Critical Approaches 1 Q3120 (Autumn 2013)

Critical Approaches 2 Q3123 (Spring 2014)

BA in English

Year 1 courses, 2013-2014

Critical Approaches 1 (autumn term)

Critical Approaches 2 (spring term)

Convenor:

Pam Thurschwell (Autumn)

Rachel O’Connell (Spring)

Course codes:

Critical Approaches 1 Q3120

Critical Approaches 2 Q3123

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MODULE DESCRIPTION
How do we go about reading and interpreting a literary text? What are we trying to do when
we analyse a work of literature: are we trying to establish one correct interpretation? How do
we decide that some interpretations are more valuable than others? Do we need to
understand the original intentions of the author to understand what something means? Is it
necessary to understand the historical or political situation from which a work emerged? Do
readers interpret texts differently at different historical moments? Could our interpretations of
texts be affected by forces beyond our control, forces such as the workings of language,
unconscious desires, class, race, gender, sexuality or nationality? How is it that some texts,
Shakespeare’s plays, for instance, are highly valued by our culture, while others have been
lost or devalued? Who or what decides which literature will survive to be read and studied on
English courses?

Critical Approaches will suggest some ways of answering these large and difficult questions
about interpretation, and aims to help you think in new ways about the work you do for your
English degree at Sussex. The module runs over the whole year, divided into two parts. In
the autumn you will study the themes: “What is literature? Why does it matter?”, “Theories of
Language and Meaning: Structuralism and Poststructuralism” and “Ideology and Discourse”.
In the spring you will study the themes: “Theories of Subjectivity, Identity, and Desire,”
“Postcolonial Studies,” and “The Contemporary Moment”. Throughout the module you will
read critical and theoretical essays and literary works that contribute to your understanding
of these themes. The module will examine many different aspects of literary theory including
new criticism, Marxism, structuralism, post-structuralism, deconstruction, feminism, post-
colonial theory, psychoanalysis and queer theory.

Most of the primary reading for the module will be available in The Norton Anthology of
Theory and Criticism (2nd edition) which will be available at a discounted price in the
bookstore. You can also purchase it on-line; please be sure you have the correct edition.
You must bring it to all seminars and lectures for Approaches I & II. You will also need to
download the module pack of additional material that will be available online through Study
Direct. Details of other required reading are given below, in the Module Reading List.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Attendance requirements
The modules involve one one-hour lecture and one two-hour seminar each week. You will be
notified of times and venues via Sussex Direct. You are expected to attend seminars and

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lectures. If you miss a seminar because of illness or for other good cause, you should email
your tutor, if possible in advance of the class. If your attendance is unsatisfactory, you will
receive a formal letter of warning from your tutor. If you continue to miss classes without
good reason, you will be required to attend a meeting with a member of the School
management group.

Learning outcomes
By the end of Critical Approaches 1, a successful student will be able to
 understand central issues in modern literary theory and criticism and put them into a
wider theoretical and historical context
 close read and analyse critical essays and arguments
 understand the ways in which these different theoretical perspectives can contribute
to his or her critical interpretation of fiction, poetry, plays, culture, the world…
 research, design and write a well-structured essay

By the end of Critical Approaches 2, a successful student will be able to

 extend her or his understanding of central issues in modern literary theory and
criticism and put them into a wider theoretical and historical context
 close read and analyse a wide range of critical essays and arguments from different
time periods
 extend his or her understanding of the ways in which these different theoretical
perspectives can contribute to critical interpretation of fiction, poetry, plays, culture,
the world…
 research, design and write an even better essay

Assessment
Definitive assessment information for both modules, including exact submission deadlines,
will be published on Study Direct. Critical Approaches 1 is assessed by Module Report. This
is a report completed by your seminar tutor which grades your work, including your
preparation for, and contribution to, seminar discussion and other in-class work. To pass the
module, you must be awarded a grade 4 or better (1 being the highest mark, 6 the lowest).

The written work that you need to submit is as follows:

 a 500 word reader response (due in to your seminar tutors in Week 7)
 a 2000-word essay (due in your seminar in Week 12)

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  the hand-out and questions from your group presentation (due in your seminar in
Week 12).

Essay topics will be handed out and discussed in your seminars and also posted on Study
Direct in Week 5 or 6.

You will also take part in an assessed group presentation.

Once your tutor has completed your Module Report it will be accessible via Sussex Direct.
You will receive a single grade that encompasses the entirety of your assessed work.

Critical Approaches 2 is assessed by

 a portfolio of written assignments which will carry 80% of the mark for the module. It
will include a 2000-word essay, a 500 word reader response, and the handout and
question sheet you prepared for your group presentation . Unlike in Autumn Term, he
portfolio will not be handed in to your seminar tutor, but instead, to the School of
English office in Arts B. Your grade will be primarily derived from the quality of the
essay.
 a group presentation (given during the module): this will carry 20% of the marks for
the module

Here is some further information about group presentations and reader responses.

Group Presentations
Your in-class group presentations will take place during weeks 2-12. This consists of taking
charge of your seminar for a period of approximately 20 minutes with one or more other
students. In order to prepare, you must familiarise yourself with the week’s reading, meet up,
plan your presentation, and write up a shared handout which includes any important
information, quotes, and key points that will help the class better understand the material.
You must also include a set of between five and ten questions designed to prompt class
discussion. You must meet with your partner or group in person to discuss a plan for your
presentation. It is imperative that one person not do all the talking.

The handout and question sheet that you prepare will be handed in at the end of term as
part of your portfolio; you will be assessed separately on the spoken component of the
seminar.

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Presentation groups will be set in the first class. Each group will be assigned a seminar
between weeks 2 and 12.

Prior to the set seminar, the groups must arrange a meeting. Each member of the group is
required to: a) familiarise themselves thoroughly with the reading, and b) generate a set of
useful questions that will provoke discussion of the reading and/or accompanying lecture. A
successful pair will share the responsibility for initiating and engaging discussion. Missing
your presentation, or coming unprepared for it, will earn you a zero for 20% of your mark.

Reader Response
Reader responses are short arguments about one, focused aspect of a reading. A reader
response can include close readings of a theme, idea, or line from a text, the interrogation of
a particular term in the reading, or a bid to untangle a particularly perplexing concept. You
need to spend some time putting together a considered response of 500 words to the
assigned material. Discussion of the literary material from your module pack is welcome.

In both Critical Approaches I and Critical Approaches II, your reader response will be handed
in in week 7. You may not duplicate material from your reader response as part of your final
essay, but the reader response is designed to help you develop your writing skills through
getting feedback on your writing from your tutor before you write your final essay, When
writing your final essay, you should pay close attention to the feedback you received on your
reader response.

MODULE OUTLINE

Please note: You should complete the readings for each week before you attend the
lectuer and seminar. The readings will be discussed in the seminar. When essays are
not specified in the below list, you are required to read the entirety of that author’s
entry in the Norton Anthology. But if the reading is specified, please concentrate on
that reading.

AUTUMN TERM – CRITICAL APPROACHES 1

Weeks 1-3
Introduction: What is Literature? Why does it matter?
Key questions: What makes some pieces of writing “literary” and others not? What kind of
attention do we pay to language? Do we look to it for beauty, or the ability to communicate
an idea? Do certain kinds of language demand particular kinds of attention? How has the
creative writer been valued and devalued at different historical moments?

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Lectures and texts
Week 1. Introductory Lecture.
Lecturer: Pam Thurschwell
Primary reading: Eagleton, “Introduction: What is Literature? (module pack)”; Culler, “What is
Literature and Does it Matter?” (module pack)

Week 2. Renaissance Authorship

Lecturer: Andrew Hadfield
Primary reading: Sidney, “An Apology for Poetry” (Norton)

Week 3. Romantic Authorship

Lecturer: Richard Adelman
Primary reading: Wordsworth, “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” (Norton) and Bennett, “The
Romantic Author” (module pack)

Weeks 4-8
Theories of Language and Meaning: Structuralism and Poststructuralism
Key questions: What kind of tool is language? Does it always help us to communicate or
can it hinder us as well? How do we imagine the origin of language (in infants, or for society
at large)? What relations can we find between saying and doing, the written world and the
“real” world? What kinds of “truth” might we find in language?

Lectures and texts

Week 4. Nietzsche and Heidegger
Lecturer: Sara Crangle
Primary reading: Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying” and Heidegger, “Language” (Norton)

Week 5: New Criticism and the Author’s Intentions

Lecturer: Pam Thurschwell
Primary reading: Wimsatt and Beardsley “The Intentional Fallacy” (Norton), Foucault “What
is an author?” (Norton), Bennet and Royle on “The Author” (module pack)
Recommended reading: Barthes, “The Death of the Author” (Norton)

Week 6: Structuralism and Saussure

Lecturer: Pam Thurschwell

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Primary reading: Saussure, from “Course in General Linguistics” in Norton and Jonathan
Culler on Saussure (module pack)
Recommended reading: Eagleton: Literary Theory, Chapter 3

Week 7: Reading and assessment week (No lecture or seminar)

500 word reader response due

Week 8: Derrida and Deconstruction

Lecturer: Nicholas Royle
Primary reading: Derrida “Signature Event Context” (module pack) and J.L. Austin
“Performative Utterances” (Norton)
Recommended reading: Bennett and Royle, “The Performative” (module pack) and
Jonathan Culler, from On Deconstruction (module pack)

Weeks 9-11: Ideology and Discourse

Key questions: What do those words “ideology” and “discourse” mean? How do questions
about economics, class, and the material base of our society affect the way we read
literature and interpret the world? Can certain genres of literature (such as the Victorian
realist novel or the medical case history) illuminate, at different times, the natureof the
economic circumstances and power relations from which they emerge? Can literature and
criticism change the nature of the contemporary economic and political world or must it
simply reflect it?

Week 9: Foucault and Discourse

Lecturer: Rachel O’Connell
Primary reading: Foucault from The History of Sexuality Vol 1 (Norton), Foucault, extract
from Discipline and Punish (module pack)

Week 10: Marxism and Ideology

Lecturer: Sam Solomon
Primary reading: Karl Marx (Norton) extracts from “The Communist Manifesto”, The
Grundrisse and Capital Vol 1 from Chapter 1 and Chapter 10 and Louis Althusser (Norton)
excerpts from “Ideological State Apparatuses”

Week 11: Theory and Close reading (a lecturer or two lecturers from the module will give an
example of a reading of a poem that pays attention to the theories we’ve been studying so
far.)

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Seminar: In class writing workshop on students’ essay

Week 12: Ideology, Art, and Popular Culture: From economics to culture
Lecturer: J.D. Rhodes
Primary reading: Adorno (Norton)

SPRING TERM– CRITICAL APPROACHES 2

Week 1
No reading
Compulsory Screening: The Examined Life (Director, Astra Taylor, 2008) This film includes
interviews with many of today’s most influential philosophers including Judith Butler, Michael
Hardt, Slavoj Zizek, Cornell West, Peter Singer, Martha Nussbaum and Sunaura Taylor.
Seminar: discussion of film

Weeks 2-6 Theories of Subjectivity, Identity, and Desire

Key questions: How do we come to take on particularly gender and sexual identities? How
do we understand ourselves and our identities in terms of who or what we desire from other
people? Does sexuality have a history, or many histories? How might desire, love or
sexuality be related to how we read and interpret literature and the world around us? What
makes someone or something seem “other” to us? Is “otherness” attractive or frightening;
can it be both?

Week 2: Psychoanalysis and interpretation

Lecturer: Pam Thurschwell
Primary reading: Sigmund Freud “The Interpretation of Dreams” (Norton); Selections from
Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality and “Dora” (module pack); Pamela
Thurschwell, chapters on Sexuality and Interpretation from Sigmund Freud (module pack)

Week 3: Laura Mulvey and Jacques Lacan

Lecturer: J.D. Rhodes
Primary reading: Mulvey (Norton); Lacan “The Mirror Stage” (Norton), compulsoryscreening
of Vertigo

Week 4: Constructing Gender: De Beauvoir to Butler

Lecturer: Pam Thurschwell
Primary reading: Simone de Beauvoir (Norton) and Judith Butler (Norton)

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Week 5: Queer Theory
Lecturer: Rachel O’Connell
Primary reading: Sedgwick “Queer and Now” (module pack) and Berlant and Warner “Sex in
Public” (Norton)

Week 6: “The Infinitely Unknowable Other”

Lecturer: Sara Crangle
Primary reading: Emmanuel Levinas, “The Old and the New” (module pack)
Recommended reading: Derek Attridge (from The Singularity of Literature)

Week 7: Reading and assessment week (No lecture or seminar)

500 word reader response due

Week 8-9 Postcolonial Studies

Key Questions: How might the experience of being subject to Imperialism and colonisation
affect the way one reads or interprets the world? Are texts “feminist,” “queer,” and/or
“postcolonial”? Or is it how we read them that is definitive? Does Barthes’s argument that
“The author is dead” need to be modified in relation to texts by women, gay, black and/or
postcolonial writers? How is it possible to ever know or understand another’s unique
experience?

Week 8: Colonial Discourse

Lecturer: Denise DeCaires Narain:
Primary readings: Edward Said “Orientalism” and Stuart Hall (Norton)

Week 9: “Postcolonialism and Feminism”

Lecturer: Denise DeCaires Narain
Primary reading: Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (Norton)

Weeks 10-11 The Contemporary Moment

Key Questions: What defines the way we read and think about language now? Has
globalisation or social networking affected the way we read literature? Are there universal
human values that do not change over time, or do our values shift in relation to our histories?
If literature is a concept that is shifting in relation to new forms of mediation, what does it
mean to do an English degree now? What does it mean to be part of a University now?

Week 10: Rhizomatic Thought: Networks, Mediation and Control

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Lecturer: Michael Jonik
Primary reading: Deleuze and Guattari (Norton); Deleuze, “Societies of Control” (module
pack) Alexander Galloway

Week 11: Neoliberalism, Late Capitalism and Globalisation

Lecturer: Rachel O’Connell
Primary reading: TBA

Week 12: Module round-up: Ideas of a University

Lecture: roundtable with a selection of lecturers and tutors from the module
Reading: Andrew Ross (Norton)

MODULE READING LIST

Core reading (and viewing)

You only need to purchase one text for this module:

Leitch, Vincent and others (eds). The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (2nd
ed).New York: W. W. Norton, 2010

This text will be available at a specially discounted price from John Smith’s book shop, in the
University Library building. (This is an expensive book but students find they refer to it
throughout their degree. You must have a copy with you in class at all times.)

Other required and recommended readings will be available online in the module pack and
on the module’s Study Direct site.. You must download and print out the module pack from
the module’s Study Direct site. You should check the site each week for correct information
on the week’s reading, and additional recommended reading.

We will watch two films during the module:

Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (film, 1958)
Astra Taylor, The Examined Life (film, 2008)

Recommended reading

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The best preparation for the module is reading widely in the Norton Anthology of Theory and
Criticism, but you may also want to make yourself familiar with a few of these useful
overviews before the module begins. The books by Eagleton, and Bennett and Royle are
especially informative and entertaining theoretical overviews.

Bennett, Andrew and Royle, Nicholas (eds). An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and
Theory. (4th ed.) Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2009.
Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. 3d edition. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2008.

Bennett, Andrew. The Author. New Critical Idiom, London: Routledge, 2005.
Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1997.
Lodge, David (ed). Twentieth Century Literary Criticism: A Reader. London: Longman, 1972.
Rivkin, Julie and Michael Ryan (eds) Literary Theory: An Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell,
1998.

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