AJ56011 Topics in Literature: Postcolonial and Feminist Rewritings of Master Narratives

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2012
Extent and Intensity
0/0. 7 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Friday 10:50–12:25 G32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course focuses on a selection of canonical texts of the Western literary discourse and their rewritings, adaptations, appropriations or deconstructions from the postcolonial and feminist perspectives. The starting point for textual and cultural analysis will be the common postcolonial and feminist practice of exploring the gaps and silences in the master narratives with the intention of giving voice to the previously unheard. In four units of “coupled” canonized pretexts and their rewritings, we will compare and contrast these texts, discussing the narrative strategies and cultural shifts that surface in the rewritings. The readings will include Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe/ J. M. Coetzee’s Foe; Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations/ Peter Carey’s Jack Maggs; Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre/ Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, Homer’s Odyssey and Margaret Attwood’s The Penelopiad. The primary texts will be complemented by secondary readings focused on postcolonial and feminist theories. Students will be expected to read the assigned texts, contribute to seminar discussions, prepare one oral presentation/ develop a theoretical keyword, write four one-page response papers and a final essay, incorporating key theoretical concepts and critical analyses into their work. At the end of the course, students should be able to critically examine the cultural and artistic shifts from canonical texts to their re-writings within the postcolonial and feminist spheres, and appreciate the intertextual contexts.
Syllabus
  • Syllabus
  • Session 1: Introduction to course policies and assignments; politics and aesthetics of rewriting the canon; intertextuality;
  • Session 2: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; J. M. Coetzee, Foe;
  • Session 3: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations; Peter Carey, Jack Maggs;
  • Session 4: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre; Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea;
  • Session 5: Homer, Odyssey; Margaret Attwood, The Penelopiad;
  • Session 6: conclusion and evaluation of the course; postcolonial and feminist theoretical contributions to literature;
Literature
    required literature
  • ATWOOD, Margaret. The Penelopiad : [the myth of Penelope and Odysseus]. 1st pub. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2005, xv, 199. ISBN 1841956457. info
  • CAREY, Peter. Jack Maggs. 1st pub. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1997, 402 s. ISBN 0702230081. info
  • BRONTË, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: Penguin Books, 1994, 447 s. ISBN 0-14-062011-7. info
  • DEFOE, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe [Defoe, 1994]. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1994, 298 s. ISBN 0-14-062015-X. info
  • DICKENS, Charles. Great expectations. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980, 446 s. ISBN 0-435-16234-9. info
  • RHYS, Jean. Wide Sargasso sea. Edited by Francis Wyndham. 4th impression. London: André Deutsch, 1974, 189 s. ISBN 0233958665. info
  • HOMÉROS. The Odyssey. Translated by E. V. Rieu. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1945, xix, 378. info
    recommended literature
  • The post-colonial studies reader. Edited by Helen Tiffin - Gareth Griffiths - Bill Ashcroft. London: Routledge, 1995, xvii, 526. ISBN 0415096227. info
  • GILBERT, Sandra M. and Susan GUBAR. The madwoman in the attic :the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984, xiv, 719 s. ISBN 0-300-02596-3. info
Teaching methods
mini-lectures, group and class discussion incorporating textual/visual analyses, student presentations, written response papers
Assessment methods
assessment: class participation (attendance, contribution to group and class discussions) 20%; forum contributions 20%; response papers 20%; final essay 40%;
Note: attendance in the course is compulsory!
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
General note: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2008, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2012, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2012/AJ56011