AJ04003 Introduction to Literary Studies II

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2010
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Drábek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
Mon 10:00–11:35 zruseno D22
Prerequisites (in Czech)
AJ04001 Intro. to Literary Studies I
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 11 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This lecture series provides an introduction to some of the most significant approaches to the study of literature. Focusing especially on British and American authors, the lectures aim to broaden the students’ awareness of diverse ways of analyzing literary texts. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking and academic writing skills and on gaining a deeper understanding of how literature affects us and enriches our perception of the world.
Syllabus
  • Case Studies:
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600)
  • Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener (1853)
  • Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1902)
  • General Reading:
  • René Wellek and Austin Warren, A Theory of Literature (1948)
  • Week 1 Feb 22
  • Introductory Lecture
  • The Purpose of Literature and the Purpose of Literary Studies
  • Additional reading: M. H. Abrams’s Introduction to his The Mirror and the Lamp (1953)
  • Block I: Close Encounters with the Text
  • Week 2 Mar 1
  • Reading Poetry I (texts of poems will be provided)
  • Additional Reading: Frances Stillman, “The Poet’s Manual” from The Poet’s Manual and Rhyming Dictionary (1966)
  • Week 3 Mar 8
  • Reading Poetry II (texts of poems will be provided)
  • Additional Reading: Critical Inquiry, special issue on metaphor (Vol. 5, No. 1, Autumn, 1978)
  • Week 4 Mar 15
  • Reading Character and Reading Plot in Prose Fiction
  • Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener
  • Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
  • Week 5 Mar 22
  • Reading Theme in Prose Fiction
  • Additional material: see Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979)
  • Week 6 Mar 29
  • Reading and Understanding Drama (Pavel Drábek)
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  • Additional reading: Ronald Hayman, How to Read a Play (1999)
  • Week 7 Apr 5
  • Easter Monday (no lecture)
  • Block II: The Literary Essay, and what it has to say about literature and thinking
  • Week 8 Apr 12
  • Writing about Poetry
  • Case study: Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Windhover
  • a selected essay or two on the poem
  • Week 9 Apr 19
  • Writing about Literary Phenomena
  • Case study: a selection of poems
  • One of the articles on metaphor from Critical Inquiry (Vol. 5, No. 1, Autumn, 1978)
  • Week 10 Apr 26
  • Writing about Narratives
  • Case study: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
  • Terence Bowers, “Conrad’s Aeneid: Heart of Darkness and the Classical Epic” (2006)
  • Kimberly J. Devlin, “The Scopic Drive and Visual Projection in Heart of Darkness” (2006)
  • Week 11 May 3
  • Writing about Drama
  • Case study: William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  • Maynard Mack, “The World of Hamlet” (1952)
  • and another essay
  • Block III: Literary Criticism, Language, Aesthetics, Philosophy and Ideology: “interdisciplinary” links
  • Week 12 May 10
  • Literature and Language
  • Richard Bradford, Stylistics (1997)
  • Roman Jakobson, an essay on poetic function
  • Week 13 May 17
  • Literature and Culture
  • a chapter from Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978)
  • and a chapter from Raymond Williams’s The Country and the City (1975)
Literature
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  • Ross C. Murfin, “The Biographical and Historical Background” (pages 3-19
  • Johanna M. Smith, “A Critical History of Frankenstein” (pages 237-61)
  • Peter G. Beidler, “A Critical History of The Turn of the Screw” (pages 127-45)
  • John Pick, ed., The Windhover (from The Merrill Literary Casebook Series)
  • Maynard Mack, “The World of Hamlet”
  • Sacvan Bercovitch, “Hawthorne’s A-Morality of Compromise” (pages 344-58)
  • Phillip Lopate, “Introduction” from The Art of the Personal Essay
  • Montgomery, Martin. Ways of Reading. London : Routledge, 1993. 257 s. ISBN 0-415-05320-.
  • Barnet, Sylvan, Morton Berman, and William Burto. An Introduction to Literature: Fiction / Poetry / Drama. 9th ed. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman, 1989: 1-101.
  • Ross C. Murfin, “What Is Psychoanalytic Criticism?” (pages 262-79)
  • Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Windhover”
  • Ross C. Murfin, “Psychoanalytic Criticism and The Turn of the Screw” (pages 207-
  • Ronald Hayman, How to Read a Play
  • Richard Bradford, Stylistics (part 2)
  • Johanna M. Smith, “‘Cooped Up’ with ‘Sad Trash’: Domesticity and the Sciences in Frankenstein”
  • Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
  • Barbara Kingsolver, selections from Small Wonder
  • Wellek, René, and Austin Warren. A Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, 1949.
  • Johanna M. Smith, “A Critical History of Frankenstein” (pages 237-61)
  • Aristotle, Poetics
  • Philip Gerard, “What Is Creative Nonfiction Anyhow?” (pages 1-12)
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
  • Ross C. Murfin, “What Is Feminist Criticism?” (pages 296-313)
  • Bonnie Klomp Stevens, Larry L. Stewart. A Guide to Literary Criticism and Research. 3rd ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.
  • Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
  • Stanley Renner, “‘Red hair, very red, close-curling’: Sexual Hysteria,
  • David Collings, “The Monster and the Maternal Thing: Mary Shelley’s Critique of Ideology” (pages
Teaching methods
This lecture series provides an introduction to some of the most significant approaches to the study of literature. Focusing especially on British and American authors, the lectures aim to broaden the students’ awareness of diverse ways of analyzing literary texts. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking and academic writing skills and on gaining a deeper understanding of how literature affects us and enriches our perception of the world. The lectures are 90 minutes a week.
Assessment methods
Assessment: Students will write a final exam consisting of two comprehensive short-essay questions. To prepare for the exam, students are required to respond to one of the sample questions suggested at the end of each lecture (see the echo-assignment in elf) and to take a mid-term mock-quiz and an end-of-term mock-quiz.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: 4 skupin studentů
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2000, Spring 2001, Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Autumn 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2010, recent)
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