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[Fall 2005]
ENGL G5001x
(section 1) Masters Seminar:
THE CRITIC IN CULTURE
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Prof.
David Damrosch
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This seminar gives an introduction to the scholarly
study of literature. It will offer readings in a range
of contemporary theories and methods of literary study,
looking closely at critics and theorists as writers:
how do they approach and analyze their objects of study?
How do they position themselves in relation to their
material and to their readers? What are the relations
between specifically literary studies and more general
cultural criticism? Along with the readings and class
discussion, the work of the class will take the form
of a series of short exercises. First, each member of
the class will write a 500-word anthology-style introduction
to one of our readings. Second, everyone will write
a 1500-word review essay on two scholarly books of their
choice, relating to an author or issue of particular
interest to them. Finally, everyone will collaborate
on an annotated bibliography concerning one of our authors
(either "primary" or "secondary").
These exercises are intended both to support the class's
discussions and also to give practice in library research
and in writing for a broader audience.
The seminar meetings will be counterpointed against
a series of colloquia to be held every other week during
the semester, shown in boldface below.
Books are on order at Labyrinth Books (112th St., just
east of Broadway); most readings will be available online
through Courseworks for this course.
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SYLLABUS
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| Sept. 12 |
Matthew Arnold: poems, "The Function
of Criticism at the Present Time"
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| Sept. 19 |
Colloquium: History
of the Discipline
Friedrich Nietzsche, selections from The Birth of Tragedy,
Ecce Homo and Daybreak
Michel Foucault, "Nietzsche, Genealogy and History,"
selections from Power/Knowledge
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| Sept. 26 |
Lionel Trilling, from Beyond Culture;
Edward W. Said, from Culture and Imperialism
Gauri Viswanathan, from Outside the Fold
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| Oct. 3 |
Colloquium: Objects
of Study
Walter Benjamin, "The Storyteller," "The
Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,"
"Theses on the Philosophy of History"
Kenneth Burke, "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle"
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| Oct. 10 |
Roland Barthes, from Mythologies
and Camera Lucida
Susan Sontag, from On Photography and Regarding
the Pain of Others
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| Oct. 17 |
Colloquium: Poetics
T.S. Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent,"
"The Waste Land"
Derek Walcott, "The Fortunate Traveller" and
other poems
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| Oct. 24 |
Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, 3-52,
71-94, 131-40, 151-86, 303-26, 341-54
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| Oct. 30 |
Brunch meeting chez Damrosch.
Selections from Greenblatt and Shapiro Shakespeare biographies
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| Oct. 31 |
Colloquium: Biography
and Literary Studies
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| Nov. 8 |
[University holiday; no class]
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| Nov. 14 |
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Selections from Quentin Bell and Hermione Lee biographies;
Elaine Showalter and Toril Moi on Woolf
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| Nov. 21 |
Colloquium: Feminism
and Disciplinarity
Hélène Cixous, "Coming to Writing,"
"The Laugh of the Medusa"
Gloria Anzaldúa, "Speaking in Tongues"
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| Nov. 28 |
Feminism and film studies: essays by Laura
Mulvey, Slavoj Žižek, and Constance Penley
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| Dec. 5 |
Colloquium: Globalization,
Postcolonialism, Marxism
Rigoberta Menchú, I, Rigoberta; essays on
Menchú
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| Dec. 12 |
Alice Kaplan, French Lessons
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DAVID DAMROSCH
613A Philosophy Hall
854-6099
Office hours: Mon 11:30-12:30, 2:30-4:00
dnd2@columbia.edu
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