| Dr. Alex E. Blazer | Course Site | Assignments | Description |
| Materials | Assignments | Policies | Schedule |
From Criticism to Theory
English 491-75: Interpretive Theory: The New Criticism to the Present
Spring 2004, TR 7:00-8:15PM, Bingham Humanities Bldg 106
| Professor: Alex E. Blazer | Office: Bingham Humanities Bldg 336B |
| Mailbox: Bingham Humanities Bldg 315 | Office Hours: TR: 6:00-6:50PM |
| Email: alex.blazer@louisville.edu | Office Phone: 852-1722 |
| Web: www.louisville.edu/~a0blaz01/ | Departmental Phone: 852-6801 |
Starting with the New Criticism, literary interpretation took on a level of analysis beyond simply reading the text at hand. New Criticism formalized and codified interpretation, and the movements that came after it further systematized such methods, with an additional self-conscious understanding of the critic's position with regard to the text. At the beginning of the new century, not only does the critic interpret literature, but she also theorizes the acts of reading, writing, and being. This course surveys the transformation from criticism to theory. This course will introduce the various methods of interpretation from the twentieth century, including the New Criticism, structuralism and semiotics, poststructuralism and deconstruction, feminist criticism, and psychoanalysis. For each theory, we will first discuss one chapter from Critical Theory Today, which explains the major tenets of a movement and provides an exemplary reading on The Great Gatsby. Once we have a grasp of the major questions a particular theory poses, then we'll discuss essays by theorists whose work exemplify that movement. Assignments will ask us to summarize a theorist via listserv response and oral presentation, review what we've learned in an in-class exam, debate interpretive theories in a take-home exam, and finally apply a theory to a text of one's own choosing in a final take-home exam. Note that this course is graded on a plus and minus grade scale and the prerequisites for include both English 102/105 and English 310.
required (bookstore)
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Leitch, ed. et al, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism
Tyson, Critical Theory Today
recommended (online)
Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse"
Lowell, "Skunk Hour"
Watten, two poems
Assignments and Grade Distribution
Article Summary and Presentation, 10%
Once in the semester, you will summarize a particular thinker's essay or group of essays and post your summary to Article Summary discussion board in Blackboard the period before the class discusses the work. You will also be responsible for introducing the essay and issues for discussion to the class in an informal and brief presentation..
Exam 1, 25%
The first exam will be taken in-class. Identification, short answer, and short essay questions will test your overall understanding of two theories' key methods.
Exam 2, 30%
The second exam, taken at home, will be composed of longer essay questions that will allow you to probe and debate theories.
Exam 3, 35%
The final exam, also taken at home and cumulative, will be composed just as the second exam, save for an additional essay question that will ask you to apply an interpretive theory to a text of your choosing.
Office Hours and Email
I encourage you to stop by my office hours to discuss any aspect of the course, literature, or life. I'm happy to answer small questions such as due dates over email, but I prefer face-to-face conversations for more substantive topics like exams. I don't check my email on weekends.
Blackboard and Campus Email
All assignments must be turned in via either paper copy or Microsoft Word format in Blackboard. If Blackboard is down, email me your assignment as an attachment. Get in the habit of using Blackboard and your U of L campus email, for those are the systems we'll be using for class communication. Click here for help with your username and password.
Class Participation
We're going to be working with challenging works of critical theory; therefore, we'll all benefit from sharing our questions and ideas. If I feel that the majority of the class isn't participating because they're not keeping up with the reading, I reserve the right to give pop quizzes and reweight the other assignments accordingly.
Attendance
There will be a one letter final grade deduction for every unexcused absence beyond four days. Missing seven or more days of class, excused or not, will result in failure of the course. Arriving to class late constitutes a tardy; two tardies equals one absence. Arriving to class more than 15 minutes late or leaving more than 15 minutes early constitutes an absence. Athletic competition, jury duty, illness, and so forth will be excused provided that you bring an official note within one week of your return to class.
Late Assignments
There will be a one-letter grade deduction per day (not class period) for any assignment that is turned in late.
Plagiarism
Don't do it. Using someone else's words, ideas, or work without proper citation and representing it as your own is the most serious of academic offenses. See the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities, sections 5 and 6 in the Undergraduate Catalog. Any proven plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the assignment in question and will be reported to the Committee on Student Discipline for further action, which can include notice in the permanent record, dismissal, or expulsion.
Disabilities Resource Center
If you have any specific needs or concerns, please feel free to discuss the issue with me outside of class. Contact the Disabilities Resource Center (Robbins Hall, 852-6938) for information and auxiliary aid.
Writing Center
The Writing Center (Ekstrom Library, Room 312, 852-2173) provides drop-in assistance for planning, drafting, revising, and editing papers.
This schedule is subject to change, so listen in class and check online for possible revisions.
New Criticism Tyson, Ch1 "Everything You Wanted to Know about Critical Theory" (1-12) Ch5 "New Criticism" (117-52) Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" "The Formalist Critics" (1350-70) |
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Ransom, "Criticism, Inc." (1105-17) Wimsatt and Beardsley, "The Intentional Fallacy" "The Affective Fallacy" (1371-1402) |
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Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent" "The Metaphysical Poets" (1088-1104) |
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Structuralism and Semiotics Tyson, Ch7 "Structuralist Criticism" (197-240) Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (956-77) |
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Jakobson, from "Linguistics and Poetics" from "Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances" (1254-68) Lévi-Strauss, "A Writing Lesson" (1415-26) |
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Frye, "The Archetypes of Literature" (1442-56) Todorov, "Structural Analysis of Narrative" (2097-2106) ***Optional family sitcom screening after class |
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Barthes, from Mythologies "The Death of the Author" "From Work to Text" (1457-1475) |
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| Exam 1, In-Class Section | ||
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction From Structuralism to Poststructuralism Tyson, Ch8 "Deconstructive Criticism" (241-276) Exam 1, Take-Home Section Due |
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Foucault, "What Is an Author?" from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison from The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, An Introduction from "Truth and Power" (1615-70) |
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Butler, from Gender Trouble (2485-2501) |
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de Man, "Semiology and Rhetoric" "The Return to Philology" (1509-31) |
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No Class: 20th-Century Literature Conference ***I encourage you to attend some panels for you can hear some of the theories from our couse put into practice (the program can be found at the above link). |
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Derrida, from Of Grammatology from Dissemination (1815-76) |
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Baudrillard, from "The Precession of Simulacra" (1729-40) Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa" (2035-55) |
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Psychoanalysis Tyson, Ch2 "Psychoanalytic Criticism" (13-48) Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams "The 'Uncanny'" "Fetishism" (913-55) |
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Bloom, Introduction, The Anxiety of Influence (1794-1805) |
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| No Class: Spring Break | ||
| No Class: Spring Break | ||
Lacan, "The Mirror Stage" from "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious" "The Signification of the Phallus" (1278-1310) |
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Kristeva, from Revolution in Poetic Language (2165-78) ***Optional screening of Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) after class |
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Deleuze and Guattari, from Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature from A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1593-1608) |
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Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (2179-92) |
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Feminism Tyson, Ch4 "Feminist Criticism" (81-116) Gilbert and Gubar, from The Madwoman in the Attic (2021-34) |
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Kolodny, "Dancing through the Minefield" (2143-64) |
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Bordo, "The Body and the Reproduction of Feminity," from Unbearable Weight (2360-76) Haraway, "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" (2266-98) |
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Smith, "Toward a Black Feminist Criticism" (2299-15) Christian, "The Race for Theory" (2255-66) |
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Sedgwick, from Between Men from Epistemology of the Closet (2432-44) Zimmerman, "What Has Never Been" (2338-59) Wittig, "One Is Not Born a Woman" (2012-20) Rich, from "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (1759-82) |
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Tyson, Ch12 "Gaining an Overview" (423-31) Roundtable of Final Exam Criticism Topics Conclusions |
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| No Class: Reading Day | ||
| No Class: Reading Day | ||
| Take-Home Exam 3 Due |