Assignments

English 3900: Critical Approaches to Literature, Spring 2010

Section 01 (CRN 20270): TR 2:00-3:15PM, Arts & Sciences 340B

In Class Activities

1. Combining Perspectives

Break into three groups to discuss how today's essays combine different theoretical methods. The person who wrote the article summary will informal present her response as well as report your group's findings to the class.

 

Groups

  1. Susan Meyer, from "'Your Father Was Emperor of China, and Your Mother an Indian Queen': Reverse Imperialism in Wuthering Heights" (Brontë 478-502)
    • Kaoru Kobori and 3 others
  2. Cynthia Griffin Wolff, "Un-utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in Kate Chopin's The Awakening"
    • Joshua Ware and 3 others
  3. Sheila Teahan, "'I caught him, yes, I told him": The Ghostly Effects of Reading (in) The Turn of the Screw"
    • Ryan Vincent and 3 others

Questions

  1. List three critical approaches to literature found in the article.
  2. Describe three interpretive conclusions stemming from the three methods in Question #1.
  3. Using your discussion in Question #2, reverse engineer the three theoretical questions that the critic asked of the novel.

Discussion Board Responses

Sign up for two discussion board responses / article summaries: one on a work of theory and one on a work of criticism.

GeorgiaVIEW Post

You will summarize a particular theorist's essay and post your summary to our course discussion board at GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Article Summaries. The summary should

Informal Presentation

You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation which introduces the essay by defining key points and terms (without simply reading your written summary) and broaching issues for class discussion.

Due Dates

  1. Your written article summary will be due in GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Article Summaries on the Thursday before we discuss an essay in class. If you do not submit your written summary to Blackboard before the article is discussed in class, you will fail the assignment.
  2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the essay in class. This date is approximate for we sometimes fall a day behind.
  3. I will return your graded article summary to you in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Summary 1: Theory or, for criticism, Summary 2: Criticism by the week after we discussed the article in class.
  4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss Saussure on Thursday, 1-28. Therefore, someone's summary will be due in GeorgiaVIEW by Thursday, 1-21. In class on Thursday, 1-28, that student will informally present the main ideas of Saussure's essay. I will return the graded article summary to her the following week in GeorgiaVIEW >Assignments > 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 GeorgiaVIEW's Article Summaries 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.

 

GeorgiaVIEW Due Date
Class Discussion Date Article Student
R, 1-7
T, 1-12

 

  
R, 1-14

 

  
R, 1-14
T, 1-19

 

  
R, 1-21

 

  
R, 1-21
T, 1-26

Criticism: Tyson, "'Seek and ye shall find' . . . and Then Lose: A Structuralist Reading of The Great Gatsby"

  
R, 1-28

Theory: Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics

  

Theory: Propp, "Morphology of the Folk-tale"

  
R, 1-28
T, 2-2

Theory: Barthes, from Mythologies

  

Theory: Chatman, "The Structure of Narrative Transmission"

  
R, 2-4

 

  
R, 2-4
T, 2-9

 
R, 2-11

 

  

R, 2-11

T, 2-16

Theory: Derrida, "Différance"

Bethany Deskins

Criticism: Tyson, "'. . . the thrilling, returning trains of my you . . .': A Deconstructive Reading of The Great Gatsby

Chris McKenzie
R, 2-18

 

  
R, 2-18
T, 2-23

Theory: Johnson, "Writing"

Chris McKenzie

Theory: Cixous, "The Newly Born Woman"

Cameron Wellman

Criticism: Yaeger, "'A Language Which Nobody Understood": Emancipatory Strategies in The Awakening"

Katie Conrad
R, 2-25

Theory: Lyotard, "The Postmodern Condition"

Caitlin Connolly

Theory: Baudrillard, "Simulacra and Simulations"

Ryan Vincent
R, 2-25
T, 3-2

 

  
R, 3-4

Theory: Marx, "Wage Labor and Capital"

Theory: Marx, "Capital"

Brent Justice

Criticism: Tyson, "You Are What You Own: A Marxist Reading of The Great Gatsby"

Allison Turner
R, 3-4
T, 3-9

Theory: Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses"

Kaoru Kobori

Theory: Macherey, "For a Theory of Literary Production"

  

Criticism: Eagleton, "Myths of Power: A Marxist Study on Wuthering Heights"

Caitlin Connolly
R, 3-11

Theory: Horkheimer and Adorno, "The Culture Industry as Mass Deception"

Ivan Soto

Theory: Fiske, "Culture, Ideology, Interpellation"

Allison Turner

Criticism: Armstrong, "Imperialist Nostalgia and Wuthering Heights"

  
R, 3-11
T, 3-16

Theory: Hebdige, "Subculture: The Meaning of Style"

Drew Thomas

Criticism: Robbins, "'They don't much count, do they?" The Unfinished History of The Turn of the Screw"

  
R, 3-18

 

  
R, 3-18
T, 3-23
   
R, 3-25
   
R, 3-25
T, 3-30

Criticism: Tyson, "'. . . next they'll throw everything overboard . . .': A Feminist Reading of The Great Gatsby"

Cameron Wellman
R, 4-1

Theory: Irigaray, "The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of the Feminine"

Theory: Irigaray, "Women on the Market"

Carol Floyd

Theory: Gilbert and Gubar, "The Madwoman in the Attic"

Katie Conrad

Criticism: Pykett, "Changing the Names: The Two Catherines"

Bethany Deskins
R, 4-1
T, 4-6

Theory: Foucault, "The History of Sexuality"

Leslie Ann Ibbotson

Theory: Butler, "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution"

Kelly Sessions

Criticism: Showalter, "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book"

Carol Floyd
R, 4-8

Criticism: LeBlanc, "The Metaphorical Lesbian: Edna Pontellier in The Awakening"

Kelly Sessions

Criticism: Walton, "'He took no notice of her; he looked at me': Subjectivies and Sexualities in The Turn of the Screw"

Drew Thomas

Criticism: Moon, "A Small Boy and Others: Sexual Disorientation in Henry James, Kenneth Anger, and David Lynch"

Ivan Soto
R, 4-8
T, 4-13

Criticism: Meyer, from "'Your Father Was Emperor of China, and Your Mother an Indian Queen': Reverse Imperialism in Wuthering Heights"

Kaoru Kobori

Criticism: Wolff, "Un-utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in Kate Chopin's The Awakening"

Joshua Ware

Criticism: Teahan, "'I caught him, yes, I told him": The Ghostly Effects of Reading (in) The Turn of the Screw"

Ryan Vincent
R, 4-15

Criticism: Tyson, "The Discourse of the Self-Made Man: A New Historical Reading of The Great Gatsby"

Brent Justice
R, 4-15
T, 4-20

Theory: Williams, "The Country and the City"

  

Theory: Greenblatt, "Shakespeare and the Exorcists"

Joshua Ware

Criticism: Stange, "Personal Property: Exchange Value and the Female Self in The Awakening"

Leslie Ann Ibbotson
R, 4-22

 

  
R, 4-22
T, 4-27

 

  
R, 4-29

 

  
Finals
T, 5-4
   

Exam 1

Exam 1 will cover the New Criticism and structuralism and will be taken in class on Tuesday, February 9. There will be two essay questions. In the first essay, you will be asked to compare and contrast the New Criticism and structuralist methodologies. The second essay question will ask you to demonstrate and practice the New Criticism and structuralist critical approaches to literature on your choice of text from the following: Ai's "Fairy Tale," Anne Sexton's "Red Riding Hood" or Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves," all available in GeorgiaVIEW's Course Documents. You may bring printouts of the literature to the exam; but you may not use your textbooks.

 

Your theory essay will be graded on 1) your ability to balance a broad understanding of the general theory with a healthy amount of specific terms from particular theorists as well as on 2) your ability to assess similarities and differences between the two general theories.

 

Your application essay will be graded not on what you interpret and conclude but rather on 1) how you interpret the text. Illustrate your understanding of the methodologies by making apparent the questions a New Critic and structuralist ask of a text.

 

If I were to study for this exam, I would 1) create an outline of key terms and compose their definitions, 2) write practice essays comparing and contrasting New Criticism and structuralism using those keys terms, and 3) write practice essays interpreting the Red Riding Hood literature from New Critic and structuralist perspectives using those key terms.

 

Note: It is impossible to illustrate your knowledge of all of these terms in a 75 minute exam. Prioritize the ones that are fundamental for an understanding of the general theory and distinguish particular theorists within that theory.

Exam 2

Exam 3

 

© Alex E. Blazer 2024