English 495/504:Contemporary Critical Theory and Practice

English 495.01 and English 504 Fall 2003

Studies in Literary Criticism: Contemporary Critical Theory and Practice

12:30-1:45 Tues.-Thurs, Art & Architecture, Room 109

Instructor: Stephan Flores sflores@uidaho.edu

Office: 125 Brink Hall Office hours: 10:30-11:30 Tues. & by appt.

This course presents an introduction to twentieth-century literary theory, including brief discussions of formalism and structuralism, and focused study of post-structuralism(s) and material cultural analysis, particularly deconstruction, psychoanalytic theory, Marxism, feminism and gender analyses, and historical contexts of interpretation. These theoretical frameworks offer various means to engage with--among a range of issues and topics--the terms and relations among desire, power, history, representation (particularly the figurative turns of language), texts and identities. The assigned novels by James and Wharton --together with the theoretical texts--complement one another, provide occasions for analysis, and presents points for reference and departure to develop an understanding of theory in literary studies, what Jonathan Culler describes as a "body of thinking and writing whose limits are exceedingly hard to define." I am interested in your various academic pursuits, expectations, and developing priorities, and we'll pause from time to time to consider how you would like to proceed.

No midterm or final exam, but steady reading and emphasis on thoughtful writing in focused, succinct writing assignments, an exploratory essay, and a longer term essay or project (with appropriate adjustments in scope and evaluation to differentiate between the 495-level and 504-level). We'll proceed via discussion, and you'll select the topics of your essays or projects within the contexts of our materials.

Required two critical theory texts and two novels, available at the UI bookstore:

Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics (Routledge, 2001)--this text's excellent historical survey begins with practical and new criticism, formalism and early structuralism, French structuralism, the political "reading" modes of the 1970s-80s, the poststructuralist revolution following Derrida, deconstruction, and postmodernism, then Foucault, Lacan, and French feminism, new historicism and cultural materialism, postcolonial criticism and theory, and sexuality, literature, and culture.

Bennett, Andrew and Nicholas Royle. Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, second edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 1999. ISBN:0-13-010914-2—this engaging text is comprised of twenty-eight short chapters on such terms and topics as author, text and world, the uncanny, narrative, voice, figures and tropes, laughter, the tragic, history, me, ghosts, sexual difference, God, ideology, desire, queer, racial difference, the performative, pleasure, the end.

James, Henry. The Portrait of a Lady. Ed. Jan Cohn. New Riverside Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Editor Jan Cohn comments: "In the hundred and more years since Isabel Archer first stepped onto the lawn at Gardencourt and into the history of American literature, The Portrait of a Lady has achieved the status of great American novel, centerpiece of the American literary canon, masterpiece. . . .between moments of light and darkness, Isabel travels far . . . ." A novel that can be compared historically with Dickens' Great Expectations and Eliot's Middlemarch—rich with thick description and depths: not a quick read.

Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Ed. Shari Benstock. Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. New York: Bedford/St.Martin’s P, 1994. Editor Shari Benstock observes: "In its monthly installments, this story of New York high society at the turn of the century attracted a wide readership. Lily Bart, the novel's beautiful, decorative, and vulnerable heroine, won the hearts of housewives and businessmen. . . The House of Mirth offered an insider's view of the New York society transformed by the new industrial wealth of the late nineteenth century. . . .Orphaned in adolescence and now approaching her twenty-ninth birthday (she has been on the marriage market for a decade), Lily lives with her wealthy, conservative aunt, Mrs. Peniston, and makes her way virtually alone in a pleasure-seeking and self-interested environment."

Additional primary and secondary works on library reserve.

Recommended:

Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP, 1997)

Sarup, Madan. An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism, second edition (U.Georgia P, 1993), esp. chapters on Lacan, Derrida, and Foucault--to be placed on library reserve, listed under this course.

Literary Theory: An Anthology. Eds. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. (Blackwell, 1998)--on library reserve, listed under this course: Engl 495.

Montrose, Louis. "New Historicisms." Redrawing the Boundaries: The Transformation of English and American Literary Studies. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt and Giles Gunn. New York: Modern Language Association, 1992. On library reserve, listed under this course: Engl 495.
Tompkins, Jane. "A Short Course in Post-Structuralism." College English 50.7 (1988): 733-47.
Derrida, Jacques. "Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences." Writing and Difference. Trans. Alan Bass. Chicago: U Chicago P, 1978. 279-93. On library reserve, listed under this course: Engl 495.

Ellman, Maud. "Introduction." Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism. Longman, 1994. 1-35.

Wolfreys, Julian, Ruth Robbins and Kenneth Womack. Key Concepts in Literary Theory. Edinburgh UP, 2002.

Wolfreys, Julian. Introducing Criticism at the 21st Century. Edinburgh UP, 2002.

Wolfreys, Julian, ed. Literary Theories: A Reader and Guide. Edinburgh UP, 1999.

Wolfreys, Julian. Readings: Acts of Close Reading in Literary Theory. Edinburgh UP, 2000.

On James's The Portrait of a Lady (the following placed on library reserve, listed under this class):

Freedman, Jonathan. "Introduction: The Moment of Henry James." The Cambridge Companion to Henry James (1998).

Freedman, Jonathan. "Aestheticism and The Portrait of a Lady."Henry James: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ruth Bernard Yeazell. Prentice-Hall, 1994, 60-78.

Weisbuch, Robert. "Henry James and the Idea of Evil." The Cambridge Companion to Henry James, ed. J. Freedman (1998), 102-19.

Sousa Santos, Maria Irene Ramalho de. "Isabel's Freedom: The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James, ed. Harold Bloom (Chelsea House, 1987), 301-13.

Woolf, Judith. Henry James, The Major Novels. Cambridge UP, 1991. See chapter 3, pp.35-58.

Powers, Lyall H. The Portrait of a Lady: Maiden, Woman, and Heroine. Twayne, 1991.

New Essays on The Portrait of a Lady, ed. Joel Porte. Cambridge UP, 1990. This collection includes Joel Porte's "Introduction: The Portrait of a Lady and 'Felt Life'," Donatella Izzo's "The Portrait of a Lady and Modern Narrative," Alfred Habegger's "The Fatherless Heroine and the Filial Son: Deep Background for The Portrait of a Lady," William Veeder's "The Portrait of a Lack," Beth Sharon Ash's "Frail Vessels and Vast Designs: A Psychoanalytic Portrait of Isabel Archer."

Rowe, John Carlos. The Other Henry James, esp. intro. on 'Henry James and Critical Theory'. Duke UP, 1998, 1-37.

On Wharton's The House of Mirth:

Benstock's edition of the novel includes various critical essays and extensive bibliographies.

Howard, Maureen. "The Bachelor and the Baby: The House of Mirth."The Cambridge Companion to Edith Wharton. Ed. Millicent Bell, 1995.

Joslin, Katherine. "The House of Mirth and the Question of Women."Edith Wharton. St. Martin's P, 1991.

Showalter, Elaine. "The Death of the Lady (Novelist): Wharton’s House of Mirth." Edith Wharton, ed. Harold Bloom. Chelsea House, 1986.

Edith Wharton: The Contemporary Reviews, eds. James W. tuttleton, Kristin O. Lauer, and Margaret P. Murray. Cambridge UP, 1992.

Requirements:

1. Critical Summary-Response (600 words, titled) that presents a focused summary of a critical perspective on The Portrait of a Lady and a reflective, question and problem-posing response to that perspective.

2. Thesis-Seeking/Problem-Solving Exploratory Essay (1550-1650 words, double-spaced, titled). The first essay assignment is designed to enable you to explore materials as you seek to define problems and consider making claims and constructing arguments about particular theoretical or interpretative issues.

3. Critical Response on The House of Mirth (500-600 words, single-spaced, titled,) that cites a critical perspective on the novel as a point of reference and departure for further analysis. Your observations and analysis should be succinct and sharply focused, with potential for substantial development.

4. Term Essay (2000 words (body of essay, excluding works cited page) for undergraduates, 3300-3800 words (body of essay, excluding works cited page) for graduates, double-spaced): this critical essay develops ideas prompted by our study, discussion, and your research on literary theory and interpretation via recent scholarship and through your particular perspectives and interests. 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. Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process.

5. Six Thesis-Sentence Statements: Individuals shall take turns over the semester--including sentence length comments on the "major" texts --to present Thesis-Sentence critical response statements. The Thesis-Sentence presents a reasoned, interpretative, precise claim on some aspect of the material under discussion, with rotation of assigned material and due dates for these.

6. Participation in class and group discussion (including informal writing). Please take advantage of opportunities to discuss your reactions, share your insights and study, and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I shall call periodically upon individuals and groups to facilitate class discussion. Individuals and groups shall also prepare in advance to lead off discussion once each during the semester. On these days the group shall lead off our discussion by presenting their positions on the material (with some brief summary, focus on key points in the reading, perhaps some incorporation of secondary criticism or research), and by suggesting further issues the class might consider. As noted above, students shall take turns over the semester to present Thesis-Sentence statements to contribute to class discussion. I hope these strategies will enable you to move the class in directions you find most helpful, give you opportunities to develop critical skills through collaboration, and provide for a productive, interesting exchange of perspectives and participation among the class.

7. Due dates: All required work is due at the beginning of class on the due date--work turned in later will be marked late and graded accordingly. All required graded written work will be downgraded one notch (for example, B+ to B, converted to points for each assignment) for each weekday late (not just days classes meet but counting just one day for a weekend). Work submitted more than a week late will not be accepted. I will grant short extensions for medical and family emergencies--but talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. ALWAYS KEEP EXTRA COPIES OF YOUR WORK.

8. Attendance is required. Excellent attendance is rewarded; poor attendance is penalized. If you have no absences by the semester's end (excused or not), you will receive five bonus points; with only one absence you will receive three bonus points. Two absences will not affect your semester grade, but a third absence will lower your semester total by five points, with a seven point reduction for each additional absence (for example: four absences=minus 12 points, five absences = minus 19 points); six or more absences will cause you to fail the class, regardless of your semester point total. Almost all absences will be counted--excused or not--if something extraordinary occurs, talk to me.

9. Grades: Critical Summary-Response (30 pts); Critical Response (30 pts); Thesis-Seeking/Problem –Solving Essay (100 pts); Term Essay (130 pts). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 290 points. Thus 261-290 points equals an A, 232-260 equals a B, 203-231 equals a C, 174-202 equals a D, and anything below 174 merits an F. I shall also reserve a potential three bonus points based on my perceptions of the strength of your participation and efforts over the semester.

10. Office hours. I encourage you to confer with me--especially before assignments are due--to talk about your interests, intentions, and writing strategies. My Brink office is not accessible to the handicapped, so please let me know if you need to meet me elsewhere (315 Commons, Honors Program office). If you cannot make my regular hours, we’ll arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by E-mail (sflores@uidaho.edu).

Further resources/points of view:

Saussure, Course in General Linguistics