Senior Seminar

 

English 497 - 05
Term: Fall 2001
Time: 5:00-7:50 p.m. R
Room: Bliss 114
Prof. G. Steinberg
Office: Bliss 216
Office Phone: 771-2106
Office Hours: 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m. MR
and by appointment
E-mail: gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

TEXTBOOKS:
David Richter, The Critical Tradition (ISBN 0312101066)
William Shakespeare, Hamlet (ISBN 0312055447)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (ISBN 031219126X)

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  An overview of the major theories of literature, with the aim of learning how to apply these “legitimating frameworks” to the understanding of literature and its cultural context.

GOALS.  As my goals for this course, I want you

    1. to become more aware of your basic assumptions about literature,
    2. to question and enrich your basic assumptions about literature,
    3. to look at literature and literary texts with new eyes,
    4. to learn in very basic outline the history of thinking on the nature and interpretation of literature,
    5. to position your own thinking on the nature and interpretation of literature in relation to the current schools of thought on that subject,
    6. to expand your critical vocabulary to include the terminology currently in use among professional scholars engaged in the discussion and study of literature, and
    7. to become more comfortable reading literary theory.
REQUIREMENTS.  This course consists of the following graded assignments:
    1. 10 postings on the electronic message board for class (4 points each),
    2. a short paper (300 points),
    3. a class presentation and short paper (360 points), and
    4. a comprehensive final exam (300 points).

Your final grade will be based on a 1000-point scale (40 + 300 + 360 + 300):  A = 930-1000 points, A- = 900-929, B+ = 870-899, B = 830-869, B- = 800-829, C+ = 770-799, C = 730-769, C- = 700-729, D+ = 670-699, D = 600-669, and F = below 600.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of the exam and papers in this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for the course’s graded assignments.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of discussion for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If you positively must miss a class, however, I will expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared -- without excuses -- to the next class meeting.

OFFICE HOURS.  My office is Bliss 216.  My office hours this semester will be 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays.  If you cannot see me at this time, please, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time.  You may also contact me by e-mail (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department offices in Bliss 124.  E-mail is generally the fastest way to contact me in an emergency.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES.  An electronic message board has been specially created for this course.  To reach the message board, simply go to http://gsteinbe.instrasun.tcnj.edu/tcnj/litmessageboard2/index.html.  You may want to check it out as soon as possible, because one of the course’s requirements is to post to the message board at least 10 times during the course of the semester with your thoughts on the readings for class.  As often as you like, up to a total of 60 points (40 required points + another 20 extra-credit points), you will receive 4 points for each relevant message you post to the board.  The following kinds of messages will qualify for these points:

  1. a message that responds to the questions that I ask you to consider in relation to a particular day's reading assignment (e.g., the questions for the assignment on Plato),
  2. a message that consists of at least one question about a particular day’s reading assignment (if the question is a good and thought-provoking discussion starter),
  3. a message that consists of several questions about a particular day’s reading assignment (if the questions are about more basic, factual information, such as questions about the meaning of particular words or phrases in the reading),
  4. a message that consists of a thought-provoking, insightful, or interesting observation about a particular day’s reading assignment, or
  5. a message that responds substantially to what someone else has already posted to the board.
To get the points for your message,
  1. your message must be sent before class meets to discuss the reading assignment that you are addressing;
  2. your message must actually be posted to the message board (not sent to me privately by e-mail);
  3. your message must be original (that is, not repeat what somebody else has already posted to the board); and
  4. your message must not repeat material that you submit for any other graded assignment for class (e.g., you may not submit a message that is made up of material from a paper or vice versa).
For anyone who does not have easy access to the Internet, see me about alternative methods of meeting this requirement for the course.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  The page numbers below are from The Critical Tradition.  This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.
Date Assignment
R Aug 30 Introductions
R Sep 6 Plato and Aristotle (pp. 17-64)
R Sep 13 Horace (pp. 65-78), Johnson (pp. 218-238), and Kant (253-280)
R Sep 20 Wordsworth (pp. 300-314), Emerson (pp. 372-384) and Nietzsche (pp. 417-433)
R Sep 27 Arnold (pp. 394-416), Wilde (pp. 448-468), Marx (pp. 385-393), and Saussure (pp. 832-835)
R Oct 4 Eliot (pp. 495-503), Woolf (pp. 548-559), Freud (pp. 481-488), and Jung (pp. 504-526)
R Oct 11 Sartre (pp. 621-634), Gadamer (pp. 668-688), and Iser (pp. 955-968)
M Oct 15 PAPER 1 DUE in my box in Bliss 124 by 4:30 p.m.
R Oct 18 Bakhtin (pp. 527-547), Bloom (pp. 1027-1033) and Barthes (pp. 900-905)
R Oct 25 Leavis (pp. 599-607), Herrnstein Smith (pp. 1551-1575), and Bourdieu (pp. 1231-1253)
R Nov 1 Gilbert and Gubar (pp. 1360-1374), Cixous (pp. 1453-1466), and Irigaray (pp. 1466-1471)
R Nov 8 PRESENTATIONS:  Wimsatt and Beardsley (pp. 749-757), Frye (pp. 641-651), Lévi-Strauss (pp. 835-844), and Derrida (pp. 877-889)
R Nov 15 PRESENTATIONS:  Foucault (pp. 889-900), Geertz (pp. 1253-1278), Eagleton (pp. 1141-1153), and Jameson (pp. 1172-1188)
R Nov 22 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
R Nov 29 PRESENTATIONS:  Freud (pp. 488-494), Showalter (pp. 1374-1386), Sedgwick (pp. 1481-1486), and Gates (pp. 1575-1588)
R Dec 6 PRESENTATIONS:  Jauss (pp. 934-955), Holland (pp. 968-976), Fish (pp. 976-990), and Booth (pp. 786-796)
Finals Week FINAL EXAM
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