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

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

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.

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

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.

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