First Year
Introduction to literature
Class
1
Problems to be covered
Sources to be consulted
Tradition versus experiment.
Cuddon, Abrams, Chandler
Form, genre, conventions.
Time: linear or circular?
Pace, repetition, retrospection.
Any dictionary of philosophy,
Gill
2
Time: objective versus subjective.
Cuddon, Abrams, any
dictionary of linguistics
3
Language. Denotation and connotation.
Literal versus figurative meaning.
Poetic diction.
Discourse.
4-5
Intratextuality. Intertextuality.
Cuddon, Abrams, Culler
Allusion. Quotation. Metafiction.
6
Artistic devices – revision (recognition test).
More artistic devices (eg. metonymy/synecdoche,
litotes, synaesthesia,conceit).
Cuddon, Abrams
7
Aesthetic distance.
Aesthetic involvement.
Objectivity. Subjectivity
Cuddon, Abrams, any
dictionary of psychology
8
Irony. Irony versus deception.
Abrams, Cuddon, any
dictionary of philosophy
Categories of irony: verbal,Socratic, romantic,
dramatic, cosmic,structural.
Point of view. Narrator and narratee. Speaker.
Persona. Control.
9-10
Cuddon, Abrams, Culler,
Felluga, Gill
Types of narrators: omniscient/limited,
intrusive/unintrusive, reliable/unreliable (fallible), selfconscious.
Focalization.
Stream of consciousness.
Multiple narration.
11
Frame story, Chinese-box story
12
Folk and courtly traditions (literary motifs, sources,
influences)
Oral and written literature.
Abrams, Cuddon, Gill
Abrams, Cuddon
Class
Problems to be covered
Sources to be consulted
13
Modes of representation.
Abrams, Cuddon
Metonymic mode of realism versus metaphoric mode
of fantasy.
Realism, magic realism, fairy tale, fantastic literature,
utopia/dystopia, symbolism/allegory and parable.
14-15 General revision- test in literary analysis.
Material for analysis
19th and 20th British and American poetry and prose.
Suggested references
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. (any edition)
Chandler, D. An Introduction to Genre Theory.(accessed in November 2004)
<http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html>
Cuddon, J. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Penguin Books,
2004.
Culler, J. Literary Theory. OUP, 1997.
Felluga, D. Introductory Guide to Theory. (accessed in November 2004)
<http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/>
Gill, R. Mastering English Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, 1995.