Literature Comparative 320 Savery 241: MW 10:30-12:20 (office)
Prof. Leroy Searle B426 Padelford 206 543-6631 206 409 8878 (cell) [e-mail]
Studies in European Literature: Literary Reasoning Course website: http://uwch-4.humanities.washington.edu/classes/320
As the list below makes evident, the texts for this course have not been selected by period, genre, language or nationality. The main conceptual issue will be the function of imaginative literature, and more specifically, the idea of literary reasoning. By that, I mean to call attention to literature as a primary form of thinking, one that is distinctive at least in the sense that it does not put thinking and feeling at odds, nor presume that the only kind of reasoning possible is grounded on set-theoretic or propositional logic. In this respect, the course will be raising questions of a philosophical and theoretical kind throughout, but our actual work will be reading. In each of the texts selected (and in all of them together), the peculiar difficulty and interest lies in the unusual degree of self-awareness and self-reflexivity all the authors exhibit. These are books that disclose projects: the point of the text is by no means limited to commonplace notions of what makes writing literary, or what literature is or doesincluding its role in the critical process of cultural legitimation. We will proceed by lecture and discussion, so I would be grateful if you could do your best to keep up with the reading. The sequence below is flexible: we will take more time as discussion requires it, and we may correspondingly shorten attention to certain texts if necessary. There will be two papers, one short and one longer. The short will paper be due around the 5th week; the final, at the end. All writing will be submitted as email attachments, sent to me. I will make available to you additional instructions about formatting writing work, and detailed instructions about your papers. Everything submitted must be in either Microsoft WORD, or RTF (Rich Text) format: absolutely no exceptions. If you are still using your grandfathers copy of Word Perfect, or Apple WORKS, or anything else, replace it as soon as possible. There is an open software foundation product, ABIWORD that handles RTF perfectly and is free. We will read the texts in the order listed below. The schedule for readings is approximate. Books are in the University Bookstore. TEXTS SCHEDULE
1. Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida (Penguinbut any modern edition will do) 2. William Blake: Complete Poetry (Erdman, ed. Doubleday) 3. William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books (Thames& Hudson) 4. Honor de Balzac: Lost Illusions (Modern Library) 5. Gustave Flaubert: Sentimental Educat...