Term Paper 2009-2010

LITS3304 CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY:
(POST-)STRUCTURALISMS AND POST-COLONIALISMS

TERM PAPER 2009-2010

BASED ON MODULE ONE: STRUCTURALISM

Answer ONE (1) of the following questions, referring closely to the text(s) of the theorist(s) in question:

1. "Saussure's view of language is quite different, to say the least, from those of any of his predecessors." Referring closely to his Course on General Linguistics, discuss the revolutionary nature of Saussure's model of the sign.

2. "Subjectivity is less the origin of language than its effect." Discuss, in the light of this statement, Benveniste's critique of the concept of ‘self-expression’ in "Subjectivity in Language."

3. "Benveniste argues that it is the relationship between signifier and signified which is arbitrary, not that between sign and referent." Is this a fair summary of his "The Nature of the Linguistic Sign"?

4. Discuss how Jakobson, in "Two Types of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances," seeks to explain the phenomenon of aphasia by building on Saussure's conception of the paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes.

5. "Though often accused of formalism, the Russian Formalists were often in fact preoccupied with questions of (literary) history." Discuss with reference to Shklovsky's "Art as Technique" and "Problems in the Study of Literature and Language" by Jakobson and Tynianov.

6. Say what is specifically 'structuralist' about the approach to narratology advanced by either Todorov in "Structural Analysis of Narrative" or Barthes in "An Introduction to the Structuralist Approach to Narrative."

7. Using Lanser's "Towards a Feminist Narratology" as your guide, discuss the usefulness of narratology for the study of Post-colonial literature.

DEADLINE: 4 pm, Thursday, November 12, 2009

LENGTH: 7 pages maximum (typewritten, double-spaced)

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