LITS2306 / E23F READING SCHEDULE, NOTES AND QUESTIONS
MODULE TWO: THE LATE MODERN PERIOD

WEEK 7: FROM EARLY TO LATE MODERN I: THE PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT

Required Readings:

Please note the change in readings for Week 7.  Our goal this week is to acquire a basic grasp of Early Modern philosophy in general and the Rationalism versus Empiricism debate in particular.  This is a necessary foundation for understanding Kant's aesthetics (in Week 8) as well as its influence on one important tendency in nineteenth and twentieth century critical theory which we study in the remaining weeks of this course.  The following readings are representative only -- you are free to read them or not as you see fit. 

Lec. 1: Early Modern Philosophy: Rationalism versus Empiricism (guest lecture by Mr. Ed Brandon, philosophy programme, UWI, Cave Hill)

• RATIONALISM: René Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy [1641] (see, for example, the selections in John Cottingham, ed.  Western Philosophy: an Anthology pp. 22-26 and pp. 145-152)
• EMPIRICISM: John Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1660] (see, for example, the selections in John Cottingham, ed.  Western Philosophy: an Anthology pp. 26-32, pp. 80-85, and pp. 187-192)

Lec. 2: the Kantian Synthesis of Empiricism and Rationalism and the Kantian Legacy

• Critique of Pure Reason [1781] (see, for example, the selection in John Cottingham, ed.  Western Philosophy: an Anthology pp. 41-45)

Tut.: the tutorial this week will be devoted to the questions on Pope and Johnson from last week

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• Early Modern Philosophy
• Rationalists:
  • Descartes
  • Leibniz
  • Spinoza
• Empiricists:
  • Bacon
  • Locke
  • Berkeley
  • Hume
• Kant

Notes:

• Descartes Meditations
• Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
• Kant: Overview
• Steve Palmquist Glossary of Kant's Technical Terms

Questions:

• See last week's questions on Pope and Johnson.

WEEK 8: KANTIAN AESTHETICS: THE QUEST FOR CRITICAL OBJECTIVITY

Required Readings:

Lec. 1:

• Immanuel Kant Critique of Judgment [1790]: Book I "Analytic of the Beautiful" (pp. 376-386 in Adams; pp. 504-519 in Leitch)

Lec. 2:

• Immanuel Kant Critique of Judgment [1790]: Book II "Analytic of the Sublime" (pp. 386-393 in Adams; pp. 519-535 in Leitch)

Tut.:

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes: Ch. 4: "Romantic Literary Theory":
  • "Herder and the Spirit of the Time" (pp. 62-65)
  • "The Influence of Kant" (pp. 65-69)

On-Line:

• Early Modern Philosophy
• Early Modern Aesthetics
• Kant

Notes:

• Kant Critique of Judgment

Questions:

• Please click here.

WEEK 9: THE KANTIAN LEGACY I: ANGLO-AMERICAN VIEWS ON THE OBJECTIVE READER

Required Readings:

Lec. 1: 19th Century Views

• Matthew Arnold "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time" [1864] (pp. 592-603 in Adams; pp. 806-824 in Leitch)

Lec. 2: Early 20th Century Views

• I. A. Richards Practical Criticism: ch. I and ch. VII [1929] (pp. 827-837 in Adams)

Tut.: in the tutorial this week, we will continue to work on Kant's Critique of Judgment

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes:
  • Ch. 5 "Social Theories of the 19th Century": "Mathew Arnold" (pp. 87-90)
  • Ch. 6. "Naturalism, Symbolism and Modernism": "Modernism and the Avant-garde" (pp. 113-116)
  • Ch. 9 "Anglo-American Criticism, 1900-1960": "Richards and Empson" (pp. 168-176)

On-Line:

• Nineteenth Century Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• Arnold

• Contemporary Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• Modernism

• Richards

• The Audience (the Reader, the Critic)

Notes:

• Arnold "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time"

• Richards Practical Criticism

Questions:

• See the questions on Kant's Critique of Judgment from last week.

• Answer these questions (on Arnold and Richards) on your own.

WEEK 10: THE KANTIAN LEGACY II: ANGLO-AMERICAN VIEWS ON OBJECTIVE REPRESENTATION

Required Readings:

Lec. 1: 19th Century Realism

• Henry James "The Art of Fiction" [1884] (pp. 855-869 in Leitch)

Lec. 2: 20th Century Realism

• Ian Watt The Rise of the Novel [1957]: "Realism and the Novel Form" (also in E23F folder)

Tut.: in the tutorial this week, we will do group presentations on African and Caribbean thinkers' views on the reader (the topic of last week's lectures):

• Achebe, Chinua 
  • Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays: "The Novelist as Teacher" [1965] summary
  • "The Duty and Involvement of the African Writer" [1968] (in The Africa Reader, ed. Wilfred Cartey) summary
• Ramchand, Ken "Concern for Criticism" Caribbean Quarterly 16 (1970): 51-60 (also in E23F folder) summary

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes:
  • Ch. 6 "Naturalism, Symbolism and Modernism": "British Aestheticism and Henry James" (pp. 109-113)
  • Ch. 9 "Anglo-American Criticism, 1900-1960": "Leavis and the Leavisites" (pp. 176-182)

On-Line:

• Nineteenth Century Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• James

• Contemporary Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• Watt

• Representation

• The Novel

Notes:

• James "The Art of Fiction"

• Watt "Realism and the Novel Form"

Questions:

• Answer these questions (on James and Watt) on your own.

WEEK 11: THE KANTIAN LEGACY III: ANGLO-AMERICAN VIEWS ON THE AUTHOR / LITERARY HISTORY

Required Readings:

Lec. 1: 19th Century Views

• Matthew Arnold "The Study of Poetry" [1880] (pp. 603-607 in Adams)

Lec. 2: Early 20th Century Views

• T. S. Eliot "Tradition and the Individual Talent" [1917] (pp. 761-764 in Adams; pp. 1092-1098 in Leitch)

Tut.: in the tutorial this week, we will do group presentations on African and Caribbean thinkers' views on representation (the topic of last week's lectures):

• Chinua Achebe "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart Of Darkness" [1975] (also in E23F folder)
• Ramchand, Ken The West Indian Novel and its Background [1970]:
  • "Introduction" (pp.3-15; also in E23F folder)
  • "The Contemporary Linguistic Situation" (pp. 90-96; also in E23F folder)
  • "Dialect and West Indian Fiction" (pp. 96-107; also in E23F folder)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes:
  • Ch. 5 "Social Theories of the 19th Century": "Mathew Arnold" (pp. 87-90)
  • Ch. 6 "Naturalism, Symbolism and Modernism":
    • "Modernism and the Avant-Garde" (pp.113-116)
    • "Hulme and Pound" (pp.116-120)
    • "T. S. Eliot" (pp. 120-124)
  • Ch. 9 "Anglo-American Criticism, 1900-1960": "Leavis and the Leavisites" (pp. 176-182)

On-Line:

• Nineteenth Century Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• Arnold

• Contemporary Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• Modernism

• Eliot

• Author

• Literary History (the Tradition)

Notes:

• Arnold "The Study of Poetry"
• T. S. Eliot "Tradition and the Individual Talent"
• Ramchand The West Indian Novel and its Background
• Achebe "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart Of Darkness"

Questions:

• Answer these questions (on Arnold and Eliot) on your own.

WEEK 12: THE KANTIAN LEGACY IV: ANGLO-AMERICAN FORMALISM

Required Readings:

Lec. 1:

• John Crowe Ransom "Criticism as Pure Speculation" [1941] (pp. 874-883 in Adams)

• William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley
  • "The Intentional Fallacy" [1946] (pp. 945-951 in Adams; pp. 1374-1387 in Leitch)
  • "The Affective Fallacy" [1949] (pp. 951-959 in Adams; pp. 1387-1403 in Leitch)

Lec. 2:

• Cleanth Brooks
  • The Well-Wrought Urn [1947]: "The Heresy of Paraphrase" (also pp. 961-968 in Adams; pp. 1353-1366 in Leitch)
  • "The Formalist Critics" [1951] (pp. 1366-1371 in Leitch)

Tut.: in the tutorial this week (the final for the course), we will do group presentations on African and Caribbean thinkers' views on authorship and the tradition (the topic of last week's lectures):

• Kamau Brathwaite Roots:

  • "Sir Galahad and the Islands" [1957]
  • "Roots" [1963] (also in E23F folder)
  • "Caribbean Critics" [1969] (also in E23F folder)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

• Harland, Richard Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes: "Anglo-American Criticism, 1900-1960":
  • "The New Criticism: Southern Phase" (pp. 182-184)
  • "The New Criticism: Hegemonic Phase" (pp. 187-194)

On-Line:

• Contemporary Anglo-American Aesthetics / Critical Theory

• New Criticism

• Ransom

• Wimsatt

• Beardsley

• Brooks

• Literary Form

• Poetry

Notes:

• The New Criticism (general overview)
• Ransom "Criticism as Speculation"
• Brooks "The Heresy of Paraphrase"
• Brathwaite
  • "Sir Galahad and the Islands"
  • "Roots"
  • "Caribbean Critics"

Questions:

• Answer these questions (on Ransom, Wimsatt and Beardsley, and Brooks) on your own.