Module Identifier FRM0430  
Module Title APPROACHES TO TEXTS: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY THEORY  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator Dr Heather M Williams  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Lecture   10 Hours.  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours.  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam3 Hours  60%
Semester Assessment Continuous Assessment: Essay of 5000 words on a set text  40%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module students will be able to:

Those students who wish to go on with their studies should be able to demonstrate that they have a solid foundation for postgraduate research

The learning outcomes above will be explicitly tested by the independent research, undertaken on the student' own personal initiative, and production of the essay. Both forms of assessment specifically consolidate developments and debates covered in the course. The 3-hour examination will be designed to test further the students' acquisition of the outcomes described.

Brief description

This module studies key movements in literary theory in the 20th Century, with special attention to France. Analysis of selected passages will provide students with a solid theoretical basis to inform their own projects and methodologies.

Aims

The aims of this module are to introduce students to a range of theoretical approaches to the stuidy of literature. To trace the main developments in twentieth-century literary theory, from Rusian Formalism to Structuralism and Post-structuralism, and psychoanalysis.

Reading Lists

Books
Anderson, Benedict (1983/1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism Verso
Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin (eds) (1989) The Empire Writes Back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures Routledge
Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin (eds) (1995) The Post-colonial studies reader Routledge
Barthes, Roland (1984) 'La mort de l'auteur' and 'De l'oeuvre au texte' in Le Bruissement de la langue: Essais critiques IV Seuil
Barthes, Roland (1953/1972) Le Degre zero de l'ecriture Seuil
Barthes, Roland (1978) Lecon Seuil
Bhabha, Homi K. (1994) The Location of culture Routledge
Bhabha, Homi K. (ed) (1990) Nation and Narration Routledge
Bowie, Malcolm (1991) Lacan Fontana Modern Masters
Cairns, David and Shaun Richards (1988) Writing Ireland: Colonialisn, nationalism and culture Manchester University Press
Culler, Jonathan (1983) On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism Routledge
Culler, Jonathan (1985) Saussure Fontana Modern Masters
Derrida, Jacques (1967) 'Ce dangereaux supplement' in De la grammataologie
Derrida, Jacques (1972) 'La Double Seance' in La Dissemination Seuil
Derrida, Jacques (1967) 'La Structure, le signe et le jeu dans le discours des sciences humaines' in L'Ecriture et la difference Seuil
Derrida, Jacques (1972) Marges de la philosophie Minuit
Eagleton, Terry (1983) Literary Theory: An introduction Blackwell
Ellman, Maude (ed) (1994) Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism Longman
Freud, Sigmund Art and Literature, vol. 1 The Penguin Freud Library
Freud, Sigmund Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, vol. 1 The Penguin Freud Library
Hobsbawm, Eric and Terence Ranger (ed) The Invention of Tradition Cambridge University Press, 1983 (reprinted Canto, 1992
Howells, Christina (1999) Derrida: Deconstruction from Phenomenology to Ethics Polity
Jefferson, Ann, and David Robey (1982) Modern Literary Theory: A Comparative Introduction
Lacan, Jacques 'The insistence of the letter in the unconscious' in Lodge, Modern Criticism and Theory
Laplanche and Pontalis (1988) The Language of Psychoanalysis Karnac Books
Lodge, David (ed) (1988) Modern Criticism and Theory: A reader Longman
Norris, Christopher (1987) Derrida Fontana Modern Masters
Said, Edward W. (1978) Orientalism Penguin
Sturrock, John (ed) (1979) Structuralism and Since: From Levi Strauss to Derrida Oxford University Press
Thomas, M. Wynn (1999) Corresponding Cultures: The two literatures of Wales University of Wales Press
Walder, Dennis (ed) (1990) Literature in the Modern World Oxford University Press, in association with the Open University
Wright, Elizabeth (1993) Psychoanalytic Criticism: Theory in Practice Routledge
Wright, Elizabeth (1999) Speaking Desires can be Dangerous: The Poetics of the Unconscious Polity

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7