This course cannot be repeated and is limited to upper-division English majors only.

How do we interpret works that are composed of complex media forms -- from illuminated manuscripts to interactive media? Conversely, how can we use media to create new forms of literary criticism?

To explore this question fully, we will take a long and broad view on multimedia, considering examples from the colonial era printing press through 1960s graphic design, also considering graphic novels, computer programs, video games, and even Powerpoint as a rhetorical (and artistic) medium.

The class includes a collaborative and a creative component.

Some works addressed in the course include:

• Franklin. Poor Richard, 1733 an Almanack.
• Koster. A Theory of Fun for Game Design.
• McCloud. Understanding Comics.
• McLuhan and Fiore. The Medium is the Massage.
• Montfort et al. 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10.
• Tufte. The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint.

Course material on graphic narrative will also coincide with the campus visit and Regent's Lecture of renowned comics theorist Scott McCloud.