Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Course Overview
This subject examines the ways in which we read. It introduces some important strategies for engaging with literary texts developed in the twentieth century, paying special attention to poststructuralist theories and their legacy. The course is organized around specific theoretical paradigms. In general, we will: (1) work through the selected readings in order to see how they construe what literary interpretation is; (2) locate the limits of each particular approach; and (3) trace the emergence of subsequent theoretical paradigms as responses to what came before. The literary texts and films accompanying the theoretical material will serve as concrete cases that allow us to see theory in action. For the most part, each week will pair a text or film with a particular interpretative approach, using the former to explore the latter. Rather than attempting a definitive or full analysis of the literary or filmic work, we will exploit it (unashamedly—and indeed sometimes reductively) to understand better the theoretical reading it accompanies.
Prerequisites
This course has no prerequisites.
Course Requirements
Texts
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014. ISBN: 9781500376765.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Tribeca Books, 2013. ISBN: 9781936594191. [Preview with Google Books]
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015. ISBN: 9781506138855. [Preview with Google Books]
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. Vintage, 1990. ISBN: 9780679724698.
Assignments
Response Paper: A brief response to modes of reading covered in the first three weeks (about 3 pages).
Oral Presentations: 15–20 minute presentation of assigned readings and shorter presentations / questions throughout term.
Take-Home Midterm: Short essays responding to questions handed out (8–10 pages).
Final Paper: Longer essay either theoretically-oriented or a careful reading of a text of your choice, drawing on what you have read over the term (6–8 pages).
Grading
The class will require regular participation and attendance. Your engagement with the material will determine how well the course works.
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Participation and Attendance | 10% |
| Oral Presentations | 15% |
| Response Paper | 15% |
| Take-Home Midterm | 30% |
| Final Essay | 30% |
Calendar
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | New Criticism and American Reader Response Criticism | |
| 3 | Structuralism | |
| 4 | Structuralism (cont.) | Response Paper due 3 days after Ses 4 |
| 5 | Deconstruction | |
| 6 | Deconstruction (cont.) | |
| 7 | Psychoanalysis: Freud | |
| 8 | Psychoanalysis and Lacan | |
| 9 | Psychoanalysis and Lacan (cont.) | Take-Home Midterm due 10 days after Ses 9 |
| 10 | Michel Foucault | |
| 11 | Michel Foucault (cont.) | |
| 12 | Continuation of earlier material | |
| 13 | Latour and Kittler | Final Essay due 3 days after Ses 13 |