AJ28001 Postcolonial and Feminist Rewritings of Master Narratives

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/2. 2 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
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
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
Thu 18:00–19:40 L42
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 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 22 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
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.
Learning outcomes
Students will acquire a better understanding of the writing-back paradigm as well as various mechanisms and strategies of postcolonial and feminist rewritings. They will also learn to re-interpret canonical texts from a different angle. At the same time, the course will also provide space for improving skills of argumentative discussions as well as scholarly writing.
Syllabus
  • Syllabus
  • Week 1: The writing-back paradigm; Introduction to course policies and assignments
  • Week 2: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
  • Week 3: J. M. Coetzee, Foe
  • Week 4: Postcolonial criticism
  • Week 5: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
  • Week 6: Peter Carey, Jack Maggs
  • Week 7: Intertextuality
  • Week 8: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
  • Week 9: Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
  • Week 10: Feminist rewritings and criticism
  • Week 11: Homer, Odyssey
  • Week 12: Margaret Attwood, The Penelopiad
  • Week 13: conclusion and evaluation of the course
Literature
    required literature
  • DEFOE, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe [Defoe, 1994]. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1994, 298 s. ISBN 0-14-062015-X. info
  • COETZEE, J. M. Foe. London: Penguin Books, 2010, 157 s. ISBN 9780241950111. info
  • DICKENS, Charles. Great expectations. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980, 446 s. ISBN 0-435-16234-9. 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
  • 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
  • ATWOOD, Margaret. The Penelopiad : [the myth of Penelope and Odysseus]. 1st pub. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2005, xv, 199. ISBN 1841956457. info
    recommended literature
  • The post-colonial studies reader. Edited by Helen Tiffin - Gareth Griffiths - Bill Ashcroft. London: Routledge, 1995, xvii, 526. ISBN 0415096227. info
Teaching methods
mini-lectures, group and class discussion incorporating textual/visual analyses, student presentations, theoretical keyword definitions, written response papers
Assessment methods
assessment:
student presentations/keywords 25%
response papers 25%
discussions 10%
final essay 40%
Guidelines:
oral presentations:
purpose: to orally, yet clearly articulate complex arguments, use a variety of audiovisual aids, respond to comments
form: fifteen to twenty minutes of being in charge opf the class, written outline (including a title) and bibliography emailed to the instructor in advance, additional materials pertinent to the topic (optional); 10 min. spent on the presentation, 5-10 min. on the discussion with the class (be ready to respond to comments, you can also prepare questions and elicit discussion)
content: your own creative / critical thoughts and discoveries and opinions based on the primary reading and supported by/in dialogue with two or three secondary sources (don’t forget to acknowledge secondary sources!); try to suggest the ways in which the master narrative invites the rewritings; you may also investigate other rewritings of the particular canonical text and introduce one or two in more detail;
style: easy to follow argumentation, logical organization (preview, introduction of the thesis and secondary sources, main points, supporting evidence, conclusion, discussion), appropriate pacing, variety of presentation strategies (textual examples and audiovisual aids), interaction with the audience (eye-contact, gestures, rhetorical questions, check-up questions, discussion questions), use of spoken discourse markers (pauses, repetitions and restatements, sign posting and transitions, short sentences, simple words, loud voice, clear articulation), you may refer to your notes occasionally but do not read keywords definitions:
the list of potential keywords is posted in the ELF, chose one from the “post-colonial” list and one from the “feminist” list purpose: to research various perspectives, theoretical approaches and historical developments of some of the most recurring concepts in postcolonial and feminist criticisms; to refine critical thinking; form: up to one page, bring a hard copy to class and email to the instructor before the class; content: get acquainted with the various, sometimes contesting, definitions and uses of the term; use scholarly sources only; if applicable, try to suggest how the term developed, who first coined it and in what context; as all of the concepts are very complex, try to express the various and differing perspectives, covering this complexity; try to suggest how this particular concept can be used in critical textual analysis of a primary text; response papers:
purpose: to read critically, notice details, take notes when reading, make connections, return to key passages, gain a deeper appreciation of the assigned text(s), clearly formulate one’s own thoughts in writing, get personalized feedback from the instructors, be prepared to participate in class discussion form: one page, not more; double spaced, MLA format, precise and concise title; two to three paragraphs; bring a hard copy to class (4 papers altogether); marked out of 10 points, if you submit the response paper late, you’ll lose 2 points; content: no research, “only” your own creative / critical thoughts and discoveries and opinions based on the primary reading, analytic mini-essay rather than a record of personal impressions, narrow focus (particular themes, images, narrative techniques, characters, relationships, issues, contexts, and so on); style: clear argumentation, logical organization (introduction, main body, conclusion) coherent paragraphs, integrated citations, “academic” language
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Teacher's information
Bibliography of primary sources:

Attwood, Margaret. The Penelopiad. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2005. Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. (1847). Oxford: Oxford UP, 1980. Carey, Peter. Jack Maggs. (1997). London: Faber and Faber, 1998. Coetzee, J. M. Foe. (1986). London: Penguin Books, 1987. Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. (1719). London: Penguin Books, 1994. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. (1861). London: Penguin Books, 1994. Homer. The Odyssey. Ware: Wordsworth: 2002. Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. (1966). New York: W.W. Norton, 1982.

Recommended Bibliography of Secondary Sources:

Ashcroft, Bill. Post-Colonial Transformation. London: Routledge, 2001. Ashcroft, Bill, et al., eds. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1995. Ashcroft, Bill et al. Postcolonial Studies: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge, 2000. Ashcroft, Bill, et al. Writing Back to the Empire. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2002. Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge Classics, 2004. ---. Nation and Narration. London: Routledge, 1990. Christman, Laura, and Benita Parry, eds. Postcolonial Theory and Criticism. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2000. Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge, 1991. Fanon, Franz. The Wretched of the Earth. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1967. ---. Black Skin, White Masks. London: Pluto Press, 1986. Featherstone, Simon. Postcolonial Cultures. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005. Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979. hooks, bell. Feminist Theory From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press, 1984. hooks, bell. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press, 1989. Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge, 2006. Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/ Postcolonialism. London: Routledge, 2005. Moi, Toril. Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. London: Routledge, 1985. Morris, Pam. Literatura a Feminismus. Přel. Marian Siedloczek a Renata Kamecnická. Brno: Host, 2000. [Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993]. Postcolonial Text. on-line journal. http://journals.sfu.ca/pocol/index.php/pct/index Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage, 1994. ---. Orientalism. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1995. Spivak, Gayatri Charkravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Eds. Cary Nelson and Larry Grossberg. Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1988. 217-313. ---. The Post-colonial Critic: Interviews, Strategies, Dialogues. New York: Routledge, 1990. Tiffin, Chris, and Alan Lawson. Describing Empire: Post-colonialism and Textuality. London, Routledge, 1994. Warhol, Robyn R., and Diane Price Herndl, eds. Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1991. Williams, Patrick, and Laura Chrisman, eds. Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader. Hemel Hempstead: Harverster Wheatsheaf, 1993. Young, Robert. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. ---. White Mythologies: Writing History and the West. London, Routledge, 1996.

The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Spring 2015.
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