Introduction to Literature (lectures and seminars), Autumn semester 2013

           Course coordinator: Dr. Martina Horáková, mhorakov@phil.muni.cz, office 3009

Tutors: Jan Beneš (B), Martina Bilá (E), Dita Hochmanová (F), Eva Hrkalová (D), Filip Krajník (C),
                                  Marcela Sekanina Vavřinová (A)


Course description:

This course consists of alternating lectures and seminars that encourage students to engage in
literary research and analysis. The lectures provide students with an introduction to literary
histories, movements, contexts and approaches to literary texts. The seminars function as more
practical insights into analyzing literary texts and writing critical research papers about them.
They are based on discussions and group work.


Course objectives:

1. To learn the methods of conducting library research and working with primary and secondary
sources.

2. To acquire the techniques needed for literary analysis and writing academic essays.

3. To refine critical thinking about literature and achieve a deeper understanding of how
literature affects us and how it enriches our perception of the world.


Assessment:

Students must prepare for all classes, especially for the seminars. The assigned texts must be read
before the class so that students can engage actively in discussions and other continuous
assessment. Written assignments must be submitted in the correct format and on time. 1 credit
(zápočet) is given at the end of the lecture series, 2 credits for the exam at the end of the
seminar series. Final mark: class performance 30%; Ass 1 30%; Ass 2 40%. Points out of 100; 60%
pass/fail line. Evaluation scale: A 100-85; B 84-80; C-79-75; D-74-70; E 69-60; F (fail) 59-0.


Readings:

Primary: please see the syllabus—texts will be available in the ELF (poetry, short extract),
otherwise you have to get a copy from the library or a bookshop.

Secondary: Barnet, Sylvan, et al. A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. 2^nd ed. Toronto:
Pearson Education, 2004. (ELF)

MLA Handbook, 7^th edition. (ELF)


Attendance: While attending the lectures is strongly recommended but not compulsory, the attendance
of ALL seminars during the semester is compulsory. The only exception is illness, in which case
students must present the study department with a doctor’s certificate. Failing to attend the
seminars may result in failing the course.

Lecture

Mondays: 23.9., 7.10., 21.10., 4.11., 18.11., 2.12.

Lecturer

text(s) to be analyzed in the seminars

seminar

Mondays: 30.9., 14.10, 11.11, 21.11, 9.12

Weds: 2.10, 16.10, 13.11, 27.11, 11.12

assignments

1. Introduction to the Study of Literature


Doc. Michael M. Kaylor


reading literature and writing about literature; primary and secondary sources; working with
library sources (catalogue, databases); evaluating sources

Barnet: Chapter 1 (“The Writer as Reader”) and 2 (“The Reader as Writer”);

getting to know MLA (basic format of a paper: header, title, layout, …)

2. Elizabethan Drama

Dr. Filip Krajník

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

text analysis; critical vocabulary (character(s), plot); using the literary present

Barnet: Chapter 11 (“Writing about Drama”); Maynard Mack, “The World of Hamlet” (1952); MLA
(section 3.6. Titles)

3. Romantic Poetry

Doc. Michael M. Kaylor

John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer”, “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles for the First
Time”, “Ode to Psyche”, “To Autumn”

READING WEEK (Oct 28 and 30): no class

text analysis; critical vocabulary (figures of speech, rhythm and rhyme)

Barnet: Chapter 12 (“Writing about Poetry”); MLA (section 3.7. Quotations);

Assignment 1: a short (2 double-spaced pages) written analysis of one of Keats’ poems, submit in
ELF, deadline Nov 1

4. Gothic Novel

Dr. Bonita Rhoads

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

text analysis; critical vocabulary (points of view); quoting X paraphrasing, avoiding plagiarism;
feedback to Assignment 1

Barnet: Chapter 10 (“Writing about Fiction”)

5. Victorian Novel

Dr. Stephen Hardy

(all first chapters only) Charles Dickens, Bleak House; William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair;
George Eliot, Middlemarch; Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

text analysis; critical vocabulary (setting); developing an argument

Barnet: Chapter 8 (“Writing about Literature”)

6. American Renaissance

Dr. Jeffrey A. Smith

selections from: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,
Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson

text analysis; critical vocabulary (overview of narrative categories, historical context); close
reading

MLA (sections 5.4, 5.5, 5.6-5.6.5, 5.7-5.7.5., all Documentation of Work Cited)

Assignment 2: a 3-4 page analysis of a short story, extract or a chapter included in lecture 5 or
6; integrate quotation(s) from at least two secondary sources as well as their bibliographical
details; MLA format; submit in ELF, deadline Jan 3, 2014