BBN-ANG-112/o
Introduction to Literary Studies (Bevezetés az irodalomtudományba szeminárium) in autumn 2014
Harasztos Ágnes, Mon 14:30–16:00, R315, host: DES (R338)
3-credit seminar, 30 h/term
description & set texts
The aim of this course is to endow the students with the fundamental critical apparatus useful in literary studies. Through analysing various texts of British literature (poetry, drama and fiction) and confront them to literary theoretical works, students are helped to develop the skills to apply adequate interpretative methods to the diverse forms of literature. Genre specific analytical techniques (such as versification, rhetorical patterns, dramatic structures and issues of narratology etc.) will be covered along with some prevailing literary theoretical and critical approaches. Students are also provided guidelines regarding the techniques of essay writing and acquiring reliable secondary literature. The following pieces will be discussed: M. H. Abrams: ‘Orientation of Critical Theories’, William Shakespeare: Sonnet 129, John Donne: To His Mistress Going to Bed, W. B. Yeats: ‘The Symbolism of Poetry’, S. T. Coleridge: Kubla Khan, W. B. Yeats: Leda and the Swan, Sailing to Byzantium, William Shakespeare: Hamlet, J. M. Synge: The Playboy of the Western World, E. M. Forster: ‘Flat and Round Characters’, Kazuo Ishiguro: A Family Supper, Joseph Conrad: The Heart of Darkness, Virginia Woolf: ‘Modern Fiction’, Michel Foucault: ‘What is an Author?’, W. H. Auden: Musée des Beaux Arts, Ted Hughes: Crow’s First Lesson, Seamus Heaney: Death of a Naturalist, and John Fowles: Poor Koko (subject to change).
requirements & assessment
The evaluation will be based on the in-class participation (20%), a short presentation (20%), the end term test (20%) and the home essay (40%).