Marxism

The reading for Thursday is in many ways fundamentally opposed to the psychoanalysis we discussed yesterday. Whereas psyschoanalysis believes that the particular attributes of human individuals and cultural practices (including literature) are ultimately determined by the unconscious, Marxism holds that subjectivity and the nature of literary works are ultimately determined by the economic conditions of a particular time and place. One of the main concerns of Marxism is ideology — a broad term that describes the outlook, values, ideas, tacit assumptions, religious beliefs and myths of a particular time and place. Ideology is what seems 'natural' and 'the way things are' but is ultimately a system of representations generated by economic competition. Literature is just one material component that participates in ideology, and can be more or less complicit with it. In short, Marxist criticism ties economic issues to the belief structure of the literary work.

Third blog assignment: Let's start to put together a Marxist critique of The Second Shepherds' Pageant. Given the background you learn from reading the introduction to the Pageant and the chapter on the Corpus Christi Cycle (download from the links to the right), identify (a) one or two passages in the play that seem to be about economic conditions and (b) one or two that seem to be about ideology. What is the play's lesson? Are there any dramatic devices that seem significant?

All you need to do is identify some of these things, and we'll follow up in class to start piecing together a critique. Of course, any comments beyond these requirements are welcome.

Since the play and its language are difficult, it might help to begin your post with a one or two sentence summary. In addition to the chapter on the Corpus Christi Cycle, a helpful summary on the history and genre of the Second Shepherds' Pageant can be found in the Abrams entry on "Miracle Plays, Morality Plays, and Interludes".

If you prefer to work or photocopy from the book, it is Medieval Drama, edited by David Bevington, and the Brooklyn College library call number is PR1260 .M4.

Paper 1 Assignment

For Monday 31 July please write a 4-7 page paper that applies one of the critical methods we've already studied to a short literary work of your choosing, preferably a poem. The work may be from any anglophone author, period, or culture, and a photocopy (please, no more than 10 or 15 pages) should be submitted with the paper. Alternately, if the work you have chosen is available online you may include the web address. Source citation and bibliography should follow MLA format, including the appropriate conventions for digital texts if you use any.

When writing your paper, you should consider the basic practices of the method you've chosen, such as whether it uses external or only internal evidence, whether it tends to build toward one or two main issues (i.e. complicity with ideology or the demonstration of the protagonist's unconscious desires), and so on. The "What ________ critics do" sections of Barry are useful for this. It is also advisable to summarize briefly the method you are applying so that the principles of your analysis are clear (you should do that in the exam). Be sure to avail yourself of the definitions provided in Abrams and feel free to look at the Further or Optional readings for primary theoretical material. I can make further suggestions for you if you'd like some.

You can, if you wish, use more than one theory to critique your chosen work, but you are only required to use one. Research, too, is not necessary, so if there's a particular issue you want to address in detail and would like to bring in scholarly articles, please use only one or two.

In the spirit of community I invite you to post questions or ideas for the paper as you are working on it. Of course, you can email me privately or go to my office hours to ask any questions, request reading recommendations, or discuss drafts.

Psychoanalysis

Thanks everyone for the enjoyable discussion yesterday. For anyone interested in exploring liberal humanism a little further, I've posted to the right a link to T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," which was inspired in part by Heart of Darkness, and a couple of other essays.

For Monday we're reading about psychoanalytic criticism and finishing Heart of Darkness. If you have time, please read the two selections from Freud I've posted in the Links section, as they will help to clarify some of his thinking about creative writing that influenced literary critics.

Here is your second blog assignment:
From the chapter in Barry, what do you make of the uses of evidence and internal argument structure in psychoanalytic criticism (both Freudian and Lacanian)? Do you find Guerard's reading of Heart of Darkness convincing? How does it match with your own experience of the novella?

Feel free to invoke any of the optional readings or to bring in other literary works if you like.

Introduction

Welcome to the course blog! We will use this space to discuss the readings and generate material for your papers and the comprehensive exam.

In order for you to post comments I need to add you to the blog roster. You should have received an email from blogger.com inviting you to be a member of this blog. All you need to do is click on the link in the email and I will take care of the rest.

Here is your first blog assignment: Given the tenets of liberal humanism as laid out in Beginning Theory and the example on pp. 31-2 of how such an approach might make sense of Poe's short story "The Oval Portrait," how would you go about writing a liberal humanist critique of Heart of Darkness? In your response, you might want to summarize briefly what liberal humanism is, state what aspects of the story you might focus on, and consider how you might begin to tie together an essay. Are any of the definitions in the Abrams glossary helpful? While these topics are recommended, don't feel constrained to them if your response is otherwise.

Obviously, only the first chapter of Heart of Darkness has been assigned so far but you should feel free to read futher or even finish the novella if you wish. Try to write two or three focused paragraphs that also respond a little bit to one of your classmates. If you have any questions or need clarification, go ahead and post them here or send me an email (the address is on the syllabus).

If inclined, you can also find to the right the links to the two optional readings from T.S. Eliot and F.R. Leavis.