This course takes the nature of experiment as its subject, considering such topics as the art of the novel, poetic form, science fiction, visual art, graphic narratives, and the tech industry. Our case studies range from Virginia Woolf’s painter Lily Briscoe in her experimental novel To the Lighthouse (1927) to Nnedi Okorafor’s futuristic university in her science fiction novel Binti (2015). We will analyze adaptations of classics like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) in film and in Shelley Jackson’s hypertext novel Patchwork Girl (1995). Members of this class will explore visual narratives, drawing on Hillary Chute’s Graphic Women (2010) and interpreting Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed Persepolis (2000), as well as avant garde poetry and aesthetics from Mina Loy to Laurie Anderson. We will also survey the state of gender and the tech industry from Gamergate and Maker Culture to organizations like FemTechNet and Girls Who Code, and discuss The Internet of Women (2016), a collection of essays co-edited by NYIT’s Dean of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, Dr. Nada Anid. Students in this course will write essays, contribute to a course blog, and complete digital projects.
Virginia Woolf by Linda Stein
