Critical Practice

 

Dr. Fernando de Toro

 

English 2550 A01

http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/departments/english/

Academic Term Winter 2015 CRN 26192

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE 244

MWF 10:30-11:20

Office: 628 Fletcher Argue Building

Telephone: 474-8141

E-mail: fernando.detoro@umanitoba.ca

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 9:30-10:20

 

 

I. Introduction

 

Twentieth century critical practice can be divided into two fundamental and distinct periods: Modernity, which starts at the very beginning of the XXth century in Russia with the Russian Formalists, and then the Post-Modern period which

can be characterised as poststruc-turalist and deconstructivist. Thus, the theoretical readings will be organized according to these two fundamental epistemological and cultural periods.

Critical practice during the first sixty years of the XXth century until the end of the 1970s was centrally developed from the linguistic model, from the Russian Formalists’ and

Saussure’s linguistics (including the Prague School, the Copenhagen School and the French and European Schools of

Structuralism and Semiotics). Right from the start it was labelled ‘literary science’. In order to understand why and how

literary science emerged and why it emerged, having linguistics as the theoretical and methodological framework,

we must situate the initial discussion by inscribing the historico-epistemological context from where it emerged, and

then proceed to the actual introduction of some precise readings pertinent to specific literary practices and genres.

From the 1970s up to the end of the century, the questioning of this theoretical model produced within

Modernity began. This led to the so-called post-structuralist practice which later was incorporated within the Post-Modern

Condition, which also includes Post-Feminism, and Post-Colonialism. Here, no closed theories or methods were

introduce. In fact a radical dismissal of method took place, and critical practice began to be produced from simultaneous, and

often heterogeneous epistemological contexts.

We shall also examine some early theoretical texts from previous centuries, which had an impact on literary

conceptions of Modernity in particular.

Thus the central objective of this course is double: a) to provide the why, where and when of critical practice and

specific approaches to literary texts; b) to introduce precise analytical approaches to literary texts. Students will have to

present, for their assignments, an analytical approach(es) and then use this approach to analyse a literary text. Students must present three papers based on any novel/play of their choosing.

 

II. Method of Evaluation

 

A) Number of Assignments: 3

 

Dates, length and value:

 

1) March 4th Essay 1 800 words – 25%

2) March 23rd Essay 2 1000 words – 35%

3) April 8th Essay 3 1200 words – 40%

 

 

 

III. Required Readings: Fiction

 

Barnes, Julian. (1984). Flaubert 's Parrot. London: Jonathan Cape.

Conrad, Joseph. (2007). Heart of Darkness. London: Penguin Classics.

Morrison, Toni. (2009). A Mercy. New York and Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf.

Sophocles. (2004). “Oedipus Rex”. In The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles. Translated and notes by Robert Bagg and Mary

Bagg. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore. Washington Square Press.

Winterson, Jeanette. (1989). The Passion. New York: Vintage Books.

 

 

IV. Required Readings: Theory

 

Richter, David H. Ed. (2007). The Critical Tradition. Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Third Edition. Boston and

New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

 

 

V. Reference: Required

 

Hacker, Diana. (1996). A Canadian Writer’s Reference. 2nd edition. Scarborough: Nelson Canada.

 

 

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 

January 5: Course Outline presentation

 

January 7: Essay Writing / Notes / Bibliography

 

January 9: Aristotle: Poetics

 

January 12: Sophocles. (2004). Oedipus Rex

 

January 14: Sophocles. (2004). Oedipus Rex

January 16 Mikhail Bakhtin: “Discourse in the Novel” and “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics”

 

January 19: Mikhail Bakhtin: “Discourse in the Novel” and “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics”

 

January 21: Victor Shlovsky: “Art as Technique”

 

January 23: Ferdinand de Saussure: “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” and Binary oppositions

 

January 26: Ferdinand de Saussure: “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” and Binary oppositions

 

January 28: Essay Writing

 

January 30: Wolfgang Iser: “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”

 

February 2: Wolfgang Iser: “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”

 

February 4: Roland Barthes: “The Death of the Author”

 

February 6: Michel Foucault: “What Is an Author?”

 

February 9: Barnes, Julian. (1984). Flaubert 's Parrot.

:

February 11: Barnes, Julian. (1984). Flaubert 's Parrot

 

February 13: Edward W. Said: “Introduction to Orientalism”

 

 

FEBRUARY 16-20 MID TERM BREAK

 

February 23: Edward W. Said: “Introduction to Orientalism”

 

February 25: Chinua Achebe: “An Image of Africa”

 

February 27: Chinua Achebe: “An Image of Africa”

 

March 2: Conrad, Joseph. (2007). Heart of Darkness

 

March 4; Conrad, Joseph. (2007). Heart of Darkness

 

March 4th Essay 1

 

March 6: Monique Wittig: “One Is Not Born a Woman"

 

March 9: Hélène Cixous: “The Laugh of the Medusa”

 

March 11: Judith Butler: “Imitation and Gender Subordination”

March 13: Judith Butler: “Imitation and Gender Subordination”

March 16: Winterson, Jeanette: (1989). The Passion. New York: Vintage Books.

 

March 18 Winterson, Jeanette.:(1989). The Passion. New York: Vintage Books.

 

 

Winter Term Withdrawal Date - March 19, 2015

 

 

March 20: Barbara Smith: “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”

 

March 23: Patricia Collins Hill: “Black Feminist Thought”

 

March 23rd Essay 2

 

March 25: Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple

 

March 27: Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple

 

April 1: Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple

 

April 3: Morrison, Toni. (2009). A Mercy

 

April 6: Toni, Morrison. (2009). A Mercy

April 8: Toni, Morrison. (2009). A Mercy

April 8th Essay 3

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

 

VW Date: Last day for withdrawal from Fall, Winter or Fall/Winter courses: March 19th

 

 

Attendance (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 7.1): Regular attendance and participation are critical to student success. An instructor may initiate procedures to debar a

student from attending classes and from final examinations and/or from receiving credit where unexcused absences exceed those permitted by the faculty or school regulations. A student may be debarred from class and examinations by action of the

dean/director for persistent non-attendance or for failure to produce assignments to the satisfaction of the instructor.

Students so debarred will have failed that course.

 

 

Plagiarism (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 8.1): To plagiarize is to take ideas or words of another person and pass them off as one’s own. Plagiarism applies to any written work, in traditional or electronic format, as well as orally or verbally

presented work. Students are expected to appropriately acknowledge the sources of ideas and expressions they use in their written work, whether quoted directly or paraphrased.

This applies to diagrams, statistical tables and the like, as well as to written material, and materials or information from

Internet sources. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating in examinations, term tests or academic work is subject to serious

academic penalty.

 

The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism in a written assignment, test, or examination is F on the paper and F for the

course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as the purchase of an essay or cheating on a test or examination, the penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five

years from registration in courses taught in a particular department in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty.

The Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized, to Internet sites designed to

detect plagiarism. If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarized work please consult your instructor and Sections

8.1 of the Undergraduate Calendar.

 

 

Grade Appeals (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 6.1): Students are responsible for ensuring that they are familiar

with the University's policy on grade appeals. The appeal of term work returned or made available to students before the

last day of classes shall be subject to the policies and procedures established by faculty or school councils. If a

student has good reason to believe a mistake has been made in the assessment of the original grade, an appeal of the assigned grade may be made. A student may enter an appeal, through the Registrar’s Office, for assessment of one or more grades

following the posting of grades by the faculty/school/department.

 

 

Unclaimed Term Work: Any term work that has not been claimed by students will be held for four (4) months from the end of the final examination period for the term in which the

work was assigned. At the conclusion of this time, all unclaimed term work will be destroyed confidentially.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I. Introduction  Twentieth century critical practice can be divided into two

fundamental and distinct periods:

Modernity, which starts at the very beginning of the XXth century in Russia with the Russian Formalists

The Post-Modern period from the 1960s which can be characterised as poststructuralist and deconstructivist.

Thus, the theoretical readings will be organized according to these two fundamental epistemological and cultural periods.

I. Introduction  Critical practice during the first sixty years of the XXth

century until the end of the 1970s was centrally developed from the linguistic model, from the Russian Formalists’ and Saussure’s linguistics (including the Prague School, the Copenhagen School and the French and European Schools of Structuralism and Semiotics).

Right from the start it was labelled ‘literary science’. In order to understand why and how literary science emerged and having linguistics as the theoretical and methodological framework, we must situate the initial discussion by inscribing the historico-epistemological context from where it emerged;

I. Introduction  and then proceed to the actual introduction of some precise

readings pertinent to specific literary practices and genres. From the 1970s up to the end of the century, the

questioning of this theoretical model produced within Modernity began.

This led to the so-called post-structuralist practice which later was incorporated within the Post-Modern Condition, which also includes Post-Feminism, and Post-Colonialism.

I. Introduction  Here, no closed theories or methods were introduce. In fact

a radical dismissal of method took place, and critical practice began to be produced from simultaneous, and often heterogeneous epistemological contexts.

We shall also examine some early theoretical texts from previous centuries, which had an impact on literary conceptions of Modernity in particular.

Thus the central objective of this course is double:

a) to provide the why, where and when of critical practice and specific approaches to literary texts;

I. Introduction  b) to introduce precise analytical approaches to literary

texts. Students will have to present, for their assignments, an analytical approach(es) and then use this approach to analyse a literary text.

Students must present three papers based on any novel/play of their choosing.

II. Method of Evaluation  A) Number of Assignments: 3   Dates, length and value:  1) March 4th Essay 1 800 words – 25% 2) March 23rd Essay 2 1000 words – 35% 3) April 10th Essay 3 1200 words – 40%  

III. Required Readings: Fiction   Barnes, Julian. (1984). Flaubert 's Parrot. London:

Jonathan Cape. Coetzee, J.M. (1980). Waiting for the Barbarians. London:

Vintage Books. Conrad, Joseph. (2007). Heart of Darkness. London:

Penguin Classics. Morrison, Toni. (2009). A Mercy. New York and Toronto:

Alfred A. Knopf. Farah, Nuruddin. (1986). Maps London: Penguin Books Sophocles. (2004). “Oedipus Rex”. In The Oedipus Plays of

Sophocles. Translated and notes by Robert Bagg and Mary Bagg. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

III. Required Readings: Fiction   Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple. New York,

London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore. Washington Square Press.

Winterson, Jeanette. (1989). The Passion. New York: Vintage Books.

IV. Required Readings: Theory  Richter, David H. Ed. (2007). The Critical Tradition.

Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Third Edition. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

  V. Reference: Required  Hacker, Diana. (1996). A Canadian Writer’s Reference. 2nd

edition. Scarborough: Nelson Canada.

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 January 7: Course Outline presentation

 January 9: Essay Writing / Notes / Bibliography

 January 12: Aristotle: Poetics

 January 14: Sophocles. (2004). Oedipus Rex

 January 16: Sophocles. (2004). Oedipus Rex

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 January 19 Mikhail Bakhtin: “Discourse in the Novel” and “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics”

January 21: Mikhail Bakhtin: “Discourse in the Novel” and “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics”

 January 23: Victor Shlovsky: “Art as Technique”

 January 26: Ferdinand de Saussure: “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” and Binary oppositions

 

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 January 28: Ferdinand de Saussure: “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” and Binary oppositions

 January 30: Essay Writing

 February 2: Wolfgang Iser: “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”

February 4: Wolfgang Iser: “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”

 February 6: Roland Barthes: “The Death of the Author”

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 February 9: Michel Foucault: “What Is an Author?”

February 11: Barnes, Julian. (1984). Flaubert 's Parrot.

February 13: Barnes, Julian. (1984). Flaubert 's Parrot

 FEBRUARY 16-20 MID TERM BREAK

 February 23: Edward W. Said: “Introduction to Orientalism”

 February 25: Edward W. Said: “Introduction to Orientalism”

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 February 27: Chinua Achebe: “An Image of Africa” and Conrad, Joseph. (2007). Heart of Darkness

March 2: Chinua Achebe: “An Image of Africa” and Conrad, Joseph. (2007). Heart of Darkness

 March 4th Essay 1

 March 4: Coetzee, J. M. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980)

 March 6: Coetzee, J. M. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980)

 

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

March 9: Farah, Nuruddin. (1986). Maps London: Penguin oksMarch 11: Farah, Nuruddin. (1986). Maps London: Penguin

March 13: Monique Wittig: “One Is Not Born a Woman"

March 16: Hélène Cixous: “The Laugh of the Medusa”

March 18 Judith Butler: “Imitation and Gender Subordination”

March 18: Winterson, Jeanette: (1989). The Passion. New York: Vintage Books.

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

 Winter Term Withdrawal Date - March 19, 2015

March 20: Winterson, Jeanette. (1989). The Passion. New York: Vintage Books.

March 23: Barbara Smith: “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”

 March 23rd Essay 2

 March 25: Patricia Collins Hill: “Black Feminist Thought”

 March 25: Patricia Collins Hill: “Black Feminist Thought”

VI. Reading Schedule: The Critical Tradition

March 30: Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple

April 1: Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple

April 3: Walker, Alice. (1982). The Colour Purple

 April 6: Morrison, Toni. (2009). A Mercy

 April 8: Toni, Morrison. (2009). A Mercy

April 10: Toni, Morrison. (2009). A Mercy April 10th Essay 3

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

 

VW Date: Last day for withdrawal from Fall, Winter or Fall/Winter courses: March 19th

 

 Attendance (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 7.1): Regular attendance and participation are critical to student success. An instructor may initiate procedures to debar a student from attending classes and from final examinations and/or from receiving credit where unexcused absences exceed those permitted by the faculty or school regulations. A student may be debarred from class and examinations by action of the dean/director for persistent non-attendance or for failure to produce assignments to the satisfaction of the instructor. Students so debarred will have failed that course.

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

Plagiarism (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 8.1): To plagiarize is to take ideas or words of another person and pass them off as one’s own. Plagiarism applies to any written work, in traditional or electronic format, as well as orally or verbally presented work. Students are expected to appropriately acknowledge the sources of ideas and expressions they use in their written work, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. This applies to diagrams, statistical tables and the like, as well as to written material, and materials or information from Internet sources. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating in examinations, term tests or academic work is subject to serious academic penalty.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism in a written assignment, test, or examination is F on the paper and F for the course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as the purchase of an essay or cheating on a test or examination, the penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from registration in courses taught in a particular department in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized, to Internet sites designed to detect plagiarism. If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarized work please consult your instructor and Sections 8.1 of the Undergraduate Calendar.

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

Grade Appeals (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 6.1): Students are responsible for ensuring that they are familiar with the University's policy on grade appeals. The appeal of term work returned or made available to students before the last day of classes shall be subject to the policies and procedures established by faculty or school councils. If a student has good reason to believe a mistake has been made in the assessment of the original grade, an appeal of the assigned grade may be made. A student may enter an appeal, through the Registrar’s Office, for assessment of one or more grades following the posting of grades by the faculty/school/department.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

Unclaimed Term Work: Any term work that has not been claimed by students will be held for four (4) months from the end of the final examination period for the term in which the work was assigned. At the conclusion of this time, all unclaimed term work will be destroyed confidentially.