Difference between revisions of "2011-2012 Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies"

Latest revision as of 10:39, 17 August 2012

Please note: The BM7 module consists of

• a seminar ("Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature"),
• a tutorial ("Research Methods", offered in the current winter term) and
• a combined lecture and seminar course ('2012 VL/Ü Key Concepts of Cultural Studies', offered in the coming summer term).

All students beginning in the winter term 2011/12 need to enroll for one of the tutorials called "Reasearch Methods", and a seminar in BM 7. Registration is via Stud.IP.

If you have already completed parts, but not the entire Basismodul in literary and/or cultural studies in previous semesters, please contact Michaela Koch.

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

The seminar part of the Basismodul 7 focuses on techniques of textual analysis in the context of discussing literature. We are offering eight parallel courses. Please make sure that you are registered under ONE of these in Stud.IP and open a wiki account which will enable you to participate in online discussions.

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

The "analytical tools" will be presented by the lecturers (on a handout) in each meeting. The additional reading from which these 'tools' are taken 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:

• William Shakespeare. As You Like It. Ed. Juliet Dusinberre. The Arden Shakespeare, third series. London: A & C Black, 2008.
• Mary Shelley. Frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York and London: Norton, 2003.

Course work: You will be asked to hand in three exercise assignments (max. 3 pages, due on 25.11.2011, 16.12.2011 and 03.02.2012 respectively), complete a Written Test, and produce a Research Paper Outline (2 pages, due on 28.02.2012). The assignments are to be formatted according to the style sheet, and will require you to analyse poetry, drama and fiction respectively, one of which will be tested at the end of the term (Written Test). For the Research Paper Outline you will need to find your own topic to work on and 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).

Two useful links for all assignments:

• Useful Hints for Assignments
• Literary Studies:Writing academic texts - esp. for the research paper outline

Session One, November 3-4: Introduction

'Welcome

• Introduction to the BM 7 Curriculum, Aims and Goals
• Introduction to the BM 7 Programme

Texts

• Poetry Reader includes:

1. Sir Philip Sidney, "Loving in Truth" from Astrophil and Stella (1591)
2. Sir Philip Sidney, "Not at first sight" from Astrophil and Stella (1591)
3. William Percy, "Sonnet II" from Sonnets to the Fairest Coelia (1594)
4. William Shakespeare, "Sonnet CXXX" from The Sonnets (1609)
5. George Herbert, "The Deniall" (1633)
6. William Wordsworth, "Scorn Not the Sonnet" (1827)
7. Walt Whitman, "One's Self I Sing" (1867)
8. Christina Rossetti, "I wish I could remember" from A Pageant and Other Poems (1881)
9. Langston Hughes, "I, Too" (1925)
10. e.e. Cummings, "Pity This Busy Monster, Manunkind" (1944)

Skills and Activities

Preliminaries for seminar communication.

Session Two, November 10-11: 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.

Session Three, November 17-18: 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 (distributed on Nov 18, due on Nov 25)

Session Four, November 24-25: Analysing Drama I: Rhetoric

Analytical Tools

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

Texts

• William Shakespeare, As You Like It.

Skills and Activities

A speech from the Shakespeare play

Session Five, December 1-2: Analysing Drama II: Dramatic Communication and Plot Structure

Analytical Tools

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

Texts

• William Shakespeare, As You Like It.

Skills and Activities

Dramatic Structures and Communication; Exposition.

Session Six, December 8-9: Analysing Drama III: Characterisation

Analytical Tools

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

Texts

• William Shakespeare, As You Like It.

Skills and Activities

Characters and Genre Aspects.

   Assignment II: Drama (distributed on Dec 9, due on Dec 16)

Session Seven, December 15-16: Critical Debate and Literary Theory I

Material

• Brief Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Movements
• Brief Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Movements, Variety A
• Major Theoretical Approaches and Movements in Relation to Wider Social Issues and
• Theory and the Wider Market of Debates - A First Draft

Texts

• Greenblatt, Stephen. "Culture." Critical Terms for Literary Studies. Ed. Lentricchia, Frank. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1990. 252-32. Print.

Skills and Activities

Theory and Critical Discussion. Secondary Material.

  Film Screening: Blade Runner; Wed, 21.Dec, 8-10pm, in A07 (Hörsaal G).

Session Eight, December 22-23: Film Analysis: Themes and Techniques

Analytical Tools

• Handout: Film Analysis
• Link to glossary of terms by Mark Bischoff (based on Monaco): Glossary
• Sources:

Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: The World of Movies, Media, and Multimedia: Language, History, Theory. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.

Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art. An Introduction. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Korte, Helmut: Einführung in die Systematische Filmanalyse. Ein Arbeitsbuch. 3. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 2004.

Texts

• Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner

Skills and Activities

Spectacle, Narratives and Fiction. Film Analysis. [Fiction worksheet]

Session Nine, January 12-13: Analysing Fiction I: Narration and Focalisation

Analytical Tools

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

Texts

• Mary Shelley. Frankenstein.

Skills and Activities

Narration, Focalization.

Session Ten, January 19-20: Analysing Fiction II: Characterisation

Analytical Tools

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

Texts

• Mary Shelley. Frankenstein.

Skills and Activities

Characterisation.

   Assignment III: Fiction (distributed on January 20, due on January 26-7) Please find the assignment in your Stud.IP group.

Session Eleven, January 26-27: Analysing Fiction III: Close Reading

Analytical Tools

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

Texts

• Mary Shelley. Frankenstein.

Skills and Activities

Close Reading

Session Twelve, February 2-3: Critical Debate and Literary Theory II

Material

• Brief Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Movements
• Brief Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Movements, Variety A
• Major Theoretical Approaches and Movements in Relation to Wider Social Issues and
• Theory and the Wider Market of Debates - A First Draft

Texts

• Reese, Diana. "A Troubled Legacy, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the Inheritance of Human Rights."

Skills and Activities

Theory and Critical Discussion. Secondary Material.

Session Thirteen, February 9-10: Recap

    Written Test: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 10-12 h, HS 1

Session Fourteen A, February 16-17: RPO Projects

Skills and Activities

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

     Assignment 4: Research Paper Outline (due on 28. 02.2012)