COURSE DESCRIPTION 1. Information on the academic program 1.1.Higher education institution 1.2.Faculty 1.3.Department 1.4.Field 1.5.Study cycle 1.6.Program / Qualification Spiru Haret University Faculty of Letters Department of Letters Language and Literature I / B.A. Romanian Language and Literature A English Language and Literature B 2. Information concerning the course subject 2.1.Name of subject Recent Directions in Anglo-American Literary Theory 2.2.Course organizer Dr. Ecaterina Patrascu, r 2.3.Seminar organizer Dr. Ecaterina Patrascu, r 2.4. Year of study III 2.5.Semester VI 2.6.Evaluation type Cv 2.7.Course type OPT 3. Estimated time (hours per semester) of teaching / learning activities 3.1 No. hours per week 2 3.2 of which course hours: 1 3.3 of which seminar / lab hours: 3.4 No. hours in the curriculum 24 3.5 of which 12 3.6 of which seminar / course hours: lab hours: Distribution of teaching / learning time hours Study of textbook, syllabus, bibliography and course notes 5 Further study in library, on electronic platforms, fieldwork 10 Preparation of seminars / labs, home assignments, papers, portfolio, essays 10 Tutoring 0 Examinations 1 Other 0 3.7 Total hours of individual study 26 3.9 Total hours per semester 50 3.10 No. of credits 2 1 12 4. Prerequisites (where relevant) 4.1 curriculum-related Cycle 1 History of English Literature A-3, History of English Literature A- 4, Theory of Literature, Comparative literature, Literary Theory and World Literature 4.2 competence-related Good knowledge of English as a result of assimilating thematic contents based on acquiring the following competences: The ability to access a literary text linguistically The ability to place a literary text within its trend and historical context The ability to relate analytically to a literary text by using elements from the theory of literature The ability to relate critically to a literary text, as a result of applying components of historical and literary contextualization and textual analysis 5. Facilities and equipment (where relevant) 5.1. for the course The lectures will take place in the class. For the interdisciplinary component of the course, a laptop and a video projector will be used when necessary. 5.2. for the seminar / lab
6. Competences acquired during / after the course Professional competences Analysis of recent trends in Anglo-American literary theory The presentation and analysis of the literary phenomena in the context of postcolonial culture The description of the specificities of the postcolonial discourse Explaining the place of the literary works in the postcolonial cultural context, and their correlation with the literary tradition in the English and world culture The textual analysis of the literary work, by applying the theoretical vocabulary and the use of the literary and historical background The critical analysis of the literary text, as consequence of developing the competences of literary and historical contextualization and textual analysis. Transversal competences Competence in using the technology of information and communication Competence of learning Civic, interpersonal, intercultural and social competences Competences in cultural expression Critical thinking competence. 7. Course objectives (as resulting from the matrix of specific competences) 7.1 Course goals The general objective of the optional course is informing and familiarizing students with recent directions in literary theory, with the postcolonial theoretical vocabulary in particular, as well as exposing students to a number of representative literary texts. By the end of the course, students will have acquired the necessary information in order to be able to discriminate postcolonialism as a distinct cultural, political and literary phenomenon. 7.2 Course objectives Students will acquire essential elements of recent theoretical vocabulary Students will be familiarized with key terms of the postcolonial discourse: identity, migration, hybridization, nation, ambivalence, alterity, diaspora, ethnicity, ideology, mimicry, orientalism, race, subaltern, space/place Students are exposed to a number of texts from the postcolonial literature, significant for the theme of the course postcolonial identities Students will be able to establish similarities and differences between the postcolonial texts and texts from postmodern contemporary literature. 8. Contents
8.1 Course Teaching methods Observations 1-2. Recent trends in literary theory 3-4. Theoretical aspects of postcolonialism 5-6. Concepts of identity, nation, migration, hybridization in the postcolonial vocabulary 7-8. Kiran Desai The Inheritance of Loss the failure of the postcolonial migration 9-10. The problematic of identity in Kiran Desai The Inheritance of Loss 11-12. Critical Approaches to the postcolonial discourse Bibliography A. COMPULSORY: Desai, Kiran Mostenitoarea taramului pierdut, Polirom, Iasi, 2007 Ashcroft, Bill The Empire Writes Back: theory and practice in post-colonial literatures, London: Routledge, 1989 Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin - The Post-colonial studies reader, London: Routledge, 1995 Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture, London: Routledge 1994 Gandhi, Leela Postcolonial Theory: a critical introduction, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998 Patrascu, Ecaterina Realitate istorica si imaginatie. Romanul britanic si american postmodern, Editura Institutul European, Iasi, 2009. b. FACULTATIVE: Lazarus, Neil - The Cambridge Companion to postcolonial literary studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004 Loomba, Ania Colonialism Postcolonialism, London; New York: Routledge 2002 McLeod, John - The Routledge Companion to Postcolonial Studies, London; New York: Routledge, 2007 Moore- Gilbert, B.J. Postcolonial Theory: contexts, practices, politics, London: Verso 1997 C. SUPPLIMENTARY: Young, Robert Colonial Desire: hybridity in theory, culture, and race, London; New York: Routledge, 1995 Young, Robert White Mythologies: writing history and the West, London; New York: Routledge, 2nd edition, 2004 Young, Robert J. C. Postcolonialism: an historical introduction, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001
8.2 Seminar / lab Teaching methods Observations 1-2. Jhumpa Lahiri The Namesake the postcolonial discourse 3-4. Jhumpa Lahiri The Namesake identity construction 5-6. Prejudice, fanaticism and new humanism Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses 7-8. Postcolonial identities Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses 9-10. Voices of postcolonial unrest J.M. Coetzee - Disgrace 11-12. Themes of postcolonialism in Disgrace J.M. Coetzee Bibliography (compulsory) Lahiri, Jhumpa Porecla, Editura Univers, 2009 Rushdie, Salman Versetele satanice, Polirom, Iasi, 2007 Coetzee, J.M. Dezonoare, Humanitas, Bucuresti, 2006 9. Course s relevance to the epistemic community, professional associations, and representative employers in fields significant for the program The discussion of the content of the discipline at the CIAMPS meetings with students, professors, graduates and employers 10. Assessment Activity 10.1 Assessment criteria 10.2 Assessment method 10.3 Weight in the final grade 10.4 Course Active participation during lectures questions and comments Class participation and presence, the solidity of classes 50% 10.5 Seminar / lab Coverage of bibliography, acquirement of the critical discourse and the capacity to use the analytic- critical competences as to the literary text Coverage of bibliography, acquirement of the critical discourse and the capacity to use the analytic- critical competences as to the literary text FINAL WRITTEN ASSESSMENT 50% 10.6 Minimal performance standard ACTIVE CONTRIBUTION TO CLASSES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Date: Course organizer s signature, Seminar organizer s signature, 28 Sept. 2012 Dr. Ecaterina Pătraşcu Dr. Ecaterina Pătraşcu
Date of Dept. approval Head of Dept. signature Dr. Liviu Andreescu