English 495/504 Contemporary Critical Theory and Practice--Fall 2003

Writing Assignment: Term Essay, (undergraduates: 2000 words for body of essay, 3300-3800 words for graduate students, double-spaced, titled, including at least two points of reference from "theoretical" works, such as Literary Theory: The Basics and Bennett and Royle's text; if you analyze either or both of the novels, cite in addition at least two relatively recent works of secondary criticism on each novel, such as a scholarly essay or book chapter related to the text under discussion--list these citations parenthetically in the body of your essay, and/or in endnotes, and/or in a Works Cited bibliography. 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.

Due dates: Provisional Thesis Statement due in class, Tuesday December 9; Term Essay due in class no later than 1:00 pm Monday December 15, at start of our final meeting time.

The Term Essay presents an opportunity to focus and to develop your understanding of some aspect of what we have considered this semester, primarily in the context of one or more of the texts on the syllabus and developing from our course of study. You may consider several ways to fulfill this assignment.

The course requirement states that the critical term 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."

Following the description above, the term essay could incorporate, revise, and develop from any of your previous writing assignments to build upon your prior research and analysis to explore further a particular aspect of a text and critical theory and the interpretative issues that it poses, or to develop a comparative analysis of specific problems or topics or theoretical perspectives/premises in two or perhaps three texts--or compare different interpretations to one novel.

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

A broader background for your reflections on this assignment might prompt 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 this semester? What has been most productive or problematic, compelling or constructive (?) or confusing about studying these theories and texts, 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 contexts of value or importance affect your observations and claims (for example, what is to be learned or gained in studying what can one learn about the nature of different critical perspectives/theories, interpretation, of representation, of ideology, of power, of language and meaning, of identities and relations and the social construction of meanings via such study? How have one or more critics and their approaches/premises/interpretative strategies proved helpful or thought provoking? Have your own critical strategies for making sense of literature, language, fiction, and culture developed this semester--how so? why?

I expect that the most interesting and thoughtful essays will tend to convey or describe a 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 works, provide a clear, focused, and useful basis for comparison. As usual, you should consider your audience to be familiar with the text, using quotes, paraphrase, and summary primarily to support your analysis; note that you should foreground your critical approach (theoretical perspective)--indeed, if you choose to analyze a literary work, your essay should focus as much upon the critical approach/methods/theory of analysis as upon the literary text itself.

If you would like to read something in "theory" different and new, I'll be placing a few more works on library reserve soon (such as some essays by Judith Butler and additional material on new historicism and cultural materialism and marxist criticism, and discuss some possibilities in class. This assignment is a good opportunity to review and to advance your understanding, and the "review-mode" approach to examining one or more theoretical texts and issues may be one that you find useful.

Finally, please discuss your topic (s) with me, and give yourself some time to work through at least one draft of the essay.