Schedule


Schedule of Readings and Assignments for English 236, "Ephemera" (Winter 2017)

 

This graduate course offered by Patricial Fumerton in the UCSB English Department meets Winter 2017, Wednesdays, 12:30 to 3:00 pm, in South Hall 2635.

 

Class 1 Notes

 

Class 1 (Jan. 11) — Introduction: What is Ephemera, Then and Now?

NOTE: This class will begin 15 minutes later than usual, at 12:45 pm. and will end a half hour later than usual, at 3:30 pm. The Quilligan lecture is open to all comers; it will begin at 1:30 pm.

 

 

What is Ephemera? (Class First Impressions):

 

OED Definition:

Ephemera1-2_OED.pdf

 

Class 2 Notes

 

Class 2 (Jan. 18) — Pressing Moments: Tracts and Libels (16th-17th Century)

 

The Churchyard/Camel "Flytings":

Anti-Feminist Debate Tracts

 

 

 

 

 

Class 3 Notes

Class 3 (Jan. 25) — Conspicuous Consumption: Tearing Down the Masque (early 17th century), Galla Weddings, Balls, and Mardi Gras (19th – 21st century)

 

 

Jacobean Masques 

21st Century Weddings and Balls

Mardi Gras

 

 

 

Class 4 Notes

 

Class 4 (Feb. 1) — Multi-Media Tactics: Broadside Ballads, Broadside Magazine, the Music Scene

 

 

Visit to UCSB Special Collections (MSS 212) to Review Original Issues of the Broadside Magazine, published 1939-91; bulk 1960s-1980s. Please read rules for viewing and handling rare materials: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/research/rules

In reading and listening to all the tunkes, think of not only what's being said, but whose singing it and where/when. Also think of them textually, visually, and as ephemeral performances

Broadside Ballad Readings/Listenings

The Broadside Magazine, 1962-1988

 

 

 

 

 

AND/OR

http://www.clipartkid.com/images/646/red-arrow-pointing-down-clipart-best-184xqV-clipart.jpeg

Class 4 Notes

 

Supplementary or Complementary Path to Class 4, From Broadside Ballad Tactical Visuals:

You may choose this route for Class 4, or for your research paper, but you must still read the selections of songs provided above by Colton Saylor (from Dylan to "Dink's Song")

 

Class 4 (Feb. 1) — Alternative Path—Recycling : Worms, Woodcuts, and Comic Strips

 

 

 

Class 5 Notes

 

Class 5 (Feb. 8) — Monumental Moments: Newspapers and Periodicals

 

 

 

 

 

Class 6 Notes

Class 6 (Feb. 15)  — Miscellanies, Excerpts, Marginalia (16th c. to present)

 

 

 

 

 

Class 7 Notes

Class 7 (Feb. 22, 1:00-3:00 pm, Huntington Library) (Note place/date/time change)

— Cutting and Pasting: Extra-Illustrated Books of the 19th Century

Trip to the Huntington for a workshop on selections from the Library’s huge collection of extra-illustrated books. (Please plan to arrive at the Huntington by 11:30 am for lunch with the workshop leader, Lori Anne Ferrell. We will gather at the top of the stairs to the Munger Research Library (E on map); there, I will get you passes to the gardens and library.) Driving Directions to the Huntington.

 

 

 

 

Class 8 Notes

Class 8 (Mar. 1) — Disappearing Games and Planned Obsolescence

 

 

 

Class 9 Notes

 

Class 9 (Mar. 8) — "404": Curating Networks

 

 

 

 

Class 10 (Mar. 10) (Note date/place change - Friday March 10, 12:30-3pm, EMC)

— Class Presentations

 

 

Research papers Due: Friday, March 17

     (email them to me as Word doc and PDF)

 

What is Ephemera? (Last Impressions):

 

The O.E.D. traces the first use of the word "ephemera" to 1398, citing it as a noun indicating "one dayes feuer," which "is as it were the heet of one daye." By the late 17th c., "ephemera" had expanded to include "An insect that (in its imago or winged form) lives only for a day, and by the 18th c., the word "ephemera" had expanded to include "One who or something which has a transitory existence." Though the noun "ephemera" has evolved in its use over time, its one consistency is to denote that which is temporary, short-lived, impermanent, momentary, and fleeting.

 

In studying what would generally (at least by moderns) be considered as "ephemera" from 1550 to the present in England, across a wide variety of forms and genres, is  . . .

 

 

 

Note: The course ends a week early because I will be traveling, working at the British Library, and lecturing in England, March 18-April 1. Students will thus receive an incomplete for the class due to my inability to grade your papers by the time that grades are due. I will grade the papers the first week of April and file a corrected grade by April 10. If this poses a problem for you, please let me know.

Also, to underscore, anyone who is taking this course for other than Field 11, Area V, needs to file a petition with Andrea Ellickson to be submitted to the Graduate Committee for approval to have the course counted toward the field you want. With your petition, you should attach the course syllabus, a copy of your reports in class, if any that covered the Area for which you are petitioning, and a copy of your research paper, which should also be on that Area. Area Requirements are listed here.