English 203
Graduate Readings: The Novel in Theory
Book List
Hale, D: The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900-2000. Barthes, R: S/Z. Genette, G: Narrative Discourse. Eagleton, T: Literary Theory. James, H: What Maisie Knew. Hurston, Z. Their Eyes Were Watching God
Description
This course traces the development of novel theory in the twentieth century. Designed as an introduction to major arguments that have been--and still are--influential to literary studies generally, the course asks why so many different theoretical schools have made novels the privileged object of critical attention. Topics of discussion include the difference between narrative and the novel; the location of novelistic difference in the representation of time and space; the definition of subjectivity in terms of vision and voice; the valorization of grammatical structures; the search for a masterplot; the historicization of genre; the confusion of realism and reality; and the belief in a politics of form. Readings will be drawn from, but not limited to, works by H. James, Shklovsky, Luk?cs, Jameson, Barthes, Girard, Genette, Booth, Bakhtin, Bhabha and Spivak. James's What Maisie Knew and Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God will serve as test cases. Two short papers will facilitate the work of theoretical analysis and discussion.
Fall, 2013
Spring, 2013
Fall, 2012
Spring, 2012
Fall, 2011
Spring, 2011
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