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English Department, SOCE

Literary Criticism Kate Liu, Spring 2001 Objectives Approaches Textbook Requirements

-- How do we read a text? (Here a "text" is not limited to literature, nor to "books": we ourselves can be texts, too.)  How do we produce more than one interpretations of it? How do we hold a dialogue with it or challenge it?

-- What does an author actually express in his/her work? What is "the unsaid" of the text?

--How are the meanings of a text controlled by society? Can a text transcend its society and retain universal values throughout history?

1. to sharpen your literary sensitivity, we will read and analyze closely a wide selection of literary texts.
2. to make you think actively and critically, we will use four literary approaches: new criticism, feminism, marxism and reader response.
3. to have a sense of focus and continuity, we will have a recurrent topic: one's self in relation to our gender, society and reading activities.
4. to make the theoretical issues relevant to us, we will also use Taiwanese culture and events as concrete examples.
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In other words, the course is designed for you to interpret and analyze literature from various perspectives so that you can understand and analyze both literature and you yourselves more.  Of the approaches we will cover thissemester--formalism, feminism, marxism, and, if possible, reader response--you will find that formalism is not really something new to you (practiced in a lot of literature courses, e.g. introduction to literature). But it will be used as a basic training of our ability to grasp a literary work as a complicated but coherent whole.
 

We will use literary texts as our focus, but also some films, music videos, popular songs and animations will also be used as supplements.

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文學批評讀本 （劉紀雯編﹚。

Reference books: (a detailed list, with intro. to each book  )

Ａ。初級文學批評導論 （不介紹理論）：
 
   Beginning Literary Criticism  (文學批評入門)   Holstein, Michael.   Taipei: Bookman, 1987.
   Practical Criticism.   Peck/Coyle.  Macmillan.
   Ways of Reading: Advanced reading skills for students of English literature. Martin Montgomery, et al. NY: Routledge, 1992.
   Practicing Theory and Reading Literature (Raman Seldon. Kentucky, 89)


Ｂ。中級文學批評導論 （含理論）：
 

   A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (W. Guerin, et al. 3rd ed. Oxford, 92)
   Critical Theory & Practice: A Coursebook (Keith Green & Jill Lebihan. Routledge, 96)
   Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. (Bressler, Charles E.  2nd Ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000.
   Literary Theory : A Practical Introduction  Michael Ryan.  MA: Blackwell, 1999.


Ｃ。參考書（guide, dictionary, topic discussions）

  Doing English: A Guide for Literature Students. Robert Eaglestone. NY: Routledge,
     2000.
  Reader's Guide to Contemporary Theory (Raman Seldon. Harvester, 93)
  Eagleton, Terry. 《文學理論導讀》．吳新發譯． 台北：書林，1993.
  Lentricia, Frank, et al eds. 《文學批評術語》． 張京媛等譯． 香港：牛津大學.
  Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism.  Ed. Joseph Childers and Gary Hentzi.  NY: Columbia UP, 1995.

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1. Attendance: Attendance is essential. Three absences will constitute reason for failing the class. Please call me if you have to be absent. Three lates equals one absence.
2. Preparation: Come to the class prepared. Being prepared means a.) finishing the reading,

underlining difficult parts, finding something to say or to ask in class, and
jot down some ideas each time on your reading journal.
3. Participation
4. Punctuality: papers have to be handed in on time.

  Assignments and Grading policy:

1. class participation and online discussion-- 30% 
2. group report -- 20%
3. 3 reflection/application 3 page journals --30%
4. Final exam -- 20%

Besides the texts included in our reader, you can choose from the following list:

1. formalism: 〈母親〉or〈日曆〉in 王文興的《十五篇小說》

death: and art--"Ode to a Nightingale," and love "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"; "A Rose for Emily"; and life and Nature-- Dickenson's poems; Wordsworth's Lucy Poems
death, aging and human relationship--"Charles and Francois" (animation), etc.
 
2. Feminist texts: e.g. A. Rich's "Diving into the Wreck," "Rape," M. Atwood's "Rape Fantasies"; A. Munro; 江文瑜〈男人的乳房〉〈女人．三字經．行動短劇〉, etc.

 
3. Marxism: Short stories by 魯迅﹐Modern English poems on individuals, texts related to class relations, or to such ideology as American innocence (e.g. Forrest Gump, The Age of Innocence); campus folksongs, etc.

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