Dr. Alex E. Blazer	Course Site	Syllabus
Article Summary 1	Article Summary 2
Exam 1	Exam 2

Assignments

Critical Theory

English 491-75: Interpretive Theory: The New Criticism to the Present

Spring 2006, MW 5:30-6:45PM, Bingham Humanities Bldg 121

Summary 1: Theory

Blackboard Post: You will summarize a particular theorist's essay and post your summary to our course discussion board at Blackboard > Assignments > Article Summaries. The summary should

• be formatted in Word or Rich-Text Format only according to the MLA styled template,
• be 2-3 double-spaced pages long,
• summarize the article's argument,
• define key terms,
• and include questions for class discussion.

Informal Presentation: You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation which introduces the essay by defining key points and terms (without simply reading your written summary) and broaching issues for class discussion.

 

Due Dates:

1. Your written article summary will be due in Blackboard > Assignments > Article Summaries on the Wednesday before we discuss an essay in class. If you do not submit your written summary to Blackboard before the article is discussed in class, you will fail the assignment.
2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the essay in class. This date is approximate for we sometimes fall a day behind.
3. I will return your graded article summary to you in Blackboard > My Grades > Summary 1: Theory by the Friday of the week we discussed the article in class.
4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss Brooks on Wednesday, 1-18. Therefore, Tabatha Thompson's summary will be due in Blackboard > Assignments > Article Summaries by Wednesday, 1-11. In class on Wednesday, 1-18, Tabatha will informally present the main ideas of Brooks' essay. I will return Tabatha's graded article summary to her by Friday, 1-20 in Blackboard > My Grades > Summary 1: Theory.

Note: As I wrote on the syllabus course schedule, we may have to slow down for certain theorists and theories. We will not be able to discuss each and every article in class. Thus, some articles may only be summarized on Blackboard's Article Summaries discussion board and presented to the class by the person assigned to the article. Therefore, it is extremely important for each person to turn in the summaries on time and attend class for the presentation component. Summaries will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. Failing to present the article to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result in a one letter grade penalty.

 

Black Board Due Date	Presentation Due Date (approximate)	Article	Student
W, 1-11	W, 1-18	New Criticism Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" and "The Formalist Critics" [summarize one or both]	Tabatha Thompson
W, 1-18	M, 1-23	Ransom, "Criticism, Inc."	none
	M, 1-23	Wimsatt and Beardsley, "The Intentional Fallacy" and "The Affective Fallacy" [summarize one or both]	none
W, 1-25	M, 1-30	Poststructuralism Foucault, "What Is an Author?"	Scott Zurkuhlen
	M, 1-30	Foucault, from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison	none
	W, 2-1	Butler, from Gender Trouble	Emilie McKiernan
W, 2-1	M, 2-6	de Man, "Semiology and Rhetoric" [summarize only "Semiology and Rhetoric"]	Kim Baker
	W, 2-8	Derrida, from Of Grammatology	none
	W, 2-8	Derrida, from Dissemination	Victor Vasquez
W, 2-8	M, 2-13	Baudrillard, from "The Precession of Simulacra"	Nolan J. Werner
	M, 2-13	Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa"	Leshay Collier
	W, 2-15	Marxism Trotsky, from Literature and Revolution	Marvin Shackelford
W, 2-15	M, 2-20	Lukács, "Realism in the Balance"	Tyler Whiteside
	W, 2-22	Horkheimer and Adorno, from Dialectic of Enlightenment	Laci De Rossett
			Ryan Gainey
W, 2-22	M, 2-27	Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"	Anna Havrilesko
	W, 3-1	Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" [summarize only "Ideology and ISAs"]	Katie Sanders
			Brandy Schad
W, 3-1	M, 3-6	Jameson, from "The Political Unconscious"	Kris Hofelich
	M, 3-6	Jameson, "Postmodernism and Consumer Society"	Jessica Choate
	W, 3-8	Psychoanalysis Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams	Charles Mullaney
	W, 3-8	Freud, "The Unconscious"	Angela Taipalus
W, 3-15	M, 3-20	Bloom, Introduction, The Anxiety of Influence	V. Isaac Neff-Short
	W, 3-22	Lacan, "The Mirror Stage"	none
	W, 3-22	Lacan, from "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious"	Lisa Funk
W, 3-22	M, 3-27	Kristeva, from Revolution in Poetic Language	Donita Baines
			Lori Mangum
	W, 3-29	Deleuze and Guattari, from A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia [summarize only A Thousand Plateaus]	Emily Davis
W, 3-29	M, 4-3	Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"	Paul Logsdon
	W, 4-5	Existentialism and Phenomenology Iser, "Interaction between Text and Reader"	none
W, 4-5	M, 4-10	Poulet, "Phenomenology of Reading"	Andrea Ulrich
	W, 4-12	Heidegger, "Language"	Jonathan Brett
W, 4-12	M, 4-17	Sartre, from What Is Literature?	Kelsey Norris
	W, 4-19	de Beauvoir, from The Second Sex	Nyeesha Amos

Summary 2: Criticism

Blackboard Post: You will summarize a critic's interpretive essay, and post your summary to our course discussion board at Blackboard > Assignments > Article Summaries. The summary should

• be formatted in Word or Rich-Text Format only according to the MLA styled template,
• be 2-3 double-spaced pages long,
• summarize the article's overall interpretation of the work of literature,
• define the article's interpretive method in terms of questions posed of the text and evidence used,
• and evaluate what the article does and does not illuminate about the text.

Informal Presentation: You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation which introduces the essay by defining key interpretations and methodologies (without simply reading your written summary) and broaching issues for class discussion.

 

Due Dates:

1. Your written article summary will be due in Blackboard > Assignments > Article Summaries on the Wednesday before we discuss an essay in class. If you do not submit your written summary to Blackboard before the article is discussed in class, you will fail the assignment.
2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the essay in class. This date is approximate for we sometimes fall a day behind.
3. I will return your graded article summary to you in Blackboard > My Grades > Summary 2: Criticism by the Friday of the week we discussed the article in class.
4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss Tyson's interpretation of Fitzgerald in class on Wednesday, 1-25. Therefore, Kris Hofelich's summary will be due on Blackboard > Assignments > Article Summaries by Wednesday, 1-18. In class on Wednesday, 1-25, Kris will informally present the main ideas of Tyson's essay.

Note: As I wrote on the syllabus course schedule, we may have to slow down for certain theorists and theories. We will not be able to discuss each and every article in class. Thus, some articles may only be summarized on Blackboard's Article Summary discussion board and presented to the class by the person assigned to the article. Therefore, it is extremely important for each person to turn in the summaries on time and attend class for the presentation component. Summaries will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. Failing to present the article to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result in a one letter grade penalty.

 

Blackboard Due Date	Presentation Due Date (approximate)	Article	Student
W, 1-18	W, 1-25	Poststructuralism Tyson on Fitzgerald, "A Deconstructive Reading of TGG"	Kris Hofelich
W, 1-25	W, 2-1	Yaeger on Chopin, "'A Language Which Nobody Understood'"	Katie Sanders
			Tabatha Thompson
W, 2-1	M, 2-6	Felman on James, "A Child Is Killed in TTotS"	Laci DeRossett
			Lori Mangum
	W, 2-8	Herr on Joyce, "Deconstructing Dedalus"	David Holyfield
			John Mattingly
W, 2-8	M, 2-13	Garber on Shakespeare, "H: Giving Up the Ghost"	Lisa Funk
			Anna Havrilesko
	W, 2-15	Marxism Tyson on Fitgerald, "A Marxist Reading of TGG"	none
W, 2-15	M, 2-20	Rowe on Chopin, "The Economics of the Body in KC's TA"	V. Isaac Neff-Short
			Kelsey Norris
	W, 2-22	Robbins on James, "The Unfinished History of TToS"	Scott Zurkuhlen
W, 2-22	M, 2-27	Naremore on Joyce, "Consciousness and Society in APotA"	Andrea Ulrich
	W, 3-1	Bristol on Shakespeare, "Carnival and the Carnivalesque in H"	Nolan J. Werner
W, 3-1	W, 3-8	Psychoanalysis Tyson on Fitzgerald, "A Psychoanalytic Reading of TGG "	none
W, 3-15	M, 3-20	McGowan on Chopin, "TA of Desire"	Kim Baker
			Brandy Schad
	W, 3-22	Renner on James, "Sexual Hysteria, . . . and the 'Ghosts' in TTotS"	none
W, 3-22	M, 3-27	Brivic on Joyce, "The Disjunctive Structure of J's P"	none
	W, 3-29	Adelman on Shakespeare, "H and the Confrontation with the Maternal Body"	Nyeesha Amos
			Marvin Shackelford
W, 3-29	W, 4-5	Existentialism and Phenomenology Parr on Fitzgerald, "The Idea of Order at West Egg"	Donita Baines
			Angela Taipalus
W, 4-5	M, 4-10	Parvulescu on Chopin, "To Die Laughing and to Laugh at Dying: Revisiting TA"	Jessica Choate
			Emilie McKiernan
	W, 4-12	Sussman on James, "James: Twists of the Governness"	Emily Davis
			Charles Mullaney
W, 4-12	M, 4-17	Price on Joyce, "The Beauty of Mortal Conditions: J’s APotA"	Jonathan Brett
			Paul Logsdon
	W, 4-19	Bielmeier on Shakespeare, "Hamlet, King of Infinite Space"	LeShay Collier

Exam 1

The first exam will be composed of two 5-7 page essays. In the first essay, you will define and debate the key terms of what constitutes meaning for New Criticism and poststructuralism. In the second essay, you will apply New Critical and poststructuralist methodologies to either a short story or a few poems.

• Essay 1
  • Write an essay that compares and contrasts 1) how a generic New Critic and generic poststructuralist critic (not a generic deconstructive critic) approach art and literature in terms of meaning and 2) how a specific New Critic and a specific poststructuralist critic approach art and literature in terms of meaning. What is meaningful and what constitutes meaning inside or outside of a text? Use and define key terms that have significance and meaning for the general theory and key terms particular to a specific theorist. For example, if you are discussing what is interpretively significant to the generic New Criticic you could use such terms as biographical criticism, formalist criticism, close reading, and "the text itself"; if discussing Cleanth Brooks in particular, then heresy of paraphrase, organic unity, irony, paradox, and ambiguity are key.
• Essay 2
  • Choose either the short story by William H. Gass or the poems by Alice Fulton (you may discuss one or a couple of the poems if you wish) available in Blackboard > Course Documents > Course Packet and then write an essay that compares and contrasts 1) how a generic New Critic and a generic poststructuralist critic (not a generic deconstructive critic) would approach the text as well as 2) how a specific New Critic and a specific poststructuralist (both of your choosing, but not repeating a writer used in the first essay) would interpret the work with their particular versions of the general method. Unlike a traditional literature essay exam which would only require you to elucidate the meaning of the work of literature, your answer in this exam should explicitly exemplify the methods that guide interpretation of meaning. In other words, your essay should illustrate the differing interpretive theories that underlie the practice of criticism.
• Due: Monday, February 20
• Length: Each essay should be 5-7 pages long, for a total of 10-14 pages.
  • Per syllabus policy, your exam will be penalized one-third of a letter grade if its two combined essays do not end at least halfway down on the tenth page while implementing proper MLA font, line spacing, and margins. If it does not end at least halfway down on the ninth page, it will be penalized two-thirds of a letter grade.
• Style: Per syllabus policy, conform your take-home exam to MLA style, or one-third of a letter grade will be penalized for improprieties in each of the following categories: 1) heading, running header, and margins, 2) font and line-spacing, and 3) in-text quoting, block quoting, and citing sources.
  • Here are MLA style templates for Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, OpenOffice, and Rich-Text Format.
• Format: I'll accept take-home exams in hard copy or electronic format.
  • Paper
    • Turn in at the beginning of class.
    • Note: I do not accept hard copies of assignments submitted after class. If you turn in your assignment after class, you must do so via Blackboard. I will use the time and date stamp to determine if late penalties are warranted.
  • Electronic
    • Use WordPerfect, Word, Works, OpenOffice, or Rich-Text Format.
  • Turn in via Blackboard. (Click here for instructions.)
    • Note: If you have problems with Blackboard, you may email your assignment to me as an attachment.
• Grade: You will be assessed on your understanding of 1) the two methodologies, 2) the four theorists, 3) connections and distinctions among the methods and theorists, and 4) how to apply the methods and theorists.
  • Your graded assignment will be returned approximately one week after you submit it.
    • If you turned it in on paper, it will be returned to you in class.
    • If you turned it in electronically, you can retrieve it in Blackboard. (Click here for instructions.)

Here are some key terms and ideas that each theorist covers.

• New Criticism
• Tyson, "Everything You Wanted to Know about Critical Theory" and "New Criticism"
• literary criticism
• literary/critical theory
• biographical criticism
• intrinsic/objective/formalist criticism
• close reading
• "the text itself"
• Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" and "The Formalist Critics"
• heresy of paraphrase
• organic unity
• irony
• paradox
• ambiguity
• "form is content"
• Ransom, "Criticism, Inc."
• Criticism, Inc.
• "æsthetic distance"
• Wimsatt and Beardsley, "The Intentional Fallacy" and "The Affective Fallacy"
  • the intentional fallacy
  • the affective fallacy
  • affective criticism
  • cognitive criticism
• Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and "The Metaphysical Poets"
• tradition
• impersonality
• dissociation of sensibility
• Poststructuralism
• Tyson, "Deconstructive Criticism
• deconstruction of hierarchical binary oppositions
• Foucault, "What Is an Author?," from Discipline and Punish, from The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction, and from Truth and Power
• the author-function
• discursive networks
• carceral
• Panopticon
• the repressive hypothesis
• truth, knowledge, and power
• "regime" of truth
• Butler, from Gender Trouble
• the performative
• the imitative structure of gender
• styles of the flesh
• de Man, "Semiology and Rhetoric," and "The Return to Philology"
• semiology/rhetoric, grammar/literature, referential/literary, literal/figurative
• deconstruction
• Derrida, from Of Grammatology and from Dissemination
• ethnocentrism
• logocentrism
• phonocentrism
• Western metaphysics
• supplément
• grammatology
• exorbitant
• pharmakon
• cure/poison, presence/absence
• Baudrillard, from "The Precession of Simulacra"
• simulacrum
• simulation/dissimulation
• hyperreality
• Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa"
• Medusa
• the Dark Continent
• phallogocentrism
• l'ecriture feminine

Exam 2

The second exam will be composed of two 6-8 page essays. In the first essay, you will define and debate the key terms of what constitutes meaning (in the world and in literature) for two of the following three interpretive theories: Marxism, psychoanalysis, and existential criticism. In the second essay, you will apply those same two theories from the first essay, using a different set of particular theorists, to a work of literature of your choice, a novel, short story, poem or set of poems, play, film, or television program.

• Essay 1
  • Write an essay that compares and contrasts two of the following three interpretive theories: Marxism, psychoanalysis, and existentialism. Compare and contrast 1) how two generic critics representing the two different methods approach art and literature in terms of meaning and 2) how two specific theorists representing the two different methods approach art and literature in terms of meaning. What is meaningful and what constitutes meaning inside or outside of a text? Use and define key terms that have significance and meaning for the general theory and key terms particular to a specific theorist. For example, if you choose to compare and contrast Marxism and psychoanalysis, your essay would discuss 1) a generic Marxist, 2) a generic psychoanalyst, a specific Marxist, and 4) a specific psychoanalyst.
• Essay 2
  • Write an essay that interprets a work of literature of your choosing (a novel, short story, poem or set of poems, play, film, or television show) by 1) reading that work through the lens of two particular theorists of the theories you used in Essay 1 methods (though not the same theorists you used in Essay 1) and 2) evaluating which theorist/method is more effective, successful, and applicable to the work of literature and why. For example, if you choose to compare Marxism and psychoanalysis, your essay would discuss 1) how you read the work through the lens of a specific Marxist's theory, 2) how you read the work through the lens of a specific psychoanalyst's theory, and 3) compare, contrast, and evaluate the two readings. Unlike a traditional literature essay exam which would only require you to elucidate the meaning of the work of literature, your answer in this exam should explicitly exemplify the methods that guide interpretation of meaning. In other words, your essay should illustrate the differing interpretive theories that underlie the practice of criticism. Note: You should inform me of your selected work of literature no later than Wednesday, April 12.
• Research: This is not a research paper; do not use outside sources. Use (and properly cite) only Tyson's Critical Theory Today, Leitch's Norton Anthology, my lectures, and the work of literature you analyze in Essay 2.
• Due: Wednesday, April 26
• Late Penalty: Exams will be penalized one letter grade for each day they are turned in late. However, if I cannot read your exam by Friday, April 28, for whatever reason, you will fail the exam and the course.
• Length: Each essay should be 6-8 pages long, for a total of 12-16 pages.
  • Per syllabus policy, your exam will be penalized one-third of a letter grade if its two combined essays do not end at least halfway down on the twelfth page while implementing proper MLA font, line spacing, and margins. If it does not end at least halfway down on the eleventh page, it will be penalized two-thirds of a letter grade.
• Style: Per syllabus policy, conform your take-home exam to MLA style, or one-third of a letter grade will be penalized for improprieties in each of the following categories: 1) heading, running header, and margins, 2) font and line-spacing, and 3) in-text quoting, block quoting, and citing sources.
  • Here are MLA style templates for Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, OpenOffice, and Rich-Text Format.
  • I will be happy to happy to double-check your MLA style for you if and only if you show me a working draft of your exam by Monday, April 24.
• Format: I'll accept take-home exams in hard copy or electronic format.
  • Paper
    • Turn in by 5:00PM to my mailbox in Bingham Humanities Bldg 315 or by 7:30PM to me in my office in Bingham Humanities Bldg 335A (I'll be in my office from 4:30-7:30PM).
    • Note: I will not accept hard copies of assignments submitted after 7:30PM. If you turn in your assignment after this time, you must do so via Blackboard. I will use the time and date stamp to determine if late penalties are warranted.
  • Electronic
    • Turn in via Blackboard. (Click here for instructions.)
    • Note: If you have problems with Blackboard, you may email your assignment to me as an attachment.
• Grade: You will be assessed on your understanding of 1) the two methodologies covered in Essay 1, 2) the four theorists, two from Essay 1 and two from Essay 2, 3) connections and distinctions among the methods and theorists, and 4) how to apply the methods and theorists.
  • You can access your course grade via Ulink or the Registrar after Sunday, April 30. I do not put course grades in Blackboard.
  • If you would like your exam to be returned to you with comments, you must specifically ask for it to be returned to you with comments.
    • If you turned it in on paper, email me to set up a time to retrieve it.
    • If you turned it in electronically, you can retrieve it in Blackboard after Sunday, April 30. (Click here for instructions.)

Student	Text	Two Theorists
Nyeesha Amos	Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Donita Baines	Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	Kristeva
Kim Baker	Weitz and Weitz, About a Boy
Jay Brett	Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Jessica Choate	Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Leshay Collier	Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Emily Davis	Gilman, "The Yellow Wall-Paper"
Lisa Funk	Brecht, The Good Woman of Sezchuan
Anna Havrilesko	Huffy, Boondock Saints
Kris Hofelich	Prose, Blue Angel
Paul Logsdon	Ramis, Groundhog Day
Lori Mangum	Parker, The Life of David Gale
Emilie McKiernan	Revolutionary Girl Utena (Complete Series)
Charles Mullaney	Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Isaac Neff-Short	McCullers, Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Kelsey Norris	Six Feet Under (Season 1)
Katie Sanders	Brecht, The Good Woman of Sezchuan or Dickens, Hard Times
Brandy Schad	Haggis, Crash
Marvin Shackelford	Watanabe and Okiura, Cowboy Bebop
Angela Taipalus	Peirce, Boys Don't Cry
Tabatha Thompson	Bukowski, Women
Andrea Ulrich	Lowry, The Giver
Nolan Werner	Milligan and Fegredo, Enigma