Prof.
Lori Landay
General Education Department
Office: 22 Fenway Room 34
Office phone: (617) 747-2423
Office hours: M & W 3-4 & by appointment
Voicemail (617) 747-2747
Literary and artistic images of technology change over time, as do the hopes and fears that new technologies present. But there are common threads:
dreams of controlling & conquering nature,
fears of the consequences, &
anxieties about who, if anyone, can control technology--or will it control us?
We will turn to literature and other media-- music, film, visual arts, digital imaging, and interactive new media-- to investigate the myths and stories we use to talk about technology, from Pandora's box and Frankenstein to 2001 and The Matrix. As the issue of adapting technology for human purposes has shifted to the question of how humans will adapt to increasingly technological environments, new technologies make us confront topics such as: what it means to be human, digital art, speed, mechanization, artificial intelligence, how we define reality, "actual" and "virtual" experiences, gender, identity, cyberspace, and many others. We will ponder literature that explores new forms of identity and community by imagining what might be in the future, and we will speculate on what role technology might have in a distant–or not too distant-- utopia or dystopia.
"The Nature of Technology" is a section of GCOR 112 College Writing 2: Literary Themes. This course reinforces the principles and practices of GCOR-111 College Writing 1: Structure and Style, emphasizing critical and creative thinking through literary analysis and creative writing projects. Students apply the skills of synthesis, interpretation, and evaluation in speaking and writing about fiction, drama, poetry, and creative nonfiction. You will explore basic concepts of literary analysis, such as plot, point of view, character, tone, genre, symbolism, themes, motifs, and style. You will demonstrate an understanding of these concepts in frequent and substantial writing assignments.