COURSE PREREQUISITES

Students will not secure a pass for this course unless they have met ALL the requirements below (even for resits/reexaminations):

1. ATTENDANCE [+ COMPENSATING ESSAY for poor attendance];

2. VALID CRITICAL ESSAY (See explanation below);

3. PORTFOLIO OF READING NOTES FOR AT LEAST 3/4 OF THE MANDATORY BIBLIOGRAPHY;

· Attendance or Do I need to come to class? 

Attending is compulsory for 5 out of 7 seminars but only optional for the lectures.

However, I strongly suggest you do come to the lectures in order to get a better grip of the critical framework and of some of the primary texts for this class. 

(If you show up for less than 5 seminars, you will fail the first exam session. Also, be advised that the grade for your seminar performance will be based, among other criteria, on your attendance score.)

· Seminar requirements or What do they want from me?

          1. WRITTEN ESSAY (+PRESENTATION). 

Other than having to attend most seminars, all students have to write a 3-to-4-page academic/critical essay.

-All essays are to be delivered as Word documents. One page is 2000 characters with spaces. (Use the Word Count function in the Tools menu in Microsoft Office Word.)

- Failure to apply the critical format  to a presentation, an essay, or the mid-term test will be graded as 2 (see Critical methodology for seminar assignments immediately below).

-All forms of plagiarism will be graded as 1 and will result in a FAIL (possibly in a recommendation for the culprit to be expelled).

-Failure to meet the deadlines (deliver the presentation/hand in the written essay) will result in 3 points being deducted from that particular mark.

-Most students will make a 10-minute in-class presentation based on their written essay. The presentation is to be delivered (not read !) in approx. 10 mins. and then discussed in/by the class. You will receive bonus points for in-class presentations to be added to your mark in the written essay: 2 points if they volunteer, 1 point if they are appointed by the seminar instructor. 3 points will be deducted from the essay mark for failure to deliver the scheduled presentation.

-Students must contact their seminar instructors and enlist for a presentation not later than the second week of the semester. Note: They are under no obligation to hand in the written critical essay at the time of the presentation or to change the topic/approach for the written critical essay.

         2. READING NOTES FOR THE COMPULSORY CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
(The relevant sections in your bibliography will become clear once you go through your list of exam subjects.)

Reading notes for the text being currently discussed in class will be checked at the beginning of each seminar. 

At the end of the semester, deliver all reading notes by email as a single file [.doc (Word), .pdf (Adobe) or .zip (WinZip or 7z archive)] as a prerequisite for being admitted to the examination.

         N.B. HOW & WHEN TO SEND IN YOUR ASSIGNMENTS (1+2).

         - Deadline for submitting your written essays and reading notes: before the first day of the last week of classes. 

         a) - LOAD YOUR ESSAY ON THE TURNITIN PLATFORM ! Essays will not be considered unless they are mounted on the Turnitin platform!  
Create an account at http://www.turnitin.com/ro/home.
For Daniela Cârstea: Class ID: 24714570; Class Key: CON20. 
For Dragoș Ivana: Class ID: 24762787; Class Key: CTLIT.
When asked for a title write 2020 [LAST NAME] [FIRST NAME].

Find more details at Turnitin Guides (link).

         b) - Also, ask your seminar instructors if you should also EMAIL ANY OF YOUR ASSIGNMENTS .

- When emailing, always state your name and class/year in the subject line (e.g., " [LAST NAME] [FIRST NAME] CONC. LIT. 1A Assignments "), in the signature of your email message, and in the title of the files for your essay and reading notes. 

- The essay and the reading notes should be emailed as file attachments to your email message. All reading notes are to be delivered as a single file.doc (Word), .pdf (Adobe) or .zip (WinZip or 7z) archive files. These 2 files should be titled “[LAST NAME] [FIRST NAME] Critical Essay” or “[LAST NAME] [FIRST NAME] Reading Notes”, respectively. E.g., STEFANESCU BOGDAN Critical Essay.doc. 

- Depending on the seminar instructor, you may expect a brief confirmation email. Should one fail to reach you in a few days, resend your material and ask for confirmation.

               3. PARTICIPATION IN CLASS DISCUSSIONS.

               4. ALL STUDENTS (not just those on assignment) MUST READ CLOSELY THE SELECTED TEXT(S) FOR EACH SEMINAR. 

Quizzes should be expected as well as verification of personal reading notes ["conspecte"] for each seminar.

               N.B.!!! STUDENTS CANNOT PROCURE A PASS FOR THIS COURSE IF THEY HAVEN'T SUBMITTED THEIR READING NOTES AND A VALID WRITTEN ESSAY. 

(“Valid” means not plagiarized and conforming to the format and methodological requirements – see section below.)

· Critical methodology for seminar assignments or How do I write a successful critical essay? 
             1. For theoretical presentations/essays that discuss critical texts, students are expected to CRITICALLY PROCESS the text they are presenting. This involves, among other things:

• extracting the outline of the main argument in the text,
• rearranging and selecting the ideas of the text in accordance with the student's personal prioritization,
• suggesting points of contention and avenues for debate,
• highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the text, and, just as importantly,
• suggesting how the text could be employed in analysing literary works.

              2. Applied (literary analysis) presentations/essays  must USE A PARTICULAR CRITICAL APPROACH of the student’s choice (after consultation with the seminar instructor). Anthologies of critical approaches are available at the Pitar Mos Reading Room where most of the course material is stored (ask at the Librarian’s Desk for R. Surdulescu & B. Stefãnescu - Contemporary Critical Theories. A Reader and David Lodge - Modern Literary Criticism and Theory).

The following is the required FORMAT for such assignments:

• Main Assumptions (what literature is in his/her selected critical perspective);
• Objectives (a. what that critical perspective aims for, generally speaking, and b. what the student’s particular assignment sets out to do within the range of the general objectives of his/her critical approach);
• Critical Method (what critical instruments - i.e., methodology, concepts, techniques etc. - will be employed to achieve the Objectives);
• Argument/Analysis proper (the main body of the presentation);
• Conclusions (a concluding statement on the result of the analysis and a brief self-evaluation of the benefits of the critical endeavour).

All seminar presentations must use HANDOUTS (at least one for every two students in the audience).

You can find useful hints for successful academic essay style at The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. 

             3. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS FOR THE WRITTEN ESSAY:

- Design a solid argument and a clear structure (headed argument) for the essay starting with the initial justification of your choice of theme and approach and leading to relevant conclusions.

- Identify and clearly state in the introductory section what is the problem that you aim to tackle in the essay and provide a brief explanation of your methodology and specialized critical terms.

- Use elegant and nuanced language (no colloquialisms or slang terms) without becoming pedantic and affected. Demonstrate that you can use the critical idiom of your approach.

- Strictly adhere to the MLA academic style in quoting and indicating sources, inserting notes and compiling the list of cited works.  (MLA Style at Purdue University - link) Look for relevant subsections in the left hand side column.

- Do not forget to run a computer spell & grammar check and to double check it yourself.

- Insert all elements of identification (full name, year and group, course name and seminar instructor, date). We handle hundreds of essays each semester and it is not easy to keep track of them when there is missing info.

- Send your essay be email to your seminar instructor before the deadline and always keep a copy of your essay in case it gets misplaced or fails to reach him/her.

· Computation of grade or How should I balance my efforts? 

The seminar grade will reflect:
1) the assignments (the critical essay/presentation) = 33% of seminar grade;
2) participation in the seminar debates = 33%;
3) attendance = 33% [5 attendances and over = 10; 4 att. = 8; 3 att. = 6; 2 att. = 4; 1 att. = 2].
The seminar grade will count as half of the final mark, the other half is the final exam assessment.

· Final exam format or How will I be examined? 

The FINAL EXAM IS ORAL. (Should you fail or miss the first exam session, all subsequent resits [re-examinations] will be written.) The exam ticket will consist of one subject to be prepared for about 20-25 mins. and discussed in about 6-8 mins. A student may change the ticket only once, in which case 2 points will be deducted from the exam grade. Students may not decline the changed subject and revert to the original one.
A list of subjects and compulsory bibliography (readings) is provided on this course site at the beginning of the semester. 

All the primary texts in your course bibliography have to be read in order to secure a pass. Studying criticism or summaries of these primary texts instead of the texts themselves (and passing it for your reasoned interpretation of them) will not be tolerated.

· Malfunctions or What if something goes wrong? 

Should any problems arise regarding the bibliography and its availability to students, please notify the course director or your seminar instructor immediately. Excuses (such as not having found the texts in the bibliography) will not be accepted unless a solution has been attempted with the course team previously. All other malfunctions should be reported ASAP (as soon as possible) to the seminar instructors or to B. Stefãnescu.

· AVOID PLAGIARISM!  or Can I take the easy way out?

-Any form of plagiarism or cheating in exams, mid-term tests, seminar assignments etc.--whether enacted or attempted, fragmentary or integral, deliberate or accidental--will be punished severely (that is, a fail in the course for minor transgressions and a formal suggestion that the culprit be expelled for more serious offenses).

-Make sure that what you say or write are your own ideas and words. Whenever they are not yours, make that as clear and explicit as possible using quotation marks, references/mentions, listings in the bibliography, footnotes/endnotes.

-You will find clarifications and advice about plagiarism at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/plagiarism.html  or http://www.plagiarism.org/  or http://www.wpacouncil.org/node/9 

- Stay away from non-academic sites like Sparknotes, Answers.com, GradeSaver, Wikipedia, ready-made essay banks/data bases etc. Use only authoritative (serious) sites where articles are signed, such as academic encyclopedias or the web pages of academics, university departments, scholarly societies etc.

-Do not recycle your essays (which is called self-plagiarism). Write new work, do not use older essays that you've submitted for another class.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FINAL EXAMINATION SUBJECTS

              BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Mandatory: Surdulescu, R. and B. Stefanescu, Contemporary Critical Theories. A Reader, antologie de uz intern, 1999. 

(N.B. To be found in the Reading Room/librarian's desk; you have to prepare only those fragments that are directly relevant to the examination subjects. Seminar groups may be provided with an electronic version by their seminar instructor.)

Further Reading/Optional: Lodge, David and Nigel Wood, Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader, Pearson Education, 2008.

Surdulescu, Radu, Form, Structure and Structurality in Critical Theory, Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2000.

               EXAMINATION SUBJECTS:

1. The nature of literature for the Russian Formalists
2. The function of criticism in Russian Formalism
3. Defamiliarization as a formalist critical notion
4. Types of defamiliarization
5. M. Bakhtin’s understanding of a theory of the novel
6. Bakhtin’s heteroglossia and dialogism
7. Bakhtin’s carnivaluesque
8. The nature of literature for New Criticism
9. The function of criticism in New Criticism
10. The Intentional Fallacy and New Criticism
11. The Affective Fallacy and New Criticism
12. The nature of literature for Structuralism
13. The function of criticism in Structuralism
14. The constitutive factors of a speech event for R. Jakobson
15. The Poetic Function of language (Jakobson)
16. The nature of literature for archetypal criticism
17. The function of criticism in archetypal criticism
18. N. Frye’s understanding of literature and criticism.
19. The archetypes of romance and tragedy
20. The archetypes of comedy and satire
21. The nature of literature for psychoanalytical criticism
22. The function of criticism in psychoanalytical criticism
23. The relevance of dreamwork for the study of literature
24. The strata of the psyche in Freud
25. The pleasure and reality principles
26. The Oedipus complex and the study of literature
27. The mirror stage and the study of cultural representations
28. The nature of literature for reader-oriented criticism
29. The function of criticism in reader-oriented criticism
30. The importance of the horizon of expectation in literary studies
31. Fish’s refutation of the affective fallacy
32. Interpretive communities
33. The nature of literature for Feminist criticism
34. The function of criticism in Feminist criticism
35. Simone de Beauvoir’s critique of sexual representations of gender
36. Representations of Ophelia in cultural history
37. The nature of literature for Ethno-criticism
38. The function of criticism in Ethno-criticism
39. Traditional representations of the Orient
40. Edward Said and the revision of the Canon