Literary & Cultural Theory

Transcription

1 Liverpool John Moores University Literary & Cultural Theory Module Handbook 1

2 Contents Module Team 3 Teaching Timetable 4 Weekly Reading Schedule 5-6 Module Description & Rationale 7 Aims & Objectives 7 Learning Outcomes 7 Teaching Strategy & Weekly Preparation 7-8 Assessment Details & Presentation Schedule 9-11 Set Texts & Further Reading Appendix A - Essay 1: Questions 14 Appendix B - Essay 2: Questions 15 Appendix C - Marking Criteria 16 Appendix D - Plagiarism, Academic Misconduct & TurnItIn

3 Module Team Dr Nadine Muller John Foster Building, Room 1.26 Dr Jonathan Cranfield John Foster Building, Room 1.26 Dr Michael Morris John Foster Building, Room 1.44b Dr Deaglán Ó Donghaile John Foster Building, Room 1.23 Dr Gerry Smyth John Foster Building, Room 1.28 Dr James Whitehead John Foster Building, Room

4 Teaching Timetable Lectures : Thursdays, (John Foster Building, G01) Seminars : Thursdays, (Rooms TBC) Semester 1 Week Date Lecture Seminar 1 18/09 What is Literature?: Liberal Humanism What is Literature?: Liberal Humanism 2 25/09 Creating Meaning: Author, Reader, Text Creating Meaning: Author, Reader, Text 3 02/10 Text & Context: New Criticism & New Historicism History & Text: New Criticism & New Historicism 4 09/10 Theory 1: Marxism Marxist Theory 5 16/10 Theory 1: Marxist Theory in Practice Marxist Theory in Practice 6 23/10 Theory 2: Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis Theory 7 30/10 *** Consultation Week: Please arrange a meeting with your personal tutor *** 8 06/11 Theory 2: Psychoanalysis in Practice Psychoanalysis in Practice 9 13/11 Theory 3: Feminism Feminist Theory 10 20/11 Theory 3: Feminism in Practice Feminist Theory in Practice 11 27/11 Theory 4: Gender & Queer Theory Gender & Queer Theory 12 04/12 Theory 4: Gender & Queer Theory in Practice Gender & Queer Theory in Practice 13 11/12 Essay Preparation Essay Preparation Semester 2 Week Date Lecture Seminar 17 08/01 *** Deadline: Essay 1 (2, PM *** 18 15/01 Theory 5: Postcolonial Theory Postcolonial Theory 19 22/01 Theory 5: Postcolonial Theory in Practice Postcolonial Theory in Practice 20 29/01 Theory 6: Deconstruction Deconstruction 21 05/02 Theory 6: Deconstruction in Practice Deconstruction in Practice 22 12/02 Theory 7: Postmodernism Postmodernism 23 19/02 *** Consultation Week: Compulsory essay feedback meeting with your seminar tutor *** 24 26/02 Theory 7: Postmodernism in Practice Postmodernism in Practice 25 05/03 Theory 8: Posthumanism Posthumanism 26 12/03 Theory 8: Posthumanism in Practice Posthumanism in Practice 27 19/03 Theorizing Contemporary Literature & Culture Summary & Revision 28 26/03 Summary & Essay Preparation Essay Preparation 29 02/04 *** Spring Break *** 30 09/04 *** Spring Break *** 31 13/04 *** Deadline: Essay 2 (2, PM *** 4

5 Weekly Reading Semester 1 Week Date Reading 1 18/09 Barry, Theory Before Theory - Liberal Humanism (Blackboard) James, The Turn of the Screw (1898) 2 25/09 Barthes, Death of the Author (1968) (Blackboard) Stanley, Extract: The Auto/Biographical I (1994) (Blackboard) Fish, Interpretive Communities, in Rivkin & Ryan, pp /10 Brooks, The Formalists Critics, in Rivkin & Ryan, pp Williams, The Country & the City, in Rivkin & Ryan, pp /10 Marx, Extract: Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) (Blackboard) Althusser, Ideology & Ideological State Apparatuses, Rivkin & Ryan, pp /10 The Wolf of Wall Street, dir. by Martin Scorsese (Paramount Pictures, 2013) 6 23/10 Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Freud, The Uncanny, Rivkin & Ryan, pp /10 *** Consultation Week: Please arrange a meeting with your personal tutor *** 8 06/11 A Nightmare on Elmstreet, dir. by Wes Craven (Media Home Entertainment, 1984) 9 13/11 Irigaray, Women on the Market, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Millet, Sexual Politics (1969) (Blackboard) Lorde, Age, Race, Class, & Sex, Rivkin & Ryan, pp /11 Mulvey, Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (1975) (Blackboard) Collins, Extract: The Woman in White (1860) Big Women (Channel 4 Television Corporation, 1998) 11 27/11 Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Sedgwick, The Epistemology of the Closet, Rivkin & Ryan, pp /12 Butler, Performative Acts & Gender Constitution, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Halberstam, Female Masculinity, Rivkin & Ryan, pp (only) 13 11/12 Essay Preparation 5

6 Weekly Reading Semester 2 Week Date Reading 17 08/01 *** Deadline: Essay 1 (2, PM *** 18 15/01 Said, Orientialism (1978) (Blackboard) Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak? (1988) (Blackboard) 19 22/01 Morrison, Playing in the Dark, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Said, Jane Austen & Empire, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Martin, Children s Hour: A Postcolonial Turn of the Screw (Blackboard) 20 29/01 Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Derrida, Differance, Rivkin & Ryan, pp /02 Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story, dir. by Michael Winterbottom Redbus Dist., 2005) 22 12/02 Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Lewis, Postmodernism & Literature (1998) (Blackboard) Jameson, Postmodernism & Consumer Society (1988) (Blackboard) 23 19/02 *** Consultation Week: Please arrange a meeting with your personal tutor *** 24 26/02 Jameson, Postmodernism & Consumer Society (1988) (Blackboard) Hutcheon, Extract: A Poetics of Postmodernism (1988) (Blackboard) Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulations, Rivkin & Ryan, pp Pulp Fiction, dir. by Quentin Tarantino (Miramax Films, 1994) 25 05/03 Nayar, Critical Humanism & the Origins of Posthumanism (2013) (Blackboard) Nayar, The Body Reformatted (2013) (Blackboard) 26 12/03 Landsberg, Prosthetic Memory (2000) (Blackboard) Pyle, Making Cyborgs, Making Humans (2000) (Blackboard) Blade Runner, dir. by Ridley Scott (Warner Bros, 1982) 27 19/03 Theorizing Contemporary Literature & Culture 28 26/03 Summary & Essay Preparation 29 02/04 *** Spring Break *** 30 09/04 *** Spring Break *** 31 13/04 *** Deadline: Essay 2 (2, PM *** 6

7 Module Description & Rationale Literary & Cultural Theory is a core module for all single and joint-honours English students. The aims of the module are to introduce you to the main areas of current literary and cultural theory and to make you aware of how these approaches and methodologies underpin your study of texts, literary and otherwise. It will help you to extend your critical vocabulary and enable you to apply theoretical perspectives in your academic work across modules. By focusing on one literary text (The Turn of the Screw) and a select number of extracts from fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as on selected films, the module allows you to test out and practice different theoretical approaches to reading and interpretation. Through seminar discussion and presentations, the module aims to give you the confidence to understand and participate in theoretical debates. Aims & Objectives This module aims to: 1. Provide an introduction to some of the main areas of current literary and cultural theory. 2. Equip you with an appropriate critical vocabulary to enable you to apply theoretical perspectives to your study of texts, in particular literature but also film, media, news, and popular culture. 3. Allow you to explore and evaluate these theoretical perspectives through practical application to a set literary text as well as to other primary sources and through structured seminar discussion. 4. Provide you with an understanding of how critics have applied theoretical perspectives to texts. 5. Give you the familiarity and confidence to use theoretical and critical perspectives in reading and writing for other modules on your degree. After completing this module, you should be able to: Learning Outcomes 1. Analyse and evaluate the concepts, theories, and critical practices studied on the module; 2. Exercise judgement about how scholars have used literary and cultural theories in their criticism; 3. Apply a variety of theoretical perspectives to your reading and interpretation of texts, including literature, film, and media. Teaching Strategy Lectures will take place every Thursday throughout both semesters. They will outline some of the main contentions and implications of critical theory and indicate some of the major areas of debate as well as giving you an idea of how we might apply theory to texts. They are intended to support your own reading, but they are not a substitute for it. Seminars are a vital component of this module. They provide a supportive space in which you can practice using critical language and test out theoretical ideas. We will dedicate two seminars to each theory, the first one providing an opportunity to understand and discuss the theories themselves, the second allowing you to practice the application of theories to literary texts. 7

8 Weekly Reading & Preparation Preparation for lectures and for our weekly seminars is compulsory. You must read the set text (The Turn of the Screw) before the semester begins. This will give you a significant advantage when starting your second year. For seminars you must read and view the material specified in the week-by-week reading in this handbook and be prepared to discuss the theories and concepts they put forward. This means you must prepare any questions you have about the respective theory and prepare to articulate its central concerns and ideas in your own words. While each theory will be outlined for you in the lecture, the seminar is your space to further explore and manifest your understanding of the theories, and it is important that you consider this as a space in which you can ask questions as well as express opinions and discuss relevant issues. You should also consider how the respective theory may be applied to The Turn of the Screw and other texts provided on the module for the respective week. You should ask yourself how the theory you have studied may affect your reading of a literary text, and how you would apply the ideas of that theory to a literary text. We will also discuss what potential problems theories can pose, and what their limitations are. These sessions are for you to test how you can apply theory to literary texts; it is not another lecture and, as with all seminars, your contribution is the vital aspect of this session. Your tutor is there to guide your learning and understanding, not simply to feed you information or answers. IMPORTANT: If you find you are getting behind with the reading or are finding it hard to keep up, please do not hesitate to ask your seminar tutor for help and advice (sooner rather than later). 8

9 Assessment Details 1. Lecture & Seminar Attendance (5%) Lecture and seminar attendance will be monitored, and it will be marked as shown in the table below. Attendance is compulsory, not optional, even if you choose not to contribute verbally in seminars. If you are unable to attend a lecture or seminar, you must your tutor with an apology and explanation as soon as possible. Students with on-going health problems or other mitigating circumstances may be exempt from the attendance element, but only in explicit agreement with their tutor and the module leader. 2. Assessed Presentation (15%) As part of your participation and attendance assessment, you must deliver a 10 minute presentation in one seminar in either semester one or semester two. You may choose to present on your own, or you may present together with one other person. The task for your presentation is to apply your chosen theory (see presentation schedule) to a piece of text (this may be a painting, a literary extract or poem, a music video, a political speech, an advertisement, or any other piece of text). You may choose one of the items listed on Blackboard under Media, or you may choose your own text. You can direct any questions about this assessment directly to your seminar tutor, who can help you choose a suitable text. Weeks Attended Grade Weeks Attended Grade % 11 35% 23 95% 10 30% 22 90% 9 25% 21 85% 8 20% 20 80% 7 15% 19 75% 6 10% 18 70% 5 5% 17 65% 4 4% 16 60% 3 3% 15 55% 2 2% 14 50% 1 1% 13 45% 0 0% 12 40% 9

10 Semester 1 - Presentations Date Topic Presenter(s) 09/10 Marxism 16/10 Marxism 23/10 Psychoanalysis 30/10 Psychoanalysis 13/11 Feminist Theory 20/11 Feminist Theory 27/11 Gender & Queer Theory 04/12 Gender & Queer Theory Semester 2 - Presentations Date Topic Presenter(s) 15/01 Postcolonial Theory 22/01 Postcolonial Theory 29/01 Deconstruction 05/02 Deconstruction 12/02 Postmodernism 26/02 Postmodernism 05/03 Posthumanism 12/03 Posthumanism 10

11 3. Essay 1 (40%) The first written component of your assessment is a 2,000-word essay. To complete this task, you must choose and answer one of the questions provided (see Appendix A in this handbook or Assignments > Essay 1 on Blackboard). In answering your chosen question, you must demonstrate knowledge of both the relevant theory and of how it can be applied to one of the texts studied on the module. This may be The Turn of the Screw, or one of the other extracts or films provided for you as part of the module material. You must provide an adequately formatted bibliography (not included in the word count) with your essay and you must adhere to the referencing guidelines provided. Please familiarse yourself with the university s academic misconduct and plagiarism regulations (see Academic Misconduct in this handbook, and on Blackboard under the Assignments menu item). You will receive further guidance on what exactly is required of you in this essay in the first and last lectures of the second semester. You can find the criteria by which your essay will be assessed on Blackboard under Assignments > Marking Criteria. The details for each assignment, the marking criteria, a list of core and recommended further reading, and LJMU s policies on academic misconduct can be found in the relevant sections of the module s Blackboard pages. You can find the marking criteria for each part of the assessment on Blackboard under Assessment > Marking Criteria. 4. Essay 2 (40%) The second written component of your assessment is a 2,000-word essay. To complete this task, you must choose and answer one of the questions provided (see Appendix B in this handbook or Assignments > Essay 2 on Blackboard). In answering your chosen question, you must demonstrate knowledge of both the relevant theory and of how it can be applied to one of the texts studied on the module. This may be The Turn of the Screw, or one of the other extracts or films provided for you as part of the module material. You must provide an adequately formatted bibliography (not included in the word count) with your essay and you must adhere to the referencing guidelines provided. Please familiarse yourself with the university s academic misconduct and plagiarism regulations (see Academic Misconduct in this handbook, and on Blackboard under the Assignments menu item). You will receive further guidance on what exactly is required of you in this essay in the first and last lectures of the second semester. You can find the criteria by which your essay will be assessed on Blackboard under Assignments > Marking Criteria. The details for each assignment, the marking criteria, a list of core and recommended further reading, and LJMU s policies on academic misconduct can be found in the relevant sections of the module s Blackboard pages. You can find the marking criteria for each part of the assessment on Blackboard under Assessment > Marking Criteria. 11

12 Set Texts Books * James, Henry, The Turn of The Screw (1898) Rivkin, Julie and Michael Ryan (eds.), Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (London: Blackwell, 2004) Please note: You will need these set texts in addition to material provided on Blackboard. Please bring them with you to every seminar. Films ** Big Women (Channel 4 Television Corporation, 1998) A Nightmare on Elmstreet, dir. by Wes Craven (Media Home Entertainment, 1984) Pulp Fiction, dir. by Quentin Tarantino (Miramax Films, 1994) Blade Runner, dir. by Ridley Scott (Warner Bros, 1997) Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story, dir. by Michael Winterbottom (Redbus Film Distribution, 2005) The Wolf of Wall Street, dir. by Martin Scorsese (Paramount Pictures, 2013) * All set films will be made available in full on Blackboard. However, we do encourage you to purchase or rent your own copies if possible. Further Reading Ahmed, Sara, Differences That Matter: Feminist Theory and Postmodernism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) Appignanesi, Lisa and John Forrester, Freud s Women (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992) Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin, The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, 2nd edn. (London: Routledge, 2002) Barrett, Michele, The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault (London: Polity Press, 1991) Beasley, Chris, Gender & Sexuality: Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers (London: Sage, 2005) Bowlby, Rachel, Still Crazy After All These Years: Women, Writing & Psychoanalysis (London: Routledge, 2010) Braidotti, Rosi, Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory (Columbia University Press, 1994) Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge, 2006) Culler, Jonathan, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd edn. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) Eagleton, Terry, Criticism and Ideology: A Study in Marxist Literary Theory (London: Verso, 2006) Eagleton, Terry and Drew Milne (eds.), Marxist Literary Theory: A Reader (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996) 12

13 Gamble, Sarah (ed.), Routledge Companion to Feminism and Postfeminism (London: Routledge, 2001) Genz, Stephanie and Benjamin A. Brabon, Postfeminism: Cultural Texts and Theories (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009) Gandhi, Leela, Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998) Howarth, David R., Discourse (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2000) Mills, Sara, Discourse (London: Routledge, 2004) Morland, Iain and Annabelle Willox (eds.), Queer Theory (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) Moss, Donald, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Man: Psychoanalysis and Masculinity (New York: Routledge, 2012) Said, Edward W., Culture and Imperialism (London: Chatto, 1993) Said, Edward W., Orientalism (London: Penguin, 2003) Sullivan, Nikki, A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003) Walder, Dennis, Post-Colonial Literatures in English: History, Language, Theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998) 13

14 Appendix A Essay 1 - Questions 1. Explore how one of the theories discussed on this module challenges liberal humanist definitions of literature and literary value. 2. Choose one of the theories studied on the module and discuss the ways in which it is preoccupied both with the material production of literature as well as with its interpretation. 3. "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force" (Karl Marx, The German Ideology, 1845). Discuss Marx's theory on society's class structure and the role literature plays in this system. How might we apply these theories to our reading of a literary text? 4. The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind (Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900). Discuss how we might view the relationship between literature and Freud's theories on the unconscious. How might we apply his theories to our reading of texts? 5. Patriarchy as an institution is a social constant so deeply entrenched as to run through all other political, social, or economic forms, whether of caste or class, feudality or bureaucracy, just as it pervades all major religions (Kate Millett, Sexual Politics,1969). Discuss what role literature might play in Millett s picture of patriarchal societies and illustrate how one of the texts studied on the module engages with her statement. 6. Sexuality is not natural, but rather, is discursively constructed. Moreover, sexuality, as we shall see, is constructed, experienced, and understood in culturally and historically specific ways (Nikki Sullivan, A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory, 2003). Discuss what role texts might play in the construction of sexuality as Sullivan describes it and illustrate how one of the texts studied on the module engages with her statement. 7. Gender is in no way a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts proceed; rather, it is an identity tenuously constituted in time an identity instituted though a stylized repetition of acts. Further, gender is instituted through the stylization of the body and, hence, must be understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and enactments of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self (Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, 1990). Discuss the notion of gender as a construct and performance and explain how one of the texts studied on the module engages with this idea. 14

15 Appendix B Essay 2 - Questions 1. Explore how one of the theories discussed on this module challenges liberal humanist definitions of literature and literary value. 2. Explore how one of the theories discussed on this module is preoccupied both with analysing the text on the page (or screen) and with analysing its connection to what lies outside of the text, such as cultural, political, and historical contexts. 3. The East becomes the repository or projection of those aspects of themselves which Westerners do not choose to acknowledge (Peter Barry, Beginning Theory, 2002). Explore Edward Said s notion of Orientalism alongside other concepts of postcolonial theory and consider the role literature plays within this context. 4. "Deconstruction is not synonymous with destruction, however. It is in fact much closer to the original meaning of the word 'analysis' itself, which etymologically means to undo -- a virtual synonym for to de-construct. [...] If anything is destroyed in a deconstructive reading, it is not the text, but the claim to unequivocal domination of one mode of signifying over another. A deconstructive reading is a reading which analyses the specificity of a text's critical difference from itself (Barbara Johnson, Deconstruction, 1981). Discuss deconstruction s approach to texts and their meaning. 5. [Postmodernisms] emerge as specific reactions against the established forms of high modernism, against this or that dominant high modernism which conquered the university, the museum, the art gallery network, and the foundations (Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism & Consumer Society, 1988). Explore the extent to which postmodernism challenges established literary and cultural categories and concepts such as genre, reality, and grand narratives. 6. Posthumanism [...] is the radical decentring of the traditional sovereign, coherent and autonomous human in order to demonstrate how the human is always already evolving with, constituted by and constitutive of multiple forms of life and machines (Pramod K. Nayar, Posthumanism, 2013). Explore how posthumanist theories can contribute to our understanding of literature and other texts as well as to our understanding of their role in human society. 15

16 Appendix C Marking Criteria Attendance If you arrive late repeatedly without a reasonable excuse and thus miss significant proportions of your seminars, your tutor may choose to mark you as absent from one or more seminar affected. Attendance registers will be taken by your tutor in every seminar. Absences without apologies will be marked as a missed seminar, as will absences for which you are unable to present an adequate reason. In cases of illness, your seminar tutor may ask for a note from your GP confirming your inability to attend. Assessed Presentation (A) Content Structure and coherence of the presentation Choice of appropriate, original, creative primary source to analyse Knowledge and understanding of relevant theoretical concepts Knowledge and understanding of how to apply theory in the interpretation of a text Awareness of the limitations of the theory in question in relation to chosen primary source (B) (C) Delivery Clarity and pace Appropriate register and terminology Enthusiasm Ability to engage audience in discussion Timing Visual Aid Effectiveness and clarity Design and layout Spelling and referencing Functionality Assignments 2 & 3 (Essays) Knowledge and critical understanding of your chosen theory and its key concepts Ability to apply theory to a text Ability to construct a persuasive, coherent, and critical argument Ability to identify, understand, discuss and use appropriate scholarly sources Firm grasp of the subject s presentation and referencing conventions Academic writing skills 16

17 Appendix D Plagiarism, Academic Misconduct, TurnItIn As a student at JMU, you are a junior member of a collective of professional academics and scholars and you are expected to conduct yourself appropriately and in accordance with the ethical values of an academic community. When you sign the enrolment form you have agreed to abide by the rules and regulations of the University. Similarly, each time you submit a piece of coursework or undertake an examination, you confirm that the work you submit is your own or a legitimate piece of group work and that you have not copied the work or cheated or made any attempt to pass off the work of others as your own. The University uses a range of methods to identify and discourage plagiarism, including using detection software such as Turnitin': (see below). 'Turnitin' compares assignments against other resources, including items on the internet, and the work of students from other institutions. The software produces a report highlighting any matches. More information about 'Turnitin', and how it affects you, is available from the link on the right hand side of this page. All your assignments for this module will be submitted via TurnItIn. The University takes all forms of academic dishonesty very seriously. The University defines Academic Misconduct as any case of deliberate, premeditated cheating, collusion, plagiarism or falsification of information, in an attempt to deceive and gain an unfair advantage in assessment. Examples of plagiarism may be: the verbatim copying of another's work without clear identification and acknowledgement including the downloading of materials from the internet without proper referencing and acknowledgement the close paraphrasing of another's work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without clear identification and acknowledgement. unidentified and unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another's work. the deliberate and detailed presentation of another's concept as your own. Accessing work from essay banks or paper mills and presenting it as your own work. When you sign the enrolment form you have agreed to abide by the rules and regulations of the University. Each time you submit a piece of course work or undertake an examination, you confirm that the work you submit is your own or a legitimate piece of group work and that you have not copied the work or cheated or made any attempt to pass off the work of others as your own. 17

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