Difference between revisions of "2024-25 Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature"

Revision as of 09:36, 12 July 2024

!!! Under Construction!!!

Please note: The ang070/ang071 module consists of

• a seminar (S/Ü "Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature", offered in the current winter term),
• a lecture (VL "Introduction to Literary History and Textual Analysis", offered in the current winter term),
• a seminar (S/Ü "Key Concepts in Cultural Studies", offered in the following summer term), and
• a lecture (VL "Historical Background and Critical Concepts", offered in the following summer term).

All students beginning in the winter term 2024/25 need to enroll in the lecture VL "Introduction to Literary History and Textual Analysis", AND in a seminar S/Ü "Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature" in ang070/ang071. Registration is via Stud.IP.

On this page you will find detailed information on the ten courses of our seminar S/Ü "Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature".

This seminar is part of the Basismodul ang070/ang071 and focuses on techniques of textual analysis in the context of discussing literature. We are offering eleven parallel courses. Please make sure that you are registered under ONE of these in Stud.IP.

All parallel courses have a common structure. The texts for our courses will come from a common pool, though each course may focus on different text passages.

The "analytical tools" presented on the handouts will be discussed at the beginning of each meeting and then applied to the texts. The additional reading on which the handouts are based is not obligatory, and it can be done either before or after each session.

Both the texts and the other materials will be made accessible to you electronically (cf. the links below). In addition you will need to purchase two books:

• Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ed. Sukanta Chaudhuri. The Arden Shakespeare, third series. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Print. [ISBN: 978-1408133491]
• Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales. Ed. Roger Luckhurst. Oxford: OUP, 2008. Print. [ISBN: 978-0199536221], read Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde only

Course work: You will be asked to write three ungraded exercise assignments (analysing poetry, drama, and fiction, respectively, max. 3 pages each; and composing a short bibliography, max. 1 page each), take a test about relevant content from the lecture series, and produce a research paper outline and a problem-oriented sample analysis of a relevant passage (RPO+, due on February 28). Both the outline and the sample analysis are preparatory steps for the research papers you will be asked to produce in future seminars. For this RPO+ you will need to find your own topic to work on, document the preliminary work (this includes finding an appropriate title, writing a paragraph on the state of the art of your problem and one that describes your problem and your goal, and presenting a tentative table of contents as well as a short bibliography) and write up a formal and genre-specific analysis of a passage that fits in with the research question and thesis statement put forward in your RPO. All assignments are to be formatted according to the style sheet.

Three useful links for all assignments:

• Style Sheet
• Useful Hints for Assignments
• Literary Studies:Writing academic texts - esp. for the research paper outline
• General Reading List: British and Anglophone Literatures

Session One, October 17/18: Introduction

Welcome

• Introduction to the ang071 Curriculum, Aims and Goals
• Introduction to the ang071 Course Outline

Analytical Tools

• Handout Literature & Representation

Texts

• Poetry Reader

Skills and Activities

Preliminaries for seminar communication.

Session Two, October 24/25: Analysing Poetry I: Poetic Conventions, Rhyme and Metre

Analytical Tools

• Handout Analysing Poetry
• Sources: Culler 161-178; Ludwig, 31-33; Cambridge Companion to Literatures in English

Texts

• Poetry Reader

Skills and Activities

Structural approach to poetry: communicative situation, themes, metrics and language. Acquire a basic checklist of what to look (first) for in a poem. Recapitulate the basics of metrics and rhyme patterns. Recognise the features of a particular genre and genre conventions: the sonnet.

October 31: No Session

November 01: Reading Week

Session Three, November 07/08: Analysing Poetry II: Figurative Speech

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Figurative Speech
• Sources: Ludwig, 47-60; Leech, 147-157

Texts

• Poetry Reader

Skills and Activities

Figurative language, interplay. Spot metaphors, similes, etc. the metric pattern and valorise the points where it is broken. Reinforce basic checklist of previous week. Analyse particular features of poetic language (figures of speech, metrical effects).

    Assignment I: Poetry

    Sample Solution Assignment I: Poetry

Session Four, November 14/15: Analysing Drama I: Rhetoric

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Rhetoric
• Sources: Plett 3-22, 102-105

Texts

• Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Skills and Activities

A speech from the Shakespeare play

    [Assignment I: Poetry - Due]

    REGISTRATION PERIOD BEGINS

Session Five, November 21/22: Analysing Drama II: Dramatic Communication and Plot Structure

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Analysing Dramatic Communication
• Sources: Pfister 49 - 57, 86 - 94, 126 - 147

Texts

• Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Skills and Activities

Dramatic Structures and Communication; Exposition.

Session Six, November 28/29: Analysing Drama III: Characterisation

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Analysing Dramatic Communication
• Sources: Pfister 183 - 195

Texts

• Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Skills and Activities

Characters and Genre Aspects.

    [Assignment II: Drama]

    [Sample solution assignment II: Drama]

Session Seven, December 05/06: Critical Debate and Literary Theory I

Material

• Handout: Editing Shakespeare
• Handout: Brief Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Movements

Texts

• Greenblatt, Stephen J. "Learning to Curse: Aspects of Linguistic Colonialism in the Sixteenth Century." First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old. Ed. Fredi Chiappelli. Berkeley: U of California P, 1976. Vol. 2. 561-80. Print.

Skills and Activities

Theory and Critical Discussion. Secondary Material.

    [Assignment II: Drama - Due]

Session Eight, December 12/13: Analysing Fiction I: Narration and Focalisation

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Narratology
• Sources: Rimmon-Kenan, Chapter 6, 72-86

Texts

• Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Skills and Activities

Narration, Focalization.

    REGISTRATION PERIOD ENDS

Session Nine, December 19/20: Analysing Fiction II: Characterisation

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Narratology
• Sources: Rimmon-Kenan, Chapter 5, 59-71

Texts

• Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Skills and Activities

Characterisation.

Session Ten, January 09/10: Analysing Fiction III: From Close Reading to Problem-Oriented Textual Analysis

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Narratology
• Sources: Rimmon-Kenan, Chapter 5, 59-71 and Chapter 6, 72-86

Texts

• Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Skills and Activities

Close Reading

    [Assignment III: Fiction]

    [Sample Solution Assignment III: Fiction]

Session Eleven, January 16/17: Critical Debate and Literary Theory II

Material

• Handout: Brief Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Movements

Texts

• Carlson, Julie A. "Just friends? Frankenstein and the friend to come." Nineteenth-Century Contexts 41.3 (2019): 287-302. Print.

Homework

• Choose two passages from the novel that you would analyse in order to substantiate the argument of the secondary text.
• What kind of RPO+ would precede this kind of secondary text? While reading the text, deduce and reconstruct the parts relevant to an RPO+: (1) research problem, (2) thesis statement, (3) state of research, (4) argumentative structure.

Skills and Activities

Theory and Critical Discussion. Secondary Material.

Session Twelve, January 23/24: Recap

Assignments Poetry, Drama, Fiction

• Handout: Portfolio and Grading
• Handout: RPO+ (Annotations)
• Sample: RPO+

    [Assignment III: Fiction - Due]

Session Thirteen, January 30/31: RPO+ Projects

Skills and Activities

Brief Report on 'Work in Progress': Your Term Paper Projects

• Handout: Portfolio and Grading
• Handout: RPO+ (Annotations)
• Sample: RPO+

     [Assignment IV: RPO+ - due February 28]