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Syllabus (Introduction To The Reading of Literary Texts in English)

This document provides information about an introductory course on reading literary texts in English during the spring 2019/2020 semester. The course will cover genres of poetry, drama, and prose fiction from Commonwealth and American literature through close reading and discussion. Students will analyze assigned readings individually and in class, and complete response papers, an oral summary, and a final paper applying their learning. Grades will be based on in-class participation, written assignments, and the final paper. Required readings and a select bibliography are included.

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Hanga Háá
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107 views2 pages

Syllabus (Introduction To The Reading of Literary Texts in English)

This document provides information about an introductory course on reading literary texts in English during the spring 2019/2020 semester. The course will cover genres of poetry, drama, and prose fiction from Commonwealth and American literature through close reading and discussion. Students will analyze assigned readings individually and in class, and complete response papers, an oral summary, and a final paper applying their learning. Grades will be based on in-class participation, written assignments, and the final paper. Required readings and a select bibliography are included.

Uploaded by

Hanga Háá
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to the Reading of Literary Texts in English (seminar)

Spring semester 2019/2020


Course codes: ANGA0136 / ANGA0111_3 / ANGA0111_4
Credits: 2 / 3
Wednesday, 14.00–15.30 and 16.00–17.30, Room A425
Bence Gábor Kvéder – [email protected]; [email protected]
Office hours: Wednesday, 12.00–13.30 and Thursday, 14.00–15.30 or by appointment; A430
The central aim of the course is to provide students with the basics of close reading methods
and terminology concerning genres of poetry, drama, and prose fiction. Through various
pieces from different eras of Commonwealth and American literature, students are
encouraged to describe their primary reading experiences, to express their personal opinions
about and attitudes towards these works, as well as to evaluate their subjective interpretations
thereof, both in writing and during in-class discussions―with the latter activity functioning as
the main forum to present additional literary, cultural, and historical contexts for the reading
material. At the end of the semester, students will be asked to apply the gained knowledge in
practice, by comparing (1) their direct approach to and initial understanding of one of the
primary texts and (2) the information gathered from summaries, discussions, and academic
secondary sources―thus creating an assessment of how scholarly background literature and
critical aspects deriving from fellow researchers can influence, or even alter, one’s own
reading of literary texts in English.
Grades will be based on in-class activity (25%), weekly response papers (200-300 words and
a glossary of min. five unknown words; 25%), the short verbal summary of an assigned piece
of secondary literature (10-15 minutes; 25%), and an end-term paper (min. 800 words; 25%).
Students’ language and argumentative skills will be taken into consideration.
Maximum two absences are allowed without excuse.
All assigned readings will be available on Neptun Meet Street.
Feb. 5th Introduction
Poetry:
Feb. 12th
Thomas Gray: “Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “Grief” and “Love”
Feb. 19th
Emily Dickinson: “I measure every grief I meet” / “Griefs” (561)
“A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” / “Snake” (986)
Langston Hughes: “Mother to Son”
Feb. 26th
Margaret Atwood: “They are hostile nations” and “Siren Song”
Michael Longley: “The Butchers”
Drama:
March 4th
Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman (Act 1)
March 11th
Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman (Act 2 and Requiem)
March 18th
Anne Devlin: After Easter (Scenes 1–4)
March 25th
Anne Devlin: After Easter (Scenes 5–8)
Prose:
Apr. 1st
Ernest Hemingway: “Fifty Grand”
Apr. 8th
Angela Carter: “The Lady of the House of Love”
Apr. 22nd
Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (Chapters 1–9)
Apr. 29th
Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (Chapters 10–18)

May 6th Summary, evaluation


Select bibliography

Atwood, Margaret. “Running with the Tigers.” Flesh and the Mirror: Essays on the Art of
Angela Carter. Ed. Lorna Sage. London: Virago, 2007. 133–50.
Bigsby, Christopher William Edgar. Introduction. Arthur Miller: A Critical Study, by Bigsby.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. 1–7.
Bloom, Harold. Introduction and “The Story behind the Story.” Aldous Huxley’s Brave New
World. Ed. Harold Bloom. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004. 7–8 and
12–15.
Brown, Terence. “Mahon and Longley: Place and Placelessness.” The Cambridge Companion
to Contemporary Irish Poetry. Ed. Matthew Campbell. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
2003. 133–48.
“Death of a Salesman.” Critical Companion to Arthur Miller: A Literary Reference to His
Life and Work, by Susan C. W. Abbotson. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2007. 130–
48.
“‘Fifty Grand’.” Critical Companion to Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference to His Life
and Work, by Charles M. Oliver. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2007. 143–45.
Goring, Paul, Jeremy Hawthorn, and Domhnall Mitchell. Studying Literature: The Essential
Companion. London: Arnold, 2005.
Huxley, Aldous Leonard. “Chemical Persuasion.” Brave New World Revisited, by Huxley.
New York, NY: Rosetta Books, 2000. 54–60.
Jones, Veda Boyd. “Passed-around Boy.” Jazz Age Poet: A Story about Langston Hughes, by
Jones. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook P, 2006. 7–15.
Kurdi, Mária. Representations of Gender and Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Irish
Drama by Women. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2010.
Leighton, Angela. “‘I cannot write of these things:’ The Woman’s Silence.” Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, by Leighton. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1986. 76–90.
Leiter, Sharon. Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and
Work. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2007.
Macpherson, Heidi Slettedahl. “Poetry.” The Cambridge Introduction to Margaret Atwood,
by Macpherson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. 104–10.
“‘A narrow Fellow in the Grass’ (1865) (Fr 1096, J 986).” Leiter 37–39.
Orr, Gregory. Foreword. Leiter v–vii.
Schmidt, Michael. “Thomas Gray.” An Introduction to Fifty British Poets, 1300–1900, by
Schmidt. London: Pan Books, 1979. 245–50.
Trotter, Mary. “Women Playwrights in Northern Ireland.” The Cambridge Companion to
Modern British Women Playwrights. Ed. Elaine Aston and Janelle Reinelt.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. 119–33.

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