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Course: Theory of Literary Canon

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Course title Theory of Literary Canon
Course code KAA/TLIK
Organizational form of instruction Seminar
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study not specified
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 3
Language of instruction English
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Bubíková Šárka, doc. Ph.D.
Course content
Terminology: canon, classics, literary tradition. Biblical and literary canon: a useful parallel? Functions of literary canons. Canon and power. Canon and the institution of school. Influence of literary theory and literary criticism on the canon. Case study: the formation of American literary canon. Case study: American canon before WW II. Case study: American canon after WW II. Case study: "Opening-up the canon". Case study: American canon and the theories of American literature. Literary canon and other national literatures.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Methods of individual activities, Demonstration, Projection, Skills training
Learning outcomes
The aim of this course is to introduce the complex issue of literary canon formation and transformations, explain some of the theory underlying a literary canon and illustrate the theoretical aspects on the example of American literary canon. The students will gain understanding of the studied phenomenon, its literary, cultural, and social role and will be able to apply this important theoretical background to particular national literatures.
The students will gain understanding of the studied phenomenon, its literary, cultural, and social role and will be able to apply this important theoretical background to particular national literatures.
Prerequisites
unspecified

Assessment methods and criteria
Work-related product analysis, Discussion

Seminar attendance (20%) Presentation: (30%) - students will be required to do a presentation on one of the texts assigned for the seminars; they can do so individually or in pairs; the aim of the presentation is to ensure the class understands the concepts and terminology of the text; the presentation should include questions for promoting discussion and understanding of the text; outline of the presentation and the questions are to be handed in a day before the presentation is due in class Essay; (50%) - a research paper of 1500 words on the canonical status and its changes of a selected work of American literature or on a selected theoretical topic, or paper applying the theory to a national literature of the student's choice - details to be given at the beginning of the course
Recommended literature
  • Other works can be recommended based on individual interests.
  • Altieri, Charles. An Idea and Ideal of a Literary Canon. Critical Inquiry 10, 1983.
  • Avallone, Charlene. What American Renaissance? The Gendered Genealogy of a Critical Discourse. PMLA 5, sv. 112, 1997.
  • BUBÍKOVÁ,Š. Literatuta v Americe, Amerika v literatuře. Univerzita Pardubice, 2007.
  • Carby, Hazel V. Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist. New York: Oxford UP, 1987.
  • Fiedler, Leslie A., Baker, Houston A. Jr. English Literature: Opening Up the Canon. John Hopkins UP, 1981.
  • Guillory, John. Canonical and Non-canonical: A Critique of the Current Debate. English Literary History 54, 1987.
  • Kartiganer Donald M., Griffith, Malcolm A. Theories of American Literature. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962.
  • Kenner, H. The Making of the Modernist Canon. Canons. Ed. R. von Hallberg. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1979.
  • Lauter, Paul. Canons and Contexts. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991.
  • Ohman, Richard. The Shaping of a Canon: U.S. Fiction, 1960-1975. Critical Inquiry 10, 1983.
  • Palumbo-Liu, David, ed. The Ethnic Canon: Histories, Institutions, and Interventions. Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.
  • Parker, Hershel. The Price of Diversity: An Ambivalent Minority Report on the American Literary Canon. College Literature 3, sv. 18, 1991.
  • Reising, Russell. The Unusable Past: Theory and the Study of American Literature. New York: Methuen, 1986.
  • Showalter, Elaine. The New Feminist Criticism. Essays on Women, Literature and Theory. New York: Pantheon Books, 1995.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Study plan (Version): Historical and Literary Studies (2013) Category: History courses 3 Recommended year of study:3, Recommended semester: Summer
University of Pardubice, date of update: 28.05.2024 23:50.