LITS2306 EXAM ADVICE, 2007-2008

1.    Given that the term paper examines your knowledge of Module One, the final exam is based on Module Two.  Of course, some information discussed in Module One may inform what we did in Module Two, so it might be important to recall some of that as well.  But your focus should be on Module Two.

2.    There are SIX questions to choose from.  You are required to answer TWO.

3.    Each question asks you to compare the views of at least TWO theorists studied on one topic.

4.    Each question corresponds to the Topic addressed in a particular week of Module 2:

• Week 7: What is Romanticism?  What is neo-Romanticism?  [Vico, Herder, Humboldt, Du Bois, Brathwaite ("Timehri")]

• Week 8: The Author -- topics included:

  • 'Longinus' on the sublime in literature, its five sources, etc.;

  • Young and Brathwaite on the importance of originality;

  • Schleiermacher on hermeneutics (criticism as the quest to interpret the author's intended meaning).

• Week 9: Literary History (understanding literature in relation to its socio-historical context; understanding the development of literature over time as a chronological succession of authors:

  • Romantics & Neo-Romantics: Taine; Brathwaite ("Sir Galahad and the Islands," "Roots," "The African Presence in Caribbean Literature");

  • Positivists: Arnold ("The Study of Poetry"); Eliot.

• Week 10: Representation (Realism v. Naturalism):

  • Romantics & Neo-Romantics: Watt

  • Positivists: Zola, Ramchand (The West Indian Novel and its Background).

• Week 11: the Reader (is criticism necessarily subjective or can it be objective?):

  • Romantics & Neo-Romantics: France, Pater;

  • Positivists: Arnold ("The Function of Criticism"), Richards, Ramchand ("Concern for Criticism").

• Week 12: Literary Form (does the precise form of a work have to do with the author's identity or is it something impersonal?):

  • Romantics & Neo-Romantics: Kandinsky;

  • Positivists: Ransom, Brooks, Walcott.

5.    I would advise you to revise THREE of the topics listed above; in each case,

• familiarise yourself with the topic in question by

  • consulting my handout 01D on the key topics addressed by literary theorists (for the PDF, click here);

  • consulting the relevant PhilWeb page devoted to that topic; and

  • studying some of the secondary sources listed there;

• choose two of the theorists listed and

  • carefully read the primary sources in question in conjunction with my own summaries / notes;

  • carefully study and try to remember the argument advanced in each essay;

  • consult secondary sources for the light that these may shed on the views of the theorist in question (for suggested readings, consult the relevant PhilWeb pages); and

  • compare and contrast the point of view of each theorist;

Remember that the goal is not merely to paraphrase the argument of a particular theorist but to marshall that information in order to answer the particular question asked. 

One way to get a handle on a particular theory is to consider the implications of the argument in question for your own work as a theorist and critic: how has it changed how you think about the nature of human identity, or the nature of knowledge, or the criticism of literature, etc.?  How has it also accordingly changed what you do as a literary critic? 

Another way to grasp a theory is to study a practical application of it.  For example, if you are trying to come to grips with the differences between realism and naturalism, it might be useful to compare what Ian Watt has to say in "Realism and the Novel Form," the theoretical preface to his The Rise of the Novel, with the other chapters which are devoted to studies of particular novels written in the eighteenth century and, as such, exemplify the mimetic approach to literary criticism.

Last but not least, remember that the secret in doing well in any exam is to anticipate the kind of questions which may be asked.  To this end, prepare thoroughly: study the past exam papers in this course and try, in the case of each topic and each theorist, to recall my emphases (and even hints), to put your finger on the main issues at stake and, thus, to figure out the kind of question which may be asked of you.

This site was last updated: February 03, 2011

Please direct all queries HERE

↑ Grab this Headline Animator