English 210: Literary Theory, Fall 2004/ Stephan Flores

Writing Assignment: Term Essay (body of essay, 1800 words, double-spaced): this critical essay develops ideas prompted by our study and discussion of literary theory and critical, interpretative practice, informed by your perspectives and interests regarding the texts we have considered this semester, including the possibility of analyzing additional stories by Henry James (such as "In the Cage" or "The Jolly Corner" or "The Real Thing" or "The Figure in the Carpet"--all available online), and/or stories by Edith Wharton (such as "The Other Two" or "Xingu" or perhaps "Roman Fever"), or Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's "The Revolt of 'Mother'," or John Edgar Wideman's "Weight," or Alison Baker's stories, or a play by George Bernard Shaw (Major Barbara or Mrs. Warren's Profession). I shall attend to the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, (hypo)thesis, and argument. I do not always expect essays to conclude by "solving" such problems or by "proving" your thesis; I hope that you address interesting topics in thoughtful and useful ways. Your critical term essay may be productive as a means to exploring and taking stock of one or more theoretical problems/approaches/issues/methods, or instead of a primary focus on a theoretical topic you could focus on a literary text (as suggested) analyzed and understood in relation to (supported or questioned by/through) a theoretical context and approach (or issue/concept/term/problem ). Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process.

Your term essay, whatever its primary focus/topic, should include several points of reference/departure, support from our theoretical readings (Literary Theory: The Basics and/or Literature, Criticism, Theory, or from our edition of The Turn of the Screw); if you choose to write on James, or Wharton, or Shaw, or Freeman or Wideman, I recommend (but this is not required) that you read and make reference to at least one relatively recent piece of secondary criticism-1980s onward--such as a scholarly essay or book chapter related to the story or play or novel under discussion—list these citations parenthetically in the body of your essay, and/or in endnotes, and/or in a Works Cited bibliography (MLA format). I shall also place additional theoretical readings on library reserve if you wish to study one or more theorists further (such as Jacques Derrida, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Stephen Greenblatt, Judith Butler, or Ernesto Laclau--see on reserve Critical Theory Since Plato, third edition; also see chapters in Madan Sarup's An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism, second edition). I also want to note that you should not submit an essay for this class that you have submitted ( or intend to submit) for a grade in another course, and as always, be careful to cite anyone else’s work that you draw upon.

The Term Essay presents an opportunity to develop your understanding of literary theory and practice, primarily in the context of one or more literary texts and extending from our course of study of criticism and theory. You may consider several ways to fulfill this assignment.

Following the description above, the term essay could also incorporate, revise, and develop from any of your previous writing assignments to explore further a particular aspect of a novel and the interpretative issues that it poses, or to develop a comparative analysis of specific problems or topics or representational strategies in two texts—or compare different interpretations to one text—for example, particular portrayals/uses of ethnicity or outsider figures, gender relations and identities including certain kinds of female figures or attitudes towards masculinity, relations between politics/power/ethics and its rhetorical representation or deployment in language and performance, figures of desire and the social possibilities and constraints on desire, identity, and relationships; family relationships—in other words, consider the range of issues addressed by our discussions.

If you want to suggest and discuss another approach to fulfilling this assignment, talk to me.

A bit broader background for your reflections on this assignment might be an option that prompts you to reflect on the whole semester. Consider responding to a large, overarching question through specific instances, arguments, and claims: What have you learned through this class over the course of this semester? What has been most productive or problematic, compelling or constructive (?) or confusing about studying these various theories/concepts regarding language, literature, meaning, identity, relations, and so forth, and posing and exploring the kinds of questions and problems that we have developed? Have particular premises or modes of analysis been particularly useful? What can one learn about the nature of interpretation, of representation, of ideology, of power, of identities and relations and the social construction of meanings via such study? How have Bertens, Bennett and Royle, or other critics and their approaches/premises/interpretative strategies proved helpful or thought provoking? Have your own critical strategies for making sense of literature and culture and of the nature/process of reading, writing, and interpretation developed this semester--how so? why? what might be your primary set of premises/tools for understanding at this point?

I expect that the most interesting and thoughtful critical essays on a particular literary text will tend to convey and describe the text in relation to (in support of) an interpretive response by linking how a text and its reader(s) produce its meaning(s), why it does so, and to what purposes and effects. Take care not to define your topic too broadly: if you compare two texts, provide a clear, focused, and useful basis for comparison. As usual, you should consider your audience to be familiar with the text (avoid substantial summary of literary texts), using quotes, paraphrase, and summary primarily to support your analysis; however, if you foreground your critical approach (theoretical perspective)— an essay could focus as much upon the critical approach/methods/theory of analysis as upon the literary text itself—you will probably rely more heavily on such explanatory (expository) techniques as quotes, paraphrase, and summary.

Finally, please discuss your topic (s) with me and others, and give yourself time to work through several drafts of the essay, and to share a draft with me or with classmates.