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Introduction to Literary Theory/ENGL 306
Instructor: Jeff Allred
Class Meetings: TF 12:45-2, 408 TH
Office Hours: TF 10-11am and by appointment
Contact me: 212.772.5170 or [email protected]
Class Blog Site: http://theoryhunter306.wordpress.com
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the semester, students who have successfully
completed the course will:
Gain fluency in the language of cultural and literary theory
through enthusiastic discussion oftexts, exploratory writing, and
the writing of a synthetic formal essay.
Especially through this latter assignment, gain an understanding
of the central concepts ofliterary theorylinguistic structure,
ideology, and the psycheincluding they way these
concepts interact in the work of individual theorists.
Learn to engage an audience of peers as well as a broader public
orally and in writing, usingweb-based platforms such as
WordPress.
Course Schedule: [Note: all page numbers refer to the Norton
anthology; other readings will be
distributed via web in .pdf]
date readings writing
Week 1 Introduction
8/30 Introduction, requirements, assignments
Week 2 What is Literature? What is Theory?
9/3 Culler, What is Theory? (.pdf)
Eliot, Tradition and the Individual Talent (955-60)
Eagleton, The Rise of English (2140-45)
Blog post #1
9/6 No class: holiday
Week 3-6 Language/Structure
9/10 Nietzsche, On Truth and Lying (764-73)
9/13 No class: holiday
9/17 Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics(850-66)
Optional: Jonathan Culler on Saussure (.pdf)
Blog post #2
9/20 Jakobson, from Linguistics and Poeticsand Two Aspects
of
Language (1144-55)
9/24 Roland Barthes, from Mythologies(1320-22) & The Eiffel
Tower[.pdf] Blog post #3
9/27 Paulde Man, Semiology and Rhetoric (1365-77)
10/1 Barbara Johnson, Melvilles Fist (2258-76)
10/4 Review/catchup
Week 7-11 Ideology/Hegemony/Power
10/8 Marx/Engels: a) from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts
of
1844(651-4); b) from The German Ideology(655-6); c ) from
Capital
(663-71 ONLY).
Recommended: Raymond Williams, Ideology from Keywords(.pdf)
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10/11 Antonio Gramsci, from the prison notebooks (1002-08)
Raymond Williams, Hegemony from Marxism and Literature[.pdf]
Blog post #4
10/18 Louis Althusser, Ideology and ISAs (1335-1360)
**note: 10/15 is a holiday
10/22 Franz Fanon, The Fact of Blackness ( .pdf)
10/25 Dick Hebdige, from Subculture: The Meaning of
Style(2481-90)
10/29 Michel Foucault, from The History of Sexuality(1502-20)
Blog post #5
11/1 Deleuze and Guattari, fromA Thousand Plateaus(1454-62)11/5
Review/catchup
11/8 Take-home midterm: details TBA midterm
Wk 11-14
11/12 Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreamsand The Uncanny
(814-
41)
Blog post #6
11/15 Brooks, Freuds Masterplots (.pdf)
11/19 Lacan, The Mirror Stage as Formative (1163-69)
11/22 Meltzer, Unconscious (.pdf)
11/26 Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema
(2081-94)
11/27 No class
12/3 Judith Butler, from Gender Trouble(2540-52)
Wk 15 Special topic: the image
12/6 Kaja Silverman, from Threshold of the Visible
World(.pdf)
12/10 Exam review Submit blog greate
12/13 Take-home exam: details TBA Final exam
Responsibilities:
Six blog posts of 400-800 words + informal commenting on others
posts
Midterm exam (essay- and short-answer-based takehome exam)
Final exam (similar format, but cumulative)
OR topic of your own devising based on original research (10-12
pp.)regular attendance and participation in all discussions
Grading:
I will give detailed guidelines for the blog posts, exam, and
final paper separately. Your grade will be
calculated as follows: blogging (35%); midterm (20%); final exam
(30%); participation (15%).
A FEW GENERAL POLICIES:
a)regarding plagiarism
Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g.
plagiarism, cheating on examinations,
obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and
official documents) as serious offensesagainst the values of
intellectual honesty. The college is committed to enforcing the
CUNY Policy on
Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty
according to the Hunter College
Integrity Procedures.
b) regarding students with disabilities
In compliance with the American Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) and
with Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Hunter College is committed to
ensuring educational parity and
accommodations for all students with documented disabilities
and/or medical conditions. It is
recommended that all students with documented disabilities
(Emotional, Medical, Physical and/or
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Learning) consult the Office of Accessibility located in Room
1124 East to secure necessary academic
accommodations. For further information and assistance please
call (212-772-4857) /TTY (212-650-
3230).
c) regarding attendance and participation
I do take attendance and expect you in class each day. Failure
to attend will significantly impact your
grade; more than four unexcused absences will result in a
failing grade. Im a reasonable person, so
alwaysget in touch via email in advanceif you need to miss
class. I become less reasonable withexcuses that come after the
fact. Nor is being there enough: you have to come prepared to put
away
the phones and distractions and engage the texts rigorously. I
will embarrass you if you are texting or
otherwise engaging in distracted/distracting behavior.
d) regarding technology
We will use two major web resources in this course: a course
blog and the course Blackboard site. I
plan to use Bb only for its gradebook function; we will use the
blog to share informal responses to
texts and for any announcements from me about the course. We
will also use email for
communication. It is therefore a basic requirement for you to
have a functioning Hunter email account
and to check it frequently. I also strongly prefer that you use
your Hunter email address for all course-
related correspondence: getting email from your personal
accounts, with handles like numbnutz34 ordarealcontenda (both real
examples), creates spam filter problems and is just plain
embarrassing.
Books:[available at Shakes and Co. (939 Lexington Avenue); all
other texts are available via blog site]
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism: if you shop
around, make sure to get the second edition
(i.e., with the white/red covers rather than the blue ones).
