Prof. Bruce Harvey
Literary Theory: Eng 5048
Spring 2003, Wednesday 6:25-9:05, Biscayne Bay Campus
Office Hours: M/W 1:00-2:00, 3:30-4:30, directly before and after class, and by appointment
Home phone: to be given in class
OVERVIEW
Some charge literary theory or culture theory with being overly difficult, impractical, or implausible. Until recently, theory has been a cult-commodity of sorts, with those in-the-know and those-not-in-the-know or not-wanting-to-know smirking at each other. The "theory wars"--inordinate angst-ing over whether and how one "does" theory--seem fortunately to be behind us. This is because of zeitgeist-fatigue and because the terms and insights of many theorists have simply been absorbed as tools of the trade. Some may find one type of tool better than another, and some new tools doubtless will be developed, but there is a consensus, for better or worse, that the theoretical toolbox is here to stay.
The goal of the course, however, is not just pragmatic (to teach you a few perspectives that might be useful when you write future essays or your thesis; or to get you up to speed on a daunting subject). Theory involves philosophy, politics, history, anthropology, and psychology; and invites us to become more curious about things and texts and more nuanced and deft in understanding our own interiors.
This is a serious course, and I will expect you to work hard in it. Yet it should also be a fun one, in which admitting confusion will be okay, and presenting wacky takes on texts will be encouraged.
Theory or theorists are notoriously abstract, and we need to balance the rarefied with the concrete. Therefore the last third of the class will be devoted to applying theory to three texts. Any three texts, perhaps, would do, but as I have an interest in Polynesian/New Zealand literature and Westerners writing about/traveling to Polynesia, I have quite selfishly selected texts I am actively thinking about in my own research.
**A note: we should distinguish between "original" "theorists" of culture, politics, sexuality, etc.--Marx, Freud, even Foucault, for example--all of whom are relatively easy to read; and secondary theorists who modify or use these originals as they think about texts--e.g., Jameson, post-Lacanians or many French feminist theorists, and Greenblatt or other New Historians. Everyone will understand the meaning of the previous (4th) paragraph; not everyone will fully understand this paragraph because I have written it as if you already knew who Jameson, et. al. are, a mini-illustration of the problem when you read literary theory oftentimes. A major stumbling block to appreciating theory is the discomfort, as it were, of entering the party when you don't know the names of anyone. Contemporary theorists often tend less to say something about something, than to position themselves against what other folks are saying about something. They also like to make meta-remarks such as the one I just made, which can become dizzying. In the course, we will read both "originals" and those who come after. We will become dizzy; and we will, I hope, also become curious and exhilarated.
The course is divided into three sections:
--Learning Theory: In this section,
we will get an overview of the major schools or motifs of literary and cultural
theory, sample a variety of influential theorists, and apply theory via hands-on
reading of brief poems and short stories.
--Practicing Theory: Here we will apply what we have learned to two particular texts.
--Packaging Theory and Interpretation: In the final section, we will devise a critical anthology for Melville's Typee.
REQUIREMENTS
20%= In-class participation
20%= Discussion board participation
20%= Web-suitable essay draft
20%= Web-suitable essay final version
20%= Oral report/contribution to hypothetical Norton edition of Typee
TEXTS AT BBC BOOKSTORE
--Barry, Beginning Theory
--Easthope and McGowan, A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader
--Freud, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria
--Foucault, History of Sexuality
--Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism
--Melville, Typee
--Hulme, The Bone People
--Yamanaka, Blu's Hanging
ASSIGNMENTS & POLICIES
Class Participation: I will give mini-lectures to highlight important issues, but most of the class will be discussion oriented. Your participation will be worth 20% of your final grade. Missing class, especially as a graduate student, is considered very poor form: don't do it. If you miss two days, we will have a serious discussion. If you miss three, you will not be able to pass the course.
Discussion Threads: I will set up the discussion thread weblink (only the class can access it) the first or second week of class. You may initiate topics ("threads") or respond to topics I or other students propose. Now and again, I may post significant quotes from theorists or critics to stimulate discussion You should submit and read postings routinely, but I have no hard and fast rule here and I don't want it to become only busy work for you. You should more or less have a meaty paragraph/exchange for each of our major texts. I will monitor the dialogue periodically (and perhaps occasionally intervene)--but this is intended to be your forum, not mine. Heated debate is fine; but remember that basic rules of etiquette apply--be polite and avoid vulgarities. Respectable grammar, spelling, and sentence style are expected. About midway through the semester, I'll give you feedback about whether your online discussion up to that point equals an "A," "B," and so forth. If the online discussion creates awkwardness for you in any form, please talk to me and we'll work the problem out. The online discussion equals 20% of your final grade. For those of you who do not have easy access to the Internet at home, there are many facilities on campus, available virtually all the time (logging in for 30 minutes before or after class once or twice a week would likely satisfy this portion of the course requirements).
Paper: For the "Practicing Theory" section of the course, I have selected two contemporary, postmodernist Polynesian novels--Hulme's The Bone People and Yamanaka's Blu's Hanging--about which relatively little has been written. We will read both and discuss (theoretically and otherwise), and then you will write a web-suitable interpretation, due at the end of the semester, using one (or several) of the schools of criticism/theory to which you have been introduced. The second week is set aside for you to read both of these novels. Guidelines will be given down-the-road.
Oral Report: The question of "what to choose?"--i.e. canons--applies to primary texts as well as secondary, interpretive texts, and pressures us to think self-consciously about our literary/cultural/theoretical values. You all have drawn upon (or should draw upon!) Norton Critical Editions or Bedford Cultural/Theoretical Editions. There is no Norton or Bedford edition for Herman Melville's Typee. Let's, as it were, create one--with each student responsible for finding an appropriate essay or essays or materials suitable for inclusion in our hypothetical Norton or Bedford edition of Typee. You will share the essay/material you find via a précis and an oral report summarizing its relevance to our understanding of Typee and to the critical/theoretical enterprise at large. Longer instructions will be provided.
MISCELLANEOUS
There is no final exam.
I am always available to meet with you during office hours to talk more about the readings or other course matters. For questions or to set up a conference outside of my regular office hours, you may also call me at my home number (before 10:00 PM), leave a message on my office phone, or email me. Because of the UP/BBC commute, I will stay after class for 1/2 hour or so--until the shuttle returns to UP.
A graduate-level seminar is not simply a more intense 4000-level undergraduate course. I look upon you as a potential teacher or colleague-in-the-making and thus, although I'm still leading the class, democracy more or less rules. This means that while typically I will have an agenda, I have no problem with the class veering off into other illuminating avenues. I also expect more active and regular participation than in an undergraduate class. Passivity on your part--waiting for me to guide you to important passages and points--is inappropriate. A high degree of intellectual inquisitiveness and resourcefulness is assumed of all students in a graduate seminar.
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SYLLABUS
Assignment Due dates:
March 12:
Email me a 1/2 page statement of possibilities for web-essay on either Hulme or
Yamanaka.
March 24: Email me a list of three
articles or books for the Typee project.
April 7:
Email me a draft of your web-essay.
April 9 & 16: 10-minute oral report on Typee materials and summarizing
précis.
April 21: Final
version of web-essay due.
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LEARNING THEORY You should read the selections in the order given--overview (the Barry volume), reader (the Easthope anthology), author (a major theorist's work), and text (brief text to which we will apply the previous). In class, sometimes we will dwell more extensively on one of the readings or another, according to everyone's need and interest and so on. A typical class will be a mix of me summarizing, me asking you for help in puzzling through some knotty theoretical issue or vice-versa, and--as much as possible--"work-shopping" theory's application to our primary texts.
At the top of this page are four links to literary/cultural theory sites. I encourage you to tour them.
PRACTICING THEORY
PACKAGING THEORY AND
INTERPRETATIONS
OPTIONAL FILM THEORY NIGHT AT PROF'S HOUSE
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