English 696 Seminar in Literary Criticism and Research Fall 2008 Section 03: T TH 3:30 – 5:15 Tuesday Room: LA-2 208 Thursday Room: LAB 212 Dr. Sarah J. Arroyo Email: [email protected] Office: MHB 409 Phone: (562) 985-8517 Office Hours: T TH 10:30 – noon (and by appointment) Course Description: This course introduces beginning graduate students to critical theory and to the practice of literary criticism. As a graduate student in English, you will encounter these theoretical debates in the majority of your work, regardless of concentration. Thus, it is important for you to be able to identify key thinkers and theoretical movements that have sustained inquiry into language, textuality, subjectivity, and history. This course also aims to improve your research skills and to help you practice and refine graduate-level writing skills. We will be approaching this course by way of inquiry into language, studying the dimensions of discourse and hermeneutics as they have been conceptualized from Antiquity to the present. Required Text: Leitch, Vincent, et.al. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. ISBN: 0-393-97429-4 Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-19-533470-8  Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Since the nature of this class largely relies on your participation, it is crucial for you to attend each class. If this is your first graduate seminar, you might not yet realize the importance of attending seminar. While I will lecture from time to time, this is fundamentally NOT a lecture course; hence, if you miss class, there is no way to recreate much of the work experienced in seminar. As a graduate student, you must engage with your colleagues regularly. Therefore, if you miss more than four classes, I will lower your course grade. In other words, you cannot get an “A” with five absences. If you are absent more than 6 times, I may ask you to drop the course. Chronic lateness is unacceptable, as is coming to class unprepared or unread. I will not grant incomplete grades unless circumstances are extremely dire.  Course Objectives: At the end of the semester, you should be able to: 1. compile, annotate, and format a critical bibliography 2. research and write a graduate-level, theoretical, argumentative seminar paper 3. identify implications for literature and culture from both ancient and contemporary thinkers 4. identify key philosophical debates running through ancient, modern, and postmodern thought 5. explicate points of contention among competing theories 6. engage in current arguments about literature and rhetoric fluently, convincingly, and compellingly  Course Requirements: The fundamental requirement for this course is that you come well prepared to actively participate in every class. Careful reading of the assigned texts, substantial class and beachboard participation, and satisfactory completion of all assignments are required to pass the course. As you will notice, the readings for this course are difficult and dense; thus, you will have to “learn to read” all over again. Skimming a reading and/or reading it carelessly will only frustrate and confuse you. You must devote chunks of time for reading and studying the thought being presented to you. As a graduate student in English, you should expect to be reading all the time and making sure you are doing things to assist in your comprehension of the material. “I don’t get it” will not suffice. “It was too long” is not acceptable. If you cannot devote your study time to reading carefully, I suggest you choose another field in which to obtain a MA. I expect you to challenge yourself to “get” something from and make connectionsDr. Arroyo Engl 696 Page 2 among all of the readings. There should be no difference between this course and a course you would take in your first year in a PhD program. All reading and writing should be completed before each class session, and you should be ready to make critical and interpretive comments about the texts assigned. This is best accomplished by taking careful reading notes, flagging pages, and underlining important passages to discuss in class. Your commentary should always center on the text under consideration: how you’re reading it, connections you’ve made, or questions you have. Since this is a 600-level seminar, I fully expect you to attempt to engage with the texts despite their difficulty. It is all too common for new graduate students to dismiss theory at first because they don’t “get the point of it.” However, and as you will hopefully realize, “not getting it” is precisely how learning difficult concepts begins to work. Instead of resisting theory, try embracing it; you just might enjoy this experience.  Grade Distribution: Summary/Connection Papers 30% Presentation 10% Weekly reading notes posts 20% Annotated Bibliography 10% Seminar Paper and Talk 25% Participation (class and online) 5%  Explanation of Assignments: Summary/Connection Papers: Three one-page papers (up to legal size paper, single-spaced), to be read aloud in class on the due date. The first half of the papers will be a concise summary of chosen readings; the second will be: a) a discussion of these readings, highlighting a central issue or concern, which should, as often as possible, include b) a consideration of how the readings have changed or challenged our conceptions of literary criticism, writing, rhetoric, pedagogy, and education. In other words, it is not enough simply to develop a working understanding of the various theories we read; instead, you need to develop a larger contextual understanding of the theories and issues involved. You should make sure to go beyond simply agreeing or disagreeing with the theorist; rather, you should find something that illustrates the theory and demonstrates your understanding of it. Reading aloud, as you will see, encourages your attention to the details of your writing. You will also have the opportunity to read various theories across several literary texts we will study. Presentation: Each of you will prepare one presentation in response to the readings associated with one theorist. Your presentation should add to what we all have read: not merely summarize what’s in the Norton. Biographical