Professor Gillian Harkins

Class Meetings: T/Th 10:30 AM - 12:20 PM in Communications (CMU) 228

Drop-In Office Hours: T/Th 1:00 - 2:00 PM in A-3-6 Padeldford Hall or this Zoom Link

Additional Office Hours: Use Canvas Message to set up an appointment (held at link above)

Cultural Studies of the Novel

‘For whom are we doing what we are doing when we do literary criticism?’ ...

The answer to that question determines what orientation we take in our work,

the language we use, the purposes for which it is intended.

-- Barbara Christian, "The Race for Theory" (1988)

COURSE SCHEDULE

IMPORTANT NOTE: You will read only short excerpts of the assigned critical texts. The complete assigned critical text is provided, but you DO NOT NEED TO READ the entire (often very long) provided text. The specific assigned pages are listed below.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COURSE: Use this Discussion Q&A to ask course questions on-line.

SYLLABUS: DOWNLOAD COPY

EXTRA CREDIT: Optional Deep Dive!

WEEK ONE How do you learn now?

TUESDAY 3/28

Class Session: Introduction to the course!

On-Line Discussion Board: Week One Discussion

THURSDAY 3/30

Read for class: Amitav Ghosh, "Stories" from The Great Derangement (2016): Read only Parts 1-7 (3-24); Part 13 (58-63).

Class Session: Context, Scope, and Scale

On-Line Discussion Board: Week One Discussion

SUNDAY 4/2 (by midnight)

Week One Portfolio

WEEK TWO What is a novel?

TUESDAY 4/4

Read for class: Daniel Heath Justice, excerpt from Why Indigenous Literatures Matter (2018): Read only pages 16 [starting with "Literature"] - 21 [ending with the word "literature"]

Read for class: Raymond Williams, "Literature" from Keywords (1976): Read only pages 183-188 [Note: C14 = 14th Century; do not stress details of this reading]

Helpful Handout: Heath Justice and Williams Handout

Bonus Handout: Williams Literature Chart

Class Session: How is literature defined? Who defines it? Why are these questions important?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Two Discussion

THURSDAY 4/6

Read for class: Marta Figlerowicz, "Novel" from Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (2 ed.), Ed. Michael Kelly, Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 2014: Read only pages 1-2 (only first section titled "Novel")

Read for class: Dierdre Lynch and William Warner, excerpt from Cultural Institutions of the Novel (1996): Read only pages 1-5 (Stop at section break)

Read for class: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, excerpt from Decolonizing the Mind (1986): Read only pages 64-69 (Section III)

Helpful Handout: Fligerowicz Lynch and Warner and Thiong’o Handout.doc

Class Session: How is the novel defined? Who defines it? Why are these questions important?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Two Discussion

SUNDAY 4/9 (by midnight)

Week Two Portfolio

WEEK THREE What is a method?

TUESDAY 4/11

Read for class: Vince Brewton, "Literary Theory," Internet Dictionary of Philosophy: Read only opening section and “What is Literary Theory?" (Section I)

Read for class: Barbara Christian, excerpt from “The Race for Theory” (1987): Read only pages 67-69 [end with “is a collective endeavor”(69)]; 77 (starting with "My major objection)" - 79 (the end)

Helpful Handout: Brewton and Christian Handout.docx

Class Session: What is theory? Who defines it? Why are these questions important?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Three Discussion

THURSDAY 4/13

Read for class: Jeanette Winterson, The Passion (1987): Read first two sections

Helpful Website: Jeanette Winterson Homepage [please read author bio]

Helpful Handout: Handout of Literary Terms

Class Session: How do you read this novel? Do you have a method? Where did you learn it?

NEW: Notes from Class Discussion

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Three Discussion

SUNDAY 4/16 (by midnight)

Week Three Portfolio

WEEK FOUR What is culture?

TUESDAY 4/18

Read for class: Jeanette Winterson The Passion (1987): Finish the novel

Helpful Website: "Age of Revolution" Website

Class Session: What kinds of questions do you have about this novel? How do you answer them?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Four Discussion

THURSDAY 4/20

Read for class: Stephen Greenblatt Culture.pdf

Helpful Handout: Greenblatt Handout.docx

Class Session: What is culture? How is it related to literature? How do you read it in literature?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Four Discussion

SUNDAY 4/23 (by midnight)

Week Four Portfolio

WEEK FIVE What are cultural methods?

TUESDAY 4/25

Read for class: Edward W. Said, excerpt from Culture and Imperialism (1993): Read only xi-xiv (ending with "understanding of them"; xx (starting with "The world has changed")-xxiii (ending with "since Orientalism").

Read for class: Gauri Viswanathan, excerpt from Masks of Conquest (1989): Read only pages 1-5 (opening section).

Helpful Handout: Said and Viswanathan Handout.docx

Class Session: What are cultures of imperialism? How would you read them in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Five Discussion

THURSDAY 4/27

Read for class: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, excerpt from Epistemology of the Closet (1990): Read only pages 1-5.

Read for class: Afsaneh Najmabadi, "Beyond the Americas: Are Gender and Sexuality Useful Categories of Analysis?" (2006): Read only pages 11-14 [ending with “nineteenth-century Iran”].

Helpful Handout: Sedgwick and Najmabadi Handout.doc

Class Session: What are cultures of gender and sexuality? How would you read them in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Five Discussion

SUNDAY 4/30 (by midnight)

Week Five Portfolio

WEEK SIX Is form a cultural question?

TUESDAY 5/2

Read for Class: Please read the Said and Viswanathan Handout.docx and the Sedgwick and Najmabadi Handout.doc.

Class Session: How do you read cultural patterns in this novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Six Discussion

THURSDAY 5/4

Read for class: Gérard Genette, excerpt from Narrative Discourse (1966/1980): Read only Jonathon Culler's "Foreword" [7-8 (through “based theoretical study”]; Gérard Gennette's "Introduction" (25-32) [some of this is quite difficult, use the Handout for summary!] [Full Text of Gérard Genette, Narrative Discourse in case anyone wants more!]

Read for class: Mikhail M. Bakhtin, "Discourse in the Novel" (1934/1981): Read only the very specific passages on pages 482 (only first paragraph); 484 (“The novel as a whole”) – 485 (“piano keyboard”); 489 (“The strength and”) – 490 (end of page) [FYI 489-490 may be totally incomprehensible, use the Handout!]; 504 (“As a living”) – 505 (“difficult and complicated process”).

Helpful Handout: Genette and Bakhtin Handout.doc

Class Session: What is discourse? How would you read it in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Six Discussion

SUNDAY 5/7 (by midnight)

FIRST LITERARY ARGUMENT ESSAY

WEEK SEVEN How do you read now?

TUESDAY 5/9

Read for class: Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (2017): Read first half

Helpful Website: Mohsin Hamid Homepage

Helpful Handout: Selecting Passages in Exit West

Class Session: How do you read this novel? How would you describe your method?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Seven Discussion

THURSDAY 5/11

Read for class: Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (2017): Read second half

Helpful Website: "Critical Refugee Studies" Website

Class Session: What questions do you have about this novel? How would you answer them?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Seven Discussion

SUNDAY 5/14 (by midnight)

Week Seven Portfolio

WEEK EIGHT What is feeling?

TUESDAY 5/16

Read for class: Sianne Ngai, excerpt from Ugly Feelings (2005): Read only pages 43 (“It should be clear”) - 47 (“silently relied on it.”); 52 (start mid-paragraph at “One does repeatedly”-56 (end mid-paragraph at “specific systems depicted within it”). [Note: pages 43-47 explain the literary concept of tone; pages 52-56 go into the very technical vocabulary of Affect Studies]

READ THE HANDOUT: Ngai Handout.doc

For Example: Gloria Wilcox, The Feelings Wheel

Class Session: What is feeling? Why is it important? How would you read it in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Eight Discussion

THURSDAY 5/18

Read for class: Raymond Williams, excerpt from Marxism and Literature (1977): Read only “Structures of Feeling” 128-135

READ THE HANDOUT: Williams Handout.docx

For Fun: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Class Session: What is feeling? Why is it important? How would you read it in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Eight Discussion

SUNDAY 5/21 (by midnight)

Week Eight Portfolio

WEEK NINE What are genealogical and geographic methods?

TUESDAY 5/23

Read for class: Paul Gilroy, excerpt from The Black Atlantic (1993): Read only pages ix-xi; 1-3 [end with “trying to face at least two ways at once”(3)]

Read for class: Lisa Lowe, excerpt from The Intimacies of Four Continents (2015): Read only pages 1-7

Helpful Handout: Gilory and Lowe Handout.doc

For Deep Dive Option: "Critical Race Theory" Keywords Now, this link to Rebecca Wanzo, "Race"

Class Session: What is genealogy (think history and the present)? Why is it important? How would you read it in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Nine Discussion

THURSDAY 5/25

Read for class: Mary Pat Brady, excerpt from Extinct Lands, Temporal Geographies (2002): Read only pages 6 ("Extinct Lands, Temporal Geographies attends to space") - 9 ("efforts get deterred").

Read for class: Mishuana Goeman, excerpt from Mark My Words (2013): Read only pages 1-3 ("inheres in our stories").

Read for class: Katherine McKittrick, excerpt from Demonic Grounds (2006): Read only pages ix-xii.

Helpful Handout: Brady, Goeman and McKittrick Handout.doc

Class Session: What is geography (think space and place)? Why is it important? How would you read it in a novel?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Nine Discussion Activity

SUNDAY 5/28 (by midnight)

Week Nine Portfolio

WEEK TEN How do you read now?

TUESDAY 5/30

Read for class: Stephen Best and Sharon Marcus, excerpt from “Surface Reading: An Introduction” in Representations (2009): Read only pages 1-4 [end with “The manifest has more positive connotations, as what is truthful, obvious, and clearly revealed”(4)]; 9 ("Surface looms large" - "to see through").

Read for class: Dan Sinykin, “How computational analysis is teaching us to read in new ways” The Washington Post(July 30, 2018).

Read for class: Aimee Bahng, excerpt from Migrant Futures (2018): Read only pages 8 ("More specifically" - 9 ("imagine things differently"); 12 ("The future is") - 13 ("What if?").

Helpful Handout: Best and Marcus, Sinykin, and Bahng Handout-1.doc

Class Session: How do you read now? How has it changed over this course?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Ten Discussion

THURSDAY 6/1

Class Session: How do you write a literary argument essay?

On-Line Discussion Board: Week Ten Discussion

SUNDAY 6/4 (by midnight)

Week Ten Portfolio

WEDNESDAY 6/7 (by midnight)

SECOND LITERARY ARGUMENT ESSAY

FINAL GRADES DUE TO REGISTRAR

TUESDAY 6/13 (by 5:00 PM)

If you cannot complete the required work for this course, you may ask the Instructor about taking an Incomplete (I). An Incomplete must be completed by the end of the next academic quarter, meaning all required work must be submitted and a new grade entered to replace the I. UW information about taking an Incomplete.