Materialism and Formalism
- Winter 2015
Additional Details:
This course provides a follow up to English 301, the Introduction to the English major. It is a practicum of critical methods. This particular 302 will provide in-depth practice in “cultural studies” approaches to the novel. Our focus on cultural studies will include attention to the following methodological questions: what is the “form” in formalist approaches to the novel? What is “materialism” and why would you use it to read novels? What kinds of critical practices – close reading, archive development, historical research – are important to cultural studies methodologies? Does narratology (the study of narrative form) have a role? What about ethnography or other research methods from anthropology, sociology, or the empirical human sciences? By the end of the course, students should have a grasp of various approaches to the study of culture and narrative forms. Students will also have been exposed to a range of social and political questions rel!
ated to cultural studies methodologies, including theories of race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Required Texts:
Henry James, Daisy Miller (UW Bookstore)
Jeanette Winterson, The Passion (UW Bookstore)
Caryl Philips, Crossing the River (UW Bookstore)
Course Reader: Additional course readings will be available on-line.