Theory of Narrative in History and Fiction
COL 294
Fall 2005
| Section:
01
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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. |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
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, Lincoln, 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
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Examinations and Assignments:
Three papers, and oral class presentation. |
| Instructor(s): Slobin,Greta Times: ..T.R.. 10:30AM-11:50AM; Location: BTFDC314; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 20 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 6 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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