Writing About Literature: Literary Studies as a Discipline

1. Writing About Literature: Literary Studies as a Discipline Introduction to Literature Lecture 2

2. Critical Thinking In writing: to learn to articulate ideas properly to accumulate data to arrange data into an appropriate argumentative line to learn how to refute mistaken, incorrect, erroneous opinions to learn how to draw a relevant conclusion from premises

4. Frank Kermode on literary theory "It is not expected of critics as it is of poets that they should help us to make sense of our lives; they are bound only to attempt the lesser feat of making sense of the ways in which we try to make sense of our lives.This series of talks is devoted to such an attempt, and I am well aware that neither good books nor good counsel have purged it of ignorance and dull vision; but

5. Frank Kermode on literary theory (cont) I take comfort from the conviction that the topic is infallibly interesting, and especially at a moment in history when it may be harder than ever to accept the precedents of sense-making -- to believe that any earlier way of satisfying one's need to know the shape of life in relation to the perspectives of time will suffice.”

6. Critical Thinking the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information gathered from observation,experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication based on intellectual values such as clarity, accuracy, consistency, relevance, depth, fairness see def by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, quoted at http://www.criticalthinking.org

7. Critical Thinking involves the intellectual commitment of using the above skills to guide behavior Fairmindedness to avoid skillful manipulation of ideas to avoid irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest to avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues to consider appropriately the rights and needs of others

8. Style Guides The formal requirements of a research paper may be specific to discipline publication publisher individual class

12. Joseph Gibaldi:MLA Handbook for Writers of Research PapersNew York: The Modern Language Association of America (7th edition)

14. Style Guides

15. Good writing Grammar, structure, style Mechanics, punctuation Usage Clarity, coherence, unity in sentence structures in developing paragraphs Exposition, argument, persuasion, conclusion Abstract, summary

16. Critical genres Review, criticism Research paper, scholarly essay, personal essay Book chapter Collection of essays, critical papers, reviews Thesis, dissertation Book, monograph

17. Donald Hall and Sven Birkerts Beth S. NemanWriting Well Teaching Students to WriteLongman 9th ed. Oxford University Press 2nd ed.

18. Critical Thinking The Act of Writing

19. Writing with a Purpose

20. Some magazines of literary criticism in which the articles and books reviews are exemplary - in their layout, - intellectual precision, - competence, - fairmindedness:

21. Times Literary Supplementfounded in 1902

22. London Review of Booksfounded in 1979

23. The New York Review of Booksfounded in 1963

24. Periodicals with literary essays • TLS The Times Literary Supplement • http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/ • London Review of Books http://www.lrb.co.uk/ • The New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/

25. The literary essay Flexible form – formal or informal when informal: ideas are presented and argued supported by quotations (history of the essay as a literary kind) when formal: the academic essay

26. The academic essay Tends to be formal, with a set of rules depending on the area of expertise Essays and essay formats within various disciplines covered by SEAS: http://seaswiki.elte.hu/research/publications

27. Summary: Forms News media: scandals, celebrations, promotions Authority issues: censorship, publication rights Format: journals, magazines, collections, monographs online, printed Education: papers, exams, theses, dissertations presentations Audiences: specialised or lay readership Styles: formal, informal from academic writing to blogs

28. Examples from DES • angolPark http://seas3.elte.hu/angolpark/ • The AnaChronisT http://anachronist.atw.hu/ Style guide for literature: e.g., MLA Handbook 8th Edition

29. For a seminar paper • Check requirements of instructor, concerning theme, content, method, form • Select a work or a problem that is of interest to you. • Choose a title that describes a question or problem.

30. For a seminar paper (cont.) • Collect the points that you want to make, and build an argument from them. • Support your points and arguments by quotations from the work(s) in question, using critical sources as well. • Always provide the source of your quotation.

31. For a seminar paper (cont.) In the introduction explain what you want to do, such as analyse a book from a certain point of view; compare the treatment of a problem in two or more works; describe a feature of an author's style or other strategy in two or more works by the same author; discuss a more theoretical question of literature using works as examples.

32. For a seminar paper (cont.) Problems to discuss and features to analyse: narration, characterisation, structure, style, motifs, use of symbols, treatment of social or moral issues, among others

33. For a seminar paper (cont.) Then go ahead and write an interesting, argumentative paper. In your conclusionsummarize your results. What have you learnt from all your work? How could you sum up your most important discoveries for someone new to your topic?

34. If you want to test yourself Give a one-line definition of the following terms: • variation • author • anthology Give a one-paragraph definition of one of the following terms: • context • edition

35. Now for a 15-minute task Choose one of the following two extracts and • list possible ways you could analyse the piece • choose one approach and actually carry out the analysis Please find extracts on the next slide.

36. Extract No 1 All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, ... • Shakespeare:As You Like It, II.vii.

37. Extract No 2 I am the poet of the body and I am the poet of the Soul, The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me, The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into a new tongue. Walt Whitman, Song of Myself,Section 21 http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/logr/log_026.html

38. Now see what you have done • Did you write all 3 one-line definitions? • Did you notice that you only had to write a one-paragraph definition on one topic? • Did you notice that you had to list possible analytical approaches to one of the two texts only? • Did you remember to do the list, as well as choose one approach to elaborate?

39. Planning, writing and presenting a critical paper The purpose is to enable the student to demonstrate that • she/he knows how to use libraries and other sources effectively to locate relevant materials • she/he can prepare and write up a sustained and logically structured academic argument in clear prose • she/he can present her/his work well, using appropriate scholarly conventions

40. The Process Deciding on a topic Wide range of possible research topics At BA and MA levels usually assigned to students When the task is assigned, questions to be asked: What were the key studies in the field? What kinds of approaches have been taken to the subject?

41. Process Turning a topic into an argument to give a direction to develop a set of questions to be answered or problems to be solved in the paper Information and data should be gathered in order to answer the questions, solve the problems A good paper takes the form of an argument

42. Process turning a topic into an argument: argue - for or against an existing critic or critical position - about the importance of a particular influence on a writer or an influence exerted by her/him - about the nature of the genre of a work - about the significance of a little-known or undervalued author or work - about some historical or literary-historical aspect of literature

43. Process Working out a structure Consider the question of length of the planned paper Internal division of the argument into introduction, elaboration, conclusion The elaboration section may be divided into smaller units Development of the argument

44. Process A research proposal when registering for a BA thesis should contain: Title Argument – in a concise form Materials – presented in some detail (primary sources, secondary sources) Conclusion – provisional References – sources to be used Bibliography – all relevant primary and secondary texts

45. Process Writing a paper taking notes –techniques from the first rough draft to the final version format of the text setting out references – acknowledge quotations

46. Appendix:an example for a history of literary evaluation The critical reception of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot from the first reviews of the 1953 Paris première of En attendant Godot to canonisation

49. Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot In the play two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives. En attendant Godot was originally written in French. The French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949, first published in September 1952 by Les Éditions de Minuit. The premiere, directed by Roger Blin, was on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. The English version was first printed in 1954 by Grove Press, New York. It was premiered in London on 3 August 1955 at the Arts Theatre, directed by Peter Hall.