Description
A systematic introduction
to the levels and objects of analysis pertinent to modern (i.e. post-Saussurean)
poetics. We'll conceive of "poetics" as a mode of inquiry into the
full spectrum of social activities through which poetry enters the world. We'll
draw on a variety of resources in the course of our collective and individual
researches, including the hermeneutics of Freud and Gadamer, the formal analyses
and theories of literary evolution articulated by the Russian Formalists and
Czech Structuralists, the work of French post-structuralists like Julia Kristeva
and Roland Barthes, the cultural studies of Raymond Williams and Pierre Bourdieu,
and statements by poets ranging from Poe, Hopkins, and Valery through to the
contemporary moment. No prior work in poetics or critical theory is presupposed
(with one exception noted below).
Note: Students will be expected to have read Aristotle's Poetics closely (and
recently) prior to the first class meeting.
Required Texts
Bakhtin & Medvedev, The Formal Method in Literary Scholarship
Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method
Roman Jakobson, Language in Literature
Julia Kristeva, Revolution in Poetic Language
Lemon & Reis, eds. Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays
Matejka & Pomorska, Readings in Russian Poetics
Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics
Tzvetan Todorov, Introduction to Poetics
Raymond Williams, The Sociology of Culture
Recommended
Texts
Derek Attridge, Poetic Rhythm
Reuven Tsur, What Makes Sound Patterns Expressive
New Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms
Evaluation
Seminar Paper of twenty pages
Five annotated bibliography entries
Frequent brief (ten minute) in-class presentations on assigned readings
Rough
Outline of Readings: Detailed Reading Syllabus Here
week 1
Introduction, Aristotle's
Poetics
week 2
Todorov, Introduction
to Poetics
Bourdieu, "The Field of Cultural Production" (handout)
Jakobson, "Linguistics and Poetics" (in Language in Literature)
week 3
Saussure, Course
in General Linguistics
Brooks, "Aesthetics and Ideology" (handout)
Perloff, "In Defense of Poetry" (on-line)
Bourdieu, The Rules of Art
week 4
Saussure, Course
in General Linguistics
Bourdieu, The Rules of Art
week 5
Freud, Interpretation
of Dreams
Lacan, "The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious" (handout)
Bourdieu, The Rules of Art
week 6
Gadamer, Truth
and Method
Bourdieu, The Rules of Art
week 7
Lemon & Reis,
Russian Formalist Criticism
Bourdieu, The Rules of Art
SPRING BREAK
week 8
Jakobson, Language
in Literature
Williams, Sociology of Culture
week 9
Jakobson, Language
in Literature
Williams, Sociology of Culture
week 10
Matejka &
Pomorska, Readings in Russian Poetics
Williams, Sociology of Culture
week 11
Matejka &
Pomorska, Readings in Russian Poetics
Williams, Sociology of Culture
week 12
Bakhtin / Medvedev,
The Formal Method in Literary Scholarship
Williams, Sociology of Culture
week13
Kristeva, Revolution
in Poetic Language
Williams, Sociology of Culture
week 14
Kristeva, Revolution
in Poetic Language
Williams, Sociology of Culture