here are personal syllabi for the party in college: 1 fiction book, 1 non-fiction book or essay, 1 movie or TV show & 1 song that I think they might enjoy or consider important, for each semester.
WILL BYERS
Fall 1989
• Fiction: Ray Bradbury “Something Wicked This Way Comes”
• Nonfiction: Joan Didion “On Keeping a Notebook”
• Film: “Eraserhead”
• Song: The Cure “Plainsong”
Spring 1990
• Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin “The Left Hand of Darkness”
• Nonfiction: Susan Sontag “AIDS and Its Metaphors”
• Film: “Wings of Desire”
• Song: Talking Heads “This Must Be the Place”
Fall 1990
• Fiction: James Baldwin “Giovanni’s Room”
• Nonfiction: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick — essays
• Film: “Paris Is Burning”
• Song: Cocteau Twins “Cherry-Coloured Funk”
Spring 1991
• Fiction: Octavia Butler “Kindred”
• Nonfiction: Audre Lorde “The Uses of the Erotic”
• Film: “Poison”
• Song: Sinead O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”
Fall 1991
• Fiction: Shirley Jackson “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”
• Nonfiction: Douglas Crimp “Mourning and Militancy”
• Film: “Twin Peaks”
• Song: Pixies “Where Is My Mind?”
Spring 1992
• Fiction: Jeanette Winterson “Written on the Body”
• Nonfiction: ACT UP pamphlets
• Film: “My Own Private Idaho”
• Song: Nirvana “Something in the Way”
Fall 1992
• Fiction: Toni Morrison “Beloved”
• Nonfiction: bell hooks “Art on My Mind” (excerpts)
• Film: “Angels in America” (VHS recording of one of the first productions)
• Song: R.E.M. “Try Not to Breathe”
Spring 1993
• Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin “The Dispossessed”
• Nonfiction: Sarah Schulman “People in Trouble”
• Film: “Philadelphia”
• Song: The Cure “Just Like Heaven”
MIKE WHEELER
Fall 1989
• Fiction: Kurt Vonnegut “Cat’s Cradle”
• Nonfiction: Joan Didion “On Self-Respect”
• Film: “Dead Poets Society”
• Song: R.E.M. “Stand”
Spring 1990
• Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin “The Lathe of Heaven”
• Nonfiction: Susan Sontag “Against Interpretation”
• Film: “Do the Right Thing”
• Song: Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime”
Fall 1990
• Fiction: George Orwell “Homage to Catalonia”
• Nonfiction: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick “Epistemology of the Closet” (excerpts)
• Film: “Paris Is Burning”
• Song: The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”
Spring 1991
• Fiction: Octavia Butler “Parable of the Sower”
• Nonfiction: Larry Kramer — essays
• Film: “Born on the Fourth of July”
• Song: Tracy Chapman “Fast Car”
Fall 1991
• Fiction: Joseph Heller “Catch-22”
• Nonfiction: Hannah Arendt — essays
• Film: “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”
• Song: Pixies “Debaser”
Spring 1992
• Fiction: William Gibson “Neuromancer”
• Nonfiction: Michel Foucault — interviews
• Film: “Blade Runner”
• Song: Nine Inch Nails “Hurt”
Fall 1992
• Fiction: Albert Camus “The Plague”
• Nonfiction: Susan Sontag “Regarding the Pain of Others”
• Film: “Angels in America”
• Song: R.E.M. “Everybody Hurts”
Spring 1993
• Fiction: Le Guin “The Dispossessed”
• Nonfiction: Vaclav Havel “The Power of the Powerless”
• Film: “Philadelphia”
• Song: U2 “One”
LUCAS SINCLAIR
Fall 1989
• Fiction: Walter Mosley “Devil in a Blue Dress”
• Nonfiction: James Baldwin “Notes of a Native Son”
• Film: “School Daze”
• Song: Public Enemy “Fight the Power”
Spring 1990
• Fiction: Ralph Ellison “Invisible Man”
• Nonfiction: Audre Lorde “Age, Race, Class, and Sex”
• Film: “Do the Right Thing”
• Song: A Tribe Called Quest “Can I Kick It?”
Fall 1990
• Fiction: Octavia Butler “Patternmaster”
• Nonfiction: bell hooks “Yearning” (excerpts)
• Film/TV: “Paris Is Burning”
• Song: De La Soul “Me Myself and I”
Spring 1991
• Fiction: Chester Himes “If He Hollers Let Him Go”
• Nonfiction: anti-war leaflets
• Film: “Boyz n the Hood”
• Song: Marvin Gaye “Inner City Blues”
Fall 1991
• Fiction: Toni Morrison “Song of Solomon”
• Nonfiction: Cornel West — essays
• Film/TV: “Mississippi Masala”
• Song: Prince “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night”
Spring 1992
• Fiction: Samuel Delany “Nova”
• Nonfiction: Frantz Fanon “Black Skin, White Masks”
• Film: “Malcolm X”
• Song: Arrested Development “Tennessee”
Fall 1992
• Fiction: Toni Morrison “Beloved”
• Nonfiction: bell hooks “Teaching to Transgress”
• Film: “Jungle Fever”
• Song: Public Enemy “Shut ’Em Down”
Spring 1993
• Fiction: Octavia Butler “Parable of the Sower”
• Nonfiction: James Baldwin “The Fire Next Time”
• Film: “Philadelphia”
• Song: Prince “7”
MAX MAYFIELD
Fall 1989
• Fiction: Sylvia Plath “The Bell Jar”
• Nonfiction: Joan Didion “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”
• Film: “Heathers”
• Song: The Breeders “Cannonball”
Spring 1990
• Fiction: Margaret Atwood “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Nonfiction: Andrea Dworkin — essays
• Film: “Blue Velvet”
• Song: Sonic Youth “Teen Age Riot”
Fall 1990
• Fiction: Kathy Acker “Blood and Guts in High School”
• Nonfiction: bell hooks “Love as the Practice of Freedom”
• Film: “Paris Is Burning”
• Song: PJ Harvey “Dress”
Spring 1991
• Fiction: Mary Gaitskill “Bad Behavior”
• Nonfiction: Susan Faludi “Backlash”
• Film: “Thelma & Louise”
• Song: Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl”
Fall 1991
• Fiction: Angela Carter “The Bloody Chamber”
• Nonfiction: zines
• Film: “Twin Peaks”
• Song: Hole “Violet”
Spring 1992
• Fiction: Jeanette Winterson “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit”
• Nonfiction: Gloria Anzaldúa “Borderlands” (excerpts)
• Film: “My Own Private Idaho”
• Song: Nirvana “Drain You”
Fall 1992
• Fiction: Margaret Atwood “Cat’s Eye”
• Nonfiction: bell hooks “All About Love”
• Film: “Singles”
• Song: Mazzy Star “Fade Into You”
Spring 1993
• Fiction: Le Guin “Always Coming Home”
• Nonfiction: James Baldwin “The Fire Next Time”
• Film: “Philadelphia”
• Song: PJ Harvey “Rid of Me”
DUSTIN HENDERSON
Fall 1989
• Fiction: Douglas Adams “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
• Nonfiction: Carl Sagan “Cosmos”
• Film: “Back to the Future II”
• Song: They Might Be Giants “Birdhouse in Your Soul”
Spring 1990
• Fiction: Isaac Asimov “Foundation”
• Nonfiction: Stephen Jay Gould — essays
• Film: “Star Trek: TNG”
• Song: Talking Heads “Road to Nowhere”
Fall 1990
• Fiction: Terry Pratchett “Guards! Guards!”
• Nonfiction: Richard Feynman “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”
• Film: “Paris Is Burning” (yes, they had a screening party)
• Song: Devo “Whip It”
Spring 1991
• Fiction: William Gibson “Neuromancer”
• Nonfiction: Popular Science magazines
• Film/TV: “Terminator 2”
• Song: Queen “Don’t Stop Me Now”
Fall 1991
• Fiction: Connie Willis “Doomsday Book”
• Nonfiction: AIDS reports
• Film: “Twin Peaks”
• Song: R.E.M. “Shiny Happy People”
Spring 1992
• Fiction: Neal Stephenson “Snow Crash”
• Nonfiction: early internet essays
• Film: “Brazil”
• Song: Pixies “Gigantic”
Fall 1992
• Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin “A Wizard of Earthsea”
• Nonfiction: Susan Sontag “Regarding the Pain of Others”
• Film: “Jurassic Park”
• Song: Radiohead “Creep”
Spring 1993
• Fiction: Pratchett “Small Gods”
• Nonfiction: Carl Sagan “Pale Blue Dot”
• Film: “Philadelphia”
• Song: They Might Be Giants “End of the Tour”
I am so not an american and not of their generation, so this might all well be bullshit. would appreciate any additions, corrections and overall comments, thanks!
here is a goodreads list of all the books mentioned above. if this has any reach, I might add a letterboxd list of the movies & a youtube playlist with the songs.
