SYLLABUS FOR E301 INTRO TO LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY, SPRING 2009

COURSE INFORMATION. English 301. Tu/Th 11:30 – 12:45 p.m. Location: Beckman (BK) 104. Instructor: Alfred J. Drake, Ph.D. Office hours: Tu/Th 10:00 – 11:15 a.m. in Cyber Café (Beckman). Email: e301_at_ajdrake.com. Catalog: “ENG 301 Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism. Prerequisite, Written Inquiry. This course examines the major trends, theories, interpretative methodologies, and techniques of literary criticism and cultural studies. ENG 301 is the gateway course for the literature emphasis in the English major. It must be taken prior to or concurrent with all 300- or 400-level literature courses. (Concurrent enrollment requires permission of advisor.) Offered every semester. 3 credits.”

REQUIRED TEXTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE

Leitch, Vincent B., ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 1st. ed. New York: Norton, 2001. ISBN-13: 978-0393974294.

McDonald, Russ, ed. Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1945-2000. Malden, MA/Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0631234883.

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. (Folger Shakespeare Library.) Washington Square Press, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0743482769.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. (Folger Shakespeare Library.) Washington Square Press, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0743482820.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. (Folger Shakespeare Library.) Washington Square Press, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0743482837.

COURSE RATIONALE AND ACTIVITIES

FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES. This course will cover selected texts in modern literary theory and criticism, beginning with several indispensable works in the western philosophical tradition that grounded later thinking about literature and the arts, and then moving on to examine modern criticism and theory. We will also read and discuss a small number of Shakespeare’s plays along with some essays illustrating the critical approaches taken towards those plays. The course will introduce you to the history of literary theory and provide direct experience with critical approaches available for studying literary texts.

ACTIVITIES. In class, there will be a mix of lectures, student presentations, whole-class and smaller-group discussion, occasional quizzes, an essay, and a final exam. I encourage questions and comments—class sessions improve when students take an active part. Outside class, do the assigned readings before the relevant discussion dates, complete your journal sets as outlined below, start planning and drafting your essay early, and work on your presentation drafts. In literary studies, the aim is to read and discuss actively and thereby to develop your own voice in response to the texts you read. Insightful interpretation and the ability to make compelling connections are central goals. The essay, discussions, presentations, and journal-keeping should combine to help you work towards these goals.

HOW YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE EVALUATED

COURSE POLICIES. Please review the course policies page early in the semester since it addresses matters such as attendance, incompletes and withdrawal, late or missing work, and academic integrity.

PRESENTATIONS REQUIREMENT. At the beginning of the course, students will sign up for two or three (depending on class size) five-minute in-class presentations on authors of their choosing. I will provide presenters with specific questions to address from among those on the author questions pages, and I will soon post a schedule on the Presentations page. Each session will feature several presentations. Required: Several days before you present, email me a draft of what you intend to say in class. I will email you back with advice. 20% of course grade.

JOURNALS REQUIREMENT. Responses to a choice of questions from the study questions page for each author. Three separate journal sets due by email as specified below in reading schedule. Electronic format required. (30%)

ESSAY REQUIREMENT. By the end of Week 13, a one-paragraph description addressing the topic and argument of the projected paper will be due by email. (Full rough drafts are also encouraged.) Not providing this description on time may affect the final draft grade. Please read the term paper instructions carefully since they contain the general prompt, suggested topics, and advance draft comments. I reserve the right to require proof of the final paper’s authenticity, such as notes or an early draft. Final draft (5-7 pages) due as specified towards the bottom of the syllabus page. Follow MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines. (30%)

FINAL EXAM REQUIREMENT. The exam will consist of substantive id passages, mix-and-match questions (match phrase or concept x to author/text y), and essay and/or short-essay questions. There will be more choices than required responses. Books and notes allowed for all sections, but no laptops. Exam date: see below. (20%)

EMAILING ASSIGNMENTS. Email journals, presentations, and term paper as attachments. Don’t send more than one document in the same email. Label subject lines appropriately: “E301 Journal 1, Jane Doe” etc. You can paste journal sets into a regular email or send them as an attachment. (Journal “sets” include responses to questions about several authors; do not send entries on each author in a given set separately; responses on the relevant authors should be combined into one document.) Please contact me if you don’t receive prompt email confirmation.

QUESTIONS FOR JOURNALS AND PRESENTATIONS

*Note 2023. Visitors may download this PDF file: SHAKESPEARE QUESTIONS COMBINED. For the questions specific to this course, download E301 CRITICISM QUESTIONS. Recommended: see the comments available at my LIMBS OF ALARBUS Shakespeare website.

SCHEDULE: WORKS DISCUSSED ON DATES INDICATED

WEEK 1

Th. 02/05. Introduction to Basic Critical Orientations.

WEEK 2

Tu. 02/10. Plato’s Ion (37-48 Leitch).

Th. 02/12. From Plato’s Republic Books II, III, VII, X (49-81 Leitch).

WEEK 3

Tu. 02/17. Aristotle’s Poetics (86-117 Leitch).

Th. 02/19. Aristotle’s Poetics (86-117 Leitch).

WEEK 4

Tu. 02/24. Horace’s Ars Poetica (121-35 Leitch).

Th. 02/26. Samuel Johnson. The Rambler, No. 4 “On Fiction” (458-66); from Rasselas (466-68); “Preface to Shakespeare” (468-80). Journal Set 1 Due by Email by Sunday, 03/01.

WEEK 5

Tu. 03/03. Immanuel Kant. From Critique of Judgment Book I: “Analytic of the Beautiful.” (499-518 Leitch).

Th. 03/05. Immanuel Kant. From Critique of Judgment Book II: “Analytic of the Sublime” (519-36 Leitch).

WEEK 6

Tu. 03/10. Hegel’s “Master-Slave Dialectic” from The Phenomenology of Mind (626-36 Leitch).

Th. 03/12. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. From Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (759-67 Leitch); from The German Ideology (767-69 Leitch); from Grundrisse (773-74 Leitch); from “Preface” to A Contribution… (774-76 Leitch).

WEEK 7

Tu. 03/17. Friedrich Nietzsche. “On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense” (870-884 Leitch).

Th. 03/19. Sigmund Freud. From The Interpretation of Dreams (919-29 Leitch).

WEEK 8

Tu. 03/24. John Crowe Ransom. “Criticism, Inc” (Sections 1, 4 and 5 only: 1108-09, 1115-18 Leitch). Cleanth Brooks. “The Heresy of Paraphrase” from The Well Wrought Urn (1353-65 Leitch).

Th. 03/26. William Empson. “‘Honest’ in Othello“ (35-49 McDonald).

WEEK 9

Tu. 03/31. Simone de Beauvoir. From The Second Sex (1403-14 Leitch).

Th. 04/02. Gayle Greene. “This that you call love”: Sexual and Social Tragedy” (655-68 McDonald) and Madelon Gohlke Sprengnether. “‘I wooed thee with my sword’: Shakespeare’s Tragic Paradigms” (591-605 McDonald). Journal Set 2 Due by Email by Sunday, 04/05.

WEEK 10

Tu. 04/07. Spring Break: no classes.

Th. 04/09. Spring Break: no classes.

WEEK 11

Tu. 04/14. Jan Kott. “King Lear or Endgame” (174-190 McDonald).

Th. 04/16. William R. Keast. “The ‘New Criticism’ and King Lear“ (63-87 McDonald).

WEEK 12

Tu. 04/21. Stanley Cavell. “The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear“ (338-52 McDonald).

Th. 04/23. Raymond Williams. From “Marxism and Literature” (1565-75 Leitch).

WEEK 13

Tu. 04/28. Michel Foucault. “What is an Author?” (1622-36 Leitch); from “Truth and Power” (1667-70 Leitch).

Th. 04/30. Jonathan Dollimore. “King Lear (ca. 1605-06) and Essentialist Humanism” (535-46 McDonald). Paragraph on paper topic and argument due by Sunday, 05/03.

WEEK 14

Tu. 05/05. Film of The Tempest.

Th. 05/07. Edward Said. From Orientalism (1986-2012 Leitch).

WEEK 15

Tu. 05/12. Meredith Anne Skura. “Discourse and the Individual: The Case of Colonialism in The Tempest“ (817-44 McDonald).

Th. 05/14. Francis Barker and Peter Hulme. “Nymphs and Reapers Heavily Vanish: the Discursive Con-texts of The Tempest“ (781-93 McDonald).

FINALS WEEK

Final Exam Date: Monday, May 18 1:30 – 4:00. Due by Monday, May 25th: Term Paper and Journal Set 3. I must turn in grades by Sunday, May 31st.