ENGL 311 (Section 901, Schedule #39969)
Virginia Commonwealth University
Spring 2020
MW 4:00-5:15 pm :: Hibbs 440
Prof. David Golumbia
Office: 333 Hibbs Hall
Spring 2020 Office Hours: MW 12:00-1:30pm

Introduction to Literary Theory

A survey of major contributions to literary theory, focusing especially on text and textuality, and especially the social, cultural and political aspects of textual interpretation. Readings largely made up of essays by major figures such as Culler, Foucault, Derrida, Spivak, Said, Butler, Morrison, Sedgwick, Winters, Sharpe, and  Jameson. Evaluation is via vigorous participation in class discussion, a short paper, and two exams.

Texts

Texts for purchase (note that in some cases, students are required to obtain the specific edition of the book listed below). Most of the readings for the class will be articles available on Blackboard.

• Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (second edition, Oxford University Press, 2011) · this specific edition is required
• Byung-Chol Han, The Agony of Eros (MIT Press, 2017)

Assignments and Evaluation

Evaluation will be based on written exercises and course participation as follows:

• Exams: 40%. Two short-answer exams will be administered over the course of the semester. The exams will be time-limited take-home exams. Keeping up with both readings and lectures will be essential to doing well on these exams.
• Paper: 20%. Students will write a final paper, due by the end of the final exam period of the class, of at least 2000 words, on a topic to be developed over the course of the term with the instructor.
• Course Participation: 40%. A combined grade reflecting vigorous course participation and attendance. Being in class, on time, most of the time and contributing to discussion at least occasionally in such a way as to reflect having done the course reading will result in full or nearly full credit for course participation.

Course-Specific Policies

• Attendance. This course is taught primarily via lecture and discussion. Your attendance and participation are vital to your success in the course. Excessive absences and/or repeated late arrival at class will have a negative effect on your grade.
• No Late Work. No late work is accepted in this class. Work handed in late is automatically marked down one-third grade (e.g., a B becomes a B-) for each day it is late, and after one week becomes a failing grade for the assignment.
• Class Preparation. You are expected to have done the primary reading and any other primary course assignments before the beginning of course each week.
• Honor System. All work in this course is subject to the University's Honor System. You may work in teams for some assignments, but all written work must be solely your own, and any reliance on published work must be properly cited.

Official VCU Policy Statements

Students should visit http://go.vcu.edu/syllabus and review all syllabus statement information. The full university syllabus statement includes information on safety, registration, the VCU Honor Code, student conduct, withdrawal and more.

Week-by-Week Syllabus

Week One. Introduction

Background reading: Plato (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, SEP); Aristotle (SEP)

• Mon Jan 13
• Weds Jan 15

Week Two. Introduction

Background reading: Idealism (SEP); Realism (SEP); Representation (arts) (Wikipedia); Theory of Forms (Wikipedia); Rationalism vs Empiricism (SEP); René Descartes (SEP); John Locke (Wikipedia); David Hume (SEP)

• Mon Jan 20. No classes (MLK Day)
• Weds Jan 22. Culler, Literary Theory, chapters 1-4

Week Three. Overview: Culler

Background reading: Immanuel Kant (SEP); Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (SEP); Enlightenment (SEP); Karl Marx (SEP)

• Mon Jan 27. Culler, Literary Theory, chapters 5-7
• Weds Jan 29. Culler, Literary Theory, chapters 8-9 & appendix

Week Four. Poststructuralism: Derrida

Background reading: Psychoanalysis (Wikipedia); Martin Heidegger (SEP); Jacques Derrida (SEP); Deconstruction (Wikipedia); Structuralism (Wikipedia)

• Mon Feb 3. Derrida, "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" (Blackboard)
• Weds Feb 5. Derrida, "Interviews with Jacques Derrida" (web)

Week Five. No classes

• Mon Feb 10. No classes (instructor away)
• Weds Feb 12. No classes (instructor away)

Week Six. Poststructuralism: Foucault

Background reading: Michel Foucault (SEP)

• Mon Feb 17. "Series Preface," "Preface," and "Introduction" to Foucault, Power; Foucault, "Truth and Power" (all in Foucault, Power, PDF on blackboard)
• Weds Feb 19. Foucault, "The Subject and Power"(in Foucault, Power, PDF on blackboard)

Week Seven. Poststructuralism: Spivak

Background reading: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Wikipedia); "Critical Intimacy: An Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak" (web)

• Mon Feb 24. Spivak, "Three Women's Texts and a Critique of Imperialism" (Blackboard)
• Weds Feb 26. Spivak, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (Blackboard)

Week Eight. Critical Theory: Adorno, Jameson

Background reading: "Critical Theory" (SEP); "Theodor W. Adorno" (SEP); "Fredric Jameson" (Wikipedia)

• Mon Mar 2. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" (Blackboard)
• Weds Mar 4. Fredric Jameson, "Progress vs Utopia: Or, Can We Imagine the Future?" (Blackboard)

Week Nine (Spring Break)

• Mon Mar 9. No classes (Spring Break)
• Weds Mar 11. No classes (Spring Break)

Week Ten. (COVID-19 Break)

• Mon Mar 16.
• Weds Mar 18.

Week Eleven. Race: Spillers

Background reading: "Hortense Spillers" (Wikipedia); "The Scholarly Journey of Hortense Spillers" (interview, web)

• Mon Mar 23.
• Weds Mar 25. Hortense Spillers, "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book" (Blackboard)

Week Twelve. Race: Spillers & Wynter

• Mon Mar 30. Hortense Spillers, "'All the Things You Could be by Now, If Sigmund Freud's Wife Was Your Mother': Psychoanalysis and Race" (Blackboard)
• Weds Apr 1. Sylvia Wynter, "'No Humans Involved': A Letter to My Colleagues" (Blackboard). Exam 1 (take-home exam).

Week Thirteen. Race: Wynter & Sharpe

• Mon Apr 6. Sylvia Wynter, "'Towards the Sociogenic Principle: Fanon, Identity, the Puzzle of Conscious Experience, and What It Is Like to be 'Black'" (Blackboard)
• Weds Apr 8. Christina Sharpe, "The Wake" (Chapter 1 of In the Wake: On Blackness and Being) (Blackboard)

Week Fourteen. Media & Technology: Baudrillard

Background reading: "Jean Baudrillard" (Wikipedia); William Merrin, "'Did You Ever Eat Tasty Wheat?': Baudrillard and The Matrix" (web)

• Mon Apr 13.
• Weds Apr 15. Mark Poster, "Introduction to Baudrillard, Selected Writings," and Jean Baudrillard, "Simulacra and Simulations" (Blackboard)

Week Fifteen. Media & Technology: Han, Agony of Eros

• Mon Apr 20
• Weds Apr 22. Han, Agony of Eros (book, PDF also on Blackboard)

Week Sixteen. Paper conferences.

• Mon Apr 27

Final paper is due by the end of the final exam period for the course, 6:50pm, Weds, May 6, 2020, per the registrar's exam schedule. The paper should be submitted on Blackboard. No late papers can be accepted for the final paper assignment. There is no other final exam for the course.

Last updated  April 8, 2020.