F2018 ENGL / 7

Transcription

1 F2018 ENGL / 7 Class Meeting: T/Th 2:30-3:50 Class Location: Office Hours: T 10:00-11:00, W 1:00-4:00 by appointment only Office: ADMIN 3053 Phone: Lisa.Dickson@unbc.ca Class Blog: blogs.unbc.ca/engl300 Course Description Beginning with Classical philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, we will put ongoing debates about the nature and function of literature in society into historical context, demonstrating and exploring both the continuities between critical positions and the redefinitions and paradigm shifts that continue to shape critical discussion in our time. Through the study of essays and excerpts from a range of historical periods and intellectual contexts, we will explore questions such as the following: What is the relationship between the world and its textual representation? How does the literary text work? What is the relationship between writer and text? Reader and text? What are the roles of the poet and the critic in civic culture? In what ways is literature ideological and what are the implications of this? This is not a lecture course; therefore, there will be a strong emphasis on class participation. All students are expected to arrive in class having read the material and prepared to engage in discussion. Course Text Leitch, Vincent et. al. eds. The Norton Anthology of and Criticism. 3rd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, NOTE: This is a new edition of the textbook. Many of the readings are generally quite close to those in the 2 nd edition, but several of the ancient texts are provided in new and quite different translations, and the pagination of all selections is quite different. If you choose to use the 2nd edition of the textbook, you are responsible for accounting for differences in translation and pagination. You are strongly advised to use the 3 rd edition. Evaluation: Reading Journal 20% Midterm Examination 20% Essay 30% Final Examination 30% Late Assignments Policy: NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED without medical documentation. All assignments are due AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS. Any assignments received after the close of the collection period WILL NOT BE GRADED. Only HARDCOPY assignments will be graded. Computer problems are not acceptable excuses for late papers. Keep copies of all material submitted for grading.

2 F2018 ENGL / 7 Learning Objectives In this course you will have the opportunity to IDENTIFY and ANALYSE some of the key themes and debates of literary theory and criticism from the Classical period to the 19 th century; IDENTIFY a range of genres and literary forms and develop the skill to analyse them with regard to their argumentative/persuasive/artistic functions, aims and uses in literary theoretical and critical debate; REFINE your close reading and analytical skills; APPLY the theoretical questions, paradigms and debates to literary analysis and the analysis of your own role as a literary critic and consumer of art; FORMULATE and clearly ARTICULATE an analytical or research question and a thesis; ENGAGE in a dialogue with the critical field; PRACTICE research methodologies and use of bibliographic databases; PRACTICE accessing and assessing secondary sources; GIVE and RECEIVE constructive feedback in a peer-to-peer learning environment; IMPROVE verbal communication through class participation and written communication through essay and exam writing; REFINE effective note-taking, record-keeping and time/information management practices Assignments and Expectations Academic Honesty Students are required to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. Definitions of PLAGIARISM and the related penalties for this offence are available in the English Program Handbook and in the Undergraduate Calendar. Be sure to familiarize yourself with these as ignorance of the rules is no excuse and anyone caught committing an academic offence will face the severest penalties. Reading Journal 20% You will write a reading journal entry for each week of the course, beginning in week 2. For each entry, you will reflect both on the content of your readings for that week and your learning experience as you work with the texts and the in-class lectures and exercises. Record any questions that arise while you are reading, compare readings to what you have already learned, make connections to your current life contexts (political, social, literary etc.), and discuss any difficulties or challenges you have encountered and

3 F2018 ENGL / 7 any strategies you used to tackle them. The journals will be collected 2X over the semester. You will use material from your journal entries as a germ from which to develop your research essay. Midterm Examination 20% The midterm examination will be written during class time. No make-up exams will be scheduled without medical documentation delivered within the time limit specified in the Undergraduate Calendar. No make-up exams will be scheduled due to travel plans. Familiarize yourself with the regulations pertaining to exams. Research Essay 30% You will write an 8 pg. (12pt. Times New Roman font) research essay developed from your reading journal. All topics will be cleared with the instructor; therefore, you will hand in a one-two-page proposal for your paper in week 9. Your paper must conduct a comparative reading of at least two of the primary texts by two different authors. Your essay should cogently argue a significant analytical thesis and should be supported by careful research and close readings of the primary material. Be advised that the library s holdings may not be extensive in your specific area of interest, so leave yourself time to take advantage of interlibrary loan services. Final Examination 30% The final examination will be written during the exam period. No make-up exams will be scheduled without medical documentation delivered within the time limit specified in the Undergraduate Calendar. No make up exams will be scheduled due to travel plans. Familiarize yourself with the regulations pertaining to exams.

4 F2018 ENGL / 7 Structure of the Course Reading and Assignment Schedule NOTE: The reading assignments are generally not lengthy. Many of them, however, are very dense, and the language and rhetorical form may be unfamiliar to you. Give yourself ample time to read and to take careful notes. The headnotes available for each author in the text are very helpful and you are encouraged to make use of them. You are expected to read the entire selection under the main heading unless otherwise indicated. WEEK DATE READINGS KEYWORDS 1 SEP 6 What is? Intro/Admin: Lecture: : Core Questions and Practices Aesthetics, Art, Concept Mapping, Criticism, Epistemology, 2 Mimesis: Holding Up a Mirror to Nature SEP 11 Intro cont'd Reading: "Introduction to and Criticism" (1) Lecture: Classical Epistemology: Overview of Plato, Aristotle, Gorgias Allegory, Didacticism, Ideal/Forms, Mimesis, Phenomenal World, Reason/Dialectics/Deduction, Representation SEP 13 Reading: Plato, "Republic" Books VII, X; Anamnesis/Hypomnesis, Phonocentrism/Logocentrism, Techné, Writing

5 F2018 ENGL / 7 3 SEP 18 Plato cont d "Phaedrus" Signification and Polysemy SEP 20 Lecture: Medieval Epistemology: Augustine's of the Sign Metaphor (Tenor/Vehicle) Polysemy, Sign (Signifier/Signified, Natural/Conventional), Revelation, Transcendental Signifier, Truth Reading: Augustine, from "On Christian Teaching" 4 SEP 25 Augustine cont'd The Problem of Signification: Truth Claims SEP 27 Lecture: The Problem of Knowing: Truth, Rhetoric, and the Sign Encomium, Epideictic, Commonplace, Rhetoric, Sophistry, Truth Claims Reading: Gorgias, from "Encomium of Helen" 5 OCT 2 Lecture: The Problem of Knowing cont'd: Hume and Induction Empiricism, Induction, History, Sentiments, Standards, Taste, Value OCT 4 Reading: Hume from "Of the Standard of Taste" (486) AD HOC MID-AUTUMN BREAK. NO CLASS TODAY 6 Responses to the Problem of Signification: Logic, Order, Idealism OCT 9 Lecture: Responses to the Problem of Knowing: Induction: Finding the General in the Particular Reading: Aristotle, "Poetics" Atomism, Anagnorisis, Causes, Catharsis, Decorum, Dialectics, Empiricism, Induction, "Habits of Thought," Magnitude, Nature, Necessity, Peripity, Unity OCT 11 Aristotle cont'd/horace Reading: Horace, "Ars Poetica" Craft, Didacticism, dulce, Genius, Talent, utile READING JOURNAL DUE 7 OCT 16 Horace and Aristotle cont d Problems of OCT 18 Reading: Aquinas, from Signification "Summa Theologica" cont d Concept Mapping Allegory, Author, Hierarchy, Intent, Literal, Polysemy, Scholasticism

6 F2018 ENGL / 7 Figurative Language 8 Humanism, Empiricism, Merit, the "Self- Made 'Man'" Art, Society, Responsibility OCT 23 MIDTERM EXAMINATION 60 MIN IN-CLASS OCT 25 Lecture: Renaissance Epistemology: Humanism Reading: Boccaccio, "Genealogy of the Gentile Gods" Decorum, Figurative Language, Humanism, Humanist Curriculum (Trivium/Quadrivium), Veil, Work, Anxiety of Influence (Ancients v. Moderns), Civil Service, Humanism, Humanist Curriculum, Mercantilism, Meritocracy, Posterity, Printing Press, Republic of Letters, Self- Improvement Empiricism, Neoclassicism, Perspicuity, Progressivism, Sensibility, Utilitarianism, 9 Art, Society, Responsibility cont d Aestheticism and Disinterestedness OCT 30 NOV 1 Reading: Sidney, "An Apology for Poetry" ESSAY PROPOSAL DUE Lecture: Enlightenment and 19 th -Century Epistemology Decorum, Delight, Mimesis, (to) Move, nature/nature, Virtue Art for Art's Sake, Aestheticism, Beauty, Subjectivism Reading: Wilde, Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray; from "The Critic as Artist" Concept mapping 10 NOV 6 Reading: Arnold, "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time" NOV 8 Arnold & Wilde cont d Disinterestedness, Epochs (Expansion/Concentration), Liberal Humanism, Modernism, New Criticism 11 Backing Up: The Intrusion of History, or Hello, We're Right Here. NOV 13 NOV 15 CATCH-UP / ESSAY HELP Lecture: Precursors, Present, Posterity Reading: du Bellay, "The Defense and Enrichment of the French Language" Allegory, Authority, Counter- Discourse, Gender, Genealogy, Precursors Ancients v. Moderns, Class, Imitation/Innovation, Nationalism READING JOURNAL DUE 12 NOV 20 Preparation for Class Synthesizing information, building

7 F2018 ENGL / 7 Debate an argument, working in groups, devising a plan, assigning tasks and roles NOV 22 Class Debate: Ancients vs Moderns The two teams will debate using detailed references to course texts. ESSAYS DUE 13 Expression: But What about MEEEEE? What about MY feeeeelings? What is? Redux NOV 27 NOV 29 Lecture: The Turn to the Subjective, Romanticism, Expressivism WARNINGS for a bit of BRAIN MELT (in a good way). Leave yourself some time for this one: Reading: Hegel, "Phenomenology of the Spirit"; "Lectures on Fine Art REVIEW FOR EXAM Craft, Consciousness, Dialectic (Master/Slave), Expressivism, Self v Other, Self-Reflexivity, Subject v Individual, Spirit, (the) Work,