English 456: C20 Criticism and Theory

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Theory Resources: Voice of Shuttle | Johns Hopkins Guide | Sokal's Hoax |
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Audio Note: If your browser has a media plug-in, you may listen to sample class sessions on Course Intro, Walter Benjamin and Simone de Beauvoir by left-clicking; if you have a separate player, right-click links first and save files.

Paper 1 (due Week 7) | Paper 2 (due with final exam)

Questions: Kant | Hegel-Marx | Nietzsche | Saussure | Brooks | Wimsatt |
Gramsci | Benjamin | Levi-Strauss | Barthes | Derrida | Foucault | Lyotard |
Habermas | Michaels | Fanon | Said | Hall | Bhabha | Beauvoir | Cixous |
Austin | Butler

Guides : Irony | Feminist Timeline | Faludi's Backlash | Performatives

WEEK 1 (January 30)

1st: Introduction to Course.

WEEK 2 (February 6)s

1st: Kant, Immanuel. from Critique of Judgment. [Guide]
2nd: Kant, Immanuel. from Critique of Judgment.

WEEK 3 (February 13)

1st: Hegel and Marx (except Capital I.10, Letter). [Guide]
2nd: Nietzsche, Friedrich. "On Truth and Lying..." [Guide]

WEEK 4 (February 20)

1st: De Saussure, from ...General Linguistics.
2nd: De Saussure. from ...General Linguistics. (cont.)

WEEK 5 (February 27)

1st: Brooks. "...Paraphrase," "Formalist Critics." [Guide]
2nd: Wimsatt/Beardsley. "Intentional Fallacy," "Affective Fallacy."

WEEK 6 (March 6)

1st: Gramsci. "Formation of the Intellectuals."
2nd: Benjamin, Walter. "Work of Art..."

WEEK 7 (March 13)

1st: Levi-Strauss. from Tristes Tropiques.
2nd: Barthes. "Death of the Author"; "Work to Text." [Guide]

Paper 1 Due in Class Week 7

WEEK 8 (March 20)

1st: Derrida. from Dissemination. [Guide]

Turn in Take-Home Midterm

WEEK 9 (March 27)

1st: Foucault. "What is an Author?" [Guide]
2nd: Foucault. History of Sexuality, "Truth and Power."

WEEK 10 (April 3)

1st: Lyotard. "Defining Postmodern."
1st: Habermas, selections.
2nd: Michaels/Knapp. "Against Theory."

WEEK 11 (April 10)

1st: Fanon, Frantz. from The Wretched of the Earth.
2nd: Said, Edward. "Introduction" to Orientalism. [Guide]

WEEK 12 (April 17)

1st: no class, spring break

WEEK 13 (April 24)

1st: Hall, Stuart. "Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies."
2nd: "Bhabha, Homi. "The Commitment to Theory."

WEEK 14 (May 1)

1st: De Beauvoir, Simone. "Myth and Reality" from The Second Sex. [Guide] 2nd: Cixous, Helene. "The Laugh of the Medusa." [Guide]

WEEK 15 (May 8)

1st: Austin, J.L. "Performative Utterances."
2nd: Butler, Judith. "Preface," "Ch. 3" of Gender Trouble. [Guide]

FINALS WEEK (May 15)

Take-home; turn in by email or from 7:00-8:00 PM Thursday May 15, in class.