Selective Readings of Contemporary Literary Theories:

Psychoanalysis, Marxism and Cultural Studies

Tentative Reading List

* textbook
wk 1
9/17		  General Introduction:  1, 2
1. Why Critical Theories and how to be engaged in them? 
2. Before and after New Criticism
wk 2
9/24		 Preliminaries: Structuralism vs. Poststructuarlism 
Roman Jakobson "The Metaphoric and Metonymic Poles" (Norton 1265- 1268); 
wk 3
10/1

 

 Roland Barthes "From Work to Text"  (Norton 1470-1475)
Jacque Derrida "Differance" (From Critical and cultural theory reader)

 

Psychoanalysis--desire, language and split subjectivity                         Related Links
wk 4
10/8		 Sigmund Freud (Norton 931-955) 1, 2.
The Interpretation of Dreams Chaps V & VI (excerpts);  Dana Tsai
'The "Uncanny"'; "Fetishism"
  • some paintings 
wk 5
10/15		 J. Lacan (Norton 1278-1310)
Ref. "The Mirror Stage" Eric Chen
"The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious"
"The Signification of the Phallus"
  • example: "A Psychoanalytic Perspective on 'Snowed Up'"
wk 6
10/22		 J. Kristeva (Norton 2165-78); 
"The Semiotic and the Symbolic" Andrea Wu
"The System and the Speaking Subject" Jessica Huang (From Critical and cultural theory reader.)
  • example: "The Dead" Andrea Wu
wk 7
10/29

 

 G. Deleuze and F. Gattari (Norton 1593-1597, 1601-1608) 
"The Desiring Machines" (from Literary Theory: An Anthology)
"Introduction: Rhizome" 
  • Writing the Body: Toward an Understanding of l'ecriture feminine;

    • Plath, "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams"  Claire Chen 1. 2 
Marxism -- commodity, (artistic) discourse and ideology
wk 8
11/5		 General Introduction
& Karl Marx (Norton 759-787) 
From  Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Sophia Hsu 
From The German Ideology,
From Capital
  • example: Doris Lessing's The 5th Child Sophia Hsu 
wk 9
11/12		 Mikhail Bakhtin (Norton 1186-1219)
from The Discourse in the Novel 
  • The Bluest Eyes Viola
wk 10
11/19		 Michel Foucault (Norton 1622- 1635; 1648 - 1666) 1. Foucault, 2. "Snowed Up": a Marxist Reading 
"What is an Author?"
"The Carceral" (from Discipline and Punish) 

    * paper proposal due
wk 11
11/26		 Louis Althusser (Norton 1476 - 1509) Celine Hsu
"Ideology and State Apparatus"
Fredric Jameson (Norton 1933-37; 1941-1960)
"On Interpretation" 
  • example:  A Streetcar Named Desire Celine Hsu
wk 12
12/3

Terry Eagleton 
Criticism and Ideology chaps 2-3 (Handout) George Hsieh
Cultural Studies & Some Critical Issues
wk 13
12/10		 Stuart Hall (Norton 1895 - 1909); Christine Hsieh  1, 2
Dick Hebdige (Norton 2445 - ) "Subcultures"
  • "Shooting an Elephant"  Christine Hsieh 
wk 14
12/17		 CS, Psychoanalysis & Marxism: 
Stuart Hall "The Rediscovery of 'Ideology'"  (from Literary Theory: An Anthology); 
Slavoj Zizek  "The Sublime Object of Ideology"  (from Literary Theory: An Anthology)
  • Dana Waiting for Godot
wk 15
12/24		 CS & Poststructuralism:  1. Mythologies; 2. "The Rime" 
R. Barthes Mythologies (Norton 1457-1465); Chris
J. Baudrillard (Norton 1929 - 1740) 
  • "The Rime of Ancient Mariner"(E-Text; remote)  Chris
wk 16
12/31		 CS & Body: 1. Susan Bardo; 2. Examples 
Judith Butler Preface to Gender Trouble  (Norton 2485-2501 ) Julia Hsieh
Susan Bordo "The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity" (Norton 2360-2376 ) 
  • "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood  Julia Hsieh
wk 17
1/7		 Paper Presentation and conclusion (1)
  • The Piano Teacher  Marc Chin <-- Chris 
  • E. Bishop  Eric Chen  <-- Julia
  • The Merchant of Venice  Jessica <-- Eric 

(The above three have 30 mins each; the following,   20 mins each.  Respondents have 5 mins each.)

  • George  Animal Farm <-- Claire 
  • Viola Ou The Bluest Eye <-- Christine
  • Julia Hsieh  Edible Woman <-- Sophia
wk 18
1/14

Paper Presentation and conclusion (1)
  • Andrea "Leigia" & "Annabel Lee" <-- George
  • Christine "Shooting an Elephant"  <-- Celine
  • Celine Street Car Named Desire <--  Viola 
  • Chris "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" <-- Marc
  • Sophie The 5th Child <-- Jessica
  • Claire Sylvia Plath <-- Dana
  • Dana Waiting for Godot  <-- Andrea

 
Textbooks:
Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.  Eds. Vincent B. Leitch, et al.  NY: Norton, 2001.
Selections from:
Literary theories : a case study in critical performance.  Eds.  Julian Wolfreys and William Baker.   London : Macmillan Press Ltd , 1996
Critical and cultural theory reader: Buckingham : Open University Press , c1992.
Literary Theory: An Anthology.  Ed. Julie Rivkin, Michael Ryan.  Oxford Malden, Mass : Blackwell , 1998.