Course overview
This course is designed to give students an overview of literary theory as a discourse. We will read a broad historical range of writers who have in one form or another interrogated the premises and meanings of literature – as process, as representation, and as institution. The expectation is that students will thereby acquire (and adapt for their own purposes) a set of useful critical tools and perspectives.Marking scheme
Evaluation will be based upon performance in the following assignments: one essay (worth 40%), two postcard assignments (together worth 30%), and a final exam (worth 30%).
Students will receive 15% of the grade by February 26, and should note that the last day to drop a D3 course without academic penalty is March 5. In accordance with the university’s marking guidelines, the instructor reserves the right to level final grades to a figure ending in 0, 2, 5, or 8. Participation in class discussions will serve as the primary consideration in the process of this leveling. (Attendance is not synonymous with participation, though late arrivals and early departures may affect the participation mark.) Please note that completion of all assignments is required to pass the course. All assigned work must be submitted in hard copy: emailed assignments will not be accepted.
Required
Texts:
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars
Vincent Leitch et al, eds., The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism
Late policy
A penalty of three percent (3%) for each day late, including weekends, will be incurred in all cases except certified emergencies. Papers more than ten days late will not be accepted, and a mark of zero will be given for the assignment. Requests for extensions sent by email will not be entertained. All assigned work (except postcards) must be submitted typed and in hard copy: emailed assignments will not be accepted.
Plagiarism
Simply: don’t even think about it. Students are referred to Brock University’s official policy on plagiarism, and they are further advised that the instructor has an especially low view of such behaviour. The course website includes a page titled “On Citation” that students are encouraged to consult.
Medical Emergencies
All students should familiarize themselves with Brock’s Medical Exemption policy and follow its procedures if necessary (see http://www.brocku.ca/healthservices/exemption.php).
Schedule
| January 12 |
Course Introduction |
| January 14 |
Eagleton, from “The Rise of English” (2243-9)
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| January 19 |
Plato, from Republic, Books II, III, and X (49-64, 67-80) |
| January 21 |
Aristotle, Poetics (90-117)
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| January 26 |
Derrida, selections from The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and
Beyond (7-53; on reserve in the library and available online at aaaa.org)
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| January 28 |
Kant, from Critique of Judgement (504-35)
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| February 2 |
Wilde, from The Critic as Artist (900-12) |
| Febrauary 4 |
Exhibit A (discussion) |
| February 9 |
Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (960-77) |
| February 11 |
Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1166-86) |
| February 16 |
Wimsatt and Beardsley, “The Intentional Fallacy” (1374-87) |
| February 18 |
Barthes, “The Death of the Author” (1466-70)
Foucault, “What Is an Author?” (1622-36)
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| February 22-26 |
[Reading Week: no classes] |
| March 2 |
Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams (919-29) |
| March 4 |
Lacan, from The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious (1290-1302) and “The Signification of the Phallus” |
| March 9 |
Exhibit B (discussion) |
| March 11 |
Beauvoir, from The Second Sex (1406-14)
Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa” (2039-56) |
| March 16 |
Butler, from Gender Trouble (2488-501)
Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (2269-99) |
| March 18 |
Davis, “Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body” (2400-21) |
| March 23 |
Williams, from Marxism and Literature (1567-75)
Bourdieu, from Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (1809-14) |
| March 25 |
Althusser, from Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (1483-1509)
Jameson, from The Political Unconscious (1937-60) |
| March 30 |
Said, from Orientalism (1991-2012) |
| April 1 |
Exhibit C: Burroughs, A Princess of Mars (discussion) |
| April 6 |
Knapp and Michaels, “Against Theory” (2460-75) |
| April 8 |
Hall, “Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies” (1898-910)
Graff, “Taking Cover in Coverage” (2059-67)
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| April 13 |
Jardine, “What is Left of Culture and Society” (YouTube lecture)
Žižek, “What Does It Mean to Be Revolutionary Today?” (YouTube lecture)
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Assignments
| February 11 | Last day to hand in first postcard |
| March 25 | Last day to hand in second postcad |
| April 6 | Essay due |
Postcard Assignment:
- Write a response to one of the readings in theory studied so far this term. The card is to be addressed to another student in the class but left unsigned except for your secret number. The choice of postcard is up to you, but please write as legibly as possible. Date the postcard (put on the date you have handed it in). Hand in the postcard to the instructor in the class immediately following the one in which we discussed the reading to which you’ve chosen to respond. Late postcards and postcards on readings prior to the preceding class will not be accepted.
- Each day of class the instructor will announce which students should collect postcards addressed to them. Upon receiving a postcard, each student will write 2-3 pages in reply to their anonymous correspondent and evaluate that unknown person’s engagement with the relevant theorist. Each reply will conclude by assigning a mark to the postcard (out of 10). You may consult the following loose framework when contemplating a mark for the postcard:
- 8-10 The postcard tackles issues and implications of the reading in an original, well-written manner.
- 6-7 The postcard is a little general, contains slight errors, or has partly misunderstood the reading.
- 4-5 The postcard has many errors, only partly deals with the reading.
- 1-3 The postcard has little or nothing to do with the reading.
Note that you may consider the appropriateness of the choice of postcard (i.e., the image on its obverse side) in your evaluation, as well as the student’s written message. Replies are due two weeks from the date on the postcard. Replies submitted later than that will not be accepted, and will be given a mark of zero.
- The course instructor will mark the replies and add these marks to the marks given to each postcard (5% from peer evaluation of postcard + 10% instructor’s evaluation of reply = 15% total). Note that the instructor will partly base the mark for the reply on the fairness of the mark that the reply gives its postcard.
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