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Academic Year 2005/2006
Theory of Narrative in History and Fiction
COL 294 FA
The class will examine how writers and historiographers approach and interpret the past in fictional storytelling and historical writing in the effort to achieve a faithful representation of characters and events. The
emphasis
will be on theoretical approaches to narrative. In our reading and class discussion, we will examine the narrative theory of emplotment and figurative language employed in both fiction and historiography by such
theorists
as Victor Shklovsky, Boris Tomashevsky, Mikhail Bakhtin, Isaiah Berlin, Paul Ricoeur, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, and Hayden White. We will read three novels: William Wells Brown CLOTEL, Stendhal¿s THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA
and
Tolstoy¿s WAR AND PEACE. The course will address the need for literary theory in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of literature.
MAJOR READINGS
Bakhtin, Mikhail, EPIC AND NOVEL: TOWARD A METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL
The Dialogic Imagination. Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin. Edited by M. Holquist, translated by C. Emerson and M. Holquist. Austin,
1981
Berlin, Isaiah, THE HEDGEHOG AND
THE FOX. AN ESSAY ON TOLSTOY'S VIEW OF HISTORY, New York, 1953
Brown, William Wells, CLOTEL; OR, THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER: A NARRATIVE OF SLAVE LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES, New York, 1989.
Genette, Gerard, NARRATIVE
DISCOURSE. AN ESSAY IN METHOD,
Transl by Jane E. Lewin, Ithaca, 1980
Ricoeur, Paul, TIME AND NARRATIVE, vol. 1. Chicago, 1984; "Life in Quest of Narrative"
IN ON PAUL RICOEUR. NARRATIVE AND INTERPRETATION, ed. by David Wood, London & New York,
1991
Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith,
NARRATIVE FICTION: CONTEMPORARY POETICS, London, New York, 1983
Shklovsky, Victor, "Sterne's TRISTRAM SHANDY: Stylistic Commentary," IN RUSSIAN FORMALIST CRITICISM. FOUR ESSAYS, Translated and with an Introduction by
Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis, Li
ncoln, Nebraska, 1965
Stendhal (Marie Henri Beyle),. The Charterhouse of Parma, Translated by Richard Howard, Modern Library Classics
Tolstoy, Leo. WAR AND PEACE, The Norton Library edition
Tomashevsky, Boris,
"Thematics," IN RUSSIAN FORMALIST
CRITICISM. FOUR ESSAYS, Translated and with an Introduction by Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1965
White, Hayden. "Introduction," METAHISTORY: THE HISTORICAL IMAGINATION IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY
EUROPE, Baltimore & London, 1973;
"
The Value of Narrativity," in ON NARRATIVE, Ed. By W.J.T. Mitchell, Chicago, 1981
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Three papers, and oral class presentation.
COURSE FORMAT:
Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL
Grading Mode:
Student Option
Prerequisites:
NONE
SECTION 01
- Instructor(s): Slobin,Greta
- Times: ..T.R.. 10:30AM-11:50AM; Location: BTFDC314;
- Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 20)
- SR. major: 5 Jr. major: 6
- SR. non-major: 1 Jr. non-major: 2 SO: 6 FR: X
Special Attributes:
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-30-2006
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