TOPICS COVERED: MODULE III: (EXISTENTIAL) PHENOMENOLOGICAL CRITICISM

Area 1: (EXISTENTIAL) Phenomenology (EXISTENTIALISM)

  1. Transcendental phenomenology:

    1. Modern rationalism:

      1. Descartes' theory of the cogito

      2. Kant's concept of the transcendental self

      3. Hegel on the role played by the 'Master / Slave dialectic' in self-consciousness

    2. Husserl's 'pure' phenomenology

  2. Existential phenomenology:

    1. Nietzsche on uncertainty and the role played by language in the production of all knowledge

    2. Heidegger on 'aletheia' (we didn't do this topic)

    3. Existentialism and Humanism: Sartre's summary of the main principles of Existentialism:

      1. Sartrean metaphysics:

        1. the nature of reality

        2. the nature of self-consciousness

      2. Sartrean epistemology

      3. Sartrean ethics

      4. Sartrean social and political philosophy

There will be no questions specifically on this area in the exam even though a basic knowledge of the philosophical context informing the critical theory below is very useful.

Area 2: Phenomenological Critical Theory

  1. Sartre on the dialectic of author and reader:

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

    2. the acknowledgement of the reader's freedom to interpret texts as s/he sees fit

  2. Hirsch's hermeneutics:

    1. the difference between interpretation and criticism

    2. the factors determining the interpretation of a literary work

    3. the criteria for ensuring that the author's intention has been objectively ascertained

  3. Poulet's phenomenology of the reading process:

    1. the merging of the reader's consciousness with the author's

    2. the quest for the author's characteristic structures of consciousness 

    3. the effacement of the reader's personality

  4. Iser on the interaction between text and reader

  5. Jauss' 'effective' model of literary history

    1. the focus on the history of reception, rather than production

    2. his four theses

Area 3: Feminist Theory: Phenomenological Emphases

Philosophy:

  1. De Beauvoir on the male / female dialectic

  2. Firestone on: 

    1. her critique of both De Beauvoir and Engels

    2. her rewriting of the base / superstructure model to prioritise gender over class

    3. her concept of 'sex-class'

  3. Spender's philosophy of language: 

    1. the sexist nature of language 

    2. its imbrication in the production of sexist forms of knowledge

Critical Theory:

  1. Feminist critique: De Beauvoir on the sexist stereotypes perpetuated by male authors

  2. Gynocriticism: Rich on the female author's act of 're-vision' (we did not do this topic)

  3. The female reader: Schweickart on the difference which the reader's gender makes: how female readers read differently from male readers

Area 4: POST-colonial Theory: Phenomenological Emphases

Philosophy:

  1. Fanon on: 

    1. the rewriting of the base / superstructure model to prioritise race over class

    2. the Manichean structure of colonial society: 

      1. the black / white, European / African, coloniser / colonised dialectic

      2. the 'Master / Slave dialectic': the desire for 'recognition' by the 'Other'

    3. the 'pitfalls' of national consciousness (we did not do this topic)

    4. Fanon's philosophy of language (we did not do this topic)

Critical Theory:
  1. Exploring the implications of the 'Master / Slave dialectic' in literature: 
    1. Colonialist literature: JanMohamed on:
      1. the socio-historical ambience in which colonialist literature was produced
      2. colonialist 'authorship'
      3. colonialist 'representation': the Manichean allegory
    2. Post-colonial literature: 
      1. Fanon on the development of a post-colonial national culture:
        1. the three stages of decolonisation
        2. the critique of Negritude (especially Senghor), its essentialist view of 'black' identity, and concomitant view of literature
        3. the need to 'capture' the uncertainty of Post-colonial identity in the transitory moment of the present
      2. Lamming on the negro writer and the 'gaze' of the other