Fall Courses
Aug. 18th, 2010 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_losHaving weeded out the courses that conflict with my core course, the things only offered in Spring, and the absolutely dull-looking ones, I am trying to make a first and second choice now between the following:
MUST TAKE:
Pathway in Comparative Literature & Criticism
EN71060A Studies in Comparative Literature & Criticism
Dr. Lucia Boldrini
Teaching Mode: 3-hour seminar, including lecture-type input from the tutor
Autumn Term: Tuesday 2.00 – 5.00 p.m.
This core course for the ‘Comparative Literature & Criticism’ pathway of the MA in
Comparative Literary Studies will introduce you to the main concepts of comparative literary
theory and practice and its principal debates, complementing these with textual analyses
and the opportunity to engage in comparative readings. We will examine key aspects of
the development of the discipline of “comparative literature”, and study the theoretical
frameworks elaborated to describe the ways texts relate to, derive from, or influence other
texts (such as influence, imitation and intertextuality). Historical relationships and how these
are constructed will be examined, focussing on the idea of tradition, the concept of the
canon and its revisions, as well as the importance of literary history in our understanding
of literature. The course will address the role of translation and of reception studies within
comparative critical practice. The literary texts and films studied will enable you to study “in
action” central concepts of comparative critical practice, focussing for instance on genre;
topoi; thematic approaches; textual rewritings; “translations” of texts to different genres
(e.g. poetry to prose) or media (e.g. written text to film). The course will ask questions such
as: what happens to a text and its meaning when it is adapted to or referenced in a new
geographical, historical, or social context? What does this mean for the concept of meaning
itself? What is the relationship between genre, theme and story? Between a historically
situated national identity and the crossing of linguistic, cultural and historical boundaries?
CHOOSE JUST ONE OF THOSE LISTED BELOW:
Pathway in Modern Literary Theory
EN71061A Theories of Literature & Culture
Professor Josh Cohen
Teaching Mode: Weekly lecture and 2 hour seminar
Autumn Term: Lecture Friday 10.00 – 11.00 a.m.
Seminar Friday 12.00 – 2.00 p.m.
The course surveys key currents in literary and cultural theory from the turn of the twentieth
century to the present day. Beginning with the examination of shifting ideas and theories
of the ‘literary’ in the course of the discipline’s development, it goes on to explore ten key
thinkers and tendencies, starting with Nietzsche. These will include Freud, Heidegger,
Merleau-Ponty, Benjamin and Adorno, Structuralism, Blanchot, Derrida, Gender and
Postcolonial Theory. Although the question of the relationship of theory to literary and cultural
criticism is a central one, the course will enable students to focus on theoretical concepts
in their own right. Students will also be asked to consider the theoretical implications of the
particular formal and stylistic choices made by the thinkers covered.
REWRITING SEXUALITIES
2 hour seminar
Dr. Carole Sweeney
Autumn Term: Friday 3.00 – 5.00 p.m.
This course will examine the relationship between narrative and sexual identity through
focusing on a variety of narrative structures and their relationship to late 19th and 20th century
constructions of selfhood and sexuality. We will examine genres such as the case study,
autobiography, confession, the novel and poetry to test the hypothesis that modern sexual
identity is produced by the imperative to “tell the truth of sex.” In addition to Havelock Ellis,
Krafft-Ebing, Freud, Fanon, Foucault and Butler, we will examine a selection of texts, which
will be chosen with reference to students’ particular interests but which might include Oscar
Wilde, Radclyffe Hall, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, Adrienne Rich or Jean
Genet.
EN71008A
LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
2 hour seminar
Professor Josh Cohen
Autumn Term: Wednesday 11.00 – 1.00 p.m.
Why is it that literature has held such insistent fascination for modern philosophers? What
is at stake for philosophy in the fact that literature exists? Is the strict Platonic separation
of literature from philosophy still tenable? By focusing on a number of seminal modern
European philosophical texts on literature, this course will seek to explore these questions
from a number of different perspectives. In particular, it will show how this preoccupation
with literature is the consequence of modern philosophy’s ongoing interrogation of its own
limits. Philosophers to be studied include Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger and Maurice
Blanchot.
EN71021A
THEORY AND METHOD IN THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT
2 hour seminar
Dr. Geri Popova
Autumn Term: Thursday 2.00 – 4.00 p.m.
This course – one of the two core units for the MA in Applied Linguistics – will introduce
students to the main areas of study within modern linguistics. We will discuss practical and
theoretical issues in phonetics and phonology (speech sounds), morphology (word structure),
syntax (sentence structure), semantics (word and sentence meaning), and pragmatics
(meaning in use). On the course we will also explore how and why language varies and will
touch upon different linguistic and sociolinguistic methodologies. By introducing the students
to the techniques of linguistic analysis, the course aims to make clear the wider aims of
research in this area. A week-by-week outline will be supplied at the beginning of the course.
EN71054A
DISCOURSE AS SOCIAL INTERACTION
2 hour seminar
Dr. Pia Pichler
Spring Term: Thursday 2.00 – 4.00 p.m.
This course – the second of the two core units for the MA in Applied Linguistics - will
introduce students to the theorisation, analysis and interpretation of spoken and written
discourse. The emphasis will be placed on the interactional, ideological, practical and
representational aspects of discourse analysis with respect to spoken (e.g., conversational,
narratives, political speeches, representation) and written (e.g. advertisements, literary texts,
informational leaflets) texts. Examples are drawn from transcriptions of naturally occurring
talk and a range of written texts. The course will include practical sessions in which students
are given the opportunity to analyse and interpret a range of texts independently. Topics
include: theories of discourse, interactional sociolinguistics, conversational analysis, feminist
stylistics and critical discourse analysis. Areas to be covered include: lexico-grammatical
cohesion and coherence, information structures and genres.
EN71055A
MUST TAKE:
Pathway in Comparative Literature & Criticism
EN71060A Studies in Comparative Literature & Criticism
Dr. Lucia Boldrini
Teaching Mode: 3-hour seminar, including lecture-type input from the tutor
Autumn Term: Tuesday 2.00 – 5.00 p.m.
This core course for the ‘Comparative Literature & Criticism’ pathway of the MA in
Comparative Literary Studies will introduce you to the main concepts of comparative literary
theory and practice and its principal debates, complementing these with textual analyses
and the opportunity to engage in comparative readings. We will examine key aspects of
the development of the discipline of “comparative literature”, and study the theoretical
frameworks elaborated to describe the ways texts relate to, derive from, or influence other
texts (such as influence, imitation and intertextuality). Historical relationships and how these
are constructed will be examined, focussing on the idea of tradition, the concept of the
canon and its revisions, as well as the importance of literary history in our understanding
of literature. The course will address the role of translation and of reception studies within
comparative critical practice. The literary texts and films studied will enable you to study “in
action” central concepts of comparative critical practice, focussing for instance on genre;
topoi; thematic approaches; textual rewritings; “translations” of texts to different genres
(e.g. poetry to prose) or media (e.g. written text to film). The course will ask questions such
as: what happens to a text and its meaning when it is adapted to or referenced in a new
geographical, historical, or social context? What does this mean for the concept of meaning
itself? What is the relationship between genre, theme and story? Between a historically
situated national identity and the crossing of linguistic, cultural and historical boundaries?
CHOOSE JUST ONE OF THOSE LISTED BELOW:
Pathway in Modern Literary Theory
EN71061A Theories of Literature & Culture
Professor Josh Cohen
Teaching Mode: Weekly lecture and 2 hour seminar
Autumn Term: Lecture Friday 10.00 – 11.00 a.m.
Seminar Friday 12.00 – 2.00 p.m.
The course surveys key currents in literary and cultural theory from the turn of the twentieth
century to the present day. Beginning with the examination of shifting ideas and theories
of the ‘literary’ in the course of the discipline’s development, it goes on to explore ten key
thinkers and tendencies, starting with Nietzsche. These will include Freud, Heidegger,
Merleau-Ponty, Benjamin and Adorno, Structuralism, Blanchot, Derrida, Gender and
Postcolonial Theory. Although the question of the relationship of theory to literary and cultural
criticism is a central one, the course will enable students to focus on theoretical concepts
in their own right. Students will also be asked to consider the theoretical implications of the
particular formal and stylistic choices made by the thinkers covered.
REWRITING SEXUALITIES
2 hour seminar
Dr. Carole Sweeney
Autumn Term: Friday 3.00 – 5.00 p.m.
This course will examine the relationship between narrative and sexual identity through
focusing on a variety of narrative structures and their relationship to late 19th and 20th century
constructions of selfhood and sexuality. We will examine genres such as the case study,
autobiography, confession, the novel and poetry to test the hypothesis that modern sexual
identity is produced by the imperative to “tell the truth of sex.” In addition to Havelock Ellis,
Krafft-Ebing, Freud, Fanon, Foucault and Butler, we will examine a selection of texts, which
will be chosen with reference to students’ particular interests but which might include Oscar
Wilde, Radclyffe Hall, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, Adrienne Rich or Jean
Genet.
EN71008A
LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
2 hour seminar
Professor Josh Cohen
Autumn Term: Wednesday 11.00 – 1.00 p.m.
Why is it that literature has held such insistent fascination for modern philosophers? What
is at stake for philosophy in the fact that literature exists? Is the strict Platonic separation
of literature from philosophy still tenable? By focusing on a number of seminal modern
European philosophical texts on literature, this course will seek to explore these questions
from a number of different perspectives. In particular, it will show how this preoccupation
with literature is the consequence of modern philosophy’s ongoing interrogation of its own
limits. Philosophers to be studied include Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger and Maurice
Blanchot.
EN71021A
THEORY AND METHOD IN THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT
2 hour seminar
Dr. Geri Popova
Autumn Term: Thursday 2.00 – 4.00 p.m.
This course – one of the two core units for the MA in Applied Linguistics – will introduce
students to the main areas of study within modern linguistics. We will discuss practical and
theoretical issues in phonetics and phonology (speech sounds), morphology (word structure),
syntax (sentence structure), semantics (word and sentence meaning), and pragmatics
(meaning in use). On the course we will also explore how and why language varies and will
touch upon different linguistic and sociolinguistic methodologies. By introducing the students
to the techniques of linguistic analysis, the course aims to make clear the wider aims of
research in this area. A week-by-week outline will be supplied at the beginning of the course.
EN71054A
DISCOURSE AS SOCIAL INTERACTION
2 hour seminar
Dr. Pia Pichler
Spring Term: Thursday 2.00 – 4.00 p.m.
This course – the second of the two core units for the MA in Applied Linguistics - will
introduce students to the theorisation, analysis and interpretation of spoken and written
discourse. The emphasis will be placed on the interactional, ideological, practical and
representational aspects of discourse analysis with respect to spoken (e.g., conversational,
narratives, political speeches, representation) and written (e.g. advertisements, literary texts,
informational leaflets) texts. Examples are drawn from transcriptions of naturally occurring
talk and a range of written texts. The course will include practical sessions in which students
are given the opportunity to analyse and interpret a range of texts independently. Topics
include: theories of discourse, interactional sociolinguistics, conversational analysis, feminist
stylistics and critical discourse analysis. Areas to be covered include: lexico-grammatical
cohesion and coherence, information structures and genres.
EN71055A
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 04:05 pm (UTC)I'd probably choose Theories of Literature and Culture, the key thinkers sound mostly interesting (I'm a bit surprised to find Heidegger repeatedly listed...) and I wish we had this kind of course. The Linguistics course sounds a bit too introductory, and also linguistics can be bloody boring. Rewriting Sexualities might also be good, at least it sounds fairly specific.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-18 05:10 pm (UTC)The sexuality one sounds really interesting but it might be a little self-indulgent?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-22 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-22 05:05 pm (UTC)Yeah, cultural applied linguistics can be AWESOME, but I'm not really /good/ at the mathy side of it. The problem with Sexualities is that I don't find Wilde a very interesting writer. I know that's Queer Blasphemy, but I feel like I've done him (joke about him not being v. interested in that here) and that he's a bit over-hyped. I'm not SUPER DRAWN to any one of these, problematically. :/