English 3890, Spring 2007

Spring 2007: MW 5:30-6:45p LA 107
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t  Hours: TR 1:30-3:00 and by appointment
Phone: 863-6288  email: gosherjo@uvsc.edu

Course Overview

 
Broadly speaking, “theory” is often perceived to be entirely divorced from the “real” meanings of art and literature; it is seen as a practice that eludes the intentions of artists and writers and ultimately devalues art and literature themselves.  However, experimental art tends to confound audiences’ expectations for clear meaning and value, especially in the cases of works that incorporate and reference criticism into artistic practice.  This section of Contemporary Critical Approaches to Literature explores the relationship between philosophy (critical thinking) and aesthetics (artistic practices and products), the relationship at the heart of contemporary literary criticism.  Semester texts include literary works that begin to blur the line between art and criticism, and critical works that extend the concerns of aesthetic criticism into the fields of science, culture, architecture, warfare, and even nutrition.

 
Although most students will have some background in basic theoretical moves from English 2600, critical theory may still look like a foreign language.  Class time will be spent in fleshing out complex theoretical work around our central theme, and I hope students will discover that engaging with the relationship between literary and critical texts is among the most rewarding experiences in the study of literature.  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 periodic response papers, a take-home midterm exam, a term project (on a topic or question of the student’s choice and which will demonstrate significant research), and—of course—attendance and active participation in class.
 

Required Texts—to be Purchased

Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens).  Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins.  Norton CE, 1981  ISBN: 0393950271

DeLillo, Don.  White Noise.  New York: Penguin, 1986.  ISBN 0140077022 

Johnson, Charles.  Middle Passage.  Scribner, 1998.   ISBN: 0684855887

Lyotard, Jean François.  The Postmodern Condition.  U of Minnesota, 1984.  ISBN: 0816611734

Baudrillard, Jean.  The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.  Indiana, 1995.  ISBN: 0253210038

J.A. Cuddon.  Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory.  New York: Penguin, 2000.  ISBN: 0140513639

Required Reserve Materials
http://eres.uvsc.edu

 
Don DeLillo.  “The Most Photographed Barn in America” (excerpt).  White Noise 12-13.
Brian McHale.  “Love and Death in the Postmodernist Novel.”  Postmodernist Fiction 219-32.
Roland Barthes. “Dominici, or the Triumph of Literature” and “Operation Margarine”  Mythologies 43-46.
Mark Twain.  “Passages from ‘Glances at History’.”  The Devil’s Race Track 373-75.
Eric Sundquist.  “Mark Twain and Homer Plessy.”  Representations 24 (1988): 102-28.
Linda Hutcheon.  “Representing the Postmodern.”  The Politics of Postmodernism 1-29.
Baudrillard, Jean.  “Astral America.”  America 26-73.
Michel Foucault.  “The Means of Correct Training.”  Discipline and Punish 170-94.
Barbara Z. Thaden.  “Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage as Historiographic Metafiction.”  College English 59.7 (1997) : 753-66.
Charles Johnson.  “Exchange Value.”  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice 27-40
Dori Laub.  “Bearing Witness” and “An Event Without a Witness” Testimony 57-92.

Film: La jetée.  Dir. Chris Marker, 1964.
 

Prerequisite Skills

Using reading skills and strategies of argument learned in courses such as Engl. 2700 and 2010, students are expected, from the opening of the course, to be prepared to actively, critically read literary texts, and to respond orally and through writing.  This course will add to those skills and strategies through lecture, class discussion, and engagement with current critical approaches of responding to literature.
 

Response Paper Guidelines

2-3 page response papers are due periodically, beginning September 12th.  While this paper is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should nonetheless develop a cogent, well-written argument.  The best responses 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—an entire novel or other extended text—into your response, since this leaves you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination is rather difficult.

Avoid 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 strong thesis, 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 our focus period, across gender and/or ethnic boundaries?  How are those characteristics treated differently and why?

Plan to put your growing critical apparatus into practice.  Develop the research and response strategies which will be required for success on your term project.  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.

The final response paper, a narrative self-and-course evaluation, is due with the final project. 

See a sample student response paper from January

Response papers: 30%
Take-Home Midterm: 20%
Final Project: 30%
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 WB 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, for “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.
• Students will activate their UVSC email accounts or notify the instructor of alternate email address.
• The course website (http://research.uvsc.edu/goshert/uvsc389e.html) will direct students toward additional resources for research, documentation, and bibliographic conventions.  Sample student papers will also be archived, as available, throughout the semester.

Tentative Schedule of Assignments

January

 Mon 8    Course introduction

               
Wed 10  DeLillo (handout)

                McHale (handout)

Puddn’head Wilson ch. 1-11

 
Mon 15  No class

 
Wed 17  Complete Pudd’nhead Wilson

                Twain (reserve)

 
Mon 22 Those Extraordinary Twins

                Barthes (reserve)

 
Wed 24  Foucault (reserve)

                Response Paper #1 due

 
Mon 29  Sundquist (reserve)

 
Wed 31  White Noise 1-84
 

February

 Mon 5    White Noise 85-177

 
Wed 7    White Noise 178-271

Baudrillard (reserve)

                Response Paper #2 due

 
Wed 14   Hutcheon (reserve)

 
Mon 19   no class

 
Wed 21  Middle Passage 1-70

 
Mon 26  Middle 71-141

 
Wed 28  Middle 142-84
 

March

 Mon 5    Complete Middle Passage

                Thaden (reserve)

                Response Paper #3 due

 
Wed 7    begin Laub (reserve)

 
Mon 12  complete Laub

                Midterm preparation

 
Wed 14  no class

 
Mon 19  Midterm assigned

Research seminar: LC 218

 
Wed 21  no class (out of town conference)

 
Mon 26  film: La jetée         

Midterm due

 
Wed 28  Postmodern Condition 3-27
 

April

 Mon 2    Postmodern 27-67

               
Wed 4    Complete Postmodern Condition

 
Mon 9    Jameson’s introduction in Postmodern

                Response Paper #4 due

 
Wed 11  Gulf War 1-28

 
Mon 16  Gulf War 29-59

 
Wed 18  Complete Gulf War

                Response Paper #5 due

 
Mon 21  final exam period—term projects due at class time

                Response Paper #6 due