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LITERARY THEORY—ENG 306 Section 01 M,TH 9:45-11:00 a.m Office: HW 1432
Office Hours: Mondays and Thursdays 11:15am-12:15pm Email: icampos@gc.cuny.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course we will study some of the major theoretical frameworks that have shaped and
continue to shape contemporary literary criticism, such as Formalism and New Criticism,
Psychoanalysis, Marxism, Deconstruction, Postcolonialism, Feminism and Queer Theory.
We will analyze the concerns, problems, and concepts that have been the focus of critical
production in the twentieth century and beyond, studying an array of analytical tools with
which to approach literary works in insightful ways. Underlying this course is the assumption
that theoretical premises inform all interpretations, even if those premises are left
unexamined. Key issues we will study include the creation and the nature of meaning, the
economic, social, and political stakes of literary texts, the dynamics of subjectivity, and the
nature of language. We will also apply these theories to selected short stories, poems, and
films.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The texts can be incredibly difficult (books have been written about how tough they are! See
Just Being Difficult? Academic Writing in the Public Arena, ed. Jonathan Culler). Slow,
patient reading and re-reading is a must – reading theory is like rock-climbing: each
movement is small and controlled, and you must master each perch before ascending to the
next. By the end of the semester, you will understand most of the main concepts behind
various theoretical schools and will be able to apply these ideas to literary works and other
cultural phenomena.
Required Text:
Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Third
Edition, Manchester UP, 2009. It is available at Shakespeare & Co on Lexington Ave
between 68th and 69th Street.
Everything else will be in PDF form, available on Blackboard. Please download and print
the readings before class: bring hard copies.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
READING RESPONSES (20%): Three times throughout the semester, you will submit two
typed, double-spaced pages (no handwritten, late, or emailed submissions) reflecting on that
week’s text. A grade of check-minus, check, or check-plus will be given to each response,
based on your effort and command of the text.
READING QUIZZES (20%): Quizzes on the reading may be given at any time without prior
notice. If you are absent or late for class on a quiz day, you may not make it up.
MIDTERM ESSAY (20%): You will write a 3-4 page short essay. Assignment sheet with
grading rubric will be passed out in class.
FINAL PROJECT (20%): You will write an 8-10 page paper in which you analyze one short
story or poem applying three different theoretical approaches. In essence, the project will be
three short essays, and each reading should be distinct in focus and methodology. An
assignment sheet with grading rubric will be passed out in class.
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CLASS PARTICIPATION (20%): The success of the class depends on your active reading
and involvement. An A in Class Participation would indicate careful reading and preparation,
respectful and productive participation in discussion, and professionalism in all things.
Behavior that will impact your class participation grade includes belligerence towards me or
your classmates, disengagement in class discussion, preoccupation with non-class related
activities, and coming to class without the required texts – or without having read them.
CLASS POLICY:
Attendance/Tardiness: If you miss more than three days of class (excused or otherwise), your
final grade will be reduced by a half-letter for each absence. Any student who misses more
than six class sessions for any reason will receive an F. When absent, it is your responsibility
to find out what you missed and obtain the necessary information from another student. Any
tardiness will count as one-half of an absence. Our class meetings are short – just 75 minutes
– so it is important we make good use of our time.
Late work: I do not accept late work or email submissions. All homework and assignments
should be ready to be handed in at the beginning of class on the day they are due. If
extenuating circumstances arise, please contact me as soon as possible.
Unless you have cleared it with me, please do not use any devices that are prohibited during
airplane takeoff – no laptops, iPads, Kindles, iPhones, etc.
PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is defined as
word- for-word copying without acknowledgment of the language or ideas of another writer.
Obviously, having another person write or dictate all or part of one’s composition is
forbidden. In addition, a writer should copy no printed passage, no matter how brief, without
acknowledging its source and either placing it in quotation marks or setting it aside as a
blocked quotation. This applies to even the briefest of phrases if they are truly individual and
distinctive. Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on
examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents)
as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The college is committed to
enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic
dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures.
ACADEMIC ACOMMODATION: In compliance with the American Disability Act of
1990 (ADA) and with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Hunter College is
committed to ensuring educational parity and accommodations for all students with
documented disabilities and/or medical conditions. It is recommended that all students with
documented disabilities (Emotional, Medical, Physical and/or Learning) consult the Office of
ACCESSability located in Room 1124 East to secure necessary academic accommodations.
For further information and assistance please call (212-772-4857) /TTY (212-650-3230).
READING SCHEDULE:
Week One: Introduction to Theory
--Monday, August 27th 1. Introduction to the Course
--Thursday, August 30th 1. Chapter I Theory Before Theory (Barry)
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Week Two: Formalism (Russian)
--Monday, September 3rd
No Class Labor Day
--Thursday, September 6th
Formalisms (BB)
Victor Shklovsky, “Art as Technique” (BB)
Mikhail Bakhtin “Discourse in the Novel” (BB)
First two chapters of The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky (BB)
Week Three: Formalism (New Criticism)/Structuralism
--Monday, September 10th
Cleanth Brooks “The Formalist Critics” (BB)
Brooks “The Language of Paradox” (BB)
Emily Dickinson poems (BB)
--Thursday, September 13th
Chapter II: Structuralism (Barry)
Edgar Allan Poe “The Oval Portrait (Barry)
Week Four: Structuralism
--Monday, September 17th
No Class
--Thursday, September 20th
Ferdinand Sausurre Course in General Linguistics (BB)
Roland Barthes “The Death of the Author,” (BB)
Week Five: Structuralism --Monday, September 24th
Levi-Strauss “The Structural Study of Myth” (BB)
--Thursday, September 27th
J. L. Austin How to Do Things With Words (BB)
Roman Jakobson “Two Aspects of Language” (BB)
Week Six: Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction
--Monday, October 1st
Nietzsche “On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense” (BB)
Nietzsche excerpts from Will to Power (BB)
--Thursday, October 4th
Chapter III Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction (Barry)
Dylan Thomas (Poem) “A Refusal to Morn the Death” (Barry)
Week Seven: Deconstruction
--Monday, October 8th
No Class --Wednesday, October 10th
Classes Follow a Monday Schedule
Derrida Différance (BB)
--Thursday, October 11th
Foucault Discipline and Punishment (BB)
Week Eight: Post-Structuralism/ Pyschoanalysis
--Monday, October 15th
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Foucault from The Order of Things (BB)
Jorge Luis Borges “The Analytical Language of John Wilkins” http://
www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/language/johnWilkins.html
Midterm Essay Due 3-4 pages
--Thursday, October 18th
Chapter V Psychoanalytic Criticism (Barry)
Edgar Allan Poe “The Purloined Letter” (BB)
Week Nine: Psychoanalysis
--Monday, October 22nd
Freud The Interpretation of Dreams (BB)
--Thursday, October 25th
Freud Beyond the Pleasure Principle (BB)
Rene Girard “Triangular Desire” (BB)
Week Ten: Psychoanalysis/ Feminism
--Monday, October 29th
Lacan “The Mirror Stage...” (BB)
--Thursday, November 1st Feminism
Chapter VI Feminist Criticism (Barry)
Week Eleven: Feminism --Monday, November 5th
Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex (BB)
--Thursday, November 8th
Luce Irigaray “Commodities Amongst Themselves (1977)
Julie Kristeva “Approaching Abjection” from Powers of Horror
Week Twelve: Feminism/Queer Theory
--Monday, November 12th
Laura Mulvey “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Preminger (film)
--Thursday, November 15th Queer Theory
Monique Wittig excerpt from The Straight Mind and Other Essays
Judith Butler “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” (BB)
Week Thirteen: Queer Theory
--Monday, November 19th
Eve Sedgwick Between Men (BB)
--Thursday, November 22nd
No Class—Thanksgiving Week Fourteen: Postcolonism
--Monday, November 26th
Chapter X Postcolonial Criticism (Barry)
Edward Said from Orientalism (BB)
--Thursday, November 29th
Homi Bhabha The Location of Culture (BB)
Week Fifteen: Marxism
--Monday, December 3rd
Chapter VIII Marxist Criticism (Barry)
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Hegel “Dialectics” from The Science of Logic (BB)
--Thursday, December 6th
Marx The German Ideology (BB)
Karl Marx “The Manifesto of the Communist Party” (BB)
Marx “Wage Labor and Capital” (BB)
Marx From Capital (on commodities) (BB)
Week Sixteen: Marxism
--Monday, December 10th
Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Louis Althusser “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” (BB)
--Thursday, December 13th
Adorno and Horkheimer "The Culture Industry as Mass Deception” from the
Dialectic of Enlightenment (BB)
Final Project Due 8-10 pages
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