PAAS 302: LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORY IN PACIFIC AND ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES STUDIES Times: T 2.30-4.20, F 2.30-3.20 Room: TBA CRN: 12456 FALL 2013 Instructor: Richard King rking@uvic.ca, (250) 721-8708 Office: CLEC217 Course content and requirements: The course consists of introductions to literary theories, with a focus on those of twentieth and twenty-first century Western academic culture. Theories will be applied to selected works of literature (fiction, theatre, poetry), film, and popular culture, mostly from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Students are expected to complete all required readings, and to be ready to discuss them in class. Selected readings will be assigned to individual students for class presentations; students are encouraged to read from the supplementary readings list, and will be asked to summarize and critique some of these readings in class. Each student will make two classroom reports on readings and contribute to the critical symposium on October 29th; in addition, there will be student presentations at a class symposium in the final week. Students will write two analytical papers on literary texts read and discussed in class, or other texts as agreed with the instructor; one critique of a critical reading, and a final analysis of a text exploring a range of analytical strategies. The first three papers should be between 5 and 7 double-spaced pages, the final paper 8-10 pages. Students unconfident in their writing of essays (and unclear about the proper way to do footnotes and bibliographies) are advised to consult The University of Victoria Writer s Guide. Those wishing for further assistance in preparing a paper are encouraged to go to the Writing Centre, which is located at the end of the hall in the Learning Commons in the McPherson Library. The e-mail address for the Writing Centre is TWCcoor@uvic.ca, and the url is: http://www.ltc.uvic.ca/servicesprograms/twc.php. Students may not employ the services of a professional editor without prior approval. Class policies: 1
Late papers: Late papers or delayed presentations will not be accepted without the prior permission of the instructor. Failure to make a presentation or to hand in a paper will result in a grade of zero for that assignment. Originality of topic: No paper may be submitted for this course which was written for another course. Anyone wishing to work on a topic addressed in another course must obtain the permission of the instructor. Academic integrity: Students should be aware of the University s Policies on Academic Integrity (pp.32-4 of the 2012-3 UVic Calendar) and the Department s policy on plagiarism. Failure to comply with these policies will lead to a grade of zero on the assignment in question and a report to the Department. Assignments and Evaluation: Attendance and participation; contribution to class discussion 10% (Attendance is required at all classes, and marks will be deducted for repeated absence. Students will be expected to be familiar with assigned readings, and to be prepared to answer questions and engage in class activities) Class presentation as assigned 5% Contribution to critical symposium (5%) and final symposium (10%) 15% Three short papers, each worth 15% 45% Final paper 25% Required text: Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: 2 nd Edition. Manchester University Press, 2009. Recommended texts: Belsey, Catherine, Critical Practice. London: Methuen, 2002. Available electronically http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsinfo?bibid=1785541 Craig, Timothy J., and Richard King eds., Global Goes Local: Popular Culture in Asia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2002. Culler, Jonathon. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. (And other titles in the Very Short Introduction series). Additional readings are given for each section of the course. Others may be added during the course of the term Schedule: Week 1 (September 6): Introductory exercise; introduction to the course: What is theory and why should we read it? 2
Week 2 (September 10 & 13): Liberal humanism/ practical criticism Required reading: Barry, pp.1-10 and 11-37. Leavis, F.R., D.H. Lawrence (1930) in Valuation in Criticism and Other Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp.17-22. Belsey, Traditional Criticism and Common Sense, Critical Practice, chapter 1. Richards, I.A., Principles of Literary Criticism. New York: Harcourt, Brace, n.d. (first published 1925), especially chapter 16, The Analysis of a Poem, pp.114-132. Classroom exercise: Close reading : (text to be provided) Week 3 (September 17 & 20): Structuralism/ formalism/ semiotics Required reading: Barry, pp.38-58 Barthes, Structural Analysis of Narratives, in A Barthes Reader. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982, pp.251-268. Dolezelova-Velingerova, Milena, Lu Xun s Medicine, in Merle Goldman ed., Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977, pp.221-31. Lu Xun, Medicine, in Selected Stories of Lu Hsun. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1960, pp.25-33. Seno Gumira Adjidarma, Clara, in Jakarta at a Certain Point in Time: Fiction, Essays and a Play from the Post-Suharto Era in Indonesia. Victoria: CAPI, 2002, pp.29-37. Supplementary readings: Bodden, Michael H., Introduction, in Jakarta at a Certain Point in Time, pp.1-17. Eagleton, 91-126 Week 4 (September 24 & 27): Freud, Jung, and their inheritors 1. Psychoanalytic criticism Barry, pp.92-115 Sarup, Madan, The Freudian Terrain, in Sarup, Jacques Lacan. London: Harvester, 1992, pp.1-16. Trilling, Lionel, Freud and Literature, in David Lodge, 20 th Century Literary Criticism: A Reader, New York: Longman, 1972, pp.276-290. 3
Supplementary readings: Lacan, Jacques, The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious, in David Lodge with Nigel Wood, Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. New York: Longman, 2 nd edition, 2000, pp.61-87. 2. Allegories and archetypes Jung, C.G., Psychology and Literature, in Lodge, 20 th Century Literary Criticism, pp.175-188. Frye, Northrop, The Archetypes of Literature, in Lodge, 20 th Century Literary Criticism, pp.422-433. Classroom exercise: Case studies/ narrative universals First Assignment due October 1: analysis of one of the classroom readings Week 5 (October 1 & 4): Marxist and feminist criticism Readings for Tuesday: Barry, pp.150-165. Denton, Kirk A., Literature and Politics: Mao Zedong s Talks at the Yan an Forum on Literature and Art, in Joshua Mostow ed., The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, pp.463-9. Williams, Raymond, Literature, in Terry Eagleton and Drew Milne eds., Marxist Literary Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, pp.260-268. Supplementary readings: Wang, Ban, Socialist Realism, in Wang ed., Words and Their Stories: Essays on the Language of the Chinese Revolution. Leiden: Brill, 2011, pp. 101-118. Readings for Friday: Barry, pp. 116-133 Four selections from Mary Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996: Showalter, Elaine, Toward a Feminist Poetics : Women Writing and Writing About Women, pp. 254-257. Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar, from The Madwoman in the Attic, pp.91-98. Lovell, Terry, Consuming Fiction, pp.99-100., Writing Like a Woman: A Question of Politics The Politics of Theory, pp.118-120. Cixous, Helene, The Laugh of the Medusa in Elaine Marks and Isabelle de Courtivron eds., New French Feminisms. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1980, pp.245-264. 4
Short stories for analysis: Tuan Jui-hsia [Duan Ruixia], Not Just One of the Audience Sylvania, Mona, Ningsih Week 6 (October 8 & 11): From modernism to postmodernism: Barry, pp.78-91 Lyotard, Jean-Francois, from The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge in Joseph Natoli and Linda Hutcheon ed., A Postmodern Reader. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993, pp.71-90 Jameson, Fredric, from Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capatalism, in Joseph Natoli and Linda Hutcheon ed., A Postmodern Reader. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993, pp.312-332. Viewing: Modern Times, dir Charles Chaplin, 1936. Tampopo, dir Juzo Itami, 1987. Big Shot s Funeral, dir. Feng Xiaogang, 2002 Story for Analysis: Ma Yuan, A Wall Covered with Strange Patterns Week 7 (October 15 & 18): Poststructuralism and deconstruction Barry, pp. 61-80 Belsey, Deconstruction and the Differance [sic] it makes, and Towards a Productive Critical Practice, Critical Practice, chapters 7 & 8. Derrida, Jacques, from On Grammatology (1967) in Harrison, Charles and Paul Wood ed., Art in Theory 1900-1999. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992, pp.918-923. Foucault, Michel, from What is an Author? In Harrison and Wood, pp.923-8. Belsey, Catherine, Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. De Man, Paul, The Resistance to Theory, in Lodge, Modern Criticism and Theory, pp. 331-47. Second Assignment due October 22: critique of one of the critical readings Week 8 (October 22 & 25): Orientalism revisited; cultural studies, and the hybrid 5
Required, if you missed it before: Said, Edward W., Introduction, in Said, Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978 (and subsequent editions), pp.1-28. Kipling, Rudyard, The White Man s Burden (1899), and George Orwell, Rudyard Kipling (1942). To obtain a copy of either, type author and title into your search engine. Supplementary, if you missed it before: Chen, Xiaomei, Introduction, in Chen, Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China. Lanham, MA: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002 edition, pp.1-22. Readings for Tuesday: Upton, Janet L., "The Politics and Poetics of Sister Drum: Tibetan Music in the Global Marketplace," Global Goes Local, pp.99-119. Supplementary readings: King, Richard and Timothy J. Craig, "Asia and Global Popular Culture: The View from He Yong's Garbage Dump, Global Goes Local, pp.3-11. Metcalf, Peter, Hulk Hogan in the Rainforest, Global Goes Local, pp.15-24. Barthes, Roland, The World of Wrestling, in Barthes, Mythologies. London: Jonathon Cape, pp.15-25. Home viewing for hybridity: Go to YouTube and type in: Dadawa - Sister Drum (and other titles) Zheng Jun & Soinam Wangmo - Back to Lhasa He Yong - Garbage Dump Seo Taiji and Boys - Nan Arayo (and other titles) Ryoichi Hattori - Tokyo boogie-woogie Viewing: Gilbert, W.S., and Arthur Sullivan, The Mikado, dir. Brian Macdonald, 1986. Puccini, Giacomo, Madame Butterfly, dir. Frédéric Mitterand, 2002. Week 9 (October 29 & November 1): Critical symposium Stories for criticism: Djenar Maesa Ayu, Don t Fool Around (With Your Marriage) Murakami, Haruki, On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, Xu Xi, Loving Graham Latorena, Paz, Desire Friday: Reading a classical Chinese poem Guest lecture by Dr. Tsung-Cheng Lin for students of PAAS 302 and 353 reading: Wu Weiye (1609-1671), A Song on Hearing the Taoist Priestess Bian Yujing 6
Play the Zither Week 10 (November 5 & 8): Narratology Tuesday: Narratology Barry, pp.222-247. Mo Yan, Red Sorghum. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993, pp.3-14. Stuckey, G. Andrew, Memory or Fantasy? Honggaoliang s narrator, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, vol.18, number 2 (Fall, 2006), pp.131-162. Bal, Mieke: Focalization, in Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997, pp. 142-154. Genette, Gerard, Narrative Discourse. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980), pp.25-32. Friday: How to read the Chinese classic novel Shuihuzhuan/ Outlaws of the Marsh/ All Men are Brothers Readings provided in class Third Assignment due November 15: analysis of a reading or viewing, either one discussed in class or one chosen by agreement with the instructor Week 11 (November 15 only): TBA Week 12 (November 19 & 22): Theory and anti-theory Tuesday: Barry, Literary Theory a history in ten events, pp.262-286. Patai, Daphne, and Will H. Corrall, Introduction, in Patai and Corrall eds., Theory s Empire: An Anthology of Dissent. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, pp.1-18. Good, Graham, Presentism: Postmodernism, Poststructuralism, Postcolonialism, Theory s Empire, pp.297-312. Marks, Elaine, Feminism s Perverse Effects, Theory s Empire, pp.419-424. Friday: Barry: Theory after Theory, pp. 287-371. Other selections from Theory s Empire if time permits Week 13 (November 26 & 29, and December 3 if needed): Student presentations based on final papers Final paper due December 3; analytical paper on a topic to be agreed between student and instructor 7