Course overview
This
course seeks to provide a forum in which students can grow acquainted and conversant with
a broad range of theoretical ideas and approaches to literary works and production. In
effect, students will be provided with contexts and intellectual tools with which to
examine the concepts and relationships inherent in the “Text / Community /
Discourse” framework of study offered in the graduate program.Marking scheme
Evaluation will be based upon two seminar presentations (each worth 10% of the final
grade), one written response to a seminar (worth 15%), seminar participation (worth 15%),
and one essay (worth 50%). Details of these assignments are given below. The last day for
withdrawal without academic penalty from a D2 course is November 6. Students are invited
to discuss their progress in the course with the instructor within one week of this
deadline if they wish to exercise their right to know 15% of their grade.
All assigned work
must be submitted in hard copy: emailed assignments will not be accepted. Note that
completion of all assignments is required to pass the course. Attendance and active participation in seminar are expected:
students who miss more than two seminars (without a signed note from a physician) forfeit
the whole of their participation mark. In accordance with university marking guidelines,
the instructor reserves the right to level final grades to a figure ending in 0, 2, 5, or
8.
Required
Texts:
Roland
Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text
Arthur
Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Michel
Foucault, The Order of Things
Vincent
Leitch et al, eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory
and Criticism
A course reading kit is also on reserve at the
library for photocopying.
Late policy
Late assignments will be penalized at the rate of five percent (5%) per day. Papers more
than ten days late may not be accepted: students should see the course instructor. Only
certified emergencies will be exempt from late penalties. Requests for extensions sent by
email will not be entertained.
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. Citations should conform to guidelines set out in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th
ed.).
Schedule
All readings marked with an asterisk (*) are included in the course kit.
| September
15 |
Course Introduction (“The game is
afoot!”)
Adorno, “Cultural Criticism and Society” (from Prisms) |
| September
22 |
State of the Art
Plato, from Republic Books II, III, and X
(49-64, 67-80)
Shelley, from A Defence of Poetry (699-717)
Eagleton, from Literary Theory: An Introduction (2243-49) |
| September
29 |
Authorship
and Authority
Wimsatt and Beardsley, “The Intentional Fallacy” (1374-87)
Barthes, “The Death of the Author” (1466-70)
Foucault, “What is an Author?” (1622-36) |
| October 6 |
The Role of the Reader (I)
Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text |
| October 13 |
The Role of the Reader (II)
Iser, “Interaction between Text and Reader” (1673-82)
Fish, “Is There A Text in This Class?”*
Eco, from The Open Work* |
| October 20 |
Discursive Structures (I)
Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (960-77)
Bakhtin, from Discourse in the Novel (1190-1220)
Todorov, “Structural Analysis of Narrative” (2099-106) |
| October
27 |
Discursive Structures (II)
Foucault, The Order of Things |
| November
3 |
The Unconscious
Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams (919-29)
Lacan, from The Agency of the Letter in the
Unconscious (1290-302)
Jameson, from The Political Unconscious (1937-60) |
| November
10 |
Sexing the Text
De Beauvoir, from The Second Sex (1406-14)
Cixous, “The
Laugh of the Medusa” (2039-56)
Kolodny, “Dancing through the Minefield” (2146-65)
Butler, from Gender Trouble (2488-2501) |
| November
17 |
Deconstruction
Derrida, from Dissemination (1830-76) |
| November
24 |
Imperialism
and Alterity
Said, from Orientalism (1991-2012)
Spivak, from A
Critique of Postcolonial Reason (2197-208)
hooks, “Postmodern Blackness” (2478-84) |
| December
1 |
Unifying
the Fields?
Sokal, “Transgressing
the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” (online)
Knapp and Michaels, “Against Theory” (2460-75)
Bhaba, “The Commitment to Theory” (2379-97) |
Assignments
(1) Seminar presentations. Each student is expected (a) to lead a discussion of one of the
theoretical texts in the course and (b) to present a reading (what we’ll be calling
an “investigation”) of one of the stories by Doyle in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Both should take
roughly 20 minutes (this estimate ought not to be long overshot) and the purpose of both
is to stimulate fruitful discussion. These two presentations should not coincide on the
same day of class.
The object of the first is not merely to
summarize the ideas and views expressed in a given reading but to probe the implications
of those ideas and views. To this end, students may feel free to contextualize given
theories and/or compare them with others.
The Doyle investigation requires students
to demonstrate how a given theory or theorist can contribute to an interpretation. Each
student must inform the class the week before his or her Doyle investigation which story
he or she will be discussing (it is understood that the theoretical material assigned for
the day of the investigation is to be used in that investigation).
(2) Response paper. Each student will
submit one written response (roughly 4-6 pages, double-spaced) to another student’s
Doyle investigation. The style and approach are for the student to choose –essay,
epistolary, imaginary dialogue– though specific attention to the texts at issue and
proper methods of citation are required. The response paper is due in class the week
following the relevant investigation.
(3) Final essay. A major paper, roughly
18-20 pages, with one of the Doyle stories as focus (not, however, the story used for your
own investigation) and significantly employing three of the theorists studied this term.
Prior discussion with the instructor about proposed directions for the paper is
recommended. Due December 14.
Further
Reading
Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction
(2nd ed.)
Michael Groden, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman, eds., The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory
(2nd ed.)
Irena R. Makaryk, ed., Encyclopedia of Contemporary
Literary Theory
Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Prince Herndl, eds., Feminisms:
An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism (rev. ed.)
Raymond Williams, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture
and Society |
