FRS 002Z - Sec. 001 - (2 units) - CRN TBA - T 2:10-4:30pm - Natsoulas Gallery

The Beat Generation in Poetry and Film

Instructor: Andy Jones, Department of English, College of Letters and Science

Description: Because of the influence and work of recently-retired English Department Professor Gary Snyder, many UC Davis students have felt a special connection to that generation of artists, novelists and poets who came into prominence in the 1950s and 1960s in New York City and San Francisco. This class will introduce participants to these more famous strands of Beat literature, as well as to experts and performers who will participate in a notable Davis conference that explores Beat culture. Last October "The Beat Generation and Beyond" conference hosted by the John Natsoulas gallery gathered together many Beat innovators and scholars, including poet Michael McClure, performance artist George Herms and dancer Anna Halprin. This coming October conference attendees will meet and learn from filmmaker Paul Mazursky (director of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, and Next Stop, Greenwich Village), Art Critic and Professor Donald Kuspit (author of more than twenty books, including Idiosyncratic Identities: Artists At The End Of The Avant-Garde), and others. All participants in this Freshman Seminar will be provided free passes to the weekend-long conference and will participate in the conference's final discussion of New York Beat poet Kenneth Patchen. They will also learn about other Beat poets, and about representations of the Beat generation in documentary and feature films.

Format: The seminar will meet at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First Street in Davis) on Tuesday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. for two and a half hours a week for eight weeks. Those eight weeks will be divided into three parts:
A) The first meeting, and perhaps one other meeting to be arranged, will prepare students to participate for a performance / reading of poetry and criticism by and about Kenneth Patchen. This group presentation, led by the course instructor, will take place on the third day of the Beat Generation and Beyond Conference, on Sunday, October 5. The instructor will e-mail additional conference-related instructions before the first class meeting. The second meeting will give class participants an opportunity to discuss the conference.
B) The next three weeks will be devoted to the poetry and criticism of other Beat poets, including Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Weldon Kees and Kenneth Rexroth.
C) The final three meetings will be devoted to the viewing and discussion of Beat films, including Mazursky's Next Stop, Greenwich Village and the documentary Whatever Happened to Kerouac?
In addition to attending all class meetings and preparing for and participating in the group presentation at the Beat Generation and Beyond Conference, students will be expected to attend all three days of the conference (October 3-5), carefully read assigned poems and critical texts, and view the assigned films. During week seven of the quarter, students will also read a Beat poem and discuss their research for the class with the instructor on the radio. Finally, students will write a 1500 word essay that comments meaningfully on a trend or topic in Beat literature or film. Each student will purchase a course reader available at Campus Copies. Grading: Attendance (20%), Class Participation (preparedness, quality of comments) (20%), Participation in the Beat Conference, Oral Exam (20%), Final Paper (about five pages) (40%).

About the Instructor: Andy Jones has taught for the UC Davis Department of English since 1990. In addition to teaching classes on poetry, film theory, creative writing, science fiction, literary criticism, and writing in the professions, last year Andy taught a class on "Collaboration in the Arts" which culminated in the hour-long performance of an original play/performance piece entitled "Ephemera." Always interested in cross-disciplinary thinking and studies, Andy interviews many authors, performers and pundits as host of "Doctor Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour" on radio station KDVS.