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ENGL 100: Introduction to Literary Studies

Fall/Winter 2017-2018

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SEMESTER ONE NOTES LECTURE ONE Why Study Literature?

- To instruct and delight - To develop intellectual flexibility, adaptability and ingenuity - To open awareness to richness and complexity of language - To develop interpretive skills and information literacy

o Reading culture PC vs Mac

- Personification - To show a computer is boring, people make it engaging

o Brings tech to life, makes you identify with your computer o Technology is an extension of humans, you have to have it

- Moves away from the evil tech trope o The PC is friendly, no enmity

- The Mac is completely anti-corporate à nod to Apple’s history - Also a form of drama

o Interaction of two indviduals in conflict, opposing views o Rhetoric (art of persuasion, makes you believe someone is telling the truth)

- Comes from medieval allegory à The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus - Faustus

o Made deal with devil, is a student o Wants to learn dark arts; wants to command o Visited by good and evil angel

Two Forms if Knowledge

- Sapientia = true wisdom o Book of God o Revelation

- Scientia = Profane Knowledge - Book of Nature - Reason - Psychomachia

o Battle in your head o The what do I do moment in tv shows

Psychomachia and Mental Polarity

- Opposition in the mind - So strong you can manufacture things (angels and devils) to help you solve your

problem

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Expansion fulfillment (expanding up) à Soul à contraction limitation (looking to the Earth)

SO WHAT

- See this opposition in the world - READING THE CULTURE

Purpose of Course

- Key concepts = terminology - Methodologies = methods of analyzing literature - Current advances = where is literary study going? - Theoretical assumptions = basic assumptions underlying discussion of literature

LECTURE TWO Literary Study as an Academic Discipline Can look at literature as a field of study Aspects of an Academic Discipline

- Terminology - Central Assumptions - Basic Theoretical Approaches - General Methodology - Taxonomy or System of Classification - Academic Integrity

Terminology Terminology is important because of communication and precision (want accuracy and precision in communication) and debate (dispute over what a term means) All authors understand terminology, anyone who writes understands it, interesting how authors will change/challenge the terms Criticism

- DO NOT use criticism as a negative term, it is positive - What Criticism is NOT

o Being critical and criticizing something seen as negative o Often defined as “finding fault” or “pulling pieces” o “we murder to dissect” (Woodsworth)

- What Criticism is o “Criticism… is the overall term for studies concerned with defining, classifying,

analyzing, interpreting and evaluating works of literature” (Abrams 70) o a discipline or organized body of knowledge

§ investigates and explains an object study (i.e. literature) § uses logical and rational argument

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§ uses evidence from literary words to support general claims § has specialized terminology § (refers to previous authorities)

Discipline/Field Method of Study Object of Study Biology Scientific method Living things, natural world Art History Historical method Works of art, individual

artists, artistic movements Sociology Statistics, surveys, empirical

methods Human society

Literary Studies Literary criticism and theory Written works, literary history, products of language/human expression

- Two types of Criticism àTheoretical and Practical o Theoretical

§ Proposes an explicit theory of literature, in the sense of general principles, together with a set of terms, distinctions, and categories, to be applied to identifying and analysing works of literature (Abrams 70)

§ Also known as “Literary Theory” § general principles at the highest level, not even talking about texts or

specific works § From Aristotle, Poetics

• I propose to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various kinds, noting the essential quality of each, to inquire into the structure of the plot as requisite to a good poem; into the number and nature of the parts of which a poem is composed; and similarly, into whatever else falls within the same inquiry. Following, then, the order of nature, let us begin with the principles which comes first.

• Poetics is like the source book for all theories • Aristotle wants to talk about what makes poetry poetry, the

various kinds of poetry, and the essential quality of a thing (what makes a tragedy a tragedy)

• Plato says poetry is a massive blast of inspiration that you can’t talk about, has no rational basis, can’t help humanity

• Aristotle says poetry is understandable can analyze it o Practical or Applied

§ Concerns itself with the discussion of particular works and writers § In an applied critique, the theoretical principles controlling the analysis,

interpretation and evaluation are often left implicit, or brought in only as the occasion demands (Abrams 70)

- Literary Theory vs. Literary Criticism o Can’t separate theory and criticism fully, but theory is like the abstract and

criticism is the application o Literary Theory

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§ The setting of a work of fiction establishes its historical, geographical and physical location (Kirszner 169)

o Literary Criticism § The fact that Sinclair Ross’s ‘A Field of Wheat’ … is set on the prairies

during the drought and depression of the 1930s accounts for the characters’ near obsession with the weather and their wheat crop” (Kirszner 170)

- Practical Criticism can be divided into Impressionistic or Analytic Criticism o Impressionistic Criticism

§ Represents in words the felt qualities of a particular passage or work, and to express the responses (the ‘impression’) that the work directly evokes from the critic (Abrams 71)

§ Literary Appreciation (Examples) § Emily Dickinson

• If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that it is poetry

§ Matthew Arnold • Indeed, there can be no more useful help for discovering what

poetry belongs to the class of the truly excellent, and can therefore do us most good, than to have always in one’s mind lines and expressions of the great masters and to apply them as touchstone to other poetry

§ F.R. Leavis, The Great Tradition (1948) • Is there no name later than Conrad’s to be included in the great

tradition? There is, I am convinced one: D.H. Lawrence. Lawrence, in the English language was the great genius of our time….

• Dead white male syndrome • Impressionistic statement on the greatness of art, assume you’re

going to believe what is said without any proof o Analytic Criticism (Literary Criticism, where the course lives)

§ Analytic instead of judicial criticism § To communicate and to analyze and explain the effects of a work by

reference to its subject, organization, techniques and style (Abrams 71) Literature

- There is no real definition for literature, core object of study that we can’t define, Abram’s entry on it sucks

- Derives from Latin “literra” = letter (therefore connected to all forms of writing) - Definitions of “Literature”

o Latin sources à Literature as all writing o 14 C. English à literature as literacy o Late 18th C. English à Literature as Profession o Early 19th C. English à Literature as created and creative product o Mid 20th C. English à Literature as Cultural Construction

- Literature: OED definition 1 (Literature as Literacy)

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o Familiarity with letters or books; knowledge acquired from reading or studying books, esp. the principal classical texts associated with humane learning… ; literary culture learning scholarship. Also: this as a branch of study. Now hist.

o Example from OED § The comyn people… whiche without lytterature and good inomracyon

Ben lyke to Brute bestes (H. Bradshaw, Lyfe St. Werburge, 1521) - Literature: OED definition 2 (Literature as Profession)

o The action or process of writing a book or literary work; literary ability or output; the activity or profession of an author or scholar; the realm of letters or books

- Literature: OED definition 3 o A. the result or product of literary activity; written works considered collectively;

a body of literary works produced in a particular country or period, or of a particular genre. Also: such a body of works as a subject of study or examination (freq. with modifying word specifying the language, period etc., of literature studied)

o B. without defining word: written work valued for superior or lasting artistic merit

o Literature as § Artistic or aesthetic writing § Creative or imaginative § Fictional (not factual) § Stories (not histories) § Produced by authors or geniuses § Qualitative category (high and low literature)

- Literature as cultural construction o Literature and the ideas it expresses shaped by historical, political, economic

forces § Ideas it expresses about truth, beauty, and art take shape through human

constructions • Kardashians vs Monroe

§ These ideas continually changing § These ideas vary from one culture to another § Not universal, unchanging, permanent or essentialist

The personal impression freezes Gothic lit about the frustration about not being able to say how you feel LECTURE THREE English as a Discipline: Central Assumptions, Theoretical Approaches Aspects of an Academic Discipline

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- Terminology - Central Assumptions - Basic Theoretical Approaches - General Methodology - Taxonomy or System of Classification - Academic Integrity

Central Assumptions

- Literary Coherence o Assume a reason for everything o Smallest detail has meaning; nothing is accidental o About what we interpret, not the author making it coherent

- Organic Form o “the organic form… is innate; it shapes as it develops itself from within, and the

fullness of its development is one and the same with the perfection of its outward form” (Coleridge, Lectures on Shakespeare)

- 1(a o challenges basic sense of how meaning is constructed

§ a leaf falls, loneliness o sense of descent, pulled into Earth o typography 1/l o state of being 1, state of being lonely o iness; self alone/isolated o also read as oneness, not unity, isolation; separation from world around

- limits of Authorial Intent o intentional fallacy

§ “what is claimed to be the error of interpreting and evaluating a literary work by reference to… the intention – the design and purposes of its author” (Abrams 175)

§ “the design or intention of the author is neither available nor desirable as a standard for judging the success of a work of literary art”

o much in artistic creation is unplanned – writers do not always understand or plan all aspects of their work

o intentions misleading since outcomes often diverge from intentions o texts have meaning beyond those of their creators – texts are public objects o text must have meaning separate from author’s intention to be understood by

others § if author has a fear of avocado, we do not know that, do not read that

o “what I will say is that I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione with Ron”

§ plot owns her, not other way around § given a criticism of her own work

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- The Inexhaustibility of Interpretation o Interpretation never ends o “The audience for your essay believes that differing views about a literary text

can be legitimate” (Headrick 4) o no “right” interpretation

- interpretation Suspended between Past and Present o past of the creator à the artistic work ß present of the audience

§ work is a wall blocking the past o o And in some perfumes is there more delight

Then in the breath that from my mistress reeks § Not making fun of her § 21st C reeks = unpleasant smell § 16th C reeks = breathes forth, emanates § lost in translation

Basic Theoretical Approaches

- Coordinates of Art Criticism o Work = artistic product or artifact o Artist = the artificer o World = subject the artifact is about or signifies o Audience = listeners, spectators, or readers

- Orientation of Literary Theory and Literary Criticism o Mimetic Criticism

§ Work ßà World § “views the literary work as an imitation or reflection, or representation of

the world and human life” (Abrams 69) § Plato and Aristotle: Art as a mirror § Describes art as a “representation

• Re-presentation of ife, truth, reality” § Representation is “te creation and manipulations of signs – thins that

‘stand for’ or ‘take the place of something else” o Representation and the Sign

§ Sign = “conveyors of meaning” (Abrams 357) § Signifier = “speech sounds or written marks composing the sign” § Signified = “the conceptual meaning of the sign” (Abram 196)

o New Paradigm: Language as Sign System

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o The boy chased after the dog (can imagine it) o Reason communicating is because saying a number of signifiers

- Mimesis as a Theory of Representation (or Re-presentation)

o In a play when someone dies; audience doesn’t call cops because they know it

isn’t real - Orientation of Literary Theory and Literary Criticism

o Pragmatic Criticism § Work ßà Audience § “views the work as something which is constructed in order to achieve

certain effects on the audience (aesthetic pleasure, instruction, or kinds of emotion0” (Abrams 69)

§ Horace, Art of Poetry: “dulce and utile” = delight and instruct § DON’T TALK ABOUT THE MORAL OF THE STORY § All poems have a purpose

o Expressive Criticism § Author ßà Work § “treats a literary work primarily in relation to its author” (Abrams 69) § Wordsworth: “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”

o Objective Criticism (or Formal Criticism) § Work in relation to itself § “deals with a work of literature as something which stands free from

what is often called an ‘extrinsic’ relationship to the poet, or to the audience or to the environing world”

§ it describes the literary product as a self-sufficient and autonomous object, or else a world-in-itself” (Abrams 70)

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§ Course lives in formal criticism - Abrams’s Coordinates of Art and Theoretical Orientations

- The Red Wheelbarrow

- Taking objects in the world and intensifying them

o Red, white - Goes from colour to “glazed”

o Bold images to muted; giving texture less distinct then colour - Contrast between first stanza and rest - Pragmatic

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o Asks us to think about this ordinary thing in extraordinary terms; changing perceptions

- No moral - Best cliché “poem is about god” DON’T DO THIS -

Expressive Criticism - “I am not good at remembering what I have written, I just want to get rid of it. I don’t

recall any particular poem except perhaps the brief, very brief one, called ‘The Red Wheelbarrow’”

o detaches from it, owned by public, not him - I’ve … gotten some fame, but I should probably say notoriety, from a very brief little

poem called “The Red Wheelbarrow” ... I had a letter from a lady in Boston after that appearance that said, “I love it. It’s perfectly wonderful. But what does it mean?” … In the first place, I say modestly it’s a perfect poem …. It means just the same as the opening lines of Endymion, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” And so much depends upon it. But instead of saying “A thing of beauty” I say, “a red wheel / barrow // glazed with rain / water // beside the white / chickens.” Isn’t that beautiful? (1952)

- The poem about someone William’s saw: “He had been a fisherman, caught porgies off Gloucester. He used to tell me how he had to work in the hold in freezing weather, standing ankle deep in cracked ice packing down the fish. He said he didn’t feel cold. He never felt cold in his life until just recently. I liked that man, and his son Milton almost as much. In his backyard, I saw the red wheelbarrow surrounded by the white chickens. I suppose my affection for the old man somehow got into the writing.”

o Almost feels like he is trying to trick us, not mention of man in poem LECTURE FOUR English as a Discipline: Central Assumptions, Methodology Aspects of an Academic Discipline

- Terminology - Central Assumptions - Basic Theoretical Approaches - General Methodology - Taxonomy or System of Classification - Academic Integrity

General Methodologies

- Methodology of Reading: Active and Close Reading - Methodology of Writing: Writing the Literary Analysis Essay

Methodology of Writing

- Brainstorming

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- Structuring Ideas - Writing - Revising and Rewriting

Brainstorming

- Characterization in Brewer’s 20/20 - Bill’s character - It changes, how? - The change comes about as a result of his interactions with Ruthie - Bill moves from “flat” to “round” character

o Flat character is built around single idea/quality, presented without much individualizing detail

o Round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtly particularity

Structuring Ideas

- Claim o What you will prove

§ Bill’s attitude to women, especially Ruthie indicates he starts the story as a flat character

- Evidence o How you support claim

§ Dismissive of all women • Bill was used to East Coast Women who disputed everything he

said, every step of the way § Dismissive of Ruthie

• Ruthie is described as “incapable of theoretical debate” • “she refused to argue” • “Ruthie stuck to simple observation”

- Analysis o How evidence supports claim

§ All women categorized in one way, with no complexity or depth • Generalizes from experiences in one part of the country • Sees women as always arguing with him (therefore negative

frustrating relationships) • Not evidence of healthy relationship • Repetition of “every” shows tendency to oversimplified view of

women and their behaviours Methodology of Reading Active Reading

- “active reading is a process of interpretation and reflection, whereby a reader constructs meaning, establishes significance, and reflects on the limits of his or her

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understanding. Active readers are often conscious of their moves and can describe them”

- active reading is “recursive” – “a reading that returns to the reader to a previously covered terrain. A deeper, more thorough, interpretation”

Close Reading

- “the detailed analysis of the complex interrelationships and ambiguities of the verbal and figurative components within a work” (Abrams 243)

Stages in Active and Close Reading

- Stage 1: The Pre-critical Reading Stage

o Read straight through without interruption; o Read for general content o Mark unfamiliar words or concepts to come back to later o Also known as the Highlighting Stage o Underline important ideas that you should read again o Box or circle repeated words, phrases, or images o Put question marks beside confusing passages, unfamiliar references, or words

that need to be defined o Draw lines or arrows to connect related ideas/images

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o Place stars beside particularly important ideas - Stage 2: The Comprehension Stage

o Is “the conceptual assembly of textual information in a way that is precise and literally accurate”

o The Annotation Stage o Establish character, setting, historical or social contexts and word meanings o Use reference works (Recommended Works for Literary Studies) o Use standardized template o Get this under control before you begin interpreting

- Stage 3: The Interpretation Stage o Interpretation is “to make clear the artistic features and purport of the overall

literary work of which language is the medium” o The Explication Stage

§ Literally an “unfolding” § Interpretation of work often line by line or word by word § Not just what work means but how it means

Comprehension Interpretation The short story 20/20 depicts the journey of Bill and Ruthie across the United States

The short story 20/20 depicts the growth of a relationship between Bill and Ruthie as Bill gradually begins to perceive the world in a manner similar to that experienced by Ruthie

Bill describes Ruthie as an individual “incapable of theoretical debate”

Bill’s description of Ruthie as “incapable of theoretical debate” indicates his closed mindedness and inability to find a mode of complex engagement with her

When Ruthie sees “a Bigfoot” Bill only sees “two red spots … reflectors nailed to a tree stumo”

The contrast between Ruthie’s claim that she sees “a bigfoot” while Bill only sees “two red spots … reflectors nailed to a tree stump” shows Bill’s lack of imagination about hisi surrounding environment and consequently about the people he converses with.

Always look at claims as arguments that can go for or against

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LECTURE FIVE Aspects of an Academic Discipline

- Terminology - Central Assumptions - Basic Theoretical Approaches - General Methodology - Taxonomy of System of Classification - Academic Integrity

Systems of Classifications

- Taxonomy = classification or systems of classification

Not going to look a lot at literary history Historical Periods of English Literature (be careful with these)

- 450-1066 Old English (Anglo-Saxon Period) - 1066-1500 Middle English Period - 1500-1660 The Renaissance (Early Modern) Period - 1660-1785 The Neoclassical Period - 1785-1832 The Romantic Period - 1832-1901 The Victorian Period - 1901-1945 The Modern Period - 1945-1970 The Postwar Period - 1970- The Postmodern Period

Systems of Classification: Formal Textual Features (where most of the course is)

- Genre* o “denotes types of classes of literature (Abrams 148)

§ poetry, fiction, drama - Poetics*

o systematic theory of poetry, including its kinds, forms, devices and structures § the vices of structure at work

Literary Conventions

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- “conventions are conspicuous features of subject matter, for, or technique that occur repeatedly in works of literature” (Abrams 64)

o recurrent features may include § types of characters § turns of plot § forms of versification

• sonnets § kinds of diction and style

- “any established feature of technique in literature that is commonly understood by both authors and readers”

- “A convention is something generally agreed on to be appropriate for its customary uses, such as the sonnet form or a love poem or the opening of ‘Once upon a time’ for a fairy tale” (Kennedy 1925)

Systems of Classification: Major Genres (read down, not across)

Major Genres Poetry Drama Prose Fiction Ideal Mode of Presentation

Spoken Word Acted and Spoken Written word

Presenter Speaker Actor Narrator Audience Listener Observer and

Listener Reader

Subgenres or Forms Lyric Sonnet Ballad Ode Elegy

Comedy Tragedy

Novel Short Story Parable Fable Novella

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Rhetorical Modes

- a strategy or method of presenting a subject in written or spoken form

Narrative

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- Narrative is a “story involving events, characters and what the characters say and do” (Abrams 233)

o Substitute narrative for story - A sequence of related evens - Presented from a particular point of view - Suggesting underlying patterns and causes that are stated or implied to be significant

Aspects of an Academic Discipline

- Terminology - Central Assumptions - Basic Theoretical Approaches - General Methodology - Taxonomy of System of Classification - Academic Integrity

The Concept of Academic Integrity

Academic Dishonesty à Academic Integrity Negative à Positive Punishment à Remediation and Education Local violations à Community Standards Moral character à Error in judgement

not about whether you are a good or a bad person Academic Integrity: Practice

- Honesty à full and fair disclosure of all ideas and sources for ideas - Trust à allow for free exchange of ideas - Respect à take other’s ideas seriously - Responsibility à adhere to all academic guidelines governing intellectual exchange - Fairness à distinguish between one’s own ideas and those of others

LECTURE SIX Areas of and Criteria for Assessment

- Content and Comprehension o Exceptional content demonstrating extensive knowledge, understanding and

command of textual material under analysis o Demonstrated awareness of nuances and complexities of text o Significant thesis illuminating the text and demonstrating good control over

analysis in assignment - Quality of Overall Argument

o Argument logically structured, persuasive, and intelligently developed with outstanding clarity, coherence, completeness

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o Claims (or topic sentences connect directly to the main argument and contribute to the highly persuasive nature of the argument

o Evidence is the best available to support individual claims and the main argument; it is highly persuasive and effective in support of the developing argument

o Analysis explains clearly how evidence supports the claim, develops the claim fully and refers directly to the evidence used; superior analysis foes well beyond obvious and basic commentary

o Introduction is engaging and clearly frames argument o Conclusion reinforces the entire argument and provokes readers to think

further; does not simply restate introduction - Compositional Skills

o Paragraphs are unified, complete and coherent; exceptionally well ordered; excellent use of transitions between paragraphs

o Sentences are clear and coherent with excellent connection between sentences; excellent use of a variety of sentence structures; few or no errors in grammar

o Style is sophisticated individual, with few or no grammatical or mechanical errors

o Vocabulary is precise, appropriate and sophisticated - Conventions of Academic Writing

o Correct use of MLA format in appearance of essay, quotations, “Works Cited” page

o Quotations integrated correctly with correct use of parenthetical references o Literary present tense used consistently and appropriately throughout o Appropriate tone and approach to audience for literary analysis essay

MLA Format - Proper quotation integration - Literary present tense - Alphabetical Works Cited

Academic Integrity: Practice - Honesty à full and fair disclosure of all ideas and sources for ideas - Trust à allow for free exchange of ideas - Respect àtake other’s ideas seriously - Responsibility à adhere to all academic guidelines governing intellectual exchange - Fairness àdistinguish between one’s own ideas and those of others - Courage

o A quality or capacity o “allows learners to commit to the quality of their education by holding

themselves and their fellow learners to highest standards of academic integrity even when doing so involves risk of negative consequences or reprisal”

o “acting in accordance with one’s own convictions”

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Academic Integrity in Action: Correct Citation Correct citation creates integrity in the academic community. Key reasons behind citation practices:

- to acknowledge your dependence on another persons’ ideas or words, and to distinguish clearly your own work from that of your sources

- to receive credit for the research you have done on a project, whether or not you directly quote or borrow from your sources

- to establish the credibility and authority of your knowledge and ideas - to place your own ideas in context, locating your work in the larger intellectual

conversation about your topic - to permit your reader to pursue your topic further by reading more about it - to permit your reader to check on your use of source material (plagiarism)

Departures from Academic Integrity

- Plagiarism à presenting another’s ideas or phrasing as one’s own without proper acknowledgement

- Use of unauthorized materials à possessing or using unauthorized study materials or aids during a test

- Facilitation à enabling another’s breach of academic integrity - Forgery à submitting counterfeit documents or statements - Falsification à misrepresentation of one’s self, one’s work or one’s relation to the

University Types of Short Fiction

- Short Story (stems from Prose Fiction o “A prose narrative too short to be published in a separate volume” o “usually a focused narrative that presents one or two characters involved in a

single compelling action - Fable

o “a brief, often humorous narrative, told to illustrate a moral” o “a short narrative … that exemplifies an abstract moral thesis or principle of

human behaviour” o characters

§ human beings (not as common) § supernatural beings § inanimate objects or natural forces § animals

o beast fable: “animals talk and act like the human types they represent” o includes the supernatural o believability not central to a fable o “The Fox and the Grapes” o “Death has an Appointment in Samarra”

- Parable