TRENT OSHAWA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
ENGL3601 CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE
Fall 2012
Instructor:
Sara Humphreys
Email:
sarahumphreys@trentu.ca
Campus: Oshawa (room 116)
Office Location: 157
Telephone:
905-435-5102 ext.
5027
Office Hours:
Mondays and
Thursdays 11am to
1pm
Course Description:
How does literature influence our concepts of ourselves and other people(s)? What are the
relationships between literature and our perceptions of public and private identities? This
course will enable you to not only address these questions, but also expand your ideas of
literature and its cultural impact. In this course, you will learn how to venture beyond
mainly exploring the content of the print text to analyzing the cultural, historical, and
political role of literary narratives. Literature, in its many forms, mediates the ways in which
we measure the value of each other, ourselves, and our contexts. In addition, the course is
designed to introduce you to foundational schools in literary criticism, which is knowledge
that you will be able to use across disciplines. By the end of the course, you will have a
foundational knowledge of semiotics, discourse analysis, narratology, poststructuralism,
deconstruction, queer theory, and digital media theories.
Course Format:
Type
Day
Time
Location
Interactive Lecture
Workshops
Thursdays
Thursdays
2:10 – 3:30
3:45 – 5:00
Rm 103
Rm 103
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course a successful student will have:





gained critical and abstract thinking skills
obtained interdisciplinary tools
used digital media to express ideas in a public forum
learned research skills, including the use of digital tools specific to online research
a greater ability to read analytically, think creatively, and express the aforementioned
skills with precision, coherence, and clarity
Course Evaluation:
Normally at least 25% of the grade in a half-year course offered in the regular academic
session must be determined and made available by the deadline, which is November 6th, for
withdrawal without academic penalty.
Type of Assignment
Creative Response
Short Essay
Workshop Facilitation
Proposal
Participation
Final Project
Take Home Exam
Weighting
10%
15%
10%
10%
10%
25%
20%
Due Date
Oct 11
Nov 1
(see sign-up sheet)
Nov 8
weekly
Nov 29
Dec 10
University Policies
Academic Integrity:
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious
academic offence and carries penalties varying from a 0 grade on an assignment to
expulsion from the University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with
plagiarism and cheating are set out in Trent University’s Academic Integrity Policy. You
have a responsibility to educate yourself – unfamiliarity with the policy is not an excuse.
You are strongly encouraged to visit Trent’s Academic Integrity website to learn more:
www.trentu.ca/academicintegrity.
Access to Instruction:
It is Trent University's intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a
disability and/or health consideration and feels that he/she may need accommodations to
succeed in this course, the student should contact the Disability Services Office (BH Suite
132, 748 1281disabilityservices@trentu.ca). for Trent University in Oshawa Disability
Services office contact 905-435-5100. Complete text can be found under Access to
Instruction in the Academic Calendar.
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Required Texts
Please note that you are responsible for using the correct editions. The books listed as “ebrary” or “ebooks”
can be found by typing the title of the text from which these essays are drawn into the Bata library catalogue.
Any works listed as “Blackboard” are to be found in the appropriate learning module on Blackboard (aka
learningSystem). This course follows Trent’s official copyright policy, the full text of which can be found here
http://guides.lib.trentu.ca/copyright. You are expected to be logged into the website where the work is located,
and/or print out the work for use in class. Please be sure to bring the appropriate texts to class.
Theoretical Texts
Louis Althusser "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” (coursepack)
George Kamberelis and Greg Dimitriadis "Talkin' Tupac: Speech Genres and the Mediation
of Cultural Knowledge" (blackboard)
Jean Baudrillard "The Precession of Simulacra" (Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks
ebrary)
Michael Warner “Public and Private” and “Something Queer in the Nation State”
(blackboard)
Michael Warner “Publics and Counterpublics” (coursepack)
Marshall McLuhan “The Medium is the Message” (Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks
ebrary)
Pierre Bourdieu "The Production and Reproduction of Legitimate Language" and "The
Literary Field and the Struggle for Linguistic Authority" (blackboard)
Jacques Derrida "Signature, Event, Context" (coursepack)
Jacques Derrida “The Pharmakon” (coursepack)
Roland Barthes "Structural Analysis of Narratives" and “The Reality Effect” (coursepack)
Michael Warner and Lauren Berlant “Sex in Public” (blackboard)
Judith Halberstam "Animating Revolt and Revolting Animation" (The Queer Art of Failure
ebrary)
Jay Prosser "On Transitions: Changing Bodies, Changing Narratives" (blackboard)
Mieke Bal "The Narrator" (blackboard)
Lev Manovich “Visual Technologies as Cognitive Prosthesis” (coursepack)
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Patrick O’Neil “Points of Origin” (Fictions of Discourse e-book)
Sara Humphreys “Introduction to Semiotics”; :What is Discourse Analysis and
Narratology?”
Sara Humphreys “Introduction to Structuralism and Poststructuralism”; “Deconstruction:
Not As Hard As You Think”
Sara Humphreys “Putting the ‘Queer’ in ‘Theory’”; “Digital Media and Theory”
Literary, Film & Video Game Texts
(note: you will only be writing papers on a couple of these works – you do not have to
read them all)
Nick Park and Peter Lord Chicken Run (I will leave a copy on reserve in the library)
Ralph Ellison “King of the Bingo Game” (blackboard)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “The Adventure of the Creeping Man” (coursepack)
Sherman Alexie “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel” (blackboard)
The Prisoner (online graphic novel at http://www.amctv.com/the-prisoner-graphic-novel/)
L.A. Noire (you must play the game – I will bring in my x-box and the game over the term
on request)
Robert Frost “Servant to Servants” (blackboard)
Herman Melville “Bartleby the Scrivener” (blackboard)
John Updike “A&P” (blackboard)
Alice Munro “Royal Beatings” (blackboard)
Alice Walker “Everyday Use” (blackboard)
Amy Tan “Rules of the Game” (blackboard)
Recommended Texts
The Little, Brown Handbook Ramsey Fowler et al
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The Secret to Effective Documentation (Trent University: Academic Skills Centre -http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/documentation/, 13 July 2011). Note: Citations in this
course must be in the MLA format.
Resources for Essay Writing (Trent University: Academic Skills Centre -http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/online_arts.php , 13 July 2011).
learningSystem/Blackboard
You must log into Blackboard regularly and check the course site. All assignments are to be
handed in online without exception. This digital classroom should be an excellent resource
for you as we journey through the course.
Week-by-Week Schedule
(subject to change with as much notice as possible)
Note: please pay careful attention to the topics we will cover each week. You are responsible for understanding
the topics and terms we discuss in class and these will appear on the final exam.
Lecture 1 September 6
Readings: Syllabus
Topics: Course overview, expectations explained and so forth.
Learning Module One:
Discourse Analysis, Narratology, Semiotics
Lecture 2 September 13
Readings: Sara Humphreys “Introduction to Semiotics”; :What is Discourse Analysis and
Narratology?”; Robert Frost “Servant to Servants”
Topics: Intro to the learning module: the basics of semiotics, discourse analysis and
narratology
Workshop: explanation of assignments, sign-up sheet for facilitations
Lecture 3 September 20
Readings: George Kamberelis and Greg Dimitriadis "Talkin' Tupac: Speech Genres and the
Mediation of Cultural Knowledge"; Michael Warner “Public and Private”; Louis Althusser
"Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”
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Topics: speech genres, speech acts, cultural knowledge, forming the public self
Workshop: example of facilitation by Sara
Lecture 4 September 27
Readings: Mieke Bal "The Narrator"; Patrick O’Neil “Points of Origin”; Alice Munro
“Royal Beatings”
Topics: Focalization, levels of narration, the power of narration
Workshop: Facilitations begin
Learning Module Two:
Poststructuralism, Structuralism, and Deconstruction
Lecture 5 October 4
Readings: Sara Humphreys “Introduction to Structuralism and
Poststructuralism”;“Deconstruction: Not As Hard As You Think”
Topics: Introduction to learning module
Workshop: Facilitations
Assignment Due: Creative response
Lecture 6 October 11
Readings: Roland Barthes "Structural Analysis of Narratives" and “The Reality Effect”;
Ralph Ellison “King of the Bingo Game”
Topics: Realism and narrative structure: essential tools
Workshop: Facilitations
Lecture 7 October 18
Readings: Jacques Derrida "Signature, Event, Context"; Jacques Derrida “The Pharmakon”;
Alice Munro “Royal Beatings”
Topics: writing and orality: the authority of the spoken word, gossip, and written history
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Assignment Due: short essay
Workshop: Facilitations
October 24th – Reading Week!
Lecture 8 November 1
Readings: Pierre Bourdieu "The Production and Reproduction of Legitimate Language" and
"The Literary Field and the Struggle for Linguistic Authority"; Jean Baudrillard “The
Precession of Simulacra”
Topics: Literature as means of repression; mass consumption and questions of authenticity
Workshop: Facilitations
Learning Module Three:
Queer Theory and Media Theory
Lecture 9 November 8
Note – class is cancelled, but an audio and/or video lecture will be posted. Please be sure to
listen to the lecture and take notes
Readings: Sara Humphreys “Putting the ‘Queer’ in ‘Theory’”; “Digital Media and Theory”
Topics: Introduction to the learning module
Workshop: Facilitations
Lecture 10 November 15
Readings: Michael Warner and Lauren Berlant “Sex in Public”; Michael Warner “Publics
and Counterpublics”; Warner “Something Queer About the Nation State”; Sherman Alexie
“How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”
Topics: the public and the private(s); how sex defines us in public and in private
Workshop: Facilitations
Lecture 11 November 22
Readings: Judith Halberstam "Animating Revolt and Revolting Animation"; The Simpsons
“Homer Phobia”; Jay Prosser "On Transitions: Changing Bodies, Changing Narratives"
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Topics: challenging “natural” order; “bad” and “good” bodies; resisting (hetero)normative
roles
Workshop: Facilitations
Lecture 12 November 29
Readings: Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; Lev
Manovich “Visual Technologies as Cognitive Prosthesis”; Marshall McLuhan “The Medium
is the Message”; The Prisoner (online graphic novel)
Topics: Literature and digital media; how to read and analyze new forms of digital literature
Workshop: take home exam provided; course review
Assignment Due: Final Project
Course Policies:
Late Policy: Extensions are granted on a case-by-case basis, and no extensions will be negotiated after the due
date. Any papers without an approved extension will be penalized 5% per day including weekends. After
seven days, I will not accept the assignment without a formal meeting with the student and, if required, an
academic advisor and/or counsellor.
Attendance: The course policy regarding attendance is clear and unambiguous: it is your responsibility to show
up for class fully prepared. I will take attendance and if you miss more than three classes without proper
documentation or notification, you will receive a “0” for the attendance portion of the participation grade.
Further, it is your responsibility to read this syllabus carefully and understand the course expectations and
deadlines.
E-mail: I return email within 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.
Electronic Devices: I allow and encourage students to take notes using tablets, laptops, and even smartphones;
however, please be advised that during films and slideshows, you will be asked to close your devices out of
respect for your classmates. Abuse of electronic devices is not permitted; for example, if your classmates
complain that you are disturbing them, you will be asked to shut down your device in class. Remember that
people beside you and behind you can see what you are doing, who you are talking to, and what you are
posting.
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