BBN-ANG-112/Qintroduction to Literature(Fri 12:30 14:00, R414, DES)

Course scheduleHarasztosÁgnes

BBN-ANG-112/qIntroduction to Literature(Fri 12:30–14:00, R414, DES)

requirements:

regular attendance (3 absences tolerated)

active participation in class: regular preparation, copies of set texts brought into the class, read in full and in English (vocabulary explored) at home, your remarks and ideas are an absolute must, they contribute to the success of our course!

10-minute short presentation on a set critical text, handouts are welcome, you should present your chosen topic only on the assigned date!

end term test, a minimum of 50% is required (everything uttered in class forms a subject to the test, don’t miss taking notes!)

home paper (min 2500 words), it should deal with one of the literary pieces discussed in the course,it should be a piece of academic writing , therefore no essay without references (min 5) will be accepted, only published or reliable internet resources (e.g. Jstor, or Projectmuse) can be used (see: )

evaluation will be based on the in-class performance (20%), the presentation (20%), the end term test (20%) and the home essay (40%)

set texts:

Week 1 – 11 Sept: Introduction, sign up for presentations, discussion of requirements
Week 2 – 18 Sept: M. H. Abrams: ‘Orientation of Critical Theories.’In: Lodge, David: Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. A Reader (copies at SEAS Library)
Week 3 – 25 Sept:handout 1 ( , William Shakespeare: Sonnet 129, John Donne: To His Mistress Going to Bed
Week 4 – 2 Oct: W. B. Yeats: ‘The Symbolism of Poetry’ (In: Lodge),S. T. Coleridge: KublaKhan, W. B. Yeats: Leda and the Swan, Sailing to Byzantium
Week 5 – 9 Oct: handout 2 ( William Shakespeare: Hamlet
Week 6 – 16 Oct:J. M. Synge: The Playboy of the Western World
23 Oct – National holiday
26 Oct – 30 Oct – Autumn break
Week 7 – 6 Nov: handout 3 ( Joseph Conrad: The Heart of Darkness
Week 8 – 13 Nov:E. M. Forster: ‘Flat and Round Characters’ (In: Lodge), Kazuo Ishiguro: A Family Supper ( essay guidelines
Week 9 – 20 Nov:Michel Foucault: ‘What is an Author?’ ( John Fowles: Poor Koko
Week 10 – 27 Nov:deadline for essays, W. H. Auden: Musée des Beaux Arts, Ted Hughes: Crow’s First Lesson,Seamus Heaney: Death of a Naturalist
Week 11 – 4 Dec: end term test
Week 12 – 11 Dec:evaluation, farewell

Secondary literature (material for the student presentations)

1)25 Sept –

a)Shankar Raman: Can't BuyMe Love: Money, Gender, and ColonialisminDonne's Erotic VerseIn:

b)Anthony Low: Donne and theReinvention of Love In:

c)Laurel J. Brinton: The Iconic Role of Aspect in Shakespeare's Sonnet 129 In:

d)J. Bunselmeyer: Appearances and Verbal Paradox Sonnet 129 and 138 In:

2)2 Oct –

a)Fred L. Milne: Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan”: a Metaphor for the Creative Process In:

b)Charles I. Patterson, Jr.: The Daemonic in Kubla Khan: Toward Interpretation In:

c)Hoyt Towbridge: “Leda and the Swan”: A Longinian Analysis In:

d)W. C. Barnell: The Rapist in “Leda and the Swan” In:

3)9 Oct –

a)Stephen Greenblatt: Eating of the Soul In:

b)CaralynBialo: Popular performance, the broadside ballad, and Ophelia's madness In: (!)

c)Andrew Foley: Heaven or havoc? The end of hamlet In: (!)

4)16 Oct –

a)David Butler: Hamlet, carnival, and The Playboy of the Western WorldIn: (!)

b)Warren Akin IV: “I Just Riz the Loy” The Oedipal Dimension of “The Playboy of the Western World In:

c)James F. Kilroy: The Playboy as Poet In:

5)6 Nov –

a)Edward Said: “Two Visions in Heart of Darkness” In: Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. New York, Infobase Publishing: 2008. p 5-18, downloadable at: (click on “скачать”/’download’/)

b)Birgit Maier-Katkin and Daniel Maier-Katkin: At The Heart of Darkness: Crimes Against Humanity and The Banality of Evil In:

c)Garett Stewart: Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness In:

d)J. Hillis Miller: “Should We Read Heart of Darkness?” In: Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. New York, Infobase Publishing: 2008. p 115-130, downloadable at: (click on “скачать”/’download’/)

6)13 Nov –

a)Rebecca L. Walkowitz: Ishiguro’s Floating Worlds In:

b)Rebecca Karni: KazuoIshiguro's reflectivesignsIn:

7)20 Nov –

a)Kerry McSweeney: John Fowles’s Variations in the “Ebony Tower” In:

b)Carol M. Barnum: The Quest Motif in John Fowles’s The Ebony Tower: Themes and Variations In:

8)27 Nov –

a)Max Bluestone: The Iconographic Sources of Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts In:

b)Paul Bentley: Depression and Ted Hughes’s Crow or through the Looking Glass or What Crow Found There In:

INTRODUCTION

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)

William Shakespeare,1564-1616

Mymistress’ eyesarenothinglikethesun;

Coral is far more redthanherlips’ red;

Ifsnow be white, whythenherbreastsaredun;

Ifhairs be wires, blackwiresgrowonherhead.

I haveseenrosesdamasked, red and white,

But no suchrosessee I inhercheeks;

And insomeperfumes is there more delight

Than inthebreaththatfrommymistressreeks.

I love tohearherspeak, yetwell I know

Thatmusichath a far more pleasingsound;

I grant I neversaw a goddess go;

Mymistresswhenshewalkstreadsontheground.

And yet, byheaven, I thinkmy love asrare

Asanyshebeliedwithfalsecompare.

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams,1883-1963

I haveeaten

theplums

thatwerein

theicebox

and which

youwereprobably

saving

forbreakfast

Forgiveme

theyweredelicious

sosweet

and socold

______

Tisbutthynamethat is myenemy;
Thou art thyself, thoughnot a Montague.
What's Montague? it is norhand, norfoot,
Norarm, norface, noranyother part
Belongingto a man. O, be someothername!
What's in a name? thatwhichwecall a rose
Byanyothernamewouldsmellassweet;

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

BYWILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Lord Byron: Don Juan /fragment/
(1788-1824)

I wouldtoheaventhat I weresomuchclay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling -
Becauseatleastthepastwerepassedaway -
And forthefuture - (but I writethisreeling,
Havinggotdrunkexceedinglytoday,
Sothat I seemto stand upontheceiling)
I say - thefuture is a seriousmatter -
And so - forGod's sake - hock and sodawater!