Introduction to Literature and Visual Culture

INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE AND VISUAL CULTURE BTAN22002BA 2015/16/1

Type: seminar, 2nd year BA Office hours: Wed 11-12 Instructor: Anna Petneházi Office: Main Building, 105 Time and place: E-mail: [email protected] Wed 12-13.40; Room 106 Wed 14-15.40; Room 121

Course Description

The aim of this course is to help students acquire some basic skills and terminology of reading literary as well as visual texts. We will analyze short stories, advertisements and a film to see how meaning and effect are created. Each class will focus on specific concepts of literary and cultural analysis (point-of-view, narration, characterization, irony, etc.) to show the various ways for reading texts and cultural phenomena critically.

Requirements:

1. In-class participation: the class format will be discussion, so students are expected to read the assignment(s) for each class and contribute to the discussion. 2. Minor plot tests: short tests at the beginning of the class to check whether students are familiar with the assigned material. 3. In-class essay: an essay of 300-400 words written in class based on the material covered in the first half of the semester. 4. End-term test: short essay questions to be answered in 5-6 sentences, based on all the literary texts, advertisements, films, music videos discussed in class. The test must be written at the time scheduled in the syllabus. Failing to do so or not achieving 50% of the total score will count as course failure, and only one re-sit test will be scheduled to make up for the failure. If you fail both the in-class essay and the end-term test, the grade is one as it is possible to rewrite only one of these. 5. Class attendance: more than three absences will result in failing the entire course.

Grading: The final grade for the course will consist in the following: 1. In-class participation 10% 2. Plot/content tests: 10% 3. In-class essay: 40% 4. End-term test: 40%

Assessment of in-class essays: The essays must have a clear statement of thesis, and all the further statements must be related to this central topic or question. The text (arguments, agreements and disagreements) must be organised coherently so that the point you make and your flow of thoughts must be clear for the reader. The essays must, naturally, be finished with a well articulated conclusion which is supposed to be the culmination of your proposed arguments. The essays will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

 the articulateness of the thesis;  the clarity of the position you take;  the quality of the arguments;  the coherence of the structure;  the level of your language.

The essays will not be evaluated on the basis of what your tutor’s position is in a certain issue, so feel free to elaborate your own ideas—but do it in a sophisticated way. If the percentage for the essay and the end-term does not add up to 50%, the final grade cannot be achieved, the course is failed.

Neither in-class essays, nor end-term tests can be rewritten. If the essay is two short, or too badly written, and receives a very low percentage, the student will have to write a very good end-term test in order to get a grade for the course. Unlike exams, both the essay and the end- term assess how students have been studying during the entire semester. If the mark for the essay and the end-term does not add up to 50 %, the final grade for the course will be 1. Only vocabulary tests can be rewritten, as it is described above.

GRADING POLICY

Course components In-class essay Points vocabulary tests evaluation classroom discussion statement of thesis 3 in-class essay quality of argument 12 objective test coherence of structure 12 total level of language 8 total 35

Overall Grades percentage 87-100% 5 75-86% 4 63-74% 3 51-62% 2 0-50 % 1

(N.B. NO GRADE CAN BE OBTAINED UNLESS ALL THE COURSE COMPONENTS ARE FULFILLED) Schedule

WEEK DATE TOPIC

What is culture? Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies 16/09 Reading (for this class): Judy Giles and Tim Middleton: “What is 1. culture?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Je1CEPkUM Monty Python: Confuse-a-Cat and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmjnEMqHeg Marvellous England Commentators-A Bit of Fry&Laurie Plot vs. Story John Updike: “A&P”* 2. 23/09 William Faulkner: “A Rose for Emily”* Point of view and narration Edgar Allan Poe: “The Tell-Tale Heart”* 3. 30/09 Characterization, Character analysis: Willa Cather: “ Paul’s Case”* Setting 07/10 James Joyce: “Araby”* 4. Kate Chopin: “The Storm”* Reading Symbols: Edgar Allan Poe: “The Masque of the Red Death” 5. 14/10 Isabelle Allende: “And of Clay We Are Created” Irony Kate Chopin: “The Story of an Hour” 6. 21/10 James Thurber: “The Catbird Seat”* O Henry: “The Gift of the Magi” 7. 28/10 CONSULTATION WEEK (No class) 8. 04/11 IN-CLASS ESSAY Introduction to Gender Studies 9. 11/11 Reading: Fiona Tollan’s “Feminisms” Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper” Introduction to postmodernism –fairy tale rewritings Angela Carter:“A Company of Wolves” 10. 18/11 Symbolism in poetry: Liz Lochhead: “Revelation” Reading advertisements Judith Williams: “Meaning and Ideology” in Decoding Advertisements: 11. 25/11 Ideology and Meaning in Advertising HW: Choose an advertisement (printed or animated) and prepare a 5 min. presentation. Please make sure that you bring the chosen ad. Reading Cinematic texts Watch Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (2006) at home! Discussion of 12. 02/12 film. HW: Choose a topic we discussed in class and prepare to show how it works in the film in max. 5 mins. 13. 09/12 END-TERM TEST 14. 16/12 Evaluation N.B.: The titles marked by * can be found in Kennedy: Fiction (116/3) the rest are available online. Essays can be downloaded from the institute web page, under my name: Course materials.