Bland, David. A History of Book Illustration: The Illuminated Manuscript and the Printed Book. Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1958. (Text supplied by instructor.)
A Brief History of Illuminated Manuscripts: http://www.historicpages.com/texts/mshist.htm
De Hamel, Christopher. A History of Illuminated Manuscripts. 2nd Ed. London : Phaidon Press, 1994. (Text supplied by instructor.)
Drucker, Johanna. The Visible Word: Experimental Typography and Modern Art, 1909-1923. Chicago and London: U of Chicago P, 1994.
Gardner, Helen. Gardner's Art through the Ages. 11th Ed. Eds. Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya, Richard G. Tansey. Fort Worth, TX : Harcourt College Publishers, 2001. (Text supplied by instructor.)
Illuminated Manuscripts: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09620a.htm
Medieval Writing: http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/
Semiotics Websites (various):
Tutorial: Signs and Language
http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Semiotics/sem1.html
Semiotics
http://www.uta.edu/english/hawk/semiotics/
An Introduction to Semiotics
http://www.merz-akademie.de/projekte/george.legrady/theory/semiot/anintro.htm
Structuralism and Semiotics
http://www.geocities.com/kristisiegel/theory.htm#Structuralism
and Semiotics
Introductory Models and Basic Concepts” Semiotics
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/semiomean/semio1.html
Elements of Semiology
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/barthes.htm
Semiology // Semiotics
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/semiolog.htm
What is Semiotics?
http://www.zhurnal.ru/staff/gorny/english/semiotic.htm
semiotics
http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/aesthetics/bldef_semiotics.htm
Semiotics Basics (scroll down the page)
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/semiotics.html
Iconography: The Icon FAQ
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/icon_faq.htm
Iconography: A Short Essay on Names and Terminology
http://www.pinfold.com/icons/glossary.htm
Home Page for Iconography Links
http://www.icons.org.uk/
Description of Christian Iconography
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07625a.htm
Further Study of Semiotics:
Constructivism at Work
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Sections/textan07.html
Sites of Significance for Semiotics
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/EngSem3.html
Orientale Lumen: Sources for Further Reading on Iconography
http://www.mliles.com/jimcndf/icons/
Semiotics
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/semiotics.html
Strickland, Stephanie. The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot. http://wordcircuits.com/gallery/sandsoot/.
Course Requirements
- Weekly group assignments followed up by, at times, class questions and answers. The assignments will involve summarization and analysis of texts.
- A midterm and final exam, essay in format, open-book.
- Two papers. The first paper should be no less than 500 words in length.
The end-of-term research paper should
be no less than 3000 words in length.
See the course Calendar, Writing Guidelines, and Housekeeping, Coursework in Discussions for further details.
Course Schedule
Week I: Introduction to the course. Discussion of art and literature as separate processes and their possible interactions. Discussion of course assignments and goals. Discussion of WebCT.
Week II: Discussion of Writing and Hypertext. Bolter: pp. xi-76.
Week III: Discussion of Writing and Hypertext. Bolter: pp. 77-160.
Week IV: Discussion of Writing and Hypertext. Bolter: pp. 161-215.
Week V: Introduction to Semiotics:
Tutorial: Signs and Language
http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Semiotics/sem1.html
Semiotics
http://www.uta.edu/english/hawk/semiotics/
An Introduction to Semiotics
http://www.merz-akademie.de/projekte/george.legrady/theory/semiot/anintro.htm
Structuralism and Semiotics
http://www.geocities.com/kristisiegel/theory.htm#Structuralism and Semiotics
Introductory Models and Basic Concepts” Semiotics
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/semiomean/semio1.html
Elements of Semiology
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/barthes.htm
Semiology // Semiotics
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/semiolog.htm
What is Semiotics?
http://www.zhurnal.ru/staff/gorny/english/semiotic.htm
semiotics
http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/aesthetics/bldef_semiotics.htm
Semiotics Basics (scroll down the page)
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/semiotics.htmlIconography: The Icon FAQ
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/icon_faq.htm
Iconography: A Short Essay on Names and Terminology
http://www.pinfold.com/icons/glossary.htm
Home Page for Iconography Links
http://www.icons.org.uk/
Description of Christian Iconography
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07625a.htm
Optional Reading:Week VI: Discussion of Modernist typographical experimentation: Drucker, pp. 49-105.
Constructivism at Work
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Sections/textan07.html
Sites of Significance for Semiotics
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/EngSem3.html
Orientale Lumen: Sources for Further Reading on Iconography
http://www.mliles.com/jimcndf/icons/
Semiotics
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/semiotics.html
Week VII: Discussion of Modernist typographical experimentation: Drucker
105-168; Paper (500 words) on the
Semiotics of the Modern Word and Image Due.
Week VIII: Discussion of Modernist typographical experimentation: Drucker 168-222
Week IX: Midterm Exam
Week X: Discussion and examinations of medieval illuminated manuscripts and writing generally. De Hamel 9-13 (on-line); Gardner (14, 24-25, 283-88, 297-99, 323-28. on-line); Bland (15-19. on line); Illuminated Manuscripts: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09620a.htm; A Brief History of Illuminated Manuscripts: http://www.historicpages.com/texts/mshist.htm; Medieval Writing: http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/
Week XI: Analysis of the Aberdeen Bestiary. http://www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/besttest/alt/comment/best_toc.html. Term Research Paper Announcement Due (consisting of a working title, one-sentence [only] thesis statement, one-paragraph description of project, and a bibliography of at least three secondary sources).
Week XII: Discussion and analysis of Strickland, The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot (http://wordcircuits.com/gallery/sandsoot/).
Week XIII: Virtual Museums due (Presentations of Virtual Museums comparing medieval and postmodern multimedia)
Week XIV: Class Analyses of Virtual Museums
Week XV: Final Exam; Term Paper Due.
COURSE GRADE
Class Participation, 20%
Virtual Museum Group Work, 10%
Term Paper Announcement, 5%
First Paper, 10%
End of Term Research Paper, 15%
Midterm Examination, 10%
Final Examination, 30%