HUM 4935 - Seminar In The Humanities: The Western
Critical Tradition
Maricarmen Martinez, Ph.D.
web: www.maricarmenmartinez.com
Office Hours: Tues. & Thurs. 3:30 - 5:00
Dodd 205 P
Course Description:
THIS COURSE ANALYZES THE CRITICAL TRADITION OF THE
WEST AS IT APPLIES TO THE “GREAT BOOKS.” OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO EXAMINE WRITTEN,
VISUAL AND MUSICAL TEXTS ACCORDING TO THE CRITICAL PARADIGMS PREVAILING WHEN
THESE TEXTS WERE PRODUCED. EACH TEXT WILL BE EXAMINED IN ITS CRITICAL CONTEXT.
Requirements:
25% Mid-Term Exam
25% Final Exam
15% Quizzes
10% Class Participation
25% Final Paper
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION IN CLASS DISCUSSION. NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES OR EXAMS UNLESS
WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED.
ACADEMIC HONOR CODE: THIS COURSE ADHERES TO THE ACADEMIC HONOR CODE AS DESCRIBED IN THE STUDENT HANDBOOK.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, AS WELL AS UNIVERSITY POLICY, STUDENTS WITH DOCUMENTED DISABILITIES WILL BE ACCOMMODATED. FEEL FREE TO SEE ME IF YOU WISH TO DISCUSS THIS MATTER.
Text: Harland, Richard. LITERARY THEORY FROM PLATO TO BARTHES: AN INTRODUCTORY HISTORY. New York: St. Marten Press, 1999.
CALENDAR
Jan 7 Introduction
To The Class. Lecture: What Is Criticism? Principles And Systems Of Analysis
Jan 9 Rhetorical Criticism: Plato
Jan 14 Plato: Republic: “The Allegory of the Cave” (Online)
Jan 16 Literary Theory In The Middle Ages: Allegorical Exegesis (Augustine, Confessions…. (Selections)
Jan 21 The Rise And Fall Of Neo Classicism
Jan 23 Don Quixote (First Part, Online)
Jan 28 Don Quixote
Feb 4 The Baroque
Feb 6 Descartes, René Metaphysical Meditations 1-3 (Online)
Feb 11 Baroque Sonnets: Francisco De Quevedo (Xerox Copies)
Feb 13 Romantic Literary Theory
Feb 18 Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther (Online)
Feb 20 Review For Mid-Term
Feb 25 Mid-Term
Feb 27 Special
Lecture: How To Write a Good Term Paper: Guidelines for a Term Paper
March 10 – March 14 Spring Break
March 18 Naturalism, Symbolism And Modernism (The Art)
March 20 Nietzsche and Freud
March 25
Nietzsche: The Origins Of
Tragedy and Nietzsche Versus Wagner
March 26 Hitchcock and Freud
April 1 Lecture on Freud
April 3 Discussion
of Movie Psycho
April 8 Saussure
April 9 Bahktin And His Circle
April 15 Anglo-American Criticism
April 17 The New Criticism
April 21 Review For Final Exam
April 24 Review For The Final Exam
April 28 – May 2 Final Examination Week