Introduction to Literary Theory and Methodology LITR.111 Spring 2013 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Sooyong Kim <skim@ku.edu.tr> Office: SOS Z08B, x1141 Office Hours: Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00, or by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is an introduction to the major schools of literary or critical theory from the past century, to the varied approaches scholars have taken to reading and interpreting texts. The schools covered begin with New Criticism and Reader-Response Theory and end with Postcolonial Studies. Besides gaining an understanding of the methods of each school, you will apply some of the methods to select works of short fiction. The readings for the course include general overviews, as well as important theoretical writings. TEXTS There are several main texts. Lois Tyson s Critical Theory Today provides the general overviews, and The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism the theoretical writings. For most of the course, Kate Chopin s The Storm will serve as a case study for applying the different critical methods. Four other works of short fiction will also serve as case studies. These and other readings are available as a course pack from the copy center. REQUIREMENTS Classes will consist of a background lecture and then discussion. You are expected to attend each class and to complete the reading assignments in full beforehand, so that we can have an informed discussion. Literary theory has a bit of a learning curve, especially the terminology, and it is not something that you can casually pick up. Your attendance and participation grade will be based largely on your active participation. From Week 3 onward, you will give as a group of 2 or 3 a presentation (~10 minutes) on a particular theorist s key ideas in connection with the assigned theoretical writing, as well as with the school under study. You are also required to produce a study handout, summarizing the key ideas, for your classmates. This will constitute a separate grade. There will be a midterm, testing you on the key ideas and terminology of the schools covered up to that point. In addition, you will write three papers. The first paper (3-4 pages) will be a case study on James Joyce s Araby, where you will apply a single critical method for analysis. For the second paper (5-6 pages), you will compare and contrast two critical methods. The third paper (7-8 pages) will be another case study, this time on Bessie Head s Snapshot of a Wedding, Salman Rushdie s Courter, or Murathan Mungan s Kanat Turizm in Deǧerli Yolcuları, where you will use your own mix of critical methods for analysis. GRADING Attendance / Presentation Midterm Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 Participation 20% 10% 20% 10% 15% 25% Note: Student and Classroom Codes of Conduct will be enforced.
SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS (subject to change) Week 1, Introduction Tuesday, February 5 Course overview Thursday, February 7 Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 2 nd ed. (2006), ch. 1, 1-10 Week 2, New Criticism and Reader Response Theory Tuesday, February 12 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 5, 135-50 Kate Chopin, The Storm, Complete Novels and Stories (2002), 926-31 [For information on Chopin, see <http://www.katechopin.org/>] How do nature imagery and point of view in The Storm support the theme that individual circumstances determine what is right and wrong, healthy and unhealthy? Thursday, February 14 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 6, 169-75, 178-82, 188-90 Re-read Chopin, The Storm How do the indeterminate aspects of The Storm (for example, events that are not clearly explained or that seem to have multiple explanations) function as a stimulus to interpretation? Week 3, Psychoanalysis Tuesday, February 19 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 2, 11-26, 34-39 What unconscious motives are operating in the characters of The Storm ; what core issues are thereby illustrated; and how do these core issues structure or inform the story? Thursday, February 21 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 26-34 Jacques Lacan, The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in the Psychoanalytic Experience in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, ed. Vincent B. Leitch (2001), 1285-90 [Note: The Norton Anthology selections include the introductions to the authors] Presentation on Lacan 2
Weeks 4, Marxism Tuesday, February 26 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 3, 53-68 What does The Storm suggest about the socioeconomic conditions of the time? Thursday, February 28 Louis Althusser, excerpt from Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses in Norton Anthology, 1496-05, 1508-09 Presentation on Althusser Week 5, Case Study: Araby Tuesday, March 5 James Joyce, Araby, Dubliners (1996), 29-36 Thursday, March 7 Garry M. Leonard, The Question and the Quest: The Story of Mangan s Sister, Modern Fiction Studies 35 (1989): 459-77, excerpt from Kitschy, Kitschy Coup: Life and History in a World of Mass- Produced Objects, Advertising and Commodity Culture in Joyce (1998), 50-56, 67 Week 6, Feminist Theory Tuesday, March 12 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 4, 83-95, 117-20 What does The Storm reveal about the operations (socially or psychologically) of patriarchy? Paper 1 due Thursday, March 14 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 4, 95-105 Hélène Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa in Norton Anthology, 2039-56 Presentation on Cixous Week 7, Structuralism Tuesday, March 19 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 7, 209-15, 216-21, 224-30, 233 Chopin, At the Cadian Ball, Complete Novels and Short Stories, 302-11 3
The Storm was written as a sequel to At the Cadian Ball. Is there a similar narrative grammar that structures both stories? Thursday, March 21 Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author in Norton Anthology, 1466-70 Presentation on Barthes Week 8, Deconstruction Tuesday, March 26 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 8, 249-55, 257-66 What ideology does The Storm seem to promote what is its main theme and how does conflicting evidence in the story show the limitations of that ideology? Thursday, March 28 Jacques Derrida, The Exorbitant. Question of Method from Of Grammatology in Norton Anthology, 1824-30 Presentation on Derrida Week 9, Midterm Tuesday, April 2 Review session Thursday, April 4 In-class midterm Week 10, Spring Break Week 11, New Historicism & Cultural Studies Tuesday, April 16 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 9, 281-300 Can we The Storm as interplay of both traditional and subversive discourses circulating in the culture of the time? Thursday, April 18 Michel Foucault, What Is an Author? in Norton Anthology, 1622-36 Presentation on Foucault 4
Week 12, Queer Theory & Gender Studies Tuesday, April 23 No class Thursday, April 25 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 10, 317-42 Judith Butler, excerpt from Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion in Norton Anthology, 2488-2501 Presentation on Butler Week 13, Postcolonial Studies Tuesday, April 30 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 12, 417-32 Paper 2 due Thursday, May 2 Frantz Fanon, excerpt from The Wretched of the Earth in Norton Anthology, 1578-87 Presentation on Fanon Week 14-15, Final Case Studies & Conclusion Tuesday, May 7 Bessie Head, Snapshots of a Wedding in African Short Stories (1985), 144-49 Thursday, May 9 Salman Rushdie, The Courter East, West Stories (1994), 175-211 Tuesday, May 14 Murathan Mungan, Kanat Turizm in Deǧerli Yolcuları, Kadından Kentler (2008), 137-56 Thursday, May 16 Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 13, 451-55 Paper 3 due by June 2 END NOTE As you might know already, the Purdue Online Writing Lab provides helpful resources, including the MLA Style guide the most commonly used to write papers and cite sources in the humanities. You are expected to follow the MLA Style guide in your papers. Moreover, the section Writing in Literature contains resources on literary terms and schools. The summaries found therein should be a model for your study handouts. Here are the links: <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/> <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/4/17/> 5