TOPICS COVERED: MODULE III: (EXISTENTIALIST) PHENOMENOLOGICAL CRITICISM

Area 1: (EXISTENTIALIST) Phenomenology

  1. Hegel on the subjective nature of all knowledge

  2. Hegel's notion of the 'Master / Slave dialectic'

  3. Nietzsche on the formative role played by language in the production of all knowledge

  4. Husserl's 'pure' phenomenology

  5. Sartre's existentialist phenomenology

Area 2: Phenomenological Critical Theory

  1. Sartre's rejection of realism: the quest for the author's 'intention'

  2. Sartre on the productive role played by the reader in interpretation

  3. Sartre on the dialectic between author and reader in interpretation

  4. Poulet on the quest for the author's characteristic structures of consciousness and the effacement of the reader's personality

  5. Iser on the dialectic between author and reader in interpretation

  6. Jauss' attempt to rethink traditional approaches to literary history from the point of view of the reader

  7. Fish's notion of an 'interpretive community'

Area 3: Feminist Theory: Phenomenological Emphases

  1. De Beauvoir's attempt to explain gender and misogyny in terms of the 'Master / Slave dialectic'

  2. De Beauvoir on the dialectic between male and female

  3. Spender on the sexist nature of language and its imbrication in the production of sexist forms of knowledge

  4. De Beauvoir on the sexist stereotypes perpetuated by male authors

  5. Schweickart on how women readers read women authors

Area 4: Anti-colonial Theory: Phenomenological Emphases

  1. Fanon's attempt to explain race and racism in terms of the 'Master / Slave dialectic'

  2. Fanon on the dialectic between coloniser and colonised, black and white
  3. Fanon on the development of post-colonial national culture
  4. Lamming on the negro writer's attempt to define self