Assignments
Critical Theory
English 491-75: Interpretive Theory: The New Criticism to the
Present
Spring 2005, MW: 7:00-8:15PM, Bingham Humanities Bldg 103
Article Summary 1: Theory
You will summarize and then present to the class two essays, one theoretical
(Summary 1: Theory) and one interpretive (Summary 2: Criticism).
Once in the semester, you will summarize a particular theorist's essay, or
group of essays, and post your summary to
the Article Summary discussion board in Blackboard.
Typically this due date will be the Wednesday before the class discusses
the work. If there is more than one essay by the author, see the accompanying
note to determine which essay you may summarize. The summary should
- be formatted in Word (not WordPerfect or Works) according to this MLA
styled template,
- be
2-3 double-spaced pages long,
- summarize the article's argument,
- define
key terms,
- and include questions for class discussion.
You will also
be responsible for an informal, 3 minute presentation which
introduces the essay by defining key points and terms, without simply reading
your written summary, and broaches issues for class discussion. Approximately
one week after submission, your graded response will be returned to you in
Blackboard > View
Grades > Summary
1: Theory.
Note: As I wrote on the syllabus course schedule, we may have to slow down
for certain theorists and theories. We will not be able to discuss
each and every article in class. Thus, some articles may only be summarized
on Blackboard's Article Summary discussion board and presented
to the class by the person assigned to the article. Therefore, it is extremely
important for each person to turn in the summaries on time and attend class
for the presentation component. Summaries will be penalized one letter grade
for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. Failing to present
the article to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result
in a one letter grade penalty.
| Week 1 |
due F, 1-14 |
New Criticism
Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" and "The Formalist Critics" [summarize
one or both] |
Charles Westmoreland |
| Week 2 |
due W, 1-19 |
Ransom |
Ali Mian |
| Wimsatt and Beardsley, "The Intentional Fallacy" and "The
Affective Fallacy" [summarize one or both] |
Kristin J. Reading |
Marxism
Trotsky |
Michael Black |
| Week 3 |
due W, 1-26 |
Lukács |
Patrick DeSpain |
Horkheimer and Adorno |
Isaac Spradlin |
| Week 4 |
due W, 2-2 |
Benjamin |
Zack Rhodes |
Althusser, from "Ideology and Ideological
State Apparatuses" [summarize only "Ideology
and Ideological State Apparatuses"] |
Amy Welch |
| Gramsci |
Cicely Nevitt |
| Week 5 |
due W, 2-9 |
Jameson, from "The Political Unconscious" and "Postmodernism
and Consumer Society" [summarize only one
essay] |
Stephen Lee |
Psychoanalysis
Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams, "The
'Uncanny'," and "Fetishism" [summarize
one or two essays] |
Barbara Stacey
Gillian Wofford |
| Week 6 |
due W, 2-16 |
Jung |
Ryan Reynolds |
| Bloom |
Greta Murr |
Lacan, "The Mirror Stage," from "The Agency of the
Letter in the Unconscious," "The Signification of the Phallus" [summarize
only one essay] |
Stacey Coogle |
| Week 7 |
due W, 2-23 |
Kristeva |
Derek Sharp |
Deleuze and Guattari, from Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature and
from A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia [summarize
only one essay] |
Stephanie Brand
Melissa Miller |
| Week 8 |
due W, 3-2 |
Mulvey |
Frances Schueler |
Structuralism and Semiotics
Saussure |
Jessica Burns |
| Week 9 |
due W, 3-9 |
Jakobson, from "Linguistics and Poetics" and "Two
Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances" [summarize
only one essay] |
Steve Hosch |
Frye |
Vanessa Wieland |
| Todorov |
David Wright |
| Week 10 |
none |
No Class: Spring Break |
|
| Week 11 |
due W, 3-23 |
Barthes, "The Death of the Author" [summarize
only "The Death of the Author"] |
Robert Jones |
| Week 12 |
due W, 3-30 |
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
Foucault, "What Is an Author?" [summarize
only "What Is an Author?"] |
Pamala Bryant |
| Butler, from Gender Trouble |
Shelby Dogan |
| Week 13 |
due W, 4-6 |
De Man, "Semiology and Rhetoric" [summarize
only "Semiology and Rhetoric"] |
Michael Mayes |
Derrida, from Of Grammatology and from Dissemination [summarize
only one essay] |
Christi Burton |
| Week 14 |
due W, 4-13 |
Baudrillard |
Ryan Ridge |
Cixous |
Kevin Corbin |
| Week 15 |
none |
|
|
| Finals |
none |
No Class: Exam 3 |
|
Article Summary 2: Criticism
Once in the semester, you will summarize an interpretive essay on The Awakening, The
Great Gatsby, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or Hamlet,
which exemplifies one of four theoretical methodoligies, Marxism, psychoanalysis,
structuralism or poststructuralism, and post your summary
to the Article Summary discussion board in Blackboard.
Typically this due date will be the Wednesday before the class discusses
the work. The summary should
- be formatted in Word (not WordPerfect or Works) according to this MLA
styled template,
- be 2-3 double-spaced pages long,
- summarize the article's thesis,
- define the article's method in terms of questions posed of the text and
evidence used,
- and evaluate what the article does and does not illuminate about the text.
You will also be responsible for an informal, 3 minute presentation which
introduces the essay by defining its thesis and method as well as evaluating
its interpretive usefulness, without simply reading your written summary. Approximately
one week after submission, your graded response will be returned to you in
Blackboard > View Grades > Summary 2: Criticism.
Note: As I wrote on the syllabus course schedule, we may have to slow down
for certain theorists and theories. We will not be able to discuss each
and every article in class. Thus, some articles may only be summarized on Blackboard's
Article Summary discussion board and presented to the class by the person assigned
to the article. Therefore, it is extremely important for each person to turn
in the summaries on time and attend class for the presentation component. Summaries
will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they
are turned in late. Failing to present the article to the class without providing
a valid absence excuse will result in a one letter grade penalty.
| Week 1 |
none |
|
|
| Week 2 |
due W, 1-19 |
Marxism
Tyson on Fitgerald, "You Are What You Own" |
Stephanie Brand
Lisa Clark |
| Week 3 |
due W, 1-26 |
Rowe on Chopin, "The Economics of the Body in Kate
Chopin's The Awakening" |
Jessica Burns
Amy Welch |
| Week 4 |
due W, 2-2 |
Naremore on Joyce, "Consciousness and Society in A
Portrait of the Artist" |
Patrick DeSpain
Michael Mayes |
| Bristol on Shakespeare, "Carnival and the Carnivalesque
in Hamlet" |
Stacey Coogle
Vanessa Wieland |
| Week 5 |
due W, 2-9 |
Psychoanalysis
Tyson on Fitzgerald, "What's Love Got to Do with It?" (34-44) |
Pamela Bryant
Steve Hosch |
| Week 6 |
due W, 2-16 |
McGowan on Chopin, "The Awakening of Desire" |
Kristin J. Reading
Zack Rhodes |
| Week 7 |
due W, 2-23 |
Brivic on Joyce, "The Disjunctive Structure of Joyce's Portrait" |
Steven Lee |
| Adelman on Shakespeare, "Hamlet and
the Confrontation with the Maternal Body" |
Christi Burton
Derek Sharp |
| Week 8 |
due W, 3-2 |
Structuralism and Semiotics
Tyson on Fitzgerald, "'Seek and Ye
Shall Find' . . . and Then Lose" |
Greta Murr
Charles Westmoreland |
| Week 9 |
due W, 3-9 |
Mathews on Chopin, "Fashioning the Hybrid Woman" |
Shelby Dogan
Ali Mian |
| Mitchell on Joyce, "A Portrait and the Bildungsroman Tradition" |
Kevin Corbin
Melissa Miller |
| Week 10 |
none |
No Class: Spring Break |
|
| Week 11 |
due W, 3-23 |
Ferguson on Shakespeare, "Hamlet: Letters and
Spirits" |
Cicely Nevitt
Ryan Ridge |
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
Tyson on Fitzgerald, ". . . the thrilling, returning trains of
my youth . . ." |
Ryan Reynolds
Isaac Spradlin |
| Week 12 |
due W, 3-30 |
Yaeger on Chopin, "'A Language Which Nobody Understood'" |
Barbara Stacey
Gillian Wofford |
| Week 13 |
due W, 4-6 |
Herr on Joyce, "Deconstructing Dedalus" |
Robert Jones
David Wright |
| Garber on Shakespeare, "Hamlet:
Giving Up the Ghost" (283-331) |
Michael Black
Frances Schueler |
| Week 14 |
none |
|
|
| Week 15 |
none |
|
|
| Finals |
none |
No Class: Exam 3 |
|
Exam 1
The first exam is composed of two 4-6 page essays.
In the first essay, define and debate the key terms of what constitutes meaning
for New Criticism and Marxism. In the second essay, apply New Critical
and Marxist methodologies to poems by Robert Lowell.
- Essay 1
- Write an essay that compares and contrasts 1) how a generic New Critic
and generic Marxist critic approach art and literature in terms of meaning
and 2) how a specific New Critic and a specific Marxist critic approach
art and literature in terms of meaning. What is meaningful and what constitutes
meaning inside, outside, or for a text? Use and define key terms that
have significance and meaning for the general theory and key terms particular
to a specific theorist. For example, when discussing what is interpretively
significant to the generic New Criticic you could use such terms as biographical
criticism, formalist criticism, close reading, and "the text itself";
if discussing Cleanth Brooks in particular, then heresy of paraphrase,
organic unity, irony, paradox, and ambiguity are key.
- Essay 2
- Read the poems by Robert Lowell available in Blackboard > English
491 > Course Documents > Course Packet and then write an essay that
compares and contrasts 1) how a generic New Critic
and a generic Marxist
critic would approach these texts as well as 2)
how a specific New Critic and a specific Marxist (both
of your choosing, but not repeating a writer used in the first essay)
would
interpret one or some of these poems with their particular versions of
the general method. Unlike a traditional literature essay exam which
would only require you to elucidate the meaning of the work of literature,
your answer in this exam should explicitly exemplify the methods that
guide interpretation of meaning. In other words, your essay should illustrate
the differing interpretive theories that underlie the practice of criticism.
- Length: Each essay should be 4-6 pages long, for a total of 8-12
pages.
- Style: Conform your exam to MLA
style (1" margins, double-spacing).
- Due: Wednesday, February 16
- Format: I'll accept papers in hard copy or electronic format.
- Paper
- Turn in at the beginning of class.
- Note: I do not accept late hard copies of papers. If you
turn in your exam late, you must do so via Blackboard.
I will use the time and date stamp to determine late penalties.
Thus, an exam due February 16 will be considered on
time if it is submitted at or before 11:59PM on February 16
but one day late if submitted at or after 12:00AM on February
17.
- Electronic
- Use Word or WordPerfect format. I do not read
exams submitted in Acrobat, html, Notepad, Publisher, Writepad, Works,
or other formats; consequently, your paper will be considered late
until you turn it in in the appropriate format.
- Turn
in via Blackboard >
English 491 > Exams > Exam 1 View/Complete. Browse to where
your file is located on your local disk, and
then upload the file to Blackboard. Be certain to click the Submit
button.
- Note: If
you have problems with Blackboard, you may email your paper to me as
an attachment.
- Grade: You will be graded on your understanding of 1) the two
theories in general, 2) the two theorists' particular versions of the
theories, and 3) your practical application of the general theories in
reading the poems, and 4) your practical application of the particular
theorists in reading the poems. Your graded exam will be returned approximately
one week after you submit it.
- If you turned it in on paper, it will be returned to you in
class.
- If you turned it in electronically, you can retrieve it at Blackboard > English
491 > Tools > View Grades > Exam 1. Click
the "0" link to open up your grade. Your graded paper is the attached
file in section 3, Feedback to Student.
Exam 2
The second exam is composed of two 4-6 page essays. In the first essay, define
and debate the key terms of what psychoanalysis and structuralism finds meaningful
in their respective theories. In the second essay, apply psychoanalytic and
structuralist methodologies of interpretation to either the short story by
John Barth or Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
- Essay 1
- Write an essay that compares and contrasts psychoanalytic theory with
structuralist theory by discussing both 1) the theories in general and
2) a specific psychoanalytical theorist and a specific structuralist theorist
in particular. How do the general theories and specific theorists view
the human world in general and approach art in particular? Use and define
key terms that have significance and meaning for the general theory and
key terms particular to a specific theorist. For example, when discussing
what is significant to the psychoanalytical world view, you could use
such terms as unconscious and repression; id, ego, and superego; and reality
and pleasure; if discussing Harold Bloom in particular, then anxiety,
belatedness, and misprison are key.
- Essay 2
- Read John Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" and Charlotte Perkins
Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" available in Blackboard > English 491 > Course Documents > Course Packet and then write
an essay on just one of the short stories (not both) that
compares and contrasts 1) how a generic psychoanalytic theorist and a
generic structuralist theorist would approach the short story as well
as 2) how a specific psychoanalytic theorist and a specific structuralist
theorist (both of your choosing, but not repeating a writer used in the
first essay) would examine the short story. Unlike a traditional literature
essay exam which would only require you to elucidate the meaning of the
work of literature, your answer in this exam should explicitly exemplify
the methods that guide interpretation of meaning. In other words, your
essay should illustrate the differing interpretive theories that underlie
the practice of criticism.
- Length: Each essay should be 4-6 pages long, for a total of 8-12
pages.
- Style: Conform your exam to MLA
style (1" margins, double-spacing).
- Due: The preferred due date is Wednesday, March 30, but you may
submit your exam via Blackboard only on Thursday, March 31.
- Format: I'll accept papers in hard copy or electronic format.
- Paper: due on Wednesday, March 30
- Turn in at the beginning of class.
- Note: I do not accept hard copies of papers after 7:00PM Wednesday,
March 30. If you turn in your exam after that time, you must do so
via Blackboard. I will use the time and date stamp to determine late
penalties. Thus, an exam due March 31 will be considered on time if
it is submitted at 11:59PM on Thursday, March 31 but one day late if
submitted at 12:00AM on Friday, April 1.
- Electronic: due on Thursday, March 31
- Use Word or WordPerfect format. I do not read exams submitted in Acrobat,
html, Notepad, Publisher, Writepad, Works, or other formats; consequently,
your paper will be considered late until you turn it in in the appropriate
format.
- Turn in via Blackboard > English 491 > Exams > Exam 2 View/Complete. Browse to where
your file is located on your local disk, and then upload the file to Blackboard.
Be certain to click the Submit button.
- Note: If you have problems with Blackboard, you may email your paper
to me as an attachment.
- Grade: Your graded exam will be returned approximately one week after
you submit it.
- If you turned it in on paper, it will be returned to you in class.
- If you turned it in electronically, you can retrieve it at Blackboard > English 491 > Tools > View Grades > Exam 2. Click the "0"
link to open up your grade. Your graded paper is the attached file in section
3, Feedback to Student.
Exam 3
The final exam is composed of two essays of 6-8 pages each. In the first,
theoretical, essay, you will discuss poststructuralism. In the second, interpretive,
essay, you will use a particular theory and theorist of your choosing to
interpret a work of literature of your choosing.
- Essay 1
- In 6-8 pages, discuss the systematic theory and critical practice of
poststructuralism by comparing and contrasting the thinking of two or three
theorists. First, define poststructuralist theory in general and show how
two or three theorists exemplify such thinking. Second, distinguish the
two of three theorists' individual versions of poststructuralism. In what
ways do the two or three theorists advocate similar yet different types
of poststructuralism? Where do the theorists' methods of interpreting
literature converge and diverge? While the previous two exams required
you to compare and contrast theories, this exam asks you to compare and
contrast theorists who use the same general theoretical methodology.
- Essay 2
- In 6-8 pages, read and criticize a work of literature of your choosing
from the methodological perspective of one of the theorists we've read
in the course, also of your choosing. Although the work of literature may
not be one that we've analyzed (Barth, Fitzgerald, Gilman, Joyce, Lowell,
Shakespeare), the theorist may be one on whom you've previously written,
including in the first essay of the third exam. Your paper should interpret
the work of literature like the critical essays on Chopin, Fitzgerald,
Joyce, and Shakespeare exemplify the methods. Apply a specific theorist's
critical methodology to a work of literature.
- By Wednesday, April 6, you should decide on the work
of literature and theorist so that you can start thinking about, if not
working on, your paper before the last week of class. I encourage you to
run your ideas by me. Note:
On the last day of class, Wednesday, April 20, you will be asked to share
your topic and preliminary thesis statement with the class. (Click
here to see the list of literary texts to which students applyied the theorists.)
- Length: Each essay should be 6-8 pages long, for a total of 12-16
pages.
- Style: Conform your exam to MLA
style (1" margins, double-spacing).
- Due: Wednesday, April 27.
- If I do not receive or cannot open your paper, I will send an email
to your university address Wednesday night or Thursday morning. If I
still do not receive or cannot open your paper by Friday, April 29, you
will automatically fail the course.
- Format: I'll accept papers in hard copy or electronic format.
- Paper
- Turn in to my mailbox, HUM315, by 5:00PM or to me in my office, HUM335A
between 4:30 and 8:30PM on Wednesday, April 27.
- Note: I do not accept late hard copies of papers. If you turn in
your exam late, you must do so via Blackboard. I will use the time
and date stamp to determine late penalties. Thus, an exam due April
27 will be considered on time if it is submitted at 11:59PM on April
27 but one day late if submitted at 12:00AM on April 28.
- Electronic
- Use Word or WordPerfect format. I
do not read exams submitted in Acrobat, html, Notepad, Publisher, Writepad,
Works, or other formats; consequently, your paper will be considered
late until you turn it in in the appropriate format.
- Turn in via Blackboard > English
491 > Exams > Exam 3 View/Complete. Browse to where your file is
located on your local disk, and then upload the file to Blackboard. Be
certain to click the Submit button.
- Note: If you have problems with Blackboard, you may email your paper
to me as an attachment.
- Grades, Comments and Paper Return:
- You can access your final grade in the course via Ulink after
Monday, May 2.
- If you want comments, please ask for them.
- If you request comments for a hard copy exam and want the physical
copy returned to you, please provide a self-addressed manilla envelope
with sufficient postage.
- If you request comments for an electronic exam, you can
access your graded electronic exam in Blackboard > Tools > View
Grades > Exam 3 after Monday, May 2.
Exam 3, Essay 2 Topics
| Student |
Text |
Theorist |
| Michael Black |
Akira Kurosowa, Yojimbo |
Jacques Derrida |
| Stephanie Brand |
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
Paul de Man |
| Pamala Bryant |
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man |
Michel Foucault |
| Jessica Burns |
David Koepp, Secret Window |
Jacques Lacan |
| Christi Burton |
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit |
Judith Butler |
| Stacy Coogle |
Ron Howard, How the Grinch Stole Christmas |
Judith Butler |
| Kevin Corbin |
Richard Donner, The Goonies |
Louis Althusser |
| Patrick DeSpain |
Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider |
Paul de Man |
| Shelby Dogan |
Dave Eggers, "Woman Waits, Seething,
Blooming" |
Cleanth Brooks |
| Steve Hosch |
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein |
Sigmund Freud |
| Robert Jones |
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "Welcome to the Monkey House" |
Michel Foucault |
| Stephen Lee |
Martin Campbell, The Mask of Zorro |
Laura Mulvey |
| Michael Mayes |
David Mamet, Oleanna |
Judith Butler |
| Ali Mian |
Omar Ibn Said, The Life of Omar Ibn Said |
Jacques Derrida |
| Melissa Miller |
Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" |
Jacques Lacan |
| Greta Murr |
Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True |
Sigmund Freud |
| Cicely Nevitt |
Richard Kelly, Donnie Darko |
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari |
| Kristin Reading |
Todd Haynes, Velvet Goldmine |
Judith Butler |
| Zack Rhodes |
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man |
Sigmund Freud |
| Ryan Ridge |
Steven Wright, The Appointments of Dennis Jennings |
Sigmund Freud |
| Fran Schueler |
Toni Morrison, Beloved |
Fredric Jameson |
| Derek Sharp |
Frank Miller, Sin City |
Tzvetan Todorov |
| Isaac Spradlin |
Robert Coover, "The Babysitter" |
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari |
| Barbara Stacey |
Myla Golberg, Bee Season |
Tzvetan Todorov |
| Amy Welch |
Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
Laura Mulvey |
| Charles Westmoreland |
Pat Barker, Regeneration |
Michel Foucault |
| Vanessa Wieland |
Zack Braff, Garden State |
Sigmund Freud |
| Gillian Wofford |
Sister Souljah, The Coldest Winter Ever |
Sigmund Freud |
| David Wright |
Alan Moore, Watchmen |
Jacques Derrida |