All materials on this website were written by, and remain the property of, Dr. Mary Klages, Associate Professor of English, University of Colorado at Boulder.
Critical Theory Since 1965, Adams and Searle (A&S)
Making Face, Making Soul, Anzaldua
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud
Beginning Theory, Barry
Packet of xeroxed readings (will be available at CU Bookstore, or on 2-hour reserve at Norlin).
A. Attendance at both lectures and discussion sections is required. We will not waste time taking attendance in lecture, but be advised that your performance on the worksheets, midterm, and final will depend heavily on your understanding of the lectures as well as on your readings of assigned material. Attendance will be taken in discussion sections; more than two unexcused absences from discussions will have a negative effect on your grade.
B. Completion of the reading assignments and the written assignments is required. Finish the assigned readings BEFORE the scheduled class lecture, as the lectures will be clearer if you have done the reading. Much of this material will require a second reading.
C. Worksheets. There will be SIX worksheets assigned throughout the semester, consisting of a question or a set of questions for you to answer. Worksheets should take the form of mini-essays or short papers. They should be TYPED, double-spaced, with reasonable margins, and should be a minimum of TWO FULL TYPED PAGES each. Worksheets will be evaluated for clarity of expression, understanding of material, and use of the readings, lectures, and discussions. The graders will be looking for evidence of your serious engagement with the concepts and principles of the various theories we will study. This does not mean you have to come up with critiques or original syntheses of the course material; rather, the worksheets will be places for you to articulate your own understanding of the theories and to analyze them. Each worksheet will be worth a maximum of 20 points. Worksheets will be due IN CLASS, and should be turned in to your TAs. LATE WORKSHEETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
D. Exams. There will be a take-home midterm exam and a final exam, each of which will be worth 100 points toward your final grade. These exams will ask you to synthesize and interrelate the various readings covered in the course. I'll say more about the specific content of these exams as they get closer.
E. Final grade. Your final grade will be based on the number of points you earned on the worksheets (out of 120), midterm (100), and final (100), and calculated as a percentage of the possible total of 320 points.
A. Missed Classes. If you miss lectures or discussion for any reason, it is your responsibility to find out from other students in the course what went on. Extra copies of assignments (such as worksheets) or any handouts from lectures will be available outside my office door after each class; any handouts from discussion sections will be available from your TA. If you miss a class when a worksheet or other assignment is due, please talk to your TA about where to turn it in. Please put papers for me in my mailbox in the English Dept. office, Hellems 101.My mailbox this semester is out of alphabetical order; it is located between "Johnson" and "Juhasz," so be sure you put things in the right mailbox. (Faculty names are on the left side of their mailboxes).
B. Teaching Assistants: Your discussion sections will be led by one of two TAs, Dawn Petersen and Matt Rubery, who will also be responsible for grading most of your assignments. The TAs will hold regular office hours, and be available on email. Feel free to direct questions about course material, procedures, grades, or any other relevant issues to your TA or to me during office hours or through email.
C. Class Email Discussion List. Everyone in the course is STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to have an email account, and to subscribe to the course email discussion list. The list will serve as the main means of communication with the TAs, the professor, and other students outside of class, discussion sections, and office hours. There will also be a Web page associated with the course.
D. Complaints or Problems. Whenever you feel something isn't working as well as you'd like--whether it's the class structure, the lectures, the discussions, the assignments, grades, or your own efforts in the course--PLEASE TELL SOMEONE about it!! Talk to your TA, or to me, or scribble a note (anonymous if you like) or send an email, leave a voice-mail message, catch one of us after class or come by office hours, or set up an appointment: let someone know if something isn't working for you. A large class, even with discussion sections, can be intimidating, and the best way we can fix things is if we know what's wrong. We'd rather hear about the problems in the course during the semester, when we can deal with them, rather than on course evaluations, when it's too late to change things for you.
Registered students who miss the first three classes will be dropped from the course.
M Aug. 25: Introduction; syllabus and requirements.
W Aug. 27: "Introduction" and "'Theory before
Theory,
'" in Beginning Theory, pp. 1-36; Humanism.
During this unit, read Chapter 2, "Structuralism," in Beginning Theory,
pp. 39-60.
W Sept. 3: Saussure, "Course in General
Linguistics,
" in A&S, pp.
646-656.
M Sept. 8: Saussure.
W Sept. 10: Levi-Strauss, "The Structural
Study
of Myth," in A&S, pp.
809-822. WORKSHEET #1 DUE!!
M Sept. 15: Levi-Strauss.
During this unit, read Chapter 3, "Poststructuralism and
Deconstruction," in Beginning Theory, pp.61-80.
W Sept. 17: Structuralism and
Poststructuralism. Read Derrida, "Structure, Sign, and
Play," in
A&S, pp. 83-94.
M Sept. 22: Derrida, "Structure, Sign,
and
Play."
W Sept. 24: Derrida. WORKSHEET #2
DUE!!
PSYCHOANALYSIS
During this unit, read Chapter 5, "Psychoanalytic Criticism," in Beginning
Theory, pp. 96-120. See also a brief glossary of
psychoanalytic terms .
M Sept. 29: Freud, Three Essays on the
Theory of Sexuality, pp. 39-109.
W Oct. 1: Freud.
M Oct. 6: Lacan, "The Mirror Stage," in A&S,
pp.734
-738.
W Oct. 8: Lacan.
M Oct. 13: Lacan, "The Agency of the Letter in
the
Unconscious," Part I ONLY, in A&S, pp. 738-746. WORKSHEET #3 DUE!
FEMINIST THEORY
During this unit, read Chapter 6, "Feminist Criticism," in Beginning
W Oct. 15: Gilbert, "Literary Paternity," in
A&
S, pp. 486-496. What Is Feminism?
M Oct. 20: Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa," in
A&S, pp. 309-320.
W Oct. 22: Cixous. Irigaray, "This Sex Which
is Not One," in xerox packet.
M Oct. 27: Irigaray. MIDTERM DUE!!
QUEER THEORY
For this unit, read Chapter 7, "Lesbian/gay Criticism," in Beginning
Theory, pp. 139-155.
W Oct. 29: Queer Theory.. Rubin,
"Thinking Sex," in
xerox
packet.
IDEOLOGY AND DISCOURSE
During this unit, read Chapter 8, "Marxist Criticism," pp. 156-171, and
"New Historicism," pp. 172-181, in Beginning Theory
M Nov. 3: Marxism and Ideology. Althusser,
"Ideology and Ideological
State Apparatuses," in A&S,
pp.239-250.
W Nov. 5: Althusser.
M Nov. 10: Bakhtin, "Discourse in the Novel,"
in A&S pp. 665-678.WORKSHEET #4
DUE!
W Nov. 12: Bakhtin; Foucault, "What is an
Author?" in A&S
pp.138-148.
M Nov. 17: Foucault.
RACE
During this unit, read Chapter 10, "Postcolonial Criticism," in Beginning
Theory, pp. 191-201.
W Nov. 19: Yamato, "Something About the
Subject
Makes It Hard to
Name," and Lugones, "Hablando cara a
cara/Speaking Face to Face," in
Making Face, Making Soul, pp. 20-25 and 46-55.
M Nov. 24: Christian, "The Race for Theory,"
in Making Face, Making
Soul, pp. 335-345. WORKSHEET #5
DUE!
W Nov. 26: Rebolledo, "The Politics of Poetics," in Making Face, Making
Soul, pp. 346-355.
M Dec. 1: Trinh, "Not You/Like You" in Making
Face, Making Soul, pp.
371-376.
POSTMODERNISM
During this unit, read Chapter 4, "Postmodernism," in Beginning Theory,
pp. 81-95.
W Dec. 3: Postmodernism.. Readings: Sarup,
"Lyotard and Postmodernism;"
Flax, "Postmodernism and Gender
Relations," both in xerox packet.
M Dec. 8: Flax; Butler, "Gender Trouble," in
xerox
packet.WORKSHEET #6 DUE!
W Dec. 10: Conclusion. Course Evaluations.
For comments, send mail to Mary Klages
Theory, pp. 121-138.
This page was last modified:
December 8, 1997.
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