Literary Interpretation II - OB2301033

• Title: Literární interpretace II
• Guaranteed by: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury (41-KAJL)
• Faculty: Faculty of Education
• Actual: from 2019
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 2
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/1, C [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Is provided by: OB2301133
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D.
• Pre-requisite : OB2301030

Annotation

English

Last update: JANCOVI/PEDF.CUNI.CZ (24.07.2008)

This is a one-term course focused on close reading of Anglo-American literature, chiefly prose. Save for several exceptions it explores the writings of contemporary authors. The seminar texts are selected with regard to their content, format and the language in which they are written, so that they are properly suited for in-class close reading. The texts are analysed both through the prism of both traditional and modern critical methodology, fermented by what has become known as RWCT (Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking) methodology.

Czech

Last update: JANCOVI/PEDF.CUNI.CZ (24.07.2008)

Jedná se o semestrální kurs zaměřený na četbu a analýzu angloamerické literatury ? především prózy. Až na několik výjimek se jedná o díla současných autorů. Mezi rozhodující kritéria při výběru seminárních materiálů patří jak obsah, tak i formát a jazyk daného díla, neboť hlavní náplní seminářů je tzv. ?close reading? (detailní četba vybraných textů). Analýza textů vychází jak z tradičních kritických postupů, tak z moderních (pragmatičtěji zaměřených) metod, jejichž cílem je především rozvíjení kritického myšlení a jazykových dovedností studentů. Jedná se jmenovitě o metody RWCT (Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking, tedy ?Čtení a psaní ke kritickému myšlení?).

Literature

Last update: JANCOVI/PEDF.CUNI.CZ (24.07.2008)

Doporučená literatura:

Byatt, A.S., Porter, P. New Writing, London: Vintage, 1997

Heinig, R. B. Improvisation with Favorite Tales. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1992

Kravis, J., (Ed.) Teaching Literature: Writers and Teachers Talking. Cork: Cork UP, 1995

Shrodes, C., Finestone, H., Shugrue, M. The Conscious Reader, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985

Eagleton, T. Literary Theory: An Introduction, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983

Holman, C.H., Harmon, W. A Handbook to Literature, 5th edition, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986

Haus, C. H., Scholes R., Comley, N. R., Silverman, M. Elements of Literature: Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Film, 4th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991

Culler, J. Structuralist Poetics, Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature, London: Routledge, 1994

Syllabus

Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (13.05.2019)

1. ACHETYPAL STORY REFASHIONING

Andrew Lang: The Blue Fairy Book: “Beauty and the Beast” (1889) + Angela Carter: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories: “The Courtship of Mr Lyon” (1979)

FOCUS: fairy tale, postmodernist refashioning of archetypal story

 

2. POSTCOLONIAL DEFAMILIARISATION

Nadine Gordimer: “Once Upon a Time” (1989) + “The Ultimate Safari” (1989) from Jump and Other Stories (1991)

FOCUS: Postcolonial literature, irony, defamiliarisation

 

3. HISTORY AND HIS STORY

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: “A Private Experience” (2008) + “The Headstrong Historian” (2008)

FOCUS: HISTORY vs. HIS STORY

 

4. TRADITION VS. MODERNITY

Anita Desai: “Studies in the Park” (1978) + Witi Ihimaera: “The Whale” (1972)

Focus: tradition and modernity

 

5. ROMANCE ALTERATION

Tennessee Williams: “The Field of Blue Children” (1937) + Kurt Vonnegut: “Runaways” (1961)

Focus: Romance as generic writing formula (cliché)

 

6. AMBIGUOUS NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Ambrose Bierce: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890)

Focus: ambiguous narrative perspective

 

7. LITERARY MINIMALISM

Ernest Hemingway: “Hills Like White Elephants” (1927) + Henry Lawson: “The Drover’s Wife” (1896)

Focus: literary minimalism

 

8. THE CONCRETE CHARACTER OF POETIC LANGUAGE

Sylvia Plath, Elisabeth Bishop, Philip Larkin: selected poems

Focus: the concrete character of poetic language

 

9. COMPLEX SIMPLICITY

ee cummings, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost: selected poems

Focus: complex simplicity

 

10. SPACE AND IDENTITY

Doris Lessing: “To Room Nineteen” (1963) and Fay Weldon: “Weekend” (1978, 2009)

Focus: space and identity

Course completion requirements

Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (13.05.2019)

Credit requirements: 80% attendance and a short hand-written essay (approx. 450 words) on one of the assigned topics. This essay is to be written against the clock (within 90 minutes) during the last credit week session. Alternatively, the student might also opt for a typewritten essay (approx. 1200 words) which is to be submitted by July 30 through the last section below.