Introduction to Literature (lectures and seminars), Autumn semester 2015

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

   Seminar instructors: Velid Beganovič (group F), Filip Krajník (A), Patrik Míša (D), Alexandra
                     Stachurová (C), Eva Valentová (B), Alžběta Zedníková (E)


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 for attendance; 2 credits for passing the
seminar series. Final mark: class performance 20%; Ass 1 30%; Ass 2 50%. Points out of 100; 60%
pass/fail line. Note: students MUST pass all individual assignments; if they fail one or both of
them, they have to rewrite and resubmit them until they get more than 60%. Late submissions will be
penalized. 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 extracts),
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: It is crucial that students attend both lectures and seminars. 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, 15.50-17.20, C33

Lecturer

text(s) to be analyzed in the seminars

Seminar

Mondays: 5.10., 19.10, 2.11, 16.11, 30.11, 14.12

Weds: 7.10, 21.10, 4.11, 18.11, 2.12, 16.12

Assignments and readings

1. Introduction to the Study of Literature

28.9. national holiday, no lecture!!


Introduction to the study of literature

5.10/7.10 reading literature and writing about literature; primary X secondary sources; working
with library sources (catalogue, databases); evaluating sources

Barnet: Chapters 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

12.10.

Dr. Filip Krajník

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

19.10/21.10 text analysis; critical vocabulary (character(s), plot); using the literary present

Barnet: Chapter 11 (“Writing about Drama”); MLA (section 3.6. Titles)

3. Romantic Poetry

26.10.

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”

2.11/4.11 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 8; resubmission deadline Nov 29;

4. Gothic Novel

9.11.

Dr. Bonita Rhoads

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

16.11/18.11 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

23.11

Dr. Stephen Hardy

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

30.11/2.12 text analysis; critical vocabulary (setting); developing an argument

Barnet: Chapter 8 (“Writing about Literature”)

6. American Renaissance

7.12

Dr. Jeffrey A. Smith

Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”; Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature“ (selections); Walt
Whitman, “Proto-Leaf” (stanzas 1-36), “Song of Myself” (sections 1-8), “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”;
Emily Dickinson, selected poems;

14.12/16.12 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 four-page analysis of a literary text studied in the course; integrate quotation(s)
from at least two secondary sources as well as their bibliographical details; MLA format; submit in
ELF, deadline Jan 8, 2015 (regular term); first resit Jan 29; second resit Feb 12, 2015