Criticism

Professor Ming-Qian Ma

TTh     8:00 - 9:20

Reg. No.  130303

301

Designed as a survey class, English 301 is intended to introduce students to literary criticism of the 20th Century, with an emphasis on the post-1960s period.  Chronological in approach, it will study the representative texts of various schools of criticism, focusing on the basic terms, concepts, and methodologies.  The goals of this criticism are (1) to learn and understand the principles and paradigms of each kind of criticism; (2) to become critically aware of not only the ramifications but also the limitations of literary theory; (3) to rethink and question such notions as “innocent reading” or “purely spontaneous response”; and (4) to learn a range of interpretative methods.

 

The primary texts for the course are:

 

¨ Literary Theory:  An Anthology, 2nd Edition.  Edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, Blackwell, 2004.  (ISBN:  1-4051-0696-4)

¨ Billy Budd and Other Tales, by Herman Melville, with a new introduction by Joyce Carol Oates. Signet Classic, 1998.  (ISBN:  0-451-52687-2)

(Supplementary reading materials in criticism will be distributed when needed.)

 

Class requirements include regular attendance, active participation in class discussions, quizzes, response papers to readings, and a 6-8 page term paper at the end of the course.

Criticism

Professor Joseph Conte

TTh     11:00 - 12:20

Reg. No.  114756

301

This version of Criticism will be devoted to the problem of postmodernism.  We struggle to find an appropriate definition for the period in which we live.  For some, postmodernity can’t be defined, or is so beset with a deep form of irony that no definitive statement about it could apply.  We can, however, address certain issues that arise in the debates on postmodernism.  Jean-François Lyotard argues that postmodernism is accompanied by incredulity, a new skepticism toward the grand narratives of Western culture, the Big Lies.  Fredric Jameson suggests that the style of postmodernism is nothing more than the hyperinflation of a consumer economy, the Big Buys.  Architecture critic Charles Jencks contends that all postmodern buildings—and by extension, the images we encounter in our environment—are “double coded,” with aspects of both a popular and an elite culture.  And of course there is irony.  As Umberto Eco says, it is no longer possible to say “I love you madly.”  It’s only possible to say, because romance novelist Barbara Cartland has already said it, “As Barbara Cartland says, ‘I love you madly.’”

 

We will read from one anthology of essays on postmodernity, A Postmodern Reader, edited by Joseph Natoli and Linda Hutcheon, supplemented by several essays from other sources.  But since our goal will be to "perform" criticism, we'll also read three novels that respond to the question of postmodernity directly or indirectly:  Kathy Acker’s Don Quixote, Paul Auster’s City of Glass, and Don DeLillo’s White Noise.  In two intermediate-length writing assignments and a final research paper, we will try to ascertain the degree to which the theory and practice of postmodernism are related.

or

TTh     9:30 - 10:50

Reg. No.  270971  

or

TTh     2:00 - 3:20

Reg. No.  076851