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Literature 511: Literary
Criticism
Summer 2008 Dr. Abby Coykendall acoykenda at emich.edu Office: Pray-Harrold Hall 603G Phone: (734) 487-0147 (messages only) ~ or email
for an appointment ~
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Literature 511:
Literary Criticism
LITR 511 is a course in
which we will investigate a wide variety of literary theory, both past and present,
paying especial attention to the critical debates most influencing current
practice in the field. Literary criticism, and
aesthetics more generally, has long held a vexed status within the public
realm. How we read, whom we read, and what we read says as much about our
own values (and those of the larger culture) as it does about our facility to
accommodate the values and the perspectives of others. Although reading
is in itself an ephemeral undertaking, reading theory can be even more so.
Theory is situated in an ambiguous and unnerving locale: between ourselves and
the text, between others and the text, and ultimately between ourselves and
others. We will thus approach our theoretical texts in much the same
fashion as we approach our primary texts: at once imaginatively and
critically. We will search for sites of affinity as well as sites of
ambivalence, recurring motifs as well as recurring problems and
paradoxes. We will begin by briefly surveying the so-called
“classics”--selections from Plato and Aristotle--and then move rather quickly
to philosophers like Marx and Freud, writers who have most profoundly shaped
the interpretation of literature and life itself.
We will primarily concentrate on the critical methodologies that have arisen during
the last half century--deconstruction, feminism, queer theory, postcolonialism,
new historicism, and cultural studies--testing out each of these approaches in
turn through an ongoing analysis of a single literary work: Emily Brontë’s
Texts and Materials
The
following books are available at Ned’s (http://www.nedsbooks.com/emu/;
483-6400;
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The Critical
Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter
(Bedford, 2006; ISBN
0312415206)
Emily Brontë,
(Bedford, 1992; ISBN
0312256868)
The remaining materials are
in the Electronic Reserves (ER): http://reserves.emich.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=2268.
**
Make sure to
bring a copy of each text that we will be discussing to class, whether it be an
actual book or a printout from the Electronic Reserves.
You will need to have the readings on hand for group work and class
discussions.
Assignments
& Assessment
Instead
of a cumulative final exam, there will be various kinds of informal homework assignments
due almost every class period to ensure your ongoing participation and progress
over the course of the semester. These assignments will not only keep you
personally engaged with the array of the materials that we will cover, but also
make the class as a whole more student-centered and interactive. See the
Weekly Homework Assignments handout for a description of the specific tasks due
each day: http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/511/hmwk.htm.
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40% |
Homework Assignments
& Class Participation |
due dates: |
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10% |
Proposal for the
Seminar Paper (4 pages) |
August 4
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5% |
Conference Style
Presentation on Paper Topic |
August 20
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45% |
Seminar Paper (10-15
pages) |
August 25 |
Consult
with me as early as possible in the term to brainstorm possible topics for the
seminar paper, which constitutes a significant proportion of the final grade
(with the homework coming in a close second). The essay will offer an
interpretation of
Attendance
Because
this course consists primarily of reading, discussion, and collaborative
inquiry--rather than facts, figures, or memorization--attendance is
crucial. According to the English Department policy, students who miss
more than two classes (i.e. the equivalent of almost three weeks during a
regular term) will not be eligible to pass.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism
is the use of concepts and/or expressions of others as if they are your
own. Any plagiarism will automatically
result in a failing, zero-percent grade for the assignment. It is your responsibility to acknowledge
when you are drawing on outside sources for support or inspiration. When you are paraphrasing, or
describing the ideas of other people in your own words, make sure to
acknowledge that fact by identifying the source (So and so says X ... ). Most importantly, when you insert other
people’s expressions directly into your text, credit those authors with the
words and ideas, using quotation marks on either side of the passage (So and so
says, “ X ... ”). Any text without these
acknowledgements or quotation marks is presumed to be your own by default; that
is, your own ideas expressed in your
own words. If either of these are not in fact your own,
but appear to be so because un-cited or un-quoted, they will pass as your own
and thus be plagiarizing the original source.
Schedule
Unless otherwise indicated, texts are located in The Critical
Tradition. Those marked “ER” are in the Electronic Reserves,
and those marked “Brontë” are in
Introduction of Students, Course, and Topic (Monday, June 30):
Theorists: Plato, “Allegory of the Cave”
[ER]
Theoretical Overview: “What is
[Theory]?” [ER]
Case Study: Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho (1960)
* In-class conjectural response
and collaborative discussion.
Classicism and Dialogism (Wednesday, July 2):
Theoretical Background: “New Criticism”
[ER]; Selections from Aristotle’s Poetics [ER]
Theorists: Harrold Bloom, “Elegiac
Conclusion” [ER]; Gerald Graff, “Disliking Books at an Early Age” [ER]
Primary Text: Emily Brontë,
Optional Theorists: David Hume,
“Standard of Taste”; Matthew Arnold, “Study of Poetry”
In-Class Case Study: M. M. Bakhtin,
“Discourse in the Novel” [ER]; Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Group 1 Respondent;
Group 2 DQ;
Group 3 Research;
Group 4 Application
Formalism and
Reader Response (Monday, July 7):
Theoretical Overview: “What is Reader
Response Criticism?” [ER]
Theorists:
Primary Text: Emily Brontë,
Optional Theorists: Northrop Frye,
“Archetypes of Literature”; Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation”
HOMEWORK: Group 2 Respondent;
Group 3 DQ;
Group 4 Research;
Group 1 Application
Classic
Psychoanalysis (Wednesday, July 9):
Theoretical Overview: “What is
Psychoanalytic Criticism?” (Brontë 348-59)
Theorists: Sigmund Freud, Selections
from Interpretation of Dreams [ER] and “The ‘Uncanny’”
Primary Text: Emily Brontë,
Optional Theorists: Sigmund Freud,
“Creative Writers and Daydreaming” and Totem
and Taboo [ER]
In-Class Case Study: Salvador Dali’s dream
sequence in Spellbound (1945)
HOMEWORK: Group 3 Respondent;
Group 4 DQ;
Group 1 Research;
Group 2 Application
Lacanian Psychoanalysis (Monday, July 14):
Theorists: Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror
Stage”; Jane Gallop, “Lacan’s ‘Mirror Stage’” (abridged) plus “Reading Lacan” [ER]
Primary Text: Emily Brontë,
Optional Theorists: Slavoj Zizek, “Courtly Love; or Woman as Thing”; Frederic Jameson,
“Imaginary and Symbolic in Lacan” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Group 4 Respondent;
Group 1 DQ;
Group 2 Research;
Group 3 Application
Feminist Psychoanalysis (Wednesday, July 16):
Theoretical Overview: “What is Feminist Criticism?” (Brontë 451-59)
Theorists: Hélène Cixous, “Laugh of the Medusa” (with “Medusa's Head”);
Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror [ER]
Literary Criticism: Lyn Pykett, “Changing the Names”
(Brontë 468-77)
Optional Theorists: Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” [ER]; Mary Russo, “Female Grotesques" [ER]
In-Class Extra: Selections from the film
HOMEWORK: Group
1 Respondent;
Group 2 DQ;
Group 3 Research;
Group 4 Application
Structuralism and
Deconstruction (Monday, July 21):
Theoretical Overview: “Background on
Derrida” [ER] and “What is Deconstruction?” [ER]
Theorists: Roland Barthes, “Striptease”;
Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign and Play”
Context: “Critical History of
Literary Criticism: Carol Jacobs,
“Threshold of Interpretation” [ER]; J. Hillis Miller, “Repetition and the ‘Uncanny’” [ER]
Optional Theorists: Ferdinand de
Saussure, “Nature of the Linguistic Sign”; Jean Baudrillard, “Precession of Simulacra”
In-Class Case Study: Posters for
HOMEWORK: Group 2 Respondent;
Group 3 DQ
(focus on the literary criticism); Group 4 Research;
Group 1 Application
Classic Marxism (Wednesday, July 23):
Theoretical Overview: “Background on
Marx” [ER] and “What is Marxist Criticism?” (Brontë 379-91)
Context: “Cultural Documents and
Illustrations” (Brontë 289-330)
Theorists: Karl Marx, “Meaning of Human
Requirements” [ER] and “Fetishism of Commodities” [ER]; Freud, brief selection from Three
Theories [ER]; Frederic Jameson, “Postmodernism and Consumer Society” [ER]
Optional Theorists: The Red
Collective, “Revolution as Seduction, Pedagogy as Therapy, and the Subject is Always ‘Me’” [ER]
In-Class Film: Zizek! (2005)
HOMEWORK: If you are in Groups 1-2, write response interpreting Wuthering
Heights from a psychoanalytic point view, and if you are in Groups 3-4, write a response interpreting Wuthering
Heights from a deconstructive point of view; all groups should directly
quote at least two theorists from their respective schools, and be prepared to
discuss marxism and the contextual materials in class.
Marxist Schools (Monday, July 28):
Theorists: Louis Althusser, Ideology
and Ideological State Apparatuses; Raymond Williams, Marxism and
Literature
Literary Criticism: Terry Eagleton,
“Myths of Power” (Brontë 394-410)
Optional Theorists: Crystal Bartolovich, “Consumerism; Or the Cultural Logic of Late
Cannibalism” [ER]; Adorno and Horkheimer, “Culture Industry” (abridged) [ER]
HOMEWORK: Begin work on the Seminar Paper Proposal (due
August 8); also be prepared to discuss how the various marxist theorists above
would respond to Eagleton’s essay, focusing on a different theorist depending
on which group you are in (Group 1, Althusser; Group 2, Williams; Group 3,
Adorno & Horkheimer; Group 4, Bartolovich).
Materialist
Feminisms (Wednesday, July 30):
Theorists: Luce Irigaray, “Women on the
Market” [ER]; Donna Haraway,
“Cyborg Manifesto”
Literary Criticism: Philip K. Wion, “Absent Mother” (Brontë 364-78); Abbie
L. Cory, “Gender, Class, and Rebellion” [ER]
Optional Theorists: Monique Wittig,
“One Is Not Born a Woman”; Rosemary Hennessy, Profit and Pleasure [ER]
HOMEWORK: Continue work on
the Seminar
Paper Proposal; also be prepared to discuss the ways that the
feminist theorists above would respond to the literary critical essays,
focusing on how a different theorist would see the strengths or weaknesses of
each depending on which group you are in (Group 1, Wittig; Group 2, Hennessy;
Group 3, Irigaray; Group 4, Haraway).
Postcolonial Theory
(Monday, August 4):
Theoretical Overview: Begin “Postcolonialism
and Ethnic Studies” (Critical Tradition 1753-69)
Theorists: Edward Said, Orientalism;
Homi Bhabha, “Signs Taken for Wonders”; Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, “Three
Women's Texts”
HOMEWORK: Begin
finalizing the Seminar
Paper Proposal; email a quote and a list of three main arguments
from a literary critical article found in the MLA Bibliography that you plan to
use for your paper (not otherwise assigned in class) to acoykenda at emich.edu; be prepared
to discuss how the various postcolonial theorists above would respond to that
article, focusing on a different theorist depending on which group you are in
(Group 1, Said; Group 2 & 3, Bhabha; Group 4, Spivak).
Ethnic Studies (Wednesday, August 6):
Theoretical Overview: Finish
“Postcolonialism and Ethnic Studies” (Critical Tradition 1769-74)
Theorists: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
“Writing, ‘Race,’ and the Difference It Makes”; Toni Morrison, Playing in
the Dark
Literary Criticism: Carine Mardorossian, “Geometries
of Race, Class, and Gender” [ER]
Optional Theorists: Barbara Smith,
“Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”; bell hooks, “Postmodern Blackness”
HOMEWORK: Group
3 Respondent;
Group 4 DQ
(one of them should focus on the literary criticism); Group 1 Research;
Group 2 Application
New Historicism and
Cultural Studies (Monday, August 11):
Theoretical Overview: “What is Cultural
Criticism?” (Brontë 411-24)
Theorists: Nancy Armstrong, “Some Call
It Fiction”; John Guillory, Cultural Capital
Literary Criticism: Susan Meyer,
“Reverse Imperialism” (Brontë 480-502); Nancy Armstrong, “Imperialist Nostalgia”
(Brontë 430-50)
Optional Theorists: Stuart Hall,
“Cultural Studies”; Michel Foucault, “What Is an Author?”
HOMEWORK: Group 4 Respondent;
Group 1 DQ
(focus on the literary criticism); Group 2 Research;
Group 3 Application
Individual
Conferences (Wednesday, August 13)
See Schedule online: http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/511/confer.pdf
Gender Studies and
Queer Theory (Monday, August 18):
Theorists: Toril
Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics; Judith Butler,
“Imitation and Gender Insubordination”; Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, excerpt from Epistemology
of the Closet [ER]
Literary Criticism: Lyn Pykett, “Changing the Names” (Brontë 468-77)
HOMEWORK: Email a quote and a list of three main arguments from
a theoretical work that you are using in the paper (and not otherwise assigned
in class) to acoykenda at emich.edu and be
prepared to discuss how the various gender theorists above would respond to
that work, focusing on a different theorist depending on which group you are in
(Group 1, Moi; Group 2, Butler; Group 3 & 4,
Sedgwick).
Closing Activities
and Due Dates:
Presentations: Wednesday, August 20
Seminar Papers Due: Monday, August 25
(12 Noon)
[Syllabus last modified August 7, 2008]