course description | grade distribution | required texts | course policies

The Renaissance not only defined images as windows onto the real, but understood a window as a reliable tool to map and order the world, as a virtually foolproof interface between dissimilar realities. This seminar traces the curious success story of the window from the Renaissance to the present day in both theoretical and historical terms. We will study a wide range of materials in order to understand the prominent motif of the window in Western literature, painting, and film. We will also examine theories that conceptualize different art forms and media as windows onto the world; that draw our awareness to how poetry, painting, film, the stage, the museum, the television set, and the computer screen structure the observer’s perception and offer different interfaces to reality. Reading poems and prose by authors such as Baudelaire, Gibson, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Kafka, Rilke, and Woolrich; paintings by Delaunay, Dürer, Friedrich, Hesse, Magritte, and Schlemmer; photographs by Steichen, Weston, Evans, Weegee, and Friedlander; films and installations by Bigelow, Hitchcock, Paik,and Popp; and theoretical writing by Alberti, Alpers, Bardini, Bennett, Bolter, Colomina, Friedberg, Gates, Grusin, Manovich, McLuhan, Metz, Mitchell, Moholy-Nagy, Panofsky, Plato, and Wollen.

Materials marked "ERES" in the course schedule are available from the Electronic Reserve System at Washington University. Login and password to be announced in class.

All other books are available for purchase at the Washington University Bookstore

• Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, Remediation: Understanding New Media.
  ISBN: 0262522799
• Anne Friedberg, The Virtual Window: From Alberti to Microsoft. ISBN: 0262062526.
• William Gibson, Neuromancer. ISBN: 0441007465
• Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media. ISBN: 0262632551
• Marshall McLuhan, Understand Media. ISBN 0415253977

Readings must be completed prior to class. The amount of reading is heavier some weeks than others, so don't put it off to the last minute.

Late work will not be accepted, except in the case of serious illness, medical emergency, or some other compelling mitigating circumstance. Other coursework, job requirements, or other class projects are not considered mitigating circumstances. The major assignments will be given to you well enough in advance for you plan your schedules accordingly. All major assignments must be completed in order to pass this course. "Incomplete" grades and extensions are not available without documented evidence of extraordinary hardships (e.g., medical problems). Having a heavy workload is not an extraordinary hardship.

Policy on Pass/Fail Grading Option:

Students who take Comparative Literature courses under the Pass/Fail option must receive a grade of C-  or better in order to qualify for the Pass on their final grade.

Grade Requirement for Major and Minor:

Only courses taken for a letter grade count toward the major and minor in Comparative. Literature.

Academic Integrity:

Students are bound by the University policy on academic integrity in all aspects of this course.  All references to ideas and texts other than the students' own must be so indicated through appropriate footnotes, whether the source is a book, an online site, the professor, etc.  All students are responsible for following the rules outlined in the document regarding the University academic integrity policy: http://www.wustl.edu/policies/undergraduate-academic-integrity.html

Special accommodations for students with disabilities. Students seeking disability-related accommodations and guidance from the University must contact the Center for Advanced Learning Disability Resources, Cornerstone (DR) upon enrollment or once diagnosed.  Unlike high school students, college and graduate students are expected to identify themselves and to make specific requests for accommodations by notifying DR. Eligibility for accommodations is determined on an individual basis. Requests must be supported by professional documentation and must be renewed each semester. DR will guide students (undergraduates, graduate students, and prospective students) through each step of this process. Instructors will maintain strict confidentiality regarding disability issues and related accommodations, and will refer students directly to http://disability.wustl.edu/.