UE: Extraordinary 20th Century Criticism

For advanced students of literary studies, this course will consider critical writing as an art in itself by examining critical works by seven 20th century authors – Henry James, Vladimir Nabokov, Ezra Pound, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Italo Calvino, and Susan Sontag.

April 25 Introduction

May 2 “Lightness” and “Quickness”: Six Memos for the Next Millennium – Italo Calvino               

May 9 “Exactitude,” “Visibility,” “Multiplicity”: Six Memos for the Next Millennium – Calvino

May 16 ABC of Reading – Pound pp. 95 – 206) 

May 23 ABC of Reading – Ezra Pound (pp. 1 – 92)

June 6 Death and the Labyrinth – Michel Foucault (Chaps. 1 – 4)

June 13 Death and the Labyrinth – Foucault (Chaps. 5 – 8)

June 20 The Pleasure of the Text – Roland Barthes

June 27 “Fascinating Fascism”; “Under the Sign of Saturn”: Under the Sign of Saturn – Susan Sontag 

July 4 Nikolai Gogol – Vladimir Nabokov (Chaps. 1 – 3)

July 11 Nikolai Gogol – Nabokov (Chaps. 4 – 7)

July 19 The Art of the Novel – Henry James (Chaps. 1 – 3, 5)July 26 The Art of the Novel – James (Chaps. 6, 12, 17)

Course requirements:

Regular attendance (no more than three absences allowed); Referat; participation; reading quizzes on each book; in-class writing activity.

Required Texts:

Six Memos for the Next Millennium – Italo Calvino, tr. Patrick Creagh (Penguin Modern Classics)
Under the Sign of Saturn – Susan Sontag (Penguin Modern Classics)
ABC of Reading – Ezra Pound (New Directions)
The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces – Henry James (U. of Chicago Press)
Gogol – Vladimir Nabokov (New Directions)
The Pleasure of the Text – Roland Barthes, tr. Richard Miller (Hill and Wang)
Death and the Labyrinth: The World of Raymond Roussel – Michel Foucault, tr. Charles Ruas (Continuum)