2/25/04 Page 1 of 9 RARITAN VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE ...

I. Basic Course InformationRARITAN VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGEOutline for Course: English 202A. Course Number and Title: ENGL-- 202Introduction to Literary Theory and CriticismB. Date of Revision: February 26, 2004C. Sponsoring Department: Department of EnglishD. Semester Credit Hours: 3E. Weekly Contact Hours: 3 Lecture: 3Laboratory: 0F. Prerequisites: English IG. Laboratory Fees: NoneII.Catalog DescriptionPrerequisite: English I. This course introduces students to the theoreticalfoundation for much of contemporary literary and cultural studies. Throughout thecourse students will apply literary theory to a wide variety of literary texts. Inorder to understand the ways that literary theory is informed by the disciplines ofhistory, psychology, and philosophy, students will study major critical approachessuch as Structuralism, Postmodernism, Ethnic and Race Studies, PsychologicalCriticism, New Historicism, and Gender Studies. The course is recommended forstudents who are considering becoming English majors and for all students whowant to know more about literary interpretation.III.Statement of Course NeedA course that focuses on literary theory serves as an important educational basisfor students who intend to continue their studies in English or related fields in theliberal arts. Most English majors require at least one literary theory course.Courses in literary theory provide the groundwork for more advanced study inEnglish that students will encounter in some Raritan Valley CommunityCollege English electives and upon transfer to four year English major programs.The course will allow RVCC students to make progress toward the completion ofan English major before transfer and arrive at transfer institutions having gainedthe requisite level of proficiency in the field after the completion of two years ofstudy at Raritan Valley Community College.2/25/04 Page 1 of 9

IV.Place of Course in College CurriculumA. Check the item(s) applicable to this course:• Free elective (This applies automatically to all credit courses in the College.)• The course serves as a General Education Elective in one of the followingareas:Humanities: Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism qualifies as aHumanities General Education Elective• The course meets a requirement in the following programs: EnglishB. Course transferability; please provide information from counselors or othersources about transferability:Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism is transferable as an English elective ora free elective. It also serves as a general education elective.V. Outline of Course Content(The following outline presents the general structure of the field of literarytheory and criticism, the major areas of literary theory that can be choicesfor study in a college course, and choices of possible texts for each unit.Individual instructors will omit many texts owing to time constraints,possibly include alternative theoretical texts, and choose preferred pieces ofliterature to which theoretical readings will be applied orally during classand in writing.)I. Introduction to Literary TheorySyllabus and RequirementsConventional ReadingThe Relationship of Reading and Writing: Engaging the TextHow to Read Contemporary Literary TheoryThe Application of Literary TheoryFormalism, Humanism, and Literary TheoryExamples of theorists that might be covered:T. S. Eliot “Tradition and the Individual Talent”Northrop Frye “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time”Gerald Graff “The Humanist Myth”Example of Theory in Practice: A Formalist Reading of “The Dead” by JamesJoyceII. StructuralismExamples of theorists that might be covered:Ferdinand de Saussure “Course in General Linguistics”Claude Levi-Strauss “The Structural Study of Myth”2/25/04 Page 2 of 9

Teresa de Lauretis “Semiotics and Experience”Roland Barthes “What is Criticism?,” “From Work to Text,” and “TheDeath of the Author”Roman Jakobson “Linguistics and Poetics: The Metaphoric andMetonymic Poles”Susan Sontag “Against Interpretation”Example of Theory in Practice: A Structuralist Reading of “Ulysses” by AlfredLord TennysonIII. DeconstructionExamples of theorists that might be covered:Jacques Derrida “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of theHuman Sciences” and excerpts from DifferanceM. H. Abrams “The Deconstructive Angel”J. Hillis Miller “The Critic as Host”Michel Foucault “What is an Author?”Example of Theory in Practice: A Deconstruction of “The Story of an Hour” byKate ChopinIV. Rhetoric and Reader ResponseExamples of theorists that might be covered:Stanley Fish “Interpreting the Variorum”Patrocinio Schweickart “Reading Ourselves: Toward a FeministTheory of Reading”Barbara Johnson “Apostrophe, Animation, and Abortion”Stuart Moulthrop “Rhizome and Resistance: Hypertext and theDreams of a New Culture”Wolfgang Iser “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”E. D. Hirsch Jr. “Faulty Perspectives”Example of Theory in Practice: Reader-Response Criticism of Country of thePointed Firs by Sarah Orne JewettV. Psychological CriticismExamples of theorists that might be covered:Sigmund Freud “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”Jacques Lacan “The Mirror Stage” and “The Agency of the Letter”Carl Jung “Phenomenology of the Self” and“On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry”Geoffrey Hartman “The Interpreter’s Freud”Examples of Theory in Practice: Psychological Criticism of Hamlet by WilliamShakespeare, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, or Selected Poetry by Emily Dickinson,Sylvia Plath, and Elizabeth BishopVI. Feminist TheoryExamples of theorists that might be covered:Sandra Gilbert “Literary Paternity” and Excerpts from Madwoman in2/25/04 Page 3 of 9

Attic with Susan GubarDiana Fuss “Reading Like a Feminist”Helene Cixous “The Laugh of the Medusa”Luce Irigaray “This Sex Which is Not One” and “The BodilyEncounter with the Mother”Elaine Showalter “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness”Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak “Feminism and Critical Theory”Examples of Theory in Practice: Feminist Criticism of “The Yellow Wallpaper” byCharlotte Perkins GilmanVII. Ideology and DiscourseExamples of theorists that might be covered:Karl Marx “The German Ideology” and Excerpts from CapitalLouis Althusser “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”Mikhail Bakhtin “Discourse in the Novel”Terry Eagleton “Capitalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism”Julia Kristeva “The Ethics of Linguistics”Examples of Theory in Practice: Ideological and Discursive Criticism of Beloved byToni MorrisonVIII. HistoricismExamples of theorists that might be covered:Stephen Jay Greenblatt “Invisible Bullets: Renaissance Authority andIts Subversion,” “The Power of Forms and the Forms of Power,”and “The Circulation of Social Energy”Nancy Armstrong “The Occidental Alice” and excerpts fromDesire and Domestic FictionRaymond Williams excerpts from The Country and the CityMikhail Bakhtin “Discourse in Life and Discourse in Art” and“From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse”Examples of Theory in Practice: Historicist Criticism of “London” by WilliamBlake and “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning (Slides of Renaissance Art andBlake’s Engravings Included)IX. Race and Literary TheoryExamples of theorists that might be covered:Toni Morrison Playing in the Darkbell hooks “Postmodern Blackness”Henry Louis Gates Jr. “The Blackness of Blackness: A Critique on theSign and the Signifying Monkey”Cornel West “Black Critics and the Pitfalls of Canon Formation”Gloria Anzaldua excerpts from Borderlands/La FronteraExamples of Theory in Practice: Theorizing Race in A Raisin in the Sun byLorraine Hansberry, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, or Black Boy by RichardWright2/25/04 Page 4 of 9

A. General Education GoalsStudents will:1. employ correct theoretical terms in discussion and writing.(G. E. 1)2. interpret texts for discussion and writing.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)3. defend interpretations of text using theoretical approaches to reading.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2, G. E. 4)4. summarize complex theoretical ideas in discussion and writing.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)5. use textual evidence to support claims.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)6. distinguish between the ideas of different theorists.(G. E. 1, G. E. 4)7. contrast various theoretical approaches to literature.(G. E. 1, G. E. 4)8. explain individual analyses of theory in discussion and writing.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)9. breakdown intricate theoretical ideas for evaluation and application.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)10. challenge specific theoretical approaches in argumentative writing.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)11. analyze literature by applying various theoretical paradigms.(G. E. 1)12. report on individual analysis of theory and literature to class.(G. E. 1, G. E. 2)B. Learning OutcomesStudents will be able to:1. explain the seminal schools of literary theory.2. apply theory to the reading of literature.3. synthesize primary and secondary texts in writing and orally.4. formulate individual interpretations of texts.5. value literary theory as a vehicle for analytical thinking.6. demonstrate comprehension of theory in written examinations.7. imitate various styles of literary criticism in essay writing.8. challenge traditional world views by applying theoretical paradigms.9. appraise cultural texts through a theoretical lens.2/25/04 Page 6 of 9

10. locate critical texts through research and retrieval of information.11. write essays using different modes of organization.12. analyze texts as a basis for original thinking and writing.VII.Modes of Teaching and LearningThis course may include the following modes of teaching and learning:lecture/discussionsmall-group workguest speakersstudent oral presentationssimulation/role playingstudent collaborationindependent studyVIII. Papers, Examinations, and other Assessment InstrumentsThis course may employ the following assessment methods:in-class writing/discussion questionsquizzesformal documented essayessay examinationspresentationsreading response worksheetsIX.Grade DeterminantsX. Texts and MaterialsWeekly reading worksheets, two exams, one formal essay, one classpresentation, daily in-class discussion questions or quizzes, andconsistent/productive participation in class discussions may make up thegrade determinants in this course and chosen determinants will be used toassess the students according to the learning outcomes listed above.The course may require the use of:textbooksprimary sourcesstudent writingfilm and videoweb sourcesjournalscourse packets/collections of articles2/25/04 Page 7 of 9

Possible choices of textbooks (in order of preference) include:1. Editors: Davis, Robert Con and Schleifer, RonaldTextbook: Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural StudiesEdition: FourthPublisher: LongmanYear: 19982. Editors: Lodge, David and Wood, NigelTextbook: Modern Criticism and Theory: A ReaderEdition: SecondPublisher: LongmanYear: 20003. Author: Dobie, Ann B.Textbook: Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary CriticismEdition: FirstPublisher: Thomson LearningYear: 20024. Author: Booker, M. KeithTextbook: A Practical Introduction to Literary Theory and CriticismEdition: FirstPublisher: LongmanYear: 19965. Author: Lynn, StevenTextbook: Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with CriticalTheoryEdition: ThirdPublisher: LongmanYear: 2001In addition to a primary textbook, the course will require a course pack thatincludes articles by individual theorists which are not included in the textbook.Each instructor will also choose paperback copies of specific pieces of literaturethat will be analyzed according to different theoretical paradigms.XI.ResourcesLibrary Resources:Reserve Readings, Research Databases, Journals, Books,ILL Requests, Library Instruction Session, LiteraryCriticism Holdings, Audio Books, VideosAudio/Visual Equipment for the Viewing of Films and Other MediaSlide Projector for the Viewing of Art Slides2/25/04 Page 8 of 9

Overhead ProjectorInternet AccessPower Point Capability2/25/04 Page 9 of 9