LITS2306 HISTORY OF CRITICISM 2007-2008

MODULE TWO: ROMANTICISM v. POSITIVISM

Your exam is scheduled for Thursday December 13 at 4 pm.  Please click on the Exam Advice link.

For the Handout (01D) on the Core Topics Addressed by Literary Theorists, please see the link at the beginning of Module One.
 

WEEK SEVEN: ROMANTICISM¹
 

REQUIRED READINGS

• Giambattista Vico The New Science [1744] (pp. 290-297 in Adams; pp. 401-415 in Leitch)

• 07A Vico The New Science²

• Johann Gottfried von Herder Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of Man [1784-1891] (see selection, pp. 35-49 in Patrick Gardiner, ed. Theories of History) [FOLDER]
• Wilhelm von Humboldt On Language [1836] (pp. 486-491 in Adams)

• 07B Herder Ideas Towards a Philosophy of the History of Man³
  • 07Bi Herder Overview
• 07C Humboldt On Language⁴
  • 07Ci Humboldt Overview

• W. E. B. Du Bois
  • "The Conservation of Races" [1897] (pp. 38-47 in Eric Sundquist, ed. Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader) [FOLDER]
  • "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" [1897] (pp. in Eric Sundquist, ed. Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader) [FOLDER]
• Kamau Brathwaite "Timehri" [1970] (pp. 29-44 in Orde Coombs, ed. Is Massa Day Dead?) [FOLDER]

• 07D Du Bois Selections
• 07E Brathwaite "Timehri"

please print and bring these notes to your tutorial

RECOMMENDED READINGS

• Taylor, Charles Sources of the Self: 
  • "Nature as Source" (pp. 355-367)
  • "The Expressivist Turn" (pp. 368-390)

PHILWEB RESOURCES

• Romanticisms:
  • Vico
  • Herder
  • Humboldt
• African American Thought:
  • Du Bois
• Caribbean Thought:
  • Brathwaite

WEEK EIGHT: ROMANTIC LITERARY THEORY: THE AUTHOR
 

REQUIRED READINGS

• 'Longinus' On the Sublime [1st century CE?] (pp. 76-98 in Adams; pp. 138-154 in Leitch) [please focus on chapters I, II, VII, VIII, IX (1-4), XVI, XXX, XXXIX, XL]
• Edward Young "From Conjectures on Original Composition" [1759] (pp. 329-337 in Adams; pp. 427-437 in Leitch)

• 08A 'Longinus' On the Sublime
• 08B Young Conjectures on Original Composition

• Friedrich Schleiermacher "Outlines of the 1819 Lectures" [1819] (pp. 613-625 in Leitch)

• 08C Schleiermacher "Outlines of the 1819 Lectures":
  • 08Ci Schleiermacher Overview

• Kamau Brathwaite
  • The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica: 1770-1820 [1971] [see extract entitled "Creolisation in Jamaica," pp. 202-204 in Ashcroft, et al.) [FOLDER]
  • "History of the Voice" [1979] (pp. 259-304 in his Roots; or see extract entitled "Nation Language," pp. 309-313 in Ashcroft, et al.) [FOLDER]

[Presentations Begin]
 

My Summaries⁶:

• 08D Brathwaite
  "Creolisation in Jamaica"
• 08E Brathwaite "History of the Voice"

RECOMMENDED READINGS

• M. H. Abrams The Mirror and the Lamp: 
• Richard Harland 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)

PHILWEB RESOURCES

• The Author
• Classical Literature and Literary Theory:
  • 'Longinus'
• Romantic Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Young
  • Schleiermacher
• Caribbean Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Brathwaite

WEEK NINE: ROMANTICISM v. POSITIVISM 1: LITERARY HISTORY
 

REQUIRED READINGS

• Hippolyte Taine "From History of English Literature" [1863] (pp. 609-620 in Adams)

• 09A Taine Introduction to History of English Literature

• Matthew Arnold "The Study of Poetry" [1880] (pp. 603-607 in Adams)
• T. S. Eliot "Tradition and the Individual Talent" [1917] (pp. 761-764 in Adams; pp. 1092-1098 in Leitch)

REGULAR LECTURE, TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6

• 09B Arnold "The Study of Poetry"
• 09C Eliot "Tradition and the Individual Talent"

• Kamau Brathwaite
  • "Sir Galahad and the Islands" [1957] (pp. 7-27 in Roots) [FOLDER]
  • "Roots" [1963] (pp. 28-54 in Roots) [FOLDER]
  • "The African Presence in Caribbean Literature" [1970] (pp. 190-258 in Roots) [FOLDER]

[Presentations Continue]

My Summaries:

• 09D Kamau Brathwaite "Sir Galahad and the Islands"

• 09E Kamau Brathwaite "Roots"

• 09F Kamau Brathwaite "The African Presence in Caribbean Literature"

RECOMMENDED READINGS

• M. H. Abrams The Mirror and the Lamp: 
• Richard Harland 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)

PHILWEB RESOURCES

• Literary History / Intertextuality / Canonicity
• Romantic Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Taine
• 'Victorian' Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Arnold
• Modernism:
  • Eliot
• Caribbean Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Brathwaite

WEEK TEN: ROMANTICISM v. POSITIVISM 2: REPRESENTATION
 

REQUIRED READINGS

• Ian Watt The Rise of the Novel [1957]: "Realism and the Novel Form" [FOLDER]

MAKE-UP LECTURE, 10 AM WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 7

• 10A Watt "Realism and the Novel Form"

• Emile Zola  "From The Experimental Novel" [1880] (pp. 645-655 in Adams)

REGULAR LECTURE, THURSDAY NOVEMBER 8

• 10B Zola The Experimental Novel

• Ken Ramchand The West Indian Novel and its Background [1970] [FOLDER]:
  • "Introduction" (pp. 3-15)
  • "The Contemporary Linguistic Situation" (pp. 90-96)
  • "Dialect and West Indian Fiction" (pp. 96-107)

[Presentations Continue]
 

My Summaries:

• 10C Ramchand The West Indian Novel and its Background

RECOMMENDED READINGS

• Richard Harland Literary Theory: from Plato to Barthes: Ch. 6 "Naturalism, Symbolism and Modernism":
  • "French Naturalists" (pp. 98-103)
  • "British Aestheticism and Henry James" (pp. 109-113)

PHILWEB RESOURCES

• Representation
  • Prose Narrative
• Romantic and Neo-Romantic Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Watt
  • James
• 'Victorian' Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Zola
• Caribbean Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Ramchand

WEEK ELEVEN: ROMANTICISM v. POSITIVISM 3: THE READER / CRITIC
 

REQUIRED READINGS

• Anatole France "The Adventures of a Soul" [1888-1893] (p. 656 in Adams)

• Walter Pater Studies in the History of the Renaissance [1873]: Preface and Conclusion (pp. 641-643 in Adams; pp. 835-840 in Leitch)

• 11A France "The Adventures of a Soul"
• 11B Pater Studies in the History of the Renaissance

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

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

• 11C Arnold "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time"
• 11D Richards Practical Criticism

• Ramchand, Ken "Concern for Criticism" Caribbean Quarterly 16 (1970): 51-60 [FOLDER]

[Presentations Continue]

My Summaries:

• 11E Ramchand "Concern for Criticism"

RECOMMENDED READINGS

• Richard Harland 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":
    • "British Aestheticism and Henry James" (pp. 109-113)
  • Ch. 9 "Anglo-American Criticism, 1900-1960":
    • "Richards and Empson" (pp. 168-176)

PHILWEB RESOURCES

• The Audience (Reader / Critic / Viewer / Spectator)
• Romantic and Neo-Romantic Literature and Literary Theory:
  • France
  • Pater
• 'Victorian' Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Arnold
• Modernism:
  • Richards
• Caribbean Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Ramchand

WEEK TWELVE: ROMANTICISM v. POSITIVISM 4: LITERARY FORM AND FORMALISM
 

REQUIRED READINGS

• Wassily Kandinsky "On the Problem of Form" (1912)

• 12A Kandinsky "On the Problem of Form"

• John Crowe Ransom "Criticism as Pure Speculation" [1941] (pp. 874-883 in Adams)
• Cleanth Brooks The Well-Wrought Urn [1947]: "The Heresy of Paraphrase" (pp. 961-968 in Adams; pp. 1353-1366 in Leitch)

• 12B Ransom "Criticism as Pure Speculation"
• 12C Brooks "The Heresy of Paraphrase"

• Derek Walcott "The Muse of History" [1974] (pp. 36-64 in his What the Twilight Says: Essays) [FOLDER]

[Final Presentations]

My Summaries:

• 12D Walcott "The Muse of History"

RECOMMENDED READINGS

• Richard Harland 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)

PHILWEB RESOURCES

• Literary Form
• Romantic and Neo-Romantic Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Kandinsky
• New Criticism:
  • Ransom
  • Brooks
• Caribbean Literature and Literary Theory:
  • Walcott

FOOTNOTES
 

1. My goal this week is, using Vico, Herder and Humboldt as reference points, to introduce you to some of the basic characteristics of the philosophical and literary movement which has come to be called 'Romanticism' (though its heyday is normally thought to have spanned the period c.1785 - c.1830, it continued to exert a profound influence for the remainder of the 19th century). 

2. You may wish to focus on only those sections of the Vico summary which correspond to the scheduled reading. 

3. Given that the Herder summary is also very long, you may wish to dip into and out of it as you feel like.

4. Ditto for Humboldt.

5. I will schedule an extra lecture at a later date to make up for the one which I missed this week due to illness.

6. I will post my own summaries of the tutorial readings once all the presentations for the week in question are complete.  (Please study these carefully on your own.)

7. Please note that the make-up lecture will be held at 10 am on WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2007 (the location will probably be in the White Building, hopefully one of LR6, 7, 8 or 9).  This will bring us back on schedule.

8. Please note that the final lecture (on the New Critics Ransom and Brooks) will be held on Tuesday November 27, 2007. 

9. My last tutorial (devoted to Walcott's "The Muse of History") will be held immediately after the lecture, rather than at its normal time on Wednesday.  Dr. Hunte's tutorials will be held at their regular hours on Tuesday and Thursday.