AJ34140 Selected Chapters in Literary and Cultural Theory

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 15 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. (lecturer)
Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
No prerequisites.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 18 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 17/18, only registered: 0/18, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/18
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 course presents and assesses a variety of theoretical approaches to literary studies that have been gaining prominence in recent years. Examining a wide range of primary and secondary materials, it presents topics as varied as relating sexuality and art, Foucauldian approaches to culture and literature; selected ecocritical and critical race theory perspectives; as well as recent theories of the new media. The course participants are expected to critically engage with the suggested topics and methods of enquiry and - whenever possible - relate them to their ongoing research projects.
Learning outcomes
The successful participants will get acquainted with a variety of theoretical approaches to literary and cultural studies that have been gaining prominence in recent years; topics as varied as relating sexuality and art, Foucauldian approaches to culture and literature; selected ecocritical and critical race theory perspectives; as well as recent theories of the new media.
Syllabus
  • Session 1: Dr. Stephen Hardy - Literature and philosophy: Richard Rorty
  • Session 2: doc. Tomáš Pospíšil – Theorizing the New Media
  • Session 3: Dr. Jeff Smith – Cultural History and Reception Studies
  • Session 4: Dr. Martina Horáková – Whiteness Studies and Critical Race Theory
  • Session 5: Prof. Milada Franková – Ecocriticism
Literature
    required literature
  • GARRARD, Greg. Ecocriticism. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2004, xii, 203. ISBN 0415196922. info
  • LISTER, Martin. New media : a critical introduction. 1st publ. London: Routledge, 2003, vi, 404 s. ISBN 0-415-22377-6. info
  • DYER, Richard. White. Repr. London: Routledge, 2002, xv, 256. ISBN 0415095379. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. The field of cultural production : essays on art and literature. Edited by Randal Johnson. Cambridge: Polity press, 1993, viii, 323. ISBN 9780745609867. info
  • DOLLIMORE, Jonathan. Sexual dissidence : Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991, 388 s. ISBN 0-19-811225-4. info
  • FOUCAULT, Michel. Power/knowledge : selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977. Edited by Colin Gordon, Translated by Colin Gordon. New York: Pantheon Books, 1977, xii, 270 s. ISBN 0-394-73954-X. info
    not specified
  • Ecology and life writing. Edited by Alfred Hornung - Baisheng Zhao. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2013, xix, 413. ISBN 9783825358921. info
  • LEVINSON, Paul. New new media. 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013, xvi, 223. ISBN 9780205865574. info
  • PAUL, Christopher A. Wordplay and the discourse of video games : analyzing words, design, and play. First issued in paperback. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013, x, 220. ISBN 9780415834995. info
  • Teaching ecocriticism and green cultural studies. Edited by Greg Garrard. 1 st pub. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, xiii, 174. ISBN 9780230235038. info
  • CLARK, Timothy. The Cambridge introduction to literature and the environment. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, xiv, 254. ISBN 9780521720908. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. Outline of a theory of practice. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, viii, 248. ISBN 9780521211789. info
  • LUHMANN, Niklas. Social systems. Edited by Eva M. Knodt, Translated by John Bednarz - Dirk Baecker. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995, lii, 627. ISBN 0804726256. info
  • PAGLIA, Camille. Sexual personae : art and decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson. 1st Vintage Books ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1991, xiv, 718. ISBN 0679735798. info
  • DELEUZE, Gilles and Félix GUATTARI. A thousand plateaus : capitalism and schizophrenia. Translated by Brian Massumi. London: Athlone Press, 1988, xix, 610. ISBN 0485120585. info
  • BLOOM, Harold. Agon : towards a theory of revisionism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982, ix, 336 s. ISBN 0-19-503354-X. info
Teaching methods
Intensive block seminars with respective teachers; each session combines a lecture, group and class discussion based on the assigned theoretical readings.
Assessment methods
Requirements and Assessment:
1) Regular attendance, reading the assigned texts, participating in the class discussions
2) Three four-page, double-spaced essays submitted via IS and sent to respective teachers by email; deadlines and readings are available in IS.
(In these essays students are specifically asked to make connections—whenever applicable—between the selected critical approaches and issues and their research projects. The essays will be read by the relevant teachers.)
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every other week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2023/AJ34140