ENGLISH 3890: Contemporary Critical Approaches to Literature
Spring 2004: LA 113 5:30-6:45pm
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t Hours: T/H 2:30-4:00 and by appointment
Phone: 863-6288 e-mail: gosherjo@uvsc.edu
Course Description
Among the most difficult components—if not the most difficult—of literary
study is access to and appreciation of the critical/philosophical constellations
that surround pieces of literature. Nonetheless, the central premise
driving this course is that such critical work, while often difficult to
access, is of extreme importance as we strive to become informed and credible
respondents to literature. Engaging with the relationship between literary
and critical texts is, furthermore, one of the most rewarding experiences
in the study of literature.
During the semester we will examine a set of literary texts which have spawned
significant bodies of scholarship, and then develop for each of those texts
our own contemporary critical apparatus. These critical works will
not always deal specifically with our “target” texts; rather the literature
and criticism inform each other, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly.
We will examine not only the ways in which contemporary scholars—in philosophy,
history, medicine, ethnic studies, and other fields—use literature as their
points of reference, but also the ways in which literature may take criticism
as its own subject or point of departure.
We will be doing a lot of reading over the semester, and, due to the complexity
of course materials, we will never be able to cover every element of every
text, whether literary or critical. Students are expected to complete
all required readings, and to direct class discussions through informed questions,
discussion, debate, etc.
Assignments include weekly response papers, a presentation, a take-home midterm, and a final project.
Prerequisite Skills
Using reading skills and argumentative strategies learned in courses such
as Engl 2890 and 2010, students are expected, from the opening of the course,
to be prepared to actively, critically engage literary texts, primarily through
writing and discussion. This course will add to those skills and strategies
through the engagement with current critical approaches of responding to
literature, moving from learning about theory to doing theory.
Students should either be familiar with, or plan to familiarize themselves
with basic research strategies. The ability to use research libraries
(UVSC students have privileges at both Utah and BYU), and/or alternative
research methods, such as internet resources Project Muse, JSTOR, and Academic
Search Elite, is fundamental for success in the course. We will have
a general overview on research early in the semester and, later, a research
project workshop, both of which will assist you in refining your skills and
strategies.
Response Paper Guidelines
Each Tuesday, a 2 page response paper will be due. While this paper
is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should nonetheless form
a cogent, well-written argument. The best responses are often those
that take on a specific topic from lecture, class discussions, presentations
(or, of course, from your own reading alone), which is then worked out in
some critical/analytic detail. Avoid trying to fit an entire week's
reading—or an entire play or novel—into your response, since this leaves
you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination is rather difficult.
At a reasonable point in the semester, the expectation for papers generally
is that theoretical works will be incorporated into arguments.
Avoid simply summarizing the text and, instead, argue for a particular position,
for a particular “reading.” Your treatment of whatever topic you choose
will be enhanced not only by a cogent argument, but also by your incorporation
of specific material from the texts (both literary and critical); that is,
present details, such as dialogue or other citations. This is in keeping
with that old adage of “showing” rather than “telling” as you work out your
argument/position.
Consider also, addressing questions you have about the reading—perhaps centered
on a scene, event, character, etc. How do specific questions or parts
of the novel/essay/poem inform the significance of the whole? You may
also think about developing connections between works—how do formal characteristics,
topics, characters, etc. resonate across historical periods, across national
and/or ethnic boundaries? How are those characteristics treated differently
and why?
Plan to put your growing critical apparatus into practice. Articulate
your agreement or dissention with critical responses we read, or pursue critical
readings on your own which will allow you to enter into an informed conversation
on literary, cultural, and theoretical concepts.
Presentation Guidelines
Formal presentations can be made either by individuals or by a panel
of two people—take about 15-20 minutes per person; introduce and/or develop
concepts, themes, etc. that have not been (at least in significant detail)
discussed. Focus on the reading for the day (as with the response papers,
avoid trying to talk about the entire work in a short amount of time), and
have follow-up questions or discussion topics prepared for after the presentation.
In group presentations, members will coordinate with each other to avoid
repetition and ensure coherence. Plan to sign up for a date within
the first week of class; please feel free, if you wish, to tie the subject
and material of your presentation to your term project.
Superior presentations will incorporate outside material (ie. they will have
a research component). For example, if you work on Diderot, present
your reading of one of his philosophical works and demonstrate its relevance
to the novel (to a scene, a character, the form, the tone, the historical
period, etc.). Or, consider reading a critical essay (or more than
one) that deals with the author, the novel, the historical context of novel
or author, etc.
Or, consider Johnson’s novel as a participant in a number of literary and
critical discourses: not only the traditional slave narrative of the 18th
and 19th centuries, but also the “neo-slave narrative,” which includes novels
by Ishmael Reed (Flight to Canada), Sherley Anne Williams (Dessa Rose), Toni
Morrison (Song of Solomon, Beloved), as well as other Johnson works.
How does Johnson participate in and/or depart from other authors and modes?
Please do not wait until the last minute to prepare for your presentation.
Feel free to come see me earlier, rather than later, to work on strategies.
Grade Distribution/Policy Notes
Response papers: 20%
Take-Home Midterm: 20%
Presentation: 20%
Term Project: 20%
Attendance/Participation: 20%
• If you have any disability that may impair your ability
to successfully complete this course, please contact the Accessibility Services
Department located in BU 146. Academic Accommodations are granted for all
students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated
with the student and instructor by the Accessibility Services Department.
Accessibility Services Department telephone 801 863 8747; TDD 801 221 0908.
• Plagiarism will result in failure of the course and the possibility of administrative action.
• Attendance is required. You should plan to attend and be prepared for each class meeting.
• All written work will follow MLA style guidelines; late work will not be accepted.
• This is a class focused on developing strategies of critical
thinking, analysis, and writing. Course materials are determined by
standards of academic inquiry and a commitment to the exchange of ideas;
materials will not be “rated G” or censored in any way.
• Per UVSC policies: “Each student is expected to take
an active role in the learning process by meeting course requirements as
specified in written syllabi” (VII.A). Thus, the course syllabus comprises
a contract between instructor and students, who will be held to its terms
and expectations. “The right to receive academic credit and/or academic
degrees when all specified requirements and course work have been satisfied”
(V.L). In other words, the student has the right to receive credit
for work that meets or exceeds satisfactory performance; however, the student
also has the right to fail based on those same conditions of performance.
• It is not only your right, but also your responsibility
to ask questions, to raise challenges, to discuss readings, and to otherwise
participate in the class as it unfolds over the semester.
Texts to be purchased
William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Signet, 1998.
Denis Diderot. Jacques the Fatalist. Oxford, 1999.
Mark Twain. Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins. Norton, 1981.
Sigmund Freud. Civilization and its Discontents. Norton, 1989.
Charles Johnson. Middle Passage. Scribner, 1998.
Texts to be photocopied or printed from eres
Alan Ackerman. “Visualizing Hamlet’s Ghost.” [Theatre Journal 53 (2001): 119-144]
Eric MacPhail. “Diderot and the Plot of History.” [New Literary History 30 (1999): 439-52.]
Michael O’Dea. “Freedom, Illusion and Fate in Diderot’s Jacques le fataliste.” [Symposium 39.1 (1985): 38-48.]
Roland Barthes. “The World of Wrestling”” and “Dominici, or the Triumph of Literature” [Mythologies 41-46]
Bruce Michelson. “The Markers of the Self” [Mark Twain on the Loose 187-202]
Lauren Berlant. “The Face of America and the State of Emergency” [The Queen of America Goes to Washington
City 175-220]
Franz Kafka. “In the Penal Colony” and “A Hunger Artist” [Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories 140-67; 268-77]
Michel Foucault. “The Means of Correct Training” and “Panopticism” [Foucault Reader 188-213].
Jean François Lyotard. “What Is Postmodernism?” [The Postmodern Condition 71-82].
Charles Johnson. “Exchange Value” [The Sorcerer’s Apprentice 27-40]
Cathy Caruth. “Unclaimed Experience” [Unclaimed Experience 10-24]
Felman and Laub. “Bearing Witness” and “An Event Without a Witness” [Testimony 57-92].
Larry Kramer. “AIDS: The War Is Lost” [Reports from the Holocaust 334-53]
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS
Additional literary and critical works may be assigned as appropriate
January
8 Course Introduction
13 Hamlet Act I-II (optional: read Barnet’s Introduction [lxiii-xcii])
15 complete Hamlet
20 Ackerman (reserve)
22 research methods workshop
27 Jacques the Fatalist (1-81)
29 Jacques (81-146)
February
3 Jacques (146-212)
5 complete Jacques
MacPhail (reserve)
10 O’Dea (reserve)
Barthes, “The World of Wrestling” (reserve)
12 Pudd’nhead Wilson ch. 1-11
17 complete Pudd’nhead
19 Extraordinary Twins
Barthes, “Dominici” (reserve)
24 Michelson (reserve)
26 Berlant (reserve)
March
2 complete Berlant
Midterm assigned
4 Kafka, “A Hunger Artist” (reserve)
Civilization and its Discontents (10-36)
9 Civilization (37-52)
Midterm due
11 Civilization (53-96)
16 complete Civilization
Kafka, “In the Penal Colony” (reserve)
18 Foucault (reserve)
23 Lyotard (reserve)
25 no class
30 Middle Passage (1-70)
Final opportunity to submit term project proposals
April
1 Middle Passage (71-141)
6 Middle Passage (142-184)
8 complete Middle Passage
Johnson, “Exchange Value” (reserve)
13 Laub: “Bearing Witness” (reserve)
15 Film: Night and Fog [Nuit et brouillard] (Dir. Alain Resnais, 1955)
Laub: “An Event Without a Witness” (reserve)
20 Kramer (reserve)
22 Last day of class
27 Final Exam Period at class time in LA 113
Final project due; last date to turn in writing assignments
see a sample MLA Works Cited page