ASIGNATURA / COURSE INTRODUCCIÓN A LA LITERATURA INGLESA / INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LITERATURE 1.1. Código/ Course number 17240 1.2. Materia/ Content area Introducción a la Literatura Inglesa/ Introduction to the Study of English Literature 1.3. Tipo / Course type Obligatoria/ Compulsory subject 1.4. Nivel / Level of course Grado/ Bachelor (1 st Cycle) 1.5. Curso / Year of course 1º/ 1st 1.6. Semestre / Semestre 2º/ 2 nd (Spring Semester) 1.7. Número de créditos / Number of Credits Allocated 6 créditos ECTS/ 6 ECTS credits 1.8. Requisitos Previos / Prerequisites Students must have a suitable level of English that will allow them to read books in the language, and a minimal writing ability. Students should bear in mind that this subject provides them with the basis for the remainder of their literature studies in the Degree. 1 de 8
1.9. Requisitos mínimos de asistencia a las sesiones presenciales / Minimum attendance requirement Attendance is mandatory 1.10. Datos de los profesores / Faculty Data Manuel Aguirre Departamento de Filología Inglesa/ Dept. of English Studies Despacho/Office 206.IVbis Facultad de Filosofía y Letras/ School of Arts Tel. de despacho/ Office tel.:91/497.44.69 Dirección electrónica/e-mail address: m.aguirre@uam.es Office hours: will be announced in function of the UAM calendar and other criteria Julia Salmerón Departamento de Filología Inglesa/ Dept. of English Studies Despacho / Office: 205.VIbis Facultad de Filosofía y Letras/School of Arts Office tel.: 91/4978708 e-mail address: : julia.salmeron@uam.es Office hours will be announced in function of the UAM calendar and other criteria 1.11. Objetivos del curso / Course objectives a) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course provides an introduction to the main problems and features of literatures in English, as well as training in strategies of formal analysis of literary texts. As part of their training, students will be expected to master a range of writing and analysis techniques through in-depth reading of a suitable corpus of literary texts. b) SKILLS By the side of the skills pertinent to the Degree skills that will be progressively honed in this and other subjects the following are directly relevant to the present course: G1 To have a good command of English, attaining level C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in different written and spoken registers. G4 To know and understand the basic principles of the disciplines within what is known as English Studies: the study of the English language and the literature and culture of Englishspeaking countries. 2 de 8
G13 Develop a responsible approach to cooperative work environments. E6 Learn the instruments, metalanguage and methodology for the description and analysis of the main characteristics of the English language and of literature in English. E7 Become aware of the complex nature of language and literature and their relation with other disciplines and fields of knowledge, as well as of the ways in which social and cultural contexts have an influence on the nature of language and meaning. E10 Understand how form generates content and to be aware of the role played by context, author and audience in the creation of literary texts. E12 To recognise and appropriately value the expressive and aesthetic resources of literary phenomena. E14 To be able to carry out literary and linguistic analysis of a variety of texts in English, using the appropriate terminology and tools, and within the theoretical frameworks studied. T2 To know the principles and the development of the scientific method and of academic procedures, and to assimilate their ethical principles in terms of sources and authorship. T4 To be able to work collaboratively in tasks of collective negotiation and to participate constructively in a debate T5 To reflect on one's own learning process and know how to evaluate it. T6 To plan one's own work and to manage time effectively. T8 To acquire a critical attitude and an ethical commitment in the acquisition and management of knowledge. c) DESCRIPTION OF SUBJECT AND LEARNING OUTCOMES The basic objective of this course is to train students in techniques of analysis of literary texts. On completing the course, a demonstrable ability to analyze literary texts in English will be expected of them. This means students should: - Be familiar with and able to handle the technical terminology of literature studies - Recognize the techniques employed in each text studied - Understand how language generates meanings, the nexus between form and content, between technique and meaning - Be able to recognize textual data and solve basic textual problems - Be able to formulate (in English) results of analysis, ideas and problems with precision - be able to keep a critical attitude towards the literary text - be able to argue critically - Be able to identify literary patterns on various levels - In addition, students must have developed a minimum capacity in exposition and argumentation in both oral and written English 3 de 8
This is an eminently practical course designed to train students in the analysis of literary texts. Students are expected to read the texts before coming to class for discussion. We will not study the authors lives and times, but will concentrate on understanding the texts. The following technical concepts will be systematically studied in practice: linguistic, cultural and genre codes; imagery (metaphor, simile, synecdoche, metonymy, hyperbaton, personification, pathetic fallacy); narrative styles (direct, indirect, free indirect); repetition and its textual function; semantic fields and their function; poetic voice; narrative voice (omniscient, non-omniscient, unreliable narrator). Students will learn to recognize literary genres and several types of subgenre, as well as the elements characteristic of fiction (plot, theme, motif, characterization, setting, atmosphere, narrator, structure, point of view), of poetry (line, stanza, rhyme, alliteration, meter, and their semantic function), of drama (act, scene, dialogue, speech-act, stage direction, acting, performance). Given that the primary objective is training in analysis, we shall work with texts selected not because of their historical or synchronic place but only in function of their practical value as illustrating techniques and their function in the text. The course is taught entirely through the medium of English. 1.12. Contenidos del programa / Course contents UNIT 1. Introduction. The Short Story. Linguistic, cultural and generic codes. The elements of narrative. Author and narrator. Plot and story, narrative voice, character, setting, atmosphere. Metaphor and simile. Semantic fields. Repetition. The essentials of free indirect style. Texts: Hemingway s Chapter VII and The Revolutionist ; James Joyce s Araby. UNIT 2. The ballad. The elements of poetry. Rhyme, alliteration and ballad rhythm. Line, stanza and poem. Leaping and lingering. Narrative poetry. Image and symbol. Repetition. Voice. The English ballad and the Spanish romance. Text: The Demon Lover. UNIT 3. The elements of drama. Stage and stage-directions. Dialogue. Action and speech. Speech and speech-act. Characterization in dialogue. Text: John Osborne s Look Back in Anger. UNIT 4. The elements of poetry continued: Renaissance poetry. Rhyme and alliteration. Foot and stress. Iambic pentameter and iambic rhythm. Petrarchan imagery. The Petrarchan and the English sonnet. Extended metaphor. Themes and motifs. The English iambic pentameter and the Spanish endecasílabo. Texts: Sir Walter Raleigh s What Is Our Life?, William Shakespeare s Sonnet XII. UNIT 5. The elements of narrative: the novel. Narrative voice and the double narrator. The journal form. In medias res and suspense. Setting and description. Symbolism. Class conflict and social mobility. Love, hatred and revenge. Characterization and imagery. Text: Emily Bronte s Wuthering Heights. UNIT 6. The elements of poetry continued: Neoclassical to Romantic poetry. Iambic pentameter and heroic couplet. Construction of theme through diction. Texts: a fragment 4 de 8
from Alexander Pope s Windsor Forest, William Wordsworth s Composed on Westminster s Bridge. UNIT 7. The elements of poetry continued: Victorian to Modernist poetry. Changes in poetic diction. Exploiting or problematizing traditional metres. Different perspectives on a theme. Texts: Tennyson s The Charge of the Light Brigade, Wilfred Owen s Dulce et Decorum Est. UNIT 8. The elements of narrative continued: the novel. The autobiographical narrative voice and free indirect style: unreliable narrator. Three narrative voices. Realism and point of view. Text: Henry James The Turn of the Screw. UNIT 9. The elements of poetry continued: the twentieth century. Modernism. Free verse, old and new themes. Texts: H.D. s Oread, W. C. Williams This Is Just to Say and The Young Housewife, Margaret Atwood s You Fit Into Me. 1.13. Referencias de consulta / Course bibliography This course bibliography is mandatory: PRIMARY: I. Three short stories: Chapter VII, The Revolutionist (Ernest Hemingway), Araby (James Joyce) (all three included in Packet 1) II. A play: Look Back in Anger (John Osborne) III. Two novels: Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë) The Turn of the Screw (Henry James) IV. Five workbooks: Packet 1: The Short Story. Packet 2: Drama. Packet 3: Poetry. Packet 4: The Novel. Packet 5: Exam questions. RECOMMENDED SECONDARY LITERATURE Chris Baldick 1990 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008 5 de 8
2. Métodos docentes / Teaching methodology 1. Lectures will often combine theory and practice; this latter will require the students guided participation. 2. Practical sessions are geared towards practical work by students, and must lead to the development of skills and capacities mentioned under Objectives. 3. Before each session, students must a) read the appropriate text, b) read the presentation and notes for that text in the course workbooks, c) write out the exercises (if any) relevant to the session. 4. Students are expected to attend tutorials in small groups. The size and number of these will depend on the total number of students registered for each particular group in the course. 5. The purpose of tutorial hours is not for the lecturer to explain the subject but for students to do a series of graded exercises under supervision. These will include a number of exam-type questions. 6. Failure to meet deadlines for tasks will mean these will not count for assessment purposes. 7. The course includes five workbooks with texts and supplementary materials, as well as explanations on goals, methods and concepts, and problem tasks. These workbooks are set readings. 8. This is an introductory course which involves only classroom hours and does not foresee separate hours for self-work. This is justified on the following grounds: a. This is a First Year course.with exceptions, students have no university experience. b. The course is taught exclusively in English. c.every contact hour counts towards building up a capacity for reading, understanding and self-expression in English. d. At this level, every page of text students are asked to read will require explanatory comments. If these are provided in the form of further reading, they will in turn require verbal commentary. At this stage, there is no substitute for face-to-face contact. 6 de 8
3. Tiempo de trabajo del estudiante / Student workload Nº of hours Percent of total Contact hours Independent study time Theoretical classes + Practical Classes Tutorials 45 6-7 Final exam 3 Practical Activities & Exam preparation 25 Reading 70 Total Workload 25 hours x 6 ECTS 150 hours 38% = 55hours 62% = 95hours 4. Métodos de evaluación y porcentaje en la calificación final / Evaluation procedures and weight of components in the final grade Students shall be assessed on: a) active class participation and guided work, including tutorials 20 % b) exam 80 % REMARKS: These percentages may be subject to modification depending on class-numbers. For the second sitting (convocatoria extraordinaria), the participation mark will be retained and students will only have to resit the exam, which will again count for 80% of the final mark. 7 de 8
5. Cronograma/ Course schedule WEEK CONTENTS CONTACT HOURS (Lectures INDEPENDENT STUDY & Practical sessions) 1 Course Introduction UNIT 1 The short story 2 UNIT 1 3 UNIT 1 4 UNIT 2 The ballad UNIT 3 Drama: Look Back in Anger 5 UNIT 3 6 UNIT 3 7 UNIT 4 Renaissance poetry 8 UNIT 5 The novel: Wuthering Heights 9 UNIT 5 10 UNIT 5 UNIT 6 Neoclassical to Romantic poetry 11 UNIT 6 UNIT 7 Victorian to Modernist poetry 12 UNIT 8 The novel: The Turn of the Screw 13 UNIT 8 14 UNIT 8 UNIT 9: 20 th -century poetry 15 Final exam 3 Tutorials (between 6 and 7 hours) will be announced at the beginning of the course. 8 de 8