The aim of this course is to learn how to define, analyse and interpret poetry, drama and narrative prose. To this end, students will acquire a set of crucial critical skills, as well as conceptual knowledge of literary devices, conventions and rhetorical figures. They will also become acquainted with the necessary terminology to be able to discuss and write about literature.

COMPETENCES



This subject belongs to the Fundamentos de Literatura Inglesa Module. Specifically it contributes to the achievement of module competences





M04CM01- To understand the English language and to use it properly through the reading of different literary texts.

M04CM02- To analyze literature written in English, exploring the interaction of the literary texts with the cultural and historical context in English- speaking countries.

M04CM03- To understand, analyze and interpret critically literature in English, using adequate text analysis techniques and to transmit and discuss it in groups and individually.

M04CM04- To understand the role of literature in the creation of personal and collective ideas related to fields of general interest, such as history, social relations or gender.





Final achievement of the module competences above entails the fulfilment of the degree competences



- G001 To be able to produce and understand any type of oral and written text in English.

- G002 To know the history, civilization and culture of the English-speaking countries.

- G004 To understand, analyse and interpret English literature and to be able to evaluate critically texts and documents in English.

- G006 To be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts in a second language and to express oneself with fluency both orally and in writing in that language.

- G007 To be able to relate the specific knowledge of the degree with other areas and disciplines and to transmit that knowledge in further studies in order to favour conciliatory and tolerant attitudes towards multilingual and multicultural diversity

- G008 To be able to work autonomously and in teams, making use of the techniques and tools acquired.

- G009 To be able to transmit the knowledge acquired in different academic contexts to be used in diverse professional contexts

INTRODUCCION A LA LITERATURA EN INGLÉS is a course which aims at providing students with the skills, theoretical knowledge and methodological tools to carry out in-depth literary analyses of texts by Anglophone authors. It is intended as a practical course: for each literary device or convention defined by the instructor there will be a corresponding text analysis aimed at practising the identification and contextual interpretation of said device/convention. Students will earn how to use a dictionary of symbols, to ponder over the author's specific intention in using certain linguistic feature, thematic tropes, and stylistic strategies, and to identify the effect of the latter on the reader's experience of the literary text. Students are expected to become acquainted with the necessary literary terms, which is why they are referred to the text-book provided in the bibliography.



Unit 1: Defining Literature



1.1.Modern and Postmodern perspectives

1.1.1.Roland Barthes and the ‘death of the Author’

1.1.2. Michel Foucault and the 'death of Subject'



1.2.Literatures in English: national and historical points of view



1.3.A brief overview of the main literary periods



1.4.Establishing a canon

1.4.1.1.Harold Bloom and the Western Canon

1.4.1.2.Postcolonial takes on the canon



1.5.Literary Criticism

1.5.1.Structuralism

1.5.2.New Historicism

1.5.3.Post-Structuralism

1.5.4.Postmodernism

1.5.5.Feminism and Gender Studies

1.5.6.Marxism

1.5.7.Postcolonialism

1.5.8.Queer Studies



Unit 2: Hermeneutics and literary analysis

2.1.Inductive and deductive methodologies



2.2.Establishing a working hypothesis



2.3.Critical analysis



2.4.Literal, Figurative and Abstract levels of interpretation



2.5.Formulating a thesis



2.6.Reaching an interpretative conclusion



Unit 3 Figurative language

3.1.Images



3.2.Symbols



3.3.Analogies and similes



3.4.Metaphors

3.4.1.Implicit and explicit metaphors

3.4.2.Extended metaphors



Unit 4: Rhetorical figures



4.1.Lexical devices



4.2.Morphosyntactic devices



4.3.Logical structures



Unit 5: Poetry



5.1.Prosody



5.2.Rhyme and diction



5.3.Poetic licences



5.4.Genres



Unit 6: Narrative prose



6.1.Narrator and focaliser



6.2.Characterisation



6.3.Speech and thought presentation



6.4.Plot



6.5.Setting



6.6.Genres



Unit 7: Drama



7.1.Mimesis: showing vs. telling



7.2.Evolution and material characteristics of theatres



7.3.The playscript



7.4.Conventions

7.4.1.Dramatic speech

7.4.2.Dramatic action

7.4.3.Dramatic structures

7.4.4.Character types



7.5.Genres

During the first 5 weeks of the course, each session will be divided into a series of theoretical and practical increments: during a theoretical increment, the instructor will introduce a concept or literary convention or device, and during the subsequent practical increment, students will be divided in smaller groups and will work on identifying and studying the use of said literary device, concept or convention in a text provided by the instructor; a general discussion will follow, before proceeding to the next theoretical section of the class.



From week 6 onwards, on Tuesdays students will work in groups and present the homework assigned by the instructor during the previous week. This group homework will be task-oriented and designed to practise new analytical and hermeneutical skills every week. Each group will present the results of their team effort, and the quality of their participation in the subsequentdebate will be graded (10% of the final mark). After the results of the independent work of each group have been revised and discussed by the class, a new literary text (or fragment thereof) will be introduced by the instructor: students will be expected to work in groups on said text and to apply all the various analytical strategies, theoretical concepts and critical skills in order to reach an ultimate abstract interpretation. Thursdays, on the contrary, will be devoted to presenting new theoretical content and analytical/hermeneutical skills.



Twice per term, there will be an online Q&A session with the instructor; it will be scheduled during the latter's office hours and recorded so as to ensure maximum reach. Every student will be expected to submit at least one question beforehand.



Students will be provided with a compulsory reading list of poems, plays and short-stories available from Egela. Those students wishing to get a copy of the complete works of each author under study can do so. General references of the books from which the short stories and poems have been taken will also be provided.

• Sistema de Evaluación Continua
• Sistema de Evaluación Final
• Herramientas y porcentajes de calificación:
  • Prueba escrita a desarrollar (%): 70
  • Trabajos en equipo (resolución de problemas, diseño de proyectos) (%): 20
  • Exposición de trabajos, lecturas… (%): 10

The type of assessment is mixed. Students will be assessed according to their performance in the following testing tasks:

group weekly assignments (20%), oral presentations and debates regarding the weekly assignments (10%), mid-term written exam (10%: identification of rhetorical figures + 10%: definitions of literary concepts and devices + 15%: guided interpetative analysis of a poem), final written exam (10%: identification of narrative strategies & rhetorical figures + 10%: definitions of literary concepts and devices + 15%: guided interpetative analysis of a short story)



Students must bring their D.N.I. to each test/exam and show it, if requested. Those without their D.N.I. will not be allowed to sit for the exam.



The deadlines for the assignments are final and any work submitted later than the appointed deadline will score 0 marks.



The consequence of plagiarism in the assignments and/or cheating (during the written exams) is failing the course as a whole. In other words, if you plagiarise any parts of your assignments, or try to cheat in any way during the final exam, you will immediately score a 0 as your FINAL MARK.





Withdrawal from Continuous or Mixed Assessment: All students have the right to be evaluated according to the final evaluation procedure independently of whether or not they have participated in the continuous or mixed assessment module. In order to do so, they must write the instructor responsible for the course expressing their desire to withdraw from the continuous/mixed assessment. Students can do so within the first 9 weeks of the course, according to the academic calendar of their centre.

Withdrawal from an exam call: Withdrawal from a call will be assessed as “no grade reported” [no presentado/a].

1. In the case of continuous or mixed assessment, if a student has sit the mi-term exam and submitted all the assignments, and has been present during the oral debates, they will be given a final grade regardless of whether they sit the final exam or not. In order for no grade to be reported at the end of course, students must not have sat/submitted more than 40% of the assessment tasks.

2. In the case of final assessment, not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.



Assessment for students who have withdrawn from mixed assessment:

final exam (theory + commentary on various literary texts = 100%)

The mark will be based on a written exam (50%: theory + 25%: literary analysis and interpretation of a poem + 25%: a literary analysis and interpetation of a short story).



The new regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia



Assessment for students who have withdrawn from mixed assessment:

same as for everybody else.

No parts of the first call grade will be carried over to the second call. Students must take the whole exam again.

Compulsory materials other than the coursebook by Fraçoise Grellet (see below) will be provided by the instructor, including all the compulsory readings culled from the theoretical sources listed in the bibliography below, and the literary texts and excerpts thereof to be analysed throughout the course.

Bibliografía básica

Grellet, Françoise, A Handbook of Literary Terms (Paris, Hachette Supérieur, 1996)

Bibliografía de profundización

Eagleton, Terry, How to Read Literature (Blackwell, 2007)
Gray, Martin. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. Singapore: Longman York Press, 1996 (1982) Second Edition.
Hall, D. To Read Literature. Chicago: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992*
Hopkins, Chris. Thinking About Texts. An Introduction to English Studies (New York,Palgrave, 2001)

Narrative:
Hawthorn, Jeremy. Studying the Novel. An Introduction. London: Edward Arnold, 1992 (1985)
Peck, John. How to Study a Novel. London: Macmillan, 1995
Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction. London: Routledge, 1992

Poetry:
Curtis, Tony. How to Study Modern Poetry. London: Macmillan, 1990
Eagleton, Terry, How to Read a Poem (Blackwell, 2007)
Peck, John. How to Study a Poet. London: Macmillan, 1988

Drama:
Balme, Cristopher B. The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies. Cambridge UP, 2008.
Bloom, Clive and Brian Docherty. American Drama.Palgrave Macmillan, 1995.
King, Bruce. Post-Colonial English Drama: Commonwealth Drama since 1960. Palgrave Macmillan, 1992.
Nicoll, Allardyce. History of English Drama 1660–1900: Volume 6. Cambridge UP, 2010.
Radosavljevic, D. Theatre-Making: Interplay Between Text and Performance in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Shepherd, Simon. English Drama: A Cultural History.John Wiley and Sons, 1996.