Introduction to Literary Theory/ENGL 306

Instructor: Jeff Allred Class Meetings: TF 12:45-2, 408 TH Office Hours: TF 10-11am and by appointment Contact me: 212.772.5170 or jeff.allred@hunter.cuny.edu Class Blog Site: http://theoryhunter306.wordpress.com Learning Outcomes By the end of the semester, students who have successfully completed the course will: Gain fluency in the language of cultural and literary theory through enthusiastic discussion of texts, exploratory writing, and the writing of a synthetic formal essay. Especially through this latter assignment, gain an understanding of the central concepts of literary theorylinguistic structure, ideology, and the psycheincluding they way these concepts interact in the work of individual theorists. Learn to engage an audience of peers as well as a broader public orally and in writing, using web-based platforms such as WordPress. Course Schedule: [Note: all page numbers refer to the Norton anthology; other readings will be distributed via web in .pdf] date Week 1 8/30 Week 2 9/3 9/6 Week 3-6 9/10 9/13 9/17 9/20 9/24 readings Introduction Introduction, requirements, assignments What is Literature? What is Theory? Culler, What is Theory? (.pdf) Eliot, Tradition and the Individual Talent (955-60) Eagleton, The Rise of English (2140-45) No class: holiday Language/Structure Nietzsche, On Truth and Lying (764-73) No class: holiday Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (850-66) Optional: Jonathan Culler on Saussure (.pdf) Jakobson, from Linguistics and Poetics and Two Aspects of Language (1144-55) writing

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Roland Barthes, from Mythologies (1320-22) & The Eiffel Tower Blog post #3 [.pdf] 9/27 Paul de Man, Semiology and Rhetoric (1365-77) 10/1 Barbara Johnson, Melvilles Fist (2258-76) 10/4 Review/catchup Week 7-11 Ideology/Hegemony/Power 10/8 Marx/Engels: a) from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (651-4); b) from The German Ideology (655-6); c ) from Capital (663-71 ONLY). Recommended: Raymond Williams, Ideology from Keywords (.pdf)

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Antonio Gramsci, from the prison notebooks (1002-08) Raymond Williams, Hegemony from Marxism and Literature [.pdf] Louis Althusser, Ideology and ISAs (1335-1360) **note: 10/15 is a holiday Franz Fanon, The Fact of Blackness (.pdf) Dick Hebdige, from Subculture: The Meaning of Style (2481-90) Michel Foucault, from The History of Sexuality (1502-20) Deleuze and Guattari, from A Thousand Plateaus (1454-62) Review/catchup Take-home midterm: details TBA Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams and The Uncanny (81441) Brooks, Freuds Masterplots (.pdf) Lacan, The Mirror Stage as Formative (1163-69) Meltzer, Unconscious (.pdf) Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (2081-94) No class Judith Butler, from Gender Trouble (2540-52) Special topic: the image Kaja Silverman, from Threshold of the Visible World (.pdf) Exam review Take-home exam: details TBA

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Submit blog greatest hits Final exam

Responsibilities: Six blog posts of 400-800 words + informal commenting on others posts Midterm exam (essay- and short-answer-based takehome exam) Final exam (similar format, but cumulative) OR topic of your own devising based on original research (10-12 pp.) regular attendance and participation in all discussions Grading: I will give detailed guidelines for the blog posts, exam, and final paper separately. Your grade will be calculated as follows: blogging (35%); midterm (20%); final exam (30%); participation (15%). A FEW GENERAL POLICIES: a) regarding plagiarism Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g. plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The college is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Integrity Procedures. b) regarding students with disabilities In compliance with the American Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) and with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Hunter College is committed to ensuring educational parity and accommodations for all students with documented disabilities and/or medical conditions. It is recommended that all students with documented disabilities (Emotional, Medical, Physical and/or

Learning) consult the Office of Accessibility located in Room 1124 East to secure necessary academic accommodations. For further information and assistance please call (212-772-4857) /TTY (212-6503230). c) regarding attendance and participation I do take attendance and expect you in class each day. Failure to attend will significantly impact your grade; more than four unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. Im a reasonable person, so always get in touch via email in advance if you need to miss class. I become less reasonable with excuses that come after the fact. Nor is being there enough: you have to come prepared to put away the phones and distractions and engage the texts rigorously. I will embarrass you if you are texting or otherwise engaging in distracted/distracting behavior. d) regarding technology We will use two major web resources in this course: a course blog and the course Blackboard site. I plan to use Bb only for its gradebook function; we will use the blog to share informal responses to texts and for any announcements from me about the course. We will also use email for communication. It is therefore a basic requirement for you to have a functioning Hunter email account and to check it frequently. I also strongly prefer that you use your Hunter email address for all courserelated correspondence: getting email from your personal accounts, with handles like numbnutz34 or darealcontenda (both real examples), creates spam filter problems and is just plain embarrassing. Books:[available at Shakes and Co. (939 Lexington Avenue); all other texts are available via blog site] The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism: if you shop around, make sure to get the second edition (i.e., with the white/red covers rather than the blue ones).