This course will introduce you to contemporary modes of literary criticism. Using Charles Dickens’s
Great Expectations as our primary point of reference, we will study feminist, psychoanalytic, gender and
sexuality, and cultural criticism. We will also learn to perform close readings.
Requirements: KEEPING UP WITH THE READING. There is a lot of very dense reading. Your job is to read
ALL of it carefully. There will be reading quizzes at the START of class (if you come late and miss the
quiz, you get a zero on the quiz — NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS). One final paper (5-7 pages) practicing a critical
approach and a presentation on your paper. One final exam. A one-page summary of one of the critical essays on
Great Expectations. A one-page close reading. A one-page paper on the movie (topics will be handed out).
Consistent and thoughtful class participation. Regular class attendance. More than THREE absences will jeopardize
your grade; unless it was for a major medical emergency, I do NOT want to hear reasons for emergencies. I mean this:
please don’t tell me why you missed class. It’s your responsibility to save your three absences for emergencies.
Consistent and thoughtful participation in class discussion.
Texts: Great Expectations is available
at the PSU bookstore. You must get this edition. The
other readings are collected in a packet available at
Smart Copy (1915 SW 6th Ave; next to Hot Lips Pizza).
Syllabus (*Signifies article is in the packet. Otherwise, it is in the Great Expectations reader):
| Week 1 |
| M | Introduction |
| W | Close Reading Exercise |
| F | Close Reading cont’d
|
Week 2 |
| M | Great Expectations One page close reading due. |
| W | A & E Dickens Bio |
| F | Great Expectations
|
Week 3 |
| M | Great Expectations |
| W | Great Expectations In-class writing on the two endings. |
| F | Jonathan Culler, “What is Theory?”*
|
| Week 4: Psychoanalytic Criticism |
| M | “What is Psychoanalytic Criticism?”
Sigmund Freud, excerpts from Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis*
Terry Eagleton, “Psychoanalysis”* (recommended) |
| W | Freud, “Recollection, Repetition, and Working Through”*
“Mourning and Melancholia”*
|
| F | Peter Brooks, “Repetition, Repression, and Return: The Plotting of Great Expectations”
|
| Week 5: Foucauldian Criticism |
| M | Foucault, excerpts from Discipline and Punish* |
| W | Discipline and Punish cont'd. |
| F | Jeremy Tambling, “Prison-Bound:Dickens and Foucault”*
|
| Week 6: Sexuality and Gender Studies |
| M | Michel Foucault, excerpts from The History of Sexuality* |
| W | The History of Sexuality cont'd. |
| F | “What is Gender Criticism?”
William Cohen, “Manual Conduct in Great Expectations”
|
| Week 7: Cultural Studies |
| M | Stuart Hall, “Notes on Deconstructing the Popular”*
Recommended: Fredric Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture”*
Chomsky, “Manufacturing Consent” |
| W | Roland Barthes, “The World of Wrestling”*
Tania Modlieski, “Soap Opera and Women's Anger”*
bell hooks, “Selling Hot Pussy”* |
| F | One page due on the movie
Discussion of papers on Great Expectations (1998)
|
| Week 8: Feminist Criticism |
| M | “What is Feminist Criticism?”
Linda Alcoff, “Cultural Feminism vs. Post-structuralism”* |
| W | Hélène Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa”*
Sigmund Freud, “Medusa’s Head”*
Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”* |
| F | Hilary Shor, “‘If He Should Turn to and Beat Her’;
Violence, Desire, and the Woman's Story in Great Expectations”
|
| Week 9: |
| | Workshop papers in class
|
| Week 10: |
| | Final papers and presentations |
