Literary Interpretation II - OB2301133

• 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.:0/2, 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
• 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 : OB2301130

Annotation

English

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.02.2018)

This is a one-term course focused on close reading of predominantly contemporary literature written in English. 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 traditional and modern critical methodology, fermented by what has become known as RWCT (Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking) methodology. The main aims of the course are the development of critical thinking and language mastery as well as anchoring of the findings into the wider context of contemporary sociocultural situation.

Czech

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.02.2018)

Jedná se o semestrální kurs zaměřený na četbu a analýzu především současné anglicky psané literatury. 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. Zároveň kurz usiluje o ukotvení poznatků do širšího kontextu současné sociokulturní situace.

Literature

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.02.2018)

Doporučená literatura:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Syllabus

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (15.03.2018)

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

Learning resources

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (15.03.2018)

The Moodle version of the course: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=5979.