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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Can we say what literature is, or is the term so diverse and open-ended as to defeat all definition? If it cannot be defined, how much does it matter? As much as a physician being unable to give a reasonably definitive account of the pancreas, or nothing like as much? Should it be a source of embarrassment to literary types that they often have only a foggy notion of what they are working on, or is such embarrassment as misplaced and unnecessary as being unable to define the word "game?" Almost all attempts at an exhaustive definition of literature have proved defective in one way or another. Theories which identify literary works with fiction, special or unusually inventive uses of language, non-pragmatic utterances, moral and imaginative insight and so on have all either come to grief or betrayed serious deficiencies. Boldly undeterred by this wreckage-strewn history, this course will begin with some general reflections on the question of whether things have determinate natures, glancing at the medieval debates on the issue between realists and nominalists. It will go on to consider the relevance to the idea of literature of Ludwig Wittgenstein's celebrated "family resemblances" notion, and conclude by dramatically unveiling a theory of literature which seeks to avoid the flaws and exclusions of the models currently on offer. Reading: Paul Hernadi (ed.), What Is Literature? (Bloomington and London, 1968) John M. Ellis, Theory of Literary Criticism (Berkeley, 1974) Terry Eagleton, "What is Literature?", in Literary Theory: An Introduction (Oxford, 1983) Stanley Fish, "What is Stylistics and Why Are They Saying Such Terrible Things About It?", in Seymour Chatman (ed), Approaches to Poetics (New York, 1973)
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3.00 Credits
This course provides an opportunity to engage with one of the most captivating novels in world literature, Proust's In Search of Lost Time, which has exercised a profound influence on modern writing and thought. We will explore Proust's reinvention of the novel in relation to a number of Proustian problems and themes: his analyses of desire, perversion and sexuality; his reflections on the nature of time and memory; and his exploration of the relationship of art to life. We will also consider Proust's powers as a satirist and critic of ideology, who mercilessly dismantled the individual and collective illusions of his contemporaries. Despite its acerbity, the Search is one of the funniest, most charming novels ever written; it is also one of the most unbearably beautiful. We will be reading the novel in Scott Moncrieff's revised English translation, using the 2003 Modern Library Edition. Some knowledge of French is desirable but not required. We will start at the beginning of the novel and try to reach the conclusion by the end of the semester. There will also be an opportunity to read some of the remarkable criticism inspired by Proust's novel. Written requirements: weekly 1-2-page response papers and a final 20-page paper.
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3.00 Credits
This course will survey and critique the main developments, debates and trends within anticolonial discourse, and post-colonial theory. We will read earlier works by Cesaire, Fanon and Memmi, among others, and will trace later intellectual and theoretical threads in the field in the works of Said, Spivak and Babha. We will begin with Leela Gandhi's Post-Colonial Theory: A Critical Introduction, and will then focus our attention on the major works of the above-mentioned theorists, as well as others. A strong element to this seminar will be the use, or practice, of post-colonial theory in literary criticism. As such, we will be reading a number of 20th-century post-colonial novels alongside our theoretical materials. A research paper and regular presentations on our readings, will constitute the written requirements of the course.
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3.00 Credits
Classical Marxism originated as an agnostic and anti-utopian movement and problematic, yet classical and subsequent Marxisms have had much to say about, and to do with, religious and utopian visions. The course will focus on modern, especially Marxist theories of religion and utopia, and on the relations between them. We will read a mix of theoretical works (Marx, Durkheim, Charles Taylor) and literary texts (Thomas More, Leguin, Premchand), the latter especially for their theories of religion and utopia.
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3.00 Credits
In this course we will begin by focusing on the emergence of postmodernism in the sixties and then trace its evolution through the nineties. Initially, our primary concern will be the conflicted conceptualization of the term, i.e. just what did postmodern mean in terms of a narrative practice and in terms of a "cultural condition". Once we have established some operating definitions, and become familiar with some of the narratives that were first called postmodern (Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49, Scott's Blade Runner, etc.) we will begin to discuss the novels and films which became synonymous with postmodern textuality in the eighties (Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Barnes' A History of the World in 101/2 Chapters, Winterson's Sexing the Cherry, Auster's Moon Palace. etc.) In the last third of the course we will turn to more recent narratives which expand our understanding of the term, particularly in regard to the increasingly complicated relationships between literary, film and television cultures (Ondaatje's The English Patient, Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Wallace's The Girl With Curious Hair, Amis' The Information). In addition to these titles there will be a substantial course packet that will include relevant theoretical material.
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3.00 Credits
A comparative review of schools of rhetorical theory.
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3.00 Credits
An intensive study of Beowulf and the critical literature surrounding it. We will first read the poem in translation, then move slowly through the text in Old English, addressing the key problems and questions that have dominated recent scholarship. Previous experience reading Old English will be necessary. Requirements include regular reading and contribution to class discussion, a lexicography project, a translation exercise, and a research paper.
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3.00 Credits
If Chaucer had never written the Canterbury Tales, his claim upon our attention as one of the greatest poets ever writing in the English language would be secure based on the earlier works that will occupy us as readers/ writers/ discussants during this term: Book of the Duchess, House of Fame, Parliament of Fowls and the magnificent Troilus & Criseyde. Additionally we will certainly read some--or all--of the short poems that--along with Canterbury Tales (which we will not read)-- comprise the Chaucer canon. No prior experience with Middle English is required. Requirements: a midterm, a final, and a term paper. Text: Larry Benson's "The Riverside Chaucer" or any scholarly edition of the early poems named above.
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1.00 Credits
A brief, yet intensive grounding in Middle English grammar and syntax.
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1.00 Credits
A brief seminar exploring the problems which are posed by the transmissional histories of texts composed (in Latin and Old English) during the Anglo-Saxon period, along comparative material from earlier (classical and biblical) and later texts.
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