Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism
LITR.111 – Spring 2014
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Sooyong Kim <skim@ku.edu.tr>
Office: SOS Z08B, x1141
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00, or by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to the major schools of literary or critical theory from the past
century, to the different approaches scholars have taken to analyze and interpret texts. The
schools covered begin with New Criticism and end with Postcolonial Studies. Besides
gaining an understanding of key concepts, you will learn how to apply the different
approaches to select works of short fiction.
TEXTS
Lois Tyson’s Critical Theory Today will provide the overviews for each school of theory.
Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” will serve as the main case study for applying the different
approaches. Four other works of short fiction will also serve as case studies. These and other
readings are available as a course pack from the copy center.
REQUIREMENTS
Classes will consist of a background lecture and then discussion. You are expected to attend
each class and to complete the reading assignments in full beforehand, so that we can have an
informed discussion. Literary theory has a bit of a learning curve, especially the terminology,
and it is not something that you can casually “pick up.” Your attendance and participation
grade will be based largely on your active participation.
From Week 3 onward, you will give a group presentation (~10 minutes) on a particular
theorist’s key concepts. And you are required to produce a study handout, summarizing the
key concepts, for your classmates. This will constitute a separate grade. There will also be a
midterm, testing you on the key concepts and terminology of the schools covered between
Week 2 and Week 8, from New Criticism to Deconstruction.
Lastly, you will write three papers. Paper 1 (3-4 pages) will be a case study on James Joyce’s
“Araby,” where you will apply a single approach for analysis. For paper 2 (5-6 pages), you
will compare and contrast two approaches. Paper 3 (7-8 pages) will be another case study,
this time on Bessie Head’s “Snapshot of a Wedding,” Salman Rushdie’s “Courter,” or
Murathan Mungan’s “Kanat Turizm’in Deǧerli Yolcuları,” where you will use your own mix
of approaches for analysis.
SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS (subject to change)
Week 1, Introduction
Tuesday, February 4
Course overview
Thursday, February 6
Reading:
• Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 2nd ed. (2006), ch. 1, 1-10
Week 2, New Criticism and Reader Response Theory
Tuesday, February 11
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 5, 135-50, 164
• Kate Chopin, “The Storm,” Complete Novels and Stories (2002), 926-31
[For information on Chopin, see <http://www.katechopin.org/>]
Main discussion question:
How do nature imagery and point of view in “The Storm” support the theme that individual
circumstances, not abstract rules, determine what is right and wrong?
Thursday, February 13
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 6, 169-75, 178-82, 188-89
• Re-read Chopin, “The Storm”
Main discussion question:
How do the indeterminate aspects of “The Storm” function as a stimulus to interpretation?
Week 3, Psychoanalysis
Tuesday, February 18
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 2, 11-26, 34-38
• Re-read “The Storm”
Main discussion questions:
What unconscious motives are operating in the characters of “The Storm”?
Thursday, February 20
Reading:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 26-34, 38-39
Presentation on Jacques Lacan
Week 4, Marxism
Tuesday, February 25
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 3, 53-68
• Re-read “The Storm”
Main discussion question:
How does “The Storm” reflect (intentionally or not) the socioeconomic conditions of the
time in which it is set?
Thursday, February 27
Reading:
• Joe Hughes, “Louis Althusser,” The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory, ed. M.
Ryan (2011), 473-75
Presentation on Louis Althusser
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Week 5, Case Study: “Araby”
Tuesday, March 4
Reading:
• James Joyce, “Araby,” Dubliners (1996), 29-36
Thursday, March 6
Readings:
• Garry M. Leonard, “The Question and the Quest: The Story of Mangan’s Sister,” Modern
Fiction Studies 35 (1989): 459-66
• ———, “Kitschy, Kitschy Coup: ‘Life’ and ‘History’ in a World of Mass-Produced
Objects,” Advertising and Commodity Culture in Joyce (1998), 50-56, 67
Week 6, Feminist Theory
Monday, March 10 – Paper 1 due
Tuesday, March 11
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 4, 83-95, 117-20
• Re-read “The Storm”
Main discussion question:
What does “The Storm” reveal about the operations (socially or psychologically) of
patriarchy?
Thursday, March 13
Reading:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 95-105
Presentation on Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray
Week 7, Structuralism
Tuesday, March 18
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 7, 209-15, 216-21, 224-30, 233
• Chopin, “At the ’Cadian Ball,” Complete Novels and Short Stories, 302-11
• Re-read “The Storm”
Main discussion question:
“The Storm” was written as a sequel to “At the ’Cadian Ball.” Is there a similar narrative
grammar that structures both stories?
Thursday, March 20
Reading:
• Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author,” The Norton Anthology of Theory and
Criticism, ed. V. Leitch (2001), 1466-70
Presentation on Roland Barthes
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Week 8, Deconstruction
Tuesday, March 25
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 8, 249-55, 257-65
• Re-read “The Storm”
Main discussion question:
What ideology does “The Storm” seem to promote – what is its main theme – and how does
conflicting evidence in the story show the limitations of that ideology?
Thursday, March 27
Reading:
• Michael Ryan and Danielle Sands, “Jacques Derrida,” The Encyclopedia of Literary and
Cultural Theory, 552-57
Presentation on Jacques Derrida
Week 9, Midterm
Tuesday, April 1
In-class midterm
Thursday, April 3
No class
Week 10, Spring Break
Week 11, New Historicism & Cultural Studies
Tuesday, April 15
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 9, 281-92, 295-300
• Re-read “The Storm”
Main discussion question:
Can we read “The Storm” as interplay of both traditional and subversive discourses
circulating in the culture of the time?
Thursday, April 17
Reading:
• Michel Foucault, “What Is an Author?” in The Norton Anthology, 1622-36
Presentation on Michel Foucault
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Week 12, Queer Theory & Gender Studies
Tuesday, April 22
Reading:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 10, 317-42
Thursday, April 24
Reading:
• Kaye Mitchell, “Judith Butler,” The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory,
514-19
Presentation on Judith Butler
Week 13, Postcolonial Studies
Monday, April 28 – Paper 2 due
Tuesday, April 29
Readings:
• Tyson, Critical Theory Today, ch. 12, 417-32
• Chouki El Hamel, “Frantz Fanon,” The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory,
179-83
Presentation on Frantz Fanon
Thursday, May 1
No class
Weeks 14-15, Final Case Studies & Conclusion
Tuesday, May 6
Reading:
• Bessie Head, “Snapshots of a Wedding” in African Short Stories (1985), 144-49
Thursday, May 8
Reading:
• Salman Rushdie, “The Courter” East, West Stories (1994), 175-211
Tuesday, May 13
Reading:
• Murathan Mungan, “Kanat Turizm’in Deǧerli Yolcuları,” Kadından Kentler (2008),
137-56
Thursday, May 15
Review
Paper 3 due by Monday, June 2 at the latest
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GRADING
The final grade will be calculated based on the following distribution:
Attendance and participation
Presentation
Midterm
Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3
97-100 = A+
83-86 = B+
73-76 = C+
63-66 = D+
90-96 = A
80-82 = B
70-72 = C
60-62 = D
20%
10%
20%
10%
15%
25%
87-89 = A77-79 = B67-69 = C0-59 = F
*Please note anything higher than 96 is rare.
Sample final grade:
1) Attendance and participation: 85/100
2) Presentation: 90/100
3) Midterm: 80/100
4) Paper 1: 90/100
5) Paper 2: 85/100
6) Paper 3: 80/100
Weighted total = 83.7 or B+
END NOTE
First, Student and Classroom Codes of Conduct will be enforced. Second, as you might know
already, the Purdue Online Writing Lab provides helpful resources, including the MLA Style
guide – the most commonly used to write papers and cite sources in the humanities. You are
expected to follow the MLA Style guide in your papers. Moreover, the section “Writing in
Literature” contains resources on literary terms and schools of criticism. The summaries
found therein should be a model for your study handouts. Here are the links:
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/>
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/4/17/>
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