Course Catalogue

Module Code and Title:        LIT312 20th Century Literary Theory & Criticism

Programme:                          BA in English Studies

Credit Value:                          12       

Module Tutor:                       Sunil Kumar (coordinator), Paromita Manna

General objective: This module aims at acquainting students with major theoretical movements and trends that emerged and the impact of various socio-political, economic, psychological, and cultural phenomena that influenced literary sensibilities during the second half of the 20th century. It further aims to enable students to develop the theoretical and critical insights and acumen to analyse and interpret literary texts. On a broader level, this module aims to train students not only to understand concepts but also to implement these ideas in the context of the everyday world.

Learning outcomes – On completion of the module, students will be able to:

  1. Compare various theoretical movements to understand their influence.
  2. Describe the impact of these trends/movements in shaping the ideologies of the period.
  3. Critique varying literary and ideological viewpoints.
  4. Explain multiple perspectives possible for reading literary texts critically.
  5. Adopt various theoretical positions with a view to writing nuanced analyses of texts.
  6. Establish and explain connections between literary theories and various socio-political concepts.
  7. Interpret the prescribed literary theories and trace their connections to their inception in the linguistic turn or philosophical origins.
  8. Apply the literary theories concepts while writing literary and critical essays.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

Type

Approach

Hours per week

Total credit hours

Contact

Lectures

2.5

60

Tutorial: seminar

1

Discussion subsection: pre-seminar discussions

0.5

Independent study

Written assignments

2

60

Reading and review of class materials

2

Total

120

Assessment Approach:

  1. Written assignment: 20%

A critical essay of 1500 - 2000 words on prescribed texts critiquing one or more literary and or ideological viewpoints. Students will be expected to refer to at least three appropriate academic secondary sources.

 

Assessment will be based on the following marking criteria:

Critical Analysis and Quality of Argument: 35 marks

Use of examples from the Primary texts: 20 marks

Depth of Knowledge and Accuracy of understanding: 25 marks

Language Use and Structure & Organisation: 20 marks

  1. Mini Seminar: 30%

Students will be divided into groups of approximately 5 members. Each group will pick a theory relate it to concepts, periods or movements not directly included in the syllabus and get it approved by the tutor. Each group will be given 50 minutes of the class to have an in-depth discussion around their chosen subject. All the five members will be on the panel and they will have a discussion amongst themselves. To maintain the flow of the discussion, one member will act as a moderator but should also take part in the discussion. The rest of the class will be observers at the beginning and they will ask questions to the panellists in the last 10 minutes. Each group will meet the tutor twice before the discussion. The first meeting will be to discuss why they have picked the particular theoretician, concept, or movement and their plans for the panel discussion. They will be marked as a group out of 3%. In the second meeting, each of the members will bring their discussion points and questions and they will be marked as individuals out of 7%

 

Assessment for the pre-seminar meetings will be based on the following criteria:

Completion of task: 10 marks

Planning and preparedness: 20 marks

 

Assessment for the seminar (20%) will be based on the following criteria:

Organisation and preparedness (group mark): 15 marks

Meaningful interaction with audience (group mark): 20 marks

Quality of discussion (individual): 35 marks

Meaningful interaction with panellists (individual): 20 marks

Fluency (individual): 10 marks

  1. Class Test: 10%

Students will write a 45-to-50-minute class test on one or two units before midterm.

  1. Midterm Examination: 10%

Students will take a written exam of 1.5 hr duration covering topics up to the mid-point of the semester. This assessment is comprehensive and summative in nature, and will comprise structured questions from all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and will follow the programme’s blue-print for Midterm Examination questions.

  1. Semester-End Examination: 30%

Students will take a written exam of 2.5 hr. duration encompassing all the subject matter covered in the semester. This assessment is comprehensive and summative in nature, and will comprise structured questions from all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and will follow the programme’s blue-print for Semester-End Examination questions. 

Overview of assessment approaches and weighting

Areas of assignments

Quantity

Weighting

A.    Written Assignment

1

20%

B.    Mini-Seminar

1

30%

C.   Class test

1

10%

D.   Midterm Examination

1

10%

E.    Total Continuous Assessment (CA)

 

70%

Semester-End Examination (SE)

 

30%

 

 

 

Pre-requisites: None

Subject matter:

  1. Unit I: Structuralism, Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
    • General concepts related to Sign, Signifier and Signified
    • The influence of Saussure
    • Close reading and analysis of Roland Barthes’ The Death of the Author
      • Power of the reader/listener
      • Power of the Author
      • Textual analysis
    • Close Reading of Michel Foucault’s The Order of Discourse (Sections 2, 3 & 4)
      • Discursive practices
      • Power and knowledge
      • Epistemes
  1. Unit II: Psychoanalytic criticism
    • Close reading and analysis of The Dream-work by Sigmund Freud
      • Dreams and the Unconscious
      • Condensation and Displacement
      • The latent and the manifest
    • Close reading and analysis of Jacques Lacan’s The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience
      • Perception of Self
      • Establishment of Ego
      • Individual and Social relation
  1. Unit III: Marxist Criticism
    • Close reading and analysis of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The German Ideology, Preface to The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts and Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy (Preface and Part 1A – Idealism and Materialism, & Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy)
      • Historical materialism
      • Class Conflict
      • Art and Ideology
    • Close reading and analysis of Louis Althusser’s Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses
      • Idea of State and State apparatus
      • Agency
      • Social Constructivism
  1. Unit IV: Postcolonial Criticism
    • Close reading and analysis of Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Decolonizing the Mind. (Excerpts)
      • Language as carrier of culture
      • Language as means of Colonization
      • Politics of Decolonization
  1. Unit V: Feminism
    • Close reading and analysis of Helen Cixous’s Sorties (Excerpts)
      • Hierarchized oppositions
      • Sexual Difference
      • Cultural Determination
    • Close reading and analysis of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (Sections 1, 2, 3, & 6 from Chapter 1)
      • Subjectivity and gender
      • Performativity
      • The complexity of gender

Reading List:

Essential reading (An essential reading compilation will be made available to students)

Althusser, L. (1970). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. Marxists Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm.

Barthes, R. (2016). The death of the author. http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/Gustafson/FILM%20162.W10/readings/barthedeath.pdf

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble. http://lauragonzalez.com/TC/BUTLER_gender_trouble.pdf.

Foucault, M. (1995). The order of discourse (I. McLoed, Trans.). https://www.kit.ntnu.no/sites/www.kit.ntnu.no/files/Foucault_The%20Order%20of%20Discourse.pdf

Freud, S. (1989). Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis Starchey, J. (Ed.). https://www.academia.edu/41044298/Sigmund_Freud.

Lacan, J. The mirror stage as formative of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience (A. Sheridan, Trans.). http://www.sholetteseminars.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/LacanMirrorPhase.pdf

Marx, K. & Frederick, E. (1848). The German ideology and the introduction to the critique of political economy. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf.

Rice, P. & Patricia, W, (Eds.). (2001). Modern literary theory. http://www.gbv.de/dms/goettingen/324088973.pdf.

Thiong’o, N. (1981). Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. https://www.humanities.uci.edu/critical/pdf/Wellek_Readings_Ngugi_Quest_for_Relevance.pdf.

Additional reading

Selden, R., Widdowson, P., & Brooker, P. (Eds.).(2005). A reader’s guide to contemporary literary theory. https://www.uv.es/fores/contemporary-literary-theory-5th-edition.pdf

Date: June 2022
Royal Thimphu College